1: An extremely sloppy opening

(Cosmic Disclaimer: Thinking organs can be stored here, or you can bring them along, I'll try my best ԅ(¯﹃¯ԅ))

To avoid being erased by some unspeakable conceptual power, this is a parallel world.

In the Eastern Union, Jiangnan District, lived a young man who had transmigrated to this world a long time ago.

How long is a long time? Counting from the moment of his birth, or to be precise, from the moment his consciousness awoke in the embryo. Simply put, he reincarnated without drinking the Meng Po soup.

So, why didn't he become a plagiarist or something? Unfortunately, due to an accidental premature 'reincarnation,' Chen Hao, a 'research grunt,' had almost no interest in popular music or novels, only knowing of them. Furthermore, with his two-dimensional attributes, he was a stereotypical science and engineering nerd.

Most importantly, many things in this world were almost identical to his original homeworld. All of Jay Chou's series were present, and various novels were also complete, it's just that the timing of many things appearing differed from his homeworld.

Of course, the biggest difference was that the countries and history of this world were not just 'similar' to his homeworld, but completely different.

He had never heard of things like the Eastern Union, the Nova United States, or the Northern Steel Alliance. Chen Hao was always wide awake during history classes in junior and senior high, listening as if to a storyteller. Although some historical events seemed similar due to inevitability, the remaining 90% were completely unrelated.

However, as a transmigrator without a system, even with extraordinary intelligence, he had to keep a low profile. He could only manage to get by with perfect scores on small tests. If he were too ostentatious, he feared he would be recorded by the Jing'an Bureau in minutes.

Chen Hao, who had just finished his college entrance exams, was currently at home, bored, browsing the 'Little Broken Station' (Bilibili).

"So boring, I need to find a game to pass these next few months."

"StarCraft, Stellaris, and Civilization are getting old. I'll put EVE aside for a while; I'll deal with it after the trade wars clear out my inventory."

"Let me see if 'that company' has any new good stuff for me to have fun with, switch to another game and continue being a war criminal, hehe."

Meanwhile, somewhere in the boundless void.

"Stinky old man, humph! How dare he force me to work? Does a second-generation rich kid like me even need to work?"

"Mom too, not only did she not help me, she even... humph! It's not like I stayed home a *little* bit too long, is it? Seriously."

"If you're going out to play, then go out and play. Not taking me is one thing, but you even lied and said it was a business trip. Do you think I didn't see the two suitcases full of vacation supplies? Humph!"

"If you two start it, then don't blame me for finishing it. Hehe, stinky old man, you didn't think I knew your drawer password, did you? The collector's edition core is mine now."

"Speaking of which, it's clearly just a Class C system core, but its level is maxed out at ten. I've never heard of a system reaching this level before. Is it because the matching conditions are too strict? A system that can't find a host, how strange."

"Hmm... No big deal, I'll just start by searching in this world bubble. Although my luck has never been particularly good, I can always find a suitable one if I just try a few more... Hey, hey, hey!"

A golden orb of light, muttering to itself, suddenly stopped after passing through a faint, almost imperceptible membrane.

"No way, it matched already?! No, do I actually have a day where my luck is off the charts?"

"Oh ho~ My goodness, to actually encounter such a high-quality host! To be able to meet all the conditions for this core? My luck is still pretty good. Not bad, not bad, an extremely rare talent. Such a contradictory individual is truly rare; I have no choice but to give my highest moral praise."

"Happy, happy, I can comfortably slack off now. Hehe, you didn't expect this, stinky old man, I got ten golds in ten pulls."

"The core I got for free from that stinky old man, I might as well use it. I need to figure out a way to make this host work 996 on his own."

"Let me check the host's basic information first, hmm... Although the civilization level of the host's world is a bit hard to describe, it still has potential. Huh? The cosmic rules seem a bit unusual? Never mind, not important. Let me think about how to make it convenient?"

"Aha, I got it~"

A streaking light traversed space. If a certain player named Chen had seen this scene, he would have blurted out: "Holy crap, a gold drop!"

The camera returns to Earth. Chen Hao was scrolling through the 'Little Broken Station' when a voice suddenly rang in his mind.

"System bound, activating."

Chen Hao froze, wondering if he was hallucinating. But before he could react, there was another movement in his mind.

"System activation complete, hello host."

Chen Hao finally came to his senses.

"System? My little biscuit, there really is a system!"

"Yes, indeed~"

Chen Hao forcefully suppressed his adrenaline and sympathetic nervous system, calming his excited heart. Eighteen years! Eighteen years! Has my Wind Spirit Moon Shadow finally arrived?

"You, hello, I don't know what to, what to call you?"

"My name is Xiao Jixiang, but of course, I don't mind if you call me System Sister."

"Uh, that name... could it be, you also play Genshin Impact?"

"Eh heh~ Xiao Jixiang doesn't know~"

Chen Hao felt a crow fly over his head, leaving behind six black dots.

This system's concentration is a bit high, it feels like a lot of stuff is etched into my DNA. Never mind, never mind, this isn't important. Chen Hao shook his head, shaking off the image of a badminton shuttlecock wearing a Windwheel Aster hat and holding a harp from his mind.

"May I ask, Xiao Jixiang, what functions do you have?"

"Huhu~ This system can't do anything else, it just slacks off."

"Huh? What did you say?"

Listening to the voice in his mind, Chen Hao always felt something was off; the composition of this Xiao Jixiang was becoming increasingly complex. But, honestly, the voice did sound very similar, like eight or nine out of ten.

"No, that is, host, what functions do you *want* me to have?"

"No, can I actually decide that?"

Chen Hao was a bit bewildered; why wasn't this following the usual script?

"Hmm... Because, to be precise, I don't have specific functions, only a database. Do you want it, host?"

"Huh? A database? Xiao Jixiang, is your system a pirated one? What kind of system doesn't have a shop, quests, or something?"

After hearing Xiao Jixiang's words, Chen Hao felt another crow fly over his head.

"Those are Class A and Class B, very common, generally not high-level, except for a few... No, why am I telling you all this? Host, just say whether you want it or not."

"Yes, yes, yes! No reason not to take it. It's a system after all, better than nothing."

"That's right then. Come on, host, get ready! Counting down from three, three, two..."

"Wait, ready for what?! What the..."

For some reason, as Chen Hao listened to Xiao Jixiang's countdown, he had an ominous premonition.

"One, activating program."

"World Tree Database activated."

"Target biomass index meets requirements, Level 3 access can be directly enabled."

"Special energy information detected, meets hidden conditions."

"Imaginary Gate module activated."

"Loading."

Upon hearing the words 'World Tree,' Chen Hao's half-spoken sentence abruptly stopped. He felt as if his brain was frozen, everything had ceased. Then, what his two eyes saw was split left and right, and he saw places he couldn't possibly see in the room, as if the world had instantly transformed into two distinctly different halves.

His left eye fell into the vortex of the microscopic world, the wood grain on the desk transforming into an endless abyss, and rotating nebulae emerging from the ink of his carbon pen. His pupils involuntarily constricted, and the flashes of electron transitions outside atomic nuclei were reflected on his retina.

His right eye, however, was pulled towards the vast starry sky, the clouds outside the window drawing back like a curtain, revealing a shrinking blue planet. When the Solar System also became a small speck of light, he vaguely saw some ring-like structure shimmering in the darkness.

Finally, at the moment when the images in both eyes approached congruence, Chen Hao fainted.

His body toppled forward like a puppet with cut strings. A split second before his forehead hit the keyboard, he vaguely saw, in the faint light reflected on the monitor, a translucent giant tree unfurling its branches behind him.

Two hours later, Chen Hao was awakened by the cicadas outside the window. As he lifted his head, a few drops of sweat trickled down his chin and landed on the F5 key of his keyboard—this keycap already had cracks from his unconscious grip.

"What the heck, what happened to me? I remember just now..."

"Wait! My little biscuit, what is this?"

As Chen Hao was trying to recover his memory, he suddenly noticed a basketball-sized, cyber- and artistically-infused tree floating in mid-air before him. Below the tree was a circle of pale golden light, with a cyan-golden cloud-like vortex inside the halo. The vortex flowed outwards, the cloud-like substance moving upwards, coiling around all of the tree's roots. It could only be described as a combination of abstract and mysterious elements.

In front of the tree was also a translucent light screen, with something seemingly written on it.

"This is the complete World Tree, host, did you lose your memory?"

Xiao Jixiang used 'Great Memory Restoration Technique' on Chen Hao, and the effect was excellent.

"I feel pain, so it's not a dream! There really, really is a system!"

"Quick, quick, what's this World Tree for? Is it what I think it is? And that halo? What's that? I think I vaguely heard 'Imaginary Gate'?"

Chen Hao's tone and eyes were filled with eagerness, for no other reason than the high 'gold content' of the words 'World Tree.' Well, generally speaking, it's about as high as a universe.

"This database contains all the knowledge a civilization needs to fully understand a universe. How about that, impressive, right? The key is, all knowledge can be learned directly, no charge. As for the Imaginary Gate, it can summon characters from countless worlds in a 'copy-paste with selective options' manner. However, it must comply with fundamental constant laws, so don't even think about things like splitting the sky with a single sword."

"That doesn't matter, technology isn't incapable of such things."

As Chen Hao spoke, he clicked on the detailed information on the light screen. After reading a few lines, his pupils dilated in shock.

"From the day our race had history, we have been accompanied by the World Tree. Through endless ages of historical evolution, we established the Sacred Glorious Covenant under the World Tree, jointly guarding the cornerstone of our civilization. Yet, whether the World Tree is a blessing or a disaster, we still know nothing."

"Today, we gather the wisdom of our entire race, in the name of the Glorious Covenant, to seek an opportunity."

"From beyond the world, to obtain the power to define the world, and to continue the immortal chapter of the Glorious Covenant."

Chen Hao looked at the introduction, and his DNA was instantly activated.

"My goodness, Stellaris's Honkai Impact 3rd mod!? Could it be???"

He closed the introduction, unconsciously clicked on the tree, and then the surrounding scene instantly transformed into the interior of a colossal library, boundless in all visible directions.

Chen Hao stood in the middle of a circular wooden table, mechanically turning his head. Before he could recover from the shock, another light screen appeared before his eyes. With just one glance, his pupils dilated in shock again.

"Hydroponics bays, universal nanomachines, super carbon fiber, quantum chips, active metals, ceramic-gold composites, genetic programming... Nuclear impulse thrusters, warp drive, Starport, titan, Civilization-level Megastructures, Neutron Purge X, XXXX!"

Chen Hao stared at the database catalog, which was over a million pages long, completely dumbfounded. Never mind the rest, just look at the last few technologies. Are you sure you're called the World Tree Database and not a certain company's war criminal concentration camp?