9: Small and Grand

The darkness outside the porthole was so thick it seemed capable of devouring souls.

Chen Hao subconsciously gripped the armrest of his seat, his knuckles turning white from the effort. This absolute sense of void reminded him of the panic he felt as a child, the first time he went diving before he transmigrated. Back then, he was surrounded by clear seawater but was so scared by the invisible seabed that he frantically swam to the surface. Now, he was floating in the deep abyss of space, millions of times deeper than the Mariana Trench.

“Adjusting optical filters,” Bronya’s voice came from all directions. “Master may experience temporary blindness for 0.1 seconds.”

Before Chen Hao could respond, the entire world was suddenly engulfed by dazzling starlight. Then, before his retina could react, everything returned to normal, and he saw a magnificent sight he had never witnessed in both of his lives combined.

The Milky Way was like a diamond casket overturned by a deity, countless stars erupting with ice-blue cold flames on black velvet. The constellations he had seen in the planetarium were now swirling in a dizzying display; Orion’s Belt formed a perfect straight line to the right of the porthole, while Sirius twinkled with an almost arrogant brilliance. But the most breathtaking sight was the main band of the Milky Way, spanning his entire field of vision, billions of stars converging into a milky white river of light, some of these points of light visibly changing in brightness.

“Those are pulsars, remnants of supernova explosions,” Bronya explained at the opportune moment. “The flickering you see is actually their rotation hundreds of times per second…”

Chen Hao suddenly realized that some of the starlight entering his eyes at this moment came from the era when the ancestors of the Yu Dynasty were exploring, and some were even older than the period of ancient organisms. In this theater woven from light-years, human civilization didn't even qualify for a curtain call.

Then he saw Blue Star.

This sapphire-like planet hung silently in the center of the observation window, the edge of its atmosphere shimmering with a mother-of-pearl iridescence. The terminator, like a golden dividing line drawn with a ruler, clearly separated the coral seas of the Southern Cross Federation.

Chen Hao could clearly discern the centipede-like shape of the Spice Cape, and the curved coastline of the Red River Delta reminded him of illustrations in his high school geography textbook.

But what truly shattered all his defenses were the clouds.

The typhoon system east of the Pearl Chain Alliance was displaying its perfect spiral structure in space, the folds of the cloud walls resembling the swirling starry night of Van Gogh. And above the Spice Sea, a cumulonimbus cloud was casting a shadow hundreds of kilometers in diameter under the moonlight, like a grey velvet blanket covering the Emerald Atoll.

“Current orbital altitude: 3000 kilometers,” Ya Ya presented the navigation data as a holographic projection in the center of the bridge. “At this altitude, the planetary curvature is clearly visible. Would you like to see your old home?”

The observation window’s view suddenly zoomed in, and the coastline of the Jiangnan region appeared in the magnified image. Chen Hao widened his eyes, searching for the outline of the estuary, but found that the area was shrouded in thick haze. Only the lights of the Hangzhou Bay Bridge, like stitches, barely connected the grey sky and sea.

“According to the air quality index, today’s PM2.5 value is…”

“Eh, no need,” Chen Hao interrupted. “I know my hometown well; it’s always in the top three nationwide for air quality.”

His gaze shifted southwest, where the mountains north of the Emerald Principality resembled crumpled tin foil in the twilight. A few faint orange-red lights flickered among the mountains and forests—the fires of local militants burning farmland.

A cold realization crept up his spine.

For the first time in fifty years, he truly understood what the word “life” meant. On this planet of 7 billion people, most struggled their entire lives for a few acres of land beneath their feet, while the starry sky above… never belonged to them.

“Master, your heart rate has risen to 112,” Bronya’s tone was full of concern. “Do you need to activate the calming procedure?”

Chen Hao shook his head, taking several deep breaths to calm himself. His gaze was fixed on Blue Star’s thin, cicada-wing-like atmosphere.

From this height, the biosphere looked as fragile as a soap bubble. In the history of the ancestral star, the Mayan civilization perished, Angkor Wat was swallowed by the jungle, and Pompeii solidified in volcanic ash… In this parallel world, the situation wasn’t much better.

But no disaster had ever made him realize so clearly, as it did now: all human history occurred within this habitable zone, thinner than an apple peel.

“Switch to resource distribution mode.”

The holographic projection instantly covered the entire cabin wall. Red spots showed the global distribution of rare earth minerals, black was oil and natural gas, green was forests, and blue represented marine biological resources. Chen Hao looked at the fragmented color blocks in the Emerald Ocean region and suddenly laughed out loud.

Those warlords fought tooth and nail for a few copper, iron, gold, and silver mines and a few fields of white powder, yet they didn't know that the value of any random metal asteroid in space exceeded their country's annual GDP.

He came to the control panel, his finger tracing the topographical map of the northern Emerald Principality. The cautious transmigrator from four years ago, who only wanted to be a plagiarist, was dead. Now, a beast who had seen the starry sky was reborn.

“They say that when you have a hammer, everyone looks like a nail. This is indeed true.”

“Master, you mean, ‘With a sharp weapon in hand, the urge to kill arises,’ right?” Bronya directly translated the Chinese idiom.

Chen Hao had only been joking for a few seconds before Ya Ya interrupted his spell. Hey, hey, hey, doesn't your master have any face? Don't expose my poor humanities knowledge!

“Ya Ya, what do you say, how about we establish a real Interstellar Peace company? Let’s call it the Interstellar Peace Corporation.”

“Oh, is that not the company you registered in college, Master?”

“Exactly! It’s our own, so why not use it? Besides, don’t you think it’s interesting?”

“It is! Okay, okay. So, shall I start some preliminary preparations?” Bronya instantly pulled out a small notebook and entered her secretary role.

“Yes, I’ll leave it to you. I need to think about the development plan first. As for now, let’s go see our company headquarters.”

“Master means?”

“That’s right, Pierpoint, that will be the headquarters of our Interstellar Peace Corporation.”

“Yay~”

Chen Hao looked at the curved horizon and the dark starry sky outside the window, a strange impulse surging in his chest.

The universe, humanity’s ultimate world. A real, mysterious, unspeakable world after leaving the cradle.

Perhaps, there’s a reason why humans are born yearning for the sky.

“A new life is about to begin!” Chen Hao was full of passion and drive at this moment. “Xiao Jixiang! What’s the next mission? Release it quickly, I can’t wait!”

“Yawn~ Host, what are you doing~, shouting so loudly?” Xiao Jixiang, wrapped in a thick blanket, appeared in Chen Hao’s consciousness.

“Mission? There isn’t one. You haven’t even entered the space station yet, why are you so excited? Isn’t it better to slack off for a few more days? What, are you addicted to missions? Besides, I’m not a mission system, so what’s up? Are you trying to make things difficult for yourself again, Host?”

Hearing the system’s lazy reply, Chen Hao felt like he had been doused with a bucket of Boruto, unable to get fired up.

“Uh, no, I mean, Xiao Jixiang, it’s only a few minutes away, what’s a few dozen seconds? And also, you’re so amazing, a mission or something would definitely be a piece of cake, right? The rewards don’t have to be too good, genuine Pierpoint, or an EVE titan fleet, anything would do.”

“Host, are you dreaming? How about I order you some takeout?”

“Do you know how many credit points and how much time it takes to analyze a giant complex like Pierpoint? And you expect me to give it to you for free? Your Ya Ya managing to get you tens of billions is already the absolute limit; any more would definitely attract attention. If you can get ten trillion dragon coins right now, then I’ll take back what I said; please bury me in money.”

Xiao Jixiang’s small head poked out from under the blanket. “Besides, even if you could get it, if you don’t have enough basic research personnel, are you planning to handle all the technology by yourself, Host? Are you sure you can live for 200 years right now?”

“Uh, well, my current genes can indeed allow me to live until…”

“You shut up first! I know you can live for several hundred years now. Alright, even if we take another ten thousand steps back, even if that’s the case, you can afford to spend that much time, do you know how many resources it takes to build a Pierpoint or a titan fleet?”

“Also, Host, do you know that the level of technology you currently possess has already reached the minimum standard of a Level 3 civilization?!”

“Now you can even become a low-level system to guide civilizations from 0.1 to 0.9. If you don’t find a way to improve the overall technological level of civilization, it’s impossible for you to have a sufficient foundation for major breakthroughs.”

“Not to mention, it’s not that there aren’t technologies a bit more difficult than what you currently master, but you can’t afford to analyze them anymore. This ‘can’t afford to analyze’ doesn’t mean you can’t do it; it means that even if you analyze it, it’s not something you can solve alone without attracting attention.”

Xiao Jixiang swayed and then burrowed back into the blanket, muttering, “I don’t know what kind of monster you are, I’ve never seen such an exaggerated brain. Your learning speed is too fast. Your IQ isn’t even that exaggerated, could it be because of the World Tree Core?”

The last sentence was very soft, and Chen Hao didn’t hear it clearly. But experience told him that it was probably not a compliment, as he was already used to being teased.

“Uh, please calm down, I admit my voice was a bit loud just now; I was just a little excited.”

Chen Hao suddenly remembered the first time Ya Ya transferred 100 million credit points to him for living expenses; he suddenly felt confident and tried to analyze the titan he had always dreamed of in games, only to be deterred by a long string of zeros. Now, reminded by Xiao Jixiang, he immediately recalled the fear of being dominated by zeros.

“No, wait, I’m already that powerful? I’ve actually reached the level of a Level 3 civilization?” Chen Hao scratched his head, a little surprised.

“Not exactly. To be precise, it can only be said that you, the Host, have mastered all the representative technologies of a top-tier Level 2 civilization. There’s still some gap to a true Level 3. If you compare all the technologies of a Level 2 civilization to a tree, what you’ve mastered is the core supporting trunk, but the outer parts and branches are approximately equal to zero.”

“Like the armor, energy, and life support systems of this Xuan Nü, you, the Host, have already learned them. But these technologies are more integrated systems; they can branch out into a pile of sub-technologies, and you, the Host, haven’t learned these parts, nor will they be provided during analysis. In other words, you, the Host, have prematurely completed a qualitative change, but without sufficient quantitative change as a foundation.”

“It’s like a castle in the air; although it defies logic, it is now a reality.” Xiao Jixiang rolled over, crawled out of the blanket, and lay down in an eggshell-shaped sofa.

“For example, the sub-technologies included in the technologies the Host has analyzed over these four years could already build single-person mechs similar to those of the Terran Marines, but to integrate them, some necessary parts are still missing, such as the transmission system, single-person weapons, miniaturized power units, etc.”

“Although it could also be achieved by modifying the Xingtian Armor that you, the Host, invented based on power armor, this would still require time for modifications and adaptation. So, if you don’t want to waste time on such matters, you, the Host, should think about how to find high-level labor to work for you.”

Chen Hao scratched his head, basically understanding Xiao Jixiang’s meaning. “Uh, so Xiao Jixiang, you mean that before finding a way to elevate Blue Star as a whole, or at least a large part of it, to a Level 1 civilization, I’m basically limited to minor repairs and adjustments?”

“Pretty much. The main thing is that the foundation needs to be thick enough. Only then will you, the Host, have sufficient objective conditions to begin the next stage of analysis. To put it figuratively, laboratory products and assembly line products shouldn’t be two generations apart. Some of the technologies you, the Host, currently have are almost four or five major generations ahead on Blue Star.”

“By the way, Host, you can start thinking about how to show off—no, how to make a grand return to your hometown. Now that your safety is guaranteed, it’s time to start the next step of the plan.”

Xiao Jixiang’s inner monologue: ‘Quick, continue 996—no, 007! My shopping cart is already stocked with 10 awesome slacking-off outfits, just waiting for you, Host, to pay up~ And several games have big updates, so many new characters I want to gacha~’

Chen Hao gazed distractedly at the starry sky ahead, beginning to consider the system’s recent suggestion. Indeed, to continue developing upwards, the foundation must be solid. Only by raising the overall civilization level of the entire Dragon Kingdom, with a sufficiently strong industrial base and talent reserve, can branch technologies and infrastructure be perfected as quickly as possible.

Not to mention, utilizing the resources of the entire Solar System as early as possible will provide enough confidence and capability to terraform the Moon and Mars. Then, using that as a foundation, expand throughout the entire Solar System.

With the Interstellar Peace Corporation as the leading force, resistance from foreign countries can be minimized to the greatest extent. In the eyes of capital, companies and nations have fundamental differences.

The only problem, unfortunately, is that the person in charge of a company is not always a capitalist.

What? You mean other countries? Come if you want, otherwise get lost. I’m just that nationalistic, what can you do about it? If you have the guts, come hit me in the space station with a rocket~

Oh, oops, I forgot, you can’t get up here~ Can’t hit me, can’t hit me~ Nuclear missiles? Particle defense system, ever heard of it? A fly might have a chance to penetrate, but a big stick like you? What kind of interstellar joke is that?