143: Chapter 143 Halftime: On How to Turn the Rest Area into a Black Market Trading Center

The final destination of the third stage of the Myriad Worlds Civilization Race—Midway Station.

After passing through the suffocating Battlefield of Karma, the pangu-003 finally sailed into a relatively peaceful Star Domain. This was a temporary docking point established by the Star Alliance to provide supplies and repairs for surviving civilizations—Midway Station. It was enveloped by a massive Dyson Sphere, containing simulations of one hundred different ecological environments, sufficient to meet the survival needs of carbon-based, silicon-based, energy-based, and various other life forms.

Rumble—When the massive blue body of the ship squeezed into the docking area, dragging one hundred pink "tails," the previously quiet port instantly fell silent. Alien civilizations surrounding them, who had also narrowly escaped death and were currently in a sorry state repairing their warships, stopped what they were doing and stared at the "colossus" with eyes filled with awe, fear, and perhaps even a desire to call the police.

After all, who had ever seen a civilization participating in an interstellar race while simultaneously hanging a neon sign that read *'Barbecue Open for Business'* outside its atmosphere?

The ship, Command Bridge.

"We can finally catch our breath," Li Mo slumped in the command chair, the Abyss Milk Tea in his hand already empty. Three consecutive stages of high-intensity 'Rule Modification' had left even him, the Administrator, feeling slightly mentally exhausted. "T-9, report combat damage."

The T-9 Robot's electronic eyes flickered twice and reported: "Report, Captain! Combat damage... is almost zero." "Besides the paint on a few tugboats being scratched by meteorites, and General Gu dislocating his arm because he got too excited while blasting the road just now, the entire ship is intact." "Not only that, our warehouse... has overflowed again."

"Overflowed?" Li Mo raised an eyebrow.

"Yes." T-9 pointed to the material list on the holographic screen. "In the first stage (Sea of Cognition), we recovered a large number of 'Void Batteries.'" "In the second stage (Dimensional Maze), the Tentacle Monsters dismantled quite a few 'Spatial Mirror Fragments' along the way." "In the third stage (Battlefield of Karma), General Gu picked up a lot of 'Karma Weapon Wreckage' abandoned by other civilizations." "Now the warehouse is full to capacity, and even the aisles are stuffed with alien junk."

Li Mo rubbed his temples. "Is this the trouble with being too diligent at picking up scraps?" He glanced at the bustling Midway Station port outside the window, where merchants and explorers from all the myriad worlds had gathered. "Since we can't store it anymore, then... let's have a massive clearance sale."

...

An hour later, Midway Station Free Trade Zone.

This was originally the Star Alliance's high-end official trading market, selling only legitimate repair parts and energy blocks. But today, the atmosphere here had been completely derailed.

A huge stall constructed of holographic projections occupied the most conspicuous spot in the plaza. Hanging above the stall was a massive banner: [Tianhe Department Store: If you can think of it, we've probably picked it up.] [Today's Special: Spatial Mirrors at half price! Karma Grenades, buy one get one free!]

In charge of setting up the stall were the Emperor of Great Zhou (Tianhe Diplomat) and the T-9 Robot. Beside the stall, General Gu was leading a group of Corpse Soldiers, performing 'breaking a stone on the chest' on the spot (it was actually breaking Titan alloy plates), to attract customers. Even more ridiculously, on the other side of the stall, dozens of Tentacle Monsters had set up barbecue grills, and the rich smell of cumin Void Beef drifted throughout the entire Dyson Sphere via the ventilation System.

"Come look, come look! Freshly baked 'Dimensional Fragments'! Take them home and you can make Storage Rings, or use them as mirrors!" The Emperor of Great Zhou shouted hoarsely, his practiced manner suggesting he wasn't an emperor, but an old stall owner who had practiced in Panjiayuan for thirty years.

"What... what is this?" A silicon-based life form composed entirely of crystal crowded over, pointing at a pile of dark iron lumps on the stall. "Oh, that?" T-9's electronic eyes lit up. "That's the 'Misfortune Grenade' we picked up in the third stage. Once thrown, everyone within a hundred-mile radius will have bad luck for a whole day. It's an essential remedy for home travel and ruining enemies!"

"How much?" The Crystal Man was clearly interested. "We don't take money, only high-energy crystals or rare Ore."

In just half an hour, the Tianhe stall was surrounded shoulder-to-shoulder. Those usually aloof interstellar civilizations went crazy when they saw these 'contraband items,' which were rarely seen on the market, being sold off like common cabbage. "I want that Spatial Mirror! Give me a dozen!" "Save me ten skewers of that barbecue! Extra chili!" "And that Misfortune Grenade! I'll take them all!"

Star Alliance Patrol Office.

Several enforcement robots wearing red armbands watched the surveillance footage, their processors nearly burning out. "Captain! Someone is setting up a street stall in the Free Trade Zone! Seriously disrupting market order!" "And they are selling contraband weapons! They're even selling... food?" "Should we shut them down?"

The Patrol Captain (a multi-eyed being) glanced at the image of the young man (Li Mo) handing a brick to General Gu, and the newly grown tentacle involuntarily twitched. He recognized that person. That ruthless individual who treated the Law like child's play at the Wall of Sighs and changed the questions in the Sea of Cognition.

"Shut them down, my foot!" The Captain slapped his subordinate on the head. "Do you want our space station to become the next target for demolition?" "Go! Notify everyone, as long as they don't blow up the Dyson Sphere, they can sell whatever they want!" "Also... go buy me two skewers of that barbecue; I heard it tastes good."

...

The ship, Command Bridge.

Li Mo looked at the rapidly increasing resource numbers in his account and nodded with satisfaction. "This is the correct way to experience interstellar travel." "Earn wherever we go."

Just then, Lumina (the Star Spirit Navigator) walked in with a solemn expression. She held the ancient astrolabe, and the starlight on it was trembling violently. "Captain, we have a situation." "I sense a... very unpleasant aura approaching." "It's not pirates, nor is it a Void Realm monster." "It's... the scent of Order."

"Order?" Li Mo put down his teacup. "You mean the official Star Alliance?"

"No." Lumina shook her head, a trace of fear in her eyes. "Older than the Star Alliance, more rigid, and even more... arrogant." "It's the Universe's 'Scavengers,' specifically responsible for cleaning up abnormal civilizations that 'do not conform to logic.'" "Our performance along the way has been too high-profile; we might have triggered their alarm threshold."

Li Mo narrowed his eyes. Scavengers? Abnormal civilization? Wasn't this the interstellar version of the *'Inspector'* (responsible for formatting the Lower Realm) mentioned in the outline?

"Interesting." Li Mo stood up and walked to the window. Outside the port of Midway Station, a massive spaceship, entirely pure white, shaped like a perfect geometric sphere, and radiating sacred brilliance, was slowly entering. That ship had no weapons, only a suffocating aura of *'Absolute Purity.'* Wherever it passed, even the dust in the Void Realm was automatically purified and annihilated.

[Eye of Truth · Scanning...]

[Target: Star Intercession Tribunal · Executive Officer's Vessel.]

[Codename: The Whitelist.]

[Mission: Erase all BUGS.]

"Erase BUGS?" Li Mo laughed, a cold edge to his smile. "What a coincidence." "What I'm best at in this life is implanting viruses into the System."

"Notify everyone, pack up the stall." "Stop selling." "The real 'Big Client'... has arrived."