2: Relativity of Value

"What is... this?" Chen Feng's consciousness was forcibly pulled into a space of pure darkness, where only an interface made of light emitted a cold, eerie glow before his eyes.

[Welcome to the Interstellar Exchange System, Number 734.] The system's voice rang out again, devoid of any emotion. [This system is dedicated to connecting infinite dimensions and realizing the free flow of value for all things.]

"Infinite dimensions? Value of all things?" Chen Feng murmured to himself. His instincts as an Earth business elite allowed him to instantly grasp the keywords. "You mean, I can... do business here?"

[Affirmative. You may list any 'valuable' item here, and you may also purchase goods from any dimension.]

The interface shifted, and a dazzling list of commodities flowed down like a waterfall.

[Product Name: Sigh of the God King (A-rank Conceptual Emotional Data) Seller: Fallen Divine Domain Price: 9.8 Billion interstellar credit points]

[Product Name: Second-hand T-800 Energy Gun (Manual Included) Seller: Doomsday Wasteland Scavenger Price: 300 interstellar credit points]

[Product Name: Ownership of a Star (Level 7 Star Sector) Seller: Omni-Dimensional Trade Alliance Price: Negotiable]

Chen Feng's heart pounded wildly. This wasn't just a business opportunity; this was a miracle!

"I want... I want to live! I need something that can repair my body!" he urgently commanded the system.

[Filtering for you...]

[Product Name: gene repair fluid (Perfect Version) Price: 100,000 interstellar credit points]

[Product Name: Spring of Life Water (One Drop) Price: 78,000 interstellar credit points]

[Product Name: gene repair fluid (Inferior Version) Price: 50 interstellar credit points]

Looking at that long string of astronomical figures, Chen Feng's heart sank again. The only thing he could seemingly count on was that "Inferior Version."

"50 credit points... how can I get the money?"

[As a new user, the system will guide you through a simulated transaction.]

The scene shifted, and Chen Feng found himself standing before a virtual trading desk.

[Please select the item you wish to sell.]

"Me... what do I have?" Chen Feng looked down at himself, seeing only a worn, sour-smelling miner's uniform.

[Listing 'Damaged Low-Dimensional Miner's Uniform'... Listing requires a basic Dimensional Tax of 0.1 interstellar credit points. Please pay.]

"Dimensional Tax? What does that mean?"

[Cross-dimensional transactions disturb universal laws; a transit tax must be paid to the system. The tax rate is linked to the item's energy level, information density, and dimensional span. Your account balance is 0, payment cannot be made.]

"Wait, I can't sell anything if I don't have money? That's illogical!"

[New user inquiry detected. Answer: You may choose the 'Buyer Pays Dimensional Tax' mode, but this mode will significantly reduce the item's appeal. Additionally, your initial 'Credit Rating' is 0, and system permissions are extremely low; you can only conduct small transactions, and most high-value items are locked for you.]

"Credit Rating... Credit Rating again..." Chen Feng smiled bitterly. He was intimately familiar with this routine on Earth; he hadn't expected it to be the same even in another universe.

The simulated transaction ended, and Chen Feng's consciousness returned to reality. The feeling of physical weakness and the countdown to death flooded back like a tide.

"In other words, I must find something..." He forced himself to calm down. "Something worthless here, but priceless in another dimension... a rare commodity!"

During the day of the next morning, Chen Feng wandered through the mining area like a ghost.

He tried to have the system evaluate an ordinary stone and a handful of Ashen Earth Star soil in his mind.

[Item: Standard Silicate Rock. Value: 0.]

[Item: Soil Rich in Heavy Metals. Value: 0.]

[Listing failed. Item value is too low to reach the Dimensional Tax threshold.]

The system's responses became colder each time, like buckets of cold water dousing the hope he had just ignited.

"What exactly is it..." Chen Feng's gaze swept over the mining area, past those numb faces, and finally fixed on a corner that all the miners carefully avoided.

There, several translucent crystals, seemingly condensed from black smoke, were emitting an unsettling faint light.

undead crystals.

Old Fourth Tu's words echoed in his head: "A curse... everyone who touches it goes mad and dies."

The fear in the miners' eyes was the best proof that this thing was "worthless" or even of "negative value."

But... Chen Feng's thinking jumped to another level.

"In the system, even the 'Sigh of the God King' can be a commodity..." he said to himself. "Then why can't the 'resentment' and 'curses' of billions of souls on this planet be one?"

Using the bathroom as an excuse, he deviated from the main mining tunnel and slipped into an abandoned tunnel that had long been sealed off.

A sign hanging at the entrance read "DANGER - DO NOT ENTER." A cold wind blew out from within, mixed with countless faint whispers that seemed to ring directly in his mind.

"...So cold..."

"...Mama..."

"...Liar..."

Mental pollution! Chen Feng instantly understood that the concentration of Soul Echoes here was high enough to affect reality.

He gritted his teeth and, braving the whispers that almost drove him to insanity, walked deeper inside.

Finally, he saw a fist-sized undead crystal on the rock wall. It was even purer than the ones in the mining area, a blackness so deep it seemed bottomless.

"It's you."

Risking discovery by the overseers, he pulled a sharpened metal strip from his shirt and carefully began to pry it loose.

The moment he touched the crystal, the system interface in his mind suddenly lit up!

[High-dimensional information response detected...]

[Scanning target composition...]

[...Scan complete.]

Chen Feng's consciousness sank into the system space once more, and a detailed analysis report unfolded before him.

[Item Name (Localized Definition): undead crystal]

[Information Composition Analysis:]

[1. High-Concentration Soul Echoes (Inactive)... 87.4%]

[2. High-Entropy Sequence Information Sample... 11.2%]

[3. Trace Law Pollution (Source: High-Dimensional Energy Dissipation)... 1.3%]

[4. Other Redundant Information... 0.1%]

[System Value Assessment: Extremely Low (Carbon-Based Life General Value System) / Extremely High (Specific Information Civilization Value System)]

No curses, no resentment—only cold, neutral data descriptions.

Chen Feng's gaze was deadlocked on the second point.

"High-Entropy Sequence Information Sample..."

He laughed. In the cold mining tunnel, amidst the whispers of countless dead souls, he let out a laugh like a man who had survived a disaster.

"Entropy, the second law of thermodynamics, a physical quantity that measures the degree of disorder in a system. An increase in entropy represents the transition from order to disorder..."

"For civilizations that have reached the pinnacle of logic and order, like a super AI, isn't 'disorder' itself the rarest and most precious research material? A perfect 'random source'!"

"What is a curse in your eyes is gold in the eyes of others!"

"I've found it!"

With less than two days left on his life's countdown, Chen Feng had finally found the lever that could move the entire universe.