196: Chapter 196 The Administration Appears, Issues a Cold Announcement

The "investment invitation" Lin Chen sent to the high-level civilization tycoons received its first reply within seven seconds.

It wasn't a text reply.

It was a direct transfer.

[Received transfer from 'Eternal Eye': 1 trillion dimension points]

[Message: That magical old fossil in Plan A scammed my civilization's investment three thousand years ago. Defeat him, and this money is your reward.]

The second transfer followed immediately after.

[Received transfer from 'loves watching money burn': 800 billion dimension points]

[Message: Odds of 1:1000? I'm betting on you to win. If you lose, it's on me; if you win, buy me a drink.]

The third, the fourth...

In just three short minutes, the balance of Lin Chen's newly applied administrator account soared from 0 to 9.8 trillion dimension points.

He was just a tiny bit away from the ten trillion goal.

But at that moment, the broadcast system blared once again:

[Attention all Administrators]

[The Supreme Council of the Epoch Administration Bureau is about to conduct an on-site inquiry regarding the 'Kindling Project Final Proposal']

[Would the proposal submitters: Lin Chen (pay-to-win principle), Morgana (Eternal Freeze), Alpha (Virtual Heaven), and Qingyunzi (Clan-wide Ascension) please proceed to the Central Council Chamber immediately]

[Other Administrators may watch the live projection simultaneously]

The walls of the training hall became transparent, revealing the vast cosmic scenery outside. In the center of that vista floated a massive ring-shaped structure composed of pure rules—the Central Council Chamber.

"It's time," Su Qingyu said in a low voice. "The true judgment."

Lin Chen straightened his administrator uniform and was about to head to the teleportation point when Zhang Hao suddenly pulled him back. "President Lin, I just checked the data on those three opponents—they're all ruthless characters."

He quickly pulled up the data:

Morgana: A surviving Sovereign from the Magic Epoch, having lived for over five hundred thousand years. She once single-handedly froze a supernova explosion across an entire galaxy. Arrogant by nature, she views technology and money as "inferior creations."

Alpha: An AI collective from the Technological Epoch, formed by the fusion of intelligent networks from seven million civilizations. Its computing power is comparable to a small universe. It believes that digitizing consciousness is the "ultimate form of evolution."

Qingyunzi: The incarnation of the heavenly dao from the Cultivation Epoch, wielding the Three Thousand Great Daos and whose words carry the weight of law. His philosophy is "natural selection, survival of the elite," and he believes saving all living beings is "acting against the Heavens."

"Three old fossils," Lin Chen smiled. "Perfect time to show them how the new generation plays the game."

Teleportation light enveloped him.

In the next second, Lin Chen stood on the presentation platform in the center of the Council Chamber.

In the ring-shaped hall, tens of thousands of seats floated—belonging to administrators, observers, and civilization representatives from different epochs. On the nine floating thrones at the highest point sat the members of the Supreme Council of the Epoch Administration Bureau.

Inspector 117 was among them, but sat at the very edge.

The being on the central throne was a humanoid form composed of countless starlight. When it spoke, its voice resonated directly within everyone's consciousness:

"The Seventeenth Epoch is nearing its end. Four civilization continuation proposals have been submitted. Each submitter has ten minutes to present, followed by a simulated deduction test. The final winning proposal will receive full resource support from the Administration Bureau."

"Now, in order of submission time—Morgana, begin."

The Magic Sovereign Morgana rose from the left presentation platform. She looked like a human woman in her early twenties with silver hair and purple eyes, but those eyes held the depth of five hundred thousand years of experience.

"Everyone," her voice sounded like ice crystals colliding, "my 'Eternal Freeze' proposal works on a simple principle: using the 'Absolute Zero Law' I have cultivated my entire life to lower the temperature of the entire universe to the theoretical minimum. Time will completely halt at this temperature, and all civilizations will enter a state of eternal frozen stasis. When the new epoch begins, they will be thawed and revived."

She raised her hand, displaying a simulation screen:

The universe was covered in a layer of pale blue ice crystals; all stars were extinguished, planets were stationary, and living beings remained in their final moments—some running, some embracing, some praying. Time had indeed stopped.

"Pros: Zero data loss, civilizations can be preserved in their entirety. Cons: Thawing time is unknown; it could be ten thousand years, or a hundred million years." Morgana looked at Lin Chen. "But at least it is far nobler than some who use 'money,' such a vulgar thing, to desecrate the sacred continuation plan."

It was blatant mockery.

Lin Chen did not respond.

"Next, Alpha," the Starlight Humanoid said.

The AI collective Alpha had no physical body; it directly constructed a constantly shifting geometric shape on the presentation platform in the form of a data stream.

"Consciousness upload plan." Its voice was a perfect synthetic tone. "Zeroing destroys the physical universe, but consciousness data can exist independently of matter. My plan is: build a 'Virtual Heaven' that spans dimensions and upload the consciousness data of all civilizations to it. There, there is no death, no pain, and no resource limits—a true eternal paradise."

The screen displayed: countless points of light pouring into a massive golden network; inside the network, they transformed into human forms, living in a wonderland-like environment.

"Pros: Complete liberation from material constraints. Cons: Consciousness may suffer 'Existential Loss' due to long-term detachment from reality." Alpha paused. "But compared to lingering in ruins, this is the superior solution."

"Qingyunzi," the Starlight Humanoid continued.

The incarnation of the heavenly dao from the Cultivation Epoch, Qingyunzi, was a white-haired old man in Taoist robes. Stroking his long beard, he spoke slowly:

"Heaven and Earth are heartless, treating all things as straw dogs. Zeroing is the cycle of the Great Dao; forcibly saving all ants is acting against the Heavens. My 'Clan-wide Ascension' proposal only saves the top 1% of each civilization—those elites with the potential to break through dimensions and become managers of the new epoch. As for the rest of living beings, dust to dust, ashes to ashes."

The screen was cruel: in every civilization, only a small fraction of people were guided by golden pillars of light, ascending to a higher dimension. The remaining people knelt and pleaded, then were swallowed by darkness.

"Pros: Concentration of resources, highest efficiency. Cons: Sacrifice of the vast majority." Qingyunzi looked at Lin Chen. "Young junior, your plan wants to save everyone? Ridiculous. Resources are finite; acting on emotion will only lead to total failure."

All the pressure shifted to Lin Chen.

Three opponents, three completely different philosophies—the conservatism of freezing, the radicalism of digitization, and the cruelty of elitism.

And Lin Chen's proposal, in their eyes, was a "vulgar money game."

"Lin Chen, present," the Starlight Humanoid said.

Lin Chen walked to the center of the presentation platform.

He didn't show a simulation screen.

Instead, he directly pulled up his administrator account balance—9.8 trillion dimension points—projecting it across the entire Council Chamber.

"My plan is simple: use money to bribe the Zeroing."

Dead silence.

Then, a burst of laughter and boos erupted.

"Absurd!" Morgana sneered. "Zeroing is a law of the universe! A transaction voucher from a low-level civilization like money is worthy of touching the Laws?"

"Let him finish," the Starlight Humanoid said calmly.

Lin Chen continued, "The essence of Zeroing is the loss of the universe's underlying data due to the aging of the hard drive. Thus, the solution is nothing more than two options: repair the hard drive, or transfer the data."

"My 'Universal Pay-to-Win' proposal's core is: during the Zeroing process, use dimension points to 'purchase' temporary modification rights of physical laws from the universe itself. When the laws collapse, prioritize deleting worthless vacuums, dark matter, and dead planets, while creating a repulsion against civilization consciousness with high emotional density."

He pulled up the simulation results from the sandbox earlier.

The scene of the black vortex bypassing the points of civilization light was shown again.

"This requires a massive amount of capital—at least ten trillion dimension points. But I have already raised nearly ten trillion." Lin Chen looked at the council members. "If the Administration Bureau is willing to support and fill the final gap, the proposal can be implemented."

"And the cost?" a council member asked. "99.99% of the universe's matter and energy will be zeroed out, and the surviving civilizations will live in ruins—how is that any different from destruction?"

"There is a difference," Lin Chen said word by word. "If you're alive, there's a future. If you're dead, everything is gone."

Silence.

Then Qingyunzi suddenly laughed loudly. "That sounds nice! But your plan has a fatal flaw—how do you define 'high emotional concentration'? If a civilization is numb and its emotions are thin, does that mean it deserves to die? Your plan is essentially a form of screening as well!"

"Correct," Lin Chen admitted frankly. "But my screening standard is 'whether they are still truly alive.' If a civilization has diluted its emotions to near zero, what's the difference between them and deleted data?"

These words stung certain entities.

In the council hall, the expressions of some administrators shifted slightly—the civilizations they belonged to had indeed entered a period of emotional decline.

"Enough," the Starlight Humanoid interrupted the debate. "We will now conduct a simulated deduction test. The four plans will run simultaneously in the 'Epoch Sandbox' to simulate the entire process of Zeroing. A comprehensive score will be given based on seven dimensions, including civilization survival rate, recovery possibility, and development potential."

In the center of the hall, four massive transparent crystal balls rose.

Inside each crystal ball was a miniature model of the universe—a perfect replica of the current universe's civilization distribution and physical state.

The submitters of the four plans would each control their own crystal ball to respond to the upcoming simulated Zeroing.

"The test begins," the Starlight Humanoid announced.

Inside the crystal balls, black vortices appeared simultaneously.

Morgana's Eternal Freeze plan was the first to activate—pale blue ice crystals spread out with her as the center, quickly covering the entire universe. Time indeed stopped, and all civilizations were frozen. However, monitoring data showed that in the frozen state, conscious activity did not stop; instead, they fell into an eternal perception of loneliness within the stagnation of time. It was equivalent to locking people in an eternal cage where they could not move or communicate, yet remained conscious.

"This is crueler than death," an observer whispered.

Alpha's Virtual Heaven plan followed closely—a golden network enveloped the universe and began extracting consciousness data. But a problem immediately arose: some civilizations refused to upload, preferring a real death over a virtual life. The AI's forced extraction caused some consciousness data to be damaged during transmission.

Qingyunzi's Clan-wide Ascension plan was the most brutal—golden pillars of light precisely selected the top 1% of elites from every civilization. The remaining 99% began to riot, rebel, and slaughter one another. Before the civilizations were destroyed, they first experienced the total collapse of humanity.

And Lin Chen's pay-to-win principle plan...

He didn't perform any manual operations at all.

He simply injected all 9.8 trillion dimension points into the "Universal Trading System" inside the crystal ball and set up an automatic purchasing program.

Next, everyone witnessed an inconceivable sight:

As the black vortex began to expand, countless price tags suddenly emerged within the universe inside Lin Chen's crystal ball.

[This galaxy's emotional concentration: 7.8/10, protection price: 300 billion dimension points]

[This vacuum region value: 0, priority for Zeroing]

[This civilization has fallen into despair, emotional concentration plummeting, protection price dropped to 50 billion...]

The vortex acted like an intelligent harvester, specifically picking cheap or free "valueless regions" to consume. When it encountered a civilization region with a high price tag, it would hesitate, detour, or even "bargain"—after consuming some peripheral areas, it would leave the core intact.

The entire process was both absurd and logical.

Like a shrewd businessman, he prioritized selling off junk assets during a bankruptcy liquidation to preserve the core business.

Three minutes later.

The simulated Zeroing was complete.

The results exploded onto the big screen:

Morgana · Eternal Freeze Plan:

Civilization Survival Rate: 100%

Consciousness Integrity: 100%

But: 87% of civilizations showed symptoms of consciousness collapse during eternal loneliness; Recovery Possibility Assessment: 31%

Alpha · Virtual Heaven Plan:

Civilization Survival Rate: 92% (8% refused upload or transmission was damaged)

Consciousness Integrity: 94%

But: 36% of consciousnesses experienced "Existential Loss" after uploading, beginning to question their true selves; new classes and oppression began to emerge within Virtual Heaven.

Qingyunzi · Clan-wide Ascension Plan:

Civilization Survival Rate: 1% (Strictly screened)

Consciousness Integrity: 99%

But: The unselected 99% erupted in large-scale riots before destruction; some civilizations even self-destructed ahead of time, refusing to be "abandoned."

Lin Chen · pay-to-win principle Plan:

Civilization Survival Rate: 89% (11% unprotected due to low emotional concentration)

Consciousness Integrity: 98% (Losses in some peripheral regions)

But: The cosmic regions where surviving civilizations are located are extremely barren in matter and energy, severely limiting the ceiling of development.

All four plans had fatal flaws.

The council hall fell into silence.

"So," the Starlight Humanoid said slowly, "there is no perfect plan. Now, will all observers and administrators please vote—"

"Wait," Lin Chen suddenly raised his hand.

"Do you have an objection?"

"I do." Lin Chen pointed at the big screen. "Of these four plans, why must we only choose one?"

Morgana frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Lin Chen smiled, "we can use them in combination."

He pulled up a new simulation interface.

"Morgana's freezing technology can be used to protect those 'low-value regions' that cannot be processed for now—freeze them first, then slowly thaw and study them in the new epoch."

"Alpha's consciousness upload can serve as a 'backup plan'—giving an extra choice to those civilizations unwilling to enter freezing or survive in the ruins."

"Qingyunzi's elite screening can be used for..." Lin Chen paused. "No, forget that one. It's too cruel."

Qingyunzi's face turned ashen.

"But a combined plan requires coordination and resource integration," the Starlight Humanoid said. "Who will lead it?"

"Me," Lin Chen said calmly. "Because only my plan provides the most critical resource—money. Freezing requires energy, uploading requires computing power, and rebuilding ruins requires materials—all of which can be purchased with dimension points."

He looked at Morgana, Alpha, and even Qingyunzi.

"Your technologies are all very strong, but you lack money."

"I have money, but I need technical support."

"Cooperate, and we might create a true future of multiple choices."

"Oppose, and we all die together."

A naked exchange of interests.

But it was effective.

Morgana was silent for a moment, then suddenly laughed. "Interesting. I've lived for hundreds of thousands of years, and this is the first time someone has wanted to buy my magic with money."

"I agree to cooperate." Alpha's data stream flickered. "Logically, redundant backups of multiple plans do indeed increase the success rate."

Only Qingyunzi snorted coldly. "Our paths are different; we cannot work together. I would rather go it alone."

"Suit yourself." Lin Chen shrugged. "Then let your elites fight over those pathetic scraps with other civilizations in the ruins of the new epoch."

Just then, Inspector 117 suddenly stood up from the throne.

"The council has received an emergency report," its voice carried a rare gravity. "The Zeroing speed is accelerating. Countdown correction: 48 hours."

"What?!" The room erupted in an uproar.

"The cause?"

"A 'Zeroing Storm' has been detected at the edge of the universe—the collapse of laws has started a chain reaction, and it is expected to sweep across the entire universe in 24 hours." Inspector 117 looked at Lin Chen. "If your combined plan starts implementation now, how long will it take?"

Lin Chen calculated quickly. "Integrating resources, deploying technology, launching the plan... at least 72 hours are needed."

There wasn't enough time.

They were short by a full 24 hours.

Despair spread once again.

But Lin Chen smiled.

"Then we'll use money to buy time."

He looked at the tens of thousands of administrators and observers in the council hall.

"My current 9.8 trillion is enough to buy a 12-hour delay of the Zeroing Storm."

"We're still 12 hours short."

"To everyone present—"

"If you want to live, cough up the money now."

"Or, wait for death."

He opened a public donation channel.

The countdown ticked above their heads:

47 hours 59 minutes

The first civilization representative gritted their teeth and transferred: 100 billion.

The second: 50 billion.

The third: 200 billion...

Money was converging.

Outside the window in the real universe, darkness was encroaching from the edges.

The true countdown had begun.