5: Miniature Galaxy (Please read and add to your favorites)

Jiang Feng took three steps over five boxes, almost tripping.

He reached out and grabbed the handle of the black box. Instantly, an eerie blue light suddenly illuminated in his vision.

His vision abruptly elevated, transcending buildings, cities, continents, and planets.

Before his eyes was a high-angle Overlooking view. The dark starry sky was dotted with an almost infinite number of stars. In the center of his vision was a yellow sun, orbited by several planets.

Jiang Feng could feel a mysterious, inherent connection forming between himself and this space.

He could take things out of it and put things into it, but at this moment, his mental power was so insignificant compared to this space, thus the usable space was very limited.

'Hmm? What's that?'

Jiang Feng saw a small “plus sign” icon at the corner of his eye.

As soon as his attention focused on it, a window immediately popped up.

【Relic: Miniature Galaxy (Replica)】

【Current Status: Damaged (Integrity 11%)】

【Unlocked Form: Handbag】

【Locked Forms: Shoulder Bag (Requires 25% Integrity); Necklace (Requires 50% Integrity)】

【Interactable Space: 136 cubic meters (Space Environment)】

【Interactable Object: Cybrex Warforge (Too large, cannot be removed)】

【Phase One Repair Cost: 100 kg Rare Crystals】

Jiang Feng's head reeled, as if he had been punched hard in the face.

He was an old player of stellaris, so he naturally understood what a "Miniature Galaxy" meant. It was no exaggeration to say that the value of this relic was so high he couldn't even measure it.

After all, in stellaris, even vast and populous interstellar empires coveted this item.

'Right, and there's the Cybrex Warforge!'

'With these two things, will I be able to create a portable Ring World for farming and building up armies?'

'Wouldn't that mean I'm on a path from an ordinary commoner to an emperor of a stellar empire?'

'It's just that I'll have to climb up slowly from the bottom... and who knows how many years that will take.'

'Hmm, in that case, isn't this more like the script of Emperor Taizu of Ming Dynasty?'

Jiang Feng was even more shocked. The "Cybrex Warforge" in stellaris originated from a mysterious alien civilization that disappeared hundreds of thousands of years ago. This thing could produce alloys and also "Cyberlex Battleframes."

Those were gigantic robots, so tall they could be described as reaching the clouds, and their firepower was enough to destroy cities.

Focusing his thoughts, his vision suddenly descended, piercing through countless cloud layers and landing on a continental plate of a certain planet.

A massive factory facility, covering a large portion of the continental plate, appeared before his eyes, like a black behemoth sprawling across the land, turning everything into a terrifying cool tone.

With a thought, this massive factory responded to him, and another interface popped out.

【Relic: Cybrex Warforge (Authority Level 1)】

【Current Status: Intact (Fully Deployed)】

【Producible Units: Low-level robots (Requires blueprints, materials); Alloys (Requires mineral materials)】

【Non-producible Units: Cyberlex Soldiers (Requires Authority Level 2); Cyberlex Battleframes (Requires Authority Level 3)】

【Authority Upgrade Condition: Produce 1 million robot units (Unlocks Authority Level 2)】

Jiang Feng was completely numb, his head buzzing, his thoughts like rusty gears, grinding off rust with every turn.

'This thing is both a blessing and a curse!'

Reason gradually took over, Jiang Feng's heart pounding wildly.

'Although I can sense its location at any time, the Miniature Galaxy cannot be carried with me until it's repaired, which means if those advanced civilizations discover it...'

Jiang Feng's lips trembled: 'I'll be finished!'

He could only think for the best: the Miniature Galaxy was bound to him, and no one else could open or use it.

But this was the stellaris universe, a place with advanced civilizations, no, high-dimensional civilizations.

High-level civilizations and those Fallen Empires could easily create pocket dimensions, storing resources from hundreds of planets, and even reduce the intermolecular distance to compress matter for easier storage.

The Miniature Galaxy seemed advanced, but only relative to Earth's civilization in 2254.

'No, I must repair it quickly, at least to make it portable!'

Jiang Feng immediately opened his wristband to check the price of rare crystals. He didn't know until he looked, and then he rolled his eyes.

"Due to upgraded controls, the Human Federation has reduced rare crystal exports, causing rare crystal prices to increase by over tenfold!"

"Today's Rare Crystal Price: 35,252 earth federation coins/gram"

'One hundred kilograms would be 3.5 billion earth federation coins?'

Jiang Feng instantly lost all strength. Such an exorbitant price would be enough to build a space frigate.

Thinking of this, he immediately closed his wristband, deciding to put the matter aside for now.

The immediate priority was to figure out a way to make money using these two relics!

With a soft click, the box opened, revealing nothing special inside—just the contents of a box, dusty, dirty, and with some fragments, whether it was artificial leather peeling off with age or scattered paper, he didn't know.

Jiang Feng breathed a sigh of relief. This way, he could truly carry this box as a box.

After a moment of thought, he picked up a glass cup and tried to use his mind. He immediately felt that as long as he was near the box and a part of his body was in contact with an object, he could send that object into the Miniature Galaxy.

'In!'

With a thought, the glass cup in his hand instantly disappeared, and in the space of his mind, there was an extra glass cup.

But what Jiang Feng didn't expect was that the space on the other side was a space environment, not only extremely cold but also a vacuum.

With such a disturbance, the glass couldn't withstand it and immediately developed dense cracks.

"Out!"

Jiang Feng's thought moved again, and the glass cup appeared out of thin air. The moment it appeared, the pressure surged.

"Crack... smash!"

A pile of glass shards immediately appeared on the floor.

In the bedroom, there was a dull thud as someone jumped to the floor. The next second, the door opened, and Lin Xiaoyu, wrapped in an oversized shirt, stormed out like a whirlwind.

"Are you okay?"

Jiang Feng looked at her anxious expression and smiled faintly.

"I'm fine, just accidentally broke a cup. Go put on your shoes quickly, the floor is cold."

Lin Xiaoyu looked at him worriedly for a few moments, her face suddenly turning pale. She immediately clutched her lower abdomen, glared fiercely at Jiang Feng, and then limped back to the bedroom.

'Why is she glaring at me? Was that cup that precious?'

Jiang Feng was utterly bewildered. He got up and went to the kitchen, grabbing a broom.

Inside the room, Lin Xiaoyu hugged her knees, pouting slightly, and gasped.

Last night was passionate, her mind a blank, but now that she had come to her senses, she couldn't understand how Jiang Feng's carrot had turned into a white radish overnight.

'That was terrifying!' She shyly covered her face, her palms and cheeks burning hot.

A moment later, she heard Jiang Feng sweeping outside. Lin Xiaoyu took a deep breath and quickly went to wash up and change.

She still had work to do today. Yesterday, she was disassembling large cargo drone engines at the old junkyard, earning thirty earth federation coins an hour. If she could find good parts after disassembling, there would be a bonus.

Unfortunately, yesterday, because of Jiang Feng, she only worked for half an hour. Today, she had to work hard to finish.

Walking out of the bedroom, Lin Xiaoyu glanced at the boxes piled in the living room. Her steps paused for half a second, then she smiled calmly and immediately began making breakfast: simple synthetic gruel, plus her carefully prepared vitamin and mineral powder.

Jiang Feng looked at her busy back, feeling an unprecedented sense of fulfillment.

But beneath this fulfillment, surging waves of alarm churned. Everything before him was too fragile, unable to withstand any disturbance. Only by finding a way to rely on the Miniature Galaxy would their family have a chance to turn their fortunes around!

Unable to resist, Jiang Feng walked behind Lin Xiaoyu and hugged her tightly, breathing in the scent of her hair.

Lin Xiaoyu was startled, then softened in his embrace, asking softly, "What's wrong? This isn't like you..."

She spoke without thinking, but he took it to heart. Jiang Feng's eyes sharpened. He opened his mouth and spoke naturally.

"Nothing, I just feel that since I've already died once, I should cherish everything I have even more."

"Xiaoyu, you are everything I have."

"Smooth talker."

Lin Xiaoyu's face showed disdain, but her heart bloomed with joy. However, along with the happiness, a strange feeling also grew.

This man hugging her, wasn't he always taciturn and incapable of sweet talk?

She couldn't help but recall something she once heard online: if a man suddenly starts speaking sweet nothings, perhaps he has someone else outside.

Lin Xiaoyu quickly cut off her thoughts at this point, scolding herself for being overthinking: 'Phooey, phooey, don't think nonsense!'

She leaned her head against him, feeling Jiang Feng's solid chest, and smiled faintly.

Jiang Feng's eyes were gentle. Through the reflection in the cabinet, he saw the black box behind him, and an idea vaguely formed in his mind.

'Glass is afraid of the vacuum of space, but ore isn't.'

'Rare crystals from the Human Federation cost over three thousand earth federation coins a gram. Sold to the Terran Union, that's over thirty thousand earth federation coins.'

'Profits driven by tariffs are faster than robbery. If it's true for rare crystals, it must be true for other things too. As long as I can transport them in, it's countless money.'

'The only obstacle is how to transport them in.'

'And I don't have that obstacle!'