14: Chapter 14 Alien Soldiers

The presidential suite was huge, so massive that it took several minutes just to walk a full circle around it.

The various furnishings were also incredibly luxurious, making Chen Mu, who hadn't stayed in a presidential suite in either of his two lifetimes, feel like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden.

After touring for a while, Chen Mu pushed open the bathroom door and stripped off all his clothes. He had long since had enough of this hobo outfit; now that the second step of his plan was basically complete, he would soon be promoted from a homeless man to a member of the Heavenly Palace.

He filled the tub with hot water and soaked his entire body in it. The hot bath, something he hadn't enjoyed in a long time, made him involuntarily close his eyes.

The system interface expanded in his field of vision: [Current fear value: 101,460,000.]

This number had barely moved in the past ten minutes or so.

The growth curve had turned into an almost horizontal line, jumping only every few seconds by dozens, and occasionally over a hundred.

It seemed the Blue Star had basically accepted the existence of the alien fleet; he had to give them a new stimulus.

He clicked on the mall, and silvery-white shelves spread out in his vision.

[Collector - Basic Type]

[Rank: C-Rank]

[Permanent Unlock: 100,000 fear value]

[Unit Description: Guga Planet standard ground combat unit, adjustable height of 2.4-2.8 meters. Single-arm thrust of 8-12 tons. Shell armor thickness of 80-120mm. Genes ignore cosmic radiation, allowing activity in a vacuum for 30 minutes.]

[Basic Configuration: Bolter ×1 (Standard)]

He moved the cursor to "Bolter" and clicked.

[Bolter - Basic Type]

[Rank: D-Rank]

[Individual Purchase: 8,000 fear value]

[Description: Guga Planet individual standard-issue firearm. Fires 18mm caliber explosive rounds with miniature fusion charges. Effective range: 1,200 meters. Penetration: 40mm equivalent homogeneous steel armor. Rate of fire: Semi-auto / Three-round burst. Magazine capacity: 12 rounds.]

He moved the cursor to the area below the soldier's item slot that he hadn't clicked before. There was a row of small text:

[This product includes basic configuration only. Please purchase advanced equipment separately.]

He clicked on that row of small text, and a drop-down menu expanded in his vision.

[Personal Shield Generator · C-Rank · Permanent 40,000]

[Power Armor · B-Rank · Permanent 1,000,000 · Strength Amplification ×3, Armor +200mm equivalent]

[Quantum Pulse Hand Cannon · B-Rank · Permanent 1,200,000 · Effective range 5km, 300mm equivalent penetration, rapid fire available.]

[Phase Cutter · C-Rank · Permanent 100,000 · Melee, capable of cutting most known materials.]

[Gravity Grenade · D-Rank · Permanent 5,000 / 50 units · Creates a localized gravity anomaly field.]

[Environmental Adaptation Suit · C-Rank · Permanent 100,000 · Operational capability in various extreme environments.]

[Phase Camouflage · C-Rank · Permanent 150,000 · Active optical invisibility, thermal imaging immunity.]

He scrolled down one by one, and the menu continued. The price of each piece of equipment was no cheaper than the soldier itself, and some were even more expensive.

A Collector only cost 100,000, but if one were to fully equip it with Power Armor, a Quantum Pulse Hand Cannon, a Personal Shield, and Phase Camouflage, the total would come to about three million.

Shit, he now somewhat understood why the United States felt so much pain for their soldiers during combat; it was because they were just too damn expensive.

He closed the soldier menu and clicked on aircraft.

[Snooper - Basic Type]

[Rank: A-Rank]

[Permanent Unlock: 12,000,000 fear value]

[Unit Description: Guga Planet reconnaissance aircraft. Irregular polyhedron, 12 meters in diameter. Intra-atmospheric cruising speed of 3,000 km/h, maximum speed of 0.3 times the speed of light. Capable of perfectly static hovering and inertia-ignoring turns. Active invisibility across radar, infrared, and visible light full-spectrums.]

[Basic Configuration: Planetary Railgun ×1 (Standard), Basic Energy Shield ×1 (Standard)]

He clicked on "Planetary Railgun."

[Planetary Railgun - Basic Type]

[Rank: B-Rank]

[Individual Purchase: 1,200,000 fear value]

[Description: Directed energy weapon deployed on aircraft or motherships. Effective range: Low Earth orbit to the surface. Power: Adjustable, from precision cutting (minimum power) to wide-area destruction (maximum power). At maximum power, the destruction radius of a single shot is approximately 500 meters. Charge time: 120 seconds required after a full-power shot.]

When he saw accessories like the Swarm Annihilation Missile, Arc Storm Generator, and Emergency Warp Module listed below, Chen Mu didn't even dare to look.

If a single Snooper were fully equipped, it would cost at least 50 million fear value.

Finally, he clicked on the equipment and accessories for the S-Rank Mothership, which made his jaw drop even further.

[Star-Slaying Cannon - Basic Type]

[Rank: S-Rank]

[Permanent Unlock: 150,000,000 fear value]

[Prerequisite: Must possess S-Rank Mothership as a deployment platform]

[Description: Guga Planet fleet flagship-class weapon. Directed energy/gravitational composite weapon. Power is sufficient to destroy the geological structure of a terrestrial planet, causing it to disintegrate under its own gravity. Charge time: 72 hours. Cooldown: 30 days.]

[Dimensional Collapse Module - Basic Type]

[Rank: S+]

[Permanent Unlock: 5,000,000,000 fear value]

[Prerequisite: Must possess S-Rank Mothership as a deployment platform.]

[Description: Guga Planet law-grade weapon. Creates a dimensional collapse field at target spatial coordinates, compressing all matter within that space from three dimensions into two. Radius of effect: Maximum approximately 1 Astronomical Unit. Irreversible. Module self-destructs after a single use and must be repurchased.]

...

After much consideration, he finally purchased ten fully-equipped alien soldiers and one basic small aircraft, letting them stand by on-site along with the Cosmic Illusion.

This alone cost him nearly 50 million fear value, but the benefit was that once the soldiers and aircraft were purchased, these items and their accessories would no longer be subject to mall refresh limits and could be bought at will.

[fear value: 52,000,000]

He fixed his gaze on the S-Rank Mothership for a moment before silently closing the mall.

He began to mold the appearance of the alien soldiers as a 3D modeling interface expanded in his vision.

The Collector's default appearance consisted of a dark brown biological carapace all over, with a head that was a smooth, curved shell featuring a vertical photosensitive slit in the center.

He moved the cursor to the head and changed its image to resemble a penguin.

Thus, a penguin-like lifeform, covered in biological carapace, standing 2.6 meters tall with a single-arm thrust of eight to twelve tons, was born.

Any human seeing it for the first time would likely think it was a distant relative of the Blue Star penguin.

Chen Mu watched that penguin rotate in his field of vision for a long time before clicking 'Apply'.

[Appearance customization saved. Current customization scheme: Penguin (Theme)]

[Hint: This customization scheme only affects visual appearance. Unit performance parameters remain unchanged.]

After finishing all this, he stepped out of the bathtub, changed into a guest bathrobe, and lay down on the soft, massive bed.

"Comfortable! This is the life!"

Finally, he no longer smelled the stench of urine under New York's bridges or the rusty smell of subway vents; instead, he smelled the scent of money and power.

Chen Mu unknowingly fell asleep.

And on the ceiling above him, a speck of red light flashed.

In its lens, Chen Mu's sleeping posture was decomposed into digital signals, traveling along optical fibers buried in the ceiling, through the corridors of the White House's West Wing, past data nodes on the third basement level, and through at least seven air-gapped firewalls, finally converging into a room with windows.