89: Game Resume

Since that historic communication, Lei Wen discovered that the game interface of "stellar universe" on his special laptop had undergone a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering change.

It was no longer the "Observer Mode" where he could only passively watch the passage of time without being able to perform any operations.

Every operation button that had once been greyed out—from fleet management to planetary construction, from policy decrees to scientific research—had been re-illuminated overnight.

Lei Wen found that he could once again, just like when he played the game before, directly mobilize every fleet of the Faleim Civilization through this concise game interface, adjust every one of their national policies, and even plan new colony systems and scientific research directions for them.

His "the guide" permissions, which had been interrupted for seven years, had returned in a more intuitive way.

He was now like a true deity, able to sit in his own divine kingdom and pluck the strings of destiny of another civilization as he pleased.

However, Lei Wen did not interfere too much with the development of the Faleim Civilization itself.

After experiencing the initial novelty, he was no longer the player who only pursued data and victory.

He was now more like a kind old father (though he wasn't very old) watching his children learn how to independently grow and explore in a brand new environment by relying on their own wisdom and efforts.

Of course, after learning that the guide had been silently watching over them all along, the upper echelons of the Faleim Civilization began to be keen on chatting with Lei Wen.

They established a high-dimensional quantum communication channel on the top floor of the Central Council tower on their home planet, leading directly to the computer in Lei Wen's underground command room.

Consul Price, Chief Scientist Zeral, and various council members of the Faleim upper echelons wished they could stay by that communication device twenty-four hours a day.

They would report the latest progress of their civilization to Lei Wen whenever they had the chance.

"Great Guide, our first stargate has finished laying its foundation, and it is expected to be officially completed in thirty standard years!"

"Great Guide, we have made a major breakthrough in our research on sub-recursive meson particles! We found that it seems it can be used as a kind of..."

"Great Guide, the thing you mentioned last time..."

These top leaders of the Faleim Civilization completely lacked their usual majesty and calmness when facing Lei Wen; instead, they were like a group of children eager to show off their report cards to their parents, full of admiration and a burning desire for approval.

This feeling made Lei Wen somewhat amused and helpless, but a surge of indescribable warmth and sense of responsibility welled up in his heart.

...

Through these daily "chats," Lei Wen also gained a clearer and more shocking understanding of the Faleim Civilization's current true strength.

Although they had lost the vast imperial territory and almost endless resources from the old universe.

Yet their massive technology tree, inherited over tens of thousands of years, and their terrifying interstellar industrial potential had been brought to this new universe intact.

Although the current Faleim Resource Integration State only had one star system and a few developing colony systems, its military strength was still powerful enough to make any civilization tremble.

They currently possessed three super fleets, each with a combat power of over 500M.

They were the Third Interstellar Expeditionary Fleet, which was once the main force for the empire's expansion, the Seventeenth Interstellar Expeditionary Fleet, and the Garrison Mobile Fleet responsible for guarding the capital, Faleimland.

The flagships of these three fleets were not traditional Titan-class warships, but three super-giant ships that only existed in mods, which Lei Wen had built in the late game—Juggernaut Combat Platforms.

Each Juggernaut was a mobile interstellar fortress over five hundred kilometers in length, comparable to an asteroid.

It was, in itself, a complete ecosystem capable of self-repair, equipped with a variety of powerful and terrifyingly numerous weapons, and its shipboard dockyards could even continuously produce various warships during wartime.

Surrounding each Juggernaut was a massive escort fleet composed of 20 Titan flagships, 50 Paradox-class battlecruisers, 200 conventional battleships, and tens of thousands of destroyers and frigates.

Any one of these three fleets, if brought out, would be enough to easily crush Grey Wind's intimidating-looking nano fleet on the front lines.

The Faleim Civilization's fleet blotted out the sky, no matter how many suns were in the sky.

The only pity was that these powerful warships were currently facing a common, awkward dilemma—they were short-legged.

Their Jump Drive could not perform conventional faster-than-light travel in this universe without hyperlanes, and they could now only rely on sub-light thrusters to perform boring patrols around the Faleimland System.

Or perform a long-range jump when encountering an emergency, but after the jump, the warships' energy reserves would be completely depleted, requiring a long wait to restore power.

"However, please rest assured, Great Guide," Consul Price assured Lei Wen during a report, "Once our engineering fleet and scientific exploration fleet expand the empire's territory to a certain scale, and the initial resource collection network is established, we will immediately stop the construction of civilian ships."

"At that time, all our dockyards will be operating at full capacity to carry out comprehensive adaptive upgrades and modifications for these three main fleets."

Chief Scientist Zeral also excitedly told Lei Wen during a technical exchange.

"Great Guide, our research on eliminating Higgs field fluctuations has achieved a decisive breakthrough!"

"We have successfully manufactured the first prototype wave-elimination device in the laboratory that can stably eliminate Higgs field fluctuations!"

"Although its current energy consumption is still very high and its effective range is only a few cubic meters, as long as we go through a few more technical iterations and engineering optimizations, we are confident that we can miniaturize it to a level that can be installed on interstellar warships within ten standard years!"

"By then, we will only need to make simple modifications to the existing Jump Drive to allow our main fleets to cruise freely in this universe at tens or even hundreds of times the speed of light!"

"And at the same time, they won't lose their original jump capability!"

Lei Wen listened quietly to their reports, his heart filled with emotion.

The self-evolution and environmental adaptation capabilities of a truly advanced civilization were simply terrifying.

He believed that it wouldn't be long before the Faleim Civilization would recreate their past glory in this new universe, and become even more powerful than before.

...

During a routine communication with Consul Price, Lei Wen told him the entire plan for the fake war he had orchestrated within the Solar System.

When Consul Price and Chief Scientist Zeral finished listening to the grand script Lei Wen had fabricated—full of interlocking plots, deception, and sacrifice, all to forcibly integrate the internal forces of a primitive civilization—the expressions on their faces were quite colorful.

"So Great Guide," Zeral looked at Lei Wen with a complex gaze full of admiration and a hint of sympathy, "you mean, you had Lady Grey Wind pretend to be our rebel army, and then pretend to be our regular army, fighting herself, all for the purpose of scaring the civilization you are in, and forcing them to unite?"

"That's one way to understand it." Lei Wen rubbed his nose, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"This... this is truly..." Consul Price couldn't find a suitable word to describe his mood at that moment.

In the end, he could only sigh from the bottom of his heart.

"You have really gone to great pains for the civilization of your home planet."

"The current war is nearing its end," Lei Wen brought the topic back on track, "According to the script, in the upcoming decisive battle, humanity's Earth Defense Force will win a pyrrhic victory after paying a huge Price, and completely annihilate the main force of this rebel army."

"I hope," he looked at Consul Price and made his request, "that the Faleim Civilization can officially make an appearance after this war ends, according to the needs of the plot."

"Conduct a formal official contact with the Earth Council under the name of 'coming to pursue the remnants of the rebels and thanking the Human Civilization for their assistance.'"

"And afterwards, logically establish a permanent communication channel on Earth—that is, what we call an embassy here."

"I need you to appear in humanity's field of vision as a real, powerful, and relatively friendly advanced civilization."

"This way, it can both continue the lie I fabricated before that 'the external threat will always exist,' making the Earth Civilization not dare to slack off in the slightest, and also allow us to provide some necessary technical assistance and cultural exchange to the Human Civilization in the future through this official channel of an embassy in a more gentle and controllable way."

Consul Price immediately understood Lei Wen's deeper meaning.

the guide was building a bridge for long-term communication between the two civilizations.

"No problem, Great Guide." He agreed without hesitation, "Your will is the direction we move forward."

"The Far Star Fleet has not yet returned."

"Ready to make a grand entrance whenever you need it."