Chapter 1: List the Top Ten God-Level Civilizations! Opening with the M78 Nebula!

(Brain Storage)

(Here sign in to receive a random Ultraman transformation device!)

(Here sign in to receive a two-dimensional foil!)

(Here sign in to receive an Iron Man battle suit!)

(Here sign in to receive an ability lock!)

……

Inside the rental house, the aroma of instant noodles permeated.

Jiang Li slurped noodles while complaining to the air:

"I said, system, are you sure this thing works? List the top ten civilizations, and right off the bat give me fifty thousand?"

"This project of yours sounds more exciting than northern Myanmar; you won't kill me and sell my parts, will you?"

In his mind, a mechanical voice devoid of emotion sounded:

【Please host, finish editing and upload as soon as possible; the initial reward will be settled after the video is released.】

"Fine, fine, fine, even capitalists can't criticize you."

Jiang Li pursed his lips, drank the last mouthful of broth, and smacked his lips, still unsatisfied.

As an ordinary earthly youth, after graduating college he also got an offer to be a homebody, and with nothing to do he would often pontificate on world affairs on the internet.

However, due to negative income, even a penny can stymie a hero.

Jiang Li also had to start learning editing techniques, preparing to become a uploader.

This internet meal, his good son can eat it, but can my offspring not eat it?

Unexpectedly, just as he started editing, the system awakened.

The system was also straightforward: the task is to list the universe's top ten god-level civilizations and edit and upload.

Complete the first video, and you can obtain the fifty-thousand initial reward.

That fifty thousand, to him, is a 'big sum' that could improve his rental life.

As the saying goes, money is the root of all evil.

So Jiang Li, with the good intention of helping the world eliminate evil, began rapidly tapping the keyboard.

"List the Ten Shocking Civilizations of All Heavens and Myriad Worlds! Opening with the M78 Nebula!"

Jiang Li rubbed his hands, a cheap smile on his face, "For the fifty thousand, universe's privacy, you guys just sacrifice a bit!"

Having said that, he without hesitation pressed the huge 【Upload to All Heavens and Myriad Worlds】 button.

……

The next second, a light curtain descended without warning onto the Three-Body World.

No.

It descended before all known cosmic civilizations.

Three-Body Star, First Fleet Command Center.

All Three-Body People 'watched' the scene before them. They had no eyes, but their thoughts synchronized like never before.

The Leader's thought was like a dead sea frozen at absolute zero, without a ripple.

What he first felt was not fear, but extreme confusion.

The real-time Earth feed monitored via the Sophon disappeared.

In its place was a deep, seemingly all-encompassing golden light curtain.

It simply hovered in the thought perception of each Three-Body Person, unable to be closed, parsed, or understood.

"Analysis."

The Leader issued a concise thought command.

"Report to Leader, the source of interference cannot be traced."

"All analytical models have failed."

"This… this does not conform to any known physical law!"

Sharp thought fluctuations surged within the command center.

"What about the Sophon? Has the Sophon been blocked?"

An Executive Official's thought was filled with panic.

"No, it's worse than blocking." A Science Executive Official responsible for monitoring trembled in thought, "Leader, the Sophon… is 'watching'. It, like us, is forced to watch!"

What?!

This information exploded like a supernova in the Leader's frozen sea of thought.

Even their proudest Sophon, which unfolds in eleven dimensions and is omnipotent at the microscopic scale, has become a spectator?

What tremendous power!

God-level civilization?

Or… the very laws of the universe?

The Leader first felt insignificance, an innate, undeniable sense of smallness.

The Three-Body Civilization he leads, struggling to survive, might not even amount to a speck of dust before this power.

……

Cybertron Star, Iron Fortress.

Optimus Prime was discussing with Jazz and Ironhide how to respond to the Decepticons' recent energy-plundering scheme.

Suddenly, all data screens, including the tactical map before their eyes, were completely replaced by a golden light curtain.

"Alert! Unknown intrusion!" Ironhide immediately raised his arm-mounted cannons, vigilantly scanning the surroundings, "Is this a new trick from Megatron?"

"No, Tie Pi, stay calm." Optimus Prime's blue optical lens flickered as he reached out to touch the light curtain, but passed through it unhindered, "Its energy reading is zero, showing no hostility. Moreover... I can feel that this thing has appeared throughout the universe."

An unprecedented solemnity and curiosity rose within his righteous fire seed.

What kind of existence could project its will to every corner in such a gentle yet overbearing manner?

……

Qingqing Grassland, Wolf Castle.

"I will definitely come back!"

Grey Wolf had a smoking big bump on his head, traced a graceful parabola across the sky, and crashed heavily in front of the lab table.

"Useless thing! Can't even catch a few sheep!"

Red Wolf stood with arms akimbo, the flat pan in his hand still radiating residual heat.

Grey Wolf was about to habitually put on an apologetic smile, but the sight before him left him stunned.

On the wall, the schematics of the "Plan to Catch Sheep 108" were covered by a sheet of golden light curtain.

"Huh? What is this?" He curiously reached out and poked it, his finger passing straight through, "Could it be that my new invention, the holographic sheep-catching lamp, has succeeded?"

"Stop spacing out! Quickly go think of how to catch sheep next time!"

Red Wolf's flat pan rose again.

"Honey, honey, look, look, there's one in the sky too!"

Grey Wolf pointed outside the window; the entire sky over Qingqing Grassland was shrouded in this strange golden light curtain.

Grey Wolf's curiosity was piqued, temporarily putting the matter of catching sheep at the back of his mind.

……

Inside the rented house, Jiang Li watched the frantically jumping number of "Connected Civilizations" on the system interface, grinning from ear to ear.

"Wuhu, take off! There are still quite a few viewers."

Amidst the gaze of countless beings in the Myriad Realms—some frightened, some curious, some bewildered—Jiang Li's carefully selected opening appeared, a line of grand and ancient text slowly emerging.

【Inventory the Ten Shocking Civilizations of the Myriad Realms!】

Inside the Three-Body Command Center, deathly silence prevailed.

"Myriad Realms? Inventory?" a young Three-Body person uttered a near‑absurd guess, "This is… some kind of universe‑level… entertainment show?"

But the Leader's thoughts suddenly tightened.

To inventory means to rank, to compare, and moreover… to expose!

Who possesses such qualification and power to "inventory" the civilizations of the universe?

A surge of strong sorrow welled up from the depths of Monitor No. 1379's mind.

He recalled the warning he had sent to the blue world named "Earth".

He respected every civilization,

but this light curtain seemed to want to drag all civilizations into the spotlight,

This ran contrary to the creed he believed in.