Chapter 556

The puppet conference called the Ten-Head Brain frequently takes place; behind the scenes of galactic political leaders, it is the Will of Wealth that usually steers the meeting.

Heita idly spun around and said, "This is the start of the Frontier Star Trade War—the company's actions have worsened interstellar inequality, tensions have been piling up, the cosmic scale has tilted, and everyone knows it."

"The war has already begun. It broke out in the most remote, impoverished star sector—this is the first moment as calculated by the Learned Venerable." said Ruan Mei.

As her words faded, Xing's eyes went dark and she instantly lost consciousness.

「……」 no entities.

Pain.

This is the first sensation Xing feels after regaining consciousness: not a dull ache of flesh or a soft nerve pain, but a violent shudder from each overloaded cable, like steel rods stretched to their limit, emitting a grating groan.

She painfully opened her eyes—or rather, activated her optical sensors. What met her gaze was a deep red sky, endless heaps of metal scrap, and far off the broken silhouettes of a city. The air reeked of gunpowder, oil, and some unidentified decaying substance.

Memory data loaded like a damaged hard drive, in fits and starts—

【Identity confirmed: Xing, a mercenary assigned to De·Wein of the Technical Department.】

【Mission log: …interrupted…error…】

【Current status: severely damaged. The body suffers multiple penetrations, power core output unstable, left arm transmission failed…】

"Heita, do you really need to be this hardcore?"

Xing felt she couldn't even draw a breath—if she still had that function.

"Of course, I thought you were already used to this immersive simulation." Heita's small hand reached from behind and lightly tapped Xing's badly damaged mechanical frame. "You're currently in the Frontier Star War—be careful, because although death is just data dispersal and can be reassembled, it's still a bit of a hassle."

"Uh... okay, then I'll try not to die."

Xing tried to move, but all she got was an even more grating metal grinding from inside her torso. Her bionic skin was badly damaged, exposing the alloy skeleton beneath, crackling with electric arcs, and wiring sparking with a hiss.

In the distance came the hum of artillery and explosions, occasionally mixed with human shouts and screams. The battle continued. The Company's armed forces were clearing out the remaining rebel forces. Fain Sha's old rivals were also mixed in, leading their own troops to join the fray.

And she is now nothing more than an ordinary, boring tool to the Technical Department—just like all the other waste, discarded here and awaiting total scrapping.

—— (separator line) no translation needed? It's a line with just "——". We need to output translation for line 【20】 as well. The line is "——". We should translate as "——"? Probably keep as "——". We'll output same.

Pirate King.

"Is the Company planning to start a massacre on the Frontier Star?"

Mihawk narrowed his eyes, set down his glass, and gazed solemnly at the scarred planet hanging in the sky; with the Company's military and financial power, and without any envoy interference, they could likely destroy any planet with just a flick of a finger, right?

"Mas... massacre?" Buggy's tongue stumbled, "Just like... Ohara, which vanished because of the Demon Slayer Order?"

Crocodile snorted coldly: "What's so strange about that? It's survival of the fittest everywhere. Only this guy's methods are more 'thorough' and more 'efficient'—first using money to conquer the planet, forcing the locals to rebel, then wiping them out all at once... heh heh, the Company really has a good method."

"But I have a question: the Frontier Star Trade War was started by Fain Sha and Kola Pa Wu, previously unrelated to the Technical Department, so how did De·Wein get involved... what does he actually want to do?"

"What else can they do? Of course they're just trying to steal credit." Crocodile blew out a smoke ring, his tone dismissive: "The Company people, no matter how many years have passed, probably have only four words etched into their bones—factional struggle—and they likely don't want to just watch Fain Sha and Kola Pa Wu grow unchecked without anyone to balance them."

"That makes sense... but is the Frontier Star really worth the Company investing so much time and effort?"

"What do you mean?"

Crocodile, think about it... every planet involved in the Frontier Star Trade War has had its resources squeezed dry—in other words, there's nothing left to extract. From the standpoint of maximizing the Company's profit, are they still worth such a huge investment of effort and cost?

—— separator.

"... I can't fall here!"

Whether it was Xing's own consciousness or the memory of this mechanical mercenary acting up, an almost obsessive belief drove her to lift her head. She gritted her teeth, shoved the ground with her only still-intact right arm, and painfully raised her head.

Then, at the edge of her vision, Xing saw a blurry, thin silhouette—

De·Wein.

It seemed as if they were sharing a field of view, and Xing noticed many wondrous sights appearing before her that would normally be impossible to see—but since this is happening inside a simulated universe, it's not surprising.

De·Wein once reached the peak of Cognitive Expansion, and within the infinitely magnified Cognition, he saw vast amounts of rare earth metals and resources piled into endless steel mountains, with the very tip of the mountain being a cast‑iron throne.

De·Wein reached out toward the throne, and Memory began to flood his mind, whispering the same name: the sole King of Wealth in the world.

De·Wein's attempts were unsuccessful; each time he could only touch her toes with his fingertips, and she would reject his palm with her toes seven times. But each time he would crawl back, trying to get closer to her again.

They continued this exchange over and over, lasting as long as the universe itself.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable.

—— separator.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable.

"Josuke, I can't make sense of this... what the heck is that guy De·Wein doing?"

"Uh, me too..."

Josuke also didn't get it; the whole scene really is pretty abstract.

Leaving aside that strange-looking throne forged from countless piles of resources, Josuke felt this was some kind of unusual metaphor, like it represented a 'sovereignty' made of steel, but he couldn't say exactly what.

Just like the butterfly effect, even though it's only a slight tweak to De·Wein's habits, it will surely stir up a huge tempest later.

Now that the Frontier Star Trade War has erupted, Josuke has a grim premonition: the Company's armed forces suppressing and massacring these rebels is not the end; the disaster is merely lifting a tiny corner of its scarlet veil.

Now the border star trade war has already erupted, but Zhang Zhu always has an ominous premonition: the suppression and massacre of these rebels by the company's armed forces before our eyes is not the end; disaster has merely lifted a tiny corner of its scarlet veil.

"De·Wein vanished from sight."

Xing's consciousness returned once again to this scarred Frontier Star world.

Suddenly, a strange feeling washed over her—Xing felt her body growing heavy, as if some massive weight were pressing down on her.

She suddenly realized—it was the Scale that had shifted. Its gaze fell upon her, upon all things—

【Equilibrium】 appeared.

It roughly resembled a human silhouette, yet constantly flowed and reconfigured, as if composed of countless absolutely smooth metal fragments that rubbed together without making a sound.

Its chest—or what could be called a chest—had a huge, perfectly round void opened up, unsettlingly regular. Inside was not flesh or machinery, but like a self‑turning micro‑universe: a blue and a yellow nebula, like a cosmic‑scale yin‑yang, slowly, precisely… forever in balance.

"Its chest — if that could be called a chest — a huge, neatly formed circular cavity so regular it was uncomfortable suddenly gaped open. Inside was not flesh or machinery, but like a self‑operating miniature universe. One blue and one yellow nebula, like some cosmic‑scale taiji, slowly, precisely… forever in balance."

It is clearly 'one', yet it cuts itself into 'two'. It grasps the two 'its', yet again it kneads 'self' together.

It watches over the world's balance, yet no one can perceive its existence. It slowly, with itself, 'embraces', 'connects', 'shifts', 'cuts', 'fades away', and it holds itself in its palm until it melts. As it gazes down upon the starry sky, the tilt of the balance is simultaneously being adjusted...