Chapter 381: Light Speed

The meeting ended in a solemn atmosphere, as all factions returned to prepare for the massive change that could arrive at any moment.

Li Cheng first went to the toy factory to hand over the inventory list, instructing the intelligent core to crush artifacts, extract points, and upgrade the factory.

He himself returned to the real world, sat at his computer desk, idly spun the mouse wheel, and frowned in thought.

On the player forum, the neighborhood committee's official account posted a pinned thread disclosing the preliminary investigation report on the Sakai Izumi case.

The conclusion given was that Sakai Izumi had detonated himself because he had once accidentally entered a restricted zone, where security guards implanted a tumor bomb inside his body.

The neighborhood committee released the coordinates of the restricted zone and, with great seriousness, installed automated magical arrays resembling airport security checks at every teleport phone booth outside the Slums.

They also announced a collaboration with the Bell Tower Mage Association to launch law-enforcement-capable golem guards for 24/7 patrols in the Slums within the coming weeks.

This statement was eight-tenths true and two-tenths false; most forum users, seeing the neighborhood committee genuinely investing heavily in security checkpoints, ceased their skepticism and began liking the post.

One American user even praised the committee's professionalism and service attitude below, noting that a few years ago, his Black relative had merely stood on the street holding a bottle of alcohol, only to be suspected by Washington police and subjected to a search.

During the search, the officer mistakenly identified the man's hemorrhoid as an internal drug stash and dug at it aggressively for three minutes, causing severe physical and psychological harm.

If only such advanced security magical arrays and golem guards had existed back then, it never would have come to this.

Uh.

Li Cheng browsed through the chaotic threads and rubbed his temples.

He didn't believe, like some characters in literary works, that the more turbulent the times and the more society was reshuffled, the more advantageous it was for the transcendent—able to radiate royal aura and instantly build their own faction to dominate the chaos.

First, the enemy this time faced was an extraterrestrial civilization possessing top-tier transcendent beings.

Who knew how long their killing games had lasted, how many demi-gods and true gods they had, or how many large-scale destruction methods they wielded.

Meteor strikes, neutron annihilation, gene viruses, induced earthquakes, memetic infection.

Any one of these could inflict severe damage upon human civilization—or even the Earth itself.

Under a toppled nest, no egg remains intact. A typical Level 20 has no more resistance to natural disasters than an ordinary person.

Second, even from the most utilitarian perspective, a safe and stable external environment benefits transcendent beings more—overall peace means rapid flow of resources and information, allowing players to exchange what they lack.

"Don't go around fiddling everywhere—trends require fiddling, miss one and you're out, wooh~"

Hui Yu hummed a tune as she entered the study, saw Li Cheng's serious expression, and curiously asked what had happened.

Li Cheng briefly explained the situation; after listening, Hui Yu scratched her head and immediately pulled out her phone, opened Taobao, and ordered an enterprise-grade high-capacity SSD.

Li Cheng blinked in surprise. "What are you doing?"

"End-of-the-world backup," she said matter-of-factly.

"If the other world really invades and triggers a global war, players might hide in some corner of the Killing Ground and survive,

but Earth's film, music, video games, novels, and short video industries will surely collapse.

Isn't it necessary to prepare in advance—download everything possible onto offline hard drives as backups?"

"You never use your brain normally, but now your IQ takes the high ground, huh?"

Li Cheng rolled his eyes. "I'm going back to the toy factory. Don't shop on Taobao—use my forum account to place orders through the Whale Song Organization. Their quantum magnetic disks hold 200 TB each."

Whale Song Organization's information technology leads the globe; its listed company recently launched an online AI service capable of generating long, lifelike video footage from text and images,

achieving seamless coherence, consistency, and multi-subject integration. It could even auto-sequence shots and perform montage editing.

Far superior to Hollywood's recent over-reliance on CGI in poorly made superhero films,

the service sparked massive public outcry, with directors, screenwriters, actors, visual effects artists, makeup artists, and sound engineers worldwide taking to the streets demanding its ban.

Officials and internet influencers in various countries also expressed concerns over its use in online fraud and violations of citizens' portrait rights.

Since Whale Song Organization had no shortage of funds, the service was merely a technological accumulation, so they quietly took it offline.

Some hackers did attempt cyberattacks to infiltrate Whale Song's servers and steal the program for profit; the result?

Naturally, they were counter-hacked by Whale Song's superior technical strength, receiving friendly inquiries like, "Hello, are you Mr. Michael from Long Island, New York?"

Li Cheng's thoughts drifted as he strolled to the toy factory's entrance.

The factory itself, after all departments completed their upgrades, rose from Level Zero to Level One, undergoing dramatic changes.

Looking around, its area had expanded fourfold; all weeds in the compound had been cleared, and the ground was paved with uniform, hardened surfaces.

The crushing chamber and refining chamber had each been relocated to separate buildings, connected by elevated skybridges. The exteriors of these bridges were made of circular glass; internally, maglev trains were installed.

Servitor laborers and production materials could be rapidly transferred via maglev trains, further increasing production efficiency.

Outside the core department lay large clusters of square or cylindrical buildings.

Judging by the intricate network of pipelines, they appeared to be distillation towers, absorption towers, reaction towers, cooling towers, exhaust towers, and wastewater treatment facilities.

"Respected Factory Master, you've arrived."

The intelligent core drifted slowly forward; perhaps due to the factory's upgrade, it now shimmered with red luminescence, appearing more advanced.

"Looks good."

Li Cheng nodded. Factory upgrades required only sufficient Strange Points, but the architectural layout, production line planning, and interior design all required manual configuration.

Do it well, and it becomes neat, clean, grand, and beautiful.

Do it poorly, and it becomes chaotic, complex, and hideous—just functional enough to work.

"Your satisfaction is my greatest affirmation."

The intelligent core drifted slowly ahead, guiding Li Cheng through the transformed factory.

Along the way, the cylindrical robots spotted him and immediately snapped to attention, shouting: "Xing! Han!"

Li Cheng forced himself to ignore this cringeworthy slogan and asked the intelligent core, "By the way, where's the factory's defense system? I don't see it."

"All underground, around the perimeter."

The intelligent core said, "The defense system has three main components: first, electromagnetic shielding devices that block radar detection and spiritual energy scans.

Second, optical deflection generators that bend light around the factory's exterior to achieve invisibility.

Third, integrated weapon stations capable of firing high-energy lasers."

As the intelligent core explained, manhole covers around the factory perimeter automatically slid open, and numerous honeycomb-shaped turrets rose from beneath them.

To demonstrate its power, one of the turrets fired a red laser that streaked across the wasteland over two kilometers from the factory, leaving behind a narrow, charred trail—grass burned to ash, rocks shattered along its path.

Li Cheng clicked his tongue; the intelligent core keenly sensed his expression. "Are you dissatisfied?"

In the past, a laser defense system capable of matching a mid-tier transcendent's full-force strike would have been quite formidable.

But now, having learned from the Mouth of Truth of an alien civilization, the situation is far from optimistic.

Li Cheng waved his hand, offering no further explanation. "Did you finish the artifact I asked you to make?"

"Finished."

The intelligent core commanded a cylindrical machine servant to bring forward a complex, intricate device.

The device was about the size of a palm, made of pure white metal, shaped like a ring formed by twisting a braid's ends together, its surface wrapped in countless thin copper wires.

The intelligent core said: "This artifact was crafted using ten concepts: S-class technology, A-class intelligence, A-class special relativity, A-class general relativity, A-class anti-gravity, C-class copper, B-class alternating current, A-class nuclear energy, B-class dream, and B-class levitation."

"Please inspect it."

【Item Name: Levitation Engine】

【Type: Tech Artifact】

【Quality: Epic】

【Effect 1: Anti-Gravity. Passive. When installed on an object's surface, it generates a field that renders the object weightless and levitating. The field's volume cannot exceed one cubic kilometer.】

【Effect 2: Disassembly. Active. The Levitation Engine can be split into at most ten components; all components can generate anti-gravity vector fields and share the total volume quota of the field.】

【Effect 3: Curvature Propulsion. Active. After specifying a direction, it warps spacetime to contract space ahead and expand space behind, creating a warp bubble to achieve faster-than-light movement. Only functions when holding at least 60% of the Levitation Engine.】

【Effect 3 Cost: 150,000 Spirit Power per second, depending on field size. Single use may last less than one second.】

【Effect 3 Cooldown: 10 seconds】

【Usage Requirement: None】

【Note: The base speed of Curvature Propulsion is 1.001 times the speed of light. Investing more Spirit Power increases flight speed.】

【Note: Before activating Curvature Propulsion, you may preset direction and duration. Minimum initial cost per activation: 300 Spirit Power.】

【Note: "Next, I will demonstrate faster-than-light travel for all leaders and colleagues," Professor Wang said with a mysterious smile, picking up a flashlight and beginning to run.】

(End of Chapter)