Chapter 280: Benefits on the Pioneer

"What is that?"

"A brand new route... the Star Dome Train?"

Upon hearing this notification, Li Yu was startled, his mind immediately conjuring an image based on the description.

A massive, terrifying "train" that radiated pollution at every moment, traveling upon tracks paved purely from energy or starlight, spanning the firmament and crossing the sea of stars—it was truly spectacular to the extreme.

Yet, Li Yu felt this seemed somewhat wasteful.

As a train crafted from the 【corpse of an Ancient God】, the Ancient God Train was highly valued by the City Lord's Mansion and had undergone repeated upgrades, so its ability to traverse the heavens and earth was nothing out of the ordinary.

But to arrange a station above the star dome, and to deliberately make it visible to the people of the Three Kingdoms and Six Sects—wasn't that going a bit too far?

Perhaps sensing the doubt in Li Yu's heart, or perhaps because the Zuo Ci Puppet wanted to seize the time to control him.

The voice that should have departed sounded once more:

"The original routes have long been overturned. Because of the provocations from the Haotian Sect, my City Lord's Mansion and other sects and factions have decided to retaliate."

"Therefore, we have united to carry out a major upgrade of the routes."

"Although the main stations remain within Fortune City and the Three Forbidden Grounds."

"We have also established some special stations within the territories of the Three Kingdoms and Six Sects; that place above the star dome is precisely one of the most distinctive."

"Besides that, there are stations such as the 【Earth Core Station】, 【Illusion Dream Station】, 【Random Station】, 【Demon Boat Station】, 【Evil God's Intestine Station】, and so on."

"Each special station is completed by the high-level powerhouses of the major hegemonic sects within the city."

"Take that Illusion Dream Station, for instance; it was opened at a great cost by a faction that recently descended upon Fortune City called the 'Illusion Dream Sect'... what they worship is an Evil God who governs shadows and dreams... they applied a special coating to the Pioneer, allowing it to appear within an illusionary world at specific times, a world that can connect to the dreams of almost every living being in the present world."

"Or that Demon Boat Station; it is actually an ancient and massive special faction whose base is a 【Primordial Demon Boat】 that appears and disappears unpredictably. It is vast in area and home to several races, all of whom are 'Long-lived Species' possessing powerful strength and technology... This time, our City Lord's Mansion high-level officials went personally to negotiate the deal to establish a station upon it."

As the Zuo Ci Puppet spoke, Li Yu discovered that the Truth Bubbles on his eye membranes were charging rapidly.

Every sentence involved secret lore.

It was the kind of extraordinary knowledge that ordinary people and rogue cultivators without backing could never come into contact with.

Even practitioners within some powerful sects would have no way of knowing it until their sequence level and status were sufficient.

Li Yu could no longer spare the energy to lament the importance of having backing once again; he had gained a deeper understanding of the complexity and vastness of this world.

From the perspective of him and most people in this world:

Setting aside the boundless Spirit Realm, the map of the present world consisted of Fortune City, the Three Forbidden Grounds, and the Three Kingdoms and Six Sects.

The vastness of the territory was astonishing.

But now, the Zuo Ci Puppet's narration made Li Yu understand.

It was far more than that!

Curious and excited, Li Yu took advantage of the Zuo Ci Puppet's will lingering and refusing to leave, and asked directly:

"How large is the territory of the present world, exactly?"

"How many factions are there?"

"How many races?"

Li Yu had originally thought he would surely get a definitive answer, as the Zuo Ci Puppet's identity was extraordinary.

The number one prodigy of this generation in the City Lord's Mansion, the Star Play Order Master, the Ancient and Modern Puppeteer, the Star Cluster Master of the Prodigy Assembly—he was once an existence that crushed his peers in cultivation.

The secrets and knowledge he knew far exceeded everything Li Yu had encountered among his peers.

Yet, there was much hesitation in the Zuo Ci Puppet's reply.

"The main territories of the present world are Fortune City, the Three Forbidden Grounds, the Three Kingdoms, the Six Sect Domains, and some unknown extraordinary factions, such as the 【Primordial Demon Boat】."

"Besides that, there is a bitter, barren land near the northern pole called the North Continent, where only wild folk and barbarians with insufficient civilization survive... those barbarians in the North District who worship the 'Blood God' migrated from the North Continent long ago."

"However, it is said that in the depths of the boundless ocean, there exist other continents; for instance, in the southern pole, there seems to be a continent called the South Continent."

"But those secret places are isolated by mist and are difficult to develop, so there has been no major exploration yet."

"As for factions and races?"

"No one can count them."

"After all, new factions and new races from the Spirit Realm appear from time to time, and visitors from beyond the heavens often descend."

"For example, the Evil Gods behind those God-favored ones like Xu Xu Xuan and Yang Huan all came from beyond the heavens and had never preached in Fortune City before."

Although these words from the Zuo Ci Puppet did not completely resolve the doubts in Li Yu's heart.

They did, however, verify one conclusion: the world is very large, and even at the Sequence Five level, one can only glimpse the tip of the iceberg.

Li Yu turned his attention back from the macro perspective and asked the Zuo Ci Puppet a few more questions:

"Special stations like 【Above the Star Dome】 will surely be seen by the Three Kingdoms and Six Sects; aren't you afraid they will attack and sabotage them?"

"Surely the gods within the city cannot constantly send out will avatars or the like to protect the train."

"What is the point of doing this? Just to show off?"

The two were each harboring their own ulterior motives, forming a strange tacit understanding, with the questions and answers flowing with extreme smoothness.

Li Yu soon heard an answer that surprised and satisfied him.

"Every station outside the city and beyond the Three Forbidden Grounds has its own special features, so there is no need to worry about them being attacked."

"There is no need to mention the Demon Boat Station; those long-lived species on it are more formidable than the last."

"The Illusion Dream Station is even more untouchable; let alone those people from the Three Kingdoms and Six Sects... as long as the Pioneer enters that station, even I, or anyone else inside or outside the city, will lose control over the train, unable to perceive or spy on it, and can only wait for the Pioneer to leave the Illusion Dream Realm again."

"As for the purpose?"

"It is both to show off and to compete with the Three Kingdoms and Six Sects for population and practitioners."

"The Pioneer will be the first train on this route, but it will not be the last. Major organizations and my City Lord's Mansion possess more than one 【corpse of an Ancient God】 and have decided to forge them all into trains."

"To patrol this route without interruption."

"And through various methods, to let those in the Three Kingdoms and Six Sects who have the intention to come to Fortune City and the Three Forbidden Grounds board the train."

"This place is, after all, a holy land for cultivation and a fertile soil for the extraordinary."

"Although it is called a land of demons and evil, in reality, there are many inheritances of True Gods from neutral factions. Compared to the Three Kingdoms and Six Sects, where class solidification is severe and there are too many rules and regulations, we are completely uninhibited and unrestrained here."

"In the past, many people wanted to come here to cultivate, but they had to take risks and pay a considerable price."

"In the future, we will help them avoid that price... the cheapest way will even only require setting up some simple rituals, after which they can board the train in the 'Illusion Dream' and come to the city."

"Hiss!"

When the Zuo Ci Puppet finished speaking, Li Yu could not help but gasp.

What did these words represent?

Even without profound wisdom, one could guess a thing or two.

(Note: The source text contains a garbled/repetitive phrase here; translated as the intent of the realization.)

It was simply pulling the firewood from under the cauldron.

The City Lord's Mansion and the major sects were using a ruthless, open scheme against the Three Kingdoms and Six Sects.

It was foreseeable that as this route matured, one 【Ancient God Train】 after another would be put into service.

The Three Kingdoms and Six Sects might even face the danger of being hollowed out of a large portion of their population and potential practitioners.

"There is no suspense left!"

"The Three Kingdoms and Six Sects will sooner or later unite to wage war on Fortune City."

"A large-scale war, or even a war of gods, will surely be ignited once again. And this time, because more Evil God factions and even True Gods from beyond the heavens have joined, the number of practitioners has skyrocketed to a level far exceeding ancient times. Once war breaks out... I fear the entire present world will be plunged into chaos; even the terrifying event of a continent sinking could happen."

"The present world is far more terrifying than the 【Desperate Death Star】 strange domain. After all, there are countless people here with the ability to invite True Gods over. Let alone a continent sinking, if a fire that cannot be contained is truly started, the death of over a billion ordinary people plus some divine entities would be quite normal."

"I must hurry. If there are no accidents, my promotion location can be arranged in that 【Illusion Dream Realm】."

"Right now, the Zuo Ci Puppet still thinks he can control me... once I am promoted to a Food-Bait True Lord, I should be able to figure out his bottom line and leave him with nothing."

"If his 【Ancient and Modern Puppeteer】 sequence is not as powerful as expected, he will have to be careful of me stabbing him in the back."

"I am using myself as bait; how can this big fish escape without paying a price?"

The conversation ended here; Li Yu did not ask any more questions, and the Zuo Ci Puppet, fearing he might reveal a flaw, left without hesitation.

Before leaving, he thoughtfully leaked the Pioneer's upcoming travel plan and station arrangements:

"Three days from now!"

"The Pioneering Ceremony will be held again, and the Pioneer will make its maiden voyage."

"It will take 【Fortune City】 as the starting station and the Extreme Cold Heavenly Pool in the Ten Thousand Strange Frozen Plains as the terminal station."

"The test run will take three days, passing through dozens of stations along the way."

Although these coal-shoveling workers at the bottom of the Pioneer could not come into contact with the more magnificent side of this world, it was also difficult for them to acquire more powerful strength.

In essence, they were the lowest-level expendable materials of the extraordinary world.

Of course, the lives of these expendable materials were already much more exciting than those of ordinary citizens in Fortune City.

For instance, right now.

The workers, having just finished their work and being well-fed, gathered in the dormitory, enjoying a special train benefit.

Everyone wore a strange device on their heads similar to a "virtual reality helmet," made from a combination of flesh and machinery.

Terrifying and crude.

But every worker wearing one seemed immersed in pleasure, their faces showing brilliant or lewd smiles.

A few were even making rather indecent noises.

This object was called the 【Bliss Helmet】, a product customized by the City Lord's Mansion from the mechanical factories under the Lust Sect and the Holy Nest.

It was indeed equivalent to the kind of virtual reality helmet known from the Earth of his previous life, capable of bringing real enjoyment.

Only, it was a lewd version.

There are even more advanced virtual pods that one can lie inside entirely, though they are quite expensive.

The monthly wages of most extraordinary consumables in the positions within Wanfu City are just spent on gambling, whoring... and the like.

This benefit on the Pioneer is free, which truly makes many people in the city envious.

Li Yu is wearing this helmet at this moment.

The moment he put it on, a massive amount of very direct, realistic illusions capable of stimulating the pleasure centers of the brain and allowing one to vent their desires were about to surge forth... when suddenly, with a crackle, they all dissipated.

Subsequently, the virtual avatar of Hongdou appeared.

"Master!"

The mechanical maid of his own, very obediently, called out.

It was as if she had been incredibly thoughtful, anticipating that Li Yu would summon her, and thus appeared directly to await his orders.

Fortunately, Li Yu had no interest in such low-quality indulgences.

Given his current level of control over his body, if he truly just wanted to vent those kinds of desires, he wouldn't even need to use his hands; simply focusing his thoughts to stimulate the corresponding areas would be enough to break through the threshold time and again and reach a state of ecstasy.

(End of chapter)