Chapter 336: Flamebringer! The Realm Beyond! Starfall Spear!
"Just give her the usual excuse. Unless she figures out how to crack all the tech from Unicron and Primus, I'm not interested."
Waving his hand dismissively, Li Ang showed no interest whatsoever in Quintessa's invitation. Both of them were sly old foxes; there was no point pretending otherwise. If both parties already saw through each other, why bother playing coy?
And Li Ang was no naive rookie. How could he not see through Quintessa's little schemes?
"Understood."
Lucy visibly relaxed. Then she moved on to report the latest updates regarding the [Infinity Engine] megastructure.
The Infinity Engine was a new-generation megastructure developed by Universal MegaCorp a year ago, located in Universe 001, "Spectre." It was one of the few megastructures deployed outside their home universe.
Originally, Li Ang had intended the Infinity Engine, with its massive computational and simulation capacity, to be used for cracking the databases of the Think Tank or the Primus.
But now that Quintessa had been captured and the Creator Civilization forcibly recruited into the corporation, they already had enough manpower working on deciphering the technologies of the Unicron and Primus.
So Li Ang decided to indulge himself a little—redirecting the Infinity Engine to focus on something that yielded no immediate production benefit: deciphering the cosmic Dao and the fundamental laws of the universe.
In a sense, the Infinity Engine was like a pampered poet or scientist—it needed ideal external conditions to allow full concentration on its field of expertise.
Immortal literature and revolutionary breakthroughs are never born from chaos—they require nurturing environments.
To ensure the Infinity Engine could operate at full capacity, Li Ang deliberately stationed it in a lightly developed universe without too many advanced civilizations: the Spectre Universe.
As for how long it might take the Infinity Engine to comprehend the laws of the cosmos or reveal some hidden truth—Li Ang didn't pin much hope on that. It was basically a lottery ticket.
If it paid off, great. If not? Well, at least it made for a beautiful, if useless, ornament.
"Alright, go handle your other tasks."
After reviewing the Infinity Engine's operational status, Li Ang dismissed Lucy and headed to his private workshop.
---
[Universal MegaCorp Stage Seven — Infinity Engine Unlocked]
[Universal MegaCorp Stage Eight — Flamebringer-Class Weapon of Annihilation: Locked]
[...]
Upon switching to the system panel, Li Ang's eyes lit up—it was right there, the megastructure he had long dreamed of: the Flamebringer!
The legendary golden geezer's golden toilet seat, practically within arm's reach.
The Flamebringer—an apocalyptic warship that could instantly turn any civilization into a mobile catastrophe. It had only one defining trait: efficiency.
This was no exaggeration. The Flamebringer earned its fearsome reputation by being equipped with multiple Starburst Cannons capable of annihilating stars.
Its design stood apart from any other Universal MegaCorp ship. Visually, the Flamebringer was an unassuming cube. But when it activated its destruction protocol, it would split into several smaller cubes, rotating around a target star.
Once charged, it unleashed a burst of directional quark energy powerful enough to trigger a supernova, collapsing the star into a black hole. All other celestial bodies in the system would be obliterated in the resulting chain reaction.
Only the Flamebringer itself, built to withstand the force of a supernova, would remain—untouched in the heart of annihilation. It was the warship of the Fourth Great Calamity.
"I finally got my eyes on the Flamebringer… That means the Aether Phase Engine isn't far behind!"
Staring at the familiar megastructure on the system panel, Li Ang felt it looked increasingly… adorable.
Yes—adorable. Because in essence, the Flamebringer was just a mining ship.
Everyone knows that in most fleets, the mining vessel is usually the most overpowered.
The reason the Flamebringer destroys stars isn't for fun—it's to harvest the immense quantities of dark matter needed to construct the Aether Phase Engine.
The Aether Phase Engine is a device capable of tearing through the dimensional veil separating the material universe and the Realm Beyond—and extracting the energy from that alternate dimension into the physical cosmos.
The Realm Beyond is an independent dimensional plane, separate from conventional space, but still intimately linked to the physical universe. In essence, it's similar to the Warp from Warhammer 40K.
Think of the material universe and the Realm Beyond as yin and yang—two halves of a Taiji symbol. One obeys physical law; the other, psychic.
Within the Realm Beyond lies a concentration of psionic energy—an exotic force unlike electromagnetism or plasma.
In fact, many transmigrating protagonists in xianxia novels may have unknowingly arrived in a universe's version of the Realm Beyond.
Each universe gives it a different name.
For instance, in Battle Through the Heavens, the Realm Beyond is called the Doupo Continent. In more complex cases, such as Strange Tales of the Dao, the Realm Beyond is fragmented into three domains: Baiyu Capital, Great Nuo, and the Dao-Weird World.
Even more bizarrely, layered above these split dimensions is an outerdimensional plane known as Fusheng Heaven.
But complicated cases like Strange Tales of the Dao are rare. Most universes maintain a simple duality.
Despite their closeness, the physical universe and the Realm Beyond are separated by a natural chasm—a "wall" that prevents beings from crossing over.
The powerful and mysterious entities residing in the Realm Beyond often dream of breaching this wall and invading the physical world.
But due to the rules of both realms, neither side can easily cross into the other.
That is… until now.
"Once I unlock the Flamebringer, the Aether Phase Engine won't be far behind."
Li Ang smiled at the thought of drawing energy from the Realm Beyond and bridging the two dimensions—ascending to a higher existence.
At that point, Universal MegaCorp would be on the cusp of godhood.
And when that happens, even the Four Chaos Gods of the Warhammer Warp would be turned into fuel—tools to propel Lord Li toward immortality.
Of course, triggering the Aether Phase Engine would cause massive Warp backlash and ignite every star system in the physical universe.
All matter—organic or inorganic—would cease to exist.
In short, draining the Realm Beyond would overload the physical cosmos, causing it to rupture. Time itself would collapse—leaving the universe firmly in Li Ang's grasp.
To him, the Aether Phase Engine wasn't just a device. It was a key—one that could unlock the truth behind all things.
Only with that key could he open the box and see what lies within.
'Enough daydreaming—time for a draw.'
Li Ang stopped pondering the nature of the Realm Beyond. It wasn't like he could access it just yet anyway.
For now, focusing on MegaCorp's expansion and accelerating integration was the top priority.
Switching to the system's prize draw interface, he glanced at his prize pool tokens. The bad news? No Level 11 draws this time.
The good news? Two guaranteed Level 10 pulls!
Two free top-tier items—and both from Stellaris!
"Begin draw!"
As the roulette wheel began to spin, the prizes from the heavens started pouring in:
[You've received the following from your Level 10 prize draw:
- Starfall Spear (Guaranteed Gold Legendary · Stellaris · Megastructure Weapon)
- Nano-Plague (Guaranteed Gold Legendary · Stellaris · Shipborne Weapon)
- Portal Gun (Portal · Aperture Science)
- T-1000 Infiltrator (Terminator · Skynet)
- Demonshot Shotgun (Lobotomy Corp · F0169 Demon Gunner)
- Odradek Terrain Scanner (Death Stranding)
- Auto-Petting Machine (Stardew Valley · Joja Corporation)
...]
'Another consistent 10-pull. But seriously… what the hell is an auto-petting machine?'
Li Ang blinked at the system screen. The machine was apparently used to pet livestock automatically, calming them and improving meat, egg, and milk yield.
After reading the description, he was speechless. The last time he got something this ridiculous was a packet of dried earthworm jerky from The Wandering Earth.
Still, it wasn't completely useless. Animal husbandry was one of MegaCorp's development tracks. People gotta eat, after all.
He quickly skipped past the petting machine and turned to the other items.
"Death Stranding's terrain scanner? Meh, kind of redundant."
MegaCorp had long since developed superior versions of this type of scanner. Just another warehouse ornament.
"Demonshot Shotgun from Lobotomy Corp? Wow, we're seriously going interdimensional now."
Li Ang chuckled. This cursed shotgun operated on causal law, ensuring a 100% hit rate. However, its final bullet would always target the wielder's loved one. Prolonged use would drag the soul to hell and transform the user into a demonic slave to the weapon.
Hell. Demons…
Li Ang narrowed his eyes. Strictly speaking, such things should only exist in imagination. But this weapon's presence suggested that the Realm Beyond existed in the current universe.
And the beings dwelling there—demonic entities with strange abilities—remained trapped behind that impenetrable wall.
"If I can build the Aether Phase Engine… I could drag a few of them out as slaves. Do a little 'summon and bind' operation."
The thought of launching a guaranteed-hit planetary annihilation cannon, powered by a demon's causal magic… just imagining it sent a thrill down his spine.
Li Ang's eyes moved on to the T-1000…
This model of Terminator was built from liquid memory alloy—each drop of liquid metal containing an incredibly intricate electronic structure.
Each droplet could function as an independent, cooperative processing unit, meaning the Terminator could reshape itself into virtually any form.
Its only major weakness? Strong acids. A splash might be survivable, but full-body exposure meant total system failure.
"Not bad as a stealth AI operative."
Li Ang briefly recalled the other elite agents in Universal MegaCorp's arsenal: K the Replicant from Blade Runner, Jack the cyber-assassin from Ghostrunner, and of course, 2B from NieR: Automata.
The list was extensive. No wonder the corporation's intelligence division had grown so formidable.
"Now this... Portal Gun from Aperture Science? That's actually pretty interesting."
Just seeing the device called to mind countless possible scenarios. Li Ang knew this thing inside and out.
Manufactured by Aperture Science, the Portal Gun's core component was a miniature black hole, which supplied the immense energy needed for portal generation.
As for usage? Simple. Just shoot two matching white panels—one portal becomes an entrance (usually blue), and the other an exit (orange).
Step through one, and you'd instantly exit the other.
In Li Ang's opinion, it was a fun and slightly useful gadget—but hardly groundbreaking.
After all, MegaCorp's vaults already held a similar Transdimensional Teleporter, a device developed by FutureTech in Red Alert 3.
Still, the Portal Gun's miniature black hole technology was definitely worth closer examination by the R&D department.
So far, MegaCorp's practical use of black holes had been quite limited—primarily as energy sources for the Matter Decompression Extractor.
Outside that, applications were rare.
And for good reason. Mishandling a black hole could instantly twist or collapse a planet's entire space-time structure.
Even wormholes—far less dangerous by comparison—were rarely used. To date, the only stable wormhole ever discovered by MegaCorp was on Antistar in the Pacific Rim universe.
The cost of maintaining wormhole technology was so high that they'd never been adopted as standard transport solutions.
Making a mental note, Li Ang decided to assign a new research project: black hole miniaturization and containment tech. His R&D team was about to pull another all-nighter.
---
"Nano-Plague too, huh!"
After claiming the Portal Gun, Li Ang turned to one of the more dangerous entries in this draw—a colossus-class starship weapon, comparable to the neutron exterminator.
Strictly speaking, the Nano-Plague wasn't purely a weapon. It was more of a... "transcendence engine."
Its true purpose? Converting all organic beings into cybernetic lifeforms.
Upon deployment, clouds of nanobots would descend from orbit, infiltrating the planetary atmosphere and invading every intelligent organic body.
Humans, animals—none were spared.
The bots infiltrated their hosts' central nervous systems, overriding autonomy and converting them into cybernetic drones controlled by a master AI.
Unlike the brutally destructive neutron sweep, which simply annihilated life, the Nano-Plague was relatively "humane."
Sure, it forcibly upgraded your "weak flesh" into glorious machine, but hey—at least you were still alive.
"If the Preacher hears about this, he's going to lose his damn mind with joy."
Li Ang shook his head. Just the thought of that lunatic hurling Forerunners into reassembly pods, ripping out souls to implant into Knight-class mechs for his Prometheus Legion...
Still, everyone at MegaCorp had skeletons in their closets.
Even Li Ang himself had unleashed the Scorpiontail Virus, which wiped out the Pacific Rim universe's Precursor civilization—billions gone in a single thought.
---
Skipping past the Nano-Plague, Li Ang finally turned to the heavyweight draw of the batch—[Starfall Spear]!
The Starfall Spear was like a fusion of the Quantum Slingshot and the Moon of War. A rare stationary megastructure weapon—it couldn't fly around like a ship.
In short? It was an orbital death cannon.
Powered by dark matter and stellar energy, it could fire a devastating, targeted strike at any location in the galaxy through a directional wormhole.
Its destructive power rivaled that of a supernova, capable of collapsing a star into a black hole—and erasing all life in the entire star system.
In terms of sheer devastation, it was effectively on par with the Flamebringer. Both could wipe out an entire star system with a single shot.
"A sneak peek at the Flamebringer experience, huh…"
Chuckling softly, Li Ang clicked into the Starfall Spear's full specifications.
The weapon was composed of three main structural modules: Stellar Core Array, Darkwell Reactor, and Convergence Blade, plus a complimentary wormhole launcher.
The Stellar Core Array was responsible for absorbing stellar energy and converting it into a stable charge—essentially the "loading chamber" of this cosmic railgun.
The giant columns on the core array also discharged energy backward during firing to counteract recoil and stabilize the structure.
The Darkwell Reactor functioned as a dark energy siphon. Powered by the core array, it generated a negative energy field to draw in massive amounts of dark energy—used to supplement the cannon's primary ammunition.
Essentially, the Starfall Spear was a hybrid-drive megastructure, running on both stellar and dark energy.
"Even megastructures are hybrid now, huh? Not just cars."
Li Ang nodded thoughtfully. Relying on stellar fuel alone wouldn't be sustainable—after a few shots, a star would be drained dry.
Mixing in abundant, cost-free dark energy? Now that was efficiency.
The final module—Convergence Blade—was a pair of massive focusing arrays resembling the edge of a divine sword.
Positioned above and below, the twin convergence units channeled and refined all absorbed dark energy, focusing it into a tight beam for pinpoint accuracy.
This was, without exaggeration, a light-years-spanning "stellar sniper rifle."
A weapon of gods, now part of MegaCorp's growing arsenal.
Its strategic deterrent value surpassed even the Einstein Equator, simply because Li Ang could actually use it.
The problem with the Einstein Equator was that it triggered vacuum decay—a catastrophic chain reaction that couldn't be stopped once started.
Li Ang wasn't about to risk the stability of the entire universe just to scare off a few opponents.
Unless, of course, he was in the Three-Body universe. A place where god-tier civilizations flung dimensional weapons like chewing gum.
There? Even vacuum collapse was just another Tuesday.
So for the time being, the Einstein Equator—while mighty—was as good as useless.
Looking over MegaCorp's actual working arsenal, Li Ang had to admit: practical weapons like the Neutron Sweep and MD-500 gunships were far more useful.
But they were limited to small-scale, localized destruction.
For real efficiency, he needed something more.
That's where the Starfall Spear shone.
It delivered both surgical precision and colossal area-of-effect devastation.
Its effective radius? An entire star system.
Just consider—your average star system spans from a few to dozens of light-years. Firing one shot and wiping out everything in that range?
God-tier firepower.
From now on, wherever the Starfall Spear's blade pointed—there would lie MegaCorp's new frontier.
Previously, destroying a civilization meant forming an expedition fleet, blasting down defenses, maybe throwing in a neutron sweep if the resistance was strong.
But that whole process? Too slow. Too inefficient.
What if there were dozens of hostile civilizations?
Li Ang would have to go door-to-door delivering annihilation.
With the Starfall Spear?
One button. One system. Gone.
Thanks to its wormhole launcher acting as the "barrel," its operational range covered the entire Milky Way.
Not enough to cover every universe… but more than enough to conquer most of the multiverse.
"With an arsenal like this, even old Li here can play at the high-stakes table now!" he joked.
By MegaCorp standards, he was already halfway into the big leagues.
In League of Legends terms, he'd be a low-ranking Grandmaster, maybe the Diamond gatekeeper. Still, not a bad spot to be in.
"Nice!"
Confirming receipt of the [Starfall Spear], Li Ang finally turned his gaze to the Stargate Interface.
After completing the integration of the Transformers universe, the Stargate Interface had automatically upgraded to Level 3.
Now, he was about to face the next tier of multiverse integrations.
And the civilizations he'd encounter this time… would be even more chaotic, more unpredictable—and harder to unify.
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