Chapter 337: Level 3 Mission! Star Wars! A Storm Is Brewing!
'Alright then—bring on the fight!'
This time, Li Ang didn't bother wishing for an easy or low-difficulty multiverse. At this stage, he knew full well: there's no such thing as a "simple" instance anymore.
The closer one gets to the ultimate truth, the greater the obstacles become. No matter what, Li Ang was now dead set on picking up the pace—just like before, he would clear this new universe as quickly and efficiently as possible.
With that thought in mind, he tapped open the Stargate interface to view the details of the current universe instance.
Star Wars—!
The moment he saw the name of this new multiverse instance, Li Ang let out a relaxed chuckle. Sure enough, what was destined to come had finally arrived.
After upgrading the Stargate to Level 3, the system had now spawned the first truly heavyweight multiverse in the history of Universal MegaCorp.
"So, the first Level 3 multiverse mission turns out to be Star Wars, huh? Well, that's not bad at all. Compared to the likes of Three-Body or Warhammer, which are absolute nightmares, this one's actually kind of... 'relaxed.'"
Li Ang understood perfectly well that with the current strength of the MegaCorp, it still wasn't qualified to be a true player on the board of something like the Three-Body universe.
There, they'd be up against civilizations capable of resetting the universe, microscopic-world-dwelling entities like the Eye Demon civilization, and possibly even god-tier civilizations that transcend physical space and ascend beyond existence entirely.
Clearly, the MegaCorp still needed more training before it could tackle those monsters.
But the Star Wars universe? That was a relatively favorable playing field.
For the current MegaCorp, this universe wasn't exactly easy, but it wasn't impossible either.
Even Li Ang—who wasn't all that familiar with Star Wars—knew that this universe possessed a stunning breadth and depth in terms of civilization. Its history was vast and dazzling, far beyond anything he'd seen in other universes.
Unlike anything Li Ang had ever encountered, the Star Wars universe was packed with civilizations, species, and even "extra-dimensional demons," far too many to count.
He'd probably spend at least a month or two just holding top-level meetings to analyze the core plotlines and relevant intelligence for this universe.
"Looks like I'm in for one hell of a busy season."
Taking a deep breath to calm his racing thoughts, Li Ang reminded himself of the wild and supernatural entities this universe had to offer.
From the moment of its birth, Star Wars had gone through a period of divine glory known as the Age of the Celestials—a time when every dimension was vibrant, and countless species thrived.
For instance, there was the Purrgil, a mythical creature born during the Celestial Age. These majestic beasts swam through hyperspace itself.
Hyperspace in Star Wars functions as a superluminal transit highway—every war, trade route, and interstellar contact depends on it.
And even after the fall of the Celestial Age, the Star Wars universe didn't fade. Instead, civilizations that inherited the gods' legacy flourished like never before.
From the godlike Celestial Civilization, to the universe-spanning Infinite Empire of the Rakata, then onto the glorious Republic Era, followed by the rise of the totalitarian Galactic Empire—each phase brought its own form of dominance.
Then came the fragmentation of the Empire and the rise of the New Republic…
Star Wars featured not just an immense historical timeline, but also an incredibly high event density. War after war, endless conflict—it practically never stopped.
"I'll need to throw everything we've got at this one: Morgan Blackhand, V, Jack, and David—all of them. Plus our veteran generals like Terrence, Andrew, Raleigh, and Mori."
Li Ang made a mental note of the personnel changes he would need to implement.
He knew full well that the Star Wars universe wasn't some low-tech lightsaber-dueling playground.
Not only did the galaxy contain countless internal factions and non-stop conflicts, but the extragalactic civilizations were equally strange, ancient, and powerful.
Some of them evolved entirely within higher-dimensional realms, oozing the twisted energy of Lovecraftian horrors.
Take, for example, the Charon, who lived near extradimensional black holes; or the Nocturnal Witches, who phase-shifted between reality and hyperspace; and especially the terrifying Vahlru, blob-like entities from the void.
The Vahlru were straight out of At the Mountains of Madness—they had golden scales that oozed unknown slime, and beneath those scales was nothing but flesh.
Their grotesque forms alone screamed "Eldritch Horror."
And yes, their powers matched.
The Vahlru could communicate telepathically with living beings, absorb life force, and even tear through spacetime, freely shifting across dimensions.
Everything about them screamed "outer-dimensional demon" or "Cthulhu-class god."
As for those who lived in the physical space beyond the galaxy, they too had their own bizarre and horrifying paths of evolution.
One of the most fearsome was the Kwa Civilization. Their technological focus was so twisted it bordered on the absurd—by using an "Infinite Gate" device, they could fire high-energy infinite waves and drag entire star systems into unknown dimensions.
Yes, entire star systems—!
Even for the MegaCorp, that kind of technology was nightmarish.
But the most fearsome of all the extragalactic threats—the one that had the deepest impact on the galaxy—was the Yuuzhan Vong.
Their civilization originated on a living world known as Yuuzhan'tar, which bore a striking resemblance to Pandora, with its own planetary consciousness.
Yuuzhan'tar could even spawn its own asteroid moons, and the Yuuzhan Vong shared a strange symbiotic bond with their world.
Interestingly, they didn't develop their own technology. Instead, they hijacked the gear of invading forces like the "Silent Ones" and "Hatemongers," repurposing stolen tech to arm themselves.
With these scavenged tools, the Yuuzhan Vong went full berserker, launching a holy war that raged from beyond the galaxy all the way into galactic space.
They were the embodiment of brute-force insanity.
Frankly, Yuuzhan'tar was like the startup version of EYWA—only it succeeded. Everything it did was a perfect execution of the moves EYWA only dreamed of pulling off.
"This time, the only viable path is to consolidate control over the galactic core first. Only after that can we start dealing with the extragalactic wildlands."
After careful deliberation, Li Ang decided that V would dispatch elite troops to guard the galaxy's edges—just in case the Yuuzhan Vong or other alien civilizations tried to invade.
Meanwhile, Morgan Blackhand would oversee the consolidation of internal galactic affairs. Once the galaxy was pacified and thriving, then they'd move on to conquering the outer zones.
The galaxy in Star Wars wasn't just another Milky Way knockoff—this was God's personal garden, filled with the richest civilizations and the most diverse species the multiverse had to offer.
Compared to the barren and ancient realms beyond the galaxy, this galactic region was a true heaven of starlit civilizations.
"To be safe, I'd better finish assembling the newly acquired megastructure, the Star Fall Divine Spear, and bring it into the Star Wars universe!"
Having settled on the strategy of "pacify the inside before repelling the outside," Li Ang decided it was time to deploy one of MegaCorp's most powerful superweapons in this new multiverse.
This wasn't cowardice or over-caution—it was simply the reality that Star Wars had no shortage of powerful technological weapons. Even with MegaCorp's current might, they'd have to go all out.
Take, for instance, the "First Order," a faction that evolved from the Galactic Empire. They possessed an upgraded version of the Death Star: the Starkiller Base.
Its operational principle was extracting a star's energy, transforming it into a form of dark energy known as the Fifth Element.
Once stored in the base's core, the planet's natural magnetic field provided stabilization, and with the help of thermal oscillation arrays, the energy could be safely maintained at the core.
When it was time to fire, a containment field would open a hyperspace rift, channeling the Fifth Element through a lightspeed conduit.
The beam could travel across tens of thousands of light-years and had the power to pierce planetary cores, causing devastating internal explosions.
In fact, the Starkiller Base had a comparable destructive range to the Falling Star Divine Spear, and even their core technologies weren't all that different!
Clearly, this multiverse integration was going to be a truly high-level operation.
"I just hope the era I land in isn't too early or too late."
Li Ang pondered silently. If they arrived too early—during the age of the Celestials or the height of the Rakatan Infinite Empire—he'd be in no position to tangle with those godlike forces.
These civilizations, empowered by the first waves of energy and technological blessings born from the Big Bang, were so formidable that even outer-dimensional horrors would think twice before invading their territory.
But if they arrived too late, it was equally possible that the civilizations of the galaxy had already declined after prolonged internal conflict—and that extragalactic powers had seized the opportunity to launch brutal conquests.
'The galactic factions themselves… shouldn't be too hard to deal with.'
Li Ang quickly ran through the main power blocs of Star Wars in his mind: the Republic, the Trade Federation, the Sith Empire, and the Galactic Empire.
The Republic was easy to understand—it was a coalition of humans and various alien species that established a political and cultural core centered on the ecumenopolis Coruscant, structured to serve the shared interests of many civilizations.
In simpler terms, it resembled early America—designed to serve landowners, capitalists, and a portion of the general population.
This was one of the galaxy's earliest large-scale political systems, and it ushered in a new golden age after the gods had vanished.
During this era, large corporate consortia emerged from many different planets. But their one shared goal was simple: profit.
The Trade Federation, for example, was a blood-sucking force that took root all over the galaxy, continuously draining the lifeblood of various regimes like a parasite.
As for the Sith Empire, their role was straightforward—they were a war-hungry, militaristic society.
Their ancestors had even fought and defeated the Rakata of the Infinite Empire. That iron-blooded resilience was baked into their DNA, and it fueled their meteoric rise.
Their system of government was pure military dictatorship, and the Sith aimed to repeat what the Rakata once did—unify the entire galaxy under their rule.
The Galactic Empire, meanwhile, was born from the Republic. The relationship between the two was much like Yuan Shikai declaring himself emperor after the fall of China's Qing Dynasty.
When the old Republic could no longer satisfy the ambitions of the power-hungry elite, opportunists seized control and established a new authoritarian regime.
All things considered, the power structure of the Star Wars universe was clear-cut. There were many factions, yes, but they weren't overly complicated.
Li Ang reviewed the galaxy's historical timeline and saw that each era had its own dominant political structure.
But the most enduring system was still the Republic—capable of balancing the interests of many parties. Only when the "cake" got too small to divide did discontent start to boil over.
And those who ate the most of it? They were the first to break off and seize power.
"Loki, issue an order to gather all division heads at Night City HQ. Those who can't attend in person will join remotely. Get everything ready—we begin in one hour."
After issuing this command to his AI assistant, Li Ang had already made up his mind about what kind of governing system he'd implement after unifying the galaxy.
It would be nothing less than MegaCorp-style absolute oligarchic dictatorship!
> [Yes, I'll get on it right away.]
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Half a Month Later – Night City, City Hall
> #Intel Briefing: All-Star Lineup Returns! The unification of Universe 007 brings together two of MegaCorp's most elite directors—V and Morgan Blackhand!
#N54 News: MegaCorp's first expedition fleet has officially entered Universe 007, aka Star Wars. Sources report the presence of mysterious high-dimensional beings. Supreme Executive Li Ang is taking this mission with utmost seriousness.
#Gun & Steel: The engineering division is constructing a megastructure weapon unlike anything before—a death sniping cannon fueled by a living star.
The day it fires… is the day civilizations die!
#…
The buzz surrounding MegaCorp's entrance into a new multiverse had already made headlines across every known reality for the past two weeks.
When word got out that both interstellar governors, V and Morgan Blackhand, had been deployed to Universe 007, speculation ran rampant about just how tough this mission must be.
Normally, deploying either V or Morgan already signified a high-difficulty assignment.
For example, V was deployed to handle the Transformers universe—high-stakes, high complexity. For a relatively easier assignment like Dune, only Song Zhaomei was dispatched.
But now? Supreme Executive Li Ang had mobilized the same lineup used during the first expedition to Pandora—a move that proved just how dangerous Universe 007 truly was.
Over the past few days, a surge of personnel transfers and shuttle activity throughout Ideal City created a heavy, oppressive atmosphere.
Everyone felt it—that sense of a storm on the horizon.
This time, MegaCorp was about to face a true war of endurance—a crucible that would test the resolve and unity of its entire staff.
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