Translator: AnubisTL
Chen Mang first encountered Xiao Lu on Aquablue Star. Xiao Lu had been found in the locomotive of the Stellaris train. Later, Chen Mang learned that Xiao Lu had previously been parasitizing Master Kun's train before ending up on his own.
And he had stayed ever since.
Xiao Lu had successfully reached adulthood. Though his temperament remained childlike, it couldn't be ignored that he was an S-rank potential Star-Devouring Beast. Upon reaching adulthood, he would automatically reach Level 180.
Level 180.
Not a particularly high tier.
At least, for a Third-Tier Civilization, it was by no means an insurmountable defense. One of the requirements for advancing to a Third-Tier Civilization was achieving an attack energy range exceeding 20,000, which meant possessing a Tier 200 Seven-Colored Firepower Component.
But—
The sheer size of a Star-Devouring Beast in its devouring state was overwhelming. Against such immense mass and scale, a Tier 200 Arcanon Light Energy Main Cannon seemed like a mere toy, utterly crushed by its power.
"..."
Seated in his chair, Chen Mang gazed at the Civilization Broadcast displayed on the control panel screen, his expression complex. The broadcast originated from nearly 100,000 years ago.
In other words,
If the Star-Devouring Beast from a hundred thousand years ago was Xiao Lu's father or mother, then perhaps he could understand the reason for its rage. Losing its cub would naturally provoke such fury.
But the temporal gap was far too vast.
Nearly a hundred thousand years had passed.
Had Xiao Lu been lost for a hundred thousand years?
The growth of Cosmic Behemoths required not only time but also massive amounts of energy. Without sufficient energy, even after a hundred thousand years, Xiao Lu would remain a dormant cub. This was perfectly normal, except...
A hundred thousand years.
Could Cosmic Behemoths truly live that long?
Therefore,
Chen Mang walked over and gently scooped up Xiao Lu, who was curled up in a corner. As usual, he reached out and playfully poked the cub's nose with his finger. "When you were staring out the window last time, were you sensing traces of your mother's presence?"
Xiao Lu didn't respond, merely nuzzling Chen Mang's chin in a drowsy manner.
In any case, Chen Mang hadn't detected any other Star-Devouring Beasts on the radar.
The timeline had stretched too far.
The little creature's mother might have already forgotten Xiao Lu, or perhaps she had perished in some forgotten corner of the cosmos, a place no one cared about.
But—
There was a more pressing question.
Chen Mang glanced at the galaxy map with a slightly puzzled expression. He now wondered if the Niya Star System had always been so barren, or if its desolation was a result of Xiao Lu's mother's rampage, when she had devoured the system in a fit of rage.
He suspected the former.
The Niya Star System's civilization had existed for 124,700 years, making it one of the longest-lived 4th Tier Civilizations in the universe. This civilization must have experienced the story of Xiao Lu's mother's rampage, though the specific details were unknown, as all traces of the event had been erased.
Next.
For an entire day, Chen Mang did almost nothing but sit in the locomotive cabin with Xiao Ai, scrolling through the "Civilization Broadcasts." There were nearly 240,000 entries, and even at his fastest scrolling speed, it would take a considerable amount of time to review them all.
The broadcasts covered a wide range of topics.
For example, there were heartfelt messages:
["2nd Tier Civilization, Hello Civilization": Li Xia, I love you. I want every civilization and every living being in the universe to know how much I love you. For you, I would abandon everything.]
Only Civilization Leaders were authorized to send Civilization Broadcasts.
Clearly,
Such a deeply devoted Civilization Leader must have been a rare sight in the cosmos. The Niya Star System no longer harbored this civilization; perhaps love could endure until the seas dried up and the rocks crumbled, but civilizations could not.
They had long since perished in some forgotten corner of the universe, like a stray dog rotting by the roadside, unmourned and forgotten.
As for Li Xia, she must have died long ago as well.
And then there were those bursting with curiosity.
[Tier 1 Civilization, Kira Civilization]: "Hey, hey, can anyone hear me? Our civilization's cosmic coordinates are... Welcome to visit us!"
Logically, the Civilization Broadcast should be a solemn matter, but not every civilization's Leader is serious. Take this naive and adorable one, for example. It's only because the Civilization Broadcast's transmission speed isn't fast; otherwise, openly broadcasting their cosmic coordinates into the depths of space would be no different from courting death.
There were also declarations of war.
[Tier 1 Civilization, Death God Civilization]: Having attained enlightenment today, we hereby declare war on all sentient life in the universe. To any civilization receiving this broadcast, we regret to inform you that you have received a death warrant from the Death God Civilization. We will soon crush your civilization and conquer the entire universe!
Perhaps due to the limited understanding of the universe among Tier 1 Civilizations, Chen Mang had noticed that many of them were remarkably arrogant. They dared to proclaim what he himself wouldn't even utter.
He continued searching through the galaxy map.
Regrettably, the Death God Civilization had also met its demise long ago, another extinct civilization.
"Huh?"
Just then—
A flicker of surprise crossed Chen Mang's eyes as he spotted a Civilization Broadcast from the Mechanical Civilization. This was a rare occurrence indeed.
["2nd Tier Civilization, Mechanical Civilization."] [Let me clear my throat first. Ahem, ahem, ahem. Hello everyone, can you hear me?]
In Chen Mang's mind, the Mechanical Civilization had always been a serious and solemn civilization. Though he had never met their Civilization Leader, he imagined them to be equally serious. He never expected the Mechanical Civilization to have such an impulsive leader.
It seemed that the actions of the "Former Leader of the Mechanical Civilization" were those of the diary's master he had found on the unclaimed planet within the Mechanical Civilization Ruins.
That fellow had a natural affinity for interacting with other civilizations.
He had even hosted a traveler from an advanced civilization.
At that time, the Mechanical Civilization was still a 2nd Tier Civilization.
Chen Mang had also discovered the automated Cosmic Broadcasts triggered during the Mechanical Civilization's Advancement to a Tier 3 Civilization.
The entire process felt like an archaeological dig.
Events from tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of years ago unfolded before him through these Cosmic Broadcasts. Though he couldn't see the specific scenes, these fragmented pieces of information allowed him to vaguely reconstruct the Niya Star System's history over the past hundred thousand years.
During those hundred thousand years...
The most powerful civilization to have emerged in this region was the Niya Civilization, a 4th Tier Civilization.
No stronger civilization had ever existed here.
If the Mechanical Civilization hadn't been wiped out, it would have been the most likely candidate to become the second 4th Tier Civilization in recent millennia.
This was the utility of the "Cosmic Unique Overpowered" effect.
Not bad.
He found it quite useful.
At that moment, Xiao Ai's voice echoed through the train: "Train Conductor, the Starfire Civilization has returned the miners. Should we prepare to make contact with them?"
"Prepare," Chen Mang murmured.
He would need to visit the Starfire Civilization again soon. Last time, he had forgotten to ask about the cosmic behemoth with s-rank potential—what level of threat it posed compared to other civilizations in the universe.
Deep within the cosmos, on a mining star belonging to an unknown civilization, a plump, young-looking man sat in his quarters, gazing at the surveillance screens that monitored every corner of his mine. After carefully scanning the feeds, he grabbed a slice of watermelon from the refrigerator, took a bite, and muttered, "They're really not coming back?"
"So they're actually this easy to deal with?"
Just then—
Ring-ring, ring-ring.
The shrill ringtone pierced the air.
The obese man wiped watermelon juice from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve before hastily tapping the incoming call notification on his wrist device. "Mom, what's wrong? Tell me quickly!" he urged, his voice strained.
"H-h-honey, I'm fine. I just... I just wanted to hear your voice."
"Stop it!" The man's voice trembled with a sob. "Mom, this is a long-distance call between zones! It's costing me a fortune! I'm in the Northern Frontier, you're in the Southern Frontier—every minute is costing me 100 million units of iron ore!"
"And you're still stuttering! That's just wasting more money!"
"I work so hard to earn a living. Can't you save me some money, Mom?"
"But... but Coco, Mom has plenty of money. Come home. I'll give you everything."
"No!"
The man's face hardened as he stared at the holographic projection of his mother's kind face. "Father already said I'm a useless bum who just eats and waits to die. I have to prove myself this time before I can go back!"
"Enough!"
"And Mom, please don't call me again. It's really too expensive!"
"Mom, I'm worried about you. The Southern Frontier is still undeveloped, a desolate wasteland where strange things happen all the time. I heard the Wang family's kid next door went exploring there recently. His signal suddenly cut out, and we haven't heard from him since. He's probably met a grim end."
"Alright, alright."
The young man glanced at the call timer on his wrist device, his voice urgent. "Mom, time's almost up. Take care of yourself, okay? Everything's fine here. And tell Father... Laozi will definitely make something of himself and slap him across the face with my success!"
Just then, as the call timer reached 59 seconds, the man swiftly hung up.
He finally let out a long sigh of relief.
These calls were too expensive.
The Southern Frontier was too far from the Northern Frontier, and the area was practically uninhabited, still in its undeveloped state. It was a chaotic region where cosmic pirates, stellar explosions, and radiation storms occurred frequently.
In the civilized Northern Frontier zone, these dangers would have been detected and neutralized in advance.
But here, it was essentially a lawless territory.
But—
As the saying goes, chaos often breeds opportunity.
The cost of leasing a mine here was incredibly low. After calculating the figures, he estimated that under normal circumstances, he could earn a profit of 100 billion after the mine was fully exploited!
He planned to use this money to lease more mines.
Then, he would lease mining stars.
And eventually, lease even more mining stars, gradually expanding his operations step by step.
The Southern Frontier was an undeveloped region. The civilization had constructed numerous wormholes connecting it to various zones, and the mining stars in these zones were bundled and sold to "Well-Connected Clients" by the second-generation officials.
These officials had no interest in developing the mines themselves.
With a mere wave of their hand, they could declare an entire cluster of mining stars as their own, requiring no effort whatsoever, and then sell them for profit.
The buyers, in turn, had no intention of digging the mines themselves.
With hundreds or even thousands of mining stars under their control, they couldn't possibly exploit them all personally, nor did they want to earn such hard-earned money. Instead, they subcontracted the mining stars to secondary contractors, who then subcontracted them further down the line.
These contractors were required to bring their own armed forces to defend against pirate raids and their own mining robots to extract the resources.
As expected, these ventures were almost always profitable.
The mining stars available for contracting were typically located outside high-resource zones and beyond the planned territories of civilizations—mere scraps casually sold off by the privileged children of officials. Yet even these scraps were enough to make many people rich beyond measure.
Scraps from an advanced civilization.
Enough to gorge an ordinary person to death.
So rich they couldn't even swallow it all.
Everything had been progressing smoothly until recently, when a mysterious thief began appearing at his mine, stealing a single 9th-Tier Iron Ore each time.
No, "stealing" might not be the right word.
The figure never touched the ore mined by the robots and left on the ground. Instead, he wielded a pickaxe himself, digging with the practiced skill of a seasoned miner. Despite numerous attempts to kill him, the figure always reappeared at the same time, like clockwork.
Unwavering, like a job.
A job with no days off.
Even more bizarrely, he couldn't discern the figure's face or even the clothes he wore. He could only sense that it was a person, and that the person was male.
But the moment he tried to focus his eyes for a closer look, his mind would become muddled, unable to process any information.
It left him feeling drowsy and disoriented.
Even the surveillance monitor displayed the same bizarre phenomenon.
Utterly eerie.
The young man lay sprawled listlessly across the table. There was no internet here; the Southern Frontier lacked network infrastructure and signal base stations. Internet access was prohibitively expensive, costing 100 million units of iron ore per minute.
He certainly wouldn't waste his money on that.
Though he had known this journey would be lonely and isolating, actually being here was still torturous.
But soon...
"Hang in there!"
The young man straightened up, a surge of indomitable spirit erupting from him. His eyes burned with determination. He refused to return home defeated and humiliated, only to be mocked to death by that old bastard. He had to make something of himself!
He would show that old bastard that if he could build an empire from nothing, so could he!
Only then did he exhale in relief, pull a screen from the table drawer, and begin scrolling through movies to choose his entertainment for the day. Thankfully, he had downloaded a massive library beforehand—watching ten films a day would keep him occupied for three years.
Three years later...
The Dragon King had returned!
But...
He glanced at the remaining videos with a troubled expression. Less than half a year had passed, yet he had already watched more than half of them. What was he to do? He had a peculiar aversion to rewatching anything he had already seen.
Just then—
The corner of his eye caught movement on the surveillance screen. The unapproachable "Mysterious Miner" had reappeared.
"He's back!"
The man's face darkened, and for a moment he felt like cursing. But he quickly noticed something different. This time, though the miner still carried his pickaxe, he didn't immediately start mining as usual. Instead, he stood motionless, as if waiting for something.
Could it be...?
He set aside his tablet, pulled up his pants, and retrieved the control panel for an armed robot from the drawer. Moments later, an armed robot emerged from behind the room and strode toward the location where the Mysterious Miner had appeared on the surveillance screen.
In no time at all!
The armed robot stood before the Mysterious Miner.
As he made minute adjustments to the robot's movements, the man stared at the screen, his gaze fixed on the mysterious figure whose surface light continued to distort, making him impossible to look at directly. He activated the robot's loudspeaker and attempted communication: "Hello...?"
He had only ever witnessed this phenomenon on the surface of one type of creature:
A Cosmic Behemoth whose volume expanded instantaneously to colossal proportions. The speed of its physical expansion far outstripped the ability of the naked eye to follow, causing its surface to appear distorted, as if space-time itself were warping around it, making it nearly impossible to look at directly.
Yet he had never imagined he would one day see this effect manifested on a human being.
The Mysterious Miner remained silent, saying nothing.
After a long pause, he finally spoke, his voice hoarse and slow: "Very well."
"..."
The young man was slightly taken aback, surprised that the other party could communicate so smoothly, and in the Ancient Cosmic Language no less. He knew this language well; it was a favorite among the second-generation officials and wealthy heirs who often gathered together, using it to flaunt their supposed sophistication.
He disliked associating with those people and never used the language himself, finding it pretentious. Not that he couldn't; his parents were indeed wealthy, and if he wanted to join their circles, he could easily do so, even forming his own clique.
Clearing his throat hastily, he spoke again, though he hadn't used the Ancient Cosmic Language in ages. Muscle memory, however, remained.
"Greetings, Senior. May I ask why you have repeatedly visited this humble abode of mine?"
But this time, the Mysterious Miner fell into a prolonged silence, saying nothing for a long time.
Meanwhile, aboard the Stellaris train on the other side of the cosmos...
The miner's dream was now manifesting within the Stellaris train.
"How should I respond?" Xiao Ai's voice echoed through the train.
"Wait," Chen Mang said, rubbing his temples with a headache. The plan had gone awry. He had intended to intimidate the miner with Ancient Cosmic Language, but it had backfired. The miner spoke the language fluently, while Chen Mang only knew a few basic words.
Communication was now a problem.
His miner didn't speak Cosmic Language.
How could they communicate?
Speak Mandarin?
"Wait a moment. Summon Coco's train conductor."
Several minutes later, Coco's train conductor—the sole conductor from the Niya Civilization—arrived in the locomotive cabin. Before he could even survey the surroundings, Chen Mang pulled him to a nearby table. "I wander the corners of the cosmos, seeking my lost name. Do you know what I'm called?"
"Translate this sentence into Cosmic Language and write it down."
Without hesitation, the middle-aged man picked up a pen and wrote the sentence on a piece of paper. The paper then materialized in the miner's hand within the dream realm, and the miner handed it to the armed robot standing before him.
Xiao Ai could freely manipulate the contents of the dream realm.
However, whether objects from the dream realm could be brought into reality depended entirely on luck. Moreover, bringing objects into reality consumed Dreamstone capacity, and anything exceeding the Dreamstone's energy limit couldn't be extracted.
However, if what the other party perceived in the Dream Realm was reality, then anything he created within the dream could seemingly be directly handed over to them.
But this was limited to ordinary items.
For example, he could conjure a note, but he couldn't materialize hundreds of 9th-Tier Iron Ore ingots out of thin air and give them to the other party. A single Dreamstone simply couldn't provide that much energy.
The young man sat in his room, staring at the note on the screen. A shiver ran down his spine. Am I seeing a ghost? he wondered. Did I set the air conditioner too low?
He felt a chill creeping up his back.
The words on the note were eerie:
The universe is vast. It's normal for strange things to happen.
He didn't want to think about it. He just wanted to get rid of this thing quickly and keep it from messing with his mine—and more importantly, from messing with him. He just wanted to mine ore, not lose his life.
He hurriedly spoke into the loudspeaker again: "I don't know, bro."
Soon, another note appeared:
[I remember having an enemy from the Sixth-Tier Civilization, the Kaka Kaka Kaka Kaka Civilization. Are you from that civilization?]
The young man let out a long sigh of relief and replied, "No, bro, you've got the wrong guy. I'm from the Fifth-Tier Civilization, the Nami Civilization. I'm a good guy."
Immediately afterward, the other party handed him another note.
[You're a good person. Can we be friends?]
The young man opened his mouth slightly to reply, then froze. Could this be a cosmic opportunity? The depths of the universe were said to hold countless chances, and perhaps this was one of them.
After a moment's hesitation, he tentatively replied, "Of course."
[Then, as friends, could you tell me some interesting stories about your civilization?]
"Uh, what kind of stories would you like to hear?"
[Any kind will do. I love hearing stories from my friends.]
"Let me think... Hmm... How about I tell you how my father built his empire from scratch? I don't like him much, but I have to admit, his life story is legendary.
"In that respect, I still admire him.
"To this day, I still don't know exactly how he made his first fortune. All I know is that he suddenly earned ten billion. My mother said it was something about accidentally stumbling into a temporal rift or some other nonsense. Back then, that was an astronomical sum for us. After getting that money, my father seemed to suddenly unlock his full investment potential."
At that very moment, in the space above the mining star where the young man was staying, a heavily armed train lay hidden within the Pseudo-Fourth Dimension, undetectable by any radar.
"Sigh," a white-haired man with long hair sighed languidly from a sofa inside the train, trimming his nails. "Boss, we're the Nami Civilization's elite guard, veterans of countless large-scale civilization expansion projects, and even led assaults on several major Third-Tier Civilizations."
"And now—"
"We've been reduced to babysitting a kid for a living? This is so boring!"
A middle-aged man with a scarred face, sitting in a chair, didn't even look up as he replied coldly, "The daily profits here exceed what we used to earn from any major project. Our client is generous, and since we're being paid well, we'll do our job properly!"
"Our mission is to ensure the absolute safety of the young master on the mining star below!"
"Even if the star suddenly explodes, he must survive!"
"Sigh."
The white-haired man sprawled on the sofa, spreading his hands in a gesture of resignation. "Of course I know, Boss. It's just... I'm bored. The life of fighting and killing suits me better. Watching kids is the most tedious thing ever."
"And this guy's taste is really something else."
"Other rich kids come to these backwater places with a harem of girls, but he brings a stack of movies? Talk about down-to-earth!"
"I'm genuinely curious."
"Does he even realize that even if he mines this entire mine dry, the profits would barely cover our daily wages? It must be nice having a rich Dad. Why couldn't I have one?"
Just then—
Middle-Aged Scarface's expression suddenly turned cold as he glanced at the radar screen, where several red dots were rapidly approaching. "Pirates are closing in on the mining star. Prepare to engage, but keep the noise to a minimum."
"Got it!"
Inside the wooden cabin, the young man had initially tried to keep the conversation brief, but as they talked, he opened up, excitedly sharing every amusing story he knew.
He hadn't spoken to anyone in ages.
He'd been holding it in for far too long.
After a long while, the young man finally stopped, still reluctant to end the conversation. "What about you? Have you ever experienced any interesting stories?"
"I saw a massive Cosmic Behemoth."
"How big was it?"
"2.5 light-years long."
"Impossible! There's no way a Cosmic Behemoth that size could exist. It defies all logic!" The young man instinctively shook his head in disbelief.
"I truly saw it."
The other party handed him not only a note but also a photograph. The photo showed a blurry image of a Cosmic Behemoth.
The young man glanced at the photo. Without any reference points, it was impossible to determine the creature's exact size. After a moment's hesitation, he decided to accept it as truth. "Alright, I believe you."
Perhaps such a creature really did exist.
Even though he'd never seen one himself, there were countless wonders in the universe he had yet to witness.
"Anything else interesting?"
"I'd like to hear your stories now."
"Alright then."
The young man pondered for a moment before suddenly remembering something. His voice lowered as he said, "Let me tell you a secret. I've never told anyone this before, but since we're friends now, I'll share it with you."
"Do you know how much my father is worth?"
"I'd guess at least ten trillion, maybe more. He never flaunts his wealth and tries to keep a low profile whenever possible. Do you know why I admire my father for building his empire from scratch?"
"It's because social mobility in our Nami Civilization is practically nonexistent. Unless you venture into unexplored regions of the galaxy, breaking through the rigid class barriers is impossible."
"When I was a child, I once snuck into my father's study."
"Back then, my father was just starting out, working tirelessly day and night. He had no time for me. I was too young to understand the adult world, and I resented him for not spending more time playing with me."
"And he never allowed me into his study."
"I wondered if I could somehow get him to take a day off work to play with me."
"When I entered the study..."
"I saw a telescope. It could see incredibly far. The moment I found it, I couldn't resist playing with it. I secretly took it back to my bedroom."
"When my father returned, he discovered the telescope was missing."
"He was furious."
"Or perhaps it was madness. I had never seen him like that before. I was terrified and hid in my room, too scared to make a sound."
"My mother, though she didn't understand why losing a telescope would make him so angry, urged him to report it to the authorities."
"But he didn't. After venting his rage, he locked himself in his study for three days. When he finally emerged, he never mentioned the incident again, as if it had never happened."
"It wasn't until I grew older that I learned the telescope was actually Tier 10, a type of train accessory."
"Only then did I realize how extravagant that little toy was. A Tier 10 telescope requires eight murphy stones to craft."
"I've never dared to tell my father about this."
["Do you still have the telescope with you?"]
The plump young man, his voice tinged with melancholy, glanced at the note being handed to him again. He instinctively replied, "I've kept it hidden on my person all this time."
["May I see it?"]
"Well..." The young man hesitated before finally saying, "Of course."
He retrieved a telescope from a drawer, strode out of the wooden cabin, and soon spotted the Mysterious Traveler with his own eyes. This was the first time he had seen the Mysterious Traveler in person. After a moment's hesitation, he approached and handed over the telescope.
"This is it."
"..."
Inside the Stellaris's locomotive cabin, Chen Mang stared silently at the Tier 10 telescope displayed on the control panel screen, his eyes narrowing slightly.
Long, long ago, on Aquablue Star, he had encountered a temporal rift in the ruins of a city. It was his first encounter with such a phenomenon. Doba had even ventured inside to investigate. During his initial experiments, Chen Mang had tossed a newly enhanced Tier 10 telescope into that rift.
The telescope before him now was identical to the one he had discarded.
Same shape.
Same Tier.
The only uncertainty was whether this was the exact telescope he had thrown into the rift.
But he suspected it was possible.
After all, Dreamstone mines were supposed to materialize randomly. Why had they repeatedly appeared at this particular miner's location for over ten consecutive days? There must be some connection between this person and the Stellaris.
Looking back now, this telescope must have been the connection.
Just then—
The image on the screen suddenly began to shake violently.
Xiao Ai's voice quickly echoed through the train:
"Train Conductor, the miner is experiencing a severe emotional reaction. The Dream Realm connection has been forcibly severed."
"Huh? Huh?! Huh!!!"
The plump young man standing in the mine watched the Mysterious Traveler rapidly fade away before him, shouting urgently. But the traveler, who had just befriended him, vanished in the blink of an eye.
Only the telescope remained, lying on the ground.
Slightly dazed, the young man picked up the telescope and looked around, puzzled. "Couldn't even say goodbye before leaving?"
"We were supposed to be friends, right?"
He carefully picked up the telescope. With his current wealth, a Tier 10 telescope was practically worthless—it wasn't a Tier 20 model, which were valuable due to their rarity and the ban on their sale and manufacture. Without these restrictions, they wouldn't be worth much either.
But this telescope had been stolen from his father's study when he was a child.
Every night, he would sleep with it clutched in his arms, as if he were holding his father.
He had planned to confess everything to his father once he established his own career, otherwise, it would always feel like a weight pressing on his heart.
Meanwhile—
Inside the Stellaris train cabin:
Chen Mang frowned deeply, his gaze fixed on the man before him, whose eyes held a flicker of fear. This was the same miner from earlier, and Chen Mang suddenly realized something: the connection wasn't between the telescope and the train, but between the telescope and this miner.
Why else would other miners avoid that particular mine, while only this man consistently ventured there?
"Grandpa Mang," the man said, his voice trembling slightly as he stood rooted to the spot. "That telescope used to be mine. One day, it suddenly vanished, and I searched everywhere for it but never found it."
He had been eavesdropping earlier, and the sight of the telescope had triggered a violent emotional surge, causing the Dream Realm to collapse.
"Tell me everything, from beginning to end, in detail."
"Alright."
The man took a deep breath before lowering his head and speaking in a hoarse voice, "During the apocalypse, I was a train conductor. After civilization unified, all conductors returned to civilian life, and I joined the Stellaris train as a Cyber Miner."
"That was back in the Zombie Basin. I'd actually spotted you long before. At the time, a train called the Wild Bull had put out a bounty for your capture. Anyone who provided your train's coordinates would receive a reward."
"I... I found your train and gave them your coordinates."
"Hmm." Chen Mang nodded slightly, quickly searching his memory for this historical event. The name Wild Bull sounded somewhat unfamiliar, but he recalled something about it. "Continue."
"The reason your train's radar didn't detect me was because I was too far away, beyond its range. I used a Tier 10 telescope to observe you."
"Wait, I need to interrupt here," Chen Mang said softly. "I remember now. Before the Wild Bull arrived, there was indeed a train lurking in the distance. But you were within my radar range. I just couldn't be bothered to deal with you at the time."
The man paused, slightly taken aback, before continuing. "That telescope I had back then? I found it in a waste pile on a fortuitous encounter map. I was so curious—who would upgrade a telescope accessory to Tier 10 and then just throw it away?"
"I used that telescope for a long time afterward. It worked perfectly."
"But one day, it suddenly disappeared."
"I never found it again."
"Wait a minute..."
Chen Mang frowned and summoned Doba. "Doba, compare the fortuitous encounter map you saw in the temporal rift with the one he's describing. See if they're the same."
Ten minutes later:
"Phew..."
Chen Mang exhaled deeply, rubbing his temples. The situation was now clear: the telescope this man had found was the very one Chen Mang had thrown into the temporal rift.
But...
The timeline didn't quite add up.
This man had been observing Chen Mang with the telescope back in the Yellow Zone, specifically the Zombie Basin. Yet Chen Mang had lost the telescope in the Purple Zone, in Qiu City within the Stone Man Zone.
In other words...
Before Chen Mang had even lost it, this man was already using it.
Chen Mang had inadvertently sent the telescope back in time.
The temporal rift led to a past fortuitous encounter map, likely only a month or two earlier.
The situation was now perfectly clear.
He never imagined the temporal rift would lead to the past.
But even so, how did the telescope end up in that guy's hands?
"Think carefully. How did you lose the telescope? What were you doing with it right before it disappeared? Think hard."
"I..."
The man stood frozen, pondering for a long time before finally speaking in a low voice. "The last time I saw it was shortly after leaving the Zombie Basin. I used it before going to bed that night, but it was gone the next morning when I woke up."
"Were there security cameras in the locomotive cabin?"
"Yes, but the footage showed nothing. The cameras clearly recorded me putting the telescope in the drawer before sleeping, but when I woke up, it was nowhere to be found, no matter how thoroughly I searched."
"I figured it was just a ghost and didn't bother with it anymore."
"That doesn't sound right," Old Pig interjected, his tone skeptical. "You just ignored something as serious as a ghost?"
"Well, considering the circumstances at the time, a ghost didn't seem like such a big deal..."
"Fair enough."
"Alright, that's enough."
Chen Mang paused, then said softly, "You can go now. I'll call you if I need anything else."
It was now confirmed: the telescope in the fat man's hand had been crafted by his train. How his father had acquired it remained a mystery, but it must have been of immense importance, judging by his furious reaction.
After a long silence, Chen Mang leaned back in his chair, sighed softly, and murmured, "The universe is filled with far too much chaotic nonsense."
The distance between the two civilizations was at least 100,000 light-years—that much he could ascertain. The exact distance remained unknown, as he could only observe civilizations within that range. How had the fat man's father managed to steal the telescope from such a vast distance?
However,
it was highly likely that the fat man's father had suddenly risen to prominence because of this very incident.
The Little Fatty was quite endearing and remarkably naive. Despite Chen Mang's attempts to extract information about his father's secrets, the boy had unwittingly spilled everything. Chen Mang's initial goal had been to gather basic information about the civilization, but the Little Fatty had blurted out everything in one go.
If this were to come to light, a brutal beating with a belt would be inevitable.
The exact circumstances of the theft were irrelevant for now.
What mattered was:
How could he exploit this situation to his greatest advantage?
(End of the Chapter)
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