In the ancient myths and legends of Hua Country, five mountains floated on the sea not far from Gui Xu. Their names were Daiyu, Yuanqiao, Fanghu, Yingzhou, and Penglai.
These five mountains were majestic and towering, adorned with many beautiful pavilions and towers where the Immortals resided.
Back then, when Emperor Qin Shi Huang sent Xu Fu to the East Sea in search of the Elixir of Immortality, his mission was to find these five celestial mountains and visit the Immortals.
This super Space City before them was named Daiyu, an obvious nod to that ancient, otherworldly lore.
The scientists present were all elites of the academic world, so they naturally understood the implications of a Space City with an ample energy supply, self-repair capabilities, and a closed-loop ecological system.
This was the space colonization humanity had always dreamed of!
A "generation ship" is a massive vessel with a complete ecosystem, designed to house humanity for generations.
Given the limitations on the speed of human spacecraft, building massive generation ships was one of Earth Civilization’s grand designs for achieving interstellar colonization.
Yet this Space City before them could accomplish that with ease!
This Space City was likely powered by a Fusion Reactor!
At this thought, Pan Jianguo could no longer restrain himself. He looked up and loudly asked the auxiliary artificial intelligence system:
"Excuse me, who built this Space City? What intelligent civilization does it belong to? Before we set foot here, had any other people from Earth ever been here? And that... developer, is he actually from Earth!?"
With humanity’s current level of technology, it was simply impossible to have built this super-massive Space City.
Including the Nanomechanical Cluster technology possessed by the Commander, it was all very likely from an extraterrestrial civilization.
This was what Pan Jianguo was truly worried about.
Those not of our kind are bound to have different intentions. Regardless of how much goodwill the other party displayed, if that goodwill originated from a non-human civilization, it demanded absolute vigilance.
It was just as Hawking had warned multiple times before his death: humanity should not casually try to contact extraterrestrial civilizations.
The surrounding scientists now understood what Pan Jianguo was getting at. They all held their breath, waiting for the artificial intelligence system’s reply.
The auxiliary AI system, which called itself Tian Maomao, seemed taken aback by the question for a moment before replying cheerfully:
"This Space City was built by the Savior Army Commander, who is also the developer of the True Apocalypse Game. He himself is human, so of course he belongs to Earth Civilization. As for you... you’re the first people from Earth to set foot in this Space City. Even the Commander hasn’t had a chance to come take a look yet."
Hearing this, the scientists let out a collective sigh of relief. They also now had a more tangible impression of the mysterious Commander.
In their minds, the Commander was now a mysterious entity working from the shadows to silently protect and advance human progress, much like a powerful guardian deity.
They also felt an immense sense of honor at being the first people from Earth to set foot in the Space City.
"Alright, everyone, welcome once again to the Daiyu Space City. Let’s begin."
Pan Jianguo then led the way out of the metal room, stepping onto the soft soil of the Daiyu Space City and starting to follow the AI system’s guidance toward the laboratory.
The group followed behind him, admiring the magnificent scenery within the Space City as they walked, their hearts pounding with excitement.
A glorious new Chapter for human civilization was dawning, and they were about to become a part of its brilliant light...
~
While securing residency in Hai City was exceedingly difficult, that was only true for ordinary people.
With a super-AI like Jingwei, creating a new identity couldn’t be simpler.
By the time Shen Feng arrived in Hai City, Jingwei had already rented an apartment for him. A few days later, his school enrollment was complete.
Shen Feng slightly altered Shen Xiaofeng’s appearance and once again had the clone attend school in his place, using his name.
As for Shen Feng himself, he had no interest whatsoever in attending the high school he had just "transferred" to.
The college entrance exams were only a month away. This high school was just a temporary cover, so there was no point in getting to know any of his classmates.
’He remembered that at the beginning, he’d had some interest in the showing off and bullshitting that came with school life. But after so many world-saving missions, after becoming the Savior Army Commander, school now felt like playing house to Shen Feng.’
He then used the Gray Tide to create an underground basement to serve as his experimental base. Once everything was in order, Shen Feng returned to the Cultivation Pod to have Jingwei assist him with further physical enhancements.
His original body was still not powerful enough. The enhancements were essential.
By now, over ten days had passed since the subjugation of this world’s Shield UY World Beast. The various human factions had finally discovered that the Undersea Space Wormhole was shrinking and that no new World Beasts were emerging.
The Salvation Army Warriors fighting in "True Apocalypse Game 1.0" were also baffled, with no idea what was going on.
But since the Commander hadn’t ordered them to stop, they couldn’t just end the current game session on their own. They had no choice but to carry on.
But some of the more perceptive people had already sensed that everything seemed a little different...
It wasn’t just the world that was changing, but seemingly the Commander himself.
Unlike in previous apocalypse missions, the Commander never once appeared during this Water World mission. He gave them no hints, instead letting them be destroyed and reborn repeatedly, which was rather baffling.
As the days passed, Shen Feng’s body underwent numerous enhancements. He now possessed a healing ability and resilience comparable to a World Beast’s, somewhat making up for his previous physical vulnerability.
Ever since the last attack, when they took the corpse of Shen Feng’s clone, the Purification Society had been quiet, making no new moves.
According to the intel from Han Feng, the higher-ups in the Purification Society were very pleased with his "spoils of war." The current Cthulhu had personally commended Han Feng’s achievements over the phone. He was promoted to Purification Priest for the Greater China Region, making him the number two man, second only to the current leader.
Han Feng was no longer restricted to Lu Province; he could now oversee the Purification Society’s affairs on a national scale. He had therefore moved his base of operations directly to Hai City.
Shen Feng, however, didn’t have much of a reaction to this development.
’After all, Han Feng was just a piece he’d placed on the board—useful, but ultimately expendable.’
Time passed quickly in this state of semi-hibernation. A month flew by, and the time for his mandatory entry into the next apocalypse mission was fast approaching.
Shen Feng woke up in his sprawling apartment overlooking the Huangpu River, stretched his body, ate breakfast, and took a lead bucket from the safe.
He opened the lid of the lead bucket, took out a graphite box, and then tore away the layers of aluminum foil inside. A black bracelet lay quietly before his eyes.
Taking a deep breath, he put the bracelet on his left wrist. Feeling the familiar weight and texture, Shen Feng couldn’t help but grin.
’No matter how well-prepared one was, this day was always bound to arrive.’
’Fortunately, he was much more mature now than he had been before the last apocalypse. He was also closer to the truth of this world.’
’He hoped he could make even more progress in the new apocalypse mission.’
Jingwei handed the Quantum Backpack to Shen Feng and said:
"All your things are ready. I just don’t know if you can bring electronic devices this time."
Shen Feng tapped the bracelet and said, "This thing isn’t flickering, and there are no error messages. It should be back to normal. I suspect that every time I save a world, the guys behind this bracelet get a little stronger, and things get a little more convenient for me."
Jingwei shrugged. "That’s good. You’re thoroughly prepared this time. Hope it all goes smoothly. Now, I’m going to enter your body... ah... I’m in."
The last few words, however, sounded out from the silicon-based framework in Shen Feng’s chest. Jingwei’s consciousness had left the mechanical body and returned to the silicon-based framework inside Shen Feng.
"Why did that... sound so weird?" Shen Feng frowned and tutted.
Then he picked up his backpack, walked to the huge floor-to-ceiling window, and gazed at the bustling traffic outside as he spoke to the bracelet:
"Requesting entry into the Dark Apocalypse mission. Can I bring electronic devices?"
The bracelet’s screen vibrated, then projected a single, simple word:
"Permitted."