242. Organism—Too Late [Four Chapters in One; Please Subscribe!]

The sudden alarm echoed through the Chanyue Tower and the surrounding city, ringing out layer upon layer beneath the moonlight.

The terror of a machine-intelligence crisis rushed in like a tidal wave.

Following their programmed logic, the robots—which were strictly forbidden from attacking players' dantian regions—suddenly began targeting them.

They even pivoted their laser cannons to aim at the spectators in the floating shuttles on the stands.

A rapid barrage of laser fire erupted.

Screams rose one after another.

The inflatable chest vests that had popped open were quickly ruptured and blasted apart by the laser beams.

Slaughter and chaos erupted across both the Chanyue Star combat platform and the central city.

Lu Chen was momentarily bewildered.

Although he had planted a worm drone inside Gloria’s Chanyue sword armor in advance, he had not helped her forge any sword technique data, nor had he hacked the data collection center.

He had simply used All-Phenomena Resonance to help Gloria cheat.

Where on earth did the hacker intrusion come from?

Where did the machine-intelligence crisis come from?

This crisis arrived with such coincidence that Lu Chen couldn't help but suspect it was being manipulated from the shadows, directed straight at him.

Could it be a test of his hacking abilities?

However, the rioting robots were not focusing their attacks on him; instead, they indiscriminately attacked public officials, players, and civilians alike nearby.

Naturally, that included him as well.

With a sword in hand and her fighting spirit itching to be let out, Gloria set upon the robots like cutting melons and vegetables.

Aria rushed to rescue injured civilians.

The Secretary-General stared straight at Lu Chen and demanded:

"Captain Lu, what on earth is going on?"

If you're asking me, I'd like to ask you!

Lu Chen spread his hands.

"It wasn't me, it has nothing to do with me... My style has always been to capture the ringleader first, and I never kill civilians."

The Secretary-General shook his head helplessly, vaguely guessing something.

"How could it possibly have nothing to do with you? You've offended someone!"

With that, the Secretary-General, Ba Zhiqun, took an intelligence officer and immediately hurried back to Chanyue Tower.

To direct the defense.

To request reinforcements.

To evacuate players and civilians.

The physical training coach, Higgs, remained at the scene to direct the battle, surrounded and besieged by a tide of machinery.

Lu Chen thought to himself, since I accidentally brought enemies here...

"Should I just leave?"

Thinking this, he immediately summoned the Ghost Knight, had everyone get inside their armor, and flew away from Chanyue Star.

As it turned out, the rioting robot forces did not pursue him.

They continued their indiscriminate attacks on every single living organism on Chanyue Star.

They strictly followed the principle of killing everything nearby!

This didn't make sense.

No matter how one looked at it, this had nothing to do with the Commonwealth Corporation!

The Commonwealth Corporation would never exterminate the civilians on its own planet just to test him.

Inside the Ghost Knight cockpit,

Aria softly reminded Lu Chen:

"Could the Empire be behind this? Earlier, Chun Song and Xia Xian said they saw an imperial warship approaching."

Lu Chen nodded.

"That makes sense... Still, carrying out direct, indiscriminate slaughter is far too outrageous. The Empire might have gone too far this time."

Gloria stretched lazily and suddenly asked Lu Chen:

"Has my five hundred thousand arrived in my account?"

Lu Chen checked his bank account.

"It's here... The Commonwealth Corporation actually has some integrity."

Once the money arrived, Gloria relaxed completely, losing all her previous enthusiasm for swinging her sword to cut down robots.

"We have no obligation to save people."

Lu Chen thought to himself that Gloria was right.

Even if these enemies were drawn here because of him, that was still the Empire's internal affair.

He hadn't engaged in murder or arson, so naturally, he had no duty to play the savior.

Yet, watching so many innocent people die a miserable death, Lu Chen ultimately changed his mind.

"Forget it, this five hundred thousand was earned too easily. Let's lend a hand after all."

Saying this, Lu Chen immediately leaped out of his armor.

He opened his wrist-band, covered himself in a pitch-black glow combat armor, and charged back into Chanyue Tower to find the Secretary-General.

Aria also stepped out of the ship to rescue as many people as possible.

Gloria piloted her armor nearby to protect Aria.

The Spring-and-Summer broadcasting ship also arrived above Chanyue Star, opened its laser cannons, and while livestreaming, shot down as many robots as it could.

Along the way.

Lu Chen suddenly saw a massive dragon-shaped spaceship lift off from the shipyard, engaging the nearby rioting mechs in combat.

It was an adventure ship a full kilometer long, reaching level eighty!

Looking like a grayish-blue Eastern dragon, its ultra-long hull was formed by individual cabin sections connected through flexible hinges, with each section possessing independent engines capable of free transformation.

It was a brand-new ship straight from the factory, yet to be registered with a radar recognition code.

Painted along the side of the hull were the characters "Dragon-Seeker Three".

Dragon-Seeker Three?

An image of a wealthy, dead-fat prince floated up in Lu Chen's mind.

"Prince Tali is here too? Surely not by such coincidence?"

One had to know, a level-eighty adventure ship was practically the pinnacle combat force of this planet and even the surrounding stellar region.

Mid-journey, Lu Chen connected to the video feed of this ship.

"Prince Tali?"

As it turned out, the person appearing on the video was not Prince Tali, who liked to fiddle with fire-patterned dragon pearls, but a woman with a somewhat similar appearance and build, dressed in a gorgeous golden robe.

"I am Tali's younger sister, Xivier, in charge of supervising and inspecting Dragon-Seeker Three. Who are you?"

So Prince Tali wasn't here...

Lu Chen hurriedly said to Xivier:

"I am a friend of Prince Tali, Lu Chen. Your ship might also be infected with malware. Don't leave just yet, help me hold the line for a few minutes, and I'll resolve this robot riot."

With that, Lu Chen hung up the call.

Chanyue Tower.

Lu Chen once again found the busy Secretary-General.

"Where is the master server controlling the robots?"

The flustered Secretary-General had four feet and wished he had four more hands and four brains just to command with composure.

Logically speaking, this was the branch manager's job.

Yet the manager had gone on a business trip yesterday with another beautiful secretary, completely unaware that Lu Chen would show up.

Seeing Lu Chen leave and then return, the Secretary-General was exceptionally surprised.

"In the primary control room."

Sensing that the Secretary-General was still a bit dazed, Lu Chen patted him on the shoulder and said:

"That's just the control platform, Secretary-General. I need the exact location of the Commonwealth branch's master server!"

Regaining his wits, the Secretary-General realized that Lu Chen was a top-tier hacker who had returned to help purge the malware.

"Oh, it's in the basement!"

"Take me down there quickly."

The underground server was uniformly installed by the Commonwealth Corporation.

Logically, even the manager only had the authority to open it once, and was barred from bringing outsiders inside.

But right now, holding acting managerial authority, he thought for a moment and decided to bring Lu Chen down with him.

Arriving at the underground server room.

A row of metal mechanical server racks—devoid of neural network servers—usually made virus removal quite straightforward.

At worst, the classic trio of disconnecting from the network, pulling the power plug, and formatting would do the trick.

However, disconnecting the network was useless, and remote power-pulling and formatting mechanisms had also failed.

These robots were not operating in a coordinated network, but rather engaging in mindless, standalone slaughter.

It was utterly stupid, yet impossible to control.

Lu Chen rapidly invaded the server, hooked up his universal unlocking and hacking programs, and quickly located the rogue virus.

It was a pure code-based virus that primarily targeted the robots' automated control systems.

The virus even bore a rather notorious name—

Organic Night.

Meaning: Organics, it is too late.

Ranked among the three major viruses of the galaxy, right behind the Galactic Heart and Out-of-Tune Melody.

Lu Chen had encountered this virus back on Rust Star; back then it was an early version, but already quite troublesome.

That was why he still remembered its name.

At the time, whenever the higher-ups on Rust Star faced an uncontainable scandal, this virus would pop out to make a fuss for a while, which was quite wondrous in its own right.

Its function was to crash all networked machines without destroying any programs.

The logical self-consistency of Organic Night was exceptionally strong, allowing it to create logical loops to evade detection and deletion.

A standard malware removal simply wouldn't work.

Lu Chen could only fight poison with poison by wrapping it in another virus shell, disguising it as a new version of Organic Night, which forced all old-version viruses to update to the new one.

In the end, he turned it to serve his own purposes.

The Organic Night of that era was harmless and actually quite cute.

To his surprise, what Lu Chen encountered now was the latest version, possessing formidable power capable of indiscriminate slaughter!

No matter how powerful it was, though, it was useless against Lu Chen, who had already studied it.

Armed with the tactics of the old-version wrapping virus, Lu Chen was naturally familiar with the road. He recreated a completely brand-new Organic Night and quickly sorted out the virus program.

Subsequently, he had the server connect to the satellites, using forced radiation across the out-of-control robot terminals to download the brand-new Organic Night virus.

"This is the latest version of Organic Night."

Lu Chen raised a hand to wipe away his sweat and spoke thus.

A moment later, the robots across the entire planet behaved themselves, turning around to scoop up the humans whose breathing hadn't yet stopped and delivering them to nearby hospitals.

The killers instantly transformed into rescuers.

Receiving frontline reports, the Secretary-General stared at Lu Chen in utter astonishment.

"It's... it's just resolved like that?"

"How else?"

Lu Chen shrugged, and seeing the Secretary-General looking somewhat dazed, patiently explained:

"This virus is quite powerful. Even though I encountered an older version back in my hometown, it still took me five minutes to sort it out this time."

The Secretary-General stared at Lu Chen, harboring a deeper worry: What if Lu Chen hadn't purged the malware at all, but had instead seized control of the virus?

If that were the case, wouldn't he be able to control the robots of an entire planet?

In the Empire, the destructive power of a genius hacker far exceeded that of a genius practitioner.

Noticing the Secretary-General's grave expression, Lu Chen smiled and said:

"Don't be nervous. I'm a good person, and the Commonwealth Corporation is a decent company.

You guys taught me advanced sword techniques and even paid me fifty thousand spirit stones. How could someone full of gratitude harbor malicious intentions?

Once this matter is over, you can just format all the servers and control systems. Don't try to take shortcuts, and you won't suffer any heavy losses."

The Secretary-General snapped back to reality.

"Oh, right."

Turning serious instead, Lu Chen suddenly asked him:

"Let me ask you, have imperial warships visited the corporation recently?"

"Uh... they have."

Nodding stupidly, the Secretary-General suddenly remembered something.

"Wait, does Captain Lu mean that the virus was brought by the imperial warships?"

Lu Chen didn't confirm or deny it, but asked again:

"What did they want with you?"

The Secretary-General paused slightly, a look of hesitation crossing his face.

"This... is classified."

Lu Chen shook his head and casually snapped his fingers, as if capable of controlling something.

"I shouldn't have saved Chanyue Star; you all might as well have been left to fend for yourselves."

Frightened, the Secretary-General quickly reached out and pointed at the surveillance camera on the ceiling.

Only then did Lu Chen realize that Chanyue Star was under imperial surveillance.

"Rest assured, nobody can monitor you right now except for me."

Speechless, the Secretary-General thought to himself that this... was completely impossible to feel assured about!

"The imperial warships merely mentioned that you might come, and instructed that all information regarding you must be submitted to the imperial government, especially the details of your strength, such as your bloodline, power model, and whether you are hiding your cultivation..."

Lu Chen had already guessed it.

"And what else?"

Looking embarrassed, the Secretary-General stammered:

"Inquiring about and speculating on your whereabouts."

Lu Chen didn't blame the Secretary-General; at the very least, he paid out money really fast.

"The Empire probably just wanted to monitor me, to find out my identity and strength, but ended up botching it and causing a machine-intelligence crisis. Still, we can't rule out the possibility that the imperial warships wanted to stir up a big scene right from the start to test my stance."

The Secretary-General suddenly spoke with earnest gravity:

"Captain Lu should return to the Pangu Corridor as soon as possible. I suspect that right now, the Night Kingdom, the Entertainment Weekly branch, or the Fang Corporation all have traps waiting for you to jump into... If you want to infiltrate imperial stellar territory, you cannot bring a livestreaming ship."

"If I don't bring a livestreaming ship, how am I supposed to prove I'm righteous?"

Lu Chen suddenly sneered.

"Should I be afraid just because an imperial fleet set a trap? This time, I'm going to strip off the Empire's underwear in public!"

Sighing helplessly, the Secretary-General realized that this was no ordinary adventurer, and he couldn't be persuaded.

"If imperial secret agents come to ask me in the future, can I repeat your exact words?"

"Of course."

Unbothered, Lu Chen turned and left.

Watching Lu Chen depart, the Secretary-General said solemnly:

"Captain Lu, I rarely praise adventurers... but you are a true hero."

Lu Chen smiled.

"It's too early for conclusions."

...

Leaving Chanyue Tower, Lu Chen saw from afar that Dragon-Seeker Three had parked on the combat platform.

A few minutes prior, just as Lu Chen had predicted, Dragon-Seeker Three had been infected by the virus program and was teetering on the verge of losing control.

Several dedicated technicians had died or fallen unconscious from heavy injuries while trying to purge the virus through physical means.

Fortunately, Lu Chen had sorted out the virus.

He immediately connected to Dragon-Seeker Three's video feed and asked Princess Xivier, whose body shape approached that of a sphere:

"Judging by the hull number, Dragon-Seeker Three should be a ship customized by your brother, right? Why are you on board?"

The shaken Xivier regained her composure.

"I came to supervise and accept the delivery of the ship. Who would have expected this kind of thing to happen!"

Lu Chen asked her again:

"Where is your brother?"

Xivier replied:

"Once I successfully accept the new ship, I'll sail it into the Pangu Corridor to rendezvous with my brother. We're determined to take first place in the secondary assessments so we can attract more powerful teammates."

Lu Chen thought to himself, isn't that a coincidence?

"Although I may not be your brother's powerful teammate, I can certainly be considered a powerful ally. I helped your brother win second place in the Haixia Port assessments, and I was the first place winner at the time."

"Was it you who resolved the robot riot just now?"

"How else?"

Xivier went online and searched for it.

This Lu Chen was the captain of the Prime Firmament Adventure Group.

She had indeed heard the four words "Prime Firmament" from her brother.

Because it sounded somewhat similar to a game she used to play, she remembered it very clearly.

"Thanks for the rescue... Are you looking for me to collect payment?"

Lu Chen shook his head.

"No, I was actually just passing by here on a trip, and didn't expect to run into this sort of thing.

Prince Tali wants to recruit powerful teammates, right? That's very simple—just become famous.

Sail your ship and come with me. I can protect your ship, and I can also make him famous."

Xivier wasn't that easy to talk to. She had just glanced at the news regarding Prime Firmament and found it filled with all sorts of incredible adventures—wagering one's life for fame.

"I need to connect with my brother."

"Alright, send him an email."

At that moment, Prince Tali had already arrived at the Snow Great Wall, waiting for the White Dew and his Dragon-Seeker Three adventure ship to be in position.

The Snow Great Wall wasn't too far from the Commonwealth Corporation.

However, there was still a network delay of over ten minutes.

A video call was out of the question; they could only communicate via email.

Ten-odd minutes later.

Upon receiving Xivier's email, Prince Tali excitedly replied directly to Lu Chen.

"Brother Lu, I never expected such a coincidence. I'm waiting for you at the Snow Great Wall. People didn't cross paths, but the ships crossed paths in advance—this is destiny!

Though I don't know the ins and outs of this matter, nor your purpose in going to the Empire, I trust you one hundred percent. As long as you can ensure my sister's safety, the spaceship can follow you.

However, this Dragon-Seeker Three is my sharp weapon for braving the Blizzard Route. If anything happens to the ship, you must help me find at least one Dragon Pearl. Deal?"

Lu Chen replied with only two words.

"Deal."

The email exchange was concluded.

It had taken a total of half an hour.

Lu Chen then reunited with Gloria and Aria, piloted the Ghost Knight, and left the surface of Chanyue Star.

The viewership of Chun Song and Xia Xian's livestreaming room was skyrocketing.

The two of them exclaimed in front of the screen:

"As we can see, the severity of this robot riot incident is appalling. They indiscriminately attacked all organic life forms, completely turning against humanity.

As everyone knows, the total power of the robots on Chanyue Star far surpasses that of humans. If Teacher Lu hadn't donned combat armor, charged into the Commonwealth servers, and successfully eradicated the virus, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

The frontline news we received indicates that the force attacking Chanyue Star was none other than the Organic Night, ranked among the three major galaxies' viruses.

When we were very young, the toasters at home would often catch this virus and go on strike; we never expected it had now evolved to the point of taking lives.

This inevitably plunges us into deep contemplation.

On an isolated planet without backup, should so many smart robots be deployed? Should they be allowed to network and collaborate? Should they carry offensive weapons?

Unfortunately, this is quite common here in the Empire. The total population of the Empire's automated smart robots is several times greater than the total human population, which might be a hidden hazard.

The population issue is a massive problem throughout the entire galaxy."

Lu Chen found it amusing.

How on earth did these two manage to pivot the topic all the way to population?

The Ghost Knight soared out of the atmosphere in a single leap.

At that moment, Lu Chen received a video call from the Secretary-General.

Having finished handling post-battle operations, the Secretary-General invited Lu Chen to spend a few days on Chanyue Star, saying it wouldn't be too late to leave after his Five-Elements Natal Sword was forged.

Lu Chen politely declined his kind offer.

"No need, I'm not in a hurry for the natal sword. It just needs to be forged before the White Dew arrives at the Snow Great Wall. Make it of good quality, and mail it to the White Dew when it's done... Oh right, I already have the sword material; just use this ancient demon-slaying sword to build it, and preserve my demon-slaying sword runes."

With that, Lu Chen tossed the demon-slaying sword to the Secretary-General.

The Secretary-General was momentarily stunned. Though it saved on sword materials, it would inevitably increase the forging cost.

"Very well."

"Thanks!"

Piloting the Ghost Knight, Lu Chen left Chanyue Star alongside the Spring-and-Summer ship and Dragon-Seeker Three.

Arriving at the outer edges of the star system, they rendezvoused with the Leonin.

This was the first time the three ships had gathered together.

With two powerful helpers by his side, Lu Chen felt he could stride sideways across the surrounding stellar region.

He said to Xivier:

"Your Highness, I've found a very powerful friend to protect you and Dragon-Seeker Three. Even though he's stronger than me, I have his weakness in my hands, so it's quite safe."

Subsequently, he went to the starboard cargo bay of the Leonin and said to Pauli Gren:

"You don't need to worry about safety anymore. I've found you a level-eighty invincible adventure ship, and you can stride sideways through the surrounding stellar region."

The three parties hit it off immediately!

Pauli Gren immediately grabbed his escape capsule and thirty-one crew members, and boarded Dragon-Seeker Three.

Meeting the young and wealthy Princess Xivier, Pauli Gren was far smoother at handling interactions than Lu Chen.

He knew the economic strength of Dune Star better than anyone.

He immediately started buttering her up:

"In all my months out at sea, I've never seen such a luxurious adventure ship, nor such a beautiful princess."

Xivier had good self-awareness.

"Get lost, I'm not pretty."

Pauli Gren pointed to his chestnut-colored hair.

"Then is this chestnut hair of mine pretty?"

Xivier replied with a cold face:

"Ugly."

Pauli Gren laughed:

"Then we're a match made in heaven for ugliness. The princess has a fine ship but worries about personal safety, while I'm skilled at escaping but poor at combat. If we join forces, we'll have a bright future."

Xivier:

"..."

An atmosphere of joyful cheer filled Dragon-Seeker Three.

Lu Chen had planted worm drones in both the Spring-and-Summer and Dragon-Seeker Three, enabling remote communication.

Since his itinerary was practically exposed, there was no need to hide or cover things up any further. He connected to Chun Song and Xia Xian's livestreaming room.

In front of nearly one million online viewers, he announced:

"Hello everyone, I am Lu Chen, captain of the Prime Firmament Adventure Group. Right now, in the Empire's secondary alliance Kanglang star system, near the Chanyue star system, we have just resolved a robot riot crisis, rescuing over one hundred million humans and various pets on the planet. We are true heroes of the Empire, and deserve the Silver Hero Medal.

Next, we are going to pay a visit to the Fang Corporation.

As everyone knows, the Fang Corporation placed a fifty-thousand bounty on my head and petitioned the Empire to revoke my hero medal.

I entered imperial space precisely for this matter.

In my view, there are two ways to eliminate the bounty:

The first way is for me to walk right into a trap, letting Dragon-Seeker Three collect the fifty thousand reward while I hand back the hero medal by the way.

The second way is for me to make the Fang Corporation vanish, so that both my bounty and the revocation petition will vanish into thin air.

I hear that the imperial fleet is already waiting for me at the Fang Corporation. Let's wait and see."

The comment section instantly exploded.

This was imperial territory, and anyone capable of posting comments without delay consisted of imperial citizens.

You're an adventure ship, and you ran right into the Empire... That's right, you saved people, but now you're about to go threaten an imperial corporation.

What's more, you're broadcasting it publicly to the world—this looked entirely like someone rolling up their sleeves for a massive brawl!

"Captain Lu, you're already a hero; you don't need any further proof... The Fang Corporation will be spurned by the people of the Empire!"

"Captain Lu, please pull back your divine powers; the imperial fleet is everywhere out there."

"Wait, do we even have a Fang Corporation here? I don't think I've ever heard of it."

In stark contrast, the comment section from viewers in the Pangu Corridor ten-odd minutes later went wild.

"So brave, Captain Lu!"

"I support you, go give the imperial fleet a taste of small-time adventurer shock!"

"Smash the Fang Corporation to pieces!"

"By the way, go overturn those aristocratic adventure groups while you're at it. Take the Three Musketeers, for instance—flatten them all."

These folks loved watching the world burn...

Before long, the online viewer count in the livestreaming room broke the million mark.

Lu Chen promptly closed the livestreaming room.

"Alright, prepare for warp.

Our three ships will arrive at three positions on the outer edges of the Fang star system, beyond the maximum distance of radar scans.

Then, I will land on Fang Star alone to reconnoiter while you all stand by on the periphery.

Let's move out!"

The Leonin, the Spring-and-Summer, and Dragon-Seeker Three warped sequentially.

...

One light-day away from the outer edge of the Fang star system.

The three ships emerged one after another from the tranquil starry sky in three different directions.

At this distance, no radar within the Fang star system could detect them.

The drawback of such an arrangement was that if they wanted to provide backup to Lu Chen, the three ships would need to warp again, which would take over fifteen minutes.

Aria still felt somewhat uneasy and reminded him:

"Captain, it's too dangerous for you to go alone. You might as well let Sister Gloria go with you."

Lu Chen curled his lip.

"Gloria is too stupid; she'll expose herself within ten minutes."

Gloria frowned.

"Huh?"

Lu Chen immediately corrected himself.

"Gloria is too gorgeous; she'll expose herself within ten minutes."

Gloria's expression shifted, and she laughed smugly:

"I am indeed too conspicuous. However, I can serve to draw away anti-air attention and cover your reconnaissance operation."

Lu Chen then explained:

"This is the second step of the plan. I need to go check out what kind of corporation the Fang Corporation actually is, what unknown secrets it hides, whether it's worth wiping out their entire bloodline, and whether I should livestream the whole thing... All of these preparations need to be made in advance."

Aria remained worried.

"But it's so far away from Fang Star; the Ghost Knight can't warp-fly there. It'll take you months to arrive."

Lu Chen hadn't considered this small detail.

"Hmm, the Leonin will warp close to Fang Star, and then I'll pilot my armor and charge in."

The Leonin warped immediately, arriving at the periphery of Fang Star.

It released the Ghost Knight piloted by Lu Chen, and then warped away in another direction to a distant location one light-day out.

Subsequently, Lu Chen piloted the Ghost Knight alone, keeping his stealth engaged the entire way as he prepared to enter the Fang star system.

The location of the Fang star system was extremely remote, with virtually no commercial shipping lanes nearby, which explained why locals rarely knew of it, whereas many in the Pangu Corridor knew of the Fang Corporation.

There were eleven solid planets in the star system and not a single gas giant.

The spiritual energy concentration was quite high, and the environment was pleasant.

All of it constituted the real estate of the Fang Corporation.

It looked quite similar to the Mori Valley star system controlled by the Balhe family.

According to the navigation map, the headquarters of the Fang Corporation was located on the largest seventh planet.

Thus far, Lu Chen hadn't received any hazard warnings.

Until he entered the star system from a covert direction and suddenly discovered—

On the outer rim of the star system, an eighty-level imperial fleet was scattered and hidden!

An eighty-level Sea Lion cruiser.

Four seventy-level Sea Harrier frigates, alongside a large number of destroyers and dogfighting vessels above level sixty.

It was evident that the Empire attached great importance to this matter, yet without making a massive public spectacle.

Lu Chen was startled; fortunately, he was cloaked in stealth, making him undetectable even to an eighty-level fleet.

"I didn't expect an eighty-level imperial fleet to show up. I must see what kind of treasures this Fang Corporation has."

He continued deeper into the star system.

Lu Chen discovered two more local fleets.

One was the Fang Corporation's defense fleet, merely level sixty, scattered and garrisoned across the surfaces of the eleven planets.

In addition, there was a garrison fleet belonging to the Kanglang Kingdom, also at level seventy, cruising and patrolling within the star system.

These were three fleets from different systems, possessing three distinct control systems.

Lu Chen figured he could easily hack the Fang Corporation's defense fleet.

The Kanglang Kingdom's garrison fleet would be somewhat more troublesome, but through physical means, it could still be breached.

The eighty-level imperial fleet was comparatively more troublesome.

The defense system of an imperial fleet was extremely solid and complete, making it very difficult for Lu Chen's current combat power to hack.

"Let's land on the planet and take a look first!"

Lu Chen entered the star system, proceeding smoothly all the way without leaving a trace.

He first landed on a peripheral tenth planet.

The tenth planet boasted mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas with picturesque scenery.

Bypassing the surveillance satellites, Lu Chen hid his armor in the jungle, found a canyon cave, and walked on foot into the city.

Or rather, into an estate.

After upgrading All-Phenomena Resonance, his stealth capabilities had also reached a higher tier—not mere invisibility, but a method of merging with the environment to erase his own presence.

In effect, anyone who saw him would simply perceive an ordinary passerby, and radar would register no reaction at all.

The tenth planet lacked large cities, consisting instead of humanoid training estates named humanoid training bases.

Various humanoids lived here.

Some were adult humanoids scavenged from various places, while others were humanoid children born after arriving at the Fang Corporation.

All of them possessed formal slave contracts, but in reality, they were slaves with no freedom whatsoever.

Classifying the humanoids according to their appearance, talent, and abilities, the Fang Corporation had set up grades for them.

Pretty humanoids learned talents, performance, and charm arts, to be sold in the future to high-ranking officials and nobles, or entertainment companies.

Humanoids with good cultivation talent underwent devilish training to become powerhouses, usually sold to adventure groups.

Humanoids with special abilities were generally trained in performance and acrobatics, destined for sale to livestreaming companies.

Those with a bit of artistic talent sang, painted, or wrote; these individuals enjoyed relatively more freedom, but required very high talent, making their numbers the scarcest.

As for scientific talent... humanoids were quite weak in logical thinking, rarely producing scientists.

The above categories represented the cream of the crop among slaves.

Most mediocrely qualified humanoids could only engage in various manual labor jobs, such as agriculture or handicraft.

Putting everything to its best use and employing everyone according to their talents, they never lacked food or drink, burning themselves out for the masters of the Fang Corporation their entire lives.

Their only happy hour consisted of evening games, with game rewards distributed according to training results.

The estates prohibited humanoid slaves from falling in love freely, pairing them up to have children based on talent while the estate handled the upbringing; their regular sexual needs were directly fulfilled via intracranial highs according to their training and labor performance.

Lu Chen hacked the archive system of the tenth planet.

He discovered that among the Fang Corporation's contracts, there was even a rather "humane" clause—

As long as one earned ten thousand spirit stones for the Fang Corporation, one could gain freedom and enjoy citizenship of the Empire's secondary alliance!

However, once they truly earned ten thousand spirit stones for the Fang Corporation, they would be taken away by spaceship, brainwashed aboard the vessel, and resettled on another planet.

The content of the brainwashing was: The spaceship you were riding on crashed, and you were rescued by the great Fang Corporation.

The Fang Corporation is your benefactor and savior.