——Presidential Palace——
The President wiped the blood from her face, her expression filled with joy.
“My God… so You truly have answered the prayers of the people of Blue Sea?”
She rose to her feet, her expression returning to its usual solemn composure.
“Open the global announcement system. Issue a Level-One evacuation order directing all citizens to the temple.”
“Contact the Marshal. I need the military’s full cooperation with the evacuation.”
“Contact the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Emergency Management Department, and the Ministry of Transportation. Convene an emergency online meeting immediately. Open every route at any cost. Get the people of Blue Sea to the temple as quickly as possible!”
A message from the Marshal had already arrived.
“The military will fully cooperate with the evacuation. All units will obey the President’s command!”
Another message soon came from the Pope.
“All gates of the temple are fully open. However, Your Excellency, there is something you must know—the temple can accommodate no more than one hundred million people, and even then, conditions will be extremely cramped.”
Dark Star was not large, nor was the population of the Blue Sea civilization particularly enormous—but even so, it numbered roughly eight billion.
The President clenched her fist slightly, but her expression remained calm.
“One hundred million… that should be enough for now. In the sudden disasters that struck this morning alone, at least one-third of Blue Sea’s population has already perished. And there will inevitably be many who cannot make it in time…”
She forced herself to calmly accept the reality that perhaps only around one billion people would survive, then immediately began considering ways to expand the available space.
“I’ll send personnel to the temple to urgently construct high-rise structures so we can accommodate as many people and supplies as possible.”
The temple itself could not be demolished, but construction within its grounds was possible. At this point, all they could do was make maximum use of vertical space and increase its survivable capacity as much as possible.
“Don’t think about the future yet. First, save as many people as we can.”
The Pope replied, “Yes, Your Excellency the President.”
Under the command of the highest levels of the Blue Sea civilization, the entire society sprang into action.
Every transportation route was opened. The roads leading to the temple were placed under military control. Every vehicle had to move at maximum speed—if one broke down and blocked the road, soldiers immediately pushed or dragged it aside.
The temple gates stood wide open. Construction workers labored desperately, and large numbers of civilians joined them, helping wherever they could.
High-rise structures rose at a speed visible to the naked eye, stacked upward as densely as possible. No one cared about running water, electricity, or basic amenities anymore—the only concern was creating enough safe space to pack people and supplies vertically.
All kinds of resources were transported into the temple by helicopter and freight truck. Emergency response plans were activated one after another, and warehouses were thrown open.
Seen from high above, the entire population of the planet appeared to be converging rapidly toward a single point.
—For the Blue Sea civilization, it was a frantic, sleepless mass evacuation lasting nine days and nine nights, with more than a billion people working without rest.
—For Cheng Qisheng, it felt as though she had only waited a moment before the relocation was complete.
A virtual interface appeared before her once again.
[Beep—Warning—Warning—The planet where Safe City is located is about to be destroyed. Initiating automatic detachment procedure.]
[Safe City – Tier 1]
[Actual area: 800 square kilometers]
[Deployment area: 5 square kilometers]
[Capacity: 360 million residents]
[Status: Auto-detaching—]
There was no thunderous explosion, no dazzling spectacle. On the holographic display, the Safe City lit up—and in the next instant, it appeared on an unfamiliar stretch of grassland.
The most astonishing part was that such an enormous city truly occupied only five square kilometers when viewed from the outside.
In other words, the Safe City physically occupied only five square kilometers of this world, while its interior contained an actual area of eight hundred square kilometers.
It really was… astonishing.
Cheng Qisheng discovered that she could observe the Safe City from a bird’s-eye perspective through the virtual interface.
Even more surprisingly, the flow of time inside the Safe City had synchronized with her own.
Inside the Safe City, the Blue Sea civilization cautiously observed the world outside—but without permission from their god, not a single person dared step beyond the city.
Cheng Qisheng looked at the densely packed masses of Blue Sea citizens, her emotions indescribably complicated.
She had painstakingly cared for Dark Star for three years. Again and again, it had nearly been destroyed by one disaster or another, and every time, she had done everything she could to save it.
Hundreds of billions of years—she had protected Dark Star for hundreds of billions of years.
And now she was being told that the ruined city that had existed from the very beginning had actually been something far more advanced all along.
It had simply required the destruction of the planet to activate.
For a moment, Cheng Qisheng genuinely had no idea how she was supposed to feel.
The virtual interface gave her little time to dwell on it. Beside the overhead view of the Safe City, another panel suddenly appeared, resembling a group chat.
Messages written in unfamiliar languages constantly scrolled upward, yet strangely enough, she could understand every one of them.
[Blue Leaf Safe City: Oh? A Safe City without a name? Not even 24 hours old? A newcomer! Welcome, welcome!]
[Withered Star Safe City: You got thrown into this world at Tier 1 already? Is your AI system insane?]
[Coriander Safe City: Probably because the world collapsed too quickly and the AI had no choice.]
[Born to Gamble Safe City: I bet 100 energy crystals this newbie dies within ten days.]
[Gu Gaga Safe City: Buying energy crystals in bulk. Can trade for various resources. High volume, high price. DM me if interested!]
Cheng Qisheng silently absorbed all the “information” revealed through these exchanges between the “people” in the chat.
[Cosmic Lord Safe City: Welcome, newcomer. A Tier 1 Safe City thrown straight into such a dangerous world? Have you reached 100,000 residents yet? Do your citizens listen to you? How about this—you acknowledge me as your boss, I’ll protect you and send people over to intimidate your residents. All I want is 10% of the energy crystals you earn in this world.]
[Meow Meow Safe City: Meow, newbie, don’t trust Cosmic Lord. He’s trying to trick you into revealing your coordinates so he can kill you and steal your Safe City core, meow. I almost fell for it before! Don’t give your coordinates to anyone, meow!]
[Cosmic Lord Safe City: That damn cat again! Just wait! I’ll skin you sooner or later!]
[Meow Meow Safe City: Come on, then. Meow isn’t afraid of you! My Safe City already has ten million residents! Do you even stand a chance, useless thing?]
[Cosmic Lord Safe City: Heh. Ten million? Who would believe that? Can you even control them?]
[Meow Meow Safe City: Unlike you, meow is the boss. Everyone listens to me. Not like you—I heard your city was overthrown again recently, meow. It’s unbelievable someone can be that bad at being a city lord. Don’t end up like the previous Withered Star Safe City lord, who had his position stolen and died miserably, meow~]
[Withered Star Safe City: That guy deserved it.]
[Cosmic Lord Safe City: Damn cat! Just you wait! Just you wait! Once I have enough population, I’m coming for you!]
[Gu Gaga Safe City: Buying energy crystals in bulk. Can exchange for population/resources @Cosmic Lord Safe City]
[Blue Leaf Safe City: Why isn’t the newcomer saying anything? Not used to chatting yet? Just focus on the screen and you can send messages.]
[Gu Gaga Safe City: Buying energy crystals in bulk. Can exchange for various newcomer-only information. Essential for newbies, cheap and discounted, hurry @“Unnamed Safe City”]
Cheng Qisheng silently watched the messages scroll past.
By now, she had already determined that, including herself, there were thirteen “people” in the group chat.
Or rather, thirteen Safe City lords.
At first glance, it looked no different from an ordinary online group chat. Aside from two members who seemed ready to arrange an offline fight, the rest was not much different from the chat groups Cheng Qisheng had joined in the past.
When they noticed she wasn’t responding, the other city lords gradually fell silent. Only Blue Leaf Safe City continued @-mentioning her, trying to pull her into the conversation.
Cheng Qisheng remained completely silent.
Haha.
The muscles responsible for speech had already lost all motor function.
She literally could not make a sound.
Still, she considered herself fairly lucky.
At least she could still control her eyelids.
She could still read the messages.
Just as she was desperately gathering information in her mind, a cluster of white light slowly condensed on the virtual screen. It resembled a jellyfish drifting lazily through the sea.
“Greetings, respected City Lord. I am the Safe City’s AI, serial number 008. I am your assistant. You may call me 008.”
The jellyfish-like AI had no mouth—yet it could speak.
That alone made Cheng Qisheng feel an inexplicable pang of envy.
Receiving no response, the AI calmly rotated its body, faint blue light rippling across its surface.
“System scan in progress. Detected that the City Lord’s physical condition is poor. Suspected illness: Mortal Vessel Syndrome.”
“Cause: The patient’s mental power is too strong for the physical body to support, resulting in a mismatch between mind and body. Symptoms include progressive loss of bodily control over time, ultimately resulting in complete confinement within the body.”
“Searching for solution…”
After several rapid flashes of blue light, the AI quickly produced a recommendation.
“Recommendation: City Lord should disable the Safe City’s 24-hour newcomer protection period and officially activate the Safe City system.”
“The AI predicts that the City Lord may wish to understand the function of the newcomer protection period before deciding whether to disable it.”
[During the Safe City newcomer protection period, residents may freely enter and leave the city. For 24 hours, dangers outside the Safe City cannot enter.]
“The City Lord has already been bound to the Safe City. After disabling the newcomer protection period and officially activating the Safe City, the City Lord will also ascend to the same Transcendent Tier 1 level as the Safe City. Transcendent Tier 1 can alleviate some symptoms of Mortal Vessel Syndrome.”
“AI prediction: There is a 99.8% probability that after reaching Transcendent Tier 1, the City Lord will regain the ability to communicate normally and regain extremely slow physical movement.”
“Due to the City Lord’s speech impairment, the AI has activated expression-observation mode. If the City Lord agrees to disable the protection period, please blink three times within one minute. If you disagree, please blink four times.”
Cheng Qisheng’s pupils trembled.
Three years.
She had been sick for three years.
During those three years, she had gone from seeking treatment in her own world to placing all her hopes on Dark Star.
To keep up with Dark Star’s development, she watched its rapidly changing scenes every day until her head throbbed. Terrified that something might happen while she slept, she never dared rest for more than an hour before waking to check on it again.
She ate nothing but instant food because it was the fastest and most convenient. She deliberately drank as little water as possible so she wouldn’t need to go to the bathroom as often.
Three years.
She had lived like that for three entire years.
Even after the interstellar civilization had begun exploring the universe, they had still been unable to cure ALS.
She had genuinely believed there was no hope left for her in this lifetime.
Unable to control her own body, her mind perfectly clear, she could only watch helplessly as she gradually lost the ability to care for herself.
She was still so young, yet she had already seen the shape of an utterly hopeless future.
She had never imagined that hope would come not from Dark Star itself—
but from the ruined city within it.
Now, all she had to do was blink three times…
and this body, crippled for so long, would recover enough to function normally.
Cheng Qisheng blinked rapidly.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Four times—
The jellyfish-like AI twitched faintly, as if startled.
“City Lord does not agree to activate the Safe City at this time? Please confirm once more.”
Cheng Qisheng blinked four times again.
“Understood. The AI will obey your command and will not independently disable the Safe City newcomer protection period.”
Cheng Qisheng closed her eyes.
Yes.
She desperately wanted to regain control of her body immediately—to speak, to walk on her own, to move freely again.
That desperate longing for health was something only someone who had suffered from illness for a long time could truly understand.
Deep inside her, it felt as though something was screaming frantically:
Hurry!
Try it now!
Immediately!
But Cheng Qisheng restrained herself.
Judging from what she had seen in the Safe City group chat, every one of those city lords had implied that this world was extremely dangerous.
The 24-hour newcomer protection period was the greatest safeguard both she and the Blue Sea civilization currently possessed.
During those twenty-four hours, the Blue Sea civilization could safely explore the outside world without worrying that they might bring danger back to their home base.
They could explore, integrate, move forward, and evolve.
There was far too much information to process now: Safe Cities, the destruction of Dark Star, a new and dangerous world, the city lord group chat, the AI that called her illness “Mortal Vessel Syndrome”… and the possibility that Safe Cities would continue traveling between worlds.
But none of that mattered.
As long as her illness could be cured, everything else was secondary.
Cheng Qisheng’s eyelashes did not so much as tremble. Her expression remained calm.
In her mind, she quietly issued an exploratory order to the President of the Blue Sea civilization.
Before she became ill, Cheng Qisheng had only been a university student on the verge of graduation. When it came to management experience, almost any seasoned member of society could probably outperform her.
But that didn’t matter.
A Creator God didn’t need management experience.
She only needed to assign what she wanted done to the highest authority of the Blue Sea civilization.
The civilization’s entire administrative system would naturally carry out her will.
As for Cheng Qisheng herself, she only needed to lie in bed—just as she had for the past three years—and quietly wait for the twenty-four hours to pass.
The power of Transcendent Tier 1 would allow her to slowly regain control of her body.
And after that—
what about ascending even further?
If Tier 2 and Tier 3 still weren’t enough, then what about Tier 4, Tier 5, Tier 6, Tier 7, Tier 8, or Tier 9?
There was no need to rush.
Be patient.
Cheng Qisheng slowly closed her eyes and let her violently pounding heart gradually settle.
—Now, I have plenty of time to take things slowly.