Chapter 82: A Devastating Barrage That Shakes Heaven and Earth (Part 2)

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In the Virtual Universe, on Black Dragon Mountain Island, Jiang Chen and Luo Feng met in a secluded chamber.

“What do you need me to do?” Luo Feng asked.

“Go to the Universe Galaxy Bank,” Jiang Chen replied directly, dropping any pretense at riddles this time. “The Universe Galaxy Bank is a colossal force, claiming it can fulfill any customer’s needs—provided, of course, the customer pays the right price. The five-star account your teacher left you has extremely high privileges. Contact the bank directly and request their protection service, using some of the treasures we obtained in the World Within a World as payment, and secure the deal with the five-star account. As long as the bank agrees, once we’ve secured the treasures, we’ll be able to leave Canglan Star safely, with no threat to our security whatsoever.”

“The Universe Galaxy Bank?” Luo Feng’s eyes widened.

He was well aware that the Universe Galaxy Bank offered many extra services for ‘star-level clients.’ After opening his own account with the bank, the welcome email had detailed the deposit standards and the benefits for various tiers of clients.

But for five-star clients, the email said only one thing: as long as you can pay, the Universe Galaxy Bank will spare no effort to fulfill your every desire.

Both Jiang Chen and Luo Feng were a long way off from qualifying as five-star clients.

But as luck would have it, among the legacy Hu Yanbo left Luo Feng, there was such an account.

Babata suddenly appeared, warning, “But the bank’s fees are bound to be astronomical. We haven’t got the treasures yet—if we fail to get them, that’s as good as making a fool of the bank. The consequences would be dire!”

Babata knew better than anyone the kind of services Universe Galaxy Bank offered its high-level clients.

He would rather see Luo Feng throw his lot in with Ming Yu than try to resolve the World Within a World mess through the bank, simply because the fees were so extortionate.

If they made a request, the bank dispatched personnel to Canglan Star, and then they failed to produce enough treasures to pay, their fate would be grim.

As one of the five major human powers, the Universe Galaxy Bank was not an entity to antagonize lightly.

“As long as the bank agrees, I’m confident I can secure all the treasures,” Jiang Chen explained, glancing at Luo Feng. “Just have them wait outside—when we come out, they escort us away. If we want their people to enter the Thunder World or the World Within a World, that’s a different price entirely.”

Luo Feng understood this well and nodded. “I’ll contact the bank and inquire.”

Just asking cost nothing. Fees only applied once a service was confirmed.

A moment later, Luo Feng reported, “Jiang Chen, the bank replied. If we pay with treasures after the fact, the fee doubles—they want treasures worth 100 Hunyuan Units. Because so many powers are involved, they’d need to send someone strong enough to control the situation.”

“One hundred Hunyuan Units?!” Babata shrieked. “Do you have any idea what that means? One Hunyuan Unit is a trillion universe credits—enough to buy millions of life-bearing planets! A hundred Hunyuan Units, that’s billions of planets! How many treasures do you expect to get in the World Within a World to be worth that much?!”

“I’ve calculated—the combined value of all the treasures in the World Within a World is about two hundred Hunyuan Units. If the bank takes half, we still walk away with treasures worth a hundred Hunyuan Units,” Jiang Chen said. “Without the bank, we wouldn’t dare to compete on a large scale. At most, we’d walk away with a few pieces, and Ming Yu or other big players would demand a share. We’d end up with even less. Working with the bank is better.”

“But that’s assuming you can get all the treasures!” Babata protested. “There are over two million ninth-rank star-level troops in there! If you manage to grab just a few treasures, that would be impressive—how could you possibly take them all?!”

“Leave that to me—you don’t need to do anything,” Jiang Chen replied, glancing at Babata. “Luo Feng, have the bank stand by, but don’t sign a contract. Once I have all the treasures, then we’ll sign.”

Hearing this, Babata had no further arguments. Without a contract, it was only ‘consulting services’—no offense to the bank.

If Jiang Chen could really seize the treasures from two million star-level soldiers and then pay the bank a hefty fee for protection, it would be worth it.

Though Babata didn’t believe Jiang Chen could really pull it off, he kept his doubts to himself, only muttering under his breath.

Luo Feng hesitated, but seeing Jiang Chen’s resolve, he offered no further objection.

Jiang Chen spoke again: “Luo Feng, ask how long, from the moment the contract is signed, it would take for the bank’s personnel to arrive at Canglan Star.”

Luo Feng quickly relayed the inquiry. Moments later, he replied, “They said, once the contract is signed, they’ll arrive within one day.”

Jiang Chen nodded, confirmed a few more details with Luo Feng, then both exited the Virtual Universe and returned to reality.

“How are you planning to seize the treasures?” Babata asked, looking at Jiang Chen.

Jiang Chen ignored him, instead addressing the group: “I already have a way to take the treasures from the World Within a World. But let me be clear: aside from the universe crystals—whoever digs them keeps them—the greatest treasures this time, Luo Feng and I will take the lion’s share. Luo Feng provides critical resources, and I do most of the work. Hong and Thunder God, each of you can pick one item.”

As fellow Earthlings, Jiang Chen was willing to let Hong and Thunder God share in some of the spoils.

But the main share had to go to himself.

Hong and Thunder God exchanged a glance. Hong said, “I’m not sure what’s going on, but if you and Luo Feng are doing the main work, we won’t be greedy for what doesn’t belong to us.”

“Hand over the ‘Thunder Stones’ you’ve collected. After that, you don’t need to do anything more,” Jiang Chen instructed.

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“I have 260,000 here,” Luo Feng said, pulling out his space ring. With a wave of his hand, a vast quantity of Thunder Stones appeared in the cave.

“I have a bit over ten thousand,” said Thunder God.

“So do I,” added Hong.

Hong, Thunder God, and Luo Feng’s two slaves each took out their own haul of Thunder Stones.

Jiang Chen gathered them up, counted them, nodded in satisfaction, then pressed his armband computer and spoke in a low voice, “Jarvis, you may begin. Except for our team, kill everyone else who entered the World Within a World. Leave no one alive!”

—

With Jiang Chen’s command, in a remote region of the World Within a World, drones soared into the sky.

Intricate and mysterious runes adorned their hulls, emitting an extraordinary supernatural force, allowing them to move at incredible speed.

Under Jarvis’s control, more than ten thousand drones converged rapidly on the core of the World Within a World, but did not approach too closely, instead hovering high in the sky, over ten thousand kilometers from the core area.

From a higher vantage point in space, one would see the drones forming a fan-shaped formation, encircling the core, trapping the two-million-strong armies of various factions within.

Invisible signals swept the area.

Inside each drone, C1-grade laser cannons began to charge.

Less than a minute’s charge—and yet, in this moment, it felt excruciatingly long.

The fifty-second countdown ended. The barrels of over ten thousand drones erupted in searing, dazzling beams of light.

The beams were silent and instantaneously crossed the ten-thousand-kilometer gulf.

Beams nearly five meters thick swept through the armies of all the great factions.

Destruction arrived soundlessly.

No matter how sturdy the armor, how strong the force armor, under the C1-grade laser cannons, they were as fragile as paper, annihilated in an instant.

Thanks to Jarvis’s careful calculations, each beam horizontally pierced through the camps of the factions, killing dozens, even hundreds of warriors with each shot.

After just one volley, the population in each camp was reduced by nearly seventy percent!

Only after the attack faded did they realize what had happened.

“What was that attack?!”

“That was a laser cannon, wasn’t it? But how could there be so many?”

“Over ten thousand laser cannons—whose doing is this?!”

One by one, the strong fell into madness and utter terror.

Though they could guess the enemy’s weapon, they had no clue who wielded it, where it was, nor could they even fight back. The sense of helplessness drove many to despair.

Yet Jarvis, orchestrating this slaughter, acted with perfect calm, directing all drones to charge for another round.

At the same time, one drone sped toward the core area, its sensors feeding enemy coordinates back to Jarvis.

The first attack had worked because the camps were fixed by tacit agreement among the factions.

But after such a surprise attack, the enemy would surely react.

Whatever they did, they would not remain in place waiting to die.

Precision attacks required precise tracking.

—

Far away, in a secluded cave.

Watching the fading beams on the horizon, Luo Feng, Hong, and the others fell silent.

The devastation was palpable—even from afar, everyone present could sense the annihilating power in those beams of light.

Suddenly, Babata asked, “Jiang Chen, were those laser cannons your doing?”

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“Yes, mine,” Jiang Chen admitted. “Ten thousand C1-grade laser cannons—enough to wipe out everyone in the World Within a World. If one volley isn’t enough, a few more will do the job.”

“C1-grade laser cannons are contraband. I’d believe you paid a fortune for one or two on the black market, but ten thousand? Where did you get so many?” Babata asked, baffled.

Weapons at C-grade and above could kill most cosmic-level strongmen.

If too many fell into private hands, they’d threaten even the great powers.

Thus, all factions strictly controlled such weapons, never letting them circulate freely.

Of course, the black market had its share of well-connected individuals able to procure some “contraband.”

The C6-grade laser cannon Jiang Chen once set up on Earth had cost him several times the going rate, nearly emptying his coffers.

But—

Since the Noranshan family’s expedition to Earth, Jiang Chen’s technical knowledge had grown immensely.

Now, he could manufacture C-grade laser cannons himself.

While the highest he could make were C2 or C3-grade, those were more than enough for the star-level armies in the World Within a World.

“I made them myself,” Jiang Chen replied, paying Babata no further mind. He turned to Jarvis and asked, “Jarvis, how many Thunder Stones have we accumulated?”

“Twenty-two million, one hundred twenty-four thousand, six hundred forty-eight Thunder Stones excavated. Shall I deliver them now, master?” Jarvis’s voice sounded.

From day one in the World Within a World, while other factions dug for universe crystals, Jiang Chen had dispatched a vast fleet of SCVs with detectors deep underground, hunting Thunder Stones.

By now, he had amassed over twenty million Thunder Stones.

Of course, many SCVs were discovered and destroyed by other warriors along the way.

But compared to the haul, the loss was negligible.

“Over twenty million Thunder Stones—enough to exchange for every treasure in the World Within a World except the two most valuable,” Jiang Chen’s eyes shone.

He knew well that the so-called “Inheritance Crystal Ball” and “Kab Worldlord’s deposit account” were fakes, crafted by Kab or his AI, intended to deceive—no need to bother exchanging for those.

For the rest, his Thunder Stones were more than enough.

“Have them delivered now, and send some drones to escort them,” Jiang Chen ordered Jarvis.

Then Jiang Chen looked at Luo Feng. “Luo Feng, you can contact the Universe Galaxy Bank now. Once they’re in position, we’ll exchange the treasures and leave.”

“Alright, I’ll contact them right away,” Luo Feng replied without hesitation.

After witnessing the devastation of ten thousand laser cannons, he no longer doubted that Jiang Chen could monopolize all the treasures in the World Within a World.

The bank’s price was high, but it was worth it.

“We’ll wait here. Babata, keep the sensor jammers running—don’t let anyone find us,” Jiang Chen reminded him.

“Don’t worry, I won’t mess up something so trivial,” Babata snorted, full of pride.

Outside, under Jarvis’s command, the drones continued their slaughter of the various factions’ armies.

Some warriors tried to resist, but most simply fled.

Their dispersal did make the drones’ job harder, but only a little.

A few hours later, the last warrior of the Black Cloud Society was vaporized by a beam of light, marking the complete annihilation of all factions’ armies sent into the World Within a World.

Only then did Jiang Chen, with a vast load of Thunder Stones delivered by the SCVs, head to the core region, enter the ancient fortress, and exchange for all the treasures within.

(End of chapter)