Star Behemoths and the Apocalypse Mechanical Civilization

Shattered Star Sea, Apocalypse Galaxy, Fallen Whale Starfield, dense zone of spatial rifts.

As a renowned forbidden zone within the territory of the Apocalypse Mechanical Civilization, this starfield had always been sparsely populated.

Tens of thousands of years ago, the star behemoth Longfin Void Whale, the overlord of this starfield, had fought a great battle against the mechanical legion led by the Genesis superintelligence of the Apocalypse Civilization.

That battle had changed the color of the galaxy, yet no living being knew its final outcome. All anyone knew was that afterward, the Void Whale Starfield had been renamed the Fallen Whale Starfield by the Apocalypse Civilization, and the region had become riddled with dense spatial rifts.

For countless years, any creature daring to rashly enter this starfield had ultimately been swallowed by those rifts, reduced entirely to fragments and dust beneath the void gales.

That day, a mechanical fleet that had suddenly intruded shattered the silence of the starfield.

The fleet did not contain many spacecraft. Several dozen warships, large and small, clustered tightly around a large flagship as they advanced with utmost caution.

The flagship at the center of the fleet was entirely blue-brown. Thick blue-brown armor encased the steel behemoth, which was a thousand meters long and over two hundred meters wide. At its prow, a railgun nearly a hundred meters in diameter silently radiated terrifying deterrence.

"Can you confirm that the target fled into this starfield?"

Inside the steel warship's main control room, the silver-armored robot seated before the main console spoke in an icy voice.

The energy fluctuations emitted by the silver-armored robot were not strong, merely Tier 1. Compared to the Tier 2 and Tier 3 robots standing behind it, it was practically insignificant. Yet for some reason, its status was clearly far above theirs.

"According to the final radar readings, the target was indeed in this starfield before its signal disappeared."

"And—"

Before it could finish, an urgent alert sounded first.

"Fluctuations from an unknown spatial gate detected. Coordinates: xxxxx."

Red light flickered in the silver-armored robot's eyes. Several seconds later, it issued an order.

"Go take a look."

Myriad Heavens Market. Less than two hours remained before this market session officially ended, yet the bustle within showed no sign of fading.

Song Chi was not the only one using this opportunity to profit from price differences. The alien races on the other side of the spatial gates were doing the same.

After discovering that certain goods could be sold within the market for twice their original price or even more, the high-ranking alien races beyond the spatial gates began dispatching large numbers of Tier 0 subordinates to frantically sell these resources, each of them making a fortune.

They could not get enough of it. To them, twenty-four hours was simply far too short—how could they bear to waste even a single second?

Song Chi naturally welcomed this. After all, he could collect a 10% transaction tax on every batch of goods sold. Over the past twenty-odd hours, combined with the profits from selling the genetic optimization drugs, the total value of the resources he had accumulated had exceeded three thousand strands of Tier 0 Floating Continent Essence.

Compared to the three hundred strands he had painstakingly scraped together before opening the market, it was a full tenfold increase.

Just as the market's trading grew ever more fervent, the appearance of a single figure was like a stone cast into water, abruptly silencing the otherwise clamorous market.

Several hundred creatures of different forms and races all turned to look at the figure that had just entered the market.

Though the market already contained many different species, without exception they were all flesh-and-blood carbon-based lifeforms. Yet the newcomer was a mechanical lifeform entirely composed of metal components.

"Machine race!"

A well-informed alien immediately identified the mechanical lifeform's origins.

Almost simultaneously, wariness flashed through the eyes of the gathered aliens.

The machine race had quite a reputation throughout the Shattered Star Sea. The labels attached to these mechanical lifeforms were often madness and extremism, so the attitudes of many civilizations and races in the star sea toward them were basically respectful distance.

Its red gaze swept over the rule-light screen at the market entrance. This machine race member, exuding the aura of a peak Tier 0 being, strode into the market. Its red-lit eyes swept across every alien present one by one, as though searching for something.

A slight commotion arose among the gathered aliens, but in the end, they tacitly accepted it and allowed this machine race member to scan the entire market space from end to end.

It was domineering, but it had not violated the market's rules. In order to make more resources during the final trading hours, no creature was willing to provoke trouble and waste their precious time for nothing.

During this process, a minor incident occurred in a corner unnoticed by the gathered aliens. At some point, Song Chi had transformed from a consumer wandering about aimlessly into one of the stallholders.

Besides several Life Cores, the item placed squarely in the center of his stall was none other than the Type ① Floating Continent Essence Core Fusion Body.

Before long, the machine race member that had failed to find its target stopped before Song Chi's stall, just as expected.

Pointing at the Type ① Floating Continent Essence Core Fusion Body on display, an emotionless and icy synthetic voice came from within it.

"How is this purple-quality wonder to be traded?"

Hearing this, Song Chi, who had long had a plan in mind, immediately replied.

"A purple-grade Floating Continent Essence Core Fusion Body will only be exchanged for other types of wonders. As long as you can produce a suitable wonder that satisfies me, you may take this Floating Continent Essence Core Fusion Body at any time."

After he finished speaking, the machine race member did not respond. Instead, it turned and swiftly headed toward the market gates.

Countless question marks immediately popped up in Song Chi's mind. His answer had not been unreasonable, had it? Could it be that the Apocalypse Mechanical Civilization had made a new breakthrough in energy core technology and no longer cared for a purple-grade Floating Continent Essence Core?

Just as he was muttering to himself, the machine race member that had left not long ago entered the market again, accompanied by more than twenty other Tier 0 machine race members.

These twenty-odd machine race members tightly protected the one from before, maintaining an extremely high level of vigilance.

At this sight, Song Chi's mood instantly brightened. Though his expression did not change, he was overjoyed inside.

The greater the spectacle they made, the more valuable the wonder they intended to trade for the Floating Continent Essence Core Fusion Body had to be. Otherwise, they would never be so cautious. This only made him look forward to it even more.

As for using the law power of the Myriad Heavens Market to forcibly seize it, Song Chi had indeed entertained such thoughts. He also knew full well that if he truly used the laws of the market's secret realm, there was no possibility of failure. But in the end, he suppressed the impulse.

Once such a precedent was set, it would only be a matter of time before the Myriad Heavens Market's reputation collapsed.