White Tower Ring Local Area Network

Two minutes later, Shen Qing dispersed the Void Energy gathered around his ears.

"What is it?"

Seeing his expression turn visibly grave, Song Chi took the initiative to ask.

"The people in the private room next to ours should be from the Black Mountain Society. Someone just answered a call. The other party's voice was too quiet, so I couldn't hear clearly, but I caught two sensitive keywords."

As soon as he finished speaking, Shen Qing continued without waiting for Song Chi to ask further.

"Kidnapping. Titanium Crystal."

Song Chi's pupils abruptly contracted. Kidnapping itself was nothing unusual—in a society where everyone cultivated, such incidents were not uncommon—but Titanium Crystal was an entirely different matter.

According to what had been taught in textbooks, Titanium Crystal was an extremely high-end enhancement resource for Kindling Starships. Mercury Crystal and Mithril were far inferior by comparison.

It was said that only high-grade shipboard components of purple quality or above required the exceedingly rare resource known as Titanium Crystal for enhancement upgrades beyond level 20.

There were even reports that the upper echelons of Kindling Human Civilization had long classified Titanium Crystal as a strategic resource, one that every major force was desperately competing for.

Upon hearing the words Titanium Crystal, Song Chi and Shen Qing understood that this was no longer something they could easily involve themselves in.

Moreover, Song Chi immediately thought of the incident from half a month ago. At that spicy hotpot restaurant on Minyuan Road, it had also been the Black Mountain Society. At the time, they had been searching for the whereabouts of two Skyreach Mining miners. Connecting the two incidents made it difficult not to read more into it.

Regardless of whether the information was true or false, they had to notify their elders immediately.

After going downstairs to pay the bill, they waited until they had completely left the street where the restaurant was located before pushing their kinetic hovercar to its limit and racing straight for the Kindling Bureau.

In Shen Wenjie's office, Shen Wenjie and Song Chao reacted much the same way Song Chi and Shen Qing had upon hearing the words Titanium Crystal. However, after Song Chi and Shen Qing recounted the matter in detail, it was no longer their concern. They were ushered out of the office one after the other.

Next, Shen Wenjie and Song Chao would use every resource at their disposal to investigate the truth of this information. As for Song Chi and Shen Qing, they were to go about their usual business and were forbidden from getting involved in this matter again. They were not to reveal a single word of what they had seen or heard today.

Even though they had already been mentally prepared, the two still felt uncomfortable. The feeling of being too weak to lend a hand was truly unbearable.

Shen Qing drove the patrol hovercar and took Song Chi all the way back to East River District, only leaving after giving him several reminders.

After returning to his bedroom, Song Chi immediately entered the Myriad Heavens Market and continued practicing the Guidance Art.

The next day, he interrupted his cultivation again, because the Kindling Network he had activated yesterday was now available for connection.

Just thinking that every user on this network was a Kindling captain filled him with anticipation.

His consciousness entered the Kindle Ancestral Aperture and gathered upon the blazing white Kindling Seed. Soon, a small light screen lit up on his retina.

Connect to the Kindling Network · White Tower Ring Local Area Network?

"Confirm!"

With his confirmation, the light screen on his retina changed, and an image began to play slowly.

Within the vast sea of stars, more than a dozen warships, their hulls covered in damage, sped along at full force. Behind them, over a thousand sinister triangular spacecraft gave chase without restraint. One warship after another was blown apart by the artillery fire shooting from behind.

Only after they fortuitously encountered and passed through an unstable starry wormhole did those warships escape the pursuit of the alien civilization behind them, avoiding total annihilation. By then, only six warships remained.

The video ended there. It seemed abrupt and without context, yet every citizen who had received a formal Kindling education would instinctively resonate upon seeing that scene.

Because the final six surviving warships in the image were the Kindling Seeds left behind by the founders of Kindling Human Civilization—a low-level technological human civilization that had nearly been exterminated.

After passing through the wormhole, the human ancestors aboard those six warships discovered the ruins of an ancient civilization. From those ruins, they obtained the first wisp of the Ember Source Seed. Thus, Kindling Human Civilization was born, and over the years that followed, it continued to grow stronger until it became the Kindling Human Civilization of today.

Song Chi remained lost in thought for a long while after the image ended. Then, sixteen words appeared on the light screen.

The road through the sea of stars is long and fraught with obstacles.

The fire of civilization shall never be extinguished.

After that, he had officially logged into one of the local area networks under the Kindling Network.

The White Tower Ring Local Area Network was one of the many local area networks under the Kindling Network. As its name suggested, it encompassed the entire White Tower Floating Continent, as well as every citizen who had awakened a Kindling Seed in the asteroid belts, debris fields, and even the interstellar fortresses surrounding the Floating Continent. It was the largest hub for information exchange around the White Tower Floating Continent.

Besides that, the local area network also included a mission posting and acceptance system, a free trade system, a friends system, and many other functions.

As for why this was only the White Tower Floating Continent local area network rather than the central network of all Kindling Human Civilization, it was naturally because Song Chi's current Kindling Seed level was too low.

Although he had raised the quality of his Kindling Seed to white not long ago, quality and level were entirely different things. Quality only represented the future enhancement limit of the Kindling Seed, while level represented the current strength of the Kindling Starship bound to it.

The Cangqiong had only been bound recently, and it had used just one of its special slots, so there was still more than enough capacity. Thus, Song Chi had yet to enhance the Kindling hull, or rather, the Kindling Seed. Its level was still only lv0.

Song Chi did not pay much attention to this. Instead, he began studying the various functions of his account.

According to the Kindling Network awakening assistant yesterday, his account possessed certain special privileges. What he was now examining were precisely those so-called special privileges.

After fiddling with it for around half an hour, he finally gained a basic understanding of all his account's functions.

Compared to ordinary Kindling accounts, his account indeed had certain privileges.

Overall, there were three of them.

First, ordinary accounts had to use their real names when chatting on the Kindling Network, while he could choose to speak anonymously.

Second, when his account conducted transactions on the Kindling Network, it was exempt from transaction taxes. Other accounts, however, had to pay a 5% transaction tax.

Third, when ordinary accounts posted or accepted missions, they had to pay additional Floating Continent Essence to pin them or receive priority acceptance. His account came with those features by default.

Having figured out what was special about his account, Song Chi's curiosity still had not faded. He began browsing the various chat messages in the local area network with great interest.

"Jiangyuan City {River-Sea}: Clearing the debris field in the northern starry skies of the Floating Continent. Any brothers want to team up?"

"Long River City {Skyward}: Offering 100 wisps of first-tier Floating Continent Essence for the coordinates of the Blood Capital Star Pirates' hideout."

"Jiangyuan City {Heavenly Steed}: You think 100 wisps of first-tier essence can get you the Blood Capital Star Pirates' hideout coordinates? Are you dreaming? Would anyone capable of finding Blood Capital's hideout be short on your 100 wisps of first-tier essence?"

"White Tower City {Endless Sky}: A Void Energy airship from Viscount Yellen's Estate has gone missing. Anyone who provides relevant clues will receive a handsome reward."