Startup Capital

A few days later, Luo Zhiyuan had basically finished exploring the ocean regions of Earth. He found nothing in the Pacific, but in the Atlantic, he discovered a spaceship buried 16 kilometers deep on the seabed. The ship was a silver, disc-shaped craft, approximately 150 meters in diameter and 40 meters in height. Aside from the hatch, it was remarkably intact, marking his first major find.

Luo Zhiyuan first had one of his Cloud-Touching Vine avatars extend a primary vine into the hull to scout. The ship no longer had any power to maintain its security systems, so the Cloud-Touching Vine easily located the main control room.

Luo Zhiyuan sent his auxiliary light brain into the ship's main control room. After Babata's sub-intelligence scanned the area and confirmed there were no defensive measures, he proceeded to conduct a thorough investigation of the vessel.

In the cargo hold at the bottom of the ship, Luo Zhiyuan discovered a large quantity of energy crystals. In the corridor leading to the hold, he found only the remains of two damaged robots; no biological remains were discovered anywhere on the ship.

Luo Zhiyuan speculated that this was likely a cargo ship used for transporting energy crystals that had crashed on Earth for unknown reasons. Now, it was his gain.

Under the direction of the sub-intelligence, the Cloud-Touching Vine avatar used the energy crystals from the cargo hold to replace those in the power room. The moment the power room started up, the sub-intelligence seized control of the ship's systems. Although this was only a sub-intelligence created by Babata, as an intelligent life form, Babata's creation was still highly capable, allowing it to take over the ship's controls with ease.

After a brief self-diagnostic of the ship, Luo Zhiyuan received some good news.

This was a C1-grade ship belonging to a commercial family from the Yinlan Empire hundreds of thousands of years ago. The Yinlan Empire was a primary cosmic civilization that ruled over eight neighboring star systems, including the Milky Way and the Beta Star System, and that commercial family specialized in interstellar transport.

This ship was specifically designed to transport energy crystals. Since Earth was considered a livestock planet within the Yinlan Empire at the time, the commercial family had set up a transit point on Earth. Consequently, they had not stationed any personnel on this ship, relying solely on an intelligent control system and a few operating robots.

When the master of Yunmo Planet, Hu Yanbo, seized the solar system, this ship was unfortunately caught in the crossfire and shot down onto Earth, causing the robots to be damaged at the time. After hundreds of thousands of years, the power in the ship's engine room had been completely exhausted until Luo Zhiyuan discovered it and restarted it. Thus, Luo Zhiyuan happily claimed the spaceship, naming it L-1, signifying that he now possessed his first cosmic vessel.

Relying on his Cloud-Touching Vine avatar, it took over a day to pull the L-1 out from the seabed. The damaged hatch could not be repaired immediately, but the robots left behind at the Luo Family should be able to fix it. Therefore, late that night, Luo Zhiyuan secretly piloted the L-1 back to the Luo Family castle without alerting his family, instructing his guards not to tell anyone about the matter.

In a very short time, the robots finished repairing the hatch of the L-1. As for the materials, there were plenty of metal wrecks on the seabed, so they easily scavenged some suitable debris to complete the assembly.

With this success, Luo Zhiyuan was in high spirits and once again began his exploration activities.

Soon, after the ocean regions were fully surveyed, Luo Zhiyuan began exploring the land areas.

Since the L-1 ship had been repaired, all subsequent exploration was conducted using the ship's scans. Although this was only a transport ship, it still possessed basic scanning equipment, which significantly increased his efficiency and led to a few other discoveries.

In a small valley on the Australian continent, the L-1 detected a crashed B7-grade ship 28 kilometers underground. Luo Zhiyuan had his Cloud-Touching Vine avatar dive underground to investigate. It was a destroyed ship with many scattered items inside. Since the ship had no repair value, the Cloud-Touching Vine avatar simply brought back some items that appeared to be in relatively good condition.

It was among this pile of items that Luo Zhiyuan found a portion of a log, learning that this ship had been used by some Star-level members responsible for managing Earth at the time. They had intended to escape after learning that the solar system had been forcibly occupied, but the ship was destroyed directly by the shockwaves of Hu Yanbo's attack.

The remains of the crew had long since decomposed with the passage of time, but Luo Zhiyuan found two second-tier Force Battle Suits, one second-tier mind-power weapon, and one second-tier Force weapon among the remnants. These were likely the belongings of the people on that ship, and they were now his gain.

The two second-tier Force Battle Suits were both bronze-colored cloaks. Babata's sub-intelligence estimated their value at approximately 7 billion Black Dragon Coins. The second-tier mind-power weapon was a top-grade second-tier Lightning Shuttle, worth about 6 billion Black Dragon Coins, and the second-tier Force weapon was a mid-grade Earth-Splitting Hammer, worth about 1.5 billion Black Dragon Coins.

At this point, Babata's sub-intelligence explained the simple currency relationships of cosmic civilization to Luo Zhiyuan. Currency issued on Earth could not be used to purchase goods in cosmic civilization; only the corresponding currency of the cosmic civilization could be used.

The Milky Way was under the jurisdiction of the primary cosmic civilization, the Yinlan Empire, while the Yinlan Empire was under the jurisdiction of the intermediate cosmic civilization, the Black Dragon Mountain Empire. Black Dragon Coins were the currency issued by the Black Dragon Mountain Empire.

Luo Zhiyuan decided to keep the Lightning Shuttle and one of the second-tier Force Battle Suits. The Lightning Shuttle filled the gap of him not having a mind-power weapon, and the second-tier Force Battle Suit offered ten times the physical protection of the Black God Set, enough to block attacks from ordinary Star-level warriors. It could also change shape at will, which was sufficient for him until he reached the Star level, so he replaced his original Black God Set directly.

Luo Zhiyuan knew that Luo Feng had a Cloud-Touching Vine and did not need a second-tier Force Battle Suit, so he prepared to sell the extra suit and the Earth-Splitting Hammer. He could likely sell them for about 4 billion Black Dragon Coins, giving him his first bit of startup capital to arrange his cultivation matters, such as purchasing the secret techniques for using the Lightning Shuttle.

In the Virtual Universe, he checked and found that the price for purchasing the secret technique for the Lightning Shuttle alone was about 200 million Black Dragon Coins. If he didn't sell the items, Luo Zhiyuan wouldn't have the funds to buy the techniques, and relying solely on his spiritual mind power to use the Lightning Shuttle would be quite wasteful. Therefore, selling one Force Battle Suit and the Earth-Splitting Hammer was the most appropriate course of action, allowing him to manage the remaining funds flexibly.

Half a month later, aside from a few dangerous civilization ruins, Luo Zhiyuan had used the L-1 to survey the entire Earth. Because he lacked specialized scanning equipment, he did not find any other useful materials.

However, he was very satisfied; after all, he would soon have his first small treasury, which felt great. Once Luo Feng returned to Earth, he could ask for the space navigation routes, and Luo Zhiyuan would be able to go out into the universe to take a look for himself.

After finishing the exploration of Earth, Luo Zhiyuan returned to the Luo Family castle and hid the L-1 in the deep sea. He did not want Luo Feng to discover the L-1, fearing he would be restricted by Luo Feng. He wanted to experience the vast cosmic civilization for himself.

Thus, Luo Zhiyuan spent his time cultivating while waiting for the day Luo Feng would return to Earth. He knew Luo Feng would soon return to Earth to set up some survival bases—this was part of Luo Feng's arrangements for the people of Earth, a form of being prepared for a rainy day.

Sure enough, one month after leaving Earth, Luo Feng returned. After setting up several survival bases and monitoring equipment for the solar system, he set off into the universe once again.

Luo Zhiyuan copied the star map mastered by Babata, allowing him to enter and exit the solar system as freely as Luo Feng, without having to fly for a long time like other adventurers who didn't know the star map. He also asked Luo Feng for 1 million Black Dragon Coins as operating funds, claiming he needed them for the Virtual Universe. After Luo Feng left Earth, he took a Star-level 7th-rank guard captain and quietly left Earth.

The first destination Luo Zhiyuan chose was Qiu Long Planet. This was the first alien civilization planet to appear in the original story. Qiu Long Planet was a planet directly under the intermediate cosmic civilization, the Black Dragon Mountain Empire. The Black Dragon Mountain Empire ruled over 500 primary cosmic civilization vassal states, including the Yinlan Empire, and directly controlled over 8,000 star systems. He was very much looking forward to seeing this colorful universe!

When the L-1 flew out of Earth, Luo Zhiyuan ordered the ship's intelligence to turn on the external view simulation. Luo Zhiyuan, who had been floating cross-legged in the bright main control room of the ship, suddenly found himself in the middle of an endless, empty universe.

Turning around, he looked at the light behind him: a bright, massive fireball, the Sun, constantly radiating its passionate light.

To his left was the azure planet he had just seen in its entirety, Earth, with white clouds drifting slowly across its surface.

To his right was the Moon, where many craters could be clearly seen, gradually growing smaller.

In front, the distant deep space was a brilliant starry sky transitioning from deep blue to darkness, holding a deadly attraction that locked Luo Zhiyuan's gaze.

Luo Zhiyuan was so stunned that he couldn't look away for a long time. He speculated on how many colorful and magnificent cosmic civilizations there might be in the vast, boundless starry sky ahead, longing to roam freely among them. He fantasized about the exciting experiences he would have with various different races in the future and yearned for the various adventures he would have in the mysterious cosmic secret realms...

It wasn't until the L-1's speed increased, nearly reaching the speed of light, that the view ahead showed nothing but darkness, while the view behind became filled with bright stars, that the ship's main control intelligence reminded him: "About to enter dark universe travel, please be prepared."

Startled by the reminder, Luo Zhiyuan snapped back to reality. He dropped from mid-air, sat cross-legged on the floor of the ship, turned off the external virtual view, and prepared to experience his first dark universe travel.

After all, the L-1 was only a C1-grade cargo ship, and the gravity system inside was relatively rudimentary. At this moment, Luo Zhiyuan was enduring about 100g of gravity. Of course, for him, this gravity was not a problem, though compared to Luo Feng's first cosmic journey in the original story, the experience was a bit inferior—that had been the high-end Black Dragon Mountain X81, a C5-grade ship.

By now, that Black Dragon Mountain X81 should have been sold by Luo Feng, otherwise he wouldn't have had so much money to buy the survival bases. If he remembered correctly, the Black Dragon Mountain X81 sold for 12.8 billion Black Dragon Coins, and after buying the survival bases, there shouldn't have been much money left. Perhaps Luo Zhiyuan would be even wealthier than Luo Feng after selling his equipment this time!

After nearly half a minute of vibration, the L-1 successfully entered dark universe flight. After another 15 days, it exited the dark universe and finally arrived at Qiu Long Planet. This period also verified one thing: there was no distance limit for Luo Zhiyuan's avatars. He could still control every move of the avatar left on Earth, and the Luo family had not discovered anything unusual.

In the main control room of the L-1, the external virtual mode was turned on again. Luo Zhiyuan continued to float cross-legged in the control room, looking at a planet ahead that reflected colorful light. That planet had two satellites; it was Qiu Long Planet.

The volume of Qiu Long Planet was much larger than Earth's, and there were many gas clouds of various colors floating on its surface, which produced colorful reflections when illuminated by sunlight. The ship passed through the colorful clouds and was guided to the C-grade docking area. After paying the staff a fee of 600 Black Dragon Coins, he took the Star-level 7th-rank guard captain and left the docking port.

With a Star-level 7th-rank spiritual mind-power master as a guard, Luo Zhiyuan did not encounter anyone looking for trouble, nor did he meet any companions like Luo Feng did.

Flying along the way, the sky changed from purple to blue, then to red, yellow, and other colors, making him sigh at the magnificence of the scenery from time to time. He also passed many castles, which were the residences of the inhabitants of Qiu Long Planet, expensive homes starting at 10 billion Black Dragon Coins.

After flying for more than half an hour, Luo Zhiyuan finally arrived at Qiu Long City, a massive city with a history of over three million years, nearly 6,000 kilometers in length and width.

Luo Zhiyuan led the guard captain to land at the city gate. Looking up at the majestic city walls and the gate, the walls were 120 meters high, and the gate was nearly a kilometer wide, with all kinds of cosmic beings flowing in and out.

Luo Zhiyuan felt like a country bumpkin entering a grand garden, constantly peeking at the races he had never seen before. The auxiliary light brain in his wrist continuously scanned the information of Planet-level and Star-level warriors and spiritual mind-power masters, and even occasionally displayed information about Universe-level powerhouses twice. Luo Zhiyuan was simply dazzled by the various human ethnic groups here.

After a long while, Luo Zhiyuan remembered his main business. He used Babata's sub-intelligence to query the location of the Black Dragon Mountain Empire's administrative building on Qiu Long Planet, then headed straight there to register his citizenship in the Black Dragon Mountain Empire. Afterward, Luo Zhiyuan went to the Virtual Universe Company on Qiu Long Planet, used his new identity information to open an account, and paid the fees for 1,000 years directly in Black Dragon Coins.

After leaving the Virtual Universe Company, Luo Zhiyuan headed to the Universe First Bank. He intended to open an account and sell some equipment there. He liked the sound of "Universe First," so unlike Luo Feng, he didn't choose the Universe Galaxy Bank, instead going directly to the reception hall of the Universe First Bank.

A staff member in the hall received Luo Zhiyuan. The receptionist did not slight him because of his height, as there were many races in the universe with similar stature, and without instrument testing, no one would know he was only two years old. When asked what business he wished to conduct, Luo Zhiyuan replied, "I want to open an account and I'm also planning to sell a few items."

The receptionist smiled and said, "Very well, sir. Our minimum requirement for opening an account is 100 million Black Dragon Coins. Would you like to proceed now?"

"Uh... I don't have that much money right now, but it will definitely exceed that after I sell these items. How about I sell the items first?"

"Certainly, sir. Please follow me; we have a specialized appraisal and buy-back system here."

After asking about the dimensions of the items, the receptionist led Luo Zhiyuan into a bright, small room. Inside the room was a circular platform about a meter high and ten meters in diameter. The receptionist said, "Sir, please place the items you wish to sell within the red zone on the detection platform. Our system will provide an appraisal for them."

Luo Zhiyuan took a Tier 2 Force Battle Suit and the Earth-Splitting Hammer out of his storage space, placed them on the detection platform, and stepped back a few paces to wait for the results.

A ring of faint light descended from above the platform, scanning the two items several times before retracting. Then, an emotionless electronic voice echoed in the room: "Detection complete. One 90% new Tier 2 Force Battle Suit and one 90% new Tier 2 Earth-Splitting Hammer detected. Buy-back price: 3 billion Black Dragon Coins for the Tier 2 Force Battle Suit, 1 billion Black Dragon Coins for the Tier 2 Earth-Splitting Hammer."

"Sir, the buy-back price from our Universe First Bank for these two items is 4 billion Black Dragon Coins. If you are not satisfied, you may also choose to consign them with us, in which case we will charge 10% of the final transaction price as a fee. Would you like to sell them to us?" the receptionist asked cautiously.

"I'll sell them to you, and please help me open an account while you're at it." Luo Zhiyuan did not hesitate; he told the receptionist quite decisively. He was in urgent need of cash right now, so he didn't want to waste any time.

"Very well, sir. Please follow me to complete the relevant procedures."

Soon, Luo Zhiyuan finished the paperwork and opened his account, linking it to his virtual universe account to facilitate future spending within the virtual universe. He had officially acquired his first bit of startup capital.

PS: I suddenly realized that the author's notes aren't visible on the PC version, so I'll say it again here. Since it's free right now, you all shouldn't mind me being long-winded, right? Hehe.

Apologies, I didn't manage to update in the early morning and am only uploading now. Because the story is about to reach a climax, I have many ideas that I need to sort through, so I might not be able to update by noon for the next chapter, but I will strive to do it as early as possible. We currently have 125 favorites, and I am truly pleasantly surprised. I am very surprised that so many people like my immature writing, especially since I haven't run any advertisements. Among those, only one favorite is from my own reading account, along with a few of my own recommendation votes; the rest is all the generous support of you brothers. I am immensely grateful, thank you!