The Genius Battle had ended. Whether it was the lofty Nine Sword Venerable or the 1,008 powerful Immortal beings, they all left directly.
As for Luo Feng and the other 999 young people, they remained there. A staff member beside them called out, “Please do not leave just yet. There are still some matters we need to discuss with everyone regarding sending you to the Virtual Universe Company’s headquarters in the entire universe.”
A moment later.
In the second floor meeting room of Restaurant No. 2 on the Central Plaza, Luo Feng and the other 999 people were seated.
“Let me introduce myself. My name is Mana.” A smiling man about 2.67 metres tall, with markings around his neck, stood at the front of the meeting room and smiled. “Because our Virtual Universe Company needs to arrange spaceships specifically to pick you up, please write down the exact address of your planet on the paper in front of you, so that we can come and pick you up.”
Luo Feng also picked up the pen and paper in front of him and began writing.
“Ganwu Universe Country, Black Dragon Mountain Star Region, Milky Way Galaxy, White Orchid Star.”
The 1,000 young people from various universe countries were all writing.
“Is that really necessary? Just tell us where to gather, and we can take spaceships there ourselves, can’t we?”
“Exactly. There is no need to pick us up. It is too much trouble.”
Someone shouted from the crowd.
Mana on the platform smiled and said, “The journey passes through many universe countries and is extremely, extremely far. Many civilian spaceships are also very slow in the ‘dark universe’. It would take a very, very long time to reach our company’s headquarters in the entire universe. To save everyone’s time, our Virtual Universe Company will naturally arrange the finest spaceships to pick you up!”
“Among the 1,000 people present this time, the person farthest from our Virtual Universe Company’s headquarters is approximately 1.5 billion light years away.” Mana smiled. “The distance ratio between the dark universe and the original universe is 1:10.081 million. Even if you travelled through the dark universe at one times the speed of light, it would take approximately 150 years to arrive.”
Silence!
The lively meeting room suddenly became quiet. Even Luo Feng, who had been lowering his head and carefully writing his address, could not help looking up.
150 years?
“My goodness, 150 years?” A beastman youth with something resembling a lion’s head sitting in the corner exclaimed. “The longest trip I’ve ever taken on a spaceship was only a little over two months. Travelling for 150 years…”
The universe was simply too vast.
Back then, merely travelling from Earth to Dragon Star had required ten days to half a month, even though it was only a journey through the universe within the Black Dragon Mountain Star Region.
And that was merely a star region!
Above star regions was the even larger ‘star zone’. Every star zone within a universe country was incomparably vast. It was not surprising that the universe country farthest from the headquarters was 1.5 billion light years away.
“If everyone wants to travel by spaceship themselves.”
“First, the speed is too slow, so it would take far too long.”
“Second, during an extremely long journey, the spaceship’s energy consumption would be astonishing.”
“Third, and most importantly, travelling through the dark universe is not safe in some special areas. There may be space pirates, and there may even be attacks from other races. For everyone here, safety is very important.” Mana smiled. “The civilian spaceships available nowadays can generally only reach several times the speed of light in the dark universe. Even long-distance journeys would still take a very, very long time.”
Luo Feng nodded.
Once the original universe reached the speed of light, according to the operating laws of this original universe, one would be directly transported into the dark universe. There was a lower limit to speed in the dark universe, but no upper limit. As long as your spaceship could withstand it, you could continuously pursue higher speeds. One times the speed of light? Two times? Three times?
If your spaceship was good enough, it could reach that speed in the dark universe.
The C-class Black Dragon spaceship had a maximum speed of 1.5 times the speed of light in the dark universe. Even at its maximum speed, travelling 1.5 billion light years would still require continuous flight for 100 years in the dark universe.
“Beep!”
“Collection complete.”
Streams of colourful light descended in front of the papers held by everyone. Then, a screen appeared at the front of the meeting hall. It displayed a huge star map, along with some complicated numbers and symbols.
After looking at it, Mana turned towards the 1,000 people below and smiled. “The addresses you wrote have all been recorded. Based on the different geographical locations of the 1,000 of you, as well as the spaceships available to us, we have calculated the optimal transportation plan.”
“How long will it take?”
“How long will it take us to fly to the company’s headquarters in the entire universe?”
Many people below could not help asking.
Luo Feng also frowned as he stared at Mana on the platform.
150 years? 100 years? No matter which it was, it was far too long.
“Because the distances are different, the speeds of the spaceships we arrange will also be different. We can guarantee that all of you will arrive at the headquarters on the same day.” Mana smiled. “The journey will take approximately three years.”
“Three years?”
“That short?”
“How is that possible? How fast would the spaceship have to travel to cover 1.5 billion light years in just three years?”
The 1,000 people present, including Luo Feng, were mostly very knowledgeable and were by no means ignorant. Luo Feng himself had even participated in two Ganwu Auctions, yet he was still shocked.
Three years of travelling through the dark universe to cover 1.5 billion light years meant that the spaceship had to reach 50 times the speed of light in the dark universe!
This was simply an unbelievable figure.
C-class spaceships generally only reached slightly more than one times the speed of light. Even E-class spaceships could only reach several times the speed of light. The mechanical race spaceship Luo Feng had obtained had technology that was absolutely superior to the E-class spaceships among humans, yet even that mechanical race spaceship could only reach nearly ten times the speed of light at maximum in the dark universe.
“Our Virtual Universe Company will arrange F-class spaceships for all of you.” Mana smiled. “Moreover, these are not ordinary F-class spaceships that can easily be purchased. They are special F-class spaceship models developed internally by our Virtual Universe Company. Their technological capabilities far surpass those of the F-class spaceships of the various universe countries.”
Silence.
Quiet.
Everyone was dumbfounded.
An F-class spaceship. The master of Yun Mo Planet, Hu Yan Bo, had spent countless resources just to obtain an F-class Yun Mo Planet ship. Many Immortal beings could not even afford one. This alone showed how expensive and precious F-class spaceships were. Many Starfield-level empires, such as the Black Dragon Mountain Empire, did not possess even a single F-class spaceship throughout the entire empire.
As for the universe countries, they generally possessed some, but the vast majority of F-class spaceships could not reach 50 times the speed of light at maximum in the dark universe.
“Insane!” Sitting on Luo Feng’s right was none other than the prince of Manka Star.
His Highness Wuka, the prince of Manka Star, stared at Mana on the platform and muttered through gritted teeth, “So insane. They are actually sending out 1,000 F-class spaceships in one go, and their technological capabilities are this astonishing. My father told me long ago that the Virtual Universe Company’s technology is the holy land of human technology, but this is just too insane.”
When it came to technology among the human race, the Virtual Universe Company was number one!
Even throughout the vast universe, among countless races, only a handful could compare with the Virtual Universe Company in terms of technology. Perhaps only a few abnormal races, such as the ‘mechanical race’, could compare.
“Mr Mana, can we buy these F-class spaceships?” someone shouted.
“That’s right, can we buy them?” His Highness the Prince of Manka Star also shouted.
“These are internal items of our Virtual Universe Company. All of you are core members of our Virtual Universe Company, so of course you can purchase them. However, you can only use them yourselves and cannot resell them. If you want to sell them, you must sell them back to our Virtual Universe Company.” Mana smiled. “However, F-class spaceships are far too expensive. Many Immortal beings cannot afford them. You should not be in such a hurry. Focus on cultivating first. In the future, when you become a super powerhouse of our Virtual Universe Company, the company may directly provide you with an F-class spaceship.”
The young people below immediately curled their lips.
Super powerhouse? An F-class spaceship provided to them?
To be provided with one, what level of strength would they have to reach? For these little fellows who were only at the Stellar level, that was indeed far too distant.
“Awesome.” Luo Feng could not help muttering.
“Hey, Madman.” The Manka Star youth Wuka leaned over and whispered, “Don’t listen to this guy boasting. There is no such good thing in the world. If you want to get something, you definitely have to pay for it. My father said so! But I’m telling you, the Virtual Universe Company is definitely a holy land of the human race. There are countless treasures and secret techniques. It’s a pity I couldn’t enter the Primal Secret Realm, but fortunately, we entered the Absolute Beginning Secret Realm. There are still plenty of benefits. You’ll know in the future.”
“Oh?” Luo Feng smiled and nodded.
“Let me inform everyone of something.” Mana smiled from the platform. “The prize money for the top 1,000 of the Genius Battle is now being distributed. Later, when you return, you can check your accounts.”
“As for now, everyone can disperse and return. Later, our Virtual Universe Company will send special letters notifying you of the exact time when you will be picked up. Please make sure you are ready at the location you wrote down. Don’t let us be unable to find you when the time comes.” Mana then smiled. “Everyone, spend some time with your family and friends. Very soon, all of you will have to leave your hometowns for a long time.”
The lively meeting room suddenly became quiet.
That’s right.
They would have to leave their hometowns for a long time. This time, travelling to the Virtual Universe Company’s headquarters in the entire universe would take three years just for the journey. And that was with the Virtual Universe Company sending precious F-class spaceships specifically to pick them up. It had to be said that in the face of the vast universe, the time consumed simply by travelling was astonishing.
One figure after another disappeared from the meeting room, and everyone left one after another.
The moment he left, Luo Feng’s consciousness once again entered the Virtual Universe, appearing directly at his registered location, the Nine Star Bay residential area on Black Dragon Mountain Island.
Whoosh!
Luo Feng appeared out of thin air on the lawn, but there was no one on his own lawn.
“None of them are here?” Luo Feng shook his head, then smiled. “That’s right. I didn’t tell them that the Genius Battle ended today.”
The climactic battles of the Genius Battle had not been broadcast to the outside world in real time. Only after the battles ended would they be edited into polished promotional videos and some battle videos for broadcast. After all, many battles took place simultaneously and ended very quickly.
“My wife should be at her company now.” Luo Feng sat on a chair beside the lawn. “The company’s headquarters seems to have been moved to ‘Ganwu Continent’. That’s quite something.”
Xu Xin had always been very career-minded. Perhaps developing a career on Earth did not give her much sense of achievement, so she entered the Virtual Universe to develop her business. The Virtual Universe was the largest market among all humanity, gathering almost 100 percent of the elites from the 1,008 universe countries. As a result, there were many people starting businesses in the Virtual Universe. With Luo Feng’s financial support, Xu Xin had sufficient capital, so she was able to get off to a very fast start.
“Xiao Hai and Ping Ping should be at the Ganwu Dojo, or perhaps in a virtual game.” Luo Feng muttered, “Dad and Mum should be in a virtual game too. I don’t know what’s going on, but Dad and Mum really like those virtual games based on the kind of Chinese immortal heroes and martial arts.”
There were tens of millions of virtual games in the Virtual Universe.
Games based on Chinese immortal heroes and martial arts might have slightly different names, but many of them were quite similar, which made his parents very fond of playing them. His father had even exclaimed, “I’ve wanted to experience a day like this since I was little. Being able to experience all kinds of virtual games in this lifetime is truly enjoyable.”
Since his parents were happy, Luo Feng naturally did not interfere too much.
“I’m leaving. I’ll be away from my hometown for a very, very long time.” Luo Feng’s mood was complicated. He somewhat understood Hong’s thoughts back then.
“Brother! You’re back?”
Suddenly, a voice rang out. On the third-floor balcony of a villa in the distance, Luo Hua was looking around and shouting.