“Sir, please go to the left, the second to last room at the end,” said the receptionist.
“Thank you!”
Luo Feng smiled and walked leftward, followed by two silver-clad guards. The receptionist’s eyes sparkled as she thought to herself: “He actually said ‘thank you’ to a mere receptionist! Wow, this is the demeanor of a noble young master from a prestigious family. Even with two silver-clad guards, he shows no arrogance at all!”
…
Luo Feng glanced at the door, which bore an inscription.
“Knock, knock, knock,” he rapped on the door.
“Come in,” replied a firm, powerful voice from within.
Luo Feng entered. Inside was a spacious room with two employees—both were black-skinned, extremely lean men with blood-red eyes. One of them casually glanced up but, upon seeing the two silver-clad guards behind Luo Feng, immediately displayed a standardized, enthusiastic smile: “Sir, how may I assist you today?”
“I would like to apply for citizenship in the Heiwu Mountain Empire,” Luo Feng said with a smile.
In the cosmic hierarchy, the citizenship of a lower-tier civilization was considered the worst.
However, citizenship in a mid-tier civilization like the Heiwu Mountain Empire was quite decent. At least for now, while his strength was still limited, Luo Feng had no intention of leaving the empire’s territory. Once he became a “cosmic-level expert” or even stronger, citizenship would matter little to someone at that level regardless.
“Oh, may I ask what your previous citizenship was? Do you have the release documents from your former nation?” one of the black-skinned, red-eyed men asked with a smile.
“None,” Luo Feng replied.
“None?”
The black-skinned man was slightly surprised and looked at Luo Feng more carefully, then glanced at the two silver-clad guards behind him.
Ordinarily, on any given planet, commoners who had not reached the Star-Level were not eligible for citizenship. The prerequisite for obtaining citizenship was simple—reaching the Star-Level. This was the reason why, during Earth’s great calamity, Luo Feng had said that even if they left Earth, his wife and children would have to grow strong enough to reach Star-Level aboard the spaceship for decades before they could step foot on another planet.
Non-citizens entering certain planets received no protection from the empire.
If a commoner reached Star-Level, they could apply for citizenship for the first time.
But…
The man before them had two silver-clad guards as bodyguards. Could he really be a commoner?
“He must be an elite nurtured by some faction, making his first appearance in the world,” the black-skinned man mused inwardly.
“Sir, please stand here and don’t move,” the black-skinned man said with a smile.
“Alright,” Luo Feng replied, fully aware of what the man intended to do.
The black-skinned man pressed a button on the device on his arm. A dreamlike glow enveloped Luo Feng.
“Beep! Beep!”
The device emitted a sound. The black-skinned man looked down at the screen, which displayed—in universal cosmic language—”No records found!”
“Since you’ve never held citizenship in any nation, many procedures can be skipped,” the black-skinned man smiled. “Sir, you only need to pay 50 Heiwu coins, and everything will be settled.”
“In Qionglong Star, Heiwu coins are used everywhere,” Luo Feng said, flipping his hand and tossing out a Qianwoo coin. “Break it for me.”
“A Qianwoo coin!”
The black-skinned man was secretly delighted. He quickly took out a thin stack of special paper money—thin as cicada wings—and handed it to Luo Feng. “Sir, this is 950 Heiwu coins.” At the same time, he pocketed the Qianwoo coin and took out fifty Heiwu coins from his own pocket, inserting them into the coin slot of the nearby machine, which swallowed them instantly.
“Haha, brother, you’re treating us tonight!” the other black-skinned man, with slightly larger eyes, shouted.
“Sure thing,” the red-eyed black man replied joyfully. He smiled warmly at Luo Feng. “Sir, please follow me. I’ll handle all the procedures for you. It’ll be quick.”
Those working in official departments usually had extensive connections.
Exchanging Qianwoo coins for Heiwu coins could fetch up to 1,450 units. In other words, by making change, he had just earned hundreds of Heiwu coins (equivalent to tens of thousands of Silver-Blue coins)! Even though his job was good, this was equivalent to one or two months of his salary.
…
After about twenty minutes, Luo Feng obtained his identification documents. From this point on, he was officially recorded in the Heiwu Mountain Empire’s citizen system.
“This paper money is quite interesting,” Luo Feng praised.
“This paper is highly durable and rigid. On your Earth, only a low-tier battle god at full strength could tear it. This kind of currency usually lasts two to three thousand years before it gradually decays,” Babata explained.
“I see,” Luo Feng nodded slightly.
Luo Feng was in a good mood.
With Heiwu Mountain Empire citizenship, many things could now be accomplished. As the saying goes—”Without an identity, even a single step is impossible.”
“Babata, where can I open a Virtual Universe Network account?” Luo Feng asked eagerly.
Virtual Universe!
Just by hearing the name, one could imagine that within this Virtual Universe Network, citizens from all human nations across the cosmos, including the Qianwoo Cosmic Nation and countless other cosmic states, frequently gathered in the ‘Virtual Universe.’ In terms of population, it could truly be described as “countless beyond count!”
“It’s over a hundred kilometers from here,” Babata began giving detailed directions.
Luo Feng soared into the sky.
Above the entire Qionglong City, the airspace was wide open, and the density of flying individuals was not high. Luo Feng could maintain a relatively high speed.
“Babata, what kind of technology does the Virtual Universe Network use? How can it allow instantaneous communication across any location in the universe through the network?” Luo Feng was both amazed and curious. The universe was vast beyond measure. Even with cosmic travel, some distant places required hundreds or thousands of years of flight through dark space.
Yet, the Virtual Universe Network allowed people to meet and communicate instantly.
What kind of technology was that?
What kind of network was this?
“I don’t know the specifics,” Babata replied. “This technology isn’t even mastered by the Qianwoo Cosmic Nation. Only the ‘Virtual Universe Company’ possesses it! Each major cosmic nation has a branch of the Virtual Universe Company.”
“This company must be incredibly powerful,” Luo Feng exclaimed.
His teacher, the master of the Yimo Star, although treated with respect by the Qianwoo Cosmic Nation, would not dare to provoke such a massive high-tier civilization. However, the Virtual Universe Company possessed technology that even the cosmic nations could not control.
And the company was thriving!
“Of course!”
“Luofeng, although the Qianwoo Cosmic Nation and other cosmic nations are all ‘high-tier cosmic civilizations’ with immense power, in the universe, the real power doesn’t lie in nations,” Babata explained. “Rather, it lies in certain organizations that may seem scattered but are, in fact, incredibly powerful.”
“What organizations?” Luo Feng asked curiously.
“The Cosmic Milky Way Bank, the First Cosmic Bank, the Axe Battleground, the Cosmic Mercenary Alliance, and the Virtual Universe Company—these five are the titans of the cosmos!” Babata said. “They hold absolute monopoly.”
“The two banks deal exclusively with the wealthy. Even immortal beings usually deposit their wealth and treasures in these two banks,” Babata continued. “Your teacher’s assets were left in the ‘Cosmic Milky Way Bank,’ and the three accounts he left you are all with the Cosmic Milky Way Bank.”
Luo Feng nodded slightly.
“The Axe Battleground is the fairest arena. As for its power, you’ll learn more about it later.”
“The Cosmic Mercenary Alliance is a loosely organized group. Over 99% of warriors and psychokineticists join the Cosmic Mercenary Alliance! Your teacher was once a member too.” This startled Luo Feng. Over 99% of warriors and psychokineticists had joined? Who could possibly rival that?
Thankfully, it was a loose organization.
“The Virtual Universe Company’s ‘Virtual Universe’ is considered the second world of humanity. A company powerful enough to be untouchable by any cosmic nation—how strong do you think it is?” Babata marveled.
Luo Feng now understood…
In this vast universe, although the Qianwoo Cosmic Nation and other cosmic nations appeared to be the strongest nations,
the real power lay in the organizations that had permeated every nation.
“Besides these five titans, come the cosmic nations. Of course, there are also some secret forces that are nearly as powerful as the cosmic nations,” Babata added. “However, within the territory of the Qianwoo Cosmic Nation, the Qianwoo Cosmic Nation itself is quite dominant, only showing great respect to the five titans.”
Luo Feng nodded slightly.
In this vast universe, it now seemed that although his teacher had been powerful in his time, he had clearly been unable to challenge even the Qianwoo Cosmic Nation, let alone the five titanic organizations.
…
In Qionglong City, at the Virtual Universe Company.
“Sir, how may I assist you today?” a beautiful woman with a pleasant face, wearing a red uniform and a furry tail, bowed slightly and smiled.
“Open an account,” Luo Feng said directly.
“For account opening, how much Virtual Universe Network fee would you like to pay at once? We offer three tiers: 100 years, 1,000 years, and 10,000 years. The annual network fee is 10 Heiwu coins or 0.008 Qianwoo coins,” the receptionist fluently explained.
Luo Feng listened and thought,
How expensive!
Ten Heiwu coins equated to tens of thousands of Silver-Blue coins. Very few commoners on a planet could afford such a price. The usual users were mostly Star-Level humans.
“You should have consciousness-sensing helmets here, right?” Luo Feng inquired.
On Earth, the helmets made by Earthlings couldn’t access the Virtual Universe Network. However, intelligent beings like Babata had easy ways to connect.
“A consciousness induction helmet costs 10 Heiwu coins,” the receptionist’s eyes flickered with a hint of surprise. These days, who of any standing would still use such primitive consciousness induction helmets when they could opt for auxiliary cyberbrains or even higher-grade intelligent cyberbrains?
“What about anonymous accounts?” Luo Feng pressed.
In the vast expanse of the cosmos, certain celestial sovereigns procured consciousness-resonance helms for their planetary denizens. These transactions were typically conducted through veiled accounts. Yet, such shrouded accounts bore but a fleeting lifespan of a century. Upon their expiration, a fresh covenant must needs be forged anew.
Such anonymous accounts couldn’t be bound to any specific user.
In other words, anyone could use them, for up to 100 years.
“Anonymous accounts have a fixed validity of 100 years. Each account costs 2,000 Heiwu coins or 1.6 Qianwoo coins,” the receptionist smiled.
“Good.”
Luo Feng gave a faint nod. “I require ten anonymous accounts and ten neural-link helmets. As for the account activation… prepay for a century.”
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