Chapter 539: The Number One Player! The Door of Tanghuaiser! The Möbius Ring!
Year 234 of the Great Enterprise Era!
The year when humanity of the Main Universe set out on its expedition to the Pandora System was marked as Year 1 of the Great Enterprise. That year saw countless historic events, the most significant being the Universal Megacorp's grand inauguration of the Age of Multiversal Conquest.
Now, the Great Enterprise had unified 369 heavenly universes and 2,200 multiverses.
Such an achievement was already dazzling enough to go down in history, but for little Vincent, today was the brightest moment of his life — without question.
Because he had just cleared the hardest Three-Body Universe instance, becoming the first-ever Number One Player in Oasis.
As the youngest son of the V family, little Vincent was nothing like his older siblings, who had already secured their places among the upper echelons of the Universal Megacorp.
His greatest passion lay within Oasis, the timelessly popular simulation game where he managed his forces step by step, building civilizations and rising to prominence.
Not long ago, Vincent had chosen Titan Corp as his starting faction and gradually developed it into an interstellar civilization powerhouse, clearing every level of the game as the Ultimate Producer.
The game's management system was so challenging that it drove professors, social elites, and top executives to frustration. The reason: its Matrix AI simulated people and events with near-perfect realism and randomness.
Some players had painstakingly developed their civilizations to late stages, only to be assassinated due to security oversights — forcing them to restart from scratch.
Others were betrayed by trusted allies, overthrown, and exiled. The further one progressed, the more likely catastrophic reversals became, collapsing the entire campaign.
Yet Vincent not only cleared the game — he did it all in a single life, soloing every multiversal world.
The hardship behind that feat was something only he could understand.
"This Resetter Civilization was a real nightmare…"
Vincent exhaled deeply in relief. After manually crafting the Aether Phase Engine, he had entered the Three-Body universe instance.
He first subdued the Trisolarans, then crushed the Singer and Edge Civilizations. Just as he was preparing to lead Titan Corp to conquer the Resetters, a swarm of god-tier civilizations appeared out of nowhere.
Fortunately, Vincent had built the Aether Phase Engine in advance and detonated it in mutual destruction, narrowly avoiding total failure.
That still shouldn't have counted as a clear, yet by a stroke of luck, the explosion had launched his consciousness into the Door of Tanghuaiser.
Passing through that door meant uncovering the ultimate truth behind Oasis — and viewing the exclusive CG ending reserved for the Number One Player in the entire universe.
Rumor had it this CG sequence was personally designed by Li Ang, the Governor of the Universal Megacorp!
It had taken over a century, but finally, someone had earned the right to see it.
When Vincent pushed open the Door of Tanghuaiser, he was met by an NPC whose face bore an uncanny resemblance to Governor Li Ang. Looking closer, he realized it was modeled directly after Li Ang.
"I am Pangu Unit 776, Administrator of the Door of Tanghuaiser. You may also call me Ge Ang. Welcome, honored Number One Player."
Seeing the familiar face, Vincent was tense at first, but the NPC's gentle tone soon put him at ease.
"What's the purpose of this game? And who exactly are you?"
Vincent voiced the questions that had long haunted him. He could never understand why the Universal Megacorp had poured so much into developing Oasis, even deploying Matrix AI to manage every world's NPCs and random events. Was it all merely for deeper immersion?
"The purpose of this game," Ge Ang said with a smile, "is to select the most intelligent and broad-minded player. Of course, intellect and vision alone aren't enough — you also need a fair bit of luck."
Indeed, Vincent's luck had been extraordinary. Only a 30% chance existed for the Aether Engine's explosion to propel his consciousness here.
"As for my origin — that can no longer be traced. The only thing certain is that I am Pangu Unit 776. And you, Vincent, will become Pangu Unit 777, succeeding me as the Administrator of the Door of Tanghuaiser."
"Of course, you can manage your own working hours — and leave whenever you wish."
Ge Ang's words were calm and sincere.
"What exactly will I be doing as an administrator?" Vincent asked curiously.
"The Door of Tanghuaiser governs the core of all multiversal instances. Here, every universe is a Möbius ring — a story loop from beginning to end, eternally self-contained."
"As an administrator, you can alter any detail of those storylines at will. But beware — you must maintain each universe's balance and stability."
"The more complete a universe's worldbuilding and the clearer its story logic, the higher the quality of its Möbius ring — and the more stable and perfect it becomes."
"That pursuit of perfection is the lifelong goal of every Door Administrator."
Ge Ang's explanation reminded Vincent of an ancient profession — the novelist, or even further back, the bard. Sadly, such figures had long since vanished with the advent of the AI era.
After all, once AI passed the Turing Test, it had gained full creative autonomy, capable of producing hundreds of millions of words of epic fantasy novels in a single day — works rivaling Battle Through the Heavens in quality.
In the Birch World of the Main Universe, entire fantasy continents now existed based on AI-authored novels.
There, so-called "immortal cultivators," their bodies strengthened by nuclear radiation, still dreamed of ascending beyond the heavens — yet would never escape the confines of Birch World.
Seeing Vincent's thoughtful expression, Ge Ang casually produced a palm-sized Möbius ring. It shimmered like a miniature cosmos, its surface swirling with stars.
"This universe's codename is From the Gu Huo Bird Onward. It's a typical incomplete ring. If you fail to repair its storyline properly, it'll collapse into a narrative dead end."
"Our job is to restore and perfect these broken Möbius rings — a vast but profoundly meaningful task."
With that, Ge Ang took out several more rings he had already repaired.
"During my tenure as Administrator of the Door, I've fixed quite a few universes — including Dream of the Red Chamber, My Heroic Husband, and Lord of the Eternal Night…"
Vincent froze when he heard that even Dream of the Red Chamber had been repaired. He quickly asked if it was true — and how the quality turned out.
"The version I restored is nearly perfect," Ge Ang replied. "Every character and plot point is internally consistent. Once you leave the Door, I'll send a copy to your personal archive."
"Of course, if you choose to remain here, you can personally enter that Möbius ring and experience it yourself."
Overwhelmed with excitement, Vincent found himself wanting more than ever to stay. Then, in his eagerness, he asked who Ge Ang's predecessor had been.
After all, if there were Units 776 and 777, there must have been a Unit 775.
"Unit 775 was named Gan Luo — a prodigious youth from the Warring States period of ancient China. After entering the Door, he designed a series of extremely challenging historical instances."
"I once led a team out of Mangdang Mountain to triumph at the Battle of Julu, clashed with the mighty Former Qin army at Feishui for half a year, and commanded fewer than four thousand men at Suiyang against An Lushan's Yan forces."
"After ushering in the Industrial Era, it took me three thousand years to arrive here — which is actually fast. Gan Luo, by comparison, spent twenty thousand years."
"But I never expected you to be faster still — completing the game in just over a hundred years."
Hearing this, Vincent suddenly realized something — could it be that the current version of Oasis had been designed by Ge Ang himself? From the cyberworld onward through the multiversal conquests?
Sure enough, Ge Ang nodded. He was the architect behind that very version — every "cheat," every reward pool, all meticulously chosen and placed by his own hand.
Even the luck and probability behind the lottery draws were determined through a series of meticulous calculations.
The higher a player's skill level, the greater their rewards.
Such an arrangement perfectly fit the principle of "taking from the less and giving to the more."
Hearing this, little Vincent was left speechless. No wonder he always drew good items — it turned out it was tied to his level of skill.
If it had been players with weaker abilities, it would probably take them thousands of years to tinker together an Aether Phase Engine.
Although Oasis allowed players to adjust the internal flow of time — where a hundred years in-game equaled just one day in the real world — very few could endure such long sessions.
After all, once the game started, it couldn't be paused or exited midway; the only outcomes were to clear it or fail.
"You're smart, and you're lucky," said Ge Ang. "I've left many traps throughout this instance. One careless move and you'd have had to restart, or worse, wandered further off track. Only those who are cautious and wise can reach this place."
Then Ge Ang pulled up a highlight reel of Vincent's gameplay and continued, "In the Star Wars universe instance, if you chose to enter Endor, that would have opened another dimensional branch — the world of magic."
"Your first stop in the magic dimension was Pirates of the Caribbean, the second was The Lord of the Rings. Later, Hogwarts and Game of Thrones appeared."
"If you chose to unite those worlds, you'd gain more territories and power — but also more risks. After all, unification is easy; maintaining stability is the hard part."
"The longer a game drags on, the more likely it is to fail. So, the optimal approach is to strike fast — and you did exactly that."
Vincent suddenly understood. He'd always wanted to explore Endor and other universes, but he'd thought it too risky and decided against it.
Unexpectedly, his caution had actually increased his chance of clearing the game.
"So Oasis only exists… to 'play'? To unify different universes and stage a race of civilizations?"
Vincent felt this sounded somewhat frivolous — yet, when he thought deeper, it didn't seem wrong.
"Why not?"
Ge Ang smiled. "The meaning of existence for every lifeform is, at its core, to experience — joy or suffering alike, they're both part of the process."
"The rise and fall of countless civilizations interwoven together — that process is the grand game itself. Since it's a game, why not approach it with the heart of a player?"
"But as top players, we must learn to respect the rules of each universe, the tone and style of every story. Perfecting a universe — that's our lifelong pursuit."
"A flawless Möbius ring shouldn't fall into chaos, disorder, or imbalance."
Vincent nodded thoughtfully. That made sense — a story's worldview and setting had to stay coherent, consistent, and stable.
The only true variable should be the characters — the participants themselves.
If a universe was constantly in upheaval, it would become like the Warhammer universe — full of warp demons and eldritch nonsense, its lore a complete mess.
Among all the universes he'd unified, Vincent hated the Warhammer instance most — he'd suffered enough from those warp gods. Their power and mechanics always felt absurdly overpowered.
"By the way," Vincent asked, "why is the final stage called Tannhäuser Gate? What does that mean?"
He had so many questions. After spending hundreds of years in Oasis, he had completely immersed himself in its strange and wondrous world.
If he was to learn the ultimate truth, he wanted to understand as much as possible.
"Tannhäuser is an opera by Wagner, based on a German medieval legend," Ge Ang explained. "Its protagonist, Tannhäuser, escapes from the Venusberg and longs to seek true humanity."
"That journey mirrors how players awaken to the fact that their identities and worlds are preordained — and seek to break free, searching for the meaning of existence. Tannhäuser Gate is thus a metaphorical answer to existential nihilism."
"The end of the universe… is the road you came from. Like a Möbius ring — an endless cycle. Fate, preordained."
Vincent pondered for a long while before finally looking up at Ge Ang. "Then… can I keep playing? Continue expanding and conquering the multiverse with my current forces?"
That question caught Ge Ang off guard. No player who had reached Tannhäuser Gate had ever chosen to continue.
Every journey, after all, has its end.
If not for the destination, who would keep walking forever?
"Why would you want to do that?" Ge Ang asked, puzzled.
"Well, if this is all just a game," Vincent said with a grin, "then let's just say I'm addicted."
He had grown to love the thrill of racing civilizations.
The road may have an end — but the journey never does.
Ge Ang smiled. "Very well. I'll keep your slot open. Whenever you wish, you can return."
Then he summoned a Möbius ring, far larger than the one before, and said,
"The sci-fi universes have mostly been unified under you. The ones left are minor worlds. This… is my final challenge."
Vincent accepted the Möbius ring. The inscription on it read two words — Stellaris.
"Stellaris…" he murmured. The name was familiar.
"If you're ready," Ge Ang said, "I'll add some powerful players to this universe. They might be top players from other worlds, or other elite contenders."
"Compete against them. If you can successfully unify this universe too, you'll become the strongest Administrator in Tannhäuser Gate's history."
"Though that title doesn't really change anything, nor hold any real meaning, still…"
Before Ge Ang could finish, Vincent immediately agreed: "Bring them all on."
No reasons. No hesitation. The joy of competition was reason enough.
Ge Ang looked at him deeply and said something Vincent didn't quite understand:
"You really are alike."
"Alike? To whom?" Vincent asked.
But Ge Ang offered no further explanation.
"Stellaris will open in seventy-two hours," he said. "Go get some rest."
As soon as he finished speaking, Vincent was forcibly ejected from Tannhäuser Gate — and woke up.