Cameron Chadwick had created the Imaginary Collapse Pulse.
And after creating it, he declared:
Such a weapon was too immoral to exist.
The Interastral Peace Corporation respected geniuses.
If Chadwick wanted to abandon the project, fine.
The corporation could accept the loss.
They could throw away the entire investment just to satisfy a genius.
But not for such a ridiculous reason—
"Because the weapon is too powerful and harms innocent people."
Then some IPC executive—
whose brain must have been kicked by a donkey—
issued an incredibly stupid order:
Imprison Chadwick.
They detained him.
They tried persuading him kindly.
They told him to calm down and stop feeling such intense guilt.
They told him to think about his colleagues.
But Chadwick had completely trapped himself in his own moral dilemma.
And the IPC was forced into an impossible situation.
They couldn't kill him.
That would provoke the Genius Society's revenge.
But they also couldn't release him.
They had already imprisoned a genius.
Even if other geniuses had no personal relationship with Chadwick—
their pride alone would prevent them from ignoring such a thing.
So a brilliant genius was ultimately destroyed—
not by the corporation,
but by his own guilt.
Even during his imprisonment, the IPC provided him with everything he asked for.
If he had simply resumed research—
no prison could have contained him.
But Chadwick did nothing.
He devoted himself only to atonement.
Until he died.
To this day, the IPC still dares not let the outside world know anything about Chadwick.
They secretly purged most people who knew the truth.
They feared the news might reach the ears of the Genius Society's "ancestors."
Fortunately,
they did not have to wait long before Herta appeared.
Others might say Herta has a strange personality.
But to the IPC—
Interastral Peace Corporation:
"What strange personality? Ms. Herta is extremely easy to work with!"
Why didn't they approach Genius Society #76 Screwllum instead?
The polite and elegant mechanical noble?
Because—
not long afterward—
Lin Yi appeared.
A genius who appeared out of nowhere.
Normal personality.
Easy to communicate with.
Didn't dislike the IPC.
Willing to cooperate.
At that moment the IPC believed:
They had found the second Lierta.
The corporation's golden age would return.
Of course—
this genius seemed somewhat… unserious.
He spent his time traveling everywhere.
He rarely did research.
He often used IPC money to help weaker civilizations.
But the IPC didn't mind.
They had money.
Lots of it.
Spend it!
Spend freely!
Eventually he'd get tired of playing.
And sure enough—
it didn't take long.
Lin Yi, Genius Society #85, commissioned the IPC to modify the Shenxiao Vessel.
The corporation went absolutely wild with excitement.
"Oh heavens!"
"The idle genius is finally using his brain!"
As long as a genius starts doing research—
cooperation opportunities will follow.
As long as the genius doesn't dislike the IPC—
even scraps from their research could bring enormous profit.
After dealing with so many "divine" geniuses before,
the IPC had lowered its expectations drastically.
As long as the genius did research at all—
everything would be fine.
Thus Lin Yi and the IPC maintained this strange relationship for more than ten years.
Lin Yi's View of the IPCExtremely rich.A bunch of wealthy suckers.Not very good people. Probably deserve lamp posts.But harmless to me and not a threat.The IPC's View of Lin YiA genius who actually has humanity.You can communicate with him like a normal person.Doesn't dislike the IPC. Willing to cooperate.His discarded inventions may be worthless to him—but extremely valuable commercially.
When Lin Yi hacked into the IPC executive group chat, there were a few seconds of chaos.
But quickly the executives realized something.
This was an opportunity.
Lin Yi hadn't said much.
And he hadn't mentioned any reward afterward.
What did that mean?
It meant this was a chance to earn his favor voluntarily.
A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
So the job had to be done perfectly.
The IPC immediately connected all spare computing power to the Shenxiao Space City network under Screwllum's command.
They even shut down unnecessary equipment and websites.
The more they invested now—
the easier future cooperation negotiations would be.
But they didn't stop there.
They contacted the Intelligentsia Guild immediately.
They rapidly developed microcode that allowed consumer electronics to contribute computing power.
Then the IPC held a press conference.
They announced:
Genius Society #85 Lin Yi requires massive computing power for a special research project.
To support cutting-edge cosmic science,
the IPC will gather as much computing power as possible.
Anyone willing to contribute to this genius's research
should download the small application released on the IPC website.
The program would utilize spare background computing power from devices.
Participants would receive compensation:
100–10,000 Credits per hour, depending on contribution.
The Universal Medicine had only recently entered the market.
Lin Yi's reputation was at its peak.
People still remembered his kindness.
And with IPC payments added—
the result was inevitable.
Grains of sand became a tower.
Drops of water became a river.
Tiny fragments of computing power merged together—
forming a computational force greater than both sides combined.
This was a perfect demonstration of:
A spark can start a prairie fire.
Lin Yi's strategy of "calling people" became a cosmic example.
It showed exactly how powerful a genius with maxed-out social connections could be.
How many people their influence could mobilize.
Civilizations responded one after another:
Biari–ScamanderlosLehwaraduriOk RepublicEast Confederation…and many more.
Each offered a small contribution.
Without realizing it,
Silkall had achieved the title:
Enemy of the Universe
One person fighting more than half the civilizations in the cosmos.
The result was obvious.
A completely one-sided defeat.
Silkall happily received a Bad Ending (BE).
But the only person capable of truly controlling such enormous computing power—
was Screwllum.
The true King of Hackers in the universe.
And now—
it was Silkall's turn to pull the plug.
She sealed the Meta-Domain.
Disconnected it from the outside world.
She sat there blankly—
as if completely broken.
She kept muttering:
"Impossible…"
"Absolutely impossible…"
Silkall tried remembering.
What had she originally intended to do?
How had things turned into this?
She had spent most of her time in the Meta-Domain researching alone.
It was like an isolated paradise cut off from the universe.
Only in the past few centuries had she occasionally gone outside—
to cultivate that intelligent insect swarm she discovered.
Then she sensed something unusual.
Someone in the outside world had found a broken Key of Erudition.
It was hers.
Yet also…
not hers.
For Early Access of 400+ chapters check out patreon.com/UchihaAce