Chapter 1

The idea of buying something satisfactory on the internet for just one yuan is simply an impossible task.

Moreover, this isn't just the internet, but the Super Star Network, which connects the entire universe!

It was late at night, but Li Yi didn't feel the slightest bit sleepy. He unscrewed the cap of the cola bottle beside him, gulped it down, wiped his mouth, and then opened a bag of instant noodles, biting directly into the noodle cake.

Cola and dry instant noodles, a rather bizarre combination. Li Yi himself couldn't remember when he had developed this unhealthy eating habit.

On the desk was a square portable wireless router, made of silver metal, and quite small. If it had a watch strap, it would look very much like the smartwatches modern people wear.

When Li Yi found it, he thought it was a watch. But when he pressed the side button, it started to automatically recognize his laptop and connected to a network called the Star Network, even translating the language to Chinese.

On the Star Network, there were all kinds of items far surpassing Earth's civilization level, from the armor and weapons worn and used by warriors, to coats as thin as paper that could withstand temperatures as low as minus eighty degrees Celsius, or energy chocolates that could sustain life for a week!

Shopping and trading were just a part of the Star Network's powerful functions. Li Yi could also learn many little-known pieces of information through it.

For example, the universe is divided into star regions. The star region where Earth is located is called Bristol, and the neighboring star regions are Assyria and Grenada.

In the past, Li Yi used to enjoy reading news on the internet. When he logged into the Star Network, he found that the news on it could be described as an information nuclear explosion. Each star region has thousands of habitable planets, and each planet produces thousands of news items every day.

Li Yi stared at the constantly refreshing headlines on the screen, directly suffering from choice paralysis, not knowing where to start.

If he wanted to read books or watch movies from alien civilizations, a single click of the mouse would bring up billions of books and billions of movies. Good heavens, what does that even mean? Even if Li Yi spent his entire life on the Star Network, he wouldn't be able to finish them all!

It's too vast, the Star Network is just too vast!

A philosopher once said that the endpoint of information explosion is information congestion.

Li Yi suddenly felt that this statement was very true. With such a massive amount of information and technical data, anyone would have to spend a lot of time making choices, which is undoubtedly a waste of life. In the long process of selection, life would gradually age.

The problem now is that although Li Yi has connected to the Star Network, his account only has one star yuan, which is not enough to buy anything.

It's like a foodie suddenly arriving in a wonderful world where trees are full of candies but can't eat anything, only able to stare and drool. How unbearable.

The currency used on the Star Network is the universal interstellar currency, abbreviated as star yuan. Even if Li Yi were as rich as a country, he couldn't exchange Earth's currency for star yuan. Without star yuan, he couldn't buy these novel and strange items on the Star Network.

Sigh.

Li Yi shook his head, staring at the exquisite wireless router, and said helplessly, "If I didn't know about this magical Star Network in the universe, I wouldn't be so frustrated. You little thing, you brought me to the Star Network but gave me an empty account. What's the logic behind that?"

Li Yi was just muttering to himself in the middle of the night, not expecting anyone to answer. But to his surprise, the silver router actually spoke!

"There is one star yuan in your account. Mathematically speaking, it can't be considered an empty account. Besides, this is the highest-level account with no purchase restrictions."

The little silver guy's voice sounded like a child's, and it seemed to be a bit aggrieved?

Li Yi was startled, standing up from his chair in surprise. "You can talk?"

"I am an artificial intelligence robot. I can not only talk but also think."

Li Yi looked at the account name displayed on the computer screen, Exorcist, and asked curiously, "You said the Exorcist account has the highest level of access on the Star Network?"

"Exactly. I am the first-generation artificial intelligence management robot of the Star Network, abbreviated as the First-Gen. My existence is experimental, and this account was used by the administrator during testing. Therefore, there are no purchase restrictions."

"According to system records, after the First-Gen was tested, for some unknown reason, it was sent for destruction. Later, non-AI models were released. I am the last First-Gen, and the Exorcist account is the only unrestricted account that hasn't been destroyed."

Li Yi frowned slightly. "But the account clearly says '初级' (beginner)."

"That's because your original force hasn't even reached the first level. The system defaults to beginner. However, as you can see, these armors and weapons are originally only sold to warriors recognized by the Star Network. You don't need to confirm your identity to buy them, which is the benefit of the highest purchase permission."

"Once you reach the second level of original force, you will naturally be able to browse all second-level catalog items, and even buy lethal poisons, warships, and martial arts techniques listed as forbidden arts."

"A beginner account can trade within one nearby star region, a second-level account within three nearby star regions, a third-level account within five star regions, a fourth-level account within ten star regions, and so on. In short, the higher your level, the longer the list of items you can view, and the more choices you have."

Li Yi was very surprised. No wonder it was made by a highly intelligent life form; even a wireless router can talk? And it seems quite logical.

"Since you are an artificial intelligence robot, you should have a name, right?" Li Yi asked curiously.

"Yes, my name is 10111899235760473332134857435101..."

"Stop, stop, stop! Who can remember such a long name?" Li Yi quickly waved his hand to stop the router from reciting the crazy number. He glanced at the cola bottle on the table and said casually, "How about I call you Cola from now on?"

"Executing the owner's command, changing the name to Cola. Beep, change complete." The First-Gen said in its unique childlike voice, which sounded very cute.

A blue light shone on Cola's metal surface, forming a smiley face, as if expressing its emotions.

Li Yi thought for a moment and spread his arms. "Cola, although you are very powerful and the unlimited purchase account is very convenient, there's only one star yuan in the account. What can we do?"

Cola laughed and said, "The things on the Star Network are expensive because they include the cost of long-distance transportation. The nearest star, Alpha Centauri, is 4.7 light-years away from Earth, and other stars are hundreds or even thousands of light-years away."

"However, you can try to buy test items. Some companies regularly release new products on the Star Network to find testers. These test items are not only cheap, but some wealthy companies even offer free shipping, as long as the tester provides a genuine test report. The only downside is that free things are often desired by everyone, so you need to act quickly."

Li Yi's eyes lit up. "Act quickly, I understand. It means many people are competing for the same item, and whoever gets it first wins. You need to be quick and sharp. Earth's shopping networks often have similar activities."

"Exactly." Cola said proudly, "I am the First-Gen and have an unrestricted account, so acting quickly is my specialty. Moreover, whether buying or selling, there are no taxes with an unrestricted account, it's free."

Li Yi couldn't help but smile, excitedly saying, "Cola, you are really a treasure! Why did the Star Network company abandon such a good First-Gen? It's such a waste. Please help me find something I can buy with one star yuan, and it must include shipping."

"No problem." Cola, hearing Li Yi's praise, showed a slightly shy face. This little robot was quite cute, like an innocent child.

Whoosh.

Cola's search speed was extremely fast. A few seconds later, it really found three test items that could be bought for just one star yuan and included shipping among billions of items.

The Star Network has a rule that the minimum price is one star yuan.

"Smart toilet brush?" Li Yi frowned slightly. Although it was quite a good deal to buy a high-end and powerful toilet brush for one star yuan, it wasn't what he needed most at the moment. After all, there was only one star yuan in the account, and once spent, it would be gone. Li Yi had to be cautious.

The second item was an agricultural automatic pest control machine. It was said that this machine could emit a sound wave that only pests could detect, using sound waves to eliminate 90% of pests in the fields, thus eliminating the need for toxic chemical pesticides, making the crops more green and environmentally friendly.

This item was much more practical. Li Yi thought it was worth considering, but when he saw the third item, he was immediately attracted by the description, his eyes shining brightly.

"Closed Original Force Training System, development code name: Morning Star, applicable level: beginner, range: all intelligent life..." Li Yi read the explanation on the catalog carefully.

At this moment, Cola's voice, a bit urgent, suddenly came, "Master, if you want this Morning Star system, you must act quickly. The quick buy will start in ten seconds."

Li Yi was startled. He had been so engrossed in reading the description that he hadn't noticed the time was so close to the quick buy.

Hesitation leads to failure. Li Yi gritted his teeth and shouted, "That's it, Cola, help me quick buy it!"

Whoosh.

Instantly, Cola entered the full quick buy mode!

The originally clean silver cube lit up with thirteen red lights, flashing wildly. Li Yi could even hear the electromagnetic sounds of various electronic components in Cola's body running at full speed.

The atmosphere was very tense, and the room was silent. Li Yi realized for the first time that buying things online could be so exciting!

Ten seconds is not a long time.

Whoosh.

Suddenly, a blue light flashed, and all thirteen red lights on Cola's body went out...

Li Yi was slightly stunned and asked nervously, "Cola, are you okay?"

"I am filling in the shipping address and signing a test agreement." Cola replied in its cute voice.

Li Yi let out a sigh of relief. "As long as you're okay, that's good. When the indicator lights on your body suddenly went out, I thought something had happened to you."

Cola showed a smile again. "You seem more concerned about me than the result of the quick buy?"

Li Yi shrugged. "I've never succeeded in quick buys on the internet before, so I didn't have much hope. But if something happened to you, that would be the worst, as I wouldn't even be able to log into the Star Network to check information."

"Strange human." Cola said with a smile. "I am made of reinforced liquid metal. Even a nuclear explosion can't damage my internal electronic components, so don't worry. To increase the chances of a quick buy, I activated 16.8 million threads simultaneously, which consumed a lot of energy. So after the quick buy, I quickly cooled down the processor, not because of a malfunction."

"As for this quick buy, it was successful! We got the only test version of the Morning Star system. I told you, quick buying is my specialty! Unfortunately, according to the Star Network's fair agreement, an account that succeeds in a quick buy cannot participate in quick buy activities for the next thirty days..."

Li Yi nodded slightly. 16.8 million threads? He had no idea how advanced Cola's computing level was.

A quick browse of the Star Network showed that even the most basic original force training system required thousands of star yuan. Li Yi had gotten a huge bargain this time.

"Latest news from the Interstellar Express Company: The Morning Star system will be loaded onto the ship in fifteen minutes and will arrive in 12 to 16 hours, which is this evening." Cola reported.

...

On the other side of the distant galaxy, on a planet called LC-7731.

A 777-story skyscraper was brightly lit. In the most luxurious office on the top floor, a middle-aged fat man wearing expensive alloy glasses was furiously pounding his desk, raging.

"What? Someone else got it!?"

"You useless bunch! I gathered all the technical elites of the company to quick buy an item, and we still failed! You are driving me crazy!"

Faced with the middle-aged fat man's anger, his subordinates, like a flock of chickens, lowered their heads, not daring to look at his distorted face.

An elderly engineer, the leader of the group, mustered up his courage and said shakily, "Boss, we really did our best this time. Twelve quantum supercomputers were running at full capacity!"

"Even so, we still couldn't get the new product from Dust Company. I think there are two possible reasons: the Star Network allocates the same bandwidth to each router, and the network speed is the same. It's likely that the other party's computing system is more powerful than ours, or they have a higher-level account."

The middle-aged fat man was startled, stroking his sparse beard, thinking.

A more powerful computing system? A higher-level account?

The Star Network is a strange company with incomprehensible technology, having achieved seamless connection across the entire universe!

It's worth noting that the Star Network has been operating for tens of thousands of years. Even with the technology of tens of thousands of years later, it's still impossible to achieve seamless connection across the entire universe like the Star Network. This shows how powerful the technology of this most mysterious company in the universe is!

Having a higher-level account is everyone's dream. It's said that the highest-level account can view the entire universe without leaving home, and whatever you want, you can have!

However, the strange Star Network company has set many incomprehensible restrictions on account levels. It's not just a matter of applying to upgrade your account level. The Star Network observes each account's daily operations and will proactively upgrade your account level when it deems it appropriate.

Waving his hand forcefully, the middle-aged fat man said helplessly, "Dismissed. The technical team should continue searching for the whereabouts of the Morning Star system. Once found, no matter the price, I want it back!"

"After all, this is the first time Dust Company has launched a new original force training system in many years. They must have made significant progress in original force development, and the entire star region is paying attention."

...

Li Yi had no idea that, through the interstellar network, many people in the distant universe were sleepless, staring at their screens, their eyes red.

The company that produced the Morning Star system, Dust Company, is a giant in the industry. Even in star regions far from Earth's Bristol, Dust Company is a well-known presence.

Dust Company, a rising innovative company in the Bristol star region in recent years, has a creativity that makes its competitors bleed. Not only in original force training equipment, but in any field Dust Company is involved in, the results are always groundbreaking.

In simple terms, Dust Company is like Apple on Earth, always producing the most astonishing industrial products and creating one miracle after another.

Seventy years ago, Dust Company launched the Macro Training System, which, by collecting user data and customizing personalized training, captured 90% of the market in three nearby star regions.

Seventy years later, Dust Company's new generation training system, the Morning Star, was launched, naturally drawing attention from the entire star region, especially from Dust Company's competitors, who wanted to get the first-hand information to formulate their counter-strategies.

There's no way around it; Dust Company's creativity is just too impressive.

Rumors in the star region say that Dust Company has redefined innovation, while its competitors have redefined what it means to be a fool.

Sometimes fate is so strange. The entire star region was eagerly awaiting Dust Company's new generation of original force training systems, but it was snatched by a small figure from Earth, Li Yi. Even more frustrating, Li Yi only had 0.2 original force, just a trainee warrior...

The accidental encounter with Cola and the Star Network put Li Yi in a highly excited state.

Li Yi finally understood why everyone needed something like Cola to log into the Star Network. The data and information on this network are just too complex.

Cola is like an intelligent personal network assistant, helping Li Yi sift through the most useful information from the vast amount of data. Without it, Li Yi would likely go insane from the overwhelming information in just a few days.

The difference is that Cola is a First-Gen, a true artificial intelligence model. Later models are only semi-intelligent and far less advanced than Cola.

From this perspective, the Star Network is indeed a strange company. For some unknown reason, their best products have never been released, and all the small robots like Cola were secretly destroyed.

Time flew by, and before he knew it, it was already bright outside.

Li Yi looked at the time and jumped up from his chair, almost forgetting that today was the first day of summer training, and he was about to be late.

Snap.

Two soft liquid metal straps extended from the sides, and Cola transformed into a watch shape, very similar to the 1.5-inch smartwatches modern people often wear. It was placed on Li Yi's left arm, and no one would guess that this little guy was an artificial intelligence robot from an alien civilization.

Li Yi picked up his bicycle and hurried downstairs. He lived in the former mechanical factory dormitory area, which was a bit old, but the neighbors were all old friends, and the place was usually quiet and friendly.

When his parents were on vacation in North America, it was invaded, and they were left behind. This house was the only inheritance his parents left him.

"Work hard!" Aunt Wang, who had just returned from buying groceries, waved at the hurried Li Yi.

"Got it!"

"Today is the first day of summer training, which will determine your class placement in the advanced tactical school. Don't mess up!" Grandpa Liu, who was doing morning exercises, shouted at Li Yi.

...