Chapter 144: The Universal Treasury

“Look at you, such a country bumpkin, really clueless about the world!” Once inside the secret chamber, Bai immediately appeared, wearing a disdainful expression.

“You’re the one talking! You’ve been connected to the virtual universe network for so long, and you never reminded me about this?” Lan Tian was irritated upon seeing him. After all, Bai was his intelligent assistant computer, yet Lan Tian still had to rely on others to learn about the virtual universe network’s capabilities.

“Tch! Didn’t I tell you? Think carefully! Didn’t I say from the start that whether it’s gaming, cultivation, trading, combat, exploration, food, finance—anything you can imagine can be realized within the virtual universe network?” Bai looked at him as if questioning his memory.

“You were too busy cultivating to properly study the virtual universe network. How can you blame me?” Bai said with a hint of grievance.

“Uh… fine, I guess that’s true.” Lan Tian felt embarrassed. Since leaving Earth, the constant pressure of danger weighed on him, leaving him no time but to focus on cultivation, completely neglecting other matters.

As for the virtual universe network, he had only ever treated it as a tool to communicate with Earth, never having the time to explore it thoroughly.

Now he realized that the treasure had always been right by his side; he just hadn’t made good use of it.

“Alright, let’s check out the legendary largest trading platform of the human race.” Unable to contain his excitement, Lan Tian directly connected to the virtual universe network.

Sure enough, after instructing his personal assistant to open the trading platform, a massive holographic screen appeared before him.

The screen was divided into two sections: one for sales, the other for purchase requests.

Lan Tian saw that his current location was marked as the Northern Star Sector, Yuanlan Empire, Huido Star.

The entire trading platform was vast beyond measure, with billions of transaction listings. It was impossible and impractical to display all of them at once, so the listings were divided by geographic location.

Typically, unless specific search keywords were set, the screen displayed transaction information radiating outward from the user’s current position, prioritizing the nearest listings to maximize efficiency.

For the same item, there might be sellers on Huido Star nearby and also others billions of light-years away. Without a distance indicator, even if the distant seller’s price was lower, the transportation cost could far exceed the price difference or even the item’s value, making it unprofitable.

Of course, the intelligence of the virtual universe network was remarkable. The platform could automatically filter options, including shipping fees, and list the most cost-effective choices from top to bottom for the user’s discretion.

For example, Lan Tian entered “Level 5 Storage Device” into the sales search bar, and numerous options quickly appeared.

“Level 5 storage belt, 1200 cubic meters, total price 80,000 Universe Coins, Yuanlan Empire, Hongwei Star, 45 million light-years away.”

“Level 5 storage ring, 1480 cubic meters, total price 180,000 Universe Coins, Yuanlan Empire, Guwu Star, 300 million light-years away.”

“Level 5 storage ring, 1900 cubic meters, total price 220,000 Universe Coins, Yuanlan Empire, Hongge Star, 700 million light-years away.”

“Level 5 storage watch, 1150 cubic meters, total price 200,000 Universe Coins, Yuanlan Empire, Gongming Star, 5 billion light-years away.”

...

“Level 5 storage bracelet, 1300 cubic meters, total price 8 million Universe Coins, Cangsong Universe Nation, Glory Star, 1.4 trillion light-years away.”

At the last listing, Lan Tian’s brow twitched. A 1300 cubic meter Level 5 storage bracelet, including shipping, cost an absurd 8 million Universe Coins!

That was ridiculously unprofitable. Only a fool would buy something from so far away!

He then changed the keyword for another search. Luckily, spending 1.8 million Universe Coins, he successfully purchased a Level 8 storage ring with 9500 cubic meters of space on Jiuling Star, located within the Yuanlan Empire about 80 million light-years from Huido Star.

After the transaction, the shipping information displayed the entire process, estimating only about half an hour until delivery to his location.

It was incredibly convenient—having enough money, one could essentially carry a universal treasure trove at all times!

Although 1.8 million Universe Coins was an astronomical price for storage devices, this meant all his possessions in private space, including a dozen small combat ships, could be brought along!

Agreeing strongly with Bai’s advice, Lan Tian believed all treasures should be kept close at hand. Never wait until a crisis to retrieve them from a distant location—who knew if one could hold on that long?

Next, Lan Tian performed more operations in the secret chamber, spending about 200,000 Universe Coins to have all items in his private space delivered. The fee wasn’t for retrieval but for shipping, especially considering the large size of the cosmic warships. He felt that 200,000 Universe Coins was actually quite reasonable.

Once everything was arranged, the shipping information showed it would take about a day for all items to arrive, after which Lan Tian only needed to coordinate with the delivery personnel.

After claiming the immense wealth from his private space, Lan Tian felt a weight lifted from his heart. Not in a rush to leave, he stayed in the chamber to continue browsing the virtual universe network’s trading platform.

Like Wang Ling enjoyed browsing shopping websites in her free time, Lan Tian found he was becoming addicted to exploring this marketplace!

Faced with the colorful and illustrated exotic items, he found it hard to stop.

“I’m really speechless. Can this trading platform be any more serious? What is this? A condensation capsule? It shrinks your body down to a few centimeters? What’s the point? Just for fun?”

“And this—‘Sleeping Pill’? After taking it, you sleep for a thousand years and won’t wake until the time limit expires. Are you crazy? How tired do you have to be to sleep for a millennium at once?”

“This one’s even more ridiculous—the ‘Heaven and Earth Mastery Technique’! It’s a cultivation method with a grand name, but it neither improves your cultivation nor boosts combat power. After the first level, your body grows ten zhang tall; after the second, a hundred zhang; at the final sixth level, ten thousand zhang. But the key point is your body strength doesn’t increase at all. What’s the use of such a huge body? Just to scare people?”

Lan Tian was left utterly speechless by these strange and bizarre items.

“Haha, you have to understand, cultivators in the universe have long lifespans. Some with mediocre talent reach a certain level and realize they can’t advance further, so they start living for pleasure. Naturally, strange and odd things abound,” Bai chuckled. Then he reminded, “Don’t just look at these nonsense items—check out the attribute skills too!”

(End of chapter)