Chapter 31: White Tower Local Area Network

Two minutes later, Shen Qing dissipated the psionic energy gathered around his ears.

"What's wrong?" Song Chi asked, noticing his expression had turned noticeably grave.

"The people in the box next to us must be from the Black Mountain Society. Someone just took a call. The other party's voice was too low for me to hear clearly, but I did catch two sensitive terms."

Before Song Chi could ask for further clarification, Shen Qing continued, "Kidnapping and Titanium Crystal."

Song Chi’s pupils contracted sharply. Kidnapping was nothing out of the ordinary in a society where everyone practiced martial arts, but Titanium Crystal was entirely different.

According to textbooks, Titanium Crystal is a high-end reinforcement resource for Psionic Starships, far superior to Mercury Crystals or Mithril. It is said that only ship components of purple quality or higher require this extremely rare resource for upgrades beyond level 20. There are even rumors that the upper echelons of the Psionic Human Civilization have classified Titanium Crystal as a strategic resource, fiercely contested by all major factions.

Upon hearing the term, both Song Chi and Shen Qing realized this was no longer a matter they could easily get involved in. Song Chi immediately recalled the incident from half a month ago at the spicy hotpot restaurant on Minyuan Road. He remembered the Black Mountain Society was also involved then, searching for the whereabouts of two miners from Tianyu Mining. Connecting the two made it difficult for him not to overthink it.

Regardless of the news's veracity, they had to inform their elders.

They went downstairs, settled the bill, and did not stop until they had left the street where the restaurant was located. Only then did they push their kinetic flying car to its limit, heading straight for the Psionic Bureau.

In Shen Wenjie’s office, the reactions of Shen Wenjie and Song Chao were much the same upon hearing "Titanium Crystal." However, after Song Chi and Shen Qing recounted the details, the matter was taken out of their hands, and they were ushered out of the office one after another.

Shen Wenjie and Song Chao would now use all their influence to investigate the truth of the information. As for Song Chi and Shen Qing, they were instructed to go about their business and, above all, to stop meddling in the affair and refrain from revealing a single word of what they had seen and heard today.

Even though they had been mentally prepared for this, both felt uneasy. The helplessness of being unable to intervene due to their own lack of strength was truly unbearable.

Shen Qing drove the patrol vehicle to drop Song Chi off at the Dongjiang Residential Complex, offering a few words of caution before leaving. Once back in his bedroom, Song Chi immediately entered the All-Heavens Market to continue his cultivation.

***

The next day, he interrupted his training because the Psionic Network he had activated yesterday was finally ready to link. The thought that every user on this network was a Psionic Starship Captain filled him with anticipation.

He focused his consciousness on the glowing white Psionic Seed deep within his mind. A small light curtain soon appeared on his retina.

[Would you like to link to the Psionic Network: White Tower Local Area Network?]

"Confirm!"

As he confirmed, the curtain on his retina changed, and an image began to play slowly.

In the vast galaxy, a dozen battered warships were traveling at full speed. Behind them, thousands of sinister, triangular ships pursued them relentlessly, blasting one warship after another into oblivion. It was only when they chanced upon and passed through an unstable star-system wormhole that the group escaped the pursuit of the alien civilization, avoiding total annihilation. By then, only six warships remained.

The video ended there. It seemed abrupt, but every citizen who had received a formal education in the Psionic Human Civilization would feel an involuntary resonance. Those last six remaining ships represented the founders of the civilization and the final remnants of a low-tech human civilization that had been nearly wiped out.

After passing through the wormhole, the human ancestors on those six ships discovered the ruins of an ancient civilization and obtained the first strand of the original Psionic Source. Thus, the Psionic Human Civilization was born, growing and thriving over the subsequent years to become what it is today.

After the image faded, Song Chi remained stunned for a long time. Then, sixteen characters appeared on the curtain:

*The journey through the star sea is long and fraught with obstacles.*
*The fire of civilization shall never be extinguished.*

Following this, he was officially logged into a local network of the Psionic Network.

The White Tower Local Area Network, as one of the many sub-networks, encompassed the entire White Tower Floating Continent, its surrounding asteroid belts, debris fields, and even the star fortresses. It served as the largest hub for information exchange for all citizens who had awakened a Psionic Seed in the vicinity. Beyond that, the network included task posting and acceptance systems, a free trade system, and a friends system.

As for why it was only the White Tower Floating Continent's network and not the entire Psionic Human Civilization's main network, it was simply because Song Chi’s current Psionic Seed level was too low. Although he had recently raised the quality of his Psionic Seed to white, quality and level were two different things. Quality represented the future ceiling for reinforcement, while the level represented the current strength of the ship bound to the seed.

The *Firmament* had only just been bound, and he had only used one of its special slots, which was sufficient. Consequently, Song Chi had not yet reinforced the ship's hull—or rather, the Psionic Seed itself—so it remained at level zero.

Song Chi didn't dwell on this, instead focusing on the various functions of his account. According to the instructor who helped him awaken the network yesterday, his account possessed certain special privileges.

After tinkering for about half an hour, he had a basic understanding of his account’s features. Compared to a standard Psionic account, his did indeed have three distinct privileges:

First, while ordinary accounts must use their real names when chatting on the Psionic Network, he could set his to anonymous.

Second, he was exempt from transaction taxes when trading on the network, whereas other accounts were required to pay a 5% tax.

Third, when posting or accepting tasks, ordinary accounts had to pay extra floating-continent essence for priority placement or selection; his account included these features by default.

Having clarified the special nature of his account, Song Chi’s curiosity remained unquenched, and he began browsing the various chat messages on the network with great interest.

"Jiangyuan City {Jianghai}: Clearing the debris field in the northern sky of the floating continent. Any brothers looking to form a team?"

"Changhe City {Chaotian}: Offering 100 strands of Rank 1 Floating Continent Essence for the coordinates of the 'Blood Capital Pirate Group's' lair."

"Jiangyuan City {Tianma}: You think you can get the coordinates of the Blood Capital Pirate Group for 100 strands of Rank 1 essence? Are you dreaming, friend? Anyone who could find the Blood Capital's lair wouldn't be desperate for your 100 strands of essence, would they?"

...

"White Tower City {Changkong}: A psionic airship belonging to Viscount Yellen’s estate has gone missing. A substantial reward will be given to anyone who provides relevant clues."