Chapter 38: Default Hidden Junk

Ye Guhong, Tang Wensheng, and Han Zhaoyu exchanged glances. After a moment of contemplation, Ye replied, "It sounds like he truly wants us to complete the manufacturing of the lithography machine as soon as possible. Perhaps he has other plans that require the use of it."

Zhao Zizhen immediately chimed in, "I thought it was just my imagination. Since you all feel the same, I suggest we reallocate resources and personnel from other departments immediately. Let’s get the lithography machine finished first so we don't hold up his plans."

"Agreed. I’ll grant you the authorization," Ye Guhong nodded, then added, "Make sure you also prioritize reviewing the technical documentation for controllable nuclear fusion. That is of the utmost importance!"

"Understood."

"Also, he mentioned on the phone earlier that we could look into armaments. Send him an email asking which specific areas he is interested in, then compile the relevant data. Perhaps it will help save him some time," Ye reminded him.

"Will do."

***

Little Sakura, East Capital.

Lin Yang woke up early to find an inquiry email waiting for him, sent by Zhao Zizhen overnight.

"Which areas am I interested in?"

Looking at the email, Lin Yang couldn't help but laugh. If you asked him what he was interested in, he was interested in every field of conventional weaponry! What red-blooded young man could resist such a temptation?

However, he did not reply to Zhao Zizhen immediately.

Modern weapons are subdivided into too many categories, and what is needed most right now—aside from nuclear weapons—is a powerful deterrent capable of making Western nations think twice.

As for nuclear weapons, all major powers have signed treaties pledging not to use them first. While such treaties are little more than scraps of paper during a crisis, his goal is to develop the Shangxia nation, not to engage in mutual destruction with the Western powers.

Therefore, there must be a powerful deterrent other than nuclear weapons to ensure that when Shangxia applies controllable nuclear fusion technology and showcases high-end lithography machines, the powers in the West will not dare to act rashly.

To achieve this, conventional small-to-medium weapons are clearly insufficient; it must be a superweapon. And it must be a superweapon capable of long-range strikes launched directly from the homeland.

Once the scope is narrowed down, the options are few. Excluding those with insufficient power or obvious weaknesses, only two or three choices remain.

After filtering through his thoughts, Lin Yang quickly settled on a specific target!

Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs)!

Yes, that’s right!

Lin Yang decided to use ICBMs to deter the other nations.

During the Tech Summit, Little Sakura had released a simulated strike video of their so-called ICBMs, attempting to intimidate the nations of the East Continent.

Lin Yang intended to enhance the power of existing ICBMs! He wanted to show the folks in Little Sakura what a real ICBM looked like.

"The current ICBMs of major powers have a range of about 8,000 kilometers and a terminal velocity of around Mach 25. It takes half an hour to reach the Beautiful Country from our homeland. That is far too easy to intercept."

Lin Yang flipped through the data, already sensing the direction he needed to take. If the speed could be increased, the deterrent effect would double.

He then had the system open the System Store, intending to look for specific upgrade technologies. To his surprise, however, there was nothing there!

In the weapon category, the items he could see were things like "Star-Destroying Cannons"—names that sounded terrifying. Likewise, the "National Treasure Points" required to exchange for them were equally terrifying.

"System, can the upgrade technology and materials for ICBMs not be exchanged in the store?"

"Answering the host: ICBMs are low-level items of a low-tech civilization. This system does not display such trash by default. If you require them, I can enable access to the relevant data."

"...You're something else," Lin Yang was momentarily speechless.

ICBMs were actually being called trash. He was left with no words. However, compared to a being as formidable as the system, ICBMs probably didn't amount to much.

"Does the host wish to enable the display of the low-level item store?"

"Enable."

"Acknowledged. Access to the relevant item exchange data has been enabled for you."

As the system spoke, the weapon category in the shop instantly expanded with numerous categories of conventional weapons. Lin Yang finally saw some familiar names—pistols and rifles under light weapons, and artillery, tanks, fighter jets, and even warships under heavy weapons.

"System, are nuclear weapons also considered low-level items?"

After a cursory glance, Lin Yang focused on nuclear weapons. Even these were classified as low-level items.

"Answering the host: Items in this category are classified based on the current technological level of the planet. Upon detection, the civilization of your current planet is classified as low-level; therefore, all current conventional weapons are considered to be at a low-level standard."

Lin Yang paused for a moment, and a sharp glint flashed in his eyes. "System, how many levels of technological civilization are there? Is there a specific grading system? If so, what level is my current planet?"

"Answering the host: Yes, there is a specific grading system. The overall technological civilization of your planet is at the 'Entry Level,' which is at the very bottom of the technological hierarchy."

"What about higher civilizations?"

"Apologies, host. Because your current technological level is quite low, in order to prevent information overload and excessive psychological disparity, the system cannot clearly display the existence of higher technological civilizations at this time, so as not to demoralize your current civilization."

"...I’m not asking you to show me the power of high-tech civilizations; I’m asking you how many levels there are!"

"Answering the host: Technological civilization is divided into nine levels, with one being the lowest and nine being the highest!"

"What is the standard for this rating?"

"Answering the host: A Level 1 technological civilization is the stage your civilization currently occupies. As long as a society engages in technological research, it is considered a Level 1 civilization. When a Level 1 civilization can stably mine and utilize resources from neighboring planets, it will be promoted to a Level 2 civilization."

"What about above Level 2?"

"Answering the host: The criteria for levels above Level 2 are complex and cannot be described to you intuitively at this time. It is important to note that once a technological civilization reaches Level 2, it gains the initial qualifications for deep space exploration. Please exercise extreme caution!"

"Huh? Exercise caution? What do you mean?" Lin Yang’s eyelids twitched.

There was a deeper meaning to those words. Could it be that there really were advanced extraterrestrial technological civilizations?

"Apologies, host. Due to the low level of your civilization, to protect the current status quo, this system is restricted by a protection mechanism and cannot provide a more detailed explanation."

"...What use are you?" Lin Yang complained again.

This broken system always refused to explain anything whenever he asked about higher-level topics.

However, complaints aside, the system's condition for reaching a Level 2 civilization was worth pondering. It sounded simple—just being able to mine resources from neighboring planets—but in reality, achieving that was far from easy! One could even say the difficulty was immense.