I'm the boss because I have a harem of anime characters.

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O'Higgins, formerly known as Brooklyn, is a light cruiser with a relatively low presence in the game. However, her sister has a high presence because her sister is named Helena. With the Shadow Assault skin, she is a must-have light cruiser for most players (the Ocean Heart skin is also good, especially the uncensored damaged artwork).

"Admiral, I'm back!"

Formerly Brooklyn, now O'Higgins is a very enthusiastic girl, or rather, every ship girl has her own way of being enthusiastic.

"Welcome back to the port, O'Higgins."

Qin Shan's principle when playing games was to modify everything that could be modified, and then give out rings according to his own preferences. The most classic skin color choice was South Dakota. South Dakota is a dark-skinned girl according to the standards of anime, but she got the ring after her affection level was full, but O'Higgins did not.

However, this does not diminish the ship girls' fervent feelings for the admiral.

Next, Qin Shan planned to send O'Higgins to South America to strengthen Britain's defenses.

Section 204: Planning Ahead, the Interstellar Age

After Schneizel became the 99th Holy British Emperor, Britain's foreign policy underwent a major shift, changing from "fight if you dare" to "peace forever".

Schneizel was clear-headed when it came to the crucial issue of choosing a strategic direction.

But just because he is clear-headed doesn't mean that the younger generation within Britain can.

These hardliners within Britain, who had come to regard war as part of their lives, had become extreme hardliners. They believed that as long as the Empire still had the strength to fight, there was absolutely no need to kowtow to the Central and European Unions. Even if they sought peace, they should first put their pistols on the table to prove that they had the strength to continue the war. In short, they would not condone any behavior that would cause Britain to suffer losses.

To put it simply, Schneizel could not tolerate this reckless act of mixing cephalosporins with alcohol.

As the saying goes, "A new emperor brings a new court," and now that Schneizel's politics have shifted, those who haven't found their place should vacate their seats, or else they'll have to be the first to lose their heads.

By tentatively revealing some of the conditions for peace negotiations, Schneizel easily clarified the internal enemy-friend relationship.

Giving those worthy of being won over one last chance to choose sides, Schneizel launched a massive purge of the hardliners within the military and political system a month later.

It must be said that he was really ruthless, and he carried it out quickly and secretly, even implementing propaganda control to ensure that these people disappeared without a trace, leaving no trouble for the country.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Schneizel used his past prestige to build a loyal team, further consolidating the power within the core ruling circle of Britain, and then began distributing benefits.

After all, to maintain the loyalty of those around you during such a sensitive period, you can't just make empty promises; you have to provide real benefits.

As for those whose demands were too high and Schneizel couldn't afford, they could only be eliminated under the pretext of colluding with rebellious forces.

Schneizel acted quickly because he knew that the European Union and the Central Union, which was hiding under the guise of peace, would never miss this opportunity to kick Britain while it was down. He didn't have much time and had to finish the job quickly.

Unfortunately, he was still too slow. Who told him that he couldn't have absolute authority within Britain? In times of war, the more centralized a country is, the higher its decision-making efficiency and the faster its execution speed, provided that it truly holds absolute power.

In this respect, Schneizel is no match for Qin Shan, who can eliminate internal enemies at any time.

So while he was working to integrate the upper and middle classes of Britain and to stabilize the lower classes by sharing the spoils, an anti-British uprising broke out in Chile, South America. The rebels were well-equipped, had formidable fighting power, and had an excellent female commander. In just three days, most of the British officials in Chile were dead, and the uprising began to spread rapidly to Argentina and Brazil, catching everyone off guard.

Schneizel immediately realized that this was the Europa League's doing, with the China League behind it.

Why do I think this way? Because of distance. The Central League is too far from South America. Even if they have the idea of ​​causing trouble, they have to respect the spatial distance. They can't teleport, can they? So it can only be the European League causing trouble, and the Central League is at most adding fuel to the fire.

Furthermore, since the rebel forces were mostly using European Union weapons, the British side directly identified them as European Union weapons.

The question of whether the United Nations, based on geographical location, is the biggest beneficiary of the conflict in Australia is also a concern. In that case, the European Union, located next to South America, would clearly be the biggest beneficiary of the resulting chaos between North and South.

But this matter really has absolutely nothing to do with the European Union... Oh, it does have something to do with it, but the guerrillas and resistance forces they've supported are just a bunch of idiots in terms of fighting power, not to mention they don't have a full set of weapons. Their fleet has been severely damaged, and they can't expect submarines and transport ships to carry equipment across Britain's anti-submarine and cruise strike teams.

The South American guerrillas are just there for show; they can't decide the outcome of a battle. They might help out occasionally, but they don't have the time or inclination for that now.

The more the European Union denies it, the more Britain believes it was the culprit. After all, the relationship between the Anglo-Saxons and European bandits is quite "close." They do it but deny it, and they just pass the buck. Everyone here is a cunning fox, so why make up some ghost stories?

However, Schneizel also knew that even if the European Union conceded, Britain didn't have any good options. They were already at their limit and were working hard to achieve peace. So even if they were disgusted, they had to swallow their anger and show that they understood. Peace was the most important thing, and everything else was secondary.

But in private, Britain drew its last elite armed force from its homeland, determined to crush the rebels in America at all costs, otherwise Britain would never have peace, and in the worst-case scenario, it might even disintegrate on the spot.

The unique local products of Europe and America are so large that the centrifugal force increases dramatically, making them a must-try.

If standing doesn't earn them more, these descendants of bandits wouldn't mind kneeling down immediately.

A new game has begun, and this time Britain is the completely weaker party.

However, the man whom Schneizel was extremely wary of was not paying attention to this at the moment.

For Qin Shan, there are only two forces that can influence his decisions right now: the Reapers, who could appear at any time, and the Abyss Gate, who could emerge at any time.

The former represents a fixed disaster, while the latter represents a random possibility.

To be more specific, the former (referring to the Abyss Gate) presents virtually no means of countering Qin Shan and his forces; their best option is simply to use Run. The Abyss Gate, on the other hand, could become an invasion channel for the Reapers, and as the number of worlds increases, its appearance on Earth will become less predictable, greatly increasing uncertainty.

As humanity gradually ventures into space, expanding its activities to Mars and even the entire solar system, Qin Shan's monitoring methods are becoming increasingly inadequate. Who knows what might happen...

After the Gate of the Abyss appeared, a bubble-like creature emerged from it and quietly developed in space. By the time it was discovered, it had become a terrifying creature that Earth could not contend with at its current stage.

These are all entirely possible. After all, supernatural power itself implies infinite and uncertain possibilities. It wouldn't be hard to understand if a monster capable of devouring a planet appeared.

There is only one solution at present: to deploy detectors on a large scale, all kinds of detectors, both overt and covert, throughout the entire human activity area. As long as any signs of the Abyss Gate are found, then take it down without hesitation and turn it into a portal under Qin Shan's control.

The effect was quite remarkable. During this period, Qin Shan collected more than a dozen Abyss Gates, but none of them became numbered worlds under his control. In fact, he was very cautious in developing these worlds.

The reason is very simple: these worlds all bear the marks of being plundered by the Reapers. All indications suggest that these worlds were once extraordinary worlds, but after being harvested by the Reapers, they became ordinary planets without extraordinary powers.

Of course, the harvesters are not the type to completely drain the fish. They prefer sustainable exploitation, so they only plunder individuals with extraordinary power at the fifth level or above, leaving the plundered world with a foundation similar to a culture medium. Once a new extraordinary civilization is cultivated, they will come back to harvest another wave.

Archaeological discoveries in some of these worlds have provided evidence that the world has been harvested more than once.

They're being treated like lambs to the slaughter.

Qin Shan felt like an ordinary human facing the Tyranids; no matter what choice he made, despair was inevitable. The only saving grace was that humanity wasn't completely hopeless yet, at least the Reapers hadn't reached out to them.

However, we must also plan ahead. Many construction projects must be accelerated. If humans cannot do it themselves, then we must rely on other forces to accomplish it. For civilization, survival must come first before we can consider anything else.

The international order of World Six poses no challenge to Qin Shan, as he can overturn the table at any time. The most important thing right now is to eliminate all potential threats, keep internal conflicts within humanity to a minimum, and then go all out to conquer space. Even if he can't achieve widespread expansion in a short period of time, he should at least make the entire solar system a unified whole and possess a sub-light-speed fleet.

This way, you can quickly escape if you can't win a fight.

"So the safest job is to make humanity a cosmic species, the kind that can spread throughout the entire universe."

Although this will increase the randomness of the Abyss Gate and means that Qin Shan cannot take care of all regions, didn't humanity find a way to fight the Abyss Gate in the era before his rebirth? It is regrettable to fail, but it is not that we are really helpless. As a caretaker, I cannot be on standby to protect everyone at all times.

Therefore, it is time to open up some sublight travel technology so that humanity can explore the outside world.

"People will die, many, many people will die, but there's nothing we can do about it. If we want to explore the unknown, we have to fill every inch of the ravine with mountains of corpses and seas of blood. You, me, and everyone else are in it."

Before Qin Shan was a sub-light speed engine. The physical laws of the real world are still very powerful, making it impossible to exceed the speed of light. If he wanted to explore the upper limit of speed further, he would probably have to try other dimensions, such as subspace. The special spatial structure there allows for faster-than-light phenomena to occur, and the faster-than-light state would automatically be canceled when leaving subspace.

There is a small problem: the warp doesn't have clear coordinates for navigation. We need to establish lighthouse nodes in the real world and then project them into the warp. Fortunately, there are no shady characters like the Four Little Vendors in the real warp. At least in the world that Qin Shan currently knows, there is no cesspool-like warp like in Warhammer 40K.

Hopefully, it will be the same in the future.

Under Qin Shan's impetus, the United Nations in the local world convened a plenary meeting and passed the "Act on the Outward Expansion of Human Civilization" with a high vote. With the two superpowers, China and the Soviet Union, as the leaders, the era of interstellar exploration is about to begin.

Section 205: Civilization Expands Outward, The Harvester's Garden

"We can't reach or reach the outside world for the time being, but the solar system must be unified and stable."

This is the absolute red line that Qin Shan set for the Earth United Government, and this government clearly demonstrated an attitude of "super-global leadership," that is, to guarantee leadership over the entire Earth in the process of Sino-Soviet integration.

Meanwhile, other small countries will not be continuously annexed in this process. For example, recently many ethnic groups in Southeast Asia have taken the initiative to present evidence that they are Han Chinese or were once Han Chinese, hoping to catch the last train to the stars and the sea.

At that time, China and the Soviet Union had an overwhelming advantage in productivity compared to other countries.

In China and the Soviet Union, household electricity was free for the first 100 degrees Celsius. For each additional 100 degrees Celsius, the price increased by 10 cents. Within the range of 100 to 200 degrees Celsius, each kilowatt-hour cost only 1 cent. The portion exceeding 200 to 300 degrees Celsius cost only 1 cent per kilowatt-hour. This made ordinary people and capitalists in neighboring countries extremely envious.

However, if it's for transmitting electricity to other countries, the price will be different; we will set the price according to the global market price.

In the industrial sector, the combined forces of China and the Soviet Union were a behemoth without any weaknesses. Now, they had to compete with each other's internal prices using market prices, which meant they were destined to be crushed. Even though China and the Soviet Union stated that they would import some things from other countries every year, other smaller countries were still trembling with fear.

Because the initiative was entirely in the hands of China and the Soviet Union, whether or not to buy, how much to buy, and how to buy were all decided with a single sentence.

Few offer help in times of need, but many offer support when things are already going well. After the Sino-Soviet alliance proved its strength and gradually merged into one country, other countries began to feel uneasy.

Stopping them is impossible; they don't have the power to do so. But they can choose to join.

Of course, joining now is not the same as before. For example, Sino-Soviet control over private enterprises has become much stricter. All companies entering Sino-Soviet relations must first pay a "deposit," which is untouchable money to prevent employees from not receiving wages in the event of company bankruptcy. Unlimited liability is also in effect, meaning that in the event of personal bankruptcy, both personal and company assets are considered compensation assets. Furthermore, if a family member has been divorced for no more than five years...

If, after ten years, there is no proof that there was no transfer of benefits between them, then, sorry, the family wealth must also be used to compensate the workers.

The scenario of a company going bankrupt, workers having no money, and the boss being restricted from spending, yet still being able to indulge in lavish meals and drinks, was not allowed within the Sino-Soviet alliance. Fleeing abroad would be useless, because China and the Soviet Union would deploy their Red Teams to impose sanctions, with methods including, but not limited to, missile strikes.

Qin Shan had already begun directing the two governments to use this method.

The traditional bureaucratic system would certainly not allow such a tough approach, because it would mean a complete breakdown in relations, and they would target you in the same way for any mistakes you make in the future. But how could Qin Shan tolerate such a thing? "Avengers, get to work! You seem to have some family history issues, so I'll help you lighten the load."

Once those who could pollute the whole pot of soup are mostly dead, no longer dare to cause trouble, and have voluntarily left the bureaucracy, the rest becomes much simpler, and the implementation of relevant laws and regulations becomes incredibly smooth.

In short, unlimited liability, corporate social responsibility, and the system of handing over profits to the state for secondary distribution have become the only options for these private companies in the future. Alternatively, they could choose to build a sub-light-speed spaceship to make money.

Some companies are already doing this. After all, the nearest star system, Alpha Centauri, can be reached in four to five years at sub-light speed. However, human space survival technology is not yet mature. The first batch of people to go there are destined to suffer heavy casualties. But there are always many people willing to gamble for profit, and capital is very willing to invest in such bets. After all, they certainly have no place to live on Earth or in the solar system that they can see in the future.

So let them fly, risk their lives to test the possibilities in outer space. Every success and failure they have will accumulate valuable experience and data, because all spacecraft leaving Earth must first undergo a security inspection by the United Nations, ostensibly to avoid safety accidents, but in reality, to place monitoring equipment during the inspection process.

The work was carried out by a remotely controlled intelligent robot from Beizhai, without any human intervention. Don't misunderstand, Qin Shan wasn't very interested in what these people were talking about in the sky; he was interested in their life in space and the changes in their physical indicators.

The ideal astronaut is naturally an extraordinary individual, but at this stage, humanity cannot turn everyone into an extraordinary individual. It is a gradual process. Therefore, it is highly likely that ordinary people with outstanding physical abilities will go into space. Their success or failure will help humanity go further. In fact, it can be said that failure is sometimes more important than success because failure can help overcome survivorship bias.

At the end of that year, more than two hundred astronauts left Earth to explore the unknown depths of space.

Countless possibilities lie ahead of them. Of course, they may perish before even leaving the solar system, but those who dare to take this step are heroes to humanity. Whether they rest in peace in the stars or sail to even more distant places, their explorations are meaningful and deserve to be celebrated and praised.

And this is just the beginning.

Unnumbered world, the Reaper in a state of wandering

As mentioned before, Qin Shan doesn't use some of the Abyss Gates that have been collected by the system because the other side has already been harvested by the Reapers. What if they come back to attack when he goes to explore? Don't be fooled by the fact that he is already at the eighth rank and can reach the ninth rank with some time. In their camp, the ninth or even tenth rank is only considered the backbone.

In the worst-case scenario, encountering a ninth-tier being would be manageable, but what if it were a tenth-tier being?

Qin Shan, who once stood at the peak of the ninth rank, knew exactly what kind of scenery he would see after surpassing the strongest state of the ninth rank.

Of course, he hadn't crossed the mountain yet, but standing on the mountainside, he could barely see some of the scenery on the other side.

The most powerful aspect of the tenth tier is its domain, or small world; for a more elegant translation, it could be called "my world."

The laws governing a domain are the laws of the users, and the strength of these laws depends on the users themselves.

For example, if a level 10 transcendent sets his domain so that all laws of circles become invalid, then anything related to circles, except for the law creator himself, will collapse within this domain. In other words, he can easily annihilate people of lower levels than himself. To use a pretentious phrase from an old web novel: "Those below the level 10 are all ants."

It sounds impressive, but it's not actually that simple. The expansion of a domain has its limits; otherwise, it would become a force that erodes the world. While it's theoretically possible for one person to create, merge with, or even devour a world, this is only in theory. Qin Shan hasn't actually reached the tenth rank. All his understanding of tenth-rank power is based on and supplemented from the ninth rank. There are definitely many shortcomings and flaws. He's also feeling his way across the river, and because he's gone further than others, the road ahead is even more obscure.

It truly proves the saying: "Where is the road ahead? The road is right under your feet."

Because you can only move forward according to your own thoughts and decisions, and you have to accept whatever lies ahead, whether it's a trap or a smooth road.

However, the greatest advantage of the tenth-order system against space-based systems is its self-contained domain. Although from the outside, this small world appears to have size limitations, for those inside, the user can completely seal the small world space into a Möbius strip, making it impossible for you to escape no matter how hard you try.

If we think about a battle between tenth-tier beings, it's basically a collision between two worlds. Whichever world collapses first will be the victor, or one side will destroy the other with greater power.

I wonder how strong the defense is of a tenth-tier superhuman. After all, superhumans are most prone to situations where their offense overwhelms their defense. Glass cannons are common. But thinking about it, it makes sense. From the birth of superhumans to the time Qin Shan lived, it's only been three or four hundred years. But the history of human weapon development spans the entirety of human civilization. To use a few hundred years of accumulation to clash with the weapon development that is equivalent to the entire river of human history, how arrogant must the guy who thinks that superhumans are superior be?

Just look at the Reapers' camp. The most combat units they send out are at the sixth tier. There's no situation where I have a tenth-tier unit, so I harvest with my tenth-tier unit and everyone else applauds. This shows that when facing an attack from a civilization, unless there's a huge difference in tiers, it's extremely difficult for superhumans to suppress an entire civilization.

Qin Shan himself is the best example of this. After his rebirth, with the help of ship girls and the system, plus the foundation he laid in his previous life, he could easily play with the entire world. However, when the scale of his civilization expanded to the level of a star system, Qin Shan immediately became powerless. If it were to expand to the entire Milky Way galaxy or even extragalactic galaxies in the future, he would have to use civilizational systems to manage the civilization, or when the entire civilization sublimated, he would become a creator god-level being who could manipulate the physical rules of the world with a single word. Otherwise, he would definitely not be able to play with Earth as easily as a ninth-order superhuman.

But that's all for the future. Right now, the most important thing is to gather intelligence on the Reapers, the more the better. Worlds where the Reapers left behind many units after their harvest became Qin Shan's targets. You might be wondering, why would Reapers still linger in worlds that have already been harvested?

To be precise, it is the basic combat unit of the Reapers, an intelligent robot with unified consciousness. The Reapers call it Gardener. It looks like an octopus and is equipped with a levitation device. It can fly at a height of 1,000 meters above the ground (on Mount Everest, it can fly at a height of more than 9,000 meters above sea level. Its levitation height is determined by the ground area corresponding to its levitation device and the difference between its own projected area and the ground area, which is no more than 10 percent. So it is impossible to expect it to levitate 1,000 meters based on a pencil placed below it).

They are the most basic combat units, as well as engineering robots, and they linger there for only one reason—to tend the harvester's garden.

While it's true that harvesting by harvesters is a sustainable, albeit unsustainable, endeavor, it relies on the availability of fish and resources. Therefore, after harvesting, harvesters assess the environment of the area. If the harvesting process causes even slight damage to the environment, potentially leading to extreme ecological imbalances, gardeners will stay to care for the area.

These gardeners are programmed with fixed instructions and are self-sustaining within a mother nest. Once the planet's ecosystem returns to a stable state, these gardeners will decompose without leaving a trace, and the planet will enter a new cycle of civilization development. When the supernatural powers are fully awakened to a certain threshold, the harvesters will travel from other gardens to this place to carry out the next wave of harvesting.

The harvesting time of the Reapers is not fixed, and it fluctuates by more than five thousand years. Either the Reapers have harvested a lot of gardens, or the Reapers are constantly growing stronger. However, the current level of gardens is not enough to support their consumption, so they have to continue to plunder other worlds. In other words, the Reapers have the ability to travel between worlds.

It could also be different harvesters from multiple worlds, but based on the evidence collected so far, these harvesters are all of the same type of civilization, with very limited differences between them, at most the difference between different regions within a single country.

However, Qin Shan still decided to make some changes to these gardener worlds that were being cared for, to see how these harvester gardeners would treat new visitors.

Of course, it was a remotely controlled robot connected to the system, which Qin Shan operated personally.

Chapter 206: Summoning the Fourth Calamity, but Knowing the Truth

The shattered world is filled with despair, but those who have survived are forced to accept the despairing fact that they are being domesticated by their former enemies, like livestock.

Gardeners move very fast, reaching more than twice the speed of sound. In addition to recharging through the mother nest, they can also replenish their energy by eating biomass. If the recharging speed is not considered, solar energy can also work. In short, their diet is very diverse, and it has basically been expanded to the point that they can continue to move as long as there is food.

The flesh-and-blood simulation robot operated by Qin Shan comes from World Three and uses construct technology. As long as it is not disassembled, it looks no different from an ordinary person. Because it is a specially modified version, its strength has reached the fourth level. This is the safest and highest level of superhuman in the garden after being harvested by the Reapers.

This world is also a parallel world similar to Earth. Before the harvesters began their work, civilization had already evolved to the level of the Industrial Revolution, the First Industrial Revolution. However, due to the existence of supernatural power, the industrial revolution in this world, after absorbing supernatural power, exhibited a unique and neat punk style. It possesses a special resource called "Steam Stone," which can make the output of steam engines extremely terrifying. At the same time, the supernatural power within the Steam Stone also illuminates the darkness of this world in another way.

It functions like a light bulb; this should be called... a steam lamp?