Chapter 227: Quantum Slingshot! A Hair's Breadth from the Stars! Strategic Megastructure!
'I hope this time the template drop is a powerful production or construction-type megastructure. Even a formidable warship would be great. Or maybe "Heavenly Torrent"—that wouldn't be bad either.'
Li Ang silently hoped. In the colonies and resource zones he'd acquired from the Reaper civilization, there were still vast, barren star systems.
If he could obtain "Heavenly Torrent," he could irrigate planets with water, terraform select worlds to breed gene-modified monsters for trade or sale—or even for power generation. All viable business ventures.
After all, this was a pan-galactic mega-corporation. Combat and warfare were just tools of the trade. Day-to-day, it was perfectly acceptable to traffic in giant beasts, high-tech weaponry, or dabble in the occasional cosmic triangle trade to stay afloat.
That said, Li Ang wasn't particularly picky. Even if the template didn't unlock a construction-based megastructure, a weapon-based one would still be welcome.
Whatever the type, a megastructure was undeniably a valuable asset—its worth would lie in how he used it.
[Pan-Galactic Mega-Corporation Phase Five — Quantum Slingshot available for unlock. Host's current corp-credits insufficient. Template unlock denied.]
[...]
When the new phase template megastructure was revealed, Li Ang froze in place. This time's drop had exceeded his expectations by a mile!
'It actually gave me this thing?!'
Shock and delight surged within him. This was far more technically advanced than even the mighty warships or construction megastructures—this was a strategic-level megastructure.
Unlike the War Moon-type dreadnoughts, the Quantum Slingshot dealt no direct damage to enemy units.
And unlike a Matter Unpacker-type production megastructure, it didn't generate any valuable minerals either.
Its function was simple: to launch things.
Yes, literally that!
The so-called Quantum Slingshot was a specialized launch system built on top of neutron stars or pulsars.
It harnessed the energy of a neutron or pulsar star to warp space-time itself, hurling an entire fleet formation across interstellar space toward a designated spatial coordinate.
And the distances it could achieve? Absolutely astronomical—measured in light-years!
In the blink of an eye, a fleet could traverse thousands of light-years to arrive in an entirely different star system—far surpassing any known form of spatial jump tech.
Take Li Ang's Infinity -class dreadnoughts for example—their maximum jump range was just a few light-years, and they needed recharging after each jump.
But with the Quantum Slingshot? It could launch them across thousands or even tens of thousands of light-years!
It condensed the power of a neutron star into gravitational "pull" and used it to fling the fleet, like a "stone," across the stars.
Such a creative method of interstellar travel was utterly beyond the reach of any Tier 2 or Tier 3 civilization—a true miracle of technology.
By reducing the infinite gaps between civilizations to mere inches, this miraculous megastructure placed the mega-corp right on the cusp of joining the ranks of advanced civilizations.
Even the 2.6-tier Civilization from Pacific Rim could only achieve long-range traversal through wormhole devices—and that was like playing the lottery.
And even then, the units they could send through at once were highly limited. Try sending too many Kaiju through and it would collapse.
If the Forerunners tried to deploy fleets through their wormholes, they'd have to send them piecemeal.
That was exactly how Morgan Blackhand led his mega-corp fleet—sending just a few ships and fighters at a time to stabilize the surrounding area before the rest arrived in sequence.
But if the enemy anticipated the attack and lay in wait, that kind of slow roll-out was a huge tactical weakness.
A classic case of setting yourself up to be intercepted mid-transfer!
But with the Quantum Slingshot, things were entirely different.
"You start the match with a free TP scroll—now we're flanking the enemy base from the get-go!"
Li Ang couldn't help but grin at the thought.
As a sharp and savvy mega-corp executive, his expertise extended far beyond corporate development.
He also excelled in military operations and rapid-strike deployments. And when it came to winning a war quickly and decisively?
Targeted decapitation strikes were the way to go!
Just like how back in the day, Li Yunlong wiped out the entire Sakata Regiment with three artillery shells and led his troops to break through the encirclement.
Now, Li Ang would use the Quantum Slingshot to airdrop a hundred Infinity -class joint fleet warships into enemy territory for a surprise strike and a swift decapitation.
It was clear—the Quantum Slingshot wasn't just a troop deployment tool. It granted the mega-corp fleet tremendous strategic reach and enabled cosmic blitzkrieg warfare across vast distances.
It also greatly enhanced the mega-corp's response capabilities across different star systems. Any hint of rebellion? Report it one moment, and a full fleet would arrive to suppress it the next!
With the Quantum Slingshot, Li Ang could go on the offensive to snipe enemy leadership or disrupt key defenses.
Or he could use it defensively—to maintain control over vast corporate territories and evenly distribute military pressure across multiple star systems.
"Now that's what I'm talking about…"
Li Ang smiled in deep satisfaction.
Still, for all its power, the Quantum Slingshot wasn't without its flaws.
Namely, its teleportation accuracy wasn't absolute—unlike a star gate or wormhole, it couldn't deliver units with pinpoint precision.
There would inevitably be some degree of positional deviation.
This error margin hovered within a few light-years.
But that kind of variance posed little issue to a fleet equipped with space-jump technology.
The mega-corp's fleets now all came standard with faster-than-light engines, so a few light-years' drift wouldn't stop them from carrying out a decapitation strike.
All in all, the Quantum Slingshot's functions and advantages were crystal clear.
It could support large-scale fleet deployments via hyperspace jumps, respond rapidly to commands, and had massive one-time throughput.
In the military domain, it was nothing short of a game-breaking Bug.
At that moment, Li Ang had already envisioned the following scenario in his mind:
The Pan-Galactic Mega-Corporation declares war on some alien civilization. Li Ang needs to march his forces into battle and go head-to-head with the enemy.
But the alien bastards—playing dirty as always—lay an antimatter minefield en route to ambush the mega-corp fleet.
However, Li Ang, ever craftier, simply TPs the entire fleet into the enemy's home base using the Quantum Slingshot and wins by backdooring the HQ.
The front lines haven't even engaged yet, and the enemy's crystal base is already dust. Who could stomach that?!
If it were him on the receiving end, he'd have surrendered at 15 minutes flat. There'd be no point continuing that war!
But now? He was the one about to unlock this strategic megastructure. He, representing the Pan-Galactic Mega-Corp!
"If only I could build more of these things… If we had one in every system, I'd sleep way easier at night."
Li Ang mused thoughtfully.
Once the Quantum Slingshot megastructure was unlocked, it would certainly be deployed in Universe 003: Edge of Tomorrow or in future multiverse operations.
For the sake of maintaining order across their territory, the mega-corp would absolutely need more of them!
Li Ang then glanced over the resource requirements to construct the Quantum Slingshot—and sure enough, it was an astronomical figure.
The cost of building just one was already approaching that of a War Moon or a Science Nexus!
First, step one of building the slingshot was the most crucial—selecting a suitable neutron star or pulsar.
The chosen celestial body had to be the remnants of a massive star that had rapidly collapsed and exploded into a supernova.
And these remnants had incredibly unique properties—a neutron star might only be about ten kilometers in diameter, yet its mass exceeded that of many full-size stars.
Truly, the very definition of "concentrated essence"!
The intense energy released by such stars also opened the door for man-made fixed-point wormholes.
In Pacific Rim, the Forerunner civilization's home system—Antistar—had a stable natural wormhole that likely originated from a neutron star.
The extreme density and durability of neutron stars came from their powerful gravitational fields, which kept them from collapsing inward.
It was this same force that allowed them to emit powerful gravitational waves and radiation, warping the surrounding space.
This meant any ship traveling through the region at sub-light speeds would experience serious slowdowns and critical instrumentation failures!
Even worse, the mega-corp's external fleet shields were maintained by interactive deflector systems. If those failed, ships without shielding would be left vulnerable and exposed.
So the construction fleet assigned to build the Quantum Slingshot would need to be equipped with exceptionally durable outer hulls to survive the operation.
The bare minimum material requirement? Durasteel.
"So even the construction ships for this thing need to be made from premium alloys, huh?"
Li Ang clicked his tongue in mild frustration after reviewing the system panel's material requirements.
Currently, the mega-corp's most common construction material was carbon-nanotube composites, which were a hundred times stronger than standard steel.
But carbon-nanotubes were still too light and flimsy for use on warships. Their tensile strength wasn't enough for sustained combat operations.
Instead, the corporation's go-to high-durability metal alloy was Durasteel—a super-alloy made from vanadium, romium, carbon, milene, neutronium, and zirconium.
It could endure extreme heat, cold, and crushing pressure.
Durasteel was already used to build Science Nexus structures.
Of course, the difficulty of forging this alloy—and the rarity of the required resources—made it hard to scale up.
If the mega-corp wanted to start mass production, it would be facing serious material constraints.
Due to the massive resource demands of constructing military vessels and maintaining various megastructures, over 60% of all durasteel materials were already consumed.
If he wanted to build the engineering ship needed to construct the Quantum Slingshot on his own, he'd have no choice but to take apart some of his warships!
Without the construction materials provided by the system, relying solely on the corporate mining teams to extract raw minerals and forge them into durasteel in the factories—
—then turning that batch of durasteel into an engineering ship capable of building the Quantum Slingshot megastructure would take at least five to six years!
And that was just the first step. It didn't even include the actual construction of the megastructure itself. If you calculated the entire project timeline, it would take a minimum of twenty years.
Li Ang didn't have that kind of time to waste waiting for one megastructure to be completed!
"Even ordinary durasteel is this hard to come by—forget about building neutron armor or Dragonscale plating… this is infuriating and freezing!"
The fact that the LA Megacorp still hadn't achieved material self-sufficiency—or developed more durable alloys—made Li Ang feel the weight of responsibility press down even harder.
He had to accelerate the development of the LA Megacorp even more!
Li Ang then took another look at the remaining construction process for the Quantum Slingshot megastructure.
Once the foundational engineering ship was complete, the next step was to build a massive lens array.
This array was a cage-like structure composed of torsion lenses capable of concentrating the energy harnessed from a neutron star. By utilizing torsion, it could extract energy from the neutron star.
That energy would then be used to form a stable parabolic trajectory, flinging transport units across vast interstellar distances!
It was yet another mind-bending piece of advanced engineering, and everything from this point forward in the construction process revolved around refining the "torsion lens" array.
That basically covered the principles and procedures behind building the Quantum Slingshot. In terms of sheer difficulty, it actually wasn't that impossible.
Once Li Ang unlocked the core tech behind this megastructure, producing a second Quantum Slingshot wouldn't be too difficult either.
The real bottlenecks were still the materials—shipbuilding capabilities and vast quantities of durable durasteel!
To acquire more raw durasteel, he had two options: keep expanding his territory to mine more resources and build more Matter Decompressors to collect materials—
—or scale up the LA Megacorp's interstellar trade network, bring more alien civilizations into the fold, and exchange goods for their metal resources.
Of course, those alien allies who joined the Universal system were all targets for Li Ang to exploit. As for how he'd do it…
That would be through a fully fleshed-out economic credit system—just like the former USD system!
It was precisely by leveraging that framework that Li Ang drew countless alien civilizations into the Universal faction, getting them to willingly toil away for the Enterprise, sacrificing their sweat and blood.
"Great stuff always comes with a great price, huh…"
After gaining a full understanding of the Quantum Slingshot's construction principles and essential materials, Li Ang noticed that unlocking it came with a bonus passive buff—
[Unlimited Beacon]!
This nifty buff would increase the construction speed of all future megastructures built by the LA Megacorp by 50%.
This speed boost didn't mean faster work like in a game, but rather that the system would directly provide over half of the necessary construction materials.
This dramatically reduced the time needed to complete each project.
Which meant that Li Ang could build far more megastructures at far lower costs.
"No wonder it's a Phase 5 Enterprise Template—so it even comes with a bonus like this!"
Li Ang was in great spirits. When he checked the Enterprise Coin cost to unlock the Quantum Slingshot, he saw it was roughly the same as his current balance. He nodded thoughtfully.
He only needed to complete a Level 1 Multiverse Quest to unlock the megastructure immediately, but he didn't think that was necessary.
Since he was going to conquer a world anyway, he might as well choose a more difficult mission—it'd be a great chance to squeeze more gold out of alien comrades and earn better rewards.
With some luck, he might even unlock the next wave of megastructures in one go!
If he could secure both the Phase 5 and Phase 6 megastructures all at once, that would be unbelievably satisfying.
"Well, no turning back now. Let's roll the gacha first!"
…
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