In the game screen.

In the Celestial Ladder heading towards the Upper City, the game character and Zhang Juan are observing the view outside.

The so-called Celestial Ladder is essentially an elevator to the Upper City.

Though Upper City almost disregards Lower City in terms of management, it doesn't mean Upper City refrains from exploiting Lower City.

The middle-upper class in Upper City tend to look down on people from Lower City, preferring not even to engage in exploitation.

However, there still exist the lower classes within Upper City.

They would utilize people from Lower City to assist in production.

Zhang Juan's outsourcing factory operates on this logic.

Although many things can be produced automatically by machines, there's nothing cheaper than Lower City's labor costs.

The resources that people from Lower City require are worth less than one percent of the goods themselves.

Moreover, there's no need to consider the costs of machinery maintenance and site expenses.

One only needs to send someone over when the time is right, and use the Space Box to pack up the goods and carry them away.

It's worth noting that transactions between Upper and Lower Cities aren't subjected to taxes.

Whereas transferring goods from the Immigrant Star incurs additional port taxes.

[Zhang Juan (looking outside): The venue of the Sacred Battle is in the Holy Sanctuary Space, a special space located in the Earth's Core, which was opened by the original Legendary Superpower Users. The space inside is stretched out and extremely vast, certainly not smaller than the Supreme Star. We need to stay in there for thirty days, as the space compresses a part every other day until only one survivor remains, who will become the Sacred. ]

[Lin Qianxuan (puzzled): A battle royale game?]

[Zhang Juan (nodding): More or less, but it's even more unfair than a battle royale game. In the early stages, the High Tier Superpower Users will try their best to kill the Low Tier Users to secure their ranking higher. That's why the mortality rate inside is high.]

[Lin Qianxuan (curious): Can't you just surrender and be transported out?]

[Zhang Juan (shaking her head): Most can't react fast enough, and it doesn't require a Legend to handle them. Just a Tier Three Elite Superpower User can swiftly prevent a large group from surrendering and kill them on the spot.]

[Lin Qianxuan (realization): No wonder, so it's better for Low Tier Users to hide and wait for their ranking to move up, instead of making themselves a bigger target by grouping together.]

[Zhang Juan (nodding): Exactly, entering the top one hundred thousand positions in the Sacred Battle is a one-way ticket to the Upper City.]

For Upper City residents, all their food, clothing, and housing needs are provided by the governing body, with monthly monetary distribution and various entertainment facilities offered free of charge.

Here, there's no need to worry about basic living conditions, even living in prison is more enjoyable than the so-called wealthy in Lower City.

However, those top one hundred thousand spots aren't easy to snag.

Each time the Sacred Battle sees participants exceeding ten million.

To squeeze into the top one hundred thousand?

Relying solely on luck won't cut it.

For many, however, risking everything for a shot at glory beats living without a future in Lower City.

.....

After the Celestial Ladder ran for about ten minutes, the game character and Zhang Juan arrived steadily at the Upper City.

Passing through several security checkpoints, Zhang Juan displayed her Identity Card, marking their official arrival at the floating city.

The entire Upper City floats in the air, supported by a special high-antigravity material.

The formal name for this place is Holy City.

Compared to the dirt and chaos of Lower City, planning here appears much cleaner and tidier, featuring visible greenery, a rare sight in Lower City.

Pedestrians aren't rushed, carrying a slightly leisurely expression.

It's the rushing machines crisscrossing the streets.

A myriad of drones follows planned routes quickly transporting and transferring countless supplies for Upper City inhabitants.

[Zhang Juan (waving): This is the pedestrian zone, flying or exceeding a speed of ten meters per second is not allowed. One must take a Wind Ship to reach Holy Sanctuary Space to participate in the Sacred Battle.]

Wind Ship is a free transportation tool in Upper City.

It resembles a small boat, with a petal-like rear.

Resting in a massive transparent tunnel, upon activation, wind systems target the rear resembling petals for propulsion, steering the Wind Ship through the tunnel while accelerating constantly, reaching speeds up to thirty times the speed of sound.

After Zhang Juan and the game character boarded the Wind Ship, some people were already seated inside, where it projected the countdown screen for the upcoming Sacred Battle.

Ten hours remained until the battle started.

A few children seemingly around eleven to twelve years were enthusiastically discussing.

[Abulimiti: I think Zabia will be the new Sacred, his Space Control is incredible. He can teleport within five hundred miles, sense all changes, and his space-compressed explosion can directly trigger atom detonation, resulting in nuclear explosions...]

He gestured while speaking.

[Karavel: Ira's even more formidable. She can manifest any illusion material, her exoskeleton armor's energy shield can't even be breached by nuclear explosions.]

[Severia: I prefer Nari, I heard Nari has subjected himself to refinement in a reactor, he can crush Black Sunset Alloy items numbered above one hundred with pure muscle strength!!]

.....

Buzz~!

The Wind Ship moved, swiftly traversing through the wind tunnel.

The scenery outside was ever-changing, yet the Wind Ship remained stable within.

Lin Qianxuan rarely accelerated the plot directly, instead, he observed the scenery outside through the Wind Ship.

Upper City is indeed incredibly prosperous, with a welfare system so good it resembles a utopia.

Yet the prosperity and advancement here, in contrast to the chaos and backwardness of Lower City, are unexpectedly part of the same planet, the same civilization, making this contrast somewhat complicated to contemplate.

Unfairness among people is the same everywhere.

It's just that here, this inequality is laid out too directly in front of everyone's eyes.

Lin Qianxuan had experienced life as a lower-class person; witnessing this scene inevitably made him feel somewhat heavy-hearted.

He wondered, would the future of Xuan Country develop in such a way?

Powerful Transcendents are superior, while ordinary people gradually cease to matter, even no longer regarded as the same kin....

Lin Qianxuan's gaze fell upon Zhang Juan.

In the city she governed, Lin Qianxuan didn't see overwhelming class disparity; under Zhang Juan's high pressure, at least relative fairness was achieved.

Perhaps, her future task is to eliminate all these imbalances.

As he pondered, the game screen flickered one by one, and the game character with Zhang Juan had already reached the location.

Exiting from the Wind Ship, soon, a vast square too large to see its boundaries appeared.

There were also many exits around, with figures emerging one by one.

This is the teleport plaza for the Supreme Battle, where anyone arriving here is considered a participant and assigned a number by the super-intellect.

Using superpowers is not allowed here; once superpower fluctuations are detected, immediate elimination follows.

When the time comes, they will be automatically transmitted to the Holy Sanctuary Space.

After entering the plaza, everyone found a place to rest and wait temporarily.

Some people were communicating and discussing cooperation matters.

But this is almost completely meaningless for Low Tier superpower users.

The teleportation is random.

Tier One and Tier Two superpower users are teleported to a space as large as the entire Supreme Star, where reaching the core alone takes enough effort for a month, not to mention finding teammates they communicated with in such a vast area.

The game character and Zhang Juan need not worry about these.

Legendary Level has a default rule.

That is to preserve strength, avoiding making a move in the beginning; otherwise, it's embarrassing if a dignified Legend doesn't squeeze into the top hundred.

And if energy is consumed, it merely allows other Legends to take advantage.

Unless there's a grudge, it usually takes at least the last five days for battles among Legends to occur.

Thus the strategy of the game character and Zhang Juan is to first unite at the start and then wait for the circle to shrink.

They are almost steadily in the semifinals; as for whether they can fight to the end, it depends on how high those legendary limits are.

While waiting, they could also watch the broadcast of the Supreme Battle anytime on their side.

There might even be drones coming to interview them.

Only by formally entering the Holy Sanctuary Space would they completely go offline, losing contact with the outside world.

Lin Qianxuan also had the game character open the bracelet's projection to watch the official broadcast.

In the screen, several figures were revealed.

Among them, the one sitting most centrally was the champion of the previous Supreme Battle, Yi Su.

He wore a white robe with gold edges and elaborate patterns, with a youthful face that seemed eighteen or nineteen, his gaze indifferent, as if caring for nothing.

At this moment, a commentator of the Supreme Battle next to Yi Su looked at him.

[Minai (curiously looking at Yi Su): Your Excellency, after handing over the authority of the Supreme, will you also choose to explore the universe?]

[Yi Su (nodding): The universe is too vast, compared to the Supreme Star, we are just too insignificant. If I spend all my life here, I would be very unwilling; I too wish to be like my predecessors and see if there are lives like ours among the stars, and what marvels they might hold?]

[Minai (admiringly): What a great and aspiring goal it is indeed!]

....

The conversation continued, yet Lin Qianxuan always felt something odd.

If it were before, he might not have pondered much, simply attributing everything to the exceptionality of the Otherworld.

But after Zhang Juan's reminder, he kept feeling that Yi Su's talk about exploring the stars wasn't his true goal.

Just thinking about it, with the development speed of Supreme Star, how could his solo exploration compare to the convenience of an entire civilization exploring together?

Moreover, none of the Supreme beings seemed to choose re-election.

It's known that many Legendary Tier superpower users easily live for thousands of years.

And the Supreme possesses no rule stating one can only serve one term.

Yet none seemed to covet power.

Upon a new Supreme Battle, they directly pass the mantle to the next.

There are many loopholes, but this bizarre promotion mechanism has continued to operate.

Everything is too odd!

Lin Qianxuan felt that the real difficulty of this game might not be winning the Supreme Battle but the secrets behind it!

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