High Martial Arts: Slay enemies to become stronger, forge invincibility from billions of corpses.

After Song Chen stepped out of the spaceship's protective shield, his body suddenly sank.

It's not gravity, of course. The neutron star is three million kilometers away, and although its gravity is strong, it's not enough to have a significant effect at such a distance.

What's pressing down on him is radiation pressure, magnetic fields, and the high-energy particle flow unique to neutron stars.

He felt as if his body was being pierced by countless fine needles at the same time, from his skin to his muscles to his bone marrow, every layer was being subjected to continuous impact.

Fortunately, the star core inside his body automatically protected him, like holding an umbrella in a downpour.

He glanced down at the back of his hand, where a faint golden light flowed across his skin. His Eternal Body had activated automatically, repairing the radiation-damaged cells at a visible speed.

"One percent of its power..."

Song Chen was talking to himself.

He tried taking a few steps forward, and with each step, the radiation intensity increased by one point.

When he reached within ten meters of the edge of the spaceship, he felt his body undergoing a complete baptism.

Hematopoietic cells in the bone marrow are killed by radiation and then regenerated; the stratum corneum on the surface of the skin is replaced by new tissue as soon as it is burned; even the hair strands are constantly breaking and regenerating.

In those few dozen steps, the Eternal Body had already experienced the entire process that an ordinary person would go through at the scene of a nuclear explosion.

If the Flowing Star hadn't been restricted, at his current location, three million kilometers away, his second level of Eternal Body probably wouldn't have lasted even a second.

They will be annihilated at the atomic level, without even a chance to be repaired.

"The Cangxing Alliance truly lives up to its reputation as a Level 5 civilization; they even have the technology to use neutron stars as lamps."

Just as he was about to continue walking forward, a silver-white figure flew over from the direction of the harbor.

The other party was very fast, but suddenly slowed down when they got close to Song Chen and stopped precisely three meters away.

Song Chen glanced at him; he was humanoid, but clearly not made of flesh and blood.

The newcomer's body was entirely composed of some kind of silvery-white liquid metal, with a smooth, mirror-like surface that reflected the dazzling light of the distant star.

Its head is humanoid, with clear facial features but no change in expression, and its eyes are two blue-glowing crystals.

It was about two meters tall, half a head taller than Song Chen, and had a slender build. It stood in the void without any protective equipment or psionic shield. For it, vacuum and radiation were not things that needed to be protected against.

"Metal lifeforms?" Song Chen tentatively asked in the universal language.

He learned the common language in a few days on the spaceship, so it was still a bit rusty, but he could communicate without any problems.

"You have a good eye." The metal man's voice had a crisp, metallic quality, yet his tone was very natural and fluent.

"Silicon-based life, metallic branch, liquid subtype. However, in our galaxy, everyone calls us the 'Mercury Clan' because our transformation is similar to mercury flowing on a table."

"Of course, our evolutionary path is completely different from yours, which is based on carbon-based life forms."

"You rely on proteins, we rely on crystal lattice structures. Essentially, we are both fighting against entropy increase, just with different methods."

Before Song Chen could even ask, the metal man had already taken a step forward.

"Judging from your appearance, you just got off the spaceship?"

The metal man tilted his head, a movement that caused ripples of liquid metal to flow around his neck.

"The spaceship's design is that of the Cangxing Alliance's entry-level star core ship, with zero weapon configuration and a standard warp drive. There's no mistake."

"This is the standard welcome gift that the investment department gives to a newly promoted first-level civilization. I have been on Flowing Star for so many years and have seen tens of thousands of similar spaceships come and go."

"Newcomer? Which galaxy? What's their number?"

"Blue Star Civilization".

"Blue Star?" The metal man scanned Song Chen with its two blue-glowing crystalline eyes. The brightness of the crystals increased significantly, roughly equivalent to a human raising an eyebrow.

"Catalog number CT-NB-3791? That blue planet that, after six hundred million years, made four investments, failed three times, and finally succeeded on its last attempt?"

Song Chen: "..."

"Are we that famous?"

"It's alright, those who follow this industry should know."

The metal man let out a crisp laugh, and as he laughed, silver ripples spread across his body, extending from his chest to his fingertips.

"Those guys in the investment department turned your case into training materials and left them on the internal learning platform for several days."

"What was the title again? Oh right, it's about perseverance leading to victory: an investment miracle that has been waiting for 600 million years."

"You guys are quite famous in the investment department; many investment appraisers have included your numbers in their papers."

Song Chen fell silent, unsure of what to say. This universe was vastly different from what he had imagined.

After thinking for a moment, Song Chen steered the conversation back on track: "Did you need something from me?"

The metal man clearly came to us on his own initiative; he must have had a purpose.

The metal man patted his chest, his palm splashing a few tiny silver water droplets on his liquid metal chest, which then automatically flowed back into his body.

"I work for Liuguangxing Immigration Services Company as a field sales representative."

"Simply put, our company specializes in providing information consulting services to newly promoted first-level civilizations."

"You've just entered the universe and know nothing. You don't know what a cosmic crystal looks like, you don't know the rules of the Flowing Star, you don't know the pitfalls of dealing with other civilizations, and you don't know how many hidden clauses are in the Alliance's investment treaty."

"This information is either not in official documents or is written vaguely, and I can help you fill in these gaps."

Song Chen carefully examined the metal man: "Is there a charge?"

"Of course there's a charge." The metal man frankly admitted, and the liquid metal on its head flowed slightly, roughly equivalent to a human nod.

"There's no such thing as a free lunch in the universe; you should all understand that."

"However, my price is not expensive. The basic information package costs 1,000 Cangxing coins."

"The in-depth package includes an interpretation of the hidden clauses of the investment treaty and practical case studies of negotiating with the alliance, all for 10,000 Cangxing coins."

"Compared to the debt you are about to face, this amount of money is not even a fraction of the interest."

Song Chen thought for a moment, then reached out and took out a life crystal core of a sixth-order beast king.

This crystal core came from a sixth-tier mutated orca king that he killed during a global extermination campaign. The crystal core is about five centimeters in diameter, and is deep blue in color. Inside, there is a slowly rotating vortex of psionic energy that emits a faint glow in the vacuum.

"Can I pay with this?"