Is Unlocking the Stellaris Tech Tree in Star Rail Really Okay? [347]

A secure environment significantly improves efficiency.

In a short span of time, Phantylia’s Third Fleet had successfully taken over control of the L-Gate from the other two fleets and had steadily arranged defensive assignments. Meanwhile, the two main fleets under Seele and Fia regrouped and convened a warfront advancement meeting.

The two commanders carefully analyzed the strategic plan outlined by Chen Lin. After confirming its feasibility, they proceeded to their designated hyperspace chokepoints, preparing for a synchronized forward push.

To assist with operations, the Imperial Research Institute had developed a small star chart device at Chen Lin’s request. This device was linked to a 150-inch holographic display, requiring only a minimal amount of psionic energy to activate. It could then project a portion of his framed field of vision in real-time.

This invention significantly reduced Chen Lin’s psionic energy consumption and made it much easier to share his strategic star chart view with others at minimal cost.

Silver Wolf, chewing on a lollipop, sat slouched in Phantylia’s usual chair by the holo-table. At barely 1.5 meters tall, even with the chair adjusted to its lowest setting, her legs still dangled above the ground…

Not that she cared about trivial details like that. Most of her attention was fixed on the star chart Chen Lin had extended, though she occasionally glanced at the guy sprawled out on the nearby sofa, playing on his phone.

Watching the slow movement of the fleet icons across the chart, Silver Wolf’s gaze wavered slightly. A thought crossed her mind:

This thing’s pretty interesting… Is psionics really this amazing?

The soft blue glow of the projection reflected against her face. If having real-time visibility over all of Jarilo’s stellar territories felt like a cheat code, then this system—one that assigned combat power ratings to every visible unit for on-the-spot threat assessment—was outright hacking.

He didn’t even need to engage the enemy. As long as a target appeared within the star chart’s range, he could roughly determine if it was a winnable fight. That was some next-level unfair advantage.

Of course, someone had insisted that “special units” wouldn’t have precise combat power ratings displayed—and so far, the only known example of such a unit was the L-Drakes.

To Silver Wolf, these so-called L-Drakes—mysterious, space-dwelling creatures she had never even heard of—piqued her curiosity just as much. Intelligent life forms always had a natural attraction to the unknown, after all.

She stared at the holo-table for a long time, waiting.

And waiting.

But Chen Lin, for some reason, was dead silent.

All morning, he’d just been sitting there, playing on his phone like a damn mute!

Finally, unable to stand it any longer, Silver Wolf turned her head and asked, “Hey, don’t you have work to do today?”

Chen Lin glanced up at the girl kicking her legs idly, then lowered his head again. “What gave you the illusion that I always have work? You don’t seriously think the Governor is that busy, do you? Autonomous administrative units handle 99.9% of matters within the territory. The other departments aren’t just there for show—very little actually makes it to my desk.”

Silver Wolf blinked in slight surprise, eyeing him skeptically. “You sure didn’t seem to have any free time a few days ago.”

“Ever heard the phrase ‘the hardest part is getting started’?”

Chen Lin put away his phone, stood up, and walked into his study. A moment later, he returned with several data terminals and tossed them onto the table in front of her. As if worried she wouldn’t get it, he even explained, “These contain all the major and minor events from this morning. The reports clearly outline how each issue was handled and resolved. My job is just to skim through and confirm nothing’s wrong—that’s it.”

Silver Wolf, still leaning over the chair’s backrest, casually picked up a terminal and flipped through it, her brows furrowing slightly.

Was governing a nation really this easy?

What she didn’t realize was that, in Jarilo, even the general populace didn’t read reports the traditional way anymore. It was inefficient. Instead, people preferred modified psionic terminals that directly implanted the necessary information into their minds—allowing them to retain, process, and discard details at will.

Silver Wolf wrinkled her nose slightly, then pointed at the star chart. “Your fleets are moving.”

“And?”

“Aren’t you supposed to keep an eye on things? Be careful—if your fleet walks into a trap, the casualties could be massive.”

“I am keeping an eye on things. I’m the governor, not a fleet commander. What, you expect me to personally order a frontline warship to adjust its turret left by 20 degrees?”

Chen Lin rolled his eyes. After a brief pause, he added in a calm voice, “Besides, what I care about are the results—not the casualty numbers on a battle report. No matter how high the losses, my objective remains the same: advance, occupy, and consolidate. That won’t change.”

No matter how many soldiers died, no matter how many ships were lost, the star systems targeted for each phase of the operation would remain the same. And it wasn’t as if wars were decided in a single instant—there was plenty of time to adapt and respond.

Most people probably wouldn’t understand this kind of thinking.

But Silver Wolf, resting her chin in her palm, suddenly grinned. “Didn’t expect you to say something so cold and clinical. Hm… honestly, if that came from the Supreme Guardian or one of the frontline commanders, I wouldn’t even think twice about it.”

Chen Lin chuckled. “What, does it not fit my image as the enlightened governor?”

Silver Wolf considered it for a while, then shook her head.

“I’ve been going out a lot lately. To be honest, the impression you’ve left on this planet’s people… doesn’t really match that of a governor.”

“Oh? Then what do I seem like?”

“…A mildly interesting guy, at best.”

Silver Wolf shrugged. “But other civilizations have wildly different takes on you. Some think you’re an ambitious schemer. Some call you a saint who saved them from misery. Some say you’re all about righteousness. Everyone’s got a different story.”

“Oh? Tell me more—I’d love to hear how I’m being judged.”

“I’ll just pull it up and let you see for yourself.”

At this point, the governor of the Interstellar Rift Empire’s Jarilo Sector was practically a household name across the galaxy. There wasn’t a single interstellar civilization unaware of the Empire’s existence, and discussions about Jarilo’s actions frequently ignited debates online.

Inside the study, neither of them spoke.

Silver Wolf scrolled through extranet forums, looking up discussions, while Chen Lin leisurely browsed through the comments from netizens across various civilizations.

The morning hours slipped away. At some point, Pela stopped by to ask what they wanted for lunch. After placing their order, she left to assist Bronya with some work.

As they ate, Silver Wolf casually asked, “So, why did you open that L-Gate? Don’t tell me it’s really for the reason stated in the public announcement—that you’re worried other civilizations might suffer unnecessary losses from the impending disaster?”

She couldn’t shake the feeling that this guy knew exactly what was inside.

Otherwise, the Imperial Research Institute wouldn’t have been so quick to conduct comprehensive research on the L-Gate before the nano-cloud disaster had even manifested.

The Interastral Peace Corporation had released some relevant information. Currently, no known civilization understood the mechanics behind these ancient Stargates. Even their own Wisdom Society estimated it would take them at least ten years of research before they could even attempt to open the L-Gate.

Yet, according to her intel, from the very moment the Empire discovered the L-Gate, they immediately sealed it off and launched a full-scale research project.

And what was the focus of that research?

A classified document indicated that the research effort had only one objective—figuring out how to reactivate the dormant L-Gate!

Think about it.

Sure, the Wisdom Society might not be on the level of the Genius Society’s so-called monsters, but that didn’t mean they were incompetent. They were still the closest thing to a normal, intellectually driven think tank among sentient civilizations.

And yet, what took them ten years to study, the Imperial Research Institute had cracked in barely over a year.

No one knew exactly how much research funding and resources had been poured into this project—except for those directly involved.

With all this in mind, Silver Wolf was now more than 50% certain that this guy had planned to open the L-Gate from the very beginning.

Otherwise, why would they have bypassed all preliminary studies and jumped straight to figuring out how to turn it on?

Logically, shouldn’t you first research what the damn thing is, then investigate who built it, and only after that, cautiously consider activation?

According to one of her sources, Jarilo’s military expansion had only truly exploded after the discovery of the L-Gate.

Originally, this place had just a handful of warships—mainly for dealing with space pirates and securing trade routes. The entire focus had been on economic development.

So what, could he see the future? Did he already know there was something in there worth preparing for?

Silver Wolf blinked, eyes gleaming with curiosity as she waited for his answer.

Chen Lin paused mid-bite. His lips twitched slightly before he met her gaze, his tone mild.

“I’m just a kind-hearted guy. I can’t stand to see others suffer. Once upon a time, I too dreamed of a world where ‘a thousand grand mansions stand tall, sheltering the poor from the bitter cold’…”

“Ugh, spare me.”

Silver Wolf clicked her tongue and continued eating.

This guy wasn’t just not interesting—he was downright infuriating with how he dodged questions.

Not a single word of that nonsense was even remotely believable.

“…Well, actually—”

Chen Lin sighed.

He glanced around the room. Seeing that no one else was around, he suddenly leaned in close, smirked, and lowered his voice.

“If you really want to know… I don’t mind telling you.”

Silver Wolf turned her head away, feigning disinterest.

Chen Lin’s tone grew serious. “I’m not joking. You do have the right to know."

"Because, truth be told—”

He looked her straight in the eye.

“I’m setting up a trap.”

Silver Wolf said nothing.

She just stared at him, unimpressed.

Chen Lin nudged Silver Wolf’s arm and whispered, “Remember that ‘Masked Fools’ group I mentioned before? There’s intel suggesting they’re planning to operate in my territory. I’ve never interacted with them, but from what I’ve heard, some of them are extremely dangerous. We need to be prepared.”

Silver Wolf raised an eyebrow and sneered. “So your plan was to deliberately put yourself in harm’s way?”

“Open threats are easier to guard against than hidden ones.”

Chen Lin shook his head and explained, “My Chief Guard’s reputation is too formidable. Everyone knows she’s always by my side. If I don’t send her away, those lurking in the shadows will just keep searching for ways to cause trouble for me…”

He paused briefly before continuing with certainty.

“But you—as a Stellaron Hunter—are perfectly hidden. No one would ever expect that the Imperial Governor’s residence is harboring a top-tier hacker from Punklorde. They’ll just assume the frontlines are getting too intense, and this fool of a governor got impatient and recklessly deployed his Chief Guard to another system. That makes it much more likely our enemies will reveal themselves.”

A setup, huh?

Silver Wolf blinked, then glanced at the courtyard outside—completely devoid of even a single Psionic Honor Guard.

Crossing her arms, she smirked coldly. “And that’s why you asked me to be your bodyguard the other day?”

“Exactly.”

Chen Lin put on his most ingratiating smile. “After all, Silver Wolf is a legend—someone even the IPC can’t handle!”

“Hah… well, you did pick the right person.” Silver Wolf’s face radiated pride and confidence. “With me here, forget about the Masked Fools—even Emanators would have to think twice before making a move.”

But after boasting, she suddenly shot Chen Lin a meaningful look.

“You kept this whole setup from me until I was already helping you. So… how do you plan to compensate me for all this?” She smirked. “Even when a game goes into maintenance, they at least send some free premium currency to my inbox. What about you?”

She’d only been here for about half a month, and already, she’d either been treated like a cleaning lady or dragged into one of this guy’s elaborate schemes every other day.

Every time she finally got some free time, she’d get roped into some task with no clear purpose.

If she weren’t so good-natured, she’d have left by now!

Now that she had the upper hand, there was no way she was letting this opportunity slip away…

Chen Lin coughed twice to hide his awkwardness, then reluctantly offered, “I’ll give you one extra lollipop per day as payment.”

“Ha.”

“…Two lollipops?”

Silver Wolf couldn’t hold back anymore. She gave him an exasperated glare. “Do you have some kind of personal vendetta against me and lollipops?! If something happens to you, don’t blame me if all I do is sit back and cheer you on.”

“Alright, fine. What do you want?”

Like a deflated balloon, Chen Lin collapsed onto the sofa in complete surrender. “Not like I have anything valuable to give. If you’re after Imperial tech, whatever can be shared is already public, and whatever can’t be shared is off the table, no matter what. So, take it or leave it.”

Silver Wolf knew the Galactic Community was designed as a medium for the Empire to distribute technology to other civilizations. That much had already been officially announced.

But that wasn’t the issue.

She had no interest in science or technology. She didn’t understand it, didn’t care to understand it, and had no use for it.

What civilizations wanted didn’t necessarily align with what she wanted. A person was a person, and a civilization was a civilization—completely separate things.

After mulling it over for a while, Silver Wolf finally spoke.

“Just answer two questions for me. Honestly. They’re simple—nothing classified about the Empire, I promise.”

To prevent Chen Lin from outright refusing, she even went out of her way to clarify the limits of her request.

In the blink of an eye, the man who had been sprawled out lifelessly on the sofa suddenly sat up, smiling brightly.

“Alright, go ahead! Ask me anything.”

“I hope you mean that.”

Silver Wolf fixed her gaze on him.

“First question: Do you already know what’s inside the L-Gate?”

Chen Lin nodded without hesitation.

“I know a little.”

Silver Wolf raised her second finger.

“Second question: Is whatever’s inside truly a threat to everyone’s survival?”

Chen Lin’s expression darkened slightly, as if recalling something unpleasant. After a brief pause, he answered.

“If things aren’t handled properly, then… yes. Most civilizations won’t survive.”

No joke—L-Gates weren’t called “newbie killers” for nothing.

Not to mention the swarm of L-Drakes inside. Even he had been caught off guard and suffered significant fleet losses.

Most civilizations wouldn’t stand a chance.

Silver Wolf gave a slight nod.

Just as she was about to make a snarky remark, Chen Lin suddenly frowned, cutting their “deal” short.

He strode over to the administration terminal, where an urgent message from the frontlines had just come in.

—Seele’s fleet had detected a large number of L-Drakes in the fourth star system.

And judging by their movements, they weren’t hunting.

They were running.

Something was chasing them.

And even the Drakes couldn’t keep formation.

---

T/N: GAHH IS CHEN TELLING SPARKLE THE PLAN? IS THIS A 10D CHESS MOVE? I DONT KNOw ANYMORE

This is a fan translation of 在星穹铁道点群星科技树真的没问题吗? by 杏雨诗韵 All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!