Is Unlocking the Stellaris Tech Tree in Star Rail Really Okay? [339]

After wrapping up the arrangements with Qingque, Chen Lin decided to check in on the two judges from the Ten Lords Commission.

To his surprise, he found that the seal on Tail had weakened significantly—thanks to Hanya. At this moment, Tail was darting around a Tamzian corpse, slithering across its cold, lifeless body, which was faintly glowing with an eerie green light, making it look almost haunted.

And sure enough, Tail had discovered something unusual.

Even though the original owners of these bodies had long since died, and the nanobots inside them had lost the ability to function, Tail still managed to extract traces of emotional energy—tiny, scattered fragments buried within the corpses.

Normally, this kind of energy only came from organic lifeforms. Sentient machines, like robots, could also generate emotional energy, but theirs was different—artificial, programmed, bound by imitation and predefined patterns. It lacked the organic spontaneity that living beings produced naturally.

At first, Tail assumed this was just residual emotion left behind by the deceased Tamzian. But then, it discovered something strange—one of the corpses contained a mix of entirely different emotional energies. That shouldn’t have been possible.

In the end, Tail was forced to acknowledge a truth it really didn’t want to admit—

The emotional energy wasn’t from the Tamzians themselves.

It was coming from the nanobots that had invaded their bodies.

Now, Tail’s main focus was piecing together how this process worked—how these machines were absorbing and reproducing emotions.

Before, it had only suspected that nanobots might pose a threat to the Heliobi race. But now, it was convinced—these things were doing the exact same thing as Heliobi, except they were playing dirty. They were using up all the resources and then burning the bridges behind them, leaving nothing for the Heliobi to survive on!

Heliobi’s power and intelligence had evolved over time through parasitizing organic beings. Sure, their methods could be harmful, but they still understood the importance of sustainability. They knew that organic life wasn’t just food—it was the foundation of their power, the source of their intelligence.

But nanobot infections?

That was like draining a lake just to catch a few fish.

If this spread, the future of the Heliobi would be doomed. They’d be forced back into drifting aimlessly across the universe—mindless, purposeless, like primitive, unconscious star spirits…

And besides, if these idiots couldn’t even beat the nanobots, then what about Tail—an already-sealed parasite dependent on them? Was it supposed to just sit around and die with them?

Or worse…

What if they all got turned into cold, steel-bodied machines with digital brains, and Tail had no choice but to feed off their soulless, mechanical emotions for the rest of eternity?

That would be worse than death.

That would be torture.

For all these reasons, Tail was now exceptionally motivated. It was so focused on its work that it didn’t even bother explaining things to Chen Lin, leaving Hanya to relay the information instead.

There wasn’t much else to be gained from staying, so after checking in, Chen Lin took Phantylia and left.

By the time they returned to Qlipoth Fort, it was already afternoon.

Walking ahead, Chen Lin bought some small snacks from a street vendor, planning to enjoy them later.

Behind him, Phantylia was giving him a crash course on Heliobi history. And as expected from an ancient Heliobi, she actually had a lot of useful knowledge—explaining their origins, evolution, and unique traits in great detail.

"Energy-based lifeforms are highly sensitive to psionic energy," she mused. "I even know that advanced spiritual entities experience emotions just like humans do—love included~"

"So," Chen Lin asked, "when are you going to shapeshift into something like Tail? That thing feels just like cotton candy."

"Hmm~ I might’ve been able to do that in the past, but I definitely can’t now~"

She wasn’t even sure how to revert to her original form. Many of the abilities that should’ve been second nature to a Heliobi were simply beyond her grasp now.

Chen Lin sighed in disappointment. "Wow. You’re useless."

Phantylia froze for a moment, then pouted.

"Master, you’re PUA-ing me again…"

Oh?

This sly fox could actually tell when she was being manipulated now? If he let this continue, who knew what she’d catch onto in the future? He had to shut this down immediately.

Without hesitation, Chen Lin twisted open a bottle of yogurt and forced it down her throat.

He knew she hated dairy products.

"Mmff—!"

A few seconds later, Phantylia wiped her face, looking utterly defeated, as if she had just been subjected to some unspeakable torture.

Her lips trembled. Her golden eyes were full of grievance. But she couldn’t say anything in protest.

I should’ve just played dumb and gone along with Master’s nonsense…

Thinking this, she quickly caught up to Chen Lin’s pace. When she noticed his expression turning more serious, she immediately put on a flattering smile.

"Master, you've arranged everything so meticulously—why the long face? Our escape plan is bound to go off without a hitch!"

"…"

Chen Lin didn’t answer. Instead, he stopped at the entrance of the inner courtyard, narrowing his eyes.

Phantylia had originally planned to keep flattering him to lighten his mood, but she suddenly sensed something and immediately swallowed her words. Her head snapped toward the pavilion in the courtyard.

At the stone table inside, a slender arm rested lazily on the surface, fingers gripping a handheld gaming console. The screen flickered between bright and dim colors, constantly shifting.

On the display, a small, lavishly equipped character was wreaking havoc in the center of a battlefield, effortlessly cutting down waves of enemies. Each defeated foe turned into a string of numbers, adding to the player's score.

The girl lounging in the pavilion had one leg crossed over the other, draped in a black-and-blue short-sleeved jacket, her fair skin exposed to the cool air. Her feet dangled playfully, swaying back and forth, while she hummed a rhythmic tune. Her expression was so relaxed, so casual, it was as if she wasn't even the one playing the game.

Of course, Phantylia recognized her.

The moment she saw that familiar face, an old memory resurfaced—being smooth-talked into abandoning a perfectly good life as a lazy watchdog and instead getting dragged into a scheme with the Stellaron Hunters...

Her fists clenched instinctively.

Silver Wolf.

A notorious member of the Stellaron Hunters, the invisible ruler of Punklorde, an idol to countless hackers across the galaxy, and, more importantly—the very first person Chen Lin had seen when he opened his eyes in this world.

Good thing Chen Lin wasn’t a Stellaron, or he might’ve instinctively bonded with her as his "parent."

The Express Crew was still in the Luofu, enjoying an extended sightseeing tour. From what he heard, they'd been there for almost a year now and still hadn’t visited everything.

March 7 sent him photos almost daily—probably her way of reassuring him that they were all safe.

Silently, Chen Lin and Phantylia approached the pavilion, their footsteps light and deliberate. Only when Chen Lin's shadow finally loomed over Silver Wolf did she glance up at him—before immediately shifting her attention back to her game.

Chen Lin didn’t say anything. He simply sat down on the stone bench beside her, smiling as he watched her play.

After about ten minutes, the console chimed with a familiar Mission Complete sound effect. Silver Wolf finally put the device down and stretched lazily.

"Well, well—look who it is."

"Yeah. Fancy seeing you again, Miss Silver Wolf."

Chen Lin shifted his gaze from the gaming console to the girl’s relaxed face. "I only just whitelisted your identity a few days ago. What, couldn’t wait to leave the Luofu?"

Silver Wolf scoffed.

"Why is that surprising? The Stellaron Hunters have their ways of slipping between civilizations. Otherwise... the IPC would've caught us ages ago."

She turned her gaze toward Phantylia and noticed the smile on the fox’s face—one that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

For a brief moment, Silver Wolf hesitated before shrugging indifferently.

"You've got some nerve."

Chen Lin answered smoothly, "If something is useful, I don’t hesitate to use it. Speaking of which, you did say you were here to work for me. You sure about that?"

"Like I had a choice?"

Silver Wolf slumped slightly, her voice tinged with frustration. "I'd rather stay holed up in my room playing games than running around like this. But after playing too much, even that gets boring. Since Elio told me to work for you, here I am."

Every Stellaron Hunter had their own unique deal with Elio. What they got in return for their service was a mystery to everyone but themselves.

Regardless of those individual contracts, each member was bound to follow Elio’s script. They played their assigned roles, moving forward one step at a time.

It was impossible to tell what that mysterious man had planned this time.

Chen Lin thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Unfortunate. I don’t really need your help right now. So, for the time being, you’re free to spend your days in Belobog playing games and entertaining yourself."

Silver Wolf blinked, eyebrows raised slightly as if trying to process what she just heard.

"You serious? I’m the best hacker in the galaxy! The IPC hates me, but they can’t do a damn thing about it!"

"And yet, in a head-to-head fight with Screwllum, you can only... barely hold your own?"

"You—!"

The cyberwar between Silver Wolf and Screwllum was legendary across the entire galaxy. Officially, it was considered a draw, but everyone knew that was only because Screwllum had chosen not to exploit his advantages as an inorganic being.

Silver Wolf couldn’t go days without eating or sleeping. If Screwllum had played to his mechanical strengths, it would’ve only been a matter of time before she lost.

But being a gentleman, Screwllum had given her an exit—allowing the match to end in a respectable stalemate.

Screwllum might not have cared about winning or losing, but Silver Wolf did.

So much so that she had repeatedly challenged him to rematches afterward. And every single time, the result was exactly the same.

Which meant—if anyone else had said what Chen Lin just did, she would’ve brushed it off.

But the fact that he was the one saying it?

It pissed her off.

The more she thought about it, the angrier she got.

But—

She took a deep breath and backed down.

She shrugged, feigning indifference. "Whatever. I’ll follow your lead. Doesn’t make a difference to me."

The truth was, Belobog didn’t need a hacker like her.

Its network was fundamentally different from the rest of the galaxy. Psionic-based technologies were woven into its infrastructure, making it a whole different beast to handle.

Even the best network engineers from other civilizations wouldn’t be able to do anything in Belobog unless they first learned how to use psionic energy.

And beyond that, Belobog’s internal network had been fortified by Svarog himself. Even Silver Wolf couldn’t manipulate its data without getting caught.

Her skills? Not exactly in high demand here.

Even her Ether Editing ability—the power to alter reality like a line of code—wasn’t something Chen Lin needed, since his own psionic abilities could achieve similar effects.

In fact, after three days of consideration, he still couldn’t figure out what exactly Elio expected her to do here…

Unless... she was sent just to hand me money?

But Belobog didn’t even use credits. And her 5.1 billion-credit bounty? Completely worthless here.

Silver Wolf, now holding her console again, caught Chen Lin’s lingering stare and frowned.

"...Are you thinking something really rude right now?"

"Nope."

Chen Lin replied smoothly, "I was just thinking—that game you’re playing looks fun. Mind letting me borrow it for a couple of days?"

"For real?"

"Yeah. I’ve always been a hardcore gamer. I play everything—SLGs, FTGs, FPS, MOBA, RPGs… you name it."

Hearing his earnest response, Silver Wolf immediately straightened up, eyes gleaming with confidence.

"Heh, well then—you’ve come to the right person."

Without hesitation, she pulled out another gaming console from who-knows-where and handed it to him, eagerly introducing a variety of game cartridges.

Chen Lin listened with a smile, mentally taking note of every single title she mentioned.

"This one—Cyber Black Fist: Duel to the Death—came out two months ago. It’s a new FTG from a dev team whose games I always buy. I’d call this one an absolute masterpiece... Wanna spar?"

"Sure, but let me get familiar with it first."

"No problem—I’ll teach you. Here, here—"

"…"

Phantylia stood quietly behind them, her small eyes filled with big confusion.

She had never heard of her master being into video games before.

And yet, from the way he handled the console—he was clearly a pro.

He’s learning ridiculously fast…

The two of them played late into the night.

Only after Chen Lin had Phantylia arrange Silver Wolf’s accommodations did the two 'experts’ finally put their consoles down.

After casually setting up another gaming session for later, Chen Lin returned to his study.

As he checked star charts and fleet positions, making sure their psy-jump engines weren’t still cooling down, Phantylia leisurely wandered back in.

"Master, I never knew you were into video games. Would you say I just made an unexpected discovery?"

"Games are fun," Chen Lin replied with a smile. "I just never had anyone to play with before."

Then, shaking his head, he sighed,

"But man, who would've thought Silver Wolf actually believes in fair play…?"

---

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!