Is Unlocking the Stellaris Tech Tree in Star Rail Really Okay? [325]

Among the many deities of The Shroud, Eater of Worlds was by far the least favored—not because of rarity, but because the buffs it granted were never worth the cost.

Despite its frequent appearances, players almost always rejected its offers.

Its land army bonuses were utterly useless aside from setting death flags, while its downsides were crippling—maintenance costs for all military forces multiplied several times over. Compared to other entities that could greatly benefit a nation’s development, Eater of Worlds was an absolute nightmare in Stellaris— a collection of every imaginable downside in one package.

Few, if any, players ever chose to sign a contract with it.

But Chen Lin didn’t care.

Because his Shi Sha was completely different from the in-game version.

More importantly, he didn’t have to pay the price himself. His enemies would foot the bill instead.

---

Inside the Galactic Community Headquarters, live feeds from the Rilu Star System played across countless screens.

The moment the final Imperial warship activated its warp drive, vanishing within a massive psionic surge, the council members understood:

The Extermination Order was about to be executed.

What they didn’t understand was… why had the Empire withdrawn all its fleets?

Not a single Imperial warship remained. Not even a trace of their weapons.

How exactly were they planning to carry out the extermination… with nothing?

Inside the massive Council Chamber, ambassadors from various civilizations murmured among themselves, trying to make sense of the situation.

Among them, Qingque sat at a table, her head tilted up in curiosity, wide eyes fixed on the projections.

Did Old Chen already set up the weapons? But I don't see any sign of them anywhere...

Her mind flashed back to the "Galactic Corridor" she had seen during the military parade—a massive engineering feat the Empire had completed in mere weeks. If they weren’t using fleets for planetary destruction, then surely their weapons had to be something just as large-scale, right?

But no matter how many camera angles she cycled through…

There was nothing.

Frowning, she switched off her microphone, turned to the seat beside her, and whispered to Oleg.

"Uncle Oleg, what kind of weapon is the Empire using for the Extermination Order? Why pull back all the warships?"

Oleg gave her a helpless chuckle. "No idea. The Governor never mentioned anything to me—I’m just as clueless as you."

"Really…?"

The Galactic Community had been officially established for over a month now, and as representatives of two permanent council members, Qingque and Oleg had long since grown familiar with each other.

Oleg also knew how close Qingque was to Chen Lin.

At this point, their two nations were practically more united than any formal alliance—there was no need for secrecy between them.

And if Oleg had known the plan, he certainly wouldn’t have hidden it from her.

He's being really mysterious about this...

Suddenly—

“Look! Over there! The surface of Rilu-Ⅰ is changing!”

A council envoy, who had been monitoring the screens closely, suddenly shouted in alarm.

All conversation abruptly ceased as everyone turned their attention to the magnified feed.

At first, it looked like just another city—

The only oddity was a strange, glowing emblem hovering above its skyline.

No massive tsunamis. No deafening explosions.

Nothing.

And yet—

The edges of the city began dissolving into faint wisps of dust, drifting skyward.

It was eerily silent—like a plague spreading at unnatural speed.

A violet mist expanded outward from the initial point of contact, rapidly consuming everything in its path.

The speed at which it spread only accelerated.

In mere moments, humble residences disintegrated, towering skyscrapers vanished, and the people within the city—

Didn’t even have time to scream.

One by one, their bodies turned into translucent silhouettes, frozen mid-motion, as if time itself had stopped for them.

And then—

A breeze swept through.

The last remnants of their figures vanished completely.

It took less than ten seconds.

An entire city, covering over 10,000 square kilometers, had simply been erased from existence.

A stunned silence gripped the chamber.

One of the ambassadors whispered, as if afraid to disturb the air itself—

“…What did that?”

Another envoy shook their head.

“We don’t know. We saw nothing.”

“…Could it be some kind of weapon deployed by the Imperial warships before they left?”

"They’re too far away! The fleets are stationed at the system’s edge to prevent escape—how could they have deployed a weapon from there?!"

"I don’t know either…"

Before anyone could argue further, a previously silent envoy—who had been solely focused on observing—shouted in alarm.

"Forget that—look! Something’s moving! There’s a vortex forming!"

The situation wasn’t over.

What had just transpired was merely an appetizer.

At the envoy’s shout, everyone refocused on the projection.

In the view of a distant surveillance feed, violent spatial distortions erupted directly above Rilu-Ⅰ—so intense that the recorded footage warped and flickered from the interference.

An enormous concentration of visible psionic energy began to swirl, gradually coalescing into a massive vortex.

Even though the event was happening thousands of light-years away, every single spectator felt a chill run down their spine—as if it were unfolding right in front of them.

The vortex began to move.

One of the observation devices, resilient enough to withstand the psionic maelstrom, managed to capture a glimpse of what lay at its center.

A shadow.

A pitch-black silhouette that refused to reflect light, slowly descending toward Rilu-Ⅰ.

The moment it reached low orbit, it suddenly lurched forward.

There was no explosion, no dramatic display of force.

And yet, every single person watching had the unmistakable illusion that it had just opened its mouth—and taken a bite out of the planet.

As the shadow engulfed Rilu-Ⅰ, it slowly crawled downward, its movements eerily deliberate.

When the upper portion of the planet became visible again, everyone finally saw what lay beneath it—

The areas it had touched had turned into a sickening mix of black and violet.

The psionic custodian operating the observation feed seemed to understand exactly what everyone wanted to see and magnified the image.

But the moment the camera zoomed in, the footage froze—stopped dead at the thick layer of energy clouds shrouding the surface.

There was no getting past it.

However, in some areas where the energy clouds were thinner, the audience could still catch glimpses of Rilu-Ⅰ’s fate.

The few patches of greenery that had once dotted the planet had become lifeless wastelands.

Rivers had dried up, the ground had fractured, and from within the deep cracks, an eerie violet glow seeped forth…

Forget calling it the homeworld of an organic civilization—

If someone took a picture of this scenery and claimed it was the underworld itself, people would probably believe it.

...

Thirty minutes later.

The final exposed portion of Rilu-Ⅰ’s surface was swallowed by the shadow.

All life had vanished.

The Rilu people—once the dominant species of this world—had become mere silhouettes, frozen in place, forever trapped in their last living moments.

The energy mist now covered the planet evenly, and the last available footage of its surface cut off abruptly.

As for what created the shadow…

As for what happened beneath the shadow’s embrace…

As for where the bodies of the Rilu people went…

As for what those gaseous energy formations truly were…

No one but the Empire knew.

---

Inside the Galactic Council Chamber, silence reigned.

In the various livestreams broadcasting across civilizations, chat messages flooded the screens, a sea of question marks flashing by in real-time.

It was clear everyone was desperate for answers.

Had the Empire used orbital weapons?

But no one had seen any Imperial structures above Rilu-Ⅰ!

As the wave of question marks gradually subsided, discussions broke out across the galaxy.

What had Rilu-Ⅰ become?

Some sharp-eyed viewers noticed that in the last recorded glimpse of the surface, what appeared to be solid ground might have actually been some form of energy gas.

Could it be that the entire planet had undergone a complete transformation?

Their suspicions were soon confirmed.

The Interastral Peace Corporation reported an anomalous gravitational shift within the Rilu Star System.

With Rilu-Ⅰ now converted into a planetary-scale energy mass, nearby celestial bodies had begun drifting off-course.

News of this spread like wildfire.

According to the IPC’s calculations, the Rilu System was now at risk of a chain reaction of planetary collisions, which would only subside once most celestial bodies had realigned with a stronger gravitational center.

In other words—

The Rilu System was ruined.

Its instability was so severe that, without external intervention, it would remain inhospitable for any higher lifeforms.

---

At some unknown moment, the shadow had disappeared.

Observation probes, stationed hundreds of thousands of kilometers above Rilu-Ⅰ, could no longer detect its presence.

All that remained…

Was a planet that had once been half-covered in snow, half-covered in greenery and soil—

Now a bizarre celestial body, shrouded in a dense veil of deep-violet energy mist.

The Extermination Order against the Rilu Civilization had been carried out under the watchful eye of the Galactic Community.

Inside the command room, Chen Lin gestured for Pela to release the official mission footage.

She nodded, and as the scanning beams flashed across the console, the display screens mirrored his own reflection back at him.

He knew—it was time to speak.

"The Galactic Community’s Emergency Resolution #1 has been successfully executed."

"The Rilu Civilization, a society built upon the ideology of racial purity, has been completely erased."

"As a Permanent Council Member of the Galactic Community, I formally declare—"

"The crisis in the Rilu System is over."

"However…""

He paused.

"To prevent any Rilu remnants from escaping, effective immediately, the Shisou-Ⅰ, Baidao-Ⅹ, and Tianhe-Ⅳ star systems will be subject to the same level of psionic annihilation lockdown as the Extermination Order itself."

"No Rilu survivors will be allowed to flee."

---

The three star systems he listed were all key hyperspace transit points leading to Jarilo-VI.

By sealing them off, the only remaining route from the Rilu System to Jarilo-VI would be a single pathway.

From a military perspective, this significantly reduced the number of systems that needed to be defended while preserving trade efficiency.

But to the outside world, the Empire’s actions sent a different message—

That they intended to completely isolate the Rilu System from the galaxy.

Even if any Rilu survivors had miraculously lived through that nightmarish, unfathomable destruction, they would never escape the Empire’s grasp.

And furthermore—

The three quarantined star systems were already Imperial territory, devoid of significant resources or life.

From the perspective of other civilizations—

The Empire was sacrificing its own land to uphold justice.

Across various livestreams, those familiar with star maps began posting messages like “tears in my eyes”.

Because—

The Empire had deployed some unfathomable, terrifying weapon to erase an entire civilization—

Yet it gained nothing from the act.

It even sacrificed its own territory for the sake of ensuring no remnants could escape.

Little did they know—

Those worthless, dying star systems had been handpicked by Chen Lin.

They were offerings for Little Shi Sha, tools for stacking permanent buff effects.

One day, he would accumulate a super buff for free ship construction and zero maintenance costs.

After all—

His navy’s alloy consumption was absolutely absurd.

---

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!