Is Unlocking the Stellaris Tech Tree in Star Rail Really Okay? [361]

Silver Wolf agreed to Sparkle’ proposal.

She had no qualms about temporarily setting aside their enmity to reach a consensus. The sooner she completed Elio’s assigned task, the sooner she could head back and sleep.

As it happened, Silver Wolf had recently heard that Herta Space Station housed something she wanted. Borrowing it for, say, a lifetime wouldn’t be a big deal—the doll-like genius of the Club surely wouldn’t mind.

But all that would have to wait until she finished her current task. She knew how to prioritize.

However, Sparkle’ next move caught Silver Wolf off guard—she swapped their appearances!

Silver Wolf had her own face back!

According to the Masked Fool, this was compensation for the grievances Silver Wolf had endured recently. After all, wearing Sparkle’ face had likely caused her plenty of unnecessary trouble.

It seemed Sparkle had other matters to attend to, so she suggested that Silver Wolf assume the identity of the governor’s assistant she had already established and continue Elio’s mission at Qlipoth Fort. Given Silver Wolf’s acting skills, she was confident that Governor Chen still hadn’t caught on…

With that, the farce of the real and fake Sparkle and Silver Wolf was finally coming to an end.

“Handle this yourself and let our adorable little governor decide~ With how cautious he is… I’m sure he’ll know what to do~”

“Alright.”

After receiving the item, Silver Wolf had intended to check in with Kafka. But when she returned to the café, Kafka was already gone.

She reluctantly cast a glance at the arcade nearby before gritting her teeth and heading toward Qlipoth Fort.

Just as Sparkle had said, Chen Lin had given ‘Silver Wolf’ free access to Qlipoth Fort, so she encountered no obstacles along the way.

At most, every now and then, a disembodied voice would sound from the void as a Psionic Iron Guard greeted her and asked if she needed an escort. The sheer stealth of these guards was unsettling at first…

No wonder Kafka said Qlipoth Fort was impenetrable. Forget bandits—even a fly would have trouble sneaking in.

But so what? These fools couldn’t even tell a fake from the real deal. The Fool’s Masquerade had played them like a fiddle, and yet they still prattled on about national stability and a secure front line… If someone assassinated them one day, they probably wouldn’t even realize it!

Idiots!

The more Silver Wolf thought about it, the more annoyed she became. Back in Belobog and the Xianzhou, this guy had played his cards masterfully—so how had he suddenly turned into a fool?

Sparkle might be a skilled actress, but the Masked Fool wasn’t her true self. She couldn’t use Aether Editing at all. It would’ve been easy to see through her with a simple test, yet he never even bothered.

Instead, he let that masquerading fraud live in comfort.

She had overestimated him. Even if they had only interacted online before, there was no way she should’ve mistaken him for someone competent.

And even if he had mistaken Sparkle for her, he should never have made the Fool’s Masquerade his bodyguard!

Silver Wolf had plenty to complain about.

Following Sparkle’ instructions, she confidently navigated the vast Qlipoth Fort. Before long, she found her destination—Chen Lin’s study.

Apparently, he had been missing all day.

Silver Wolf picked a random spot to pass the time, seizing the chance to inspect the item she had retrieved.

After a thorough examination, she confirmed that the Fool’s Masquerade hadn’t tricked her. The game cartridge was untouched, and nothing inside had been tampered with. In fact, there were even more upgrades than before—more than she could grind in a month!

Happily sorting through her new gear, Silver Wolf barely noticed when the missing Chen Lin finally returned.

Not only did he look completely at ease, but he also seemed to be in a good mood.

And the better his mood, the more irritated she became.

She accidentally let her words get a bit sharp, but instead of reacting, the guy had the audacity to try and sit on her!

That wasn’t even the worst part—he tried to placate her with a lollipop. Did he think she was some kind of kid?!

In the end, deciding to be the bigger person, Silver Wolf handed over intelligence on the Ever-Flame Mansion. The Annihilation Gang was just a bunch of nobodies anyway.

Kafka had stirred up some minor trouble in the Jepella Brotherhood’s territory before, and the result? Nothing much.

The Brotherhood had been played like a fiddle, a pack of arrogant fools too dumb for their own good. Even Silver Wolf wasn’t worried about the Annihilation Gang, let alone their petty revenge. She couldn’t be bothered to spare them a glance.

The Stellaron Hunters was just a handful of people—whether the Annihilation Gang could even find them was another matter entirely. If things went south, they could always slip away.

But Chen Lin was different. He wasn’t some nomad—his vast territories meant he couldn’t defend every inch of them.

The enemy operated from the shadows, while he stood in the light—a permanent strategic disadvantage.

Right now, most of his fleets and commanders were tied up in the battle at L-Gate. He couldn’t possibly handle two battlefronts at once.

Oh, right—Phantylia was working under him, wasn’t she? But last she heard, the situation at the front was dire, so Phantylia had been deployed to reinforce the war effort.

If they had to send a trump card like her, the battle at L-Gate was probably not looking good.

So after handing over the intel, Silver Wolf waited to see this fool struggle.

And once he was in a panic, she’d swoop in like a savior, offer her expert advice, and help him salvage the situation…

Hmph... When the time comes, a simple apology won’t be enough. I’ll make you beg me respectfully—at least three times—before I lift a finger to help you…

Silver Wolf had the perfect plan mapped out in her head. She could already picture that fool setting aside his pride, pleading for her assistance. The thought alone was enough to soothe her irritated heart.

But her scheme fell flat.

The man showed not a shred of anxiety. Instead, he leisurely replayed the video in his hands, occasionally commenting on the characters’ outfits, making lighthearted observations about the cultural differences between civilizations.

Silver Wolf was dumbfounded.

Wait… this isn’t how it was supposed to go.

Panic! Hurry up and panic already!

If you don’t panic, how am I supposed to get my payback?!

And so, Silver Wolf sat there, staring at him blankly for a long while. Chen Lin remained unbothered.

"Yeah, this idiot must be pretending. Stubborn fools are always like this."

Convinced he was just putting up a front, she decided to wait him out. While playing her game, she kept a watchful eye on him, determined to see how long this act would last.

What she didn’t know was that Chen Lin was also assessing her moves. He chose to sit back and bide his time, waiting for her to slip up first.

And so, the two of them continued waiting…

Day after day.

In the blink of an eye, autumn arrived in Belobog.

---

Stellar Calendar 8102, September 14th, System Time: 13:47:26.

The Luofu had passed Qlipoth Fort’s review and received official approval from the Governor’s Office to enter the Jarilo Star Sector. It was permitted to dock near a pre-designated border region within the sector.

Along the way, the tightly sealed Jade Gate was reopened. The surrounding star system, along with two adjacent ones, was officially designated as the Pan-Galactic Free Trade Market. Members of the Galactic Community were allowed to conduct business here, purchasing goods with a 10% transaction fee discount.

The market primarily facilitated large-scale resource trades.

Here, all nations had to abandon their native currency systems and revert to traditional barter transactions. Other than the Empire’s appointed officials adjusting prices based on supply and demand, the system bore a strong resemblance to the interstellar markets run by the IPC.

With one major exception—this was the only place where people could buy coveted Imperial technology and services.

These included, but were not limited to: first-generation export-model hyperspace drives, reactor boosters, navigational point detection stabilizers, active countermeasure systems for warships, and interlinked support systems for fleets.

Beyond physical goods, the Empire also offered high-yield industrial facility construction, as well as exclusive services such as 100% guaranteed planetary climate restoration and 100% successful surface terraformation.

If the buyer provided sufficient resources, the Luofu and the Empire were even willing to sell Luofu-class military starjunks—including full fleets of destroyers and corvettes!

Of course, such special services and equipment required pre-orders through the Luofu’s Divination Commission. But even with that extra step, civilizations were lining up to place large-scale orders. Even non-members of the Galactic Community reached out, eager to purchase hyperspace drives.

In just one week after announcing the Pan-Galactic Free Trade Market’s establishment, the Luofu—previously struggling against corporate economic warfare—had raked in enough advance payments to complete its final stage of recovery, rising from the ashes like a phoenix.

Inside the Divination Commission, a certain general personally poured tea for the seated young man before him.

Neither his former prestige as one of the Cloud Knights’ Five Chivalrous Heroes, nor his current position as a Divination General, made him feel the slightest discomfort in performing such a simple task.

Far from feeling humiliated, he hadn’t stopped smiling the entire time.

Poor Yanqing, meanwhile, had no work to do at all. Earlier that day, he had been directly sent off to the training grounds by Jing Yuan to practice his swordsmanship.

“Ah, Diviner Fu,” Jing Yuan sighed dramatically, glancing at the silent Fu Xuan. “Dear brother, you must be swamped with war affairs and official duties. Yet you still made time to come here. Why not move a little closer? That way, your dear sister can take better care of you, and I won’t have to wear out my old waist any further. How about it?”

Fu Xuan instinctively wanted to retort—something along the lines of “Then why don’t you hurry up and abdicate already?”

But after a moment’s thought, she held her tongue.

Without a word, she adjusted her seat, moving closer to sit beside her younger brother.

Clearing her throat, she spoke with a rare solemnity. “Tell me, dear brother—how dire is the situation at the front? Would you like me to divine the path for your army? With my guidance, the Empire’s forces could avoid misfortune and gain the upper hand.”

Her concern wasn’t unwarranted.

On the way to the Jarilo Star Sector, they had already received some troubling reports—rumors of mounting pressure on the Empire’s frontline. Ten or more large-scale shipyards were working around the clock, and the Empire had even begun drafting new troops.

Clearly, the battle reports weren’t looking good.

Fu Xuan had nearly lost her appetite over it.

If even her ridiculously powerful younger brother was struggling on the battlefield, then what kind of monsters lurked beyond that cursed star gate?

If this war ended in either defeat or a mere stalemate, the Empire’s prestige and galactic influence would suffer a massive blow.

Beyond worrying about the war itself, she was deeply concerned for her brother’s safety.

After all, that terrifying star gate was located right within the Jarilo system. If its horrors ever broke loose, Jarilo would be the first to fall.

For once, Fu Xuan—normally composed and rational—had completely lost her nerve.

She had made multiple trips to the Divination Commission, demanding that Jing Yuan rally the other Xianzhou ships to send reinforcements. On her most desperate day, she stormed the Commission five times in a row.

If Jing Yuan hadn’t stubbornly held her back, she might have already swallowed her pride and begged her family back home to use their influence in the military and political sectors.

The Fu family was a small but not insignificant presence in the Xianzhou Alliance. Requesting a few million Cloud Knights and a thousand warships wasn’t entirely out of the question.

But Jing Yuan refused.

He simply told her to wait.

And wait she did—until they arrived at the Jarilo Star Sector.

And what she saw there…

It shocked her.

The shipyards in the Jarilo Star Sector had indeed begun operations as expected. However, each newly completed warship was immediately sent through the L-Gate—without any other movements or delays.

Given the circumstances, one would assume that Jarilo-VI was in a state of frantic military mobilization. Yet, after reading the intelligence report from Qingque, both siblings fell into silence.

Festivities. Peace. Stability.

That was the reality.

The mother planet of Jarilo and its surrounding colonies looked no different from before. The sheer disconnect between the ground and space was so staggering that even Fu Xuan, the second-in-command of the Luofu, found herself bewildered.

Weren’t they supposed to be conducting mass conscriptions? Building military installations on a large scale? Preparing for an all-out war against the nanite crisis?

Why does it look nothing like the reports?

Baffled, Fu Xuan waited a week for an opportunity to finally ask about the situation.

If her younger brother needed the Divination Commission’s assistance, she wouldn’t hesitate to exhaust every ounce of its computational power to provide him with guidance.

When Chen Lin heard Fu Xuan’s solemn inquiry, he instinctively glanced at Jing Yuan, who was just about to take a seat.

Jing Yuan merely shook his head, resting his chin on his hand as he watched the siblings with an amused smile.

That was all Chen Lin needed to see.

His elder brother had clearly figured things out but had deliberately kept Fu Xuan in the dark—probably just to test her patience.

Adjusting his expression, Chen Lin grinned and said, “No need to worry. The front line has already advanced by two major phases. We’ve secured control over thirteen star systems.”

“Huh? Then why—”

Fu Xuan was about to bring up the reports from the corporate news agencies, but Chen Lin preempted her question.

“It’s just a matter of luring the enemy into the trap. Otherwise, how would we have had the breathing room to establish this Pan-Galactic Trade Market?”

He leaned back, voice casual yet firm.

“Of course, to certain people, it may look like I’m biting off more than I can chew. But trivial concerns like that don’t matter.

"I didn’t come here for that discussion.”

Letting Fu Xuan stew in her thoughts, Chen Lin turned his head, locking eyes with Jing Yuan.

Then, he finally revealed his true purpose.

“Elder brother, I’ve been waiting for you all for quite some time.”

His smile deepened.

“Tell me, would the Luofu be willing to help me prepare a grand banquet for our esteemed guests?”

“There are visitors outside who’ve been waiting far too long—I need to grant them VIP seats and invite them into the private lounge.

“And those already seated inside, growing restless as they await their meal...

“Well, I intend to offer them a cup of plain wine as an apology.”

---

T/N: oh silverwolf is back hehehe, honestly ngl im like her im trash at games so i cheat hehe not in multiplayer though im not THAT shameless

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!