The Artifact Forger from the Beginning of Collapse

"Miss Estella, look..."

“Just swipe it yourself,” Estella sighed, then handed her credit card to Toppa.

"Black Tower, does your entire Black Tower space station rely on Estella to operate all by herself?" Chen Li, who was sitting next to her eating snacks, complained.

Black Tower is far too skilled at this, isn't he?

"How could that be? Don't make baseless accusations." The Black Tower puppet categorically denied Chen Li's idea.

Although Black Tower didn't contribute a single penny to the construction of the Black Tower space station—it was all done by Estella—Black Tower still put in a lot of effort!

For example... naming the space station "Black Tower" space station!

Although it was the only contribution, it was the most important one.

"Oh? Really~~"

"Of course it's true, why would I lie to you?"

"I don't believe you. Sigh, I really envy you, Black Tower, for having such a capable assistant as Estella. When I've accumulated enough civilization points, I'm definitely going to awaken a civilization collective consciousness as outstanding as Estella's as my assistant," Chen Li said enviously.

"You seem to have... casually mentioned something very significant just now?" Black Tower glanced at Chen Li.

"Your illusion."

"By the way, Chen... cough cough, Master of Rare Items, why did you stand me up at noon today?" Black Tower asked curiously.

"I am doing something very important."

"whats the matter?"

“Let’s create a fictional world,” Chen Li said.

"what?"

"Master Blacksmith, may I have a brief interview with you? In return, our Interstellar Peace Company is willing to gift you several starships of equal value to the Magical Amber as samples for your research. The value of the Divine Amber is separate." After swiping Estella's card and settling the Black Tower bill, Toppa asked Chen Li.

This decision was made by the Interstellar Peace Corporation after Topa urgently sent a communication to the Corporation, stating that he had met the 85th member of the Genius Club at the Black Tower Space Station and conveyed Chen Li's trade request.

The reason why Interstellar Peace Company was so generous was partly because this was the first time the company had contacted Chen Li, and partly because what Chen Li wanted was indeed worthless.

Yes, Star Destroyers are indeed very expensive, but Star Destroyers that are about to be retired are very cheap.

They're so cheap that you have to pay someone to destroy them.

While some wealthy people with questionable judgment might collect them, a necessary condition for a collectible is that it must be in good condition... but Chen Li doesn't have that requirement.

Chen Li had only one requirement: the history must be old enough, and the number of satellites destroyed must be sufficient.

"Of course, but I can't guarantee I'll answer," Chen Li nodded.

"Then may I ask, is it inconvenient to reveal your real name? I noticed that Ms. Black Tower avoided mentioning your name earlier. Is it because your name has some kind of memetic contagiousness?" Topa asked after taking out a voice recorder.

"No, it's mainly because I plan to make a big splash in this world, so I can't reveal my name or appearance. I'm afraid someone might try to trap me," Chen Li said.

"..."

After taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down, Toppa asked Chen Li, "You just mentioned the word 'fiction.' May I ask if you have a close relationship with fiction historians? And which star god do you worship?"

“That’s something worth mentioning.” Chen Li’s interest was immediately piqued.

"How so?" Hearing Chen Li say this, not only Topa, but also Black Tower and Estádio were quite interested.

"I am a self-taught fiction historian with similar abilities to them, but I don't know if they would acknowledge me."

“Didn’t you gain abilities similar to those of a fictional historian because of your faith in a mysterious star god? The title ‘Artifact Forger’ actually sounds subtly similar to fictional history,” Toppa boldly guessed.

"Absolutely not. I solemnly declare here that although I am a fictional historian, I have always believed that the Balanced Star God is the star god who has made the greatest contribution to this universe. Without the Balanced Star God, it would be like a wife cake without a wife, or a Black Tower space station without the Black Tower—utterly tasteless!" Chen Li said.

“I always feel like you’re being sarcastic, and I have evidence.” Black Tower narrowed his eyes.

"Five-star stone, forget this sarcasm."

During the second Collapse event, Chen Li obtained a total of 2900 Star Stones, and his current total Star Stones have exceeded 10,000! So he's very generous now.

The "fat couch potato's happy water" is something you drink one bottle and then throw away the next!

“Okay, no problem.” For the sake of the 5-star stone, Black Tower readily agreed.

"Then may I ask you, Master of Rare Items, are you a follower of the God of Balance? And are you the legendary Arbitrator? Zhang Zhang!" Just as Topa was focused on the interview, Topa's pet Zhang Zhang suddenly rushed towards Chen Li, circling around Chen Li's feet, its eyes fixed on the star stone that Chen Li had just taken out, barking excitedly.

"It doesn't matter, you can continue the interview." Chen Li picked up Zhang Zhang, who was obediently circling around his feet but didn't dare to offend him in any way, and placed her on his lap.

After Chen Li picked her up, Zhang Zhang became excessively obedient, not daring to move at all.

After Chen Li fed Zhang Zhang a 1-star stone, Zhang Zhang started rubbing against Chen Li again, becoming so intimate that even its owner, Toppa, felt it was a bit outrageous.

It bordered on flattery.

"The little guy is quite cute. One punch would probably make him cry for a long time, right?" Chen Li rubbed Zhang Zhang's face.

Chen Li suddenly remembered what the little elf had once said to his dog, Wangcai.

Right, right!

"Please, Master of the Strange Objects, don't say such terrible things so seriously. Let's get back to our previous topic..." Although Toppa had no idea why his pet was being so ingratiating to Chen Li, he felt that this was an opportunity.

Go for it, Zhang Zhang! Let's use the cute tactic!

It's just that... Toppa always felt that it was a bit strange for Zhang Zhang to be so submissive and obsequious when her master was still around. She always felt like she was being abused.

"You mentioned the God of Balance earlier, right? I reiterate that I will always support the great God of Balance, and I hope that the God of Balance can continue to balance good and evil, right and wrong, destruction and creation in this world. Furthermore, if any of the arbitrators under the God of Balance encounter any problems, they can come to me, and I will do my best to help them solve their problems," Chen Li said solemnly.

"Oh? Then, Mr. Master of Curious Artifacts, could you tell me why you so highly regard the God of Balance? For example, did you witness the God of Balance when you were a child, or were you saved by the Arbitrator?" Toppa instantly realized that this was a major selling point.

"Heh, what childhood could he possibly have in this world? I think he's just trying to establish a connection because he thinks what he's doing in this world and the artifacts he's forged might drive the Balance Star God crazy trying to fix bugs, so he wants to avoid having the Balance Star God's arbitrators take turns beating him up, right?" Black Tower chuckled beside him.

Putting everything else aside, the extraordinary artifact that Chen Li created, capable of reviving others without any side effects, is already incredibly powerful.

The reason why Chen Li has been wandering around this world for so long without seeing the Balance Star God attack him is simply because the last resurrection card fragment is extremely difficult to obtain, and no one has yet collected a complete resurrection card.

10 days.

Black Tower said the timeframe is 10 days!

Given the pace at which Chen Li caused trouble in this world, the fact that he wasn't personally beaten up by the Balance Star God after 10 days shows that the Balance Star God has a good temper!

Or perhaps the Balanced Star God felt he couldn't kill Chen Li, so he simply didn't fight him.

What else can you do but get the God of Balance to give you an award?

The trophy is called the "Disruption of Equilibrium Award"!

For every person striving for equilibrium, someone else is disrupting it...

Hmm... wait a minute, this seems really balanced!

Oh no, Chen Li has become a Primordial Balanced Sacred Body!

"How could that be? Don't make false accusations. Come on Topa, let me make up a story for you, a funny story about my childhood and my relationship with the God of Balance... Cut out the part from before, thank you."

“…Please continue.” Topa smiled awkwardly but politely.

Thankfully, this wasn't a live broadcast.

“I’ve been connected with balance since I was a child. I was playing with balance when I was three, which caused a huge balance disaster for my family… I misspoke. I gained the approval of the Balance Star God when I was three and obtained the object of balance. Look.” Chen Li said as he took out the Merit Scales.

Although the scales of merit have nothing to do with being balanced, they are still scales.

"Oh? What is the effect of this balance scale? Could you tell us about it, sir?"

"When you hold this scale, as long as you do something selfless to help others, you can gain high moral praise, and high moral praise can be used to do something immoral."

"???" Toppa was stunned when he heard about the effect of the balance scale.

What does it mean to use something for immoral purposes?

Aside from its shape, what does this balance scale have to do with equilibrium?

"Forget about whether this magical item sounds a bit strange. Just say that I did something very moral, and the reward I received allows me to do something immoral. This whole thing is unbalanced!"

"Equal...balanced".

Toppa thought about it and felt that it did make sense.

Isn't this unbalanced? It's perfectly balanced!

156

Chapter 156 Haruhi Suzumiya + The Masked Fool? Damn it!

"Alright, this interview is now over. Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Rare Craftsman." After a long interview, Toppa breathed a sigh of relief.

However, after using the speech-to-text function to review the current interview content, Topa felt that after conducting the interview for so long, he probably couldn't even edit out a minute of content that would pass the review.

Never mind, even if it can't be broadcast, it can be kept in the personal files of Interstellar Peace Company.

"You're welcome. Whew, I'm exhausted."

"By the way, if I may ask a question that goes off-topic, Mr. Strange Object Forger, what do you need the Star Destroyer for?" Toppa asked.

"Because I'm thinking that the Star God is also a star... I want to use these Star Destroyers to create a Star Destroyer artifact." Chen Li, wearing a golden Houmu King coat, rubbed his Houmu King round face.

"Haha, Master of Rare Items, you're quite the joker."

"..."