Leaning by the window, sunlight gently pours through its frame. Basking in the golden rays, a touch of warmth graces this cold, clear morning. "Up and down, you're all dead!"
At this moment, Amarion, wearing panoramic equipment on his head and gloves on his hands, is absorbed in his game. The game, a colossal production in the vast galaxy, is a top-tier masterpiece. Why isn't he playing a highly realistic virtual reality game?
It's because Amarion is still underage. And no matter how entertaining a game is, excessive play can lead to boredom and fatigue. Moreover, in the entire virtual world, he is the only living person, the sole real player.
The rest are either AI-generated bots or NPCs from the game. And they can't be too lifelike; they must be obviously fake NPCs that Amarion can recognize at a glance. But there's no helping it; this is one of the few ways Amarion has to pass the time in this world.
Boredom, emptiness, loneliness... constantly fill Amarion's heart. Indeed, Amarion is a bona fide transmigrator. Not long ago, he transmigrated into this Fallen Empire. Since then, Amarion has become the last natural human in this Fallen Empire.
Simultaneously, he is also the last citizen of this Empire. Thus, Amarion naturally became the heir of the Fallen Empire. He holds all the rights within this Empire.
Even though he is the last natural human in the Fallen Empire, some machines and artificial beings are still here.
And because Amarion became the heir of the Fallen Empire, these machines, artificial beings, and other life forms have all been imprinted with a genetic and ideological stamp of loyalty to Amarion. With these stamps, he is the emperor of this Fallen Empire!
All the machines, artificial beings, and life forms will obediently follow his commands and arrangements. Speaking of which, the technology of this Fallen Empire is indeed highly advanced.
Simply put, the technology mastered by the Fallen Empire could even restart the universe and control planets. Technologies like quark bombs and Dyson spheres are merely ordinary feats.
However, despite the advanced technology of the Fallen Empire, one thing leaves them utterly despairing. This world is purely material, devoid of miracles or mysteries.
Even though the original Fallen Empire had developed its technology to its peak, it failed to discover the existence of the soul or consciousness. This resulted in natural life forms having their limitations.
Therefore, things like psionics in the stars naturally don't exist. If a comparison were to be made, this universe would be closer to the intricate sci-fi universe of the "Three-Body Problem." Even though Amarion's Fallen Empire mastered the entire universe and attempted to ascend to higher dimensions at its peak, unfortunately, they failed.
The mysteries of four-dimensional space-time are beyond the comprehension of three-dimensional beings.
The entire Fallen Empire went extinct because, after the Empire reached extreme brilliance and even mastered the universe, its natural population gradually aged—not just aged but severely aged, with a plummeting birth rate.
Despite the Empire's countless policies and rescue measures, nothing worked. Thus, the birth rate of the Fallen Empire directly fell to a negative number.
Ultimately, after the Empire conquered the entire universe and climbed every possible tech tree, all its people were lost in the virtual entertainment world. No new births occurred until Amarion transmigrated and became the last natural human of the Empire.
This super Empire once ruled the entire universe but was left with only Amarion. As for the other civilizations in the universe... Well... sorry, the Empire wiped them out.
The Fallen Empire harbored an intense distrust and even hostility towards other civilizations.
They believed that any other civilization might pose a threat to the existence of the Fallen Empire.
In short, the entire nation suffered from a collective paranoia.
As a result, the Fallen Empire pursued an absolute extermination policy, meaning they annihilated everything and everyone.
Consequently, the universe now only contains the Fallen Empire as the sole civilization.
Thus, Amarion became the Empire's prince, emperor, and president.
Unlike other transmigrators who had to endure countless hardships to reach the pinnacle of power, Amarion attained every transmigrator's ultimate achievement the moment he arrived—truly a one-step ascension.
But the problem is, this was followed by an endless void of emptiness.
It's akin to the difference between playing a game's original and cracked versions.
Even using stars to create fireworks for his own amusement could not stir a flicker of excitement within him.
As for various virtual war games and VR online games, prolonged play only deepened Amarion's sense of emptiness.
He possessed wealth spanning the entire universe but did not have a single friend.
After all, the various machines, artificial beings, and other life forms in the Fallen Empire were stamped with a genetic and ideological imprint of absolute loyalty and protection towards Amarion.
However, due to historical reasons, artificial beings and AI in the Fallen Empire were incapable of developing emotions, or rather, they couldn't have emotions until Amarion reached adulthood.
To him, artificial beings, AI, and synthetic life forms were tools and could only ever be tools.
The control center would detect and destroy them if they ever developed emotions.
Although these artificial beings and AI looked human, with all the necessary parts, enabling certain indescribable pleasures,
unfortunately, Amarion was still a minor!!!
Or rather, he had one month left until adulthood.
This significantly restricted Amarion's ability to form friendships with these artificial beings,
leaving him to merely watch them longingly day after day.
Amarion even suspected that the original inhabitants of the Empire might have committed suicide out of sheer loneliness from the lack of friends.
The universe was vast, and the Empire was extensive, but the people of the Empire were too few.
Moreover, only pure natural humans were recognized as citizens of the Empire; others, even those born through artificial insemination, were not.
When the remaining machines and AI in the Empire confirmed that there were no heirs left and that the Empire was about to self-destruct, Amarion appeared as a baby.
Unquestionably, he inherited the entire Empire, for all the Empire's policies, programs, and even the genetic codes of non-citizens were deeply imprinted with loyalty to the Empire's people, dedicating everything to them.
"Phew~ How many games have I beaten already?!"
After clearing another game, Amarion let out a slight sigh of relief.
Then, he removed the panoramic device from his head and the gloves from his hands.
Looking out the window, he had no idea he was thousands of meters high.
Amarion only knew that this was the palace where the royal family of the Fallen Empire used to live,
and now it belonged to him.
The view outside was magnificent, an endless expanse of blue sea interwoven with stretches of land.
Built upon this foundation were various floating or interconnected, sci-fi-inspired buildings.
When Amarion first arrived, he might have marveled at the sight.
Now, he just found it ordinary.
Finally, just as Amarion was about to explode from boredom,
a mechanical, emotionless voice echoed in his ear.