Chương 118: Chapter 118: A Skyscraper from the Ground Up 

Amidst the deeply anxious, terrified anticipation of countless politicians and intelligence agencies across the globe, the day of the summit quickly arrived. 

Luke was still comfortably asleep in his bed when a loud knock on his door woke him up. 

"Who is it?" Luke yelled groggily, squinting at the sunlight streaming through his window. 

"It's me, Boss!" a highly energetic, cheerful voice echoed from the hallway. 

Luke paused for a moment, his sleep-addled brain struggling to process the information, before he finally remembered that yesterday he had officially hired a cosmic freeloader with an apocalyptic appetite, and she had decided to permanently park her invisible spaceship directly on his roof. 

"Galacta? What's going on?" 

"Breakfast time! It's already 8:00 AM! Time to get up!" 

Her expectant, eager tone made Luke sweat slightly. 

She's incredibly smart and highly capable when she's talking about anything else. But the absolute microsecond the topic shifts to 'eating,' she devolves into a single-minded idiot. 

Remembering her terrifying description of the absolute, agonizing madness of the Cosmic Hunger, Luke was actually slightly curious about exactly how intense the sensation was. 

Maybe I should ask to experience it sometime? Just to know what she's dealing with. 

However, he had incredibly important, world-altering administrative tasks to accomplish today. Luke suppressed the incredibly strong urge to roll over and go back to sleep, dragged himself out of bed, and walked into the living room. 

He found Galacta sitting perfectly upright at his small dining table, holding a knife and fork, looking incredibly expectant and formal. 

"Why are you sitting there so formally with a knife and fork? We both know you're just going to swallow everything in one massive bite anyway," Luke rolled his eyes. 

He snapped his fingers. Several Shadow Ninjas silently materialized from the kitchen, bringing out a massive, highly varied, incredibly delicious human breakfast spread for him. As for Galacta, Luke casually tossed a highly compressed dark energy lollipop—roughly the exact same size and energy yield as the one she had eaten yesterday—onto her plate. 

Galacta happily caught the lollipop in her mouth and instantly swallowed it whole with a loud, incredibly satisfying CRUNCH. 

Luke smiled, expecting her to immediately burp and announce she was full. 

Instead, Galacta frowned slightly and looked at him. "I'm not completely full yet. I think I need exactly one more lollipop's worth of energy." 

Luke raised an eyebrow in genuine surprise. "It appears your internal Cosmic Tapeworm didn't actually die from the extraction. Furthermore, it's actively recovering its baseline energy capacity!" 

That's actually incredibly impressive. It has a self-healing function! I originally assumed extracting its 'Essence of Devouring' would permanently cripple it. 

This was actually fantastic news! As his subordinate, Galacta's ability to continuously grow stronger and increase her baseline power through eating was incredibly beneficial. Furthermore, if the Tapeworm fully recovered, it meant he could potentially extract the 'Essence of Devouring' from her repeatedly to build more Shadow-Eater Ninjas, creating a completely sustainable, infinitely renewable resource! 

While he technically only needed one Shadow-Eater Ninja to unlock the tribe (since they naturally consumed shadows to multiply), having a massive stockpile of extra Devouring Essence could prove incredibly useful for future, unknown System upgrades. 

Luke nodded in absolute satisfaction. However, he noticed Galacta was currently pouting, looking incredibly depressed and slightly hungry. 

He quickly condensed another dark energy lollipop and handed it to her. She swallowed it instantly, finally letting out a contented sigh as the hunger vanished. Her mood visibly improved. 

"Why exactly are you so unhappy about the Tapeworm surviving?" Luke asked, genuinely curious. "With that thing inside you, you literally gain infinite power just by eating! That's practically the ultimate superpower! Shouldn't you be thrilled?" 

Galacta shook her head sadly. "Because you have absolutely no idea what the Cosmic Hunger actually feels like." 

"Imagine possessing the biological capability to devour absolutely anything in the universe. But your stomach constantly feels like a raging, acidic black hole that is slowly tearing your soul apart from the inside. The sheer, agonizing pain of the hunger literally drives you insane. It forcibly overrides your conscious mind, turning you into a mindless, rabid beast that wants to violently consume literally everything in sight... exactly like my father." 

"That... that sounds absolutely horrifying," Luke admitted. He couldn't truly comprehend the exact depth of the agony, but just imagining the concept of being eternally, painfully starving was enough to make him feel deeply uncomfortable. 

Seeing Luke's empathetic expression, Galacta thought for a moment. "In the future, once the Cosmic Tapeworm has fully recovered its strength and stabilized, I can temporarily let you experience exactly what it feels like, if you want." 

"Oh? How exactly would you do that?" Luke asked, accepting a plate of perfectly cooked bacon and eggs from a Shadow Ninja. 

The ninja also considerately placed a small plate of human food in front of Galacta. While standard food possessed absolutely zero cosmic energy and couldn't satiate her hunger, it allowed her to enjoy the actual taste and texture of the meal. 

Galacta happily picked up a steamed dumpling with her chopsticks. She had spent centuries constantly scanning the cosmos for raw, high-energy 'food' sources, completely ignoring culinary aesthetics. She rarely got to enjoy delicious, carefully prepared meals like this. 

"Honestly, my powers aren't strictly limited to just eating," Galacta said, noticing Luke's highly skeptical expression. She knew exactly what he was thinking. 

"I have inherited numerous, highly complex cosmic abilities from my father. Furthermore, before I left, my father gave me a highly advanced, multi-purpose cosmic utility belt. It contains specialized technological devices that can temporarily synchronize our neural pathways and telepathically share sensory input. You would feel exactly what I feel." 

Galacta casually popped the steamed dumpling into her mouth and excitedly waved her hands to emphasize her point. "So please, stop stereotyping me as just a mindless eating machine!" 

Luke simply nodded slowly, his eyes locked intensely onto her waving hand. 

? 

Confused by his intense stare, Galacta looked down at her hand. 

She realized she was only holding half a pair of chopsticks. 

"Don't worry about it," Luke said, fighting back a laugh. "In fact, you can just eat the plates and bowls when you're finished, too. It'll save the ninjas from having to wash the dishes." 

Luke popped the last dumpling into his mouth, grabbed his glass of soy milk, and walked into the living room. 

Galacta stared silently at her hand, deeply embarrassed. I really need to remember to bring the specialized, hyper-dense, un-chewable cutlery my father explicitly forged for me next time. While I can technically digest Earth metal and wood perfectly fine... biting through your utensils mid-sentence is highly unprofessional. 

After finishing breakfast, Galacta happily skipped into the living room to join Luke. She noticed he was sitting on the sofa, frowning deeply at a holographic architectural blueprint projected from a Stark Pad. 

Feeling the strong urge to proactively assist her generous boss (and secure future meal tickets), Galacta leaned over the sofa. "What are you looking at?" 

Luke glanced at her. He waved his hand, utilizing dark energy to construct a localized, highly detailed 3D holographic projection of a massive, heavily fortified castle directly in the center of the room. 

Seeing that Galacta didn't immediately attempt to take a bite out of the incredibly dense dark energy projection, Luke began explaining. 

"I am establishing the 'United Earth Federation' today. I need to construct a massive, highly imposing, permanent base of operations on a deserted island in the Pacific. The problem is, the architectural designs Megatron and the Decepticons provided for me are highly disappointing. They're entirely utilitarian and lack any sense of actual majesty or diplomatic elegance. But since the summit is starting shortly, I really don't have any other options, so I guess I'll just use this one." 

Galacta critically examined the holographic projection. The Decepticon design was heavily brutalist, extremely angular, and covered in excessive, highly aggressive weapon emplacements. It looked like a generic, dystopian villain's fortress. It definitely didn't align with carbon-based aesthetic sensibilities. 

"Why don't you let me design a new base for you?" Galacta offered enthusiastically. 

Luke looked at her skeptically. "I appreciate the offer, but the global summit is literally scheduled to begin in thirty minutes. I need to teleport to the island and physically construct the building right now." 

"Thirty minutes is more than enough time!" Galacta confidently cracked her knuckles. 

"Alright, impress me. If you design something I actually like, I'll officially add two extra days of 'All-You-Can-Eat' buffet access to your salary," Luke smiled. 

He had already perfectly decoded the 'Galacta User Manual': As long as you explicitly promise her unlimited food, she will enthusiastically execute literally any task with terrifying efficiency and absolute loyalty. 

Since teleporting to the island would only take two seconds, Luke decided to sit back and watch Galacta work. 

Galacta tapped her wrist-mounted cosmic utility belt. Instantly, several highly advanced, floating holographic projection nodes materialized in the air around her, projecting a massive, incredibly complex 3D modeling interface. Galacta's fingers immediately began flying across the holographic keyboards at blinding speeds. 

"Roughly how large do you want the primary headquarters to be?" she asked without looking away from the interface. 

Luke watched her casually pull a pair of high-tech, futuristic glasses from thin air and put them on. "I don't need anything excessively massive right now. Just design a primary architectural footprint with a radius of approximately one kilometer." 

Galacta nodded. With a single, sweeping gesture, the primary structural foundation of the base was instantly generated and scaled within the projection. 

Luke began rapidly listing his specific requirements: diplomatic meeting halls, secure residential wings for visiting alien delegations, massive cargo bays for interstellar trade, and heavily fortified command centers. As he spoke, Galacta seamlessly translated his verbal requests into highly detailed, structurally sound architectural components, rapidly snapping them into place on the foundation. 

Watching the massive, incredibly sophisticated structure rapidly take shape before his eyes, Luke nodded in profound appreciation. Galacta was significantly more intelligent and technically capable than he had initially assumed. 

I can definitely delegate significantly more administrative and logistical work to her in the future. 

Seeing Galacta completely immersed in the architectural design process, Luke pulled out a small notepad and began outlining the specific political talking points and absolute rules he intended to establish during the summit. 

The two of them worked silently in the living room, surrounded by complex holographic projections and glowing dark energy. The atmosphere was surprisingly harmonious and highly productive. 

A short while later, Luke finished outlining his speech and closed his notepad. He looked up to find that Galacta had completely finalized the architectural design. 

"Finished?" Luke asked, genuinely curious. 

He stared at the massive, glowing holographic model floating in the center of the room. The exterior was a stunning, sleek, highly futuristic dome structure, utilizing advanced, transparent structural framework that perfectly showcased the highly intricate, beautifully designed facilities within. It looked like a majestic, utopian city of the future, rather than a generic military bunker. 

Galacta carefully executed a few final, microscopic adjustments to the angle of the solar receptors, then turned to Luke and enthusiastically began explaining the highly advanced, intricate details of the facility. 

The more he listened, the more profoundly satisfied Luke became. 

"This is absolutely perfect. We will utilize this exact design," Luke clapped his hands decisively. 

Galacta cheered internally. Yes! Two more days of unlimited food secured! 

A Shadow Ninja silently materialized beside Luke, holding a large, digital clock. There were exactly ten minutes remaining until the designated summit start time. 

"Alright, let's head over and actually build this thing. If we don't, the politicians will literally have to sit on the sand." 

Luke drew a massive Sling Ring portal, and the two of them stepped through, arriving on the same deserted island as yesterday. 

Looking out at the horizon, Luke noticed dozens of massive, heavily armed naval destroyers and aircraft carriers slowly circling the island, deliberately maintaining a significant distance. 

Good. They're terrified. I won't have to waste time manually aggressively ordering them to back off. 

Galacta, however, was curiously examining the dozen or so heavily bleeding, unconscious operatives still brutally crucified to the massive wooden crosses planted in the sand. 

Surprisingly, she didn't feel even a microscopic shred of pity or think Luke was overly cruel. 

In the cosmic arena, absolute power dictated survival. If pathetically weak, primitive entities deliberately chose to aggressively provoke a terrifyingly powerful cosmic Lord, being casually crushed into dust was the absolute, logical, and inevitable outcome. 

Luke completely ignored the crucified spies. He grabbed Galacta's arm and flew high into the air above the center of the island, analyzing the topography to determine the optimal placement for the foundation. 

He opened another portal directly behind him. Hundreds of Shadow Ninjas began aggressively throwing massive, highly compressed Dark Energy Crystals through the portal, creating a small mountain of crystals hovering in the air. 

After a few minutes of continuous dumping, Luke finally closed the portal. 

Staring at the massive cluster of floating crystals, Luke casually waved his hand. 

Instantly, the restrictive, physical shells of the crystals violently shattered! The raw, apocalyptic dark energy erupted outward, creating a massive, localized energy storm in the sky! 

Luke aggressively twisted his hand. 

The chaotic energy instantly violently condensed into a hyper-dense sphere and plummeted directly toward the center of the island! 

KABOOM! 

The dark energy violently impacted the ground, instantly generating a massive, localized, localized energy hurricane! 

Within the swirling, pitch-black vortex of the hurricane, the raw dark energy began rapidly, aggressively transmuting into physical matter based on Galacta's exact architectural blueprint! 

Massive, sleek, futuristic skyscrapers violently erupted from the ground! Intricate, sweeping aerial walkways seamlessly connected the towers! The architectural style was a breathtaking realization of humanity's most ambitious, utopian sci-fi concepts. 

Once the intricate internal structures were fully constructed, Luke waved his hand again. 

The remaining, swirling energy of the hurricane rapidly expanded outward, forming a colossal, transparent, highly advanced energy dome that completely encapsulated the entire facility, perfectly separating it from the harsh exterior environment. 

Currently, the dome possessed relatively low defensive capabilities; its primary function was simply deflecting wind, rain, and oceanic tides. However, with a single, simple thought from Luke, the dome could instantly harden into an absolute, impenetrable magical defense barrier capable of effortlessly withstanding localized nuclear strikes! 

Luke nodded in absolute satisfaction, admiring his newly constructed, majestic global headquarters. 

He and Galacta flew down and entered the facility, heading directly to a massive, highly secure subterranean chamber Galacta had specifically designed. 

Here, Luke established a permanent, heavily shielded Sling Ring portal directly connecting the base to Kamar-Taj. He intended to utilize the Sorcerers' magical grid to provide limitless, clean energy to power the facility's mundane electrical systems. 

Instantly, tens of thousands of Shadow Ninjas swarmed through the portal, carrying massive spools of advanced cabling, high-tech server racks, and luxurious, pre-fabricated interior furnishings. 

The Shadowkhan moved with terrifying, absolute efficiency. Because Luke had granted them limited, localized reality-warping permissions within the base, they could effortlessly phase massive, multi-ton equipment directly through solid walls and seamlessly integrate the wiring into the structure. 

Within minutes, the thousands of tireless ninjas had completely furnished, wired, and aggressively decorated the entire massive facility! 

Luke checked his watch and nodded approvingly. He clapped his hands once. 

The tens of thousands of Shadow Ninjas instantly vanished into the shadows, their task complete. A small detachment of specialized ninjas materialized at the primary entrance of the dome, assuming positions to formally guide the arriving diplomats into the main conference hall. 

Meanwhile, miles away on the circling naval vessels... 

The absolute microsecond Luke and Galacta materialized in the sky above the island, the advanced optics and radar systems on every single ship instantly locked onto them. 

"It appears Mr. Luke has finally realized that an open, sandy beach littered with crucified spies is highly inappropriate for hosting a formal global diplomatic summit," Captain Yang remarked dryly, looking through high-powered binoculars from the deck of the Chinese destroyer. 

He turned to his colleague, Captain Zhao. 

"Perhaps we should immediately contact Beijing and offer to host the summit at the Great Hall of the People instead? If we mobilize immediately, we can have it fully prepared in time," Captain Zhao suggested, reaching for his highly encrypted satellite phone. 

"Hold on. The situation is evolving rapidly," Captain Yang suddenly interrupted, lowering his binoculars and staring blankly at the sky. 

Captain Zhao looked up. He was utterly shocked to see massive, terrifyingly dense clusters of pitch-black energy rapidly materializing out of thin air directly above the island! 

While the raw power output wasn't quite as apocalyptic as the Bifrost, the sheer volume of dark energy currently suspended in the sky was easily sufficient to violently, casually wipe a major metropolitan city completely off the map. 

The officers watched in absolute, stunned silence as the massive sphere of dark energy plummeted to the island and instantly transformed into a raging, localized hurricane. The thick, swirling darkness completely obscured the island from view. 

However, less than a minute later, the dark energy hurricane rapidly dissipated. 

Captain Zhao stared at the island. He was so profoundly shocked that his expensive satellite phone literally slipped from his numb fingers and clattered onto the steel deck. 

A massive, breathtaking, impossibly futuristic, pitch-black city had literally been willed into existence from nothingness in less than sixty seconds! 

Aboard the American aircraft carrier, the high-ranking diplomatic envoys stared at the majestic, alien structure, their faces turning completely ashen. 

The more terrifying, overwhelming, and god-like power Luke casually displayed, the more catastrophic their situation became, especially considering they had deliberately chosen to aggressively antagonize him just yesterday! 

The diplomats from smaller nations—who lacked their own naval vessels and had been forced to hitch a ride on the American carrier—stared at the absolute, literal miracle of creation occurring on the island. 

Recalling the highly arrogant, highly aggressive rhetoric the American diplomats had been spouting earlier that morning, the representatives from the smaller nations suddenly felt a profound, overwhelming urge to immediately jump off the American carrier and physically swim to the island to formally distance themselves from the U.S. delegation. 

Deep within the Pentagon, the Secretary of Defense was currently watching the live drone feed of the island's miraculous transformation. His face was paler than a ghost. 

He vividly remembered Nick Fury's exact, chilling words. 

In the cosmic arena, absolute power dictates the rules. 

And compared to Luke, who could literally casually create massive, futuristic cities from thin air in seconds... their vaunted military power was absolutely, pathetically insignificant...