Interstellar Thief

Lu Yin descended and walked up to Lasser. "Empty everything from your Void Ring. Don't make me do it myself."

Lasser's face twitched. "You're one of those academy elites, aren't you? Instead of completing your mission, you came to rob me? You'll lose points for this."

Lu Yin's gaze turned cold. He raised a hand, and the air twisted. This was the Wave Palm.

Lasser hurriedly said, "Don't, don't attack. I'll empty it, I'll empty it." Looking utterly aggrieved, Lasser poured everything from his Void Ring onto the ground. There was all sorts of miscellaneous junk. Lu Yin took the Star Energy Crystals and several useful items, then left directly.

"Hey, what's your name?" Lasser shouted.

Lu Yin ignored him.

Lasser cursed furiously. There were bastards like this among the students? Then, he suddenly remembered something and quickly opened the local network on his Personal Terminal. A line of text floated at the top of the map: "Lasser has been defeated."

Lasser spat out blood again. There was only one reason no name had been displayed: that bastard's Personal Terminal wasn't his own. He had stolen it too.

Far from Tong City, Lu Yin looked at the local network and nodded in satisfaction. Those from the Great Yu Empire monitoring Earth's trial definitely knew his name, yet they had concealed it. That was fair enough. Who was next? Lu Yin stared at the map. You, then. With that, he shot away at high speed.

Over the next three days, Lu Yin robbed more than ten students who had been quietly hiding across Huaxia. Without exception, they were all on Granny's level. They only wanted to peacefully occupy a place with mineral deposits, survive until the trial ended, and stay out of everything else. Unfortunately, Lu Yin had set his sights on them. He was desperately short on Star Energy Crystals now. Even a mosquito was still meat.

Within the clouds, Lu Yin sorted through his Void Ring. Its storage space was already fairly large, but it was still not enough. There were too many miscellaneous minerals and herbs. Helplessly, Lu Yin tossed them away one by one. Otherwise, there would be no room for the things he robbed later. These students could not find anything particularly valuable anyway, so he did not feel bad about throwing it out. The only thing that annoyed Lu Yin was how poor they were. After robbing so many of them, he had only gathered two cubic meters of Star Energy Crystals.

In truth, every student who dared participate in the trial was an elite from their academy and was already quite wealthy compared to ordinary students. If they had been ordinary students, Lu Yin might not have been able to gather even one cubic meter of Star Energy Crystals after robbing a hundred—or even a thousand—of them.

These crystals were hard currency in the universe, equivalent to gold on Earth. Even students from wealthy families were reluctant to use them to speed up their cultivation. They would rather save them for a life-threatening moment. Thus, most students merely absorbed the scattered star energy of the universe step by step in their cultivation. How could they be like Lu Yin, seeking shortcuts?

"Looks like I have to rob academy elites like Willow. Otherwise, the efficiency is too low," Lu Yin muttered. In truth, even if he had not thought so, it would have made no difference. He had already robbed everyone nearby who could be robbed. Now, stories about Lu Yin were spreading across the local network. They said an Interstellar Thief had infiltrated the trial students, terrifying everyone who heard of him.

Because of Ede's proposal, more and more students gathered in Tian Zhu. During Lu Yin's robberies, no fewer than thirty students had already assembled in Tian Zhu, including nearly ten academy elites.

Those who dared track fugitives were at least among the top three in their academies. Thirty such powerhouses gathering together made all of Tian Zhu tremble.

On the fifth day, Ede publicly announced that they would depart for Capital City and told the other students not to come to Tian Zhu.

The local network erupted. They were finally declaring war on Capital City.

At Hidden Peak in Huaxia, Lu Yin stood up. "Has it begun? Then I should begin hunting too." With that, he soared into the sky.

Two days later, a notification drifted across the local network's map: "Ian has been defeated."

Many students' hearts sank. They had seen such notifications more than ten times already. Rumor had it that they were all the work of that Interstellar Thief. That person's Personal Terminal had been stolen, making it impossible to identify him.

Originally, many students had thought that person only dared rob ordinary students. But Ian being robbed made many hearts clench. Ian was an academy elite.

On the barren earth, a man coughed blood, glaring at the distance with a livid face. There, Lu Yin used his blood to easily open the Void Ring and looked at the items inside with shining eyes. "Not bad, not bad. There are quite a few good things. As expected of an academy elite."

"Who exactly are you? Which academy are you from? Leave your name behind!" Ian roared. Just moments ago, he had run into this person. Without a word, the man had struck him with a Void Splitting Palm and dazed him. By the time he reacted, he had already taken another palm strike. The Void Splitting Palm at most would have injured him; the second strike had been the crucial one. It had blasted him to the ground and seriously injured him.

Lu Yin tossed the Void Ring back to Ian. "Call me Seventh Brother."

Seventh Brother my ass. Ian was enraged as he watched Lu Yin leave.

In Qinghai, the westernmost region of Huaxia, Ede, Heidian, and more than ten other students wore grave expressions.

"Even Ian was robbed. That person calls himself Seventh Brother. Ede, we should deal with this threat before going to Capital City. There are still fifteen days until the second batch of Trial Takers arrives. We have enough time," someone suggested.

"That's right. Letting a rat like that run loose will ruin everything," another person said darkly. His junior schoolmate had also been robbed. That bastard even robbed women. He was furious.

Ede and Heidian exchanged a glance. "Fine. Move in pairs. Search the areas around Capital City, gradually narrowing the range. Locate every Personal Terminal. The moment you encounter anyone acting alone who possesses an academy elite's combat power, attack immediately. Better to kill the wrong person than let the right one escape."

"It's a shame the local network has disabled image transmission. Otherwise, we would have known long ago who was causing trouble," someone said unwillingly.

With that, everyone scattered and left.

Lu Yin looked at the locations of every Personal Terminal on the map. "They're moving in pairs? Interesting. One of each pair must be an academy elite. Come on."

Half a day later, Lu Yin stood amid the clouds. In the distance, two students appeared. One looked at his Personal Terminal. "Only seventeen hundred combat power. Trash," he said disdainfully, glaring at Lu Yin as he spoke.

The other waved Lu Yin over. "Kid, come here."

Lu Yin calmly flew before the two of them, his gaze indifferent.

"Kid, let me ask you. Have you seen the person who robbed you?" one of them asked.

Lu Yin nodded. "I have."

"Draw us an image of that person," the man said.

Lu Yin shook his head. "I never learned to draw."

"Are you an idiot? Connect to your Personal Terminal, and it can directly produce whatever image you picture," the man snapped.

Lu Yin said blandly, "Actually, there's no need. That person is right here."

"Where?" The two were startled.

Lu Yin pointed at himself. "It's me." With that, he thrust out both palms. The Wave Palm twisted the air and slammed directly into the two men. One of them immediately lost consciousness, knocked out by the shock. The other forcibly endured it and roared, "So it's you! You're seeking death!" As he spoke, he drew a longsword and slashed at Lu Yin.

This man was an academy elite. Though he was no match for Willow and the others, he was far stronger than Teres and his group. Yet Lu Yin's Heavenly Star Palm was still too much for him. With a single strike, Lu Yin shattered his longsword and smashed him into the ground.

Lu Yin easily succeeded in robbing them once more, and the incident once again set the local network ablaze.

Ede's face darkened. How long had it been? Someone else had already been robbed. Where had this bastard come from?

"Everyone remember: do not approach any strangers," Ede sent the notice to everyone. In truth, there was no need for him to say it. Every student had instinctively begun avoiding everyone else, regardless of combat power.

Lu Yin looked into the Void Ring. "Altogether, there are nearly one and a half cubic meters of Star Energy Crystals. I can absorb them now." With that, Lu Yin removed his Personal Terminal and threw it into a mountain stream before rushing in another direction. He found an abandoned farm, crushed the Star Energy Crystals, circulated the Heavenly Star Art, and absorbed them directly.

Far away in Capital City, Zhang Ding Tian and the others stared at the local network in silence for a long time.

"I'd bet it was Lu Yin," Bai Xue said with certainty.

Zhang Ding Tian found it strange. "Why?"

Bai Xue told him about Lu Yin robbing Bailie and Willow, then said, "Who else could it be?"

Zhang Ding Tian's expression turned odd. Lu Yin looked so ordinary, yet he acted so extremely. By now, he had robbed more than fifteen people, including several of the academies' Strongest. What was he trying to do?

If Bai Xue could guess it was Lu Yin, then Granny naturally could as well. Compared to Zhang Ding Tian and the others, Granny was far more shocked. When she had first met Lu Yin, he had only been at the Gaze Realm and had been no match for her at all. Yet so quickly, he had overwhelmed the Strongest of numerous academies. That guy was truly a freak.

Lu Yin leisurely absorbed star energy on the farm. Ede and the other students had nearly gone mad searching for him. They searched for five days without finding the slightest clue, until they finally discovered an ownerless Personal terminal in a mountain ravine.

"Keep searching. If we still can't find him within seven days, forget it. We'll head straight to the Capital City. The second batch of Trial Takers will arrive in another ten days. The plan absolutely cannot go wrong," Ede said darkly.