Lingyao Planet

Lingyao Planet.

Lord Luojia finished reading the message with a smile, closed his Smart Optical Computer, and looked at Lance. "That kid's being hunted again."

"Who?" Lord Guden asked instinctively. Then his eyes widened. "That kid?"

"Who knows who he offended?" Lord Luojia said, looking rather gleeful.

Lance, however, looked grave. He turned to Lord Luojia and asked in a low voice, "Could it be the Alien Race?"

As a member of the Giant Axe Arena's management and the Core Layer, he naturally knew some secrets.

For instance, the vast universe contained everything and was unfathomably deep.

The Cosmic Humans seemed powerful, a peak race in the universe. But there were billions upon billions of races, and plenty could rival them.

The seemingly peaceful universe was constantly consumed by battles. Alongside those bloody clashes, the Alien Race was always trying to hide its identity and infiltrate human territory to assassinate geniuses.

Races fought over territory so they could produce more geniuses. More geniuses meant greater numbers of peak fighters and a stronger race.

No powerful fighter had never been a genius. No powerful fighter had never been weak.

Killing a single genius could prevent a top-tier opponent from emerging years later. No Alien Race would pass up such an opportunity.

Strike when your enemy was down, and finish them off!

The strong preyed on the weak and bullied those weaker than themselves!

That was the reality of the universe.

The wars between races were cruel and brutally straightforward: if I was stronger than you, I could destroy you; if I was stronger than you, I could plunder you.

They had no so-called dignity of the strong, nor any notion that bullying the weak was beneath them.

There was no mercy, no retreat!

Because if humanity retreated even one step and grew weaker, the Alien Race would advance one step and grow stronger.

Over time, their strength would decline and their territory would be lost... The consequences would be too severe.

So, between races and species, there could be no room for softness.

The bloody, terrifying wars between races drove many whose resolve was weak insane, leaving them mentally shattered.

For this reason, the Alien Race would stop at nothing.

Did Li Yilin count as a genius?

Yes!

But was he the kind of once-in-hundreds-of-eras, once-in-tens-of-thousands-of-eras genius?

No.

But he was still a genius.

Any genius had the potential to become powerful.

Even if that chance was less than one in a billion.

As long as the possibility existed, it was worth paying a small price to kill him and destroy his chance to grow.

That was the Alien Race!

Those who were not of our race would never share our hearts!

After hearing Lance's guess, Lord Luojia couldn't help giving him a thumbs-up. "You really got it right. Sawatdee said that kid suspects the Alien Race is trying to assassinate him."

"He even sent some evidence."

He opened his Smart Optical Computer, and an image appeared on the screen. It showed a spaceship.

"An E6-Grade Spaceship, worth 513 Hunyuan Units, with a maximum speed of 7.5 times the speed of light..."

"Good grief. That's the sort of spaceship an Immortal usually uses, isn't it?" Lord Guden marveled. He also used an E-Grade Spaceship, but his was worth only a few Hunyuan Units. It was in a completely different league from one worth over five hundred.

Not just anyone could afford such a precious spaceship. There were only three possible sources: first, finding one during a space adventure; second, buying one through the Virtual Universe's normal channels; third, receiving one as a gift from a powerful elder.

The first depended entirely on luck, and not everyone was that lucky, so it could be ruled out. The second would leave a record of the transaction, which would be easy to check. And buying one beyond your means would only invite disaster. As for the third... No elder would give their descendants a treasure so far beyond their station. It would be like asking for trouble.

So, most spaceships that were far beyond their owners' means came from irregular sources. Irregular meant something was wrong, and if something was wrong, it needed investigating!

"Li Yilin is a Giant Axe Warrior. Although he belongs to a race, he has no living relatives. He must have bet all his assets on a life-and-death battle. After a thousand bouts and the odds, he could have accumulated that much wealth." With a single glance, Lance had figured out where Li Yilin's money came from.

"A life-and-death battle..." Lord Guden muttered, then said nothing more.

A life-and-death battle. What did that mean?

It meant the match would end only when one of the two fighters died.

Life-and-death battles were indeed a good way to build wealth, but the outcome depended on chance. Most people wouldn't dare gamble, since a moment's carelessness could wipe out wealth accumulated over countless years.

But the fighters themselves were different. They put their money down, and if they won, they lived and took the money; if they lost, the bookmaker got it. They wouldn't be able to take it with them anyway. So many fighters bet everything they owned on themselves before a match.

Win once, survive, and at the very least, the money in hand would double. It would also be easier to buy cultivation resources. All in all, it was worth it.

Lord Luojia swiped the screen again, and another spaceship appeared. It was gray.

He continued, "An E-Grade Spaceship. Its maximum speed is unknown, but it reached 6.3 times the speed of light while pursuing Li Yilin."

"Let's go," Lance said, rising to his feet.

"Let's not let that kid die right in front of us. That would be a real disgrace," Lord Guden said, getting up too.

The spaceship sped away from Lingyao Planet.

Norman Empire

A desolate, small star system.

In the gap between a massive planet and an asteroid belt, space rippled, and a black spaceship suddenly appeared, speeding forward.

The underside of the fish-shaped spaceship was covered in large swathes of dark marks, as if it had been scorched, along with countless dents that looked as though they had been struck by asteroids.

In the middle of the blackened area was a gaping tear a full meter wide. Looking through it, one could see the inside of the spaceship.

Several jagged cracks spread out from the hole, like a spiderweb clinging to the underside of the ship. They had nearly torn the entire vessel in half.

Clearly, the spaceship had suffered a devastating attack.

The ship plowed through asteroids, and the friction at high speed made its surface glow like a comet. But the ever-present asteroids and densely packed planets still slowed it down, however slightly.

The spaceship's owner didn't hesitate and brought it to a stop.

The hatch opened, and Li Yilin shot out, stowing the battered spaceship in his World Ring.

Just as he finished, a gray spaceship appeared less than a hundred thousand kilometers away.

Li Yilin didn't hesitate. He flew in the opposite direction, toward a giant planet.

The fluctuations of the Laws around him made his figure seem like a ghost, faintly blending into the void. It reduced his presence while allowing him to move faster.

Elsewhere.

The hatch opened. As soon as Bertin flew out of his spaceship, he saw Li Yilin fleeing in panic. Zheng Xinyi smiled and chased after him without hesitation.

A World Lord's speed exceeded one-tenth the speed of light with just a casual burst. In the space of almost two breaths, the distance of a hundred thousand kilometers shrank to a mere thousand.

Bertin sneered. "Kid, did you think the same trick would work again?"

He was moving so fast precisely to prevent Li Yilin from pulling that trick again.

Last time, Li Yilin had managed to escape by sheer luck, using a Desolate Planet.

This time, he wouldn't let the kid get anywhere near a Desolate Planet. Then there was no way he could escape.

He chuckled coldly and waved his hand. Asteroids drifting through space flew toward him, floating all around.

"Die!" He pointed at Li Yilin. Countless asteroids trembled, then shot out like meteors, streaking through the vast void and engulfing Li Yilin in the distance.

He was a World Lord Third Stage. Even while controlling so many asteroids, his immense power ensured that each one struck with the force of a Domain Lord at the seventh or eighth stage.

There were so many of them. Their combined might was unimaginable.