Wutuo Clan

Crack!

The armrest beside Li Yilin shattered in his grip. A fury so violent it could have destroyed his reason swept through him in an instant.

Grief and sorrow from the depths of his soul engulfed him. His body trembled uncontrollably, and it took nearly all his willpower to keep from losing control.

When the original owner was born, Wunuo Star had only recently made contact with the wider universe.

But it wasn't until shortly after the original owner broke through to Planetary Level that the planet truly came into contact with Cosmic Human civilization.

Li Yilin had been among the first people to travel to the Xize Empire aboard a spaceship.

So, strictly speaking, the original owner had been a pioneer who led his people into the universe. He was a hero Wunuo Star would remember forever.

Yet their hero had known nothing about what had happened to the people who worshipped him. He had learned of it only from someone else.

At that moment, Li Yilin felt utterly helpless.

Sawatdee continued, "Aside from you and Sidar, the strongest members of the Wutuo Clan are only at Universe Level, and there are fewer than a handful of them. Even Universe Level Fighters struggle to survive in the universe. They can barely afford detectors, so they have no way to detect the mineral deposits hidden within a planet.

"This metal mine was discovered by the same group of Universe Adventurers who found your planet all those years ago. For thirty thousand years, they secretly stole metal from the deposits. As soon as we learned about the mine, the Martial Arena sent people there. They didn't expect us to act so quickly. Before they could react, we surrounded them on the planet and arrested them all...

"Wunuo Star has also been placed under surveillance. The enslaved workers in the mines have all been killed or brought under control."

There had been as much as ten thousand tons of metal left on Wunuo Star, dug up but not yet transported away. And that was only what they had collected over the past hundred years.

One ton of D6-grade metal was worth around forty Universe Coins. Ten thousand tons would be worth four hundred thousand Universe Coins.

Four hundred thousand Universe Coins was already a considerable fortune. Over thirty thousand years, that would amount to 1.2 Hunyuan Units.

1.2 Hunyuan Units was a great deal of wealth. It was about as much as an ordinary Domain Lord possessed.

The higher the grade of metal, the harder it was to mine. Even a Star Level slave working without rest might not be able to mine ten thousand pounds in a year.

The sheer amount of metal made it clear how many people they had smuggled in.

They were mad and cruel!

With so many people coming and going, the Wunuo Star natives couldn't possibly have been unaware. Yet for thirty thousand years, not a word had reached Li Yilin. He could only imagine how many had died along the way.

And they had all been his people.

There had been even more uncounted victims before the operation was uncovered!

All for the sake of so-called profit!

At the thought, Li Yilin shut his eyes and clenched his fists. For the first time, the cold, cruel reality made him feel powerless.

He still wasn't strong enough!

If he were an Immortal, even the most ordinary Military Lord Immortal, no one would dare covet a planet with a D-grade metal mine.

It was only because he was merely a Domain Lord, an ordinary one who had barely begun to comprehend the laws, that anyone dared target him.

"This was the Giant Axe Arena's failure. We failed to detect their actions, and that led to the loss of so many Wutuo Clan members." Sawatdee rose to his feet and bowed deeply to him.

"The Arena will make up for your losses. You'll receive ten Hunyuan Units as compensation, which will be transferred directly into your account shortly."

Bio-Chips were a method used only on slaves. Before Li Yilin had earned the title of Giant Axe Warrior, Wunuo Star had belonged to the Giant Axe Arena and been under its protection.

Those people had trampled on the Arena's reputation, implanting Bio-Chips in so many people. Even after they were discovered, they had stubbornly refused to surrender, choosing to kill them all rather than spare anyone.

They had so brazenly insulted the Arena. They could only hope they were ready to face its wrath.

Sawatdee's eyes were cold with fury.

"But I can't bring my people back." Li Yilin lowered his head and rubbed his brow hard, but nothing could ease the grief that came from his soul.

Three hundred and eighty thousand people!

Most of them had been at Planetary or Star Level, and there had even been Universe Level Fighters among them.

The Wutuo Clan was merely an ordinary race with a seventh-grade bloodline. Its members reached only "Apprentice Level" upon adulthood. Breaking through to Planetary Level was already difficult, let alone reaching Star Level or Universe Level.

Planetary and Star Level Fighters were the backbone of the Wutuo Clan, while Universe Level Fighters were its trump cards. Losing so many at once had cost far more than he could have imagined.

Ten Hunyuan Units couldn't begin to make up for the loss of so many of his people.

But he couldn't show his displeasure with the Arena. He knew how powerful it was: the strongest faction among the Cosmic Humans, backed by a Supreme Master of the Universe and several Universe Masters.

So...

Even though their failure had cost him so many of his people, even though the Arena's people had killed them, he couldn't say a thing.

He had no right to complain!

The Arena's compensation was already the greatest gesture of goodwill he could expect.

He ought to be satisfied!

Li Yilin shut his eyes and summoned every last bit of his willpower to keep the words of resentment inside.

Sawatdee naturally knew that Li Yilin was probably dissatisfied. After all, he had lost his people. The Giant Axe Arena had sent people to Wunuo Star without permission over the metal mine, even though the planet had already been returned to Li Yilin. That was what had led to the deaths of 380,000 people.

If the Arena's people hadn't been in such a hurry and had investigated before sending anyone, they might not have saved all 380,000, but they could certainly have saved most of them.

After causing the deaths of so many Wutuo Clan members, the Arena had effectively lost any chance of recruiting Li Yilin.

Sawatdee no longer cared whether Li Yilin joined the Giant Axe Arena. What mattered most to him was building a good relationship with Li Yilin.

It was easy to add flowers to brocade; much harder to offer help when someone was in need.

This was the best time for him to show his goodwill.

Li Yilin understood that too. He was grateful for Sawatdee's help, both for coming all the way to Mulan Planet after receiving his distress call and for now revealing the Giant Axe Arena's mistake without holding anything back. Either act alone was enough to earn his gratitude.

Given the Arena's capabilities, it could easily have moved Wunuo Star while he was being assassinated and his life hung in the balance. It could even have kept the metal mine's existence entirely secret from him.

The fact that they had chosen to be honest was enough to make him feel favorably toward them.

"Lord Sawatdee." Li Yilin abruptly stood.

"I'm willing to give up the mineral deposits on Wunuo Star!" Sawatdee's heart skipped a beat at those words, but he didn't rush to respond. He waited for Li Yilin to finish explaining his demands.

There had to be a reason he was offering something of value.

No one got something for nothing.

"I have only three demands. First, find everyone behind what happened on Wunuo Star and kill them all, to avenge my people." Li Yilin's expression was cold, but his resolve was unmistakable.

"Second, I'm willing to give up the metal mine, but I demand that mining it not shorten Wunuo Star's lifespan. Once all the metal has been extracted and refined, return Wunuo Star to me intact."

"Third, give me the entire star system Wunuo Star belongs to, so I can settle my people there and let them multiply. Even after the metal mine has been completely excavated, the star system must not be taken back."

Only after laying out all three demands did Li Yilin look at Sawatdee.

"Those demands of yours aren't worth as much as the metal mine," Sawatdee said slowly.

"I don't care about the metal deposits, whether they're on one planet or a hundred, or even ten thousand." Li Yilin clenched his fists, gritting his teeth, his eyes filled with fury. "All I care about is my people. They're my roots.

"Anyone who dares target the Wutuo Clan had better be ready to face my wrath!"

"Good!"

Sawatdee called out, "It seems thirty thousand years of life-and-death battles haven't worn away your fighting spirit."

"I accept your demands on behalf of the Arena. You'll have an answer in three days," he said.

Li Yilin's demands were practically nothing. If Sawatdee couldn't agree to them on the spot, he would be showing Li Yilin a profound lack of respect.

Three days!

Li Yilin's heart skipped a beat. Even though he knew how powerful the Giant Axe Arena was, seeing its capabilities firsthand was still frightening.

But he showed no sign of it. Instead, he wore a grateful expression and said,

"Thank you, sir!"

His consciousness left the Virtual Universe, but the spaceship continued to travel quietly through the Dark Universe.

Alone in the confined space, Li Yilin finally dared to let his emotions show. He slammed a fist into the control panel, his face twisted with fury.

"Three hundred and eighty thousand of my people. Damn it!"

Had the Giant Axe Arena's deterrent power really become so weak?

Li Yilin wondered for a moment, then put the thought aside. He opened his Smart Optical Computer and sent a message to the Wutuo Clan's current leader.

The Wutuo Clan's current leader, Blair, was a ninth-level Universe Level Fighter, but she was much older than Li Yilin.

Counting from the day he was born, Li Yilin was only a little over forty thousand years old. Blair, however, was more than eighty thousand years old and nearly ninety thousand.

Her talent had run its course, and she had only a little over ten thousand years left to live. Her life was nearing its end. Without a fortuitous opportunity, she had virtually no chance of breaking through to Domain Lord. That was why she had inherited the position of Wutuo Clan leader.

Not long after he sent the message, a video call came in. Li Yilin answered, and Blair appeared before him.

As the Wutuo Clan leader, she couldn't perform a formal bow. She merely dipped her head and bent at the waist slightly to show her respect.

Li Yilin didn't mind the formalities. He got straight to the point. "Go ahead."

Pain flickered in Blair's eyes. In a heavy voice, she said, "Several spaceships are fighting in the space outside Wunuo Star. There are even two small ships fighting above the main city. Our people reacted quickly, but quite a few still died."

"Twenty years ago, the Wutuo Clan counted 6,513,476 people. Two days after the fighting, we counted again... only a little over 5.2 million remained."

More than 1.3 million people, nearly one-fifth of the Wutuo Clan.

That was the cruelty of war!

"Of the 1,304,527 people who died, 383,424 were killed because they were controlled by Bio-Chips. More than 579,300 were discovered by accident over the past thirty thousand years and brutally killed to keep the operation secret. Since this went on for so long, and many were killed after having Bio-Chips implanted, they never exposed the secret... so we couldn't confirm their identities..."

"Excluding those more than 960,000, the remaining 300,000 or so died in this battle... A school in the main city was destroyed by a bomb. More than 70,000 students were inside. They all died!"

The string of numbers was chillingly cold!

It was horrifying to behold!