Wutuo Clan

"Crack!"

The armrest beside Li Yilin was crushed instantly, a rage so violent it threatened to shatter his sanity sweeping through his entire body.

Grief and sorrow from the depths of his soul wrapped around his spirit, causing his body to tremble uncontrollably; he used every ounce of his willpower to keep from losing control.

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

But it was only after the original owner broke through to the planetary level that he truly came into contact with human civilization in the universe.

Li Yilin was among the first group to travel by spaceship to the Xize Empire.

So, to be precise, the original owner was a pioneer who led his people to encounter the universe, a hero whose name would be forever etched in the history of Wunuo Star.

Yet, their hero had been completely unaware of everything his worshipping kin had suffered, only learning of it through the words of others.

At this moment, Li Yilin felt only powerlessness.

Sawatdee continued, "Besides you and Sidar, the strongest among the Wutuo Clan are only at the universe level, and there are fewer than a handful of them. Universe-level warriors find it incredibly difficult to survive in the universe; they can barely afford detectors, let alone detect the mineral veins hidden within a planet."

"This metal mine was discovered by the same group of space adventurers who found your planet. Over the past thirty thousand years, they secretly stole quite a lot of metal from the veins. When the arena learned of the metal mine, we sent people over. Those thieves didn't expect us to act so quickly, and they were blocked and arrested on the planet before they could even react..."

"Wunuo Star was placed under surveillance, and the slaves controlled within the mines were all either executed or neutralized."

"The metal that had been mined but not yet transported away and remained on Wunuo Star alone amounted to 10,000 tons, and this was just their harvest from the last hundred years."

Ten thousand tons of metal—one ton of D6-grade metal is worth about 40 universe coins, so ten thousand tons equals 400,000 universe coins.

400,000 universe coins is already a massive fortune, and if you stretch that over thirty thousand years, it totals 1.2 Hunyuan Units.

1.2 Hunyuan Units is a significant amount of wealth, the kind usually held by an average Domain Lord.

The higher the grade of metal, the more difficult it is to extract. A slave with star-level strength, even without rest, might not be able to mine 10,000 jin in a year.

Ten thousand tons—one can only imagine how many people they smuggled in.

Insane and cruel!

With so many people being taken in, the clansmen on Wunuo Star couldn't have been unaware, yet for thirty thousand years, not a single piece of news reached his ears; many must have died along the way.

And these people were all his kin.

Before this discovery, there were even more uncounted lives sacrificed!

All for the sake of so-called profit!

Thinking of this, Li Yilin closed his eyes and clenched his fists tightly; the cold, cruel reality made him feel his own incompetence for the first time.

Strength, his strength was still insufficient!

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 precisely because he was only a Domain Lord, an ordinary one who had only just crossed the threshold of law comprehension, that people dared to strike at him.

"This was a mistake by the Giant Axe Arena. We failed to detect their actions, which led to the loss of so many of your Wutuo clansmen." Sawatdee stood up and bowed deeply to him.

"The arena will compensate for your losses. The compensation is 10 Hunyuan Units, which will be transferred directly to your account shortly."

Bio-Chips were a method used only on slaves. Before Li Yilin earned the title of "Giant Axe Warrior," Wunuo Star was under the name of the Giant Axe Arena and was protected by it.

Those people had trampled on the face of the arena, implanting Bio-Chips into so many people, and even after being discovered, they remained stubborn, choosing to slaughter them all rather than let them live.

To slap the face of the arena in such a way—he hoped they could withstand the arena's wrath.

Sawatdee's eyes were filled with cold light.

"But my people aren't coming back." Li Yilin lowered his head and rubbed his temples hard, yet it did nothing to alleviate the sorrow originating from his soul.

380,000 people!

Most of these people were at the planetary or star level, not to mention the universe-level ones.

The Wutuo Clan was just an ordinary race with seventh-tier bloodlines; adults were only at the "apprentice level." It was very difficult to break through to the planetary level, let alone the star or universe level.

Warriors at the planetary and star levels were the backbone of the Wutuo Clan, and those at the universe level were like trump cards. Losing so many at once was a cost far greater than he could have imagined.

10 Hunyuan Units was far from enough to compensate for the loss of so many clansmen.

But he could not express his dissatisfaction with the arena. He knew the foundation of the arena well; it was the most powerful force in the human race of the universe, backed by a supreme being of the universe and several universe masters.

Therefore...

Even if their mistake caused him to lose so many clansmen, even if the lost clansmen were killed by them, he could say nothing.

He had no right to complain!

Being able to receive compensation from the arena was already their greatest show of sincerity.

He should be satisfied!

Li Yilin closed his eyes, using all his reason to keep from uttering words of resentment.

Sawatdee naturally knew that he was likely dissatisfied; after all, it was his own people who were lost. Because of the metal mine, the arena had sent people to Wunuo Star without authorization, even though the planet had already been returned to Li Yilin, which led to the sacrifice of 380,000 people.

If the people from the arena hadn't been so hasty and had investigated thoroughly before sending anyone, perhaps not all 380,000 could have been saved, but a majority certainly would have been.

It could be said that after causing the deaths of so many Wutuo clansmen, there was no longer any possibility of Li Yilin joining the Giant Axe Arena.

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

It is easy to add flowers to a brocade, but difficult to provide charcoal in the snow.

This moment was the perfect opportunity for him to extend a gesture of friendship.

Li Yilin was naturally aware of this. He was grateful for Sawatdee's help—whether it was the fact that he had traveled thousands of miles to Mulan Planet after receiving his distress signal, or that he had now revealed the Giant Axe Arena's blunder without reservation or concealment. Both were enough to earn his gratitude.

With the resources of the Giant Axe Arena, they could have easily relocated Wunuo Star while he was caught in an assassination attempt and presumed dead, or even hidden the existence of the metal mine from him entirely.

At a time like this, the mere act of showing such integrity was enough to win his favor.

"Lord Sawatdee." Li Yilin stood up abruptly.

"I can give up the mineral deposits on Wunuo Star!" As soon as these words left his lips, Sawatdee's heart skipped a beat, but he didn't rush to speak, waiting instead for him to finish his demands.

Offering benefits always came with strings attached.

There is no such thing as a free lunch in this world.

"I have only three requests. The first is to find everyone behind the incident involving Wunuo Star and kill them all to avenge my fallen clansmen." Li Yilin's expression was icy, yet exceptionally firm.

"The second request: I don't need the metal mine, but I demand that the extraction process must not affect the lifespan of Wunuo Star. Once all the metal has been mined and refined, Wunuo Star must be returned to me in its entirety."

"The third request: The entire star system where Wunuo Star is located must be gifted to me so I can settle my people and allow them to thrive. Even after all the metal is mined, the star system will not be returned."

After stating his three requests in one breath, Li Yilin looked at Sawatdee.

"The requests you've made don't even come close to the value of the metal mine," Sawatdee said slowly.

"Don't talk to me about just one planet; I wouldn't care if it were a hundred or ten thousand planets' worth of metal." Li Yilin clenched his fists, gritting his teeth, his eyes filled with fury. "I only care about my people; they are my roots."

"Whoever dares to lay a hand on the Wutuo Clan must be prepared to face my wrath!"

"Good!"

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

"I accept your terms on behalf of the Arena. I will give you an answer in three days," he said.

Li Yilin's requests were practically non-existent. If he couldn't agree to this, it would be a true insult to his own reputation.

Three days!

Li Yilin's heart skipped a beat. Even though he knew the foundation of the Giant Axe Arena, he couldn't help but feel a sense of dread when witnessing it firsthand.

Yet, he didn't show a hint of his inner turmoil, instead wearing a look of gratitude as he said:

"Thank you, my Lord!"

As his consciousness withdrew from the Virtual Universe, the spaceship continued to travel silently through the Dark Universe.

In this space where he was all alone, Li Yilin finally allowed his emotions to break through. He slammed his fist against the control console, his expression twisted and terrifying.

"380,000 clansmen... damn them!"

When did the deterrent power of the Giant Axe Arena become so weak?

Li Yilin felt a moment of doubt, but he didn't dwell on it. Instead, he opened his smart computer and sent a message to the current leader of the Wutuo Clan.

The current leader of the Wutuo Clan, Blair, was a Universe Level 9 martial artist, but she was much older than Li Yilin.

Counting from birth, Li Yilin was only forty thousand years old, but Blair was already over eighty thousand, nearing ninety thousand.

Her innate potential had been exhausted, and she had only ten thousand years of life left. With no hope of breaking through to become a Domain Lord, she had inherited the position of Wutuo Clan leader.

Shortly after he sent the message, a video call request came through. Li Yilin accepted, and Blair's figure appeared before him.

As the leader of the Wutuo Clan, she couldn't perform a full kowtow, so she simply bowed her head slightly toward Li Yilin to show her respect.

Li Yilin didn't care about such formalities and went straight to the point: "Tell me!"

A flash of grief crossed Blair's eyes. She said in a heavy voice: "Several ships were engaged in battle in the space outside Wunuo Star, and two smaller ships even fought above the main city. Although our people reacted in time, many clansmen were sacrificed."

"Twenty years ago, the Wutuo Clan had a population of 6,513,476. After we re-tallied the numbers two days after the battle... only 5.2 million remain."

Over 1.3 million people—nearly one-fifth of the Wutuo Clan.

This was the cruelty of war!

"Of the 1,304,527 who were sacrificed, 383,424 were lost due to the control of the Bio-Chips. Another 579,300 were cruelly murdered over these past thirty thousand years to keep the secret. Because the timeline was so long, and many were killed only after being implanted with the Bio-Chips without ever leaking the secret, we couldn't identify them all..."

"Excluding those 960,000-plus people, the remaining 300,000-plus were all sacrificed in this recent battle... A school in the main city was destroyed by a bomb, and all 70,000 students inside died!"

The string of numbers was chillingly cold!

It was truly shocking!