Ambush in the Starry Sky! The Void Clone's First Battle, with Eyes That Decide Life and Death!

Elsewhere, at the edge of the Kuiper Belt, a spaceship with a silver-gray hull shaped like a giant axe blade was silently cutting through a field of asteroids.

Its engine nozzles emitted only the faintest blue glow, like a giant deep-sea shark stealthily closing in on its prey.

It was an exploration ship belonging to the Nolan Mountain Family!

"Scan complete. Confirmed: unclaimed planet."

Inside the ship, the Intelligent Life Atuka spoke.

"Hahaha!" The captain, Bulo Nolan Mountain, burst into laughter. Then he looked at Blue Star on the screen and couldn't help sighing in admiration.

"What a beautiful planet! So blue—it's love at first sight!" This planet could bring him both wealth and status!

That was, provided the invincible powerhouse who had once governed it was gone. Bulo immediately ordered Atuka to quickly scan for Earth's strongest combatant!

Before long, the data came in. It showed that Earth's strongest was only at Stellar Level One—the reading from when Lin Yuan had killed the Beast Emperor.

It hadn't been updated.

"Hahahahaha! Stellar Level One?!"

Bulo laughed so hard that tears nearly came to his eyes. He slapped the console hard. "Fortune favors us! It really does!

"A life-bearing planet with a population of billions, and its strongest is just an ant who's only just reached the Star Level?"

"Captain, we're rich!"

"This is practically free money! Should we report it to the family right away?" one crew member asked excitedly.

"Report my ass!"

A ruthless, greedy glint flashed in Bulo's eyes. "First, we take control! We'll loot all the most valuable treasures and capture the natives with the best potential. Then we'll notify the family!

"We're drinking this first!"

Just as the whole crew was lost in dreams of becoming the planet's 'lords'—

"Beep! Beep! Beep!"

A shrill red alarm blared without warning, instantly silencing their cheers.

"Warning! Warning!"

Atuka's voice turned urgent. "High-energy reaction detected! An unidentified spaceship has been spotted thirty thousand kilometers away and is approaching at extreme speed!"

"What?!" Bulo's expression changed drastically. "There's someone else here? Could it be another explorer?"

The main screen changed at once. In the pitch-black starry sky, a deep-black speck was rapidly growing larger.

It was a jet-black spaceship shaped like a sharp sword, its sleek lines seemingly made to tear through space.

"Identify its model!" Bulo roared.

"Comparing against the database... It's a C9-Class! This is a custom C9-Class ship, the kind owned only by the Black Dragon Mountain Empire's royal family or its highest-ranking figures!"

Even Atuka's electronic voice took on a hint of humanlike terror.

The air in the control room froze.

A C9-Class Spaceship!

That meant the other party had an unfathomable background—and might even have weapons capable of destroying them with ease.

"Damn it! How could a big shot like that be in such a remote place?" Bulo gritted his teeth, his expression shifting. "Could this planet already be occupied?"

"Captain, what do we do? Retreat?" The other explorers were starting to panic.

Bulo stared fixedly at the black spaceship drawing closer on the screen, greed and reason battling fiercely in his eyes.

Give up an unclaimed life-bearing planet just like that? He couldn't accept it!

"Don't panic!"

Bulo took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. "Even if it's a C9-Class ship, that doesn't mean a Universe Level powerhouse is aboard. Atuka, slow down and approach. Send a universal friendly signal at the same time!"

"We'll test them first!" Bulo straightened his collar, a cunning glint in his eyes.

"If they really are a big shot, we'll back down and retreat. If they're just bluffing... Hmph, we can always make sure there's no evidence out here in the middle of nowhere!"

"And what if some native of this planet stumbled upon a great opportunity? Wouldn't that mean..."

Bulo licked his lips. "That C9-Class ship would be mine too!"

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of kilometers away.

Inside the Starship's control room,

Lin Yuan stood with his hands behind his back.

He watched the silver-gray spaceship on the screen without expression, his eyes filled with frigid stillness.

"Master, the other party has sent a friendly signal and is requesting to establish communications."

Ika's clear voice rang out, carrying a hint of amusement. "They claim to be interstellar travelers passing through and hope to have a 'friendly' conversation with you."

"Interstellar travelers?"

Lin Yuan smiled. "Just a pack of hyenas that caught the scent of blood. There's no need to entertain their friendliness. I'll go meet these so-called interstellar travelers myself."

With that, Lin Yuan turned and headed for the hatch.

In the void, the two spaceships slowly drew closer, then came to a stop facing each other, a thousand meters apart.

The Starship's hatch slowly opened.

In that instant, a figure became the focus of the entire starry sky.

Lin Yuan wore deep-purple Star Armor. Star-like glimmers shone across its streamlined plating, as if he had draped the entire galaxy over his shoulders.

A dark-golden vine curled slowly over his left shoulder like a venomous snake with a will of its own. Its leaves unfurled, radiating a life force that made the heart quail.

Star Vine!

Inside the ship opposite him, Bulo Nolan Mountain's pupils instantly shrank to pinpoints.

"That's... That's the legendary Star Vine?!"

Bulo stared at the screen, his throat dry and his heart pounding.

As a seasoned explorer, he knew all too well how valuable this plant life-form was! A well-cultivated Star Vine could be worth more than ten star systems!

"A C9-Class ship, Star Armor, and a Star Vine..."

Greed had completely overwhelmed reason in Bulo's eyes. He breathed heavily like an ox. "This is practically a walking treasure vault! This kid must have earned the favor of some mighty powerhouse!"

If he could kill him...

If he could get his hands on everything...

Bulo suppressed his excitement and opened a broadcast on all channels. His voice traveled across the void in waves.

"Friend up ahead!"

Bulo's voice was filled with a false smile.

"I'm Bulo, of the Nolan Mountain Family. I've just arrived and have the good fortune to meet you in this desolate place. Judging by your bearing, might you be the lord of this beautiful life-bearing planet?"

He was testing him.

He was trying to confirm Lin Yuan's identity and background.

Lin Yuan floated silently in the void.

Facing the enormous C-class spaceship, he was as tiny as a mote of dust. Yet his proud, aloof presence felt heavier than the planet behind him.

He slowly raised his head. Across the vast distance, his gaze seemed to pierce the ship's alloy hull and bore straight into Bulo's soul.

What kind of eyes were they?

Cold, indifferent, devoid of all emotion—as if he were looking at a group of... corpses.

"Your journey ends here."

Lin Yuan spoke.

His voice was soft, yet the vibration of Origin Force carried it clearly to Bulo and the others, ringing in their ears like a sentence handed down by the Death God.

After saying this, Lin Yuan fell silent.

He stood motionless in the starry sky, his eyelids lowered slightly, as if waiting for something—or perhaps preparing a storm powerful enough to devour everything.

In the spaceship's control room, Bulo froze for a moment, then laughed in fury.

"Hahaha! Good! What a bold native!"

Bulo abruptly dropped his pretense, his face twisted with rage. "You refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit! You're merely at the Star Level. So what if you have all those treasures?

"You can't even unleash their full power! Since you're looking to die, I'll grant your wish!"

"Atuka! Lock onto him! Charge the main cannon! I'm going to blast him to pieces and take all his treasures—"

Before he could finish,

everything changed!

"SKRRRRAA—!!!"

A strange, thunderous sound—like fabric being torn—rang out abruptly in the vacuum.

But it wasn't carried through the air. It struck everyone directly in the depths of their souls, making their scalps prickle and their spirits tremble!

"What's going on?!" Bulo shouted in terror.

He saw the once-calm void beside his ship... shatter like a mirror!

A massive, pitch-black spatial rift appeared out of nowhere.

Then a gigantic dark-red claw slowly reached out of the rift. It was several times larger than their spaceship!

Before that enormous claw, the C-class spaceship looked like a fragile toy.

"What—what is that thing?!"

Bulo's legs began to tremble as the despairing terror of a creature's most basic survival instinct instantly engulfed him!

As the rift widened, all they could see was a pair of eyes slowly opening—

They were eyes that contained the law.