Star Array

"Fine. You're the Hierarch, so you have the final say."

Alarak said indifferently.

Afterward, Shen Jun had Kerasul activate the Warp Network and forcibly warp the Protoss present back to their homes. Before he was done, he even used a Stasis Field to seal off their rooms.

In truth, Shen Jun was not angry over this matter alone. He had wanted this group of Protoss to enter seclusion for a long time. What truly worried him was something else.

Because most of the onlooking Protoss were Tal'darim. As mentioned before, nearly the entire Tal'darim race was addicted to Terrazine—but where was he supposed to find Terrazine in the Super God Universe?

Without Terrazine, things were manageable in the short term. However, a month before Variegated Blue arrived, the Tal'darim Protoss had gradually begun showing abnormalities. Their temperaments became even more violent and irritable, and they would gather to brawl at the slightest provocation. Several incidents had even resulted in serious injuries.

With the Protoss Medical Center around, treatment was simple. But the nature of these incidents was far too vile. If a major war had not been imminent, Shen Jun would have severely punished the Tal'darim who caused trouble.

Although such things were commonplace among the Tal'darim, under Shen Jun's demands, Alarak also tightened his control over them.

After some more time passed, the situation not only failed to improve, but the number of brawls actually increased. Only then did Shen Jun realize something was wrong.

Thinking of Terrazine, wasn't this exactly how heavily addicted junkies acted when they had no drugs to take?

Then another great war came. Spurred on by the flames of war, the Tal'darim became even more agitated and unstable, making it easy for them to accidentally injure their own people.

That was why Shen Jun had long planned to force them into seclusion.

One month was actually a very short time and would not change much, but at least it could temporarily calm the Tal'darim Protoss down.

An even crueler trial awaited them. Shen Jun decided that the Tal'darim had to completely quit Terrazine!

Alarak had stopped using Terrazine long ago, because he had found a faster way to increase his strength: through the Rak'Shir Ritual, killing his challengers or provoking others into challenging him, directly drawing on his opponents' life essence to strengthen himself.

By now, Alarak's true strength had long become unfathomable.

Other than the freak Tassadar, probably no one could defeat Alarak in a one-on-one fight.

He Xi had been thoroughly beaten by Gao JianGuo from start to finish.

"Alarak was rather offensive earlier, Miss He Xi. His personality is arrogant and aloof. In fact, many Protoss do not like him much either."

Shen Jun casually patted He Xi on the shoulder. "Still, Alarak is actually very loyal to the Protoss deep down. Although he is obsessed with the Tal'darim's ancient traditions... let's not get into that for now. Really, as long as you don't mock him to his face, he's quite easy to get along with."

The corners of He Xi's mouth twitched. Recalling the undisguised killing intent in Alarak's scarlet eyes, that counted as easy to get along with?

Because Alarak had held back at the end, He Xi was not actually injured. Perhaps she wanted to vent her anger, or perhaps she wanted to scam him. In any case, she lay down on the floor right in front of Shen Jun and put on a pitifully delicate expression.

"I... I was... badly injured. I need treatment... Carry me there."

Shen Jun stared at He Xi with a dark look on his face. Lady, that was not how you scammed someone.

Shen Jun, who considered himself to know He Xi fairly well, knew she would not get up easily. What else could he do? He could only send her to the Medical Center—but carrying her was impossible. Absolutely impossible in this lifetime.

Without another word, Shen Jun simply waved his hand. Just as He Xi was confused, an azure beam of light enveloped them both.

He Xi immediately understood what Shen Jun intended to do.

"Damn it, Shen Jun, you bastard! Would carrying me kill you? It's not like I'm heavy!"

He Xi roared madly in the depths of her heart.

Sure enough, every person had their match. He Xi, who had run wild through Angel City and feared not even Keisha, had finally met her opponent. Her heart was filled with helplessness.

In just a few seconds, He Xi felt something soft and comfortable against her back. Without being told, she knew she was lying on a hospital bed, while Shen Jun stood beside it and looked down at her.

Protoss hospital beds were made from a soft elastic metal. It felt much like sponge, soft and easy to knead. After being squeezed into a ball, it would quickly return to its original shape. Lying on it was extremely comfortable.

"He Xi, how much longer are you going to pretend? The examination results are already out. You're perfectly healthy."

Shen Jun stared at He Xi.

He Xi: "..."

This man was destined to die alone. He was beyond saving!

Left with no choice, He Xi could only sit up and get out of bed. Before she could move, a pair of warm hands pressed her down.

"Forget it. With Alarak's strength, it's normal for him to cause hidden injuries that can't be detected. You should lie down and rest."

Hmm... perhaps he was not completely beyond saving after all, He Xi thought.

"By the way, He Xi, there's something I need your help with."

"What is it?"

"You know that we Protoss were sealed away for too long. This universe is now completely different from what we knew. The universe is constantly expanding, and the positions of galaxies are not fixed. After more than two hundred thousand years, nearly all the planetary coordinates we once had have become invalid. So I want the latest Star Chart."

"If we have to survey everything again, who knows how long it will take. The resources in this star system are not abundant enough to sustain such long-term consumption."

Upon hearing this, He Xi did not answer immediately. Shen Jun was not impatient either and simply waited quietly.

Finally, He Xi asked, "You Protoss don't enjoy invading other civilizations at will, do you?"

"What do you think?"

Shen Jun did not answer. Instead, he asked her a question in return.

He Xi nodded. That was true. If the Protoss truly enjoyed waging war across the universe, they would definitely have left behind plenty of traces. Yet neither God River nor the angels had ever discovered any. The most likely possibility was that the Protoss did not like expeditions. They had remained on their homeworld, at most venturing out to collect resources or explore the universe.

By comparison, the angels spread their Justice Ideals throughout the universe, influencing countless low-level civilizations. They even suppressed the military development of their subordinate civilizations. The Yi Ren Civilization was a typical example: after following the angels for seventeen thousand years, they still could not defeat the Taotie and did not even possess a single Third Generation God Body.

As for the Taotie, Carl had helped the entire Styx Civilization advance from the Pre-Nuclear Era to the Aerospace Civilization in only three thousand years. It was already no weaker than the Yi Ren Civilization.

That was not even counting the Void Engine he had provided.

Thinking about it that way, the Protoss were far more peaceful than the angels.

Besides, a Star Chart was not some rare treasure to begin with. Most Aerospace Civilizations that had existed for over a thousand years possessed one, not to mention the major god-creating civilizations. After all, the coordinates on a Star Chart had practically no real use. Advanced civilizations could hide their own star systems with ridiculous ease.

Thus, He Xi very readily gave Shen Jun the Star Chart she possessed. Naturally, she did not upload it to the Psionic Matrix, but stored it in an Ian Crystal, which could preserve any memories its user wished to input.

With the Star Chart in hand, it was simple to have Kerasul improve it into a Star Array that would change automatically along with the movement of galaxies.