"Maya, Walanna, I'm sorry. I won't be coming home."
Despair welled up in the eyes of Nuodi, the universe level 8 slave, as the faces of his family back home surfaced in his mind.
He had left his homeland and ventured into the universe, thinking he could become a powerhouse, return in glory, and lead his people to rise.
Sadly, the universe was too cold, too cruel.
Slash!
A blade flashed past, and blood sprayed across the starry sky. A line of blood appeared between Nuodi's brows, and his entire body split in two.
Modu grabbed one half of Nuodi's corpse and removed the storage ring.
"Finally, it's mine! Coming here personally wasn't a wasted effort!"
Wild joy appeared on Modu's face.
"He used a D-class railgun to kill Bagoer back then. A single D-class railgun is worth tens of billions of Universe Coins at the very least, and the expensive ones go for hundreds of billions. Add in everything else, and the value is simply immeasurable."
Modu eagerly bound the storage ring to himself and took out a large number of treasures.
"Tier 3 Force Weapons, Fourth-Order Origin Force Weapons, Fifth-Order Force Weapons... where's the railgun? Why don't I see the railgun?"
The wild joy vanished from Modu's face, which darkened slightly.
"Could it be on someone else?"
Modu turned and flew back, removing the storage rings from the two universe level 1 slaves. Then he flew to where the spaceship had exploded and retrieved all the storage rings and bracelets from the scattered wreckage.
Modu returned to his D-class spaceship and emptied every storage ring and bracelet, piling the miscellaneous contents into a small mountain.
There were indeed plenty of treasures, but he found no railgun.
"Did he sell the railgun?"
Modu had examined the spaceship's wreckage without finding the railgun, and now it wasn't in the storage rings either.
The only explanation was that the railgun had been sold.
"Forget it. With these treasures, at least this trip wasn't for nothing."
Modu estimated the treasures' value at over 450 billion Universe Coins, thirty times his entire fortune.
With such a tremendous haul, that trace of frustration in his heart instantly dissipated.
"If I sell these treasures for resources, I'll have enough to cultivate all the way to Domain Lord Ninth Stage."
"Hahahaha!"
Modu couldn't help grinning and laughing wildly as the D-class spaceship left that stretch of starry sky and disappeared.
The moment the universe level 8 slave was killed, Chu Yuan, far away on Water Dragon Planet, received the news as well.
"Master, the First Fleet has been completely wiped out in the Xiaohua Empire!"
Feiluan spoke urgently.
"Who did it?"
A fierce glint flashed through Chu Yuan's eyes as he ordered Feiluan, "Bring up the last video footage transmitted by the spaceship's AI and the slaves' AIs."
Light shone from Feiluan's eyes, projecting three-dimensional images that hovered around Chu Yuan.
The footage showed the First Fleet coming under a barrage of fire, exploding and breaking apart, the many star level and planetary level slaves turning to ash, and the three universe level slaves being killed.
For that Domain Lord in azure armor, killing a universe level 8 slave was as easy as slaughtering a sheep.
"Is this someone pursuing me from the GR Star System?"
Several months earlier, in the Radiance Empire's GR Star System, Chu Yuan had blasted a universe level 9 powerhouse to death with a railgun. Even then, he had suspected that the man had someone backing him.
Thus, after returning, Chu Yuan had retired his original C9-Class Spaceship and assigned it to the First Fleet.
Of the 500 fleets under Chu Yuan's command, 499 used standard C5-class spaceships. Only the First Fleet used a C9-Class Spaceship.
Chu Yuan had found that C9-Class Spaceship during his first fortuitous opportunity. It was an old model from a million years ago, not a standard-issue spaceship, so its distinguishing features were fairly obvious.
For a Domain Lord using his connections and means, tracking down that spaceship wouldn't be difficult.
Sure enough, the First Fleet had now been completely wiped out.
"A Domain Lord couldn't have appeared in the Xiaohua Empire and hunted down my fleet by such a coincidence. This person must be the one behind that universe level 9 warrior."
"Feiluan, investigate his identity!"
Feiluan analyzed the killer's armor, build, moves, and distinguishing traits in the footage, then provided a list of suspects.
[Suspect one: Lockhart, sovereign of the Xiaohua Empire, Domain Lord Eighth Stage warrior. Probability of being the killer: %.] [Suspect two: Griffey, founding patriarch of the Xiaohua Empire's Griffey Clan, Domain Lord Level 3 warrior. Probability of being the killer: %.] [Suspect three: Lankai Hall, second-generation patriarch of the Xiaohua Empire's Hall Clan, Domain Lord First Stage spirit reader. Probability of being the killer: %.] [Suspect four: Modu Deni, member of the Radiance Empire's imperial family and younger brother of Sovereign Elijah Deni, Domain Lord Fourth Stage warrior. Probability of being the killer: %.] [Suspect five: Elijah Deni, sovereign of the Radiance Empire, Domain Lord Seventh Stage warrior. Probability of being the killer: %.]
There were only a few thousand Domain Lords in the entire Black Dragon Mountain Starfield, and every one of them was a major figure.
After several rounds of screening, 27 people remained whose probability of being the culprit exceeded 10%.
"Master, the killer was very cautious. He never opened his helmet from beginning to end, and the AIs didn't capture his appearance. There's simply no way to pinpoint his identity."
Feiluan spoke from beside him.
Chu Yuan stared expressionlessly at the suspect list. "The Domain Lords of the Radiance Empire are still the most suspicious."
Chu Yuan operated the screen with his fingers, displaying information on the Radiance Empire's two Domain Lords.
Sovereign Elijah Deni was a Domain Lord Seventh Stage warrior, and his younger brother, Modu Deni, was a Domain Lord Fourth Stage warrior. Both had mastered the Wind Domain, the same as the killer had used in the footage.
"Can you pinpoint the trackers' locations?"
Chu Yuan pressed.
He had equipped every slave with a tracker and told them to keep it inside their storage rings.
If they were killed and their storage rings taken, the trackers would be taken along too.
There had been thousands of slaves in the First Fleet, with thousands of trackers hidden in all sorts of inconspicuous places.
Some were hidden inside ores, some inside armor, and others in food or alcoholic drinks.
Unless the killer disposed of every last tracker, Chu Yuan could pinpoint his location through even a single one he failed to find.
Feiluan's eyes lit up, projecting a star map marked with densely packed red dots.
"We've detected 348 tracker signals in the area where the First Fleet was destroyed. The killer left those behind. We can't pinpoint the others for now. The killer should currently be traveling through the Dark Universe, where signals can't be tracked."
"Then we'll wait. He'll come out sooner or later."
Chu Yuan gazed expressionlessly at the projected star map, his eyes icy as killing intent surged.
"Kid, I have to remind you: Domain Lords aren't that easy to kill. Be careful you don't capsize in a gutter."
Xiong Ba jumped out and sat on Chu Yuan's shoulder, speaking gravely.
Chu Yuan snorted coldly. "My people aren't that easy to kill either, and my treasures certainly aren't something anyone can just snatch away."
The First Fleet had reported that the treasures found this time were worth over 450 billion Universe Coins.
There was no way Chu Yuan would simply watch someone else steal such an enormous fortune.
For daring to kill his people and steal his treasures, Chu Yuan wouldn't be able to quell the hatred in his heart without slaughtering the killer.
So what if he was a Domain Lord? Chu Yuan had a D5-class railgun and a D9-class laser gun. With sufficiently meticulous planning and preparations, he wasn't impossible to kill!
Time flew, and 28 days passed in the blink of an eye.
During those 28 days, Chu Yuan diligently practiced secret techniques and domains as usual, sensing the Fire Origin Law, while ordering Feiluan to monitor the trackers at all times.
That day, Feiluan's eyes suddenly lit up red.
"Master, we've pinpointed the trackers' locations!"
Feiluan's voice was excited as he immediately projected a star map.
In one region of the star map, 162 trackers were clustered together, moving rapidly.