Star Odyssey

Chapter 1007: Machinery Ant Nest

Under the open sky, Huang San walked over with two bottles of wine in his hands, and he passed one over to Lu Yin.

Lu Yin took the bottle and drank a mouthful. “So you’re not planning to return to the Sixth Mainland?”

Huang San shook his head. “That’s difficult to say. Even before we discuss whether or not I can even go back, if I do, I’ll have to deal with the Autumnfrost family. Things might be fine if I don’t return to my Huang family.” 

Lu Yin replied, “The war’s over and the Sixth Mainland has completely retreated.”

Huang San was surprised at this news. “Your Fifth Mainland actually managed to defend itself. How miraculous.”

Lu Yin laughed. Miraculous? Nobody had any idea what the Fifth Mainland’s Neoverse was hiding, and although the Sixth Mainland had been absolutely confident in being able to crush the Fifth Mainland, Lu Yin had felt that the Fifth Mainland was not as simple as people assumed it to be. There were things that were hidden quite deeply. Even if the other powers were ignored, it was a fact that the primary heirs of the Three Dark Hands had never even shown their faces during the battle in the Cosmic Sea. There must have been other plans in the works. 

Nobody seemed to know just what those plans might be, and even the Outerverse’s top powers were clueless. People’s thoughts were often too naive. 

“Deafmute Bro, I’m really curious. Who beat you up so badly?” Huang San asked once again.

Lu Yin remained silent for a moment. “An old enemy.”

“From the Fifth Mainland?” Huang San was surprised.

Lu Yin nodded. “You wouldn’t know even if I told you. Are you planning on living in the Technocracy from now on?”

Huang San shook his head. “I don’t know. We’ll see.”

Lu Yin glanced over at the mansion. “She’s willing to follow you?”

Huang San suddenly looked depressed, and he shook his head. “She just relies on me to survive and for comfort.”

“Since you guys are relying on each other, then at least you have a different status in her heart now. Congrats,” Lu Yin replied. 

Huang San forced out a smile. While he hoped that Yan Xiaojing truly liked him and was not merely relying on him due to their desperate circumstances, he was still satisfied with things as they were. It was fine just being together with his beloved, even if they did end up having to remain in the Technocracy in the future. 

Lu Yin took out his gadget and tried to use it, but there was no signal of any sort. Nothing from the Human Domain could reach this place, so he could not contact anyone. However, there was still one function of the gadget that he could use, which was the scan function that generated a basic star chart. 

The gadget itself was a signal transmitter, so it could connect to various interstellar signals. Even if there were no signals, the gadget could still use its transmitter to scan the surrounding area and create a local star chart, and the range of this ability was about the size of a galaxy. 

A galaxy was simply too minuscule in the scope of the entire universe, and Lu Yin had never used this function before. He also did not dare to use it at this moment, as the Technocracy’s research teams might detect the scanning signal and then track it down to find him. There was no way he could survive against the Technocracy’s powerhouses. 

“Do you have any way of leaving this place?” Lu Yin asked. 

Huang San smiled bitterly, “We accidentally got here when we were running away from Autumnfrost Qing. We actually don’t even know where this place is, let alone how to leave.”

Lu Yin muttered and touched his gadget. If he did not leave, then he would be trapped in the Technocracy forever, which was not at all what he wanted. Was such a fate any different from simply dying? 

Over the next few days, Lu Yin familiarized himself with the changes to his body, and he also explored the planet. However, he was dismayed to discover that the planet’s technology was only barely able to explore the surrounding bit of outer space and that they had barely launched any satellites. This planet could not even explore their own galaxy let alone help Lu Yin escape. If he simply got in a collapsible spacecraft and traveled in a random direction, he would have a better chance at success than trying to get help from this planet. 

Helpless, Lu Yin could only take a risk and scan the galaxy with his gadget.

Once the gadget was activated, a screen appeared before his eyes as the gadget continuously scanned in all directions. Duolun Star appeared first before the known area expanded out in all directions with the planet at the center. Soon, the star chart of an entire galaxy could be seen. 

As he studied the star chart, there was a blank look on Lu Yin’s face. He could not recognize anything on this chart. Just a single galaxy was not enough, as he could not find anything that would give him a sense of direction of how to return to the Human Domain. 

Huang San was astonished when he saw what Lu Yin was doing to learn about the galaxy that they were in, and he hurriedly had Lu Yin deactivate his gadget. “Deafmute Bro, this is the Technocracy! Even someone like me, who’s from the Sixth Mainland, knows that this entire place is constantly being monitored by the Master Brain. Playing around like this will just end up getting us all killed.” 

Yan Xiaojing had a serene expression as she stared at Lu Yin.

Lu Yin apologetically responded, “I’m sorry, but I want to go back.”

Huang San had no other options available, so he simply stayed quiet.

Lu Yin spoke up, “How about this—I’ll leave this planet and only then will I continue to explore this galaxy.”

Huang San wanted to say something, but Yan Xiaojing spoke up first. “Thank you.”

Lu Yin nodded, as he understood these two’s intentions. They had wanted to live ordinary lives, and he would not allow himself to disturb their peace. 

Before he left the planet, Lu Yin seriously asked Huang San, “Are you really willing to stay here?” 

Huang San did not seem fully satisfied with this situation. He was still young, so how could he be willing to give up on everything? However, returning to the Sixth Mainland would spell his death, as the Autumnfrost family was incredibly powerful, and it was not something that he could go against. In order for the Huang and Yan families to remain safe, the two youths could only remain where they were. 

Lu Yin patted Huang San’s shoulder and then flew up into space.

His current plan was very dangerous, as he had heard in the past that nobody could learn the truth about the Technocracy. If anyone wanted to learn about the Technocracy, then their only option was to charge in. The entire Technocracy was constantly being monitored, and it was practically impossible for someone to sneak in. 

Fortunately, when Lu Yin had entered, he had done so as a corpse. Since he was already within their domain, perhaps their internal surveillance was not as extreme as the border’s.

Huang San’s expression grew complex as he watched Lu Yin leave. 

Yan Xiaojing moved over to the fatty’s side. “I’m sorry to burden you.”

Huang San looked at Yan Xiaojing, completely confused. “Aren’t I the one burdening you? Xiaojing, you tossed Autumnfrost Qing aside because of me, and I ended up implicating you with my problems. Still, there’s no other way about it, as handsome people have more struggles.” 

Yan Xiaojing chuckled. Huang San liked to joke around, and he did his best to make her happy, which caused her heart to sweeten. “Actually, we can leave this place. Even if we can’t go back to the Sixth Mainland, we can still head to the Fifth Mainland.” 

“That’s going to be difficult, as we can’t cross through the boundary. We’ll have to see. We’re not living in complete seclusion, and we still have our futons too. If the day comes when Fatty Bro obtains a Progenitor’s inheritance, the universe will be fawning over me,” Huang San said with an absurd level of confidence. 

Yan Xiaojing softly grunted in acknowledgement. She then looked towards the Sixth Mainland. Who would be willing to live in seclusion in this place?

After leaving Star Duolun, Lu Yin found a random planet and landed on it. This place was covered with countless poisonous air currents, tornadoes, and powerful storms. Each cyclone was strong enough to tear a Limiteer’s body apart, but this was fine as a temporary basecamp for Lu Yin. 

He had to find a path out of the Technocracy, but such a task was impossible with the current range of his gadget’s scan. At this time, Lu Yin could only do one thing. He raised a hand and caused his die to appear. He was going to roll six pips: Possession. Then, he would Possess someone from the Technocracy. Given his current strength, whoever he merged with would not be weak, and there was a strong possibility of finding a star chart. 

Everything depended on whether or not he could roll six pips: Possession at this time. It would be pointless to roll a six in the Timestop Space, so everything depended on his luck.

Fortunately, he had not rolled his die in a long time, so Lu Yin was feeling lucky enough that he might succeed on the first try. 

Lu Yin thought about his plan and evaluated his situation. Then, he set his cosmic ring aside and held on to less than one star essence. This tiny bit of star essence should be enough for him to Possess someone within the Technocracy, though he was hoping that there would still be people for him to Possess in this place. He did not expect to be able to Possess androids. 

He took a deep breath and then tapped out. His die slowly spun around before finally stopping on six pips: Possession. Lu Yin felt ecstatic as he was suddenly brought to a familiar, expansive darkness. This place was filled with scattered light balls in all directions. 

He quickly looked around for the brightest, most appealing sphere and then charged straight at it, hoping that it belonged to someone from the Technocracy.

As the scenery once again changed before his eyes, Lu Yin took a clear look at his surroundings, but surprisingly, a pair of mechanical antennas were hanging in front of him. He jumped in fright and hurriedly retreated, only to discover that his body was very strange. When he looked down, he was instantly overwhelmed; he had actually Possessed an ant’s body. 

An ant? How is this even possible? So he was even able to Possess an ant? Lu Yin was bewildered. 

When he moved about, he quickly realized that this was actually a mechanical body. At no point in his life had Lu Yin ever encountered something so mysterious. Somehow, he had become a mechanical ant!

He was very unaccustomed to moving these antennas about, as it was a very strange sensation. When he looked up, he saw that there was another ant in front of him, and when he turned around, he realized that there were more mechanical ants in every direction. Just what was going on? 

Lu Yin rudely jumped onto the mechanical ant in front of him so that he could get a better look at his surroundings. To his amazement, the place where he was located was filled with nothing but mechanical ants. He must have fallen into a mechanical ant nest!

It would be fine if these were ordinary ants, but they were all mechanical creatures. Since he could still Possess them, then it meant that these mechanical ants were extremely intelligent, and that they must be quite strong as well. 

Given Lu Yin’s current strength, those who he Possessed should at least be as strong as a Hunter. However, there were countless mechanical ants packed into this place—they couldn’t all be Hunters, could they?

The more Lu Yin thought about it, the more afraid he became. There was no way that that was the case, as there were no fewer than tens of millions of ants here, and that was just the ones that he could see. It was possible that there were countless more somewhere else. If all of these mechanical ants had the strength of a Hunter, then their sheer number would be enough to sweep through the entire Outerverse, and they could bring a calamity to even the entire Human Domain. 

Lu Yin restlessly shook his body as he leaped from one ant to the next, trying to determine just how many ants there were here. The strange thing was that these mechanical ants were all silent and perfectly still, though there was no sign of any outside manipulation. These ants simply did not move. 

The entire place was rather dusky, and Lu Yin continued to jump from one ant to another. Even after half a day of moving around, he still could not see an end to these creatures. There were simply too many mechanical ants, and they were all packed extremely close together.

He felt appalled, could this be something that the Technocracy had specifically created to deal with the Human Domain? If that was the case, then this was too terrifying. There were far too many of them. However, Lu Yin could not determine the strength of the body that he had Possessed, as these creatures were mechanical. They did not use star energy, domains, battle force, or anything else that he was familiar with. For that matter, this body could not even speak. 

This entire situation was strange. Did this really count as a Possession?

Someone must have created these mechanical ants, and at this moment, all Lu Yin wanted to do was find the manufacturer. Even if he ended up in front of an Envoy-level powerhouse, he would not mind, as the only thing that he was concerned with was finding out where exactly this place was. 

Suddenly, the scenery in front of his eyes changed again. His time was up, and he had been thrown back into his body. 

Lu Yin clearly saw that he had returned to the planet that he was using as his temporary base. As far as he could see, there were gales and cyclones. 

The astonishment in Lu Yin’s eyes did not fade. The scene from earlier felt like it had been a dream, but he was absolutely certain that it had been real. Were there really nests of innumerable and powerful mechanical ants? Just what could the objective of the creator be? Lu Yin did not dare to think about this for too long, as there had simply been far too many of those ants. 

He stored this matter deep in his heart and decided that he would absolutely report this matter to Yuan Shi once he returned to the Outerverse. 

For the moment, Lu Yin restored his die and rolled it again, hoping to once again roll six pips: Possession.