Star Odyssey

Chapter 925: Star Chart

Chairman Yan wanted to refuse, but when he saw the determined look in Lu Yin’s eyes, the chairman knew that this person would not let go of this request. 

His opening remarks for the tournament had used this person as an example, and the chairman’s words had thus inspired everyone in Endless Borders. In reality, Endless Borders was not afraid of Lu Yin or the Great Eastern Alliance, but they were unwilling to create enemies without reason. The young person standing in front of the chairman was a ruthless man who had killed hundreds of the central weaves’ Central Coalition’s high-ranking officers in a single night, and the powers that this youth controlled in the dark and the open were immeasurable. Such people were very difficult to go against. 

“Chairman, since these are the rules, then please act according to them and give it to him.” Captain Shi was the first to speak, though in a cold voice.  

Yang Hai agreed. 

The two old men, Wind and Flower, also murmured their agreement. Soon after, the rest of the people present followed suit as well. 

Endless Borders searched for and discovered interstellar routes not to earn money, but rather to simply enjoy the risk and excitement that came with such endeavors. When a route was simply left alone, it would do nothing but collect dust. Besides, nobody from Endless Borders wanted to go to the Innerverse while Lu Yin actually wanted it. They would suffer no loss by giving him such a thing, especially since the Innerverse and Outerverse would eventually reconnect anyways. 

When Chairman Yan saw that everyone present had agreed, he also nodded. “Alright, since Alliance Leader Lu is the one asking for it, we’ll give it to you.” 

Lu Yin was delighted. “Thank you, Chairman Yan.” 

His request for the route back to the Innerverse had two motivations behind it. First, he wanted to prepare for all eventualities, and he could only do that if he had the ability to enter the Innerverse if that ever became necessary. The second reason was so that he could have someone keep an eye on the route. That way, he could prevent the Sixth Mainland from sneakily invading the Outerverse through that route. 

For the moment, even with the star chart, Lu Yin would not return to the Innerverse, as that place was currently a miserable battlefield. With his strength, he could not guarantee his survival. 

The others all left as Chairman Yan personally led Lu Yin towards Silentflock Planet’s Endless Borders’ headquarters. Specifically, they were heading to the area where they stored the various secret routes. 

Endless Borders had too many spacecraft in its fleet, but Silentflock Planet did not have many at all.

Chairman Yan led Lu Yin to a place outside of their headquarters, and when Lu Yin looked over, he saw multiple rune lines filling the sky. These rune lines did not originate from any single person, but had rather been arranged. Judging from these rune lines, the power of the formation outside was enough to instantly kill Enlighters with power levels of around 300,000 or 400,000. 

Lu Yin was rather interested in this, as he hoped to arrange a similar defensive mechanism for Zenyu Star. Otherwise, any random Enlighter would be able to rain chaos upon Zenyu Star. 

Suddenly, a thump rang out as a corner of Endless Borders’ headquarters suddenly exploded, causing numerous alarms to ring out. Countless people instantly rushed towards the area of the explosion. 

Chairman Yan’s expression instantly changed. “Not good!”

He then tore through the void and left. 

Lu Yin frowned, but he remained standing in place as he stared at the location of the explosion. He could only see that there were multiple rune lines extending outwards along the wall, but the others did not discover anything at all, not even Chairman Yan. The number of rune lines was not high, and they amounted to about an Explorer’s. However, they were incredibly well hidden. 

Lu Yin’s figure flashed, and he instantly appeared at the corner of the wall. He stopped right in front of the creeping rune lines, and there, he saw a pair of deathly cold eyes that peered at him from within the shadow. 

It was a corpse king from the Neohuman Alliance. 

Lu Yin was shocked, as this organization truly had its fingers everywhere. He reached out, distorting the void as he suppressed the shadow. In response, the corpse king leaped out of the shadow, raised its hand, and swiped a claw at Lu Yin.

He snorted and took advantage of the opportunity to grab a hold of the corpse king’s hand and squeeze it tightly. A cracking sound split the air as the corpse king’s arm was snapped in half, followed by its entire body being heavily slammed into the ground by Lu Yin. 

This commotion he raised drew a bit of attention, and Chairman Yan tore through the void to quickly arrive, whereupon he immediately saw the corpse king.

The corpse king decisively snapped off its own right arm and merged into the shadows once again, intent on escaping. Unfortunately, that was not possible. Lu Yin did not even need to make another move, as Chairman Yan casually reached out and caught the corpse king. 

“The Neohuman Alliance.” Chairman Yan was stunned.

The corpse king snarled and growled.

Chairman Yan firmly lashed out, and the corpse king was crushed into a bloody pulp by an unstoppable force. Such a thing did not need to be saved, as nobody could extract any information from a corpse king. 

The rest of the crowd quickly arrived, but Chairman Yan waved a hand to dismiss them. He looked very solemn. 

“Chairman, what did the corpse king do?” Lu Yin frowned.

Chairman Yan solemnly answered, “It destroyed the star chart that had the route to the Innerverse.”

Lu Yin’s gaze trembled. “The star chart is gone?”

Yan Chen sighed, and looked at Lu Yin. “I never thought that there would be a Neohuman Alliance corpse king in Endless Borders’ headquarters. Alliance Leader Lu, it’s fortunate that you discovered it. Otherwise, it would have escaped with its innate gift.” 

Lu Yin shook his head. “The corpse king wouldn’t have been able to escape Silentflock Planet. Chairman Yan does not need to thank me.” 

Yan Chen did not refute, as Lu Yin’s words were correct. Endless Borders’ headquarters had its own defensive means, and they could detect the presence of the corpse king. 

“Chairman, is the star chart with the route back to the Innerverse really gone?” Lu Yin asked. He did not understand why the Neohuman Alliance could possibly want to destroy that star chart. 

Yan Chen calmly answered, “The star chart is indeed gone.”

Lu Yin frowned.

“However, someone still knows the way, and they should be able to draft another star chart,” Yan Chen mentioned. 

Lu Yin was ecstatic. “Who?”

“The captain of the Mistdrop Crew,” Yan Chen replied.

Lu Yin felt puzzled. “Chairman, you don’t know the route?”

Yan Chen smiled bitterly. “Does Alliance Leader Lu know everything concerning the various powers of the Great Eastern Alliance?”

Lu Yin came to a realization that Yan Chen was simply the company’s chairman, and he only had authority over it. The man did not completely control Endless Borders. The organization was an integrated system, and the captains of the expedition crews were also members of the board of directors. Thus, unless the star chart that they created was sold to Endless Borders, not even the chairman himself qualified to see the star charts. 

“The Mistdrop Crew was the one to discover the path to the Innerverse?” Lu Yin was curious.

Chairman Yan shook his head. “That route was discovered many years ago, but the captain of the Mistdrop Crew inherited it since it was not discovered by him. With his strength, he’s still unable to do such a thing.”

“Where’s the Mistdrop Crew?” Lu Yin asked. 

Chairman Yan pointed out a sub-planet that orbited Silentflock Planet. That sub-planet was where the Mistdrop Crew was based out of. Lu Yin’s luck was pretty good, as they had also sent someone to participate in the most recent internal tournament, and a portion of the crew was still cultivating on their sub-planet. 

“Alliance Leader Lu, you are the champion of the tournament, but the star chart that you’ve requested is gone. You can change your request,” Chairman Yan said.

Lu Yin thought about it. “Let me think about this.” 

Yan Chen was helpless, as he had been hoping that Lu Yin would immediately state his wishes, as that would be better than being left in suspense. This person was not just anyone. “In fact, as one of the four great conglomerates, my Endless Borders has vast financial reserves. You can ask for that as well, if need be.” 

Lu Yin replied, “Chairman, please give me some time to consider.”

Yan Chen could only helplessly answer, “Very well.”

Yan Chen had been hoping to use money to distract Lu Yin, but Lu Yin would not be swayed so easily. Money could be earned, but there were certain things that could not be bought for any amount of money, such as secret interstellar routes. He was currently considering how to use the lowest price to obtain the highest number of routes possible. 

In the universe, interstellar routes were an extremely precious resource. 

Lu Yin bade Yan Chen farewell and then made some inquiries to the two old captains, Wind and Flower, about the Mistdrop Crew’s captain. Unfortunately, the two men did not know much of anything about the man. 

Lu Yin then searched for Yang Hai to ask him some questions.

Yang Hai looked at Lu Yin curiously. This person had suddenly asked him about the Mistdrop Crew’s captain. “Captain Mistdrop has a rather eccentric personality, and he is quite stubborn. He’s fundamentally quite extreme, so it’s not very easy to interact with him…” 

Lu Yin listened to Yang Hai’s explanation, building up a basic understanding of Captain Mistdrop. He then leaped up, left Silentflock Planet, and headed towards the Mistdrop Crew’s sub-planet. 

He was very puzzled about why the Neohuman Alliance would destroy the star chart to the Innerverse. Did they not want people from the Outerverse to travel to the Innerverse? Lu Yin knew that the Neohuman Alliance had always been hatching certain schemes concerning the Outerverse, and this development left him feeling very uneasy. 

Even an existence like Blackless God had appeared in the Outerverse, which indicated that the Neohuman Alliance’s scheme must not be something minor. 

It did not take long for Lu Yin to arrive at the Mistdrop Crew’s sub-planet. While he was descending, his expression changed drastically. Rune lines were constantly disappearing in the place where the Mistdrop Crew was located.

Lu Yin instantly tore through the void and disappeared.

The area had become filled with a fog of blood, and the rune lines within the entire base were quickly vanishing.

Captain Mistdrop’s brow was beaded with sweat, and his face showed his fear. A shadow danced in front of him, and one instance later, another three people died.

The captain did not know what sort of thing this black shadow was, but it had suddenly appeared and started mercilessly killing everyone. It was useless to even attempt to call for help, as not a single person had been able to escape so far. They were basically trapped within a cage, waiting for their deaths. 

“Captain, save-” A wailing cry was cut short as a human head was chopped off before bouncing over to the captain’s feet. 

Captain Mistdrop felt a chill run down his spine, and he gritted his teeth as he looked ahead of himself. The shadow flickered a few times before an icy-cold blade streaked out at him. Even as a Hunter, the captain could not evade this blade. This edge of the blade encompassed a huge area despite having a narrow scope, and it contained an endless destructive power. 

Suddenly, Lu Yin appeared in front of Captain Mistdrop, and he tapped out with a finger. The void congealed, and the blade was struck by a solitary finger. At the same time, the tip of the finger struck the shadow and pierced through it, resulting in a shower of blood splattering out. 

Captain Mistdrop was finally able to clearly see what that shadow’s true appearance: it was a corpse king. The pair of deathly cold eyes instantly gave the creature’s identity away. 

The Neohuman Alliance had acted very cautiously this time. Since they had been capable of destroying the star chart, they were naturally also able to discover that Captain Mistdrop had inherited the star chart. Thus, their goal had been to destroy both of them at the same time. 

Fortunately, Lu Yin had arrived in time. Otherwise, he would not have been able to obtain anything. 

The corpse king snarled and went all out as it attacked Lu Yin.

In the end, it was killed by Lu Yin.

A Hunter realm corpse king that could not transform was not able to cause any troubles to Lu Yin. 

Captain Mistdrop panted heavily and leaned against a wall. In just a dozen seconds, the Mistdrop Crew had been reduced to only him. He had teetered on the brink of death, and it was only due to good luck that he had survived. 

Lu Yin turned around. “Are you Captain Mistdrop?”

Captain Mistdrop looked at Lu Yin, astonished. “Why is Alliance Leader Lu here?”

Lu Yin replied, “I would like to ask you to draw a copy of the star chart that has the route to the Innerverse.”

The captain’s eyes trembled. He looked down at the fallen corpse king and then back over at Lu Yin once more. “So we were exterminated because of that…” 

Lu Yin did not hide anything, and he shared the information of the star chart being destroyed with the captain. Captain Mistdrop was no fool, and such an event could not be hidden from the man anyways. “Draft a copy for me. Then, you won’t be targeted by the Neohuman Alliance.” 

“If Alliance Leader Lu hadn’t asked for that star chart, our Mistdrop Crew would have never been struck by this calamity,” Captain Mistdrop said sternly and rather resentfully. 

Lu Yin frowned. “News of Endless Borders having a star chart with a route to the Innerverse leaked out long before I asked for it. Even if I didn’t want it, the Neohuman Alliance would still have moved to silence you, and in that scenario, you guys would not have been able to escape.” 

“Not necessarily, as others don’t care about the star chart,” Captain Mistdrop said.

Lu Yin was helpless. This man was just as Yang Hai had said: extremely stubborn. He had an attitude even though Lu Yin had just saved the man’s life.

“Then state your conditions, Captain Mistdrop. What would convince you to draft that star chart for me?” Lu Yin asked straightforwardly. This person was a captain in Endless Borders; otherwise, Lu Yin would not have been this courteous. 

Captain Mistdrop thought about it and then revealed a firm expression as he clenched his fists. He softly said, “I want to return to the Moke Sword Sect.”