Author: 易修罗 / Yi Xiu Luo

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 132

Every person witnessed this iconic moment through the screen, and amidst countless blessings, only one person harbored resentment.

Light flickered on Zhu Yue’s face, casting his sullen eyes in an even more sinister light.

“Why is it that those I painstakingly tried to separate end up together, while what I desperately sought to keep leaves me alone?”

In the camera’s view, the two were tightly embracing, their companions joyfully making a fuss around them. This was a stark contrast to the despair and pain Zhu Yue had envisioned for Tianxiu’s doomsday. He had carefully manipulated the descendants of the ancient Tianxiu people, but this wasn’t the outcome he desired.

Amid the cheers and encouragement, Zhu Yue’s hand slowly moved towards a button to establish communication. He hadn’t wanted to make this decision, but now he had changed his mind.

“If that’s the case… it’s time for these usurpers to feel the wrath of the original masters of this land.”

The jubilant post-war interview was interrupted by an urgent encrypted communication request, and Fu Yao and the others returned to the temporary command center set up at the base. They saw an alien with red eyes on the communication screen.

“He claims to be from Huoxiu.” The communicator distributed Huoxiu language chips to everyone present. “And he has urgent matters to discuss with our Marshal.”

Huoxiu? It was Tianxiu’s biggest enemy at the moment. With skepticism, everyone implanted the chips, curious to hear what this likely descendant of the ancient Tianxiu people had to say. “Are you the current highest leader of Tianxiu?” The Huoxiu man looked doubtfully at Fu Yao, who was noticeably shorter than the others.

Fu Yao, unaware of the other party’s origins, replied curtly, “You contacted us. What do you want to say?”

The person on the other end immediately straightened up nervously. “Just now, I overheard my brother communicating with someone. They are planning to develop new higher-intelligence life forms on the existing Lone Stars.”

The people, who had only recently learned about the origins of the Tianxiu people, immediately became alert.

“Your brother?” Fu Yao asked with a frown.

“His name is Tai Er, and I’m Tai Ruo. Our ancestors come from Tianxiu, and the codes for the Lone Star have always been safeguarded by our family.”

Tai Ruo swallowed hard, continuing, “We were ignorant of our family’s history until my brother rescued an ancient Tianxiu person claiming to be our kin from space, who then deceived him into using the codes left by our ancestors.”

“Our ancestors left a mandate: under no circumstances should Lone Stars be created on our own initiative. My brother’s plan faced opposition domestically, but he persisted, and now he wants to escalate his research into intelligent life. This was a lesson our ancestors repeatedly emphasized, which I didn’t understand until I heard from Zhu Yue about the rise and fall of the ancient Tianxiu people. Only then did I realize the significance of our ancestors’ actions.”

“Now that you know the truth, you understand that we were responsible for the demise of the ancient Tianxiu people. Why contact the very people responsible for your species’ extinction?” Fu Yao asked.

“Because that’s all history now! History has happened and can’t be changed.” Tai Ruo leaned anxiously on the console. “But we can’t let the mistakes of history repeat themselves! I heard their conversation. Zhu Yue said our genes have changed significantly and implanting them into the Lone Stars poses even greater risks. He’s now urging my brother to participate in the experiment personally, as his genes are closest to the ancient Tianxiu. But I don’t trust that guy at all. I’m very worried about my brother’s safety! Please, you must stop him. Only you can do it!”

His earnest expression was utterly sincere, showing no sign of deception, and the Tianxiu people, initially half-doubtful, gradually began to believe him.

“We have received your message, and we will discuss how to proceed. That’s all for now.” Fu Yao ended the communication, and the screen went black.

Nie Yun immediately said, “I think he’s telling the truth. That kind of nervousness and concern doesn’t seem feigned.”

“We always thought that by patiently waiting, we could reclaim their souls, but that seems too naive now. The enemy will never give us time to wait; we must take the initiative. But,” Fu Yao pondered, “even if what he says is true, how can we stop it? We can’t even reach the range of Huoxiu…”

“Not everyone is out of reach.” Yu Quan stood up. “Although lacking soul traction is a trait of the Lone Stars, among our remaining people, everyone has a unique constitution. Huoxiu is 800 EAU beyond our set limit, but perhaps this distance can be overcome by someone among us with a special constitution.”

“But what good is it to find such a one-in-a-million person? What can one person do?”

“They can bring our ‘Trojan Horse’ there.”

“Trojan Horse?” No one present had heard of this term.

“I know this term is unfamiliar to everyone. It’s a powerful virus program discovered on another planet, sometimes used to refer to all viruses,” Yu Quan explained, entering several keys on the main console. “Our bodies are immune to biological viruses, but the base’s computer can be invaded by viruses in another sense. To prevent this, the base is constantly protected, and we’ve mastered many Trojan Horse technologies.”

He demonstrated a simulation program on the computer. “This is the most powerful Trojan Horse program we’ve discovered to date. It can give the virus planter control over the entire system of the base. With our capabilities, we can intercept this virus, but Huoxiu, just having acquired the Lone Stars, certainly can’t have such advanced firewall technology.”

“With such a program, we just need to remotely implant it into the enemy’s mainframe,” Nie Yun said excitedly. “What does this have to do with the person you mentioned?”

“The difficulty lies here. Due to its nature, this program can’t be stored in any medium or transmitted over the network.” Yu Quan showed an old news article. “The developer of this virus is Chang Jiang. You might not recognize the name, but as the founder of Tianyuan Network, he is well-known. Chang Jiang once used this virus to paralyze the Genetic Center’s computer system for nearly a day. Unfortunately, he was reborn soon after his arrest, and his motives remain unknown. This remained a highly confidential matter until long after his rebirth.”

“Xing Lou…” Ling Xiao looked at the photo on the screen, and a feeling of déjà vu flashed across his face.

Only Ying Feng, who was closest to him, heard it. “What did you say?”

“He’s Xing Lou,” Ling Xiao confirmed again. “I’m certain it’s him. If he did this, it must be related to Yue Ying.”

“That makes sense,” Heng He interjected. “After I took over the Genetic Center, I also reviewed the records from that period. I found that during that time, Yue Ying’s computer mainframe suffered a severe malfunction and had to enlist the help of a civilian computer expert to resolve it. That expert was Chang Jiang.”

Yu Quan nodded. “That malfunction allowed Chang Jiang frequent access to the Genetic Center. Despite this, the center was very cautious with him, not allowing him to bring anything in or out. No one expected he would use his own body to carry the virus.”

“His body?” Everyone was shocked. “Yes, that’s the uniqueness of this virus; it can only use a human body as a carrier for transfer. Thus, it also gained the nickname ‘Human Bomb’ in the research process. Those implanted with this code don’t live long, which is exactly what led to Chang Jiang’s death. Although it’s been a long time, Chang Jiang’s expertise in computers remains unrivaled, and no other Trojan Horse program has surpassed it to this day.”

After he finished speaking, the scene maintained a silence as deep as a pool until Fu Yao threw a stone into it.

“I think everyone understands now. Whether this plan succeeds or fails, its executor is destined to sacrifice, dying in a place like Huoxiu with no chance for their soul to return,” Yu Quan said with downcast eyes. “That’s why I didn’t mention it earlier. The chance of success is hard to predict, but the probability of death is a hundred percent. Even if we find someone suitable, it’s understandable if they refuse to go.”

The silence continued for a few more seconds, then Fu Yao said, “But let’s try it anyway. Maybe it’s me.” Nie Yun immediately said, “Maybe it’s me.”

“Maybe it’s me too!” Ling Xiao didn’t want to be left behind.

“You just got back. Stay put,” Red Head scolded him, then quickly added, “Maybe it’s me.”

Fu Yao made a stop gesture. “Let’s not fight over this. Start by selecting from the remaining people in the military.”

Yu Quan activated the program, and the profiles of the surviving soldiers were displayed, with hundreds of data points flickering rapidly on the screen, dazzling the onlookers. Everyone held their breath, trying to spot their own names amid the dense data, but no suitable candidate was found by the end of the search.

Fu Yao frowned. “Broaden the criteria. Continue searching in all departments related to the military—logistics, medical, base, genetic center.” Yu Quan did so, but hope was dashed again. Even he sighed. “This was a possibility. After all, people with special physiques are extremely rare, and we just lost a group of elites.” Seeing Fu Yao’s silent, pursed lips, he asked without much hope, “Should we search among the civilians?”

Fu Yao, almost ready to give up, replied, “Let’s try.”

With a much larger civilian population, several computers worked simultaneously, processing high-speed data. As time ticked by, one computer suddenly beeped.

“What does this mean?” Fuyao asked immediately.

Yu Quan, somewhat incredulous, replied, “We have a match.”

He quickly switched to the profile, and everyone, upon seeing the photo, simultaneously turned to look at a particular person in the room, realizing they had overlooked this extraordinary individual among the civilians.

Ling Xiao realized, “The Lone Star has no soul traction. Its reincarnation is less affected by the soul traction than ordinary people. How did I not think of this?”

The chosen Ying Feng calmly said, “I’ll go.”

“Ling Xiao just got back!” Red Head raised his voice.

“Unless you can find someone more suitable than me among the remaining civilians.”

Red Head fell silent.

“I’ll go too!” Ling Xiao’s voice drew everyone’s attention to him.

“What are you going for?” Fu Yao asked.

Ling Xiao confidently declared, “If there’s one person who can bring Ying Feng back, it’s me.”

Fu Yao exchanged a complicated look with Nie Yun, undecided.

“If that’s the case, I’ll go too.”

The third person to volunteer was Bing Can.

“The journey from here to Huoxiu is long. Although I can’t make it that far, I can at least escort them part of the way.”

“How could I not join when my Qizhu is involved,” Red Head said nonchalantly, raising his hand. “Count me in too.”

“I’ve always regretted not having the chance to fight alongside Ling Xiao and Ying Feng,” Yu Ji said with a smile. “So please let me join.”

“It’s ‘us’,” Shuang Feng corrected him.

The former partners from the Joint Operations Department stood together again, volunteering for a common cause. Fu Yao looked over their faces one by one. They were all excellent students he had personally trained, and he knew no one was more suited for this mission than them.

“Even if you can escort Ying Feng to Huangxiu, the critical part is the next 800 EAU. Just because Ying Feng can break through this limit doesn’t mean his abilities won’t be limited. He will weaken as the distance increases. Have you thought about how to solve this?”

Ying Feng, who had been silent since initially speaking up, suddenly said, “Reinforcements are coming.”

Everyone looked and indeed saw several black dots approaching on the surveillance screen. Their speed was so fast, they almost arrived simultaneously as they stepped out of the hall. Leading them was a large and formidable mech wolf, which landed beautifully with a roll from mid-air, then howled skyward.

The chest hatch of the mech wolf opened, and a tall, burly man jumped down, striding towards Ling Xiao and the others with a commanding presence. He wore clothes made of beast fur, completely out of place with the style of the Tianxiu people, and his exposed, muscular body was covered with tattoos. People dressed similarly, apparently his subordinates, followed him, and soon the ground was filled with various mechs and flying vehicles.

Ling Xiao didn’t recognize the newcomer, but the man, upon seeing Ling Xiao, greeted him with an excited lift of his chin.

“Yo! Ling Xiao!”

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