A true hero of the Empire, Lu Chen!

The white-haired elder remained silent, his eyes brimming with monstrous intent as he stared straight at Lu Chen, then cut the video feed.

It felt as though that pair of dark, profound eyes still lingered in the dust-chilled air even after the screen had gone dark.

The headless armored suit hung high above Fang City, beneath a starlit sky veiled in dust, standing as if upon the highest moral ground to look down upon the final destiny of one million slave owners.

These one million slave owners were merely citizens of a single city, Fang City; there were countless more across the entire planet of Fang Star...

With just a little effort, Lu Chen was fully capable of slaughtering all several tens of millions of slave owners on Fang Star.

After all, equipped with the General Manager's authority and master keys, aside from the military and banking systems, he could easily hack into any independent system within this stellar system via satellite.

Yet, he could not kill the slave owners of the entire universe, nor could he kill the criminals far more deserving of death than slave owners.

Publicly executing one million slave owners on Fang Star was a statement of his stance, a deterrent to petty villains, warning them never to entertain the notion of revoking his hero medal again.

At this moment.

Every word Lu Chen spoke aloud, every segment of the live-streamed video, was being broadcast across the screens throughout Fang City.

The slaves on the surface could see it.

The slave owners in the underground shelters could see it too.

The live-stream room of *Chanting Spring and Stringing Summer* was dead silent.

Even the two female anchors were struck dumb with shock.

"Lu... Teacher Lu... Did you really just kill one million Imperial citizens?"

Lu Chen never expected that he would have to answer questions from the live stream while in the middle of committing mass slaughter.

"Don't rush, they're not completely dead yet. Wait a little longer."

Chun Song and Xia Xian, regardless of anything else, were Imperial citizens; they had never imagined that Teacher Lu, who had always been so gentle, could suddenly slaughter one million Imperial humans.

"But... isn't Teacher Lu himself an Imperial citizen?"

Only then did it dawn on Lu Chen that he, the successor of socialism, was actually an Imperial citizen as well.

"I am a legal citizen of the Empire.

However, these people are criminals. Whether it's the Balch family or Fang Corporation, all slave owners are criminals.

Perhaps their crimes do not yet warrant death, or perhaps their crimes are so heinous that they deserve a thousand deaths, yet execution without trial by my hand is technically lynching. But attempting to strip me of my hero medal—now that is a crime truly unforgivable."

Chun Song and Xia Xian could not comprehend why Lu Chen held such an obsession over a worthless Imperial Hero Medal.

"But Teacher Lu has already slain the seven ringleaders. As the saying goes, the law cannot punish the masses. This is one million people we're talking about..."

To their surprise, Lu Chen suddenly dropped a cold remark:

"The law cannot punish the masses? I will punish them."

The bullet comment section instantly exploded, and the message board began to fill with delayed reactions from viewers in remote network sectors.

"Dominating!"

"Well said—'the law cannot punish the masses, so you come and punish them instead!'"

"Though I am also an Imperial citizen, without a doubt, all slave owners deserve to die!"

"Not only do the slave owners deserve to die, shouldn't the ones harvesting the leeks die as well?"

"If the slave owners hadn't fled to the underground shelters, would Captain Lu really have hunted down one million slave owners among tens of millions of citizens and killed them one by one?"

"It looks like he just happened to wipe them out along the way."

"No matter how you spin it, only lawless outlaws enjoy going out to sea for adventures. All adventurers are demons!"

"Haha, it's not that adventurers are demons; it's just that Captain Lu's spaceship happens to have a cute werewolf girl and a stunning witch... Captain Lu betrayed humanity for the sake of women."

"The truth has been revealed!"

"If I had such gorgeous witch and werewolf girls, I'd even betray God."

"I suddenly understand Captain Lu a little bit."

"Actually, Captain Lu also rescued thirty-eight mentally tortured human female slaves in the Federation's Sen Valley stellar system, who are currently receiving treatment aboard the *White Dew*. If conditions had permitted at the time, I believe Captain Lu would have rescued even more human female slaves... He's either someone obsessed with medals and chasing fame, or a true idealist who loathes all forms of enslavement and exploitation."

"Have you ever seen anyone seeking fame and fortune dare to go head-to-head with the Imperial fleet? In my opinion, Captain Lu must have suffered terribly from exploitation when he was a child..."

The two female anchors looked at the bullet comments and message board, lost in thought.

They no longer tangled with questions of morality, instead asking Lu Chen a much more realistic question.

"Aren't you afraid of facing a bounty or even retaliation from the Imperial headquarters by doing this so openly?"

On a cosmic scale, due to the existence of jump technology, planetary defense forces cannot predict the exact time and direction of an enemy's arrival. Defending against interstellar pirates is extremely difficult, so planets usually build massive underground shelters and wait for reinforcements.

If interstellar pirates conduct a raid and quickly depart, they will face a heavy bounty from the Empire and will soon be hunted down or wiped out by stronger adventure groups.

Therefore, generally speaking, very few adventure groups dared to attack planets within Imperial territory, and at most only dared to ambush merchant ships. Even then, they placed immense emphasis on surprise and concealment, terrified of exposure and subsequent Imperial bounties.

A situation like Lu Chen's—giving advance notice and openly attacking Imperial territory—was exceedingly rare.

Lu Chen smiled and shook his head.

"What are you thinking? I am the great hero who helped the Empire expose the parasites of the Secondary Alliance, and the ultimate hero who liberated hundreds of millions of humanoid slaves. Three hundred quadrillion people of the Tertiary Alliance stand behind me. My guess is that not only will the Empire not punish me, but they might even award me the Silver Hero Medal."

Only then did the two female anchors and the audience in the live stream realize that this matter transcended personal grievances; it touched upon the Empire's appeasement policies and the balance of power between the Empire and the Federation.

After all, even within the Empire, the total population of humanoids exceeded that of pure humans.

If the New Federation seized this opportunity to stir up trouble and caused the Tier 3 humanoid alliance nations under Imperial jurisdiction to gradually tilt toward the Federation, the Federation's population would instantly skyrocket to over ten times that of the Empire, making it difficult for the Empire to maintain its current dominant position.

This was why Lu Chen chose to live-stream the slaughter of one million slave owners in broad daylight, elevating a personal grudge into a political issue.

He had come fully prepared!

Chun Song and Xia Xian asked again:

"Teacher Lu, is it true what you said about going to kill the Chairman of Fang Corporation in six months? That will be far harder than invading Fang Corporation; it's practically an impossible mission."

Lu Chen thought to himself: As a transmigrator of my stature, I might have already punched through the entire Milky Way in six months.

In his past life, he often read web novels—massive multi-million-word completed books where, by the time the story concluded, only half a year of in-game time had passed, yet the protagonist had already conquered the entire plane.

"It's true, provided the Chairman hasn't been thrown into an Imperial prison and died of illness within six months."

Chun Song and Xia Xian suddenly understood.

By disguising himself as the General Manager, Lu Chen had managed to connect with the Chairman, successfully exposing the ultimate mastermind behind Fang Corporation.

Once the Empire turned around to settle accounts, if the old man possessed a powerful enough background, he might manage to survive quietly; but if his backing wasn't solid enough, he would likely become an abandoned pawn of the Empire.

With that, Lu Chen leaped into the air and vanished into the dust-filled sky.

At this moment, every collar on Fang Star was unlocked.

Unlocked automatically, they fell to the ground.

Yet, the slaves felt no joy; instead, they were gripped by fear—fear of retribution from the remaining slave owners.

They picked up the collars from the ground, desperately trying to put them back on.

Yet the unlocked collars refused to fasten no matter what they tried. Some even burst into tears, kneeling on the ground and kowtowing until their foreheads bled...

This scene left Chun Song, Xia Xian, and the over two million viewers in the live stream dumbfounded.

Only at this moment did they truly comprehend why the slave owners had to die.

Why Captain Lu had to slaughter a million corpses in broad daylight!

The eyes of Chun Song and Xia Xian turned red, filled with deep contemplation.

Coming back to their senses, the two female anchors suddenly cried out in alarm:

"Eh, where is Captain Lu?"

"Where's that huge armored suit from just now?"

"Look! The armored suit is outside the atmosphere, flying at high speed toward the *Leonian*... It has docked with the *Leonian*."

"Good heavens... The *Leonian* has vanished!" Kashoo!

"Understood, that's a stealth spaceship."

"Wait, Captain Lu has already bolted, but who is filming our feed, and where is the camera coming from?"

"Found it! The live stream feed just now came from the anti-aircraft surveillance camera on the roof of a building near Fang Tower."

"Right now, it's connected to a satellite imaging feed."

The live-stream viewers, who had just been filled with sorrow and indignation over the tragic plight of the slaves, suddenly felt a chill run down their spines.

"What kind of hellish hacker is this?!"

"I'm starting to wonder if the money in my bank account is safe."

"With Captain Lu's level of capability, making millions left and right, would he care about the pocket change in your wallet?" Kashoo!

"No, no, no! Even if he steals from one of me, there are millions of other me's out there. Added together, that's a lot of money!"

Unable to watch any longer, Chun Song and Xia Xian quickly explained:

"If it were only about money, Teacher Lu would never have gone out to sea to become an adventurer, risking his life to liberate slaves everywhere and expose the systemic flaws of various nations.

Even with such hacking talents, Captain Lu has never engaged in robbery or theft. Everything he possesses has been acquired through self-defense and counter-attacks against violent criminals.

He simply loves adventure while detesting all sorts of disgusting people and things."

The bullet comment and message boards fell into silence.

Could he truly be a hero?

Following the withdrawal of the *Leonian* from the battlefield, the *Dragon Seeker III*, caught in a pincer attack, likewise retreated.

"We can see that the *Dragon Seeker III* lost two of its five mini combat vessels, and its main hull has sustained a certain degree of damage.

However, this damage is not fatal. Even while fighting a two-front battle, the *Dragon Seeker III* was able to calmly withdraw from the battlefield.

This proves that, from a design perspective, this brand-new dragon-class adventure ship has zero flaws.

It also proves that having money really does allow you to do whatever you want!"

The online audience was equally stunned by the Prince of the Dunes' financial prowess.

More than just doing whatever one wanted... A Level 80 adventure ship soloing two fleets for half an hour was practically godlike.

Yet, upon closer reflection, this single Level 80 adventure ship carried five Level 80 mini warships; its total construction cost likely exceeded an entire Hurricane Fleet!

Sometimes, combat power really is determined by purchasing power.

At this moment, Chun Song and Xia Xian excitedly announced:

"Just moments ago, our live stream historically broke through three million online viewers, entering the ranks of top-tier streamers. Back when we streamed the Changhong Kingdom Flying Ball tournament, we didn't even have this many viewers."

At this, someone in the live stream reminded the two anchors:

"Weren't the streamers doing ship-board coverage of the primordial firmament? Both the *Leonian* and the *Dragon Seeker III* have jumped away. Are the anchors staying in the Fang stellar system just to stream the aftermath for these slaves?"

Chun Song and Xia Xian were suddenly enlightened.

"Wait, why did they all leave? What about us? You can't just leave us behind! We still have a contract with Captain Lu!"

"Huh, our spaceship is already preparing to jump."

"Where are we headed next? Is it the *Imperial Entertainment Weekly* Dawn Branch? I remember it's right near the capital of the Kanglang Kingdom."

"Let me check the jump target..."

Before the two female anchors could finish speaking, the *Chunxia* vanished into the outer rim of the Fang stellar system.

...

Back on the Imperial side.

Fang Tower had been reduced to ruins.

Within the nine underground shelters of Fang City, over one million slave owners had suffocated to death.

The surface armored forces of Fang Star were completely annihilated.

The native Fang Fleet was completely wiped out.

Aside from a damaged flagship, the Kanglang Kingdom's reinforcement fleet was nearly wiped out in its entirety.

The Imperial Gale Fleet lost two Level 70 destroyers, with three other destroyers sustaining varying degrees of damage.

Meanwhile, the flagship *Hurricane* remained completely unscathed.

Inside the *Hurricane*.

Colonel Horton initiated a video call.

The person on the other end was not his immediate superior, General Abuzhai.

Instead, it was a young woman with wine-red short hair, standing on a midnight balcony surrounded by undulating neon lights.

She wore a blue-and-white form-fitting suit that accentuated her perfectly proportioned figure.

She had a standard oval face, and a pair of crimson pupils that looked like they were sunken deep into the ocean, devoid of light. Her pure, delicate facial features bore no discernible expression.

The projection screen before her was identical to Lu Chen's, save for its smaller size.

"There's no need to be depressed. I never expected you to capture that man anyway."

Horton didn't feel particularly depressed; fighting under General Abuzhai all these years had taught him one core principle—muddle through however you can. Victory and defeat were common military affairs, and preserving one's strength was paramount.

"You already knew the outcome?"

Isabelle's tone was overly calm.

It sounded somewhat cold.

"I guessed the outcome."

Horton smiled and shook his head:

"You only guessed the beginning. He did indeed come with the objective of attacking Fang Corporation.

However, aside from his hacking methods, I didn't see him display any exceptional talent.

The success of this surprise raid was instead thanks to the stellar performance of the *Dragon Seeker III*, built with massive funds by the Dune Kingdom."

Isabelle calmly stated:

"You didn't even engage him in personal combat, yet you reached this conclusion?"

"I wasn't assigned to investigate his dossier; why would I personally fight him?"

"Didn't you use the new version of the virus I gave you?"

"Useless. It couldn't even breach the *Dragon Seeker III*."

"Then there is only one possibility: the *Dragon Seeker III* was piloted by him personally."

"You mean remote piloting like yours?"

"Mmm."

"He's certainly talented, but without the powerful assistance of the *Dragon Seeker III*, his raid would have ended in total failure."

"In the Plum Rain Star of the Zuan Nebula, he had no assistance whatsoever. Instead, he faced both the *Plain-Face* armored suit under my remote control and the *Centipede*, two competitors far stronger than him. Even so, we still failed to prevent him from acquiring the Azure-Winged Dragon Core."

"Is that so? It seems he's someone skilled at leveraging outside momentum. Let's see what kind of waves he can stir up at the Entertainment Weekly branch."

"There won't be any other waves. You will soon receive an order: proceed to arrest the remaining upper management of Fang Corporation, find evidence of their enslavement of humanoids, thoroughly destroy the ruins of the atavism laboratory, obliterate any proof of Imperial shareholders participating in the experiments, and finally, liberate all humanoid slaves across the entire Fang stellar system."

"What a hassle. If this Captain Lu publishes our pre-battle meeting video, won't all my efforts be for nothing?"

"He is a smart man; he knows when to take a step back. Besides, he still has his heart set on his hero medal."

"Sigh, I didn't expect to be assigned a task... Had I known, I could have saved those two destroyers."

Reflecting on the entire process of this mission, Colonel Horton felt his defeat was somewhat baffling.

"During the pre-battle conference, I clearly magnified this kid's capabilities to the maximum and prepared for the worst-case scenario. I just never expected him to be able to mobilize a spaceship from the Dune Kingdom."

"Perhaps any plan is futile; we might have walked into a dead end."

"Since there's no need to head to the Entertainment Weekly branch, could his next stop be the Kingdom of Night?"

"I will be waiting for him there."

...

The Second Alliance Nation of the Empire: Capital of the Kanglang Kingdom, Konglong Star.

It was a mere one light-month away from the Dawn Branch of *Imperial Entertainment Weekly* in the neighboring stellar system.

A jump by a Level 50 spaceship would take no more than two hours.

The Kanglang Kingdom was relatively prosperous. At the behest of the Imperial headquarters, it had managed to piece together a Level 70 fleet to support Fang Corporation.

One had to know that ordinary Secondary Alliance nations had a power ceiling of around Level 50; for the Kanglang Kingdom to assemble a Level 70 fleet made it a relatively powerful nation near the top of the Secondary Alliance rankings.

Yet, of that entire fleet, only a single Level 70 flagship remained, dragging its broken hull back home.

Following closely behind it were the enemy ship *Leonian* and the live-stream ship *Chunxia*.

So frightened was the entire planet that it raised air-raid sirens, followed swiftly by a near-surface destroyer raising a white flag.

Konglong Star immediately mothballed the damaged flagship *Konglong* and surrendered to the *Leonian*.

Only after surrendering did they abruptly realize... the truly terrifying *Dragon Seeker III* hadn't followed them!

Instead, only a Level 50 *Leonian* and a Level 60 live-stream ship had arrived.

Judging by the paper statistics of these two ships, let alone dealing with a damaged flagship, they would have struggled against Konglong Star's local fleet.

They had surrendered for nothing.

However, the opposing side had a live-stream ship; going back on their word would make them a laughingstock across the galaxy.

Besides, who knew if the *Dragon Seeker III* might reappear?

The King of the Kanglang Kingdom, Philip XVIII—an elderly man whose body was submerged in a medicinal bath with tubes stuck all over him, leaving only his head exposed above the liquid—initiated a video call with the *Leonian*.

"I am Philip XVIII, King of the Kanglang Kingdom. We have no prior grievances with your adventure group. Our deployment of troops to support Fang Corporation this time was strictly at the behest of the Secondary Alliance leader, forcing us into combat with the Primordial Firmament Adventure Group. Furthermore, our fleet was nearly wiped out. May I ask what brings your excellency to Konglong Star?"

Lu Chen looked at the old man on the screen, marveling that in the long-lived interstellar era, a royal line could reach its eighteenth generation.

Neither did he expect that, less than three months after heading out to sea, his adventure group's strength had already reached the point where a powerful Secondary Alliance nation like the Kanglang Kingdom was forced to bow and submit.

This feeling was rather exhilarating.

Who could have imagined that three months ago, he was still picking up trash on Rust Star at the very bottom of the Secondary Alliance?

"Don't be nervous. We are merely here at Konglong Star to recuperate and prepare for our upcoming assault on the Dawn Branch of *Imperial Entertainment Weekly*. We will strictly abide by the laws of the Kanglang Kingdom, taking not a single needle or thread from the people of Konglong Star, and paying cash for all transactions."

Philip XVIII finally heaved a sigh of relief.

Yet, he couldn't help suspecting that the *Dragon Seeker III* must have sustained severe damage and was unable to continue fighting, which was why the opponent was being so amicable.

"It is evident that Captain Lu is a man who lets bygones be bygones and adheres strictly to his own principles."

With a brazen smile, Lu Chen replied:

"Precisely."

Philip XVIII asked again:

"I recall you had three ships. Where is the dragon-shaped spaceship now? Does it require resupply and repairs?"

Lu Chen made no secret of it, answering:

"You mean the *Dragon Seeker III*? It has already headed into the New Federation's stellar system, taking a detour into the Pangu Corridor to rendezvous with the *White Dew*, where it will undergo resupply and repairs before heading together to the Ice Snow Great Wall."

Lu Chen felt a lingering regret over damaging the *Dragon Seeker III*.

In accordance with their pre-battle agreement, he was obligated to help Prince Tali secure at least one of the seven dragon balls.

The primary reason it was damaged was that he had been forced to pilot multiple ships single-handedly while dividing his focus to kill people.

Of course, the strength of the Imperial fleet was beyond doubt.

Since Fang Corporation's laboratory had long since been relocated and merged elsewhere, the Imperial fleet had no reason to fight to the death to protect a slave-trading corporation.

Putting up a show of resistance was enough.

Philip XVIII's old eyes flicked in realization as he sighed:

"That truly is a valiant adventure ship!"

From the King's face, Lu Chen detected a trace of lingering regret.

"Your Majesty need not regret. Although the *Dragon Seeker III* isn't here, you are entirely welcome to lower the white flag and spar with us again, or urgently request reinforcements from the Secondary Alliance."

Classic fish-enforcement trap—did they really think he would fall for it?

Philip XVIII had long since received reports regarding the behavioral patterns of the Primordial Firmament.

In the live stream moments ago, the two female anchors had also mentioned: Captain Lu never initiates robberies, but loves to provoke the other party into striking first, allowing him to stand on the high moral ground of self-defense and thoroughly strip the enemy bare in return.

Clearly, this was a robber with a severe moral cleanliness obsession!

Since the *Leonian* dared to venture alone into enemy territory, it undoubtedly possessed the means for a counter-slaughter.

As long as the Kanglang Kingdom did not resist or call for alliance reinforcements, and given that the opponent suffered from moral cleanliness and had a live-stream ship tagging along, they certainly wouldn't start a riot unprovoked.

Thinking thus, Philip XVIII quickly forced a ingratiating smile:

"What is Captain Lu saying? If we wished to continue fighting, the *Alibuda* would not have withdrawn from the battlefield, but would have pursued the *Leonian* all the way. Captain Lu is an adventurer, not an interstellar pirate, and the Kanglang Kingdom is a peace-loving nation. I am certain Captain Lu will reclaim his rightful hero medal."

Lu Chen chuckled:

"It hasn't even been revoked yet; how can we talk about reclaiming it? If it really is revoked, I'll take it back with my own hands."

Philip XVIII did not dare to say another word.

"Captain Lu is truly a rare and heroic youth."

After a round of polite pleasantries, the *Leonian* flew into the Spirit Pool refueling station on Konglong Star to resupply and restock its weapons and ammunition.

Subsequently, the *Leonian* and the *Chunxia* found an uninhabited solitary island on the largest ocean of Konglong Star to rest.

The three of them disembarked from the ship.

Blue skies, white clouds, fine soft sand—the scenery was quite pleasant.

However, Goliath wanted to go shopping, not swimming.

She stretched lazily, looking thoroughly unhappy.

"This trip to Fang Corporation, I put in so much effort and stirred up such a massive commotion, yet in the end, I didn't earn a single penny!

You hacked Fang Corporation's headquarters tower just to show off; why didn't you transfer some of the company's account funds?"

Lu Chen shook his head with a solemn expression.

"That's black money earned from slave trading; I don't want it."

How could Goliath not know Lu Chen's temperament? She curled her lip and said:

"Money is money; why distinguish between good and bad? Just because you don't want it doesn't mean it won't keep circulating, eventually being used to enslave humanoids all over again."

Helpless, Lu Chen had no choice but to admit that time was tight and his capabilities were limited.

"Alright, those were Imperial bank accounts, and I couldn't hack them in such a short time anyway. There was no cash in the tower either—how was I supposed to rob it?"

Goliath sighed and shook her head, though she figured she had made a bloody fortune of fifty thousand spiritual stones at Union Corporation, leaving her with more money than she knew what to do with.

"Fine, you were quite decisive with your killing this time; you showed the dominance I had back in my heyday, so I'll let the money slide."

Nearby, a still-shaken Ellie asked in bewilderment:

"Captain, are you really going to attack the Dawn Editorial Department of *Imperial Entertainment Weekly*?"

Thinking of the monstrous crimes committed by the *Imperial Entertainment Weekly* special operations group on Cylon Star, Lu Chen felt the urge to uphold justice on behalf of heaven.

"Let's go take a look. Maybe we'll cleanse the place with nuclear fire; I've found them deeply irritating for a long time."

Ellie felt that the battle of Fang Corporation had already been perilously close, and charging headlong into the Entertainment Weekly's Dawn Editorial Department—which was genuine Imperial headquarters property—was pushing their luck far too much.

"Captain, the *Dragon Seeker III* has left. Aren't we penetrating too deep into enemy territory on our own?"

They certainly were deep; even Lu Chen was starting to feel the strain.

"Mmm, I'll try to keep a low profile... By the way, during my trip to Fang Corporation, I might have found Ellie's fertilization site."

Goliath's pitch-black cat ears perked up, her eyes widening:

"Whose site?"

Lu Chen thought to himself: I certainly can't call it her birthplace; Ellie's birthplace was Sirius.

"I am almost certain that Ellie's embryo was crafted by Faril, the owner of the Nether Cat, and synthesized inside a certain underground laboratory belonging to Fang Corporation."

Ellie's face suddenly turned pale, her ice-blue eyes filled with bewilderment as vague, unpleasant memories stirred within her.

"I was... artificially synthesized?"

Lu Chen hurried to explain:

"No, no! It was synthesized from fertilized eggs through genetic modification, and later brought to Sirius by Faril—also known as the Gray Crow—and placed into your mother's body. It has nothing to do with your father."

Goliath tilted her head, feeling as though Lu Chen was talking about something unsuitable for children.

"What kind of dog-blood drama is this?"

Lu Chen continued:

"Later on, Ellie was captured once more by a shell company under Fang Corporation, discovered by Flag Firma—the father of Aden Firma, a minor leader at Fang's atavism laboratory—and brought to the seventh planet of the Roger stellar system...

As for Ellie's previous cognitive shackles and stress reactions to the Nether, they probably have to do with Flag Firma's professional conditioning methods. We might get clear answers on this the day we run into Scorpio the scorpion woman.

I suspect the scorpion woman is also a creation of the Gray Crow."

Goliath frowned slightly, dimly grasping the implication.

"Strange... How is it that every one of us is connected to the Gray Crow?

You inherited her Chosen One power, so you're basically her half-disciple.

I'm considered her half-junior sister.

And Ellie is half-daughter, synthesized by her own hands.

No wonder you stare unblinkingly at that scorpion woman and have wet dreams about her at night; you're into any woman connected to the Gray Crow.

Could the three of us women actually be her avatars?"

You sure have an active imagination!

By that logic, wouldn't Madame August also be her avatar?

Could the high-tier blood demon inside Goliath's body be the Gray Crow?

The vibes were completely different.

Lu Chen refused to believe such a bizarre proposition.

Coming back to her senses, Ellie offered an even more logical conjecture:

"Could it be that the three of us meeting, forming an adventure group, and setting out to sea was all orchestrated by this woman from behind the scenes?"

Lu Chen felt a jolt in his heart.

He suddenly remembered his first meeting with Madame August, when she had asked him if he had ambitions to conquer the universe.

Could it be that Madame August had already discerned the connection between the Primordial Firmament and the Gray Crow?

Things were getting metaphysical.

Having one's destiny orchestrated by others was not a pleasant sensation.

Still, Lu Chen remained skeptical.

All he could say was that while the Gray Crow was indeed the root cause of these karmic threads, it didn't necessarily mean she had orchestrated them deliberately.

"Idle guessing won't solve anything. One day, I'll find her in person and ask her clearly."

Goliath shrugged and added:

"What if... she turns out to be an enemy?"

Lu Chen cared not a whit. What of it if she was an enemy? He had the Hazard Avoidance Guide; if genuine danger arose, he would simply dodge it beforehand.

"The thing I fear least is an enemy; the things I fear most are you women constantly disrupting my state of mind."

"Tch, I'm done playing beach volleyball with you. Since I made a bloody fifty thousand spiritual stones at Union Corporation this time, I simply *must* go on a grand shopping spree and treat myself!"

With that, Goliath, accompanied by Ellie, boarded a ship-launched shuttle and headed toward Konglong Star's most prosperous capital.

Lu Chen was quite exhausted himself and intended to rest for a few hours.

He foraged for materials in the coastal woods and hastily lashed together a wooden raft.

Pulling out the nuclear-powered fishing rod from the spaceship, he boarded the raft and pushed out onto the rolling, turbulent sea.

Channeling the spirit of Ernest Hemingway, he rode the towering waves across the vast ocean, fishing with thunderous determination!

The *Chunxia* live-stream ship was concealed in the clouds directly above the raft.

Chun Song and Xia Xian had been instructed to stay hidden within the clouds, setting their engines to silent mode so as not to scare away his fish.

Following the *Chunxia*'s jump, the live stream had resumed, once again drawing over a million online viewers.

However, what appeared before the audience this time was not the Dawn Branch of *Imperial Entertainment Weekly*, but Konglong Star, the capital of the Kanglang Kingdom.

Chun Song and Xia Xian briefly explained Lu Chen's objective for this trip as well as their upcoming itinerary.

The bullet comments exploded once more.

"Didn't they just fight a massive battle with the Kanglang fleet? Why head straight into Imperial territory for resupply?"

"He actually has the mood to go fishing..."
"That's called supreme skill giving birth to boundless daring!"

"The Kanglang Kingdom is a powerhouse in the Secondary Alliance, yet they put up zero resistance and surrendered directly to the adventure group!"

"Word is that the *Dragon Seeker III* has already appeared in the New Federation's stellar system. The Kanglang Kingdom still has multiple Level 60 fleets—couldn't they drive the adventurers away? These are hackers we're talking about!"

"Are you a citizen of the Kanglang Kingdom? I am! The King made the absolute right choice. They didn't launch an active attack—do you want to bring down fire upon us and sacrifice us capital citizens?"

"Even if the Primordial Firmament is a righteous adventure group, you still can't just raise a white flag and surrender! Have you considered what kind of terrible example this sets for the younger generation of the Empire?"

"Haha, keep dreaming. A de facto reigning monarch whose dynasty has lasted eighteen generations and spanned over three thousand years probably relies on Fang Corporation's tax revenue to stay afloat anyway. A nation as aged and decaying as that doesn't have a 'next generation'; your next generation are robots! Just for the record, I am a Tier 3 humanoid of the Empire, and I support Captain Lu's actions one hundred percent."

"Damn it, I'm actually being mocked by a humanoid... Why was I born in a world surrounded by robots and cyborgs? They stole all the jobs, forcing us to modify our own bodies just to end up as cogs for the capitalists!"

"No wonder there are more and more adventurers in the Pangu Corridor. Keep this up, and we'll all have to go out to sea as adventurers."

"Fun fact: half of the adventure groups in the Pangu Corridor come from the Empire's Secondary Alliance!"

"Must be nice. We humanoids of the Tertiary Alliance can only go wash dishes on your ships."

"Are there any lords from the Tier 1 stellar system in the live stream? Step out and show your faces."

"Aren't the two cute female anchors from the Tier 1 stellar system?"

"Dammit all! In such an intensely competitive era, ordinary people can still maintain human forms—what kind of wealthy background is this? They must have bought their streaming license through connections!"

"Why can two people with zero talent, just flapping their gums in a live stream, make so much money? They got famous riding on the coattails of the Primordial Firmament's adventure stories; they should be Captain Lu's slaves!"

The atmosphere in the live stream grew increasingly bizarre, rapidly fracturing along various class and racial lines as viewers engaged in fierce, mutual flame wars.

Until two hours later, when Lu Chen, having caught absolutely nothing, vented the frustration of his fishing trip straight into the live stream.

"Idle chatter ruins the country, keyboard politics ruins the people! It's all your chattering leeks yammering endlessly that scared away my fish!"

However, Chun Song and Xia Xian chimed in excitedly:

"Teacher Lu, good news! Incredible news!"

"Seeing that you were concentrating on fishing earlier, we didn't dare disturb you. You need to go look at the latest headline on *Imperial Entertainment Weekly* right now!"

"Hmm?"

Lu Chen frowned.

He opened his wristband projection screen and logged into the Entertainment Weekly news network.

Navigating to the Dawn section.

A massive, bold headline jumped out at him—

*The Dual Liberator of Humans and Humanoids, a True Imperial Hero: Lu Chen!*

*(End of Chapter)*