CHAPTER 70: 68, HARVEST

The artist remained silent. At this point, he knew that no matter what he said, Lu Lin would never let him go. If death was inevitable, did it matter whether he spoke or not?

Seeing this, Lu Lin released a Flame Dragon Star Skill, completely annihilating the artist’s spirit. It was over.

Lu Lin exhaled deeply, his mind feeling somewhat hazy. He had expended too much mental energy to trap the artist. To release the Star Skill, he had almost exhausted all the Star Power within him. If the artist still hadn’t died after all this, then he truly would have been out of options. Fortunately, he succeeded.

Lu Lin looked at the a dozen or so eyeballs that contained the recorded fragments of the artist’s spirit, feeling somewhat curious. He entered the consciousness of one of them.

His vision changed, and he became a young man. This young man had been an orphan since childhood, growing up in a Federation Welfare Institution, and had remained unknown until he graduated from high school.

It was during the College Entrance Exam that the young man awakened. He unlocked a Rare Mutated Wind Attribute Talent.

The envious gazes of his classmates and the praise from his teachers made the young man arrogant. He began to believe he was a son of heaven, destined to save the world and the Human Federation.

However, when he applied for university, his application was maliciously altered. The son of a Big Shot at the school took his place and went to study at an Alien Star University. That was one of the Top 10 Federation Colleges.

The young man, his application altered, was left with no school to attend and headed to an Alien Star alone. There, undeterred, he relied on his Talent to quickly join an understaffed elite team and entered the Exotic Battlefield.

Little did he know, fate played another cruel joke on him. The so-called elite team had recruited him solely to use him as bait to attract a Level 6 exotic beast from the Exotic Battlefield. They needed the exotic beast’s blood, skull, bones, and the exotic beast crystal within it.

When the young man discovered his teammates’ intentions, he fled the team under the cover of night. Filled with indignation, he even lured many wandering exotic beasts in the Exotic Battlefield to attack them.

The so-called teammates suffered heavy casualties under the exotic beasts’ assault; the two who managed to escape had experienced nine deaths and one life.

Returning to the city built by the Titled King powerhouse, they widely proclaimed the young man’s malicious actions. This forced the young man, who had wanted to return, to wander the wilderness, accompanied by exotic beasts and Alien Races.

He had to sleep with one eye open every day, constantly fearing being devoured by exotic beasts or discovered and killed by the Alien Race. Without Star Skills, weapons, food, or shelter, the young man had practically become a savage in the Exotic Battlefield. If it weren’t for his Wind Attribute Talent, he would have been dead long ago.

Just as his mental and physical strength reached their limit and he faced an attack from a group of terrifying wolf-like exotic beasts, that person appeared.

The person wore a black robe, was slender, and had fair skin. The young man couldn’t see the person’s face. All he knew was that this person had killed all the exotic beasts attacking him. After he fell unconscious, the person had taken him to a place—a place resembling a tribe, with an extremely primitive way of life: mud walls, mud houses, stone pots, and earthen stoves.

But the people here had not been defeated by life. They hunted every day, bringing back large amounts of food. The young man’s body and spirit improved day by day.

At this time, that person appeared again. He gave the young man a manual, the "Golden Body Sutra," and instructed him to practice according to the Cultivation Method within. He told the young man that it was a gift from God and that it was also God’s will for him to save the young man.

The young man believed him. Every day before dawn, he would get up to practice the Golden Body Sutra, eat beast meat, and drink Beast Blood. After one month, the young man became as burly and immensely strong as the other men in the tribe.

He hunted exotic beasts and fought Alien Races. The young man’s Talent was indeed extraordinary; in a short time, he became a star hunter in the tribe. Simultaneously, his Star Vein Refinement Degree reached 100% at Zero Level.

If he were in the Human Federation, he could have obtained the Star Vein Refining Method and advanced to become a Level 1 Star Core Warrior. However, the young man loathed the very words ’Star Core Warrior.’ He voluntarily shattered the Star Core within his body, leaving only a single Star Vein.

To gain even greater strength, he began to research Star Veins. A few years later, the young man succeeded. He managed to extend his Star Vein, allowing it to continue refining. As the Star Vein extended further, the Star Power within the young man’s body grew increasingly dense, and his strength became even greater.

By this time, no one in the tribe could defeat him in a head-on battle. Even some Third Level, Fourth Level, or even higher-ranked Star Core Warriors would be instantly defeated by the young man’s wind-like attacks.

Perhaps the time was right; that person appeared again. By now, the young man knew that this person was the tribe’s Divine Servant. The Divine Servant gave the young man a western-style fine sword, a completely new set of identity documents, and even replaced the Biological Chip within his body.

The Divine Servant instructed the young man to enter the Human Federation and help God develop and expand the number of believers. Of course, the young man’s work was not to be proselytizing, but combat. God possessed a compassionate heart to save the world, but also required the thunderous means to destroy it. The young man was to be the latter.

Before leaving, the young man went to worship God. Afterwards, he returned to the Human Federation, committing numerous major crimes on Federation Stars like Mercury, Mars, Saturn, and Blue Star, but these were insignificant to him. He was merely carrying out God’s will.

In the process, he fell in love with painting. After each time he completed God’s will, he had ample time and funds to pursue his hobby. So, he enrolled in a training school to learn painting.

But the teachers who taught painting were all heretics; they despised the young man’s lack of talent. Paintings that children barely in their teens could create perfectly turned into something atrocious in the young man’s hands. They attacked the young man with the most malicious words. They couldn’t even be bothered to glance at him during class. Upon seeing his artwork, they would openly display their contempt and disgust.

God said all heretics deserve to die. So, on a quiet night, everyone at that training school was killed by the young man, their bodies arranged in the postures they usually assumed during class.

And so, the young man continued to learn painting, and continued to kill the teachers who taught him. Later, even if a painting teacher was kind, the young man would brutally murder them after finishing his studies with them.

Until... he opened a painting studio in the East Forest Continent on Saturn. Until... he received a phone call from Wang Lihe. Until... his entire spirit was annihilated in Lu Lin’s Star Power Domain. The young man’s story, at this point, finally came to an end.

Lu Lin’s heart was filled with a hundred mixed emotions; he didn’t know how to evaluate the artist’s life. The man was a butcher whose hands were stained with the blood of innocents, yet he was also a pitiful figure.

Most importantly, Lu Lin gained some tangible rewards from the artist’s memories: The Golden Body Sutra, and all the artist’s memories concerning the Black Shark Society.

Lu Lin was now an intern Safety Consultant for the Star Investigation Office, and he could use this opportunity to dismantle most of the Black Shark Society’s power and influence within the Human Federation. He hadn’t expected it; he’d only said it casually at the time, but the artist and Wang Lihe had truly been peripheral members of the Black Shark Society.

The Star Power Domain was already showing signs of collapsing. Lu Lin didn’t dare to linger and silently retreated back into the Consciousness Universe.

Only then did he realize how incredibly fortunate he had been to win this battle. The Star Power in his two Star Veins was almost completely depleted. His spirit was also on the verge of collapse.

No matter what, the artist had been a Martial Artist who had cultivated for many years and possessed an unwavering will. Lu Lin felt incredibly drowsy. He desperately wanted to sleep.

He opened his eyes. Lu Lin saw Zhao Lei standing beside him. Next to Zhao Lei stood his parents, their faces etched with anxiety.

Lu Lin smiled, his head tilted, and he fainted.