Star Odyssey

Chapter 1610: Yes Or No?

There was still more than a month left before more giants would be sent to Chaosgod Mountain.

Lu Yin simply remained at Giant Consortium, waiting for the day to arrive. During this time, Wei Rong was doing his best to make arrangements, and the most important player in the plan was Ku Wei.

In a blink of an eye, half a month passed. Wen Sansi had reached out to Lu Yin during this time, but Lu Yin had not backed down. He had asked the Wen family to provide him with that painting of the mountains and seas, but they had not been able to do so. Either the painting truly did not exist, or it was too important. Still, no matter how important the painting might be, Lu Yin refused to believe that it was more important to the Wen family than Wen Diyi, and so Lu Yin remained confident that the family would find a way to get him the painting.

Gu Laogui also reached out to Lu Yin. Smoke-Eater Peaks had already improved the quality of their smoke, and so Gu Laogui was doing his best to produce more of the smoke and had already sent the first shipment to Lu Yin. The next step would be the start of their formal cooperation.

Lu Yin also published a recruitment notice for the Rapid Response Team, and many experts moved to join. They had already been trained and were merely waiting for equipment in order to join the active force.

More good news arrived one after another. Lu Yin received news from San Liang, who informed Lu Yin that Wan Gong had reported a breakthrough in microarray technology.

When Lu Yin had left Aurora Fortress, he had given Wan Gong San Liang’s contact information. With Lu Yin traveling to the Outerverse, there was no way for Wan Gong to contact him. The only option was to go through San Liang.action

When Wan Gong made his report, he was already able to compress a bit of energy using microarray technology while maintaining the original form of the energy. As long as this process was steadily improved, it would not take long to be able to compress battle techniques and form power vessels like the Void Rip sourcebox array that Lu Yin had used.

Lu Yin was overjoyed. If the white smoke from Smoke-Eater Peaks was combined with microarray technology, it would become the standard equipment for his invincible army. He expected any cultivator given such equipment would instantly become a Realmbreaker.

In the future, such equipment would be further simplified and would be able to be used by all human cultivators when fighting against the Aeternals.

The Perennial World had made no progress at all in the fight against the Aeternals despite the many years passing. In order to defeat such an enemy, it was critical to look at alternative options.

Good news continued to pour in, and it left Lu Yin in a good mood. At least, until he received some bad news: Yu Mu had died.

Yu Mu’s death instantly put Lu Yin in a foul mood. That person had been Lu Yin’s connection to the stellular energy pill. Given the man’s personality, Lu Yin had been absolutely certain that Yu Mu had kept a stellular energy pill hidden, but with the man’s death, it was naturally impossible for Lu Yin to obtain the pill.

Lu Yin brought up his gadget’s display, and Duane Daynight appeared. “I’m sorry, Alliance Leader Lu, I could not protect Yu Mu."

"What happened?" Lu Yin asked.

Duane Daynight shook his head. "I don't know the details, but Yu Mu simply died without any traces linked to his death."

Lu Yin’s gaze grew sharper. “Someone assassinated him?"

"That’s impossible. No one could kill him under my watch in such a silent manner unless they were an Envoy,” Duane Daynight declared.

Lu Yin fell into though. An Envoy? Shamrock Enterprise had to have one, but their Envoy should be the mysterious Leaf King. Lu Yin could not quite believe that Leaf King had traveled to the Outerverse just to kill Yu Mu.

"What was his cause of death?" Lu Yin asked.

Duane Daynight’s voice sounded pained, "He was torn to pieces. He died miserably."

Shamrock Enterprise had to have been behind Yu Mu’s death, as no one else would bother to kill him while he was being protected by the Great Eastern Alliance. Lu Yin did not particularly care if Yu Mu lived or died, but even if the man was dead, Lu Yin had to get the stellular energy pill from the man. However, with the man already dead, Lu Yin’s efforts spent on the man seemed to have been in vain.

Also, he had died while being protected by the Great Eastern Alliance, which was a slap in Lu Yin’s face. Did this mean that the Great Eastern Alliance was incapable of protecting anyone? Lu Yin's expression slowly grew darker.

Duane Daynight started to get nervous. In the past, the man had seen himself as an elder when interacting with Lu Yin. While the Dayking clan elder had always been respectful, it had always been a superficial sort of respect given solely because of those supporting the youth. However, after Lu Yin’s most recent visit to Zenyu Star, Duane Daynight had felt suppressed to the point of terror. Lu Yin could not be judged by his age, and Duane Daynight had become extremely cautious in all of his dealings with Lu Yin.

After ending the call, Lu Yin started scribbling in the air: Shamrock Enterprise, Aurora Enterprises, Giant Consortium, the Sixth Mainland, and more. At the moment, the Fifth Mainland had become very chaotic, but not even the Hall of Honor was fully aware of the details.

In fact, there were areas where Lu Yin possessed greater knowledge than the Hall of Honor.

Shamrock Enterprise had to have spoken with the Autumnfrost family and then believed what the Autumnfrost family had said. How else could the company have learned that Yu Mu had been in the Great Eastern Alliance’s custody? He had still been on Zenyu Star when he had been assassinated. However, just what had the Autumnfrost family said to make Shamrock Enterprise believe them?

How had Shamrock Enterprise so accurately determined Yu Mu’s location? Had they really sent out an Envoy?

Lu Yin felt a bit confused. Suddenly, he formed an unlikely, and yet most probable, guess that Yu Mu's death had not been an assassination.

Lu Yin then immediately called Wang Wen. "Go ahead and leak out the news that Yu Mu died on Zenyu Star."

Wang Wen was startled. "Are you serious? If he wasn't killed by Shamrock Enterprise, then his death on Zenyu Star is publicly admitting that you were hiding him. Even if Shamrock Enterprise doesn’t respond officially, they won’t let something like this go. This could create problems for the future."

"Even if we hide it and Shamrock Enterprise wasn’t behind his death, do you think they’ll believe us?" Lu Yin retorted.

Wang Wen started considering the matter. "You just said that Yu Mu might not have been assassinated. In that case, how did he die?"

Lu Yin took a deep breath. "First of all, it was definitely not a suicide."

Wang Wen agreed; how could someone like Yu Mu have committed suicide?

"If it was an assassination, it means that an Envoy was the one to make the attack, and that isn’t very likely. Even if Shamrock Enterprise has an Envoy, Leaf King should be their only powerhouse at that level, and it’s not very likely that he would make such a move himself. Others would do his dirty work for him. The chances of Yu Mu killing himself are zero. After eliminating all of these possibilities, there are only two possibilities left." Lu Yin's face grew solemn. "One, there are hidden Envoys on Zenyu Star who had a motive to kill Yu Mu."

The moment that this possibility had occurred to Lu Yin, he had instantly thought of Undying Yushan. Lu Yin had long suspected that the former emperor of the Great Yu Empire was still alive, and recently he had seen Undying Yushan alive in an Aeternus Kingdom. Lu Yin had no idea what the man was doing there or what he wanted, but Undying Yushan’s existence had become a thorn in Lu Yin’s heart.

The more a person hid, the greater the plot they were involved in. Undying Yushan had remained hiding for more than ten years, and has even cooperating with the Neohuman Alliance. It was impossible to know what was in the man’s mind.

"The other option is that Yu Mu was killed by Shamrock Enterprise and that the company had to ignore any and all risks to eliminate the man."

The second possibility was similarly chilling. Shamrock Enterprise had always been a mysterious entity. If they indeed possessed such power, Lu Yin’s wariness towards them would rise several times higher.

Wang Wen replied, "That's why you want the news released; you want to see how Shamrock Enterprise reacts."

Lu Yin's eyes grew hard. "There’s only one reaction they’ll have, which is to question me. No matter if they killed Yu Mu or not, they’ll never admit it."

"Then what’s your goal?" Wang Wen grew curious. He could see the big picture and was highly intelligent, but he still found it impossible to guess what Lu Yin was thinking.

A smile appeared on Lu Yin's face. "Simple; I want them to know that I killed Yu Mu."

Wang Wen blinked, confused.

Lu Yin grew more serious. "I'm holding a secret for them. The stellular energy pill is a secret that can go no further than me. I believe that what Yu Mu told me is true, and so I was forced to kill Yu Mu in order to protect Shamrock Enterprise’s secret. They should be thanking me."

Wang Wen was left speechless. "You’re going to force them to owe you a favor."

Not only was Lu Yin forcing out a favor, it was one that Shamrock Enterprise absolutely had to follow through on, especially with Yu Mu dead. If the stellular energy pill was exposed and everyone learned of it, who would believe that such a thing was fake? Everyone’s only thought would be that Yu Mu had been killed because of this secret.

If Yu Mu had not died, Shamrock Enterprise would be able to ignore such rumors, but with Yu Mu dead, everyone would believe the dead man's words. Lu Yin wanted Shamrock Enterprise to pay to keep his mouth shut.

"I have to admit, I'm not as good as you when it comes to such twisted manipulations." Wang Wen sighed. "Alright, I'm going to do my own thing."

He then ended the call.

News of Yu Mu's death spread quickly, and it spread far and wide, especially since there was also a rumor that he had been killed to be silenced and protect a huge secret.

Lu Yin received a call request from Balsam just a day later.

Her face remained calm, but her eyes blazed with anger. "Mr. Lu, you really seem to like toying about with my Shamrock Enterprise. You act as though you can play with us however you want."

"What do you mean?" Lu Yin asked casually.

Balsam grew solemn. "Yu Mu was right there with you, and yet you claimed that the Autumnfrost family had taken him. This caused my Shamrock Enterprise to develop a bad relationship with the Autumnfrost family, and they even believe that we were the ones who killed him. Alliance Leader Lu, as the one who had custody of Yu Mu, don’t you owe us an explanation?"

Lu Yin stepped forward and responded in a serious manner, "I need to be compensated for Yu Mu."

Balsam was momentarily stunned. Even if she had experienced countless storms and waves throughout her life, she was still startled by Lu Yin’s words. She was left truly and completely speechless.

"Yu Mu wanted to leak information regarding the stellular energy pill, so I was forced to silence him. I paid a steep price in order to help your Shamrock Enterprise." Lu Yin spoke slowly, revealing his exhaustion.

Balsam gritted her teeth. "There is no such thing as a stellular energy pill. Alliance Leader Lu, I already told you this."

"Alright, since that's the case, there’s no need to talk about it any further. By the way, the outside world will soon receive news about the stellular energy pill. I hope your Shamrock Enterprise is able to provide a reasonable explanation to the rest of the universe and the Hall of Honor. Maybe say that Yu Mu was just making a joke," Lu Yin said with a smile before ending the call.

As the Innerverse president of Shamrock Enterprise, Balsam was supposed to be a very composed person. Lu Yin had roused her anger, but she had no choice but to contact him again.

News had spread like wildfire as soon as Yu Mu died. If the stellular energy pill were to be exposed once again, Shamrock Enterprise would suffer tremendously. Regardless of whether or not others believed it to be real, everyone would be focused on Shamrock Enterprise, especially the Hall of Honor. The pressure from such a thing would be truly unbearable, and Leaf King would not be able to endure it.

Beep beep beep

Lu Yin's gadget beeped, and he smiled gently as he connected to the incoming call, causing Balsam to reappear on his display.

"Alliance Leader Lu, what are you trying to do?" Balsam asked.

Lu Yin’s voice remained light. "What are your intentions in asking me this now? Are you confident or arrogant?"

Balsam's eyes grew cold, but she remained silent.

Lu Yin casually asked, "The stellular energy pill, do you have it or not? Yes or no?"

Balsam moved a finger. She wanted to say no, but she already knew that doing so was nothing more than self-deception. Lu Yin would never believe her. "Yes, but it hasn't been fully developed."