Chapter 226: Origin of the Virus?

The Black Knight fleet followed the Honor Guard Fleet back to Return Star. Next was the banquet to celebrate Klein's return. Although it would be filled with big shots, it was not suitable for Li Yu to attend.

"Colonel Edwin, please trouble yourself to take Li Yu to the Talent Support and Cultivation Association and tell the people there that he is my friend," Klein said to Edwin.

Edwin's eyes flickered slightly, but he didn't refuse. "No problem, Princess Klein."

Li Yu felt that this esteemed brother might not have a very good impression of him, but he was completely unfamiliar with the place and indeed needed a guide.

"Many thanks, Colonel Edwin," Li Yu took the initiative to speak. Edwin nodded but said nothing.

The Black Knight fleet continued to advance toward the Return Star Main Planet. The magnificent Star Casting Palace was faintly visible. The Blazing Light Starship flew out from the Black Knight Warship and docked at Space Hub No. 453 according to the Admission Protocol.

After paying a month's docking fee, Li Yu temporarily didn't let the others disembark. Only he and Edwin left the spaceship. The surroundings were bustling with activity, and various cosmic races could be seen here.

After turning on the noise cancellation, Li Yu felt much more comfortable. He had seen similar scenes many times in the large hubs he had visited.

However, Return Star had over eight hundred space hubs, and if every hub was like this, it would be too astonishing.

The architectural complexes on the surface of the Main Planet had a unique style. Characteristics of stars could be seen in almost every building, and the stellar sunlight draped all the buildings in a veil of gold.

Overhead were continuously shuttling high-speed transit tracks, their speed so fast it was difficult for the naked eye to distinguish, yet without any danger of collision.

Massive Holographic Projection Screens broadcasted various advertisements constantly, with Virtual Projections phasing right through the bodies of pedestrians.

For the Main Planet of a civilization like Return Star, such technology was not surprising. Li Yu glanced twice and lost interest.

Although Return Star was awesome, the chambers of commerce on this Main Planet weren't all that impressive.

"Where are we going next?" Li Yu asked.

"Follow me." Edwin's attitude was neither cold nor warm. He tapped a few times on his Smart Terminal, and an energy track descended in front of them with the high-speed transit vehicle already open.

The surrounding interstellar creatures couldn't help but reveal envious expressions. Being able to summon a high-speed transit vehicle at any time was a privilege only High-Grade Citizens of Return Star possessed.

The high-speed vehicle approached the Star Casting Palace. Most official departments were located within the Star Casting Palace. The Star Casting Palace covered an enormous area and had dedicated docking hubs.

The airspace above was a no-fly zone. The two boarded a terrestrial Hovering Vehicle, Edwin showed his identification, and they entered the Star Casting Palace.

Upon entering the Star Casting Palace, one could immediately sense the strict security. Various mechanical detection instruments covered the area.

Squads of elites were constantly on patrol, and the captains were all B-Tier Lifeforms. And this was only in one direction. Catching a glimpse of the whole from a small part, Return Star's defensive power was extremely astonishing.

Such a top-tier civilization had abundant talent resources and a massive population base. Furthermore, there were various advanced academies internally to cultivate talent, so they had many advanced lifeforms under their command.

The vehicle stopped in front of a building. Edwin took Li Yu onto an internal Hovering Elevator all the way to the top floor.

The atmosphere here was much looser compared to the strict security on the periphery. One could occasionally see staff members slacking off in the corners, casting curious glances at the two.

Edwin showed his identification and got green lights all the way, knocking open the door to the top-floor Office.

"Come in..." The voice from inside sounded slightly exhausted. The two pushed the door and walked in.

It was a spacious Office with a rectangular structure. The walls were deep blue, and there were floor-to-ceiling windows on every side.

The floor was carpeted, and potted plants were placed in the corners, seemingly meticulously cared for, emitting a soothing fragrance.

Two rows of fully packed bookshelves hugged the walls, while a long metal table for receiving guests sat on the other side.

Above was a huge chandelier, and a bit further back was an office desk.

"Edwin?" The person looked up and spoke with some delight. He wasn't very old and seemed a bit flighty.

"Max?" Edwin raised an eyebrow slightly, his tone full of surprise. The two were former classmates with almost identical grades, but their personalities were completely opposite.

Max was also the descendant of some big shot in Return Star.

An acquaintance of Edwin? Tsk tsk... as expected of a Prince's son. But this name gives me too strong a sense of déjà vu.

"Why are you here?" Edwin asked in confusion, "I remember you're the commander of the Ghost Small Fleet, aren't you? Right now you should be searching for intelligence in the No Man's Land System."

"Don't mention it..." Max grumbled, saying irritably, "The Star Glory Empire has gone completely mad. They actually transferred the Troll Legion to the No Man's Land System. You know that bunch of brainless Reckless Brutes; they directly swept across the entire No Man's Land System."

"If my old man didn't have some reputation, causing them to merely take me prisoner instead of killing me, you would have lost your best friend forever."

"The Troll Legion?" Edwin frowned deeply, his expression grave. The Star Glory Empire's top-tier legion, which had appeared multiple times in textbooks, definitely had combat power that was no joke.

"Yeah..." Max sighed, "Their combat power is clearly written in the textbooks. Being captured was unavoidable."

"But my old man simply wouldn't listen to my explanation. Saying that I'm not suited to command a fleet, he directly sent me here."

"That's not right..." Edwin shook his head. "Although the Troll Legion is indeed powerful, if you didn't come into contact with them, you wouldn't have been captured at all."

"The Ghost fleet is renowned for its stealth, and there were fleets from other civilizations blocking in front. How could you not even have the chance to escape?"

Max laughed awkwardly, his eyes darting around. "Well, I found a piece of crucial intelligence, so I went a bit deeper."

Edwin looked like he had seen right through him and shook his head. "I told you before, your personality is too flighty. Your father letting you command the Ghost fleet was also meant to suppress your temper."

"This is already a fleet renowned for stealth. There's no need to take the initiative to attack; all you need is enough patience."

"Alright, alright, why do you sound just like my old man?" Max waved his hand impatiently and changed the subject. "Aren't you curious what kind of intelligence made me delve deep alone?"

"Military intelligence is classified. I don't want to know," Edwin wasn't curious at all.

Max said somewhat depressedly, "Can't you show a little curiosity? I'm no longer under military command now. As long as you act a little bit curious, I'll tell you."

Li Yu was a bit speechless.What kind of weirdos are these? Return Star's future is worrisome.

Perhaps noticing Li Yu, or perhaps Edwin's iceberg-like reaction made him feel bored, Max laid down on the desk and sighed again.

Only then did Edwin speak: "This place isn't bad either. Grinding you for a year or two should get you transferred out."

"A year or two? Isn't that asking me to die?" Max continued to wail.

"This place is clearly an idle post. It couldn't be more suitable for you," Edwin said.

"An idle post?" Max slammed the desk and stood up, glaring angrily. "Idle my ass! Do you know how many people your younger sister—Klein—has stuffed in here?"

"Currently on record, there are 126 people, 7 of which are B-Tier Lifeforms. And this is just this year. If you add the bad debts from the past few years, there's a total of 623 people and 21 B-Tier Lifeforms!" Max said angrily:

"Do you know how massive a resource this is!?"

"Completely wasted on a bunch of parasites! It took me several days just to sort it all out!"

Uh... Li Yu blinked and couldn't help but lower his head. It seemed Klein's "friends" had really become a derogatory term.

Edwin frowned and asked, "Are you saying out of so many people, not a single one is willing to execute missions?"

Max snorted coldly, "There are some, but they make up less than 1%. And there isn't a single B-Tier Lifeform among them. Those people just take the resources and run. It's completely freeloading."

"You should propose that supported personnel who don't execute mandatory missions should be wanted, or forced to return the resources." Edwin said pointedly. Li Yu felt this guy was warning him.

Max shook his head. "If we do that, all the rest will run away too. The people Klein stuffed in only account for a small portion. It's not worth ruining the cultivation program just for this small portion."

Overall, the support and cultivation program wasn't considered a loss. There were many lifeforms who entered through normal channels and honestly fulfilled their obligations.

But there were always missions they couldn't resist, or special reasons preventing them from answering mandatory summons. If they killed everyone with one stick, probably no one would dare to come anymore.

"The root cause isn't the support and cultivation program, but Klein. Her status is too high, causing the previous officials to not dare refuse her at all." Max shook his head and sneered:

"Now that I'm in charge, without my permission, no one can join the support and cultivation program. This is my moral integrity and steadfastness as a member of Return Star!"

Li Yu looked up, somewhat bewildered.What happened?

"So there's also this reason why your father transferred you here." Edwin looked thoughtful. The resources consumed by the people Klein stuffed in were just a drop in the ocean for the entirety of Return Star, but it was still a waste for nothing.

"Let's not talk about this anymore. It just makes me angry. Didn't Klein just return? Why did you come straight here? Are you sending someone into the support and cultivation program?" Max swept his gaze toward Li Yu and teased:

"Even though our relationship is good, I still have to examine the people you send over. If they don't cut it, I will refuse, you know."

"He has nothing to do with me," Edwin's tone was calm. "He is Klein's friend."

"Haha..." Li Yu laughed awkwardly. "Hello... my name is Li Yu."

Max fell silent for a moment. His face suddenly became extremely strange. After all, he had just been blasting Klein's friends for so long, and who knew the main character was right in front of him.

"Ahem..." He coughed twice and said seriously, "Mr. Li Yu, are your information materials ready?"

"Ready." Li Yu felt the atmosphere was very strange as he handed over the materials.

Max was definitely going to refuse him. Li Yu knew Max was going to refuse him, and Edwin also knew Max was going to refuse him.

But... they still had to go through this process...

Max pretended to glance at it and then said with feigned regret, "It's a pity, respected Mr. Li Yu, but you are not within the target scope of our support and cultivation program."

Did you even finish reading the materials with that sideways glance...Li Yu was somewhat speechless, but there was nothing he could do. Who asked Klein's friends to have such terrible track records?

However, it was Klein who asked him to join in the first place. If he couldn't join, then so be it. He himself didn't care and didn't find it a pity.

"Then let's go." Edwin's footsteps seemed quite a bit lighter, though Li Yu didn't know if it was his imagination.

"Wait!"

However, right at this moment, Max suddenly shouted. He stared wide-eyed at Li Yu's information materials, his tone rapid. "You... you... you're from the Star Glory Empire?"

"You're that wanted Li Yu, the person who leaked the Star Glory Empire's coordinates in the No Man's Land System?"

Li Yu turned around in sudden realization and said confusedly, "That's me, what's wrong?"

Just being wanted shouldn't be enough to make Max so surprised. There were plenty of people wanted by the Star Glory Empire.

"You... you..." Max jumped out from behind the desk, grabbed Li Yu's clothes, and said excitedly, "You have to testify for me. You must testify for me!"

"Uh..." Li Yu was a bit confused. "What do you want me to testify to? Testify that your moral integrity is very firm?"

"Testify to the origin of the Xinhuo Virus!"

Hearing these words, Li Yu almost couldn't hold back from attacking. Had the things he did been discovered?

Because the virus broke out in the Return Star Civilization—Teuton System—Xinho Star, it was called the Xinhuo Virus.

Edwin couldn't help but step forward and push Max away. "Calm down and speak slowly."

"Alright... alright..." Max was still somewhat agitated as he began speaking, "Didn't I tell you earlier that I went deep into the No Man's Land System because of a clue?"

"That clue was the issue of the origin of the Xinhuo Virus!"

Hearing this, Edwin couldn't help but say, "Hasn't it already been confirmed that the Xinhuo Virus originated from the No Man's Land System?"

"Exactly, but can you be more specific?" Max asked in return.

Edwin instantly fell silent, unable to answer.

In fact, after the virus broke out in No Man's Land, Starlight General immediately took over the situation, and no one else could get close to No Man's Land at all.

No outsider knew exactly where it originated from.

"Hehe..." Max laughed smugly. "What I was investigating at the time was another matter. Starlight General's removal from office wasn't because of the failure of the Star Gate plan at all."

"It was because he lost the item from the Titan Ruins."

Edwin raised his eyebrows slightly, and Li Yu narrowed his eyes. This Max had some skills to be able to investigate this much.

"And it was precisely during the time period when the item from the Titan Ruins was lost that the Xinhuo Virus was leaked and spread," Max spoke with assurance. "And the true origin of the Xinhuo Virus is in..."

Saying this, he looked at Li Yu. Li Yu was a bit alarmed, suspecting that in the next moment, Max would throw his cup as a signal, and eight hundred axemen would rush out in unison to chop him into Meat Paste.

"The Dark Star Mothership!" Max spat out these words.

Phew... it was the Dark Star Mothership. Li Yu let out a sigh of relief, then recalled that he did indeed leak the virus through the ventilation system of the Dark Star Mothership.

Saying the Dark Star Mothership was the origin of the Xinhuo Virus didn't seem wrong.

"Dark Star Mothership?" Edwin was a bit lost; he didn't know about Dark Star.

"The leader of a semi-militarized Marauder organization, now an A-Tier Lifeform," Max casually explained.

"Since you were in the No Man's Land System at the time, you must know about this. My father asked me to produce evidence, but the evidence was on my warship, and the warship has already been confiscated by the Troll Legion," Max said through gritted teeth.

"You want me to testify for you that the Xinhuo Virus leaked from the Dark Star Mothership?" Li Yu repeated, his expression a bit strange.

"Exactly..." Max nodded.

"This..." Li Yu hesitated slightly.

Max immediately turned around, took out a stack of documents, quickly signed and stamped them, and then brought them in front of Li Yu. "You are already a member of the support and cultivation program. Return Star will protect your safety, don't worry."

Edwin suddenly widened his eyes.Damn it, is this your moral integrity and steadfastness?

(End of this chapter)