“Why?” Li Shu asked deliberately.
“It’s been so long. What’s the point of investigating again? Let me give you some advice, don’t get involved in this mess,” the man frowned, his tone filled with impatience.
How could Li Shu let go of a clue delivered to him? He pretended to be indifferent and said, “I know, and because I know, I want to get involved. Isn’t it interesting?”
As he spoke, he paused, as if something had just occurred to him, and his brows relaxed. “What do you think? If I can uncover the truth from back then, wouldn’t those nobles see me in a new light?”
“You’re… you’re simply unreasonable!” The man was infuriated by his tone, his voice tinged with displeasure. “You still want to be respected by those people? I don’t know what your real intentions are, but I can tell you this—if you really expose this matter, the first ones who won’t forgive you will be those so-called nobles.”
“Really? Didn’t the Yue family die at the hands of space pirates?” Li Shu asked as if he didn’t understand why the man was saying this.
“Do you really believe that?” The man glanced at him, an unknown emotion quickly passing through his eyes. He sighed. “Life isn’t as simple as you think. Some things aren’t what they seem, not what you hear or see.”
Of course, Li Shu knew the Yue family’s downfall wasn’t that simple. How could such a powerful family be destroyed overnight? The excuse of space pirates didn’t make sense. Moz Star was under the Yue family’s jurisdiction back then, and it had never suffered a single pirate attack. How could it be that coincidental that they were targeted at just that moment?
The official reason was space pirates, and the culprits had long since been executed. The situation had been handled so well that Moz Star suffered no losses. Afterward, the royal family conveniently took over Moz Star, and everyone seemed happy.
The truth of what happened that year had been buried long ago, and most of the people involved were no longer around. Even Gu Lin, after all his efforts, had found little useful information, showing just how many people had been involved in that incident.
Li Shu showed up on this planet as Lu Xi precisely to lure those people out. Moz Star had been peaceful for far too long and the truth was buried beneath this peace. If he didn’t stir the waters, how would those people, those events, come to light?
And now, hadn’t someone already come knocking?
He still didn’t know whose side the man was on, and Li Shu didn’t reveal his true identity or purpose. Where there’s one, there’s more. He believed that it wouldn’t be long before more people came looking for him.
Just as Li Shu had predicted, over the next few days, people kept showing up wherever he went. Some even directly tried to kill him.
Li Shu remained calm, continuing his investigation while exchanging information with Gu Lin in secret. This was something the two had planned. Li Shu would operate openly, drawing all the attention, while Gu Lin’s people in the shadows would use the opportunity to gather information.
Since Li Shu had appeared on Moz Star, the progress of the investigation had significantly improved. Following the traces some people had carelessly left behind, they had managed to uncover quite a lot.
Though they had long known that the events of that year were not simple and involved many forces, what they had uncovered so far—just the tip of the iceberg—was already shocking.
As Li Shu instructed the system to compile all the clues, he switched back to his original identity. From Gu Lin’s adjutant, he learned that Gu Lin was coming to Moz Star to find someone.
The adjutant was a trusted subordinate of Gu Lin’s. During this time, Gu Lin had been busy dealing with the royal family and certain nobles, so the matters here were temporarily handed over to the adjutant. The adjutant, who was constantly worrying about the marshal, had no one to chat with most of the time, and would occasionally talk to Li Shu about some things.
They were just trivial matters. After a few conversations, the adjutant found that he got along quite well with “Lu Xi,” and more importantly, Lu Xi didn’t mind him talking too much, which made the adjutant feel more comfortable opening up.
Li Shu learned a lot about Gu Lin from him. These seemingly trivial pieces of information might be useless to others, but not to Li Shu. From the adjutant’s words, Li Shu learned of a Gu Lin different from the one described in reports.
He learned that Gu Lin had clashed with the people of the Empire star for the sole purpose of finding someone. He also learned that Gu Lin had someone he liked, and that person was the one he was searching for. Li Shu found out that Gu Lin had even snuck back to the Empire star, dragging his not-yet-recovered body along, just to meet that person. But when he returned, he didn’t dare to look for them directly, nor speak more than a few words to them.
Li Shu felt a sour and bitter sensation in his heart. From the first time they met, he had noticed the emotion in this man’s eyes and was certain that the man liked him. He thought the man would express his feelings just as the others had in previous worlds. But he waited and waited, and Gu Lin still hadn’t spoken.
Li Shu had “disappeared,” and Gu Lin wanted to find him, using the excuse of exterminating the zerg.
From the adjutant’s few words, Li Shu keenly sensed Gu Lin’s inner struggle. On one hand, Gu Lin was attracted, wanting to get closer. On the other hand, something held him back, as if there was something pulling him away, warning him repeatedly: Don’t get too close, or you’ll hurt him.
Li Shu thought about the extremely low happiness value in the original plot. He felt that there must be something he wasn’t aware of, and the reason for the negative happiness value must lie here.
What could it be?
He carefully reviewed the original plot again but found no clues. In the plot, the protagonist had faced setbacks, but knowing Gu Lin, those setbacks weren’t enough to cause such a low happiness value. There had to be something more.
Things suddenly became unclear. The original plot started when the protagonist entered the military, and the earlier events were only briefly described. Whatever could have influenced the protagonist so deeply had to be significant. Since it wasn’t in the plot, it must have happened before the plot began.
That would mean it happened during the protagonist’s childhood or adolescence. What had happened back then?
Upon reflection, Li Shu realized that the original plot never mentioned the protagonist’s background. It was as if he had just appeared out of nowhere—no parents, no siblings, no friends…
Li Shu logged into the star network and searched for keywords, quickly scanning through the information on the screen. As expected, there were no records of Gu Lin’s childhood.
With Gu Lin’s 3S-level talent, there should have been some record. The empire had a comprehensive census system, and newborns usually underwent an initial test. He asked 1314 to hack into the empire’s database, and indeed, there were no records of Gu Lin.
At least this confirmed that something had happened to Gu Lin before he joined the military. There were abnormalities in his personal data, and no one had ever brought it up. This indicated that someone had deliberately covered it up, and that person must have considerable power.
Seeing Li Shu frown, 1314 grew concerned: [Host, are you okay?]
[I’m fine. Try to find something more, see if you can uncover any clues.]
Having said that, Li Shu knew that there was little hope, so he didn’t hold out much hope. Unexpectedly, a few days later, 1314 actually found some useful information.
Now, he had to figure out how to end his “missing” status.
He had used a minor explosion as an excuse to disappear. At that time, the spaceship had just arrived at the port and encountered a small group of space pirates. Fortunately, law enforcement arrived quickly, preventing any casualties. Li Shu took advantage of the situation to shake off the people sent by the Li family to “take care of” him, though they were actually there to monitor him. He then assumed the identity of “Lu Xi”.
He hadn’t expected Gu Lin to abandon his duties on the Empire star and bring his entire army over. Knowing Gu Lin’s character, Li Shu was certain that this group of space pirates wouldn’t escape punishment.
What was the name of that pirate group again? Sen—Senyu, yes, that was it. He looked up the pirate group through the system and found that their base was on Fanna Star, not far from Moz Star.
Fanna Star was close to Moz Star, but it was far less developed. The place was chaotic, with many pirate groups stationed there. Every so often, they would send people to Moz Star to make purchases, though these were always done in secret.
Li Shu noted that a group would be coming that afternoon, and the next one wouldn’t arrive until five days later. By then, Gu Lin should have arrived. He had to get to Fanna Star before then.
Without delay, Li Shu left a message for Gu Lin under the identity of “Lu Xi,” changed his appearance, and quietly left the area.
Meanwhile, back on the Empire Star.
The Chiyan Legion’s main base wasn’t on the Empire star, and Gu Lin had only brought a small number of soldiers back with him. After quickly handling matters on the Empire star, he left for Moz Star ahead of time.
In the end, he wasn’t able to bring his legion with him. Even though the reports only suggested the possible presence of zerg, even if there had been a real outbreak, those people wouldn’t have let Gu Lin bring his legion over.
What kind of place was Moz Star? The resources on that one planet were more abundant than several outlying star systems combined. Those people had worked hard to gain control of Moz Star; there was no way they would hand it over so easily.
In the end, both sides compromised. Gu Lin would take a small team to investigate whether zerg had truly appeared. If they had, the nearby Feng Xiao Legion would send reinforcements.
Gu Lin’s true goal was never the zerg, so he agreed.
The adjutant’s guess was correct. The first thing Gu Lin did upon arriving was investigate what had happened the day Li Shu arrived. The events of that day weren’t a secret, and it didn’t take long to uncover the details.
When Gu Lin heard that the pirates were based on Fanna Star, he uncharacteristically fell silent. The adjutant thought he was worried about Li Shu, which was understandable. After all, a frail Omega like Li Shu falling into the hands of space pirates could only end badly.
“Prepare to head to Fanna Star.”
“Yes, sir.”
Countless stars streamed past. The magnificence of the cosmos was beyond human reach. Gu Lin stood in the cockpit of the small warship, watching coldly as star after star flew by, disappearing from sight.
As the stars reversed and time seemed to flow backward, the boy who had nothing back then walked out of a mountain of corpses and seas of blood, escaping hell with his wounded body. Now a grown man, adorned with glory, he gazed coldly at the planet he had once fought so desperately to escape from.
The bloody memories churned in his mind—human and zerg limbs piled together, and the young man who was laughing and talking the day before had become a blood-soaked figure in an instant.
His vision was filled with nothing but red. Everything was wrong, everything deserved to be destroyed, including himself.
He should never have existed.
