Chapter 334: Paradox Interactive Players Give You a Thumbs Up

But Lin Zhen now realized he was wrong.

The Saints’ Hand Society had lasted five thousand years, producing countless Strong. How strong would he need to become to defeat them? How could he, with just a few people, oppose such a massive organization?

Even if that day came, how long would he have to wait? Could Yun Ruoxi wait that long for him?

So he couldn’t afford to wait any longer.

A thousand-mile journey begins with a single step. He would launch a battle against the Saints’ Hand Society.

War would naturally separate enemies from friends.

As long as his momentum was strong enough and his banner clear enough.

Then all those hostile to the Saints’ Hand Society would naturally be drawn to him, stand by his side, and fight against the Society with him.

And snatching Chatosi from the Saints’ Hand Society, thereby breaking the Mental Brand in his companions’ minds and making them understand that the Society was not invincible—that would be the first step of this war.

“Unite all forces that can be united.”

“Who are my enemies, and who are my friends? Lin Zhen’s ideological awareness is pretty high.”

“Gentlemen, I like war!”

Lin Zhen laid out his thoughts in full detail.

He would continue to act.

And with the primary goal of recovering Chatosi, he would look for opportunities along the way to try to take back Yun Ruoxi as well.

“Xiao Xi is too strong. If we’re careless, we’ll all be caught in one net. Besides, we haven’t mastered the techniques to undo the Saints’ Hand Society’s mind control.”

“So, though unwilling, if we don’t have an extremely high chance of success, we’ll have to temporarily give up on Xiao Xi.”

Lin Zhen said guiltily.

In the years at the Cosmic Academy, he had been studying mind control technology.

But this complex technology involving brain regions, the subconscious, and the soul not only violated ethics and laws and was strictly restricted, but was also an extremely advanced field even within the Academy.

So far, his progress in this area had been quite mediocre.

“That is indeed the best choice.”

Zi Jiu nodded. They couldn’t just take responsibility for the attack without cleaning up the mess. Even if they could bring Yun Ruoxi back, as long as they couldn’t break her brainwashing, it would be like placing a bomb that could explode at any moment by their side.

“I have no objection.”

Anvil always agreed unconditionally, so only Aili was left.

Lin Zhen turned to look at her. He had expected that his statement about “giving up on Yun Ruoxi” would strike a nerve in Aili. He was prepared to be cursed at, complained about, or even for her to disagree.

But to his surprise…

Aili merely said softly, “Okay,” as lightly as if agreeing on where to eat today, as if she wasn’t the same person who had said “Even beating Yun Ruoxi into a coma and taking her away is better than leaving her with the Saints’ Hand Society” not long ago.

A hint of surprise showed on Lin Zhen’s face.

Aili smiled faintly. “I just… came to a realization.”

With that, she turned her head and quietly looked out the window.

Lin Zhen had no choice but to drop the idea of pressing further.

But anyway. After confirming that they would continue to act, and after unifying their thoughts, aligning their granularity, so that no one was confused anymore, the team’s morale rose again.

Laughter and cheerful voices once again filled the cabin, but the atmosphere could never return to how it was right after they left the Stargate. Yun Ruoxi’s sudden appearance had put some pressure on them, more or less.

For the entire following month.

The Fei Fei Yao rushed toward Shell Star at full speed, warping whenever possible, and when not, using eight times light speed to quickly search area by area for Jump Nodes to perform warps.

There were boring stretches of travel as well as sudden thrills of accidents.

The anime naturally wouldn’t waste precious screen time on Lin Zhen and company’s boring journey.

The camera quickly switched to a fast-cut montage.

In less than ten minutes, it presented the essence of their entire month-long journey to the audience.

For example: while resupplying at a life-sustaining planet along the way, they unexpectedly encountered the aerodynamic sect Combatant they had met in Mistveil Forest and on Taixing. He immediately recognized Anvil as a Combatant.

He declared that if Anvil fought him, the supplies would be twenty percent off.

Anvil gladly agreed.

A duel was the best way for a Combatant to grow stronger.

The two spread out and exchanged high-speed blows for a minute.

Unsurprisingly, Anvil, who had trained at both the Saints’ Hand Society and the Academy, mastering several Combat Flow Schools, emerged victorious.

Or another time: a supernova suddenly erupted on their route, nearly causing a shipwreck and killing everyone.

Interstellar travel was far more dangerous than sailing during Earth’s Age of Discovery. The vast universe was full of unpredictable emergencies and dangers.

Events like supernova eruptions were extremely rare, but on the scale of the entire universe, they were not uncommon.

In short, the audience thoroughly enjoyed this segment, feeling that both the fights and the pacing were excellent.

And so, riding on the tail end of the second episode, the Fei Fei Yao, after enduring countless hardships, finally set foot in the Carapace Race’s habitat, arriving in the Pan-Shell C3 Galaxy.

“The Carapace Race is a sapient species encountered during the Empire’s Great Reclamation Era.”

“Although they evolved from arthropod life, perhaps due to convergent evolution, they resemble humans, except their limbs and chests are covered with hard shells.”

“These shells are not only as hard as iron but also self-growing, serving as the prototype for early Biometal.”

“The entire race can be considered an important mineral resource.”

“Because of this, they were eventually recognized by the Empire, allowed to join, and became one of the Empire’s minority races. Up to now, they have undergone genetic engineering projects for three thousand years.”

Genetic engineering project is a comprehensive modification project required for minority races—that is, non-human races—who join the Empire.

By artificially interfering with the race’s genes and continuously adding superior human genes suitable for that race, they ensure the genetic similarity between that race and humans remains above 90%.

It can be considered a kind of “civilizing the barbarians” in the interstellar era.

Nowadays.

Not only do the Carapace Race differ very little from humans in appearance, their acceptance of human adventurers from the Empire is also quite high.

So Lin Zhen and the others showed their student identities from the Academy.

They easily passed the inspection of the Carapace Race starport staff stationed at the galaxy’s entrance and entered the galaxy’s interior.

“The Empire is still domineering. Joining the Empire requires such a long racial gene modification.”

“Your Majesty, the ancestral laws must not be changed!”

“What? You even changed the DNA left by your ancestors?”

“233, I’m dying of laughter.”

“Is the Empire domineering? Those who are not of our race are bound to have different hearts. I think it’s already saintly to let these alien species join the Empire. If it were me, I’d take them all and make crab cans out of them.”

“Paradox players give you a like.”

“That’s too wasteful. Should set up automated farms, kill them when they’re adults, take the shells, and use the meat for cans.”

“Paradox players give you a like.”