Feng Lianzhu was not afraid, he followed his own will, and he did something he’d always wanted to do——he reached out and touched Teacher Green Dragon’s head.
This was what Feng Lianzhu thought in the arena. With his strength, wisdom, and understanding of the Alliance, it was impossible to eradicate the underground arena. He didn’t have the power, and even with the Fat Dragon’s help, it wouldn’t suffice. the Fat Dragon could overturn a planet but couldn’t eliminate the backers and audience of the underground arena, let alone rescue the modified humans.
Exposing the darkness of the underground arena to the public seemed like an impossible mission.
If the system wanted to trap the Fat Dragon and Feng Lianzhu, this would be a good way to do it.
However, Feng Lianzhu felt the system’s goodwill. As long as he and the Fat Dragon made the right choices, the points they could earn would be unimaginably high.
Ultimately, it was about becoming human. Thus, the solution to this issue needed to be based on human thinking.
The humans Feng Lianzhu was most familiar with and had the most contact with were the players.
“Travel the Heavens” had a clan system, as well as clan battles. Where there are people, there are rivers and lakes, even if it’s just an online game.
Feng Lianzhu, having recovered his pre-formatting memories, gradually recalled many clan histories: inspirational ones, money-spending ones, and troublemaker ones. Covertly inciting conflicts between two major clans, leading them into continuous battles and hindering their development, he seized the opportunity to rise and become a top ten clan.
Using others to do one’s bidding, sowing discord, divide and conquer…
He instantly thought of the Imperial Army striving for restoration. The audience surely included high-ranking Alliance members; even if not, exposing the underground arena and revealing such darkness in the Alliance would shake public confidence, which would benefit the Imperial Army. They likely wouldn’t refuse.
Of course, these thoughts were optimistic. There was also a troubling possibility: if the Imperial Army was behind the underground arena, they would definitely react, possibly attacking planet number 419.
That was no problem either. As soon as the enemy acted, they would expose weaknesses. With the opportunity to summon the Fat Dragon, Feng Lianzhu felt empowered and unafraid of any military force. After subduing the Imperial Army, he would contact the Alliance, who would likely be eager to eliminate the underground arena and deal a heavy blow to the Imperial Army.
As a third party in the game of strategy, they stood to gain regardless of the outcome.
There are always more solutions than problems. Feng Lianzhu nodded to himself, silently applauding the players of “Travel the Heavens” for providing so much material.
And then there was the Fat Dragon. With his support, Feng Lianzhu felt his path broaden significantly. In the face of absolute power, all schemes and tricks were mere paper tigers.
With this in mind, he couldn’t help but open the system and waste a help point to send a message to the Fat Dragon: I have received the shared dragon power, thank you for trusting me so much. Also, let’s work hard for our dreams together.
Suffering from the aftereffects of writing elementary school essays, Feng Lianzhu’s message was a bit youthful, passionate, and cheesy. He composed it in the interstellar common language, checking for grammar issues before sending it.
The help request required a specific request, so Feng Lianzhu wrote “Let’s work hard for our dreams together.” The response still allowed for acceptance or rejection.
Soon after, the Fat Dragon’s reply came.
Pang Kirates: Roar~~
This answer was very much like Kirates.
Dolphin 66, using a new type of communicator, connected to the private contact method left by Major General Laurie. This was intentionally given to the atavists by Laurie, planting a seed of betrayal among them, waiting for them to turn.
The atavists, numbering just over three hundred and lacking higher education, weren’t considered talents and weren’t worth winning over.
It was obvious that their only value to others was the presence of a Kirates Dragon on their planet. Major General Laurie’s goal must be related to this.
Feng Lianzhu didn’t believe the Imperial Army could harm the Fat Dragon, but there must be a reason for their interest. This could also be an opportunity to gather information from Laurie.
“It’s connected. Do I talk to him, or will you?” Dolphin 66 asked.
After the last interaction with Laurie, Dolphin 66 was somewhat afraid of him, worried about inadvertently revealing information.
“I’ll do it,” said Feng Lianzhu.
“Ah? Isn’t this the atavists’ contact method? Who’s missing me?” Major General Laurie said.
This time, Dolphin 66 used the latest communicator that projected Laurie’s holographic image, but it was one-way; Laurie could only hear the voice, not see Feng Lianzhu.
Feng Lianzhu needed to observe Laurie’s facial expressions.
“It’s me,” he said in the newly learned Imperial language.
Hearing the voice and language, Laurie’s expression changed. In addition to surprise, there was a hint of fear and incredulity.
Was it so unbelievable for Laurie that Kirates Dragon could speak the Imperial language?
Even the composed Laurie couldn’t completely hide his astonishment upon hearing the Imperial language, which Feng Lianzhu accurately caught.
Laurie quickly adjusted his expression, his mouth curling into a polite, forced smile. With one hand on his chest, he bowed slightly toward the void and then said, “It’s you, Lord Kirates. I didn’t expect to speak directly to you. It’s my honor.”
He didn’t mention the Imperial language. Sometimes deliberately avoiding a topic is a form of concealment.
“I have a business proposal. Can you make decisions on this matter?” Feng Lianzhu asked succinctly.
“This is the situation,” Laurie responded with a polite but awkward smile. “Since I was captured by you last time and returned, I’ve been demoted to a Brigadier General. Others have taken over communications with the interstellar pirates, and my power is not as great as before.”
“About the underground arena, Brigadier General Laurie,” Feng Lianzhu said.
Hearing Feng Lianzhu mention the underground arena, Laurie’s expression changed again, his eyes momentarily blazing with fanaticism before settling back into calm.
Twice caught off-guard with sudden news, Laurie’s emotions betrayed him both times. He sighed and said, “Lord Kirates, your wisdom far exceeds my expectations this time. It seems my little tricks are nothing compared to your ‘advanced stage of transformation.’”
Advanced stage of transformation? It seemed Laurie knew quite a bit. First, he believed that the Kirates Dragon he had encountered before was immature; second, he didn’t think Feng Lianzhu had fully matured, only referring to him as in an advanced stage of transformation; finally, there was an issue with the last words he left behind when he was released.
“The Imperial Army knows quite a lot,” Feng Lianzhu said, aware that speaking more could reveal more in front of a fox like Laurie. “I want to deal with the underground arena.”
“Why?” Laurie asked, this time not with caution but with genuine interest.
It seemed less likely that the Imperial Army was the mastermind behind the underground arena.
“There’s someone among the contestants that I need.”
Laurie’s expression changed yet again, this time unable to hide his fear.
After three uncontrollable changes in expression, Feng Lianzhu got the confirmation he needed and said, “You should know why.”
“You…” Laurie seemed to want to say something but held back, only saying, “Your transformation period is happening faster than I imagined. May it go smoothly.”
Even at this moment, he was still probing Feng Lianzhu, not daring to reveal what he had guessed and kept hidden.
After learning the Imperial language, Feng Lianzhu tried to decipher Laurie’s lip movements from the system recordings, confirming he indeed used the Imperial language. The content seemed to be: “Atavists… A-grade… genetic enhancers… as expected.”
Given this context, with the atavists and people above A-grade being particularly susceptible to the influence of Kirates Dragon, Laurie linked atavists, A-grade genetic levels, and genetic enhancers. And all of this in front of Kirates Dragon’s den. Could it be that the existence of genetic enhancers and atavists is related to Kirates, the strongest species in the universe?
The system’s mission for Feng Lianzhu was to continuously defeat bosses higher than his level, improving his own attributes.
The Fat Dragon’s missions, however, were always related to atavists: aiding them in poverty, helping them attend college, and rescuing them from the underground arena.
If the key to Feng Lianzhu’s transformation into a human was breaking limitations and becoming a boss with the five attributes like players, then the key to the Fat Dragon’s maturity might be to restrain himself, help atavists, and protect them.
How exactly did the system calculate that helping Kirates Dragon reach maturity would involve the atavists?
Unless the atavists were closely related to Kirates Dragon.
And Brigadier General Laurie, during his captivity, discovered this link, which is why he attempted to turn the atavists against themselves.
Cutting to the chase, Feng Lianzhu asked, “Exposing the backers and participants of the underground arena, as well as its evils, to the public, I want the atavists. Can you do it?”
“That’s a bit difficult,” Brigadier General Laurie said. “You see, I’m just a Brigadier General now.”
“That’s your problem.”
“What if it can’t be done?” Laurie asked. “We are quite eager to tarnish the Alliance’s leadership, showing the public that the Alliance’s so-called freedom, equality, and democracy are just a pile of capital, no different from the old Empire. If the imperial system exists, it could better check capital. That’s the outcome we want. Exposing the underground arena would benefit us a lot. If it were possible, we would have done it long ago. But their security measures are excellent. I once joined the underground arena as a contestant, fought my way to the first place, and still couldn’t penetrate their inner circle.”
Feng Lianzhu didn’t respond but sent a processed video instead.
This was a recording made by the system after he broke the “eyes” in the spectator seats of the underground arena. It showed the faces of 70% of the audience and the remaining 30% of their figures. Feng Lianzhu asked the system to pixelate it, covering all faces.
“My God!” Laurie was genuinely interested this time. “So many audience members showing their faces. If we could see their faces, we could find out a lot. Who broke the arena’s shielding?”
He paused for a moment, then said, “Lord Kirates, you didn’t participate in the competition, did you?”
Dolphin 66, eavesdropping, shrank his neck, remembering it was he who had given Lord Kirates the arena’s address.
Dolphin 66 had thought, if Kirates Dragon joined the competition, the underground arena might be finished. And indeed, in just three days, it was destroyed.
“Last night, I gave them my planet’s address,” Feng Lianzhu said. “If you move fast, you can catch a bunch of them. If not, I’ll kill them all.”
Feng Lianzhu wasn’t bluffing. Even without summoning the Fat Dragon, he was confident he could wipe out an army with his black scale weapon alone.
Laurie watched the pixelated video, imagining the underground arena’s ordeal the previous night. He remembered the severe injuries he suffered from the dragon’s roar when he and the Lind Pirates arrived at the primitive planet. His eardrums reflexively ached, dizzy and somewhat schadenfreude. The underground arena had indeed provoked an entity it shouldn’t have.
“I will immediately apply to my superiors to lead a team to the primitive planet. If the underground arena does send people to attack, I hope you will not intervene. We will capture them alive. Please also hand over the unredacted video to us; I will make sure the Alliance suffers a heavy blow,” Laurie said.
“Hmm,” Feng Lianzhu replied succinctly and then cut off the communication.
Feng Lianzhu instructed Dolphin 66, “Tell Dog 16 to quickly move the atavists near the cave.”
Preparing for the worst-case scenario of a star war impacting the base, the safest place on the planet was undoubtedly the Fat Dragon’s lair. Even if the planet was destroyed, the lair would remain intact.
The base could be rebuilt, and a new planet could be found; what mattered was that the people survived.
“Is a war going to happen?” Dolphin 66 asked nervously.
“No,” Feng Lianzhu replied, “We’re just getting new companions.”
His confident demeanor reassured Dolphin 66. What impact did the last joint attack by the Imperial Army and interstellar pirates on the primitive planet have on them? They had supplies, a base, weapons, clothes, and food, and could defend themselves. There was no downside.
This time would be no different, he believed in Lord Kirates.
After a firm salute to Feng Lianzhu, Dolphin 66 went to find Dog 16. Planet 419, located on the edge of the Azure Star System, far from the Alliance’s center, required three days to reach from the most remote mining star of the Alliance. It would take at least five or six days for the underground arena to send people, giving them enough time to move.
Watching him organize the atavists’ relocation, Feng Lianzhu checked the time and sighed softly, returning to his lair and putting on his nephew Feng Yuansi’s StarNet device.
Feng Lianzhu, the previous night, overturned the underground arena, acting as a messenger of justice; in the morning, he contacted the Imperial Army to expose the dark side of the Alliance; and just now, he reassured the atavists, becoming an outstanding leader.
Now, it was time to study and attend elementary school.
Feng Lianzhu massaged his sore shoulders, sighing, “Being human is really difficult.”
Yet he had already tasted the benefits of learning. Just elementary-level proficiency in the Imperial language allowed him to peel away Brigadier General Laurie’s mask, making him believe the Fat Dragon was about to reach maturity, possessing terrifying power, and not to be underestimated.
That’s the power of knowledge!
Feng Lianzhu’s resolve to learn strengthened. He logged into his account and entered the classroom. Teacher Green Dragon, with a black flower on his head and tail coiled in front, was visibly angry. “Student Feng, you’re late!”
The events of the night had been too many, and despite rushing, Feng Lianzhu was still ten minutes late, preparing for the underground arena’s impending attack.
Teacher Green Dragon, on the verge of a volcanic eruption, had white smoke coming out of his ears and nostrils, looking as if his lungs were about to burst.
His large size made such expressions intimidating.
But Feng Lianzhu wasn’t scared. Following his heart, he did something he had always wanted to do—he reached out and touched the small flower on the Teacher Green Dragon’s head.
Author’s note:
Emmm… Since I didn’t update yesterday, there will be two updates today. The next one before 7 PM~