Lin Zhen understood perfectly.
What was noble was always the person, not the profession.
If he agreed to participate in the Martial Arts Demonstration, signed the invitation, and then broke the contract based on a flimsy excuse—
Even Xi Muzhi, who had always appreciated him, would never look favorably upon him again.
Not giving him a hard time would already count as high moral integrity.
Let alone the two younger teachers, Yun Che and Kaos, who weren’t exactly broad-minded.
The word “forfeit” didn’t sound good. For academy teachers under the up-or-out system, the damage was enormous.
Of course, beyond that, there was a deeper reason Lin Zhen didn’t want the two of them to give up.
Dealing with a second-level star power user like Chatosi—with him, Lin Zhen, and Zi Jiu, both top students of the academy and second-level star energy users, along with knowledge of the opponent’s abilities—if they couldn’t resolve it safely, then all their years of effort would truly have been wasted.
How could they even talk about breaking into the Asha Star system to rescue Yun Ruoxi?
What else could they do? They had to accept the offer graciously.
“Alright, since you’ve put it that way, what else can the two of us do?”
A tall, blond male student lay beneath a blossoming pear tree, twirling a white petal slowly between his right fingers.
He gazed at the sun through the petal, his face full of seriousness.
“But if you ever run into danger, you have to tell us. No matter where you are, A Che and I will come immediately.”
“Right, A Che?”
The male student patted the ground, and from the shadows beside him, a head emerged.
The handsome, black-haired male student nodded seriously.
“No matter where!”
“Then let’s go! We can’t let down A Zhen’s expectations! We’ll catch Chatosi, make a name for ourselves in the Martial Arts Demonstration, and find a way to confront the higher-ups!”
Kaos said with a light laugh. A wind without any source suddenly rose.
Though the wind seemed gentle, he floated upward like a feather, carried into the sky.
Beside him, Yun Che sank into the shadows and disappeared.
“So this is the bond of the main cast—truly deep. Especially on a cosmic scale, saying they’ll come no matter where really gives a sense of awe.”
“A gun appears at the beginning, so it’ll definitely show up later. I’m betting there’ll be a plot where they rush to help from thousands of miles away.”
“The person above is right, but this is 《Starfall》. In the first season, many foreshadowing elements were never used. The production team changes the script quite diligently.”
“2333, so true.”
Shortly after Zi Jiu, Kaos, and Yun Che sent their replies.
***
About a minute later.
Scarlet’s reply also crossed tens of thousands of light-years through the jump channels, reaching the underground space where Lin Zhen was.
“Sorry, I was handling some business matters. I know about this. I don’t have time to come and help in person, but I’ll prepare everything along the way for you in advance.”
“Understood. That’s more than enough. Thank you, Xi La.”
Lin Zhen said sincerely.
Xi La—that was Scarlet’s real name.
Unlike the rest of them, who were all commoners, Xi La came from a powerful family. She couldn’t just take her family and leave their home planet, go into hiding, and erase their tracks to avoid the Saints’ hand society’s pursuit.
The Red Shine Consortium family’s power spanned six or seven star systems. It was an enormous force in itself.
Though such power was insignificant before the Saints’ hand society.
Over the hundreds of years of the Red Shine family’s existence, they had firmly rooted themselves in the lowest levels of power, like bamboo.
Once the Red Shine family was shaken, those star systems would also quake, inevitably drawing the attention of the Imperial Security Bureau.
So even the cautious Saints’ hand society wouldn’t easily move against the Red Shine family. They would only try to assassinate Xi La herself.
Thus, from the very beginning, to protect her family, Xi La did not go into hiding.
Instead, she lived permanently in the Cosmic Academy, serving as a deterrent, forming a delicate balance with the Saints’ hand society.
If the Saints’ hand society dared to touch her family, she would report everything related to the society to the Imperial Security Bureau.
But the price of this was that Xi La could not easily leave the Cosmic Academy’s sphere of influence.
Once she left, she would most likely be killed by the “Star Bandits.”
So every operation over the past five years.
She had always been like this—using her family’s power to provide Lin Zhen and the others with some financial support.
“I see, so she’s a rich lady.”
“The woman behind Lao Zhen (confirmed).”
“This makes the Saints’ hand society seem so low-level. A small force can’t just wipe them out and is instead threatened.”
“I feel they don’t want to expose themselves too much. After all, the Saints’ hand society is strong, but the Empire is stronger. A single Cosmic Academy has over a billion star energy users.”
“The Empire’s total star energy users are probably unimaginably numerous. Just by numbers alone, they could overwhelm the Saints’ hand society.”
After confirming the itinerary with Xi La, Lin Zhen looked at the last two black frames on the screen that hadn’t lit up, frowning slightly.
Those were Aili and Anvil.
Although they hadn’t entered the same Cosmic Academy, their respective academies were very close to each other.
So close that their delays in the chat room were almost the same.
Normally, their replies should have arrived here through the jump channels before Xi La’s.
But why, this time, had there been no word from them until now?
Could it be…
“Did they encounter something urgent that delayed them? Wait, could they be together right now… Otherwise, it’s too much of a coincidence.”
Thoughts swirled in Lin Zhen’s mind. The more he thought, the more worried he became, afraid that something unexpected had happened to them.
But just then, Aili’s frame suddenly lit up.
“I heard everything, A Zhen brother! I… I’ll come!”
The girl’s voice was soft and calm, with no sign of anything unusual.
Lin Zhen breathed a sigh of relief and opened his mouth to finish speaking.
But the moment the words fell, a distinct explosion suddenly came from Aili’s side.
Bang!
Night.
The neon lights of skyscrapers that pierced the clouds flickered like straight pillars of light.
Painting the pitch-black night sky in a riot of colors.
A projected five-clawed divine dragon swam through the air, occasionally spouting huge fireballs.
Aristocrats stepped on transparent sky bridges spanning the high-rises, casually enjoying the scenery in the sky.
Thousands of years ago, this planet had been heavily developed by the Empire thanks to its abundant mineral resources.
But such unique conditions—
Due to the shortsightedness of the Planetary Governor and the native star system’s inhabitants, it had gradually declined in the post-star energy era.
Now.
It had become a famously known cyberpunk planet.
From afar.
The towering buildings, like trees, took root densely in the ground, forming a gray forest representing technology and order.
But few ever thought: the nourishment of trees comes from humus; where do the nourishment of these buildings come from?
So if someone cared to look closely, if they were willing to direct their gaze beneath the buildings, they would find that under that “forest,” there were vast stretches of slums.
Inside were gathered all the disorder and sin of the entire planet—the nourishment of the entire forest.