Starting Cultivation in Wasteland

What Koning wanted to say wasn’t just that Lord Kong Se had made mistakes in that incident.

Yes, it was only a mistake: killing someone and getting caught on camera.

Neither Koning nor Celestial Sound, deep down, believed Kong Se was wrong for killing; the only mistake was getting found out.

Including the things Kong Se said—though they don’t fit mainstream values, who doesn’t think that way in their heart?

His mistake was in saying it out loud, so of course people would accuse him of being dishonest.

Koning brought up the past not just to ease her mood, but also to test her.

Seeing she hadn’t been blinded by rage, he tossed out new information to grab Celestial Sound’s attention.

"Back then, there were also some people and forces on Qingsha who were indulging Marriott in going after your uncle."

"Then just say that straight, wouldn’t that do?" Celestial Sound actually snapped at a Supreme.

"What you said just now, I don’t care much. This I want to hear... and you’d better not play tricks."

Play tricks... fine. Koning had already gotten somewhat used to this girl’s offenses...

His actual residence was far from here. He’d been late to the banquet today and was originally planning to spend the night at a separate courtyard.

The courtyard was also quite far from the Marriott compound—about an hour and a half by car.

The two of them just talked in the car like that. Celestial Sound knew she couldn’t outplay this old fox, so most of the time she was listening.

Very quickly, over an hour passed. It was getting noisier behind them, and people were conducting checks along the road.

But Koning’s itinerary was clear, and he was a Supreme besides, so no one had the guts to make trouble.

The courtyard was in the suburbs and quite secluded, with few people around.

From a distance, the courtyard was already in sight when Celestial Sound received a surge of Spiritual Power: "(⊙﹏⊙)"

"Alright," she cut Koning off, "I’m getting out. I’ll be in touch later."

Koning vaguely sensed that Spiritual Power too, but didn’t dare say much—he only nodded.

"I’ll help you look into the rest of it. Hope things go smoothly for you."

The next moment, the car stopped. Celestial Sound’s body flickered and vanished into the boundless night, while Koning just stared blankly.

The driver lowered the partition, waited a while, then finally spoke. "My lord..."

"Heh-heh." Koning shook his head and chuckled lightly. "There’s actually a Supreme coming to pick her up—she’s not just any ordinary priority case."

He felt a bit lucky he hadn’t handed her over to the City Guard just now; otherwise, the Supreme who came wouldn’t be here to extract her.

"Just how much of a genius is she? Kong Se really was hiding one hell of a card..."

There were plenty of surveillance systems on Qingsha Star. Even though Qu Jianlei and Mu Yu were Supremes, they couldn’t afford to go full speed.

The two of them took a straight-line route and only just managed to reach the courtyard before Koning.

As for Celestial Sound’s safety, the two had been watching the whole time, though some of the dialogue they couldn’t decipher.

After picking her up, Mu Yu spoke first. "What did you two talk about? You look a bit emotionally unstable."

Early the next morning, the news spread across all of Qingsha Star.

The Marriott Group’s local compound had been attacked, all three Supremes were killed, and a Dark Attribute A-level named Pu Juxiang died along with them.

Though he was only A-level, in the eyes of the Imperial upper echelons he wasn’t much less important than a Supreme.

Especially since he was an elite from the military—on night guard duty, his capability was stronger than that of an average Supreme.

Even among other Dark Attribute A-levels, Pu Juxiang counted as outstanding.

Besides those four, many A-level and B-level combatants were also killed or wounded. The scene was a total mess, too horrific to look at.

Although Xian Ming had been cut into two pieces, he could still be pieced back together, whereas the other two Supremes had been dismembered.

Especially the red-bearded one—there was simply no way to piece him together at all.

This was a massacre the Sirius Star Realm hadn’t seen in decades, shaking the entire Star Realm.

A few years ago, Lord Kong Se’s entire family had been wiped out, but that was done using a "silent drizzle" method of operation.

A method like that would inflict endless pressure and terror on the targets, yet wouldn’t draw much public attention.

Upon learning of this incident, the Star Domain Government declared it would conduct a thorough investigation, and the Qingsha Star Government echoed that stance.

But when it came to concrete action, it was basically "a lot of thunder, very little rain."

The four characters "Lord Kong Se" were heard by quite a few people outside the compound, and the impact was anything but small.

The tragedy had happened only a few years ago—who could be that forgetful?

Anyway, outsiders bullied locals, and in the form of an extermination of an entire household at that—nothing stirs up collective outrage more easily.

So even though Qu Jianlei and the other two were using temporary residence permits, once they added a self-guided tourism package, nobody bothered to check closely.

No one even looked into their real identities.

Meanwhile, the remaining members of the Marriott Group received shelter from the Qingsha Government.

They were relocated to the area right next to the City Guard Headquarters, pressed up against the high-security prison.

The defenses at Qingsha Star’s City Guard Headquarters were beyond anything an Edge Star Realm could compare to.

The high-security prison’s defenses were just as strong. Although most Awakened would be sent out to atone for their crimes, there were always exceptions.

In fact, the Awakened in the high-security prison all had Restrictions placed on them; the reason the defenses were so tight was that they were afraid someone might try to break them out.

After all, once Awakened start acting lawlessly, it’s hard to know where their upper limit is.

Simply put, the inspections were pretty perfunctory, the protective measures were decent, and they cut off the attackers’ chance to continue the slaughter.

By the fourth day, the City Guard couldn’t even be bothered to go through the motions anymore; the checkpoints at the intersections were empty.

On the seventh day, people from the Star Domain Government arrived to supervise this case.

— Setting everything else aside, the dead Qian Cengxue had been the Supreme stationed at Forward Star, the Sirius Central Star stronghold of the Marriott Group.

But the Qingsha Star Government was strongly resistant; the interstellar traffic restrictions originally imposed because of the case were actually lifted again.

Their reasoning was that after so many days without finding anyone, perhaps the killer had already left.

Even if he hadn’t left, finding him would be difficult: Kong Se had once been Qingsha’s local thug, with unusually extensive connections.

Since there was no lead for the time being, they definitely couldn’t keep restricting traffic—Qingsha was, after all, a prosperous commercial planet.

Against this larger backdrop, Qu Jianlei and the other two boarded a Starship bound for Sharp Claw Star.

This was also a Habitable Star under the Sirius Star Realm; its level of prosperity... of course couldn’t compare to the Gemini Star in the Dumbbell Nebula.

The reason that pushed them to go was: Qian Cengxue was born on Sharp Claw Star, and his family was still on this planet.

Citizens were allowed to move freely among Habitable Stars in the Imperial Inner Circle, but that’s easier said than done.

"Chang’an Residence, hard to attain"—the Imperial realm was no different; relocating a family carried a high price to begin with.

Once you moved, before the family members found suitable work, you’d be forced into the embarrassment of watching your savings dwindle.

And Qian Cengxue was only a Supreme; he hadn’t accumulated much of an estate himself, living off hired muscle work instead, with quite a few potential enemies.

Purely in terms of financial strength, he did have the ability to relocate the entire clan to somewhere better.

But once they moved, how would the clan survive? The cost of living would go up, while their network would vanish; everything would have to start from scratch.

So rather than scrape by elsewhere, it was better to live at ease on Sharp Claw Star.

With a Supreme shielding them, they could seize quite a bit of wealth in a short time; poured into the Awakened in the clan, the family might even rise because of it.

Precisely because of this, apart from going out on assignments, Qian Cengxue spent most of his time posted in the Sirius Star Realm.

Sharp Claw Star also had a Marriott branch, but once Qu Jianlei’s group arrived, Little Lake pointed out that this branch’s power was very weak.

The real defense lay with Qian Cengxue’s family; they not only had three A-level sitting in guard, but also all kinds of light and heavy weapons.

Especially the core members tied to the Supreme—they were encircled by layers of clan protection.

There was, however, one interesting point: the Marriott branch was very close to Qian Cengxue’s family estate, only about five kilometers away.

It’s easy to imagine that when the branch location was chosen, it was precisely to facilitate mutual support between the two sides.

By the time Qu Jianlei and the others arrived, word of the massacre on Qingsha Star had long since spread.

The news said that once the people at the Marriott branch here heard, one of their two A-level left for Forward Star.

The remaining A-level, with three B-level and some others, hid inside a not-very-large hotel.

The branch itself kept only one Modified Warrior and a regular person on watch; both were local employees from Sharp Claw Star.

When it came down to it, they were afraid that Lord Kong Se’s people would come to Sharp Claw Star seeking revenge.

Speaking logically, the Sharp Claw branch wasn’t big; if someone wanted trouble, they’d be better off going to Forward Star, since that was the Sirius Central Star.

But when you’re in a crisis, anyone will think in terms of what’s worst for them; seeking advantage and avoiding harm is human nature.

The Forward Star branch took some of Sharp Claw’s combat power for this, and Sharp Claw’s remaining main force hid out in the hotel.

The enemy was a force that could instant-kill three Supremes; once targeted, there’d be no way to escape.

What they hoped for most was: if there was going to be another massacre, please let it be someone else, and then they could run for it.

The hotel was fairly ordinary, but the property was under the City Guard’s name.

For that kind of powerful force, this didn’t count as much of a deterrent, but at least it was better than nothing.

By comparison, Qian Cengxue’s family was even more cautious, placing all clan members with the conditions to do so into relatively secure locations.

For example, those in the City Guard simply applied to work consecutive shifts for a month... and tried to bring their families along.

Those in the army arranged for their families to visit on "family leave," and of course stayed as long as they could.

The remaining family members all completely hunkered down inside a sturdy castle.

The castle wasn’t large, but it was built on the model of a wartime fortress.

The clan had quite a few people, so living inside was cramped, but... they would just have to put up with it for now.

The clan’s Supreme had already fallen in battle; the family couldn’t take any more blows.

As for whether the enemy would come after them, nobody could say; in any case, this was how the clan chose to prepare.

Those with jobs stopped working, students stopped going to school, and even shop owners closed up.

There was no helping it: Lord Kong Se had been exterminated by the Marriott Group; who could guarantee the other side wouldn’t use the same method in revenge?

In their eyes, Qian Cengxue’s status as a Supreme was worth far more than some bullshit Lord title, and even more likely to attract attention.

So they had to prepare for the worst and try to ride out this crisis.