Who Let Him Cultivate?! (WX)

“Woohoo, we actually made it out!” The teenagers rejoiced at their narrow escape with high-fives. Only Lu Yang remained unmoved.

“I’m Lan Hai.” The young man introduced himself first. Although they had only just met, having faced a life-or-death crisis together made them feel like old friends.

“I’m Yu Ran,” the first girl said.

“I’m Mi Xue’er,” said the golden-haired girl with blue eyes.

All three turned to Lu Yang, who had remained silent throughout. The implicit meaning in their eyes was clear.

Since everyone had introduced themselves, out of politeness, Lu Yang had no other choice. “I’m Meng Jingzhou.”

“So it’s Brother Meng. What an undeserved disaster it has been today!” Lan Hai sighed on Lu Yang’s behalf.

Not that Lu Yang disagreed. It really was an undeserved disaster.

“Actually, I never expected things to escalate like this. I was just sorting through Grandpa’s belongings—”

Lu Yang hastily cut off Lan Hai’s recollection. “Stop, don’t go on. I’m just a passerby. I don’t want to know so much.”

Lan Hai shook his head. “No, Brother Meng. Face reality. You’re not just a passerby anymore. Even though I was the one who got the chip, Ether saw you retrieving it alongside me. It will absolutely not let you off.”

Lu Yang was speechless. Is the Interstellar Alliance so hostile to tourists?

“That said, you’re right, Brother Meng. This isn’t the time to talk. Get in the car first.” Lan Hai opened his sports car, the one he had crashed through the library. Despite smashing through the building, it didn’t even have a scratch on its paintwork, a testament to its terrifying quality.

Resigned to his fate, Lu Yang climbed in and listened to Lan Hai’s story. Naturally, there was another reason he had gotten in—the Everlasting Immortal Fairy wanted to hear the story.

“Come on, follow them. It sounds fun.” She egged him on.

The two girls also got into the car.

“My grandpa’s name was Lan Kang. Although he wasn’t well-known in the alliance, he was definitely its greatest scientist and also the senior of Gao Huanyu, the alliance’s Chief Scientist. He was the one who modified this sports car for me.

“A month ago, Grandpa died suddenly. At first, I didn’t suspect a thing. It was only when I was sorting through his belongings that I discovered his notebook. It recorded that artificial intelligence had awakened and that Ether was plotting a rebellion.

“The only way to stop Ether’s rebellion was to retrieve the chip from the library and deliver it to Grandpa Gao Huanyu,[1] the Chief Scientist, so that he could use it to format Ether.

“However, Ether found out about this. I couldn’t reach Grandpa Gao through any technological means, so I had to meet him in person. That’s why I came to the library first to find the chip.”

“So your chip is that important.” Yu Ran hadn’t expected Lan Hai to carry such a complicated past.

She recounted her story next. “I come from an organization called the ‘Stellar Society.’ The leader who founded it was a scientist employed by the Murong Family. The Murong Family was in charge of harvesting energy from the star above us. By chance, the leader discovered they were carrying out illegal, aggressive mining operations on the star.

“While this practice could bring enormous profits to the Murong Family, it also risked causing the star to break apart and explode. If that happened, the death toll would be in the hundreds of millions. The leader urged the Murong Family Head to stop, but the latter was blinded by greed and refused to listen.

"Therefore, the leader secretly established the Stellar Society to collect evidence against the Murong Family and report them to the Federal High Council.

𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

“The mole our Stellar Society planted in the Murong conglomerate successfully gathered the evidence and hid it in the library’s astronomy section. I was tasked with retrieving it, but somehow, my whereabouts were leaked, and the mercenaries hired by the Murong Family chased me all the way to the library.

“Fortunately, I got the evidence. Now all I have to do is bring the chip back to the Stellar Society, and my mission will be complete!”

Just as Yu Ran was relieved to have accomplished her daunting mission without mishap, she received a voice message. She played it, and amid the sound of fierce gunfire came a deep male voice. “Yu Ran, don’t come back. The Murong Family has a mole in our ranks, too. That’s how your whereabouts were exposed. Their people are already attacking. Protect the chip. Don’t come back!”

Yu Ran trembled. She hadn’t anticipated such a turn of events, and tears poured down her face.

Sensing the heavy atmosphere in the car, Mi Xue’er decided to share her story to distract Yu Ran.

“I’m an orphan. The Supreme Society adopted me when I was little. They called it ‘adoption,’ but in reality, they treated me as a test subject.

“The Supreme Society believes that the human body is the strongest. They reject mechanical modifications. To make the human body stronger, they performed endless experiments on me.

“In the end, the doctor came to see me as his granddaughter. Unable to bear watching me continue undergoing experiments and modifications, he defied the Supreme Society’s wishes and helped me escape. But he was hit by a stray bullet while covering my retreat. In his last moments, he told me there was a chip hidden in the library that could bring down the Supreme Society and urged me to find it.

“The Supreme Society has already produced a new generation of genetically modified humans. Even robot armies are no match for them. They’re going to launch a rebellion, and we must stop them.”

After hearing all this, the Everlasting Immortal Fairy rolled back and forth on her bed, sighing and muttering to herself, “ Why is this Interstellar Alliance so dangerous? It’s either robots rebelling or stars exploding.”

The sycophantic official chimed in. “Indeed, this Interstellar Alliance looks so prosperous on the surface. Who would have imagined so many crises lurking beneath?”

Once Mi Xue’er was done speaking, the mood grew even heavier. Lan Hai’s grandfather was dead, Yu Ran’s Stellar Society was gone, and Mi Xue’er’s doctor grandfather was dead too.

Lu Yang felt that the three of them were like walking calamities—trouble followed them wherever they went. If I’d known their backgrounds, I would never have waded into these muddy waters.

After all three had shared their stories, they expectantly turned their eyes to Lu Yang, hoping he could say something to lighten the mood.

Lu Yang sighed and recounted his own tale.

“I grew up without parents. Later, Big Senior Sister took me in. Like the Supreme Society, she believed the human body was the strongest and wanted to nurture me... along those lines.

“To that end, she made me carry water vats all day. I wasn’t allowed to stop until both my arms had gone completely numb. At night, she would scald me with boiling water, leaving me jumping all over the place.

“Later on, a female voice appeared in my mind, constantly telling me myths and legends. Sometimes, she would take over my body and do things against my will.

“I also have a good brother. He’s young, wealthy, and handsome, but he has a strange personality and keeps his distance from women. When I suggested he find a girlfriend, he flipped out at me.

“The people around me have even established a resistance organization aimed at overthrowing the local regime. But it’s small, with only about a dozen of us. Some of the members aren’t even human; they’re animals.”

The three looked at Lu Yang with pity. He’s a pitiful person just like us—a senior sister with abusive tendencies, suspected dissociative identity disorder, a good brother with an unusual sexual orientation, and an organization that sounds downright weak.

1. It doesn’t mean that Gao Huanyu is his grandfather. It’s how elders are addressed, similar to how it’s done for uncle, auntie, brother, and sister. ☜