Chapter 171: The Ignorant Are Fearless

“Huang, Xu is right. They’d really do something like that.” The baby-faced youth understood He Xu’s intention and chimed in, “Trust us. You saved our lives, we won’t hurt you.”

“Draw blood?” Li Ye hesitated for a moment, then said, “My master draws my blood every so often.”

“…” He Xu was stunned.

“Your master draws your blood?” Rongrong asked, her voice trembling.

“Yes.” Li Ye rolled up his sleeve, but after a glance at his arm, he added, “The needle mark healed. Master draws blood once every three months. A long time has passed since the last one, and he never showed up, so I came out of the Ruins to look for him…”

Everyone looked at each other in dismay. Rongrong’s gaze toward Li Ye filled with even more pity.

“Huang, listen to me.” He Xu looked at Li Ye, his expression complex. “You might not want to believe this, but your master probably isn’t a good person…”

“…” Li Ye’s gaze swept over to He Xu, sharp and carrying a hint of killing intent. “I won’t let you speak of him like that.”

He Xu was startled by Li Ye’s glare. He quickly waved his hands and explained, “Huang, I mean no harm. But no teacher would draw their own student’s blood.”

“Right, and he gave you a fake address. There’s no such place as Wanxiang City,” the baby-faced youth said.

“His face might have been fake, too,” Rongrong said.

“Were they using you for some kind of experiment?” the girl who had been silent until now asked.

“It’s possible. Those bastards in the Federation would definitely do something like that to study the Ruins,” the remaining guy said indignantly. “They’re capable of anything. Huang, listen to me. Stop looking for your master. He’s definitely not a good person…”

Li Ye fell silent. He turned to look back into the depths of the Ruins, his expression conflicted, as if unwilling to believe what they were saying.

…

“Huang, I know this is hard for you to accept right now, but give us some time,” He Xu said. “We’ll prove it to you. The Federation might be cruel, but not like your master…”

“Right. That man isn’t your master at all. He was just using you as a test subject,” the baby-faced youth said.

“You still haven’t told me what the Federation is like,” Li Ye said, steering the conversation back. “Is it different from the Ruins?”

“It’s different,” He Xu said. “The Federation doesn’t have so many Mutant Beasts. It has clean air, delicious food, amusement parks, shopping malls, online games, and lots of other fun things. In short, it’s much better than the Ruins.”

Seeing Li Ye’s frown, he chuckled. “It’s hard to explain. You’ll understand once you see it for yourself.”

“But you just said I don’t have an ID,” Li Ye said. “I can’t even get into the city.”

“Don’t worry about that, I’ll figure something out.” He Xu patted his chest. “The guards at the city gate aren’t that strict. You look a bit like my cousin. I’ll go back to the city, get his ID, and sneak you in first. Then we’ll figure out how to get you your own.”

“I guess that’s the only way,” Rongrong said. “I rent a place off-campus. Huang can stay there for now.”

Seeing how they had arranged everything for him in just a few words, Li Ye smiled. “Thank you.”

“Huang, no need to be so polite with us. You saved our lives, so it’s only right that we help you,” the baby-faced youth said, patting his chest.

Li Ye smiled and said no more.

“Xu, what about our trial?” Rongrong looked at Li Ye, then back at He Xu. “Should we keep going deeper? Our protective suits are almost out of energy after that Black-winged Bat attack.”

“Yeah, my Star Power is depleted too. I can’t even use a single Star Skill,” the other girl said.

“Mine’s almost gone too,” the baby-faced youth said, still shaken.

“What’s Star Power?” Li Ye asked suddenly.

“You don’t know what Star Power is?” the baby-faced youth asked, confused. “Then how did you escape the Black-winged Bat swarm? Isn’t that instrument of yours a treasured artifact?”

“You just have to be faster than those bats. And if you’re stronger than those beasts, you can beat them,” Li Ye said. “Master regularly gave me pills, injections, and soaked me in some foul-smelling liquid. I don’t know what Star Power is…”

“Faster than the bats?” The baby-faced youth stared blankly for a second. “How fast can you run?”

“Very fast. Nothing in the Ruins can catch me,” Li Ye said.

“You’re just bragging. Not even a Lightning Leopard can catch you?” the baby-faced youth laughed.

“They can’t.” Li Ye nodded confidently. He grabbed a handful of beads from his pocket, sorted through them, and picked out three blue ones with lightning arcing inside. “I dug these out of a Lightning Leopard’s head…”

The area fell deathly silent.

The group stared dumbly at the pile of beads in Li Ye’s hand, frozen in place.

GULP!

Li Ye clearly heard the sound of someone swallowing.

“Xu… I’m not seeing things, am I? That’s a whole handful of top-grade Star Beads,” the baby-faced youth stammered.

“You’re not.” He Xu stared at Li Ye as if he’d seen a ghost. “The lowest grade here is still high-grade. There are some from a Shock Explosion Tiger, a Thunder Eagle, even a Frost Crocodile…”

This time, he truly believed that Li Ye had emerged from the depths of the Ruins.

“Xu, if we take a few of these Shock Explosion Tiger Star Beads back, do you think our trial will be rated high-grade?” the baby-faced youth asked.

“It would definitely get a high-grade rating, but Huang’s secret would be exposed for sure,” He Xu said, glancing back at him. “The few of us can’t even defeat a third-rank Gale Fox. How could we possibly kill a seventh-rank Shock Explosion Tiger? No one would even believe we got lucky and salvaged them…”

“Your trial is to find these beads?” Li Ye asked.

“Yeah.” He Xu nodded, then asked sheepishly, “Huang, could you help us hunt some lower-level Mutant Beasts? Once we pass the trial, we can come back and get you.”

“How low-level?” Li Ye asked.

“Gale Fox will do,” the baby-faced youth said excitedly before He Xu could speak.

Li Ye emptied all the Star Beads from his pocket. To the group’s dumbfounded gazes, he said, “There should be some from the Gale Foxes you mentioned in here. Take a look. I also killed a swarm of bats over there. Beads dropped all over the ground, but I didn’t pick them up…”

“You didn’t pick them up?”

“Damn it! Xu, pinch me! I think I’m dreaming! Who the hell doesn’t want Star Beads?!”

“Huang, where are the beads from those Black-winged Bats?” He Xu asked, his voice trembling as he reluctantly tore his gaze away from the Star Beads Li Ye had produced.

“Right over there.” Li Ye turned and pointed in the direction where he had been standing earlier.

“I’ll go get them,” the baby-faced youth said. “Xu, there’s no problem if we turn in beads we just picked up, right?”

Just then, a voice suddenly came from the mist. “You lot over there, don’t move. Hand over the Star Beads, and give me that kid, too…”

The expressions on He Xu and the others changed drastically.

In the next moment, Li Ye’s figure vanished from before their eyes.

A bloodcurdling scream rang out.

When Li Ye returned, he was holding a corpse.

The corpse’s chest was caved in, its head twisted to one side at an unnatural angle, its cervical spine snapped. Its eyes, wide with terror, would never close…

He Xu and the others turned pale, trembling uncontrollably as they watched Li Ye, who looked as if he’d just killed a chicken.

Although killing was common in the Ruins, this was the first time they had seen someone do it so cleanly and decisively.

The group quickly wracked their brains, trying to recall if they had said anything to offend Li Ye. After concluding they hadn’t, they secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

‘I cursed at him during the bat attack. It’s a good thing he didn’t attack me then, or I’d probably have ended up just like this dead guy.’

“Xu, that’s Qiu Feipeng from the Shadow Guild, a seventh-rank master,” the baby-faced youth whispered, glancing at the man Li Ye had just killed.

“I know,” He Xu snapped. Looking at Li Ye, who killed as easily as killing a chicken, he suddenly had no idea how to face him.

“I sensed killing intent from him,” Li Ye said. “Don’t be afraid. You don’t want to harm me; you even want to help me. I won’t attack you…”

He Xu breathed another sigh of relief and said subconsciously, “Thank you, Huang… Senior Huang.”

“No need to call me Senior. Just call me Huang. My master said I’m only eighteen,” Li Ye said with a glance and a smile.

‘What a monster!’

‘Killing a seventh-rank master in an instant at only eighteen… Just what kind of experiments did the Federation perform on him?’

‘I fucking want some of that too!’

He Xu swallowed hard. “Right. Huang.”

Li Ye tore the protective shield off Qiu Feipeng’s head and asked curiously, “Do humans have Star Beads in their heads?”

“No, there are no Star Beads in human heads!” Realizing what Li Ye was about to do, He Xu’s face changed again, and he hurriedly stopped him. “Huang, once you’re in the Federation, you can’t just kill people whenever you want. That’s against the law. You’ll go to jail…”

“What’s ‘against the law’?” Li Ye asked, abandoning the idea of smashing Qiu Feipeng’s head.

“Being ‘against the law’ means violating the laws and statutes established by the Federation,” He Xu said, a thin layer of sweat breaking out on his forehead.

“And what are laws and statutes?” Li Ye asked.

“Laws are rules made to maintain social stability. Everyone has to follow them,” He Xu explained. “I’ll teach you all this slowly. For now, just remember one thing: you can’t kill people.”

“What if someone tries to kill me? I can’t even fight back?” Li Ye frowned.

“If someone tries to kill you, they’re breaking the law. You can seek help from Federation peace officers, but you can’t kill them first. Otherwise, you’ll be breaking the law too.” He Xu felt a headache coming on.

He suddenly felt his earlier idea had been a bit naive.

‘This guy in front of me clearly has zero experience with social life and no common sense, yet he possesses immense Martial Force. He’s a walking time bomb!’

“Too troublesome,” Li Ye’s brow furrowed even deeper. “The Ruins are better. When you’re hungry, you eat. When you’re tired, you sleep. You don’t have to care about anything…”

Looking at the group, who were completely intimidated by him, he snorted derisively. ‘If Lord Li can’t even handle a few kids like you, then I’ve been through all those worlds for nothing, haven’t I?’