Upon hearing Grace's words, Lu Yin raised an eyebrow and looked at her with a half-smile. "You want a share?"
Grace raised her eyebrows. "You don't?"
The two stared at each other.
Barara tugged on Grace's sleeve and whispered, "We can't be seen. If this gets back to the academy, it won't look good for your brother."
Grace nodded, then said to Lu Yin, "You handle it yourself. We'll hide." With that, she and Barara concealed themselves.
Lu Yin didn't object. He wasn't comfortable having those two around anyway—better that they stayed hidden.
In the distance, two figures slowly appeared.
Ten minutes later, the local network broadcasted an alert—two more people had been defeated.
After five days of quiet, most students thought the interstellar thief had called it quits. Unexpectedly, he struck again, without any warning.
Grace looked at Lu Yin excitedly. "Come on, how much did you get? Let's split the loot."
Lu Yin looked at Grace. "You sure?"
Grace stared at him and muttered, "You wouldn't shamelessly keep it all for yourself, would you?"
Lu Yin thought for a moment, then tossed her a star energy crystal. "Here, take it."
Grace was furious and lunged at him. "Bastard! So stingy!"
Lu Yin chuckled. "You were the one who refused earlier. Don't blame me." He had already figured out that this woman had a complicated personality. She helped him rob people simply because she was upset. Even if he didn't give her any star energy crystals, she would still help out. Unless she could snatch the goods back from him, Lu Yin had no worries about her backing out.
With Grace acting as an inside accomplice, Lu Yin's robberies went extremely smoothly. In just a few days, he had robbed several groups, managing to collect five cubic meters of star energy crystals—enough to make even Grace jealous.
There were still four days before the second group of trial participants would arrive, and Lu Yin encountered the first real crisis since the apocalypse—he was surrounded by seven students, three of whom were the academy's top fighters.
On the rooftop of an abandoned county supermarket, Lu Yin scanned the group. Grace's personal terminal had detected only two people, but suddenly there were seven. The other five weren't wearing personal terminals, just like him—they were hidden.
These people had clearly gone all out to catch him, even discarding their personal terminals.
"So you're the interstellar thief? Only 2,100 combat power? Looks like your battle techniques must be pretty impressive," said a rugged-looking student, one of the academy's top fighters.
Next to him, a plain-looking but voluptuous woman giggled, "Many people use star energy crystals not for cultivation, but to train their battle techniques. Junior, is that what you're doing? Tell your senior sister what your technique is, won't you?"
Lu Yin looked at the woman, the corners of his mouth lifting. "Want to know? Come find out."
The woman giggled and raised an energy gun at him. "Junior, did you know that sometimes battles don't rely solely on your own power? External tools matter too."
At the same time, the others also pulled out energy guns and aimed them at Lu Yin.
These energy guns could injure even Explorer-level cultivators. Previously, Tres had shot through Grainne's shoulder with one just before he died—they were quite powerful.
Lu Yin's eyes swept over the group. Suddenly, he pulled a flame crystal from his spatial ring and smashed it to the ground. Flames erupted, engulfing the building and obscuring vision. The group opened fire simultaneously, but Lu Yin used his evasive steps to dodge, and then threw out several other supernatural energy crystals. Ice and wind mingled with fire, enshrouding the surroundings. The evaporating mist turned white, blinding everyone.
These crystals were spoils from the students he had robbed—now being used to block their sight.
Lu Yin's evasive steps were extremely fast, leaving behind only an afterimage. He appeared in front of one of the academy's top fighters and unleashed the Heavenly Star Palm without hesitation. The student's ring armor shattered instantly, and he was knocked to the ground. Lu Yin then spun, unleashing Void Split Palms in all directions. The overwhelming force shattered the floor and disrupted the void. Four of the six remaining students were severely wounded. Only two top fighters tore through the Void Split Palms and charged at Lu Yin.
Lu Yin's eyes narrowed sharply, and he thrust out both hands—each palm emitting a star—striking toward each of them.
Boom!
The ground was obliterated, and the three of them plunged vertically downward, crushing the earth beneath. The abandoned supermarket was split in two by the impact.
Suddenly, sharp pain shot through Lu Yin's back—the student he had knocked down earlier stabbed a sword into him, dyeing his clothes red with blood. Lu Yin detonated the Heavenly Star Palm, blasting the two attackers back. He spun around, grabbed the student's arm, and slashed out with a short sword. The student's pupils shrank, and he immediately let go of the sword hilt and retreated. Lu Yin's slash missed, and he flung the short sword behind him.
The blade grazed another student's cheek, splattering a line of blood on the wall, and then pierced through more than a dozen buildings before embedding itself in an armored vehicle.
The ruined building swayed and shook, dust and smoke billowing all around.
Lu Yin gasped for breath, the pain in his back keeping him on high alert. The three academy top fighters surrounding him were almost on par with Bailie, slightly stronger than Willow. The three had him completely encircled, leaving him nowhere to escape.
In the distance, Grace and Barara watched, their eyes flickering.
"You think we should take advantage and snatch from him too?" Grace was eager to try.
Barara pondered, "We can, but wait until he's badly injured."
Grace grinned smugly. "Finally, that guy Erde isn't stupid—he knows how to set a trap. Otherwise, my help would've been for nothing."
Barara was surprised. "You knew this was a trap?"
"Idiot, of course not. But Erde isn't dumb—he'd definitely think to set one. I can help this bastard rob others, and Erde can use me to ambush him in return. Nobody here's dumb," Grace rolled her eyes at Barara.
"Three top fighters on Bailie's level—under these circumstances, even Erde would find it hard to escape. This guy's done for, hehe," Grace laughed happily, feeling very satisfied.
Of the seven attackers, only three truly posed a threat to Lu Yin.
Lu Yin exhaled and took something from his spatial ring. The three surrounding him all changed expressions sharply. "What is that?"
Far away, Grace was stunned, her face flushed with anger. "That despicable, shameless bastard."
A smile tugged at Lu Yin's lips. He wore a delicate ring armor shimmering with thunder—it was Grace's armor, reportedly given to her by her brother for protection. Since her spatial ring was taken by Lu Yin, naturally this item was also stolen, along with her exquisitely crafted bow.
"Grace's armor!" The burly man shouted angrily, glaring at Lu Yin. "You dare steal from Grace? Are you crazy? Her brother is Goulbach."
Lu Yin sneered. "I don't care who he is. Robbery doesn't discriminate. Are you out of your mind?" Saying that, he slammed out a palm strike—Void Split Palm—harshly hitting the burly man. The man gritted his teeth and resisted, but was blasted backward more than ten meters, crashing through supermarket pillars. In an instant, the entire supermarket began collapsing, countless stones falling.
With a loud bang, Lu Yin and the others burst out of the rubble. One of the attackers crushed a crystal, and a fierce wind surged forth, turning into a cyan blade slashing toward Lu Yin. Lu Yin charged directly into the cyan blade, lightning flickering across his body. The cyan blade had no effect on him at all. Lu Yin passed through the blade and appeared before the man, striking him hard with a Heavenly Star Palm. The blow nearly made the man vomit his guts and knocked him unconscious immediately.
The other two immediately realized the situation was unfavorable and retreated.
The armor Lu Yin wore was simply impenetrable to them. Even Lu Yin himself had only been able to break through the thunder defense by exerting his full strength with the Heavenly Star Palm.
Seven surrounded him, two fled, and five were defeated. When this result was broadcast on the local network, all the students fell silent—including Erde.
He considered himself the strongest among the first batch of trial participants, yet even he found it hard to achieve such a record. Immediately, all allied students received Erde's order to abandon the pursuit of the interstellar thief and to attack the capital city in three days.
Lu Yin casually sat on the ground, eyes glaring toward the distance. "Come out."
Grace and Barara looked at Lu Yin in shock. This man became famous today for his battle. Among the natives, the strongest was Zhang Dingtian, who once drove back Erde and three others with a single strike—his power had made Grace tremble. Now, Lu Yin's strength similarly shocked her, having severely injured an academy top fighter with one palm strike. What kind of battle technique was this?
Lu Yin tossed healing medicine to Grace. "Help me apply it."
Grace glared and pointed at herself. "What did you say? You want me to apply medicine to you?"
"Is it hard to understand?" Lu Yin said indifferently.
Grace was furious. "In your dreams! I'm pure and spotless—I've never even touched a man's body. How dare you defile me?"
Lu Yin stared coldly at her. "Don't think I don't know what you're thinking. If I had lost just now, you wouldn't be acting so high and mighty. Now, apply the medicine immediately."
"I'll do it," Barara said.
Lu Yin snorted. "No, your hands are dirty."
Barara was furious.