"What do you mean by that?"
Silver Wolf looked at the black cat in confusion.
As a long-time member of the Stellaron Hunters, she did not dare to doubt what this black cat had said, because he was Elio—the founder and leader of the Stellaron Hunters, known as the 'Destiny's Slave.'
Elio possessed the ability to foresee the future, and every Stellaron Hunter would always follow the script he had seen, which was none other than the future.
"It's the literal meaning, Silver Wolf." Elio said solemnly. "I'll be honest, the once clear vision I saw became blurry and unstable after you made contact with that mysterious man. You know, any fate I cannot see means it has vanished."
"You mean I'll die?" Silver Wolf asked with a frown.
"More or less, that's the most likely outcome." Elio nodded, confirming it bluntly. "My advice is, don't make contact with that man again. You're an important part of the script, so we cannot afford even a small risk."
"If Elio says so, then it must be true." Kafka chimed in, her expression serious. "Silver Wolf, you know Elio's never wrong."
Seeing both Elio and Kafka so serious, even the always-confident Silver Wolf began to hesitate.
If she had to be honest, Lucian did not seem like a dangerous guy at all—in fact, he seemed like an interesting guy.
In the first place, why would teaming up with him lead to her death?
Besides, defeating Herta was one of her life goals, which started after she fought Screwllum and lost. Even though Screwllum had not said much about it, Herta had actually launched a counterattack and mocked her endlessly.
Silver Wolf could not stand that kind of humiliation, so she set a small goal for herself—to slap Herta in the face.
It was a pity that such a powerful ally who could help her achieve this goal was off-limits now.
"Fine, I get it..." Silver Wolf nodded, finally relenting.
Elio nodded, then glanced at Kafka.
"Kafka and Sam as well—don't go near that mysterious man. He may have hidden intentions toward us."
As for another Stellaron Hunter known as Blade, Elio was not worried, because Blade was someone who never made friends and always acted only with the team.
"I'll let Firefly know." Kafka nodded with a smile. "As for whether she'll listen, I can't guarantee that."
Right after her words fell, she stood up and left.
Elio, on the other hand, spoke with Silver Wolf for a moment, then left as well.
Left alone, Silver Wolf sighed softly, then sent a message to Lucian.
[Silver Wolf: I might not be joining you to beat Herta after all. My family won't let me hang out with you.]
===
Meanwhile, still outside the Qlipoth Fort, Lucian received Silver Wolf's message.
He pulled out his phone and, upon reading it, raised his eyebrows in puzzlement.
What did she mean by 'my family won't let me hang out with you'?
Was her family seeing him as some kind of bad influence or a delinquent kid?
Besides, the Stellaron Hunters were hardly saints, so how could someone like Silver Wolf ever need to be led astray?
[Lucian: All right, then just write a virus program for me like before, and we'll call it your contribution.]
[Silver Wolf: Sure, that's work.]
Lucian put away his phone and did not reply further.
He remembered that there were only a handful of Stellaron Hunters, so it was not hard for him to guess who was prohibiting Silver Wolf from mingling with him.
It had to be either Elio or Kafka.
'Just wait, when your Stellaron Hunters are affected by my script, I'll poach them from you. Let's see how you do then, Elio, when you're all alone.'
As Lucian was lost in thought, scheming his next move, Herta's voice sounded beside him.
"I've found some data from a few hundred years ago. Jarilo-VI—a planet corrupted by a Stellaron, huh... I see now... You're worried the Stellaron Hunters will come for the Stellaron, so you wanted my help to protect it."
Now that Herta had learned there was a Stellaron on this planet, her impression of Lucian had improved quite a bit.
It was only natural.
His willingness to come to her for a deal to help save this planet showed that he was, at the very least, a decent person.
As for being an Emanator of Abundance, as long as he was not harming her interests, she did not care who he was.
"Protect the Stellaron?" Lucian pulled out his phone and pointed at his own account. "I just wanna protect my property."
Herta looked at the 'zero' displayed on the account, feeling baffled.
How could she not?
Lucian's so-called property was an empty, broke account?
"I don't mean to be rude, but even if a thief came here, they'd give up and end up leaving you some credits as charity before going home."
Herta remarked while glancing around, sensing that the Qlipoth Fort was the only thing that could be called luxurious.
Everywhere else was just... hard to describe.
First of all, compared to the civilizations out there, this planet, which had only one city and a backward civilization, basically had nothing to steal. Apart from the mines underground, there was nothing of value here.
And now that Jarilo-VI had only just connected with the Interastral Peace Network, there weren't even any credits in its account.
What property was he even protecting to the point of needing her help?
Having a genius like her set up a network defense here was complete overkill.
"Don't worry about that, just do what you promised me." Lucian said calmly, looking at Herta without a hint of doubt.
No money?
One should remember that Lucian still had 119.8 billion unlaundered credits with Silver Wolf, so once they were laundered, he would be considered a major tycoon in the universe.
It was just a pity Lucian couldn't do hacking, so he needed Silver Wolf's help.
"All right, all right, whatever you say." Herta waved her hand, as if this was child's play to her, as easy as drinking a glass of water. "I'll get it done when I'm back."
Just as Lucian was about to send Herta back, a spaceship with a unique design descended from the sky, stopping above the Qlipoth Fort.
In the next moment, the spaceship's hatch opened before a dashing, green-haired foxian woman disembarked from the sky, floating down with a gust of wind swirling around her body.
Lucian, seeing this scene, recognized the spaceship and the foxian right away—they were none other than Koolur's unique spaceship and Yueyu.
"Lucian..."
Yueyu, landing smoothly in front of Lucian, immediately called his name with a longing voice while her two fox ears twitched lightly, and her tail swayed left and right behind her.
Seeing Yueyu still as beautiful and spirited as ever, Lucian smiled in relief.
"I've been waiting for you, y'know." Lucian said with open arms.
Yueyu, saying nothing more, silently walked up to him and embraced him without hesitation.
Now, the memories of her death no longer mattered to her—she just wanted to cherish this moment with the man she loved.
Meanwhile, Herta, wearing a flat expression, stood silently to the side as she suddenly felt like a third wheel—standing felt awkward, sitting was no better, and staying or leaving both felt wrong.
'Tsk... getting forced to be a third wheel out of nowhere—isn't this bullying single people?'
In all her life, she had never fallen in love with anyone.
In fact, let alone fallen in love, she honestly had never even felt affection or attraction for anyone.
At most, she just felt admiration for someone if their skills were really impressive.
As for doing things like hugging someone and then acting all lovey-dovey the way Lucian did, that just was not her. Just imagining herself doing this kind of thing was enough to make her whole body break out in goosebumps and cringe.
Nonetheless, she could not help but keep glancing at the two of them embracing, feeling slightly sour inside.
Suddenly, however, she noticed something off.
'Hmm... this green-haired foxian... looks kinda familiar...'
Herta sensed something strange about the foxian—the more she looked at her, the more familiar she seemed.
Before long, a certain memory of the past flashed through her mind, making her recall that this foxian seemed to be the Arbiter-General of the Xianzhou Alliance who had sacrificed herself in a big war known as the Third Abundance War.
Decades ago, before this foxian perished in that war, she remembered that they had even crossed paths.
"Hey, stop hugging for a second, let me have a look."
Herta walked over and pulled Lucian and Yueyu apart before scrutinizing Yueyu with her sharp gaze.
One look, and she was sure—this foxian woman was indeed the supposedly dead Arbiter-General.
"Madam Herta, long time no see."
Yueyu, recognizing Herta, greeted her with a polite smile.
In fact, the two knew each other because, in the past, Herta would sometimes visit the Xianzhou Yaoqing on business trips.
"Hmm, so it really is you, General Yueyu... How did you come back to life?"
Herta cared less about meeting an old acquaintance and more about the fact that Yueyu had returned as if nothing had happened.
"Well..." Yueyu awkwardly scratched the back of her head. "I don't know the details, but it's all thanks to Lucian."
Indeed, she truly did not know how she had been resurrected—she had simply awakened in Lucian's bedroom in Koolur, alive and well.
Herta quickly turned to Lucian.
"You really do have secrets—even resurrecting the dead? Are you serious?"
In the past, she had read the news of the Third Abundance War.
From what she knew, it was thanks to Lan's Sky-Shattering Lux Arrow, which wiped out the entire Abundance army, that the war ended. However, many others, including THEIR own followers, were wiped out as well.
Normally, being wiped out by an Aeon's attack, no one should have survived—especially since it was not just any Aeon, but Lan, who was known as one of the Aeons with immense destructive power.
Given that, the only explanation was that Yueyu must have been resurrected!
One should know that resurrecting a perfect lifeform was a technology that not even anyone in the Genius Society possessed!
In fact, countless people had studied resurrection, yet no one had ever achieved such a flawless result. Even her good friend, Member #81 of the Genius Society, Ruan Mei, a genius in the biological sciences, had never managed it.
Even now, Ruan Mei was still working tirelessly in her lab, hoping to resurrect a perfect lifeform. Unfortunately, even if she succeeded, the resurrected lifeform would usually end up with amnesia, deformity, loss of control, or death within a minute.
Compared to Yueyu, who was resurrected so perfectly—able to pilot a spaceship, remember her past, and even fall in love—in all of history, there was only this one case!
"Keep it low-key, please." Lucian placed a finger to his lips, looking nonchalant. "It's nothing worth bragging about."
Seeing his nonchalant attitude, Herta's eyes lit up.
A perfect resurrection, yet he did not think it was worth bragging about?
If Ruan Mei found out, she would probably cling to him every single day.
"Hey, Lucian, are you interested in making friends with another genius?"
Herta, with a smug smile on her face, asked with folded arms.
"Well, although she's a little less beautiful than me, and not quite as smart as I am, she's still amazing."
"I think you'll like her."