Interstellar Thief

Lu Yin descended and walked over to Lather. "Empty everything from your space ring. Don't make me do it by force."

Lather's face twitched. "You must be one of the strongest students from some academy. Why are you robbing me instead of completing your tasks? You'll get penalized for this."

Lu Yin's gaze turned cold as he raised his hand, causing the air to distort – it was the Wave Palm technique.

"Wait, don't! I'll do it, I'll do it," Lather hurriedly said, feeling wronged as he emptied everything from his space ring. There were all sorts of miscellaneous items. Lu Yin took the star energy crystals and some useful items, then left immediately.

"Hey, what's your name?" Lather shouted after him.

Lu Yin ignored him.

Lather cursed, furious. A student like this was a real bastard. Suddenly, he thought of something and quickly opened his personal terminal's local network. A line of text floated at the top of the map: 'Lather has been defeated.'

Lather spat blood again. There was only one possibility for not leaving a name: that bastard's personal terminal wasn't his; it was stolen.

Far from Tongcheng, Lu Yin looked at the local network and nodded in satisfaction. The monitors from the Great Yu Empire overseeing Earth's trial definitely knew his name but kept it hidden, which was fair. Who's next? Lu Yin stared at the map. "You, then," he muttered and dashed out.

Over the next three days, Lu Yin robbed more than a dozen students hidden comfortably in China. These students were all like Grannie, just trying to quietly occupy a place, gather some minerals, and survive until the trial ended without getting involved in anything else. Unfortunately, they were targeted by Lu Yin, who was in desperate need of star energy crystals. Even the smallest amount helped.

In the clouds, Lu Yin sorted through the contents of his space ring. His ring was relatively large but still not enough. There were too many random minerals and herbs. Lu Yin had no choice but to discard them piece by piece. Otherwise, there would be no space for the next loot. These students didn't have anything really valuable, so he didn't feel bad about throwing things away. The only thing that annoyed him was that these students were too poor. He had robbed so many but only collected about two cubic meters of star energy crystals.

In the universe, such crystals were hard currency, akin to gold on Earth. Even students from wealthy families were reluctant to use them to speed up their cultivation, preferring to save them for critical moments. Most students cultivated slowly by absorbing free star energy in the universe. Unlike Lu Yin, they didn't seek shortcuts.

"It looks like I need to rob academy champions like Willow. Otherwise, the efficiency is too low," Lu Yin muttered to himself. Even if he didn't think this way, it wouldn't matter. He had already robbed everyone nearby. Now, his exploits had spread on the local network, with rumors that an interstellar thief had infiltrated the trial, striking fear into everyone.

Due to Erd's proposal, more and more students were gathering in Tianzhu. While Lu Yin was robbing people, over thirty students, including nearly ten academy champions, had already gathered in Tianzhu.

The students brave enough to track the fugitive were at least in the top three of their academies. The assembly of thirty such strong students made all of Tianzhu shiver.

On the fifth day, Erd announced their departure for the capital, telling other students not to come to Tianzhu.

The local network exploded with the news: they were finally declaring war on the capital.

Hidden in a peak in China, Lu Yin rose. "Is it starting? I need to start my hunt too," he said, soaring into the sky.

Two days later, a notification floated across the local network map: 'Ian has been defeated.'

Many students felt a chill. They had seen such notifications at least ten times before, all rumored to be the work of that interstellar thief. That person had a stolen personal terminal, making it impossible to identify them.

Most students thought the thief only dared to rob ordinary students, but Ian's robbery made their hearts skip a beat. Ian was an academy champion.

On a barren land, a man coughed blood, his face pale as he glared into the distance. There, Lu Yin was leisurely opening his space ring using his blood, his eyes lighting up at its contents. "Not bad, not bad. Plenty of good stuff. As expected of an academy champion."

"Who the hell are you? Which academy are you from? Leave your name!" Ian shouted in fury. Just moments ago, this person had ambushed him with a powerful technique, catching him off guard and severely injuring him before he could react.

Lu Yin tossed the space ring back to Ian. "Call me Seventh Brother."

"Seventh your ass," Ian cursed, watching Lu Yin leave.

In the far west of China, at Qinghai, Erd, Hadian, and over ten students had grim expressions.

"Ian was robbed. The thief calls himself Seventh Brother. Erd, we should eliminate this threat before going to the capital. We still have fifteen days until the second batch of trial participants arrives, enough time," one suggested.

"Agreed. Leaving such a rat unchecked will cause problems," another said darkly. His junior sister had also been robbed. He was furious that the thief even targeted women.

Erd and Hadian exchanged a glance. "Fine. Move out in pairs, search around the capital, gradually closing in. Locate all personal terminals, and attack anyone acting alone with the strength of an academy champion. Better to kill the wrong person than to let them escape."

"It's a pity the local network doesn't transmit images. Otherwise, we'd already know who the culprit is," someone grumbled.

With that, they dispersed.

Lu Yin watched the positions of all personal terminals on the map. "They're pairing up. Interesting. One of them is definitely an academy champion. Come on, then."

Half a day later, Lu Yin stood in the clouds. In the distance, two students appeared, checking their personal terminals. "Only 1,700 battle power? Trash," one scoffed, glaring at Lu Yin.

The other waved him over. "Hey, kid, come here."

Lu Yin calmly flew over, his expression indifferent.

"Kid, have you seen the person who's been robbing people?" one asked.

Lu Yin nodded. "I've seen him."

"Draw his image," the student ordered.

Lu Yin shook his head. "I never learned to draw."

"Are you an idiot? Connect your personal terminal and it can draw whatever you're thinking," the student snapped.

Lu Yin calmly said, "There's no need. That person is right here."

"Where?" The two were startled.

Lu Yin pointed at himself. "It's me," he said, releasing a Wave Palm. The air twisted as it struck both students. One was knocked unconscious immediately, while the other managed to stay conscious, shouting angrily, "It's you! You're dead!" He drew his long blade and slashed at Lu Yin.

This student was an academy champion. Though not as strong as Willow, he was stronger than Tress. Yet, he was no match for Lu Yin's Celestial Star Palm, which shattered his blade and sent him crashing to the ground.

Lu Yin easily robbed them again, causing another uproar on the local network.

Erd's face darkened. How long had it been? Another robbery. Where did this bastard come from?

"Everyone, remember, stay away from strangers," Erd warned everyone. There was no need for the warning, as all students instinctively avoided anyone unfamiliar, regardless of their battle power.

Lu Yin looked at the space ring. "I've collected about one and a half cubic meters of star energy crystals. Time to absorb them." He removed his personal terminal, threw it into a mountain stream, and flew to another location. Finding an abandoned farm, he crushed the star energy crystals and began absorbing them using the Celestial Star Technique.

In the capital, Zhang Dingtian and others watched the local network, speechless.

"I can guarantee it's Lu Yin," Bai Xue declared.

Zhang Dingtian was puzzled. "Why?"

Bai Xue recounted how Lu Yin had robbed Baret and Willow. "Who else could it be?"

Zhang Dingtian's expression turned strange. This Lu Yin seemed ordinary but was incredibly audacious. He had already robbed over fifteen people, including several academy champions. What was he up to?

If Bai Xue could guess it was Lu Yin, so could Grannie. Compared to Zhang Dingtian and the others, Grannie was even more shocked. When she first met Lu Yin, he was only at the Perception Realm, not even worth her attention. Yet, so quickly, he had surpassed many academy champions. This guy was a real monster.

Lu Yin leisurely absorbed star energy on the farm. Erd and the other students were going crazy searching for him. After five days without any leads, they finally found an abandoned personal terminal in a mountain stream.

"Keep searching. If we don't find him in seven days, we'll move on to the capital. The second batch of trial participants will arrive in ten days, and our plan must not fail," Erd said darkly.