Chapter 128: 122, Event Escalation (Seeking Subscription and Monthly Tickets)
After Lu Lin’s punch, the entire scene instantly fell silent.
Everyone, including the manager being beaten on the ground and the other restaurant staff, stared at Lu Lin in disbelief.
How dare he! they thought. These young men clearly have powerful backgrounds and deep connections. What if they find out your information and send people to retaliate? How would you handle that?
Although extremely grateful, neither the manager nor the waitress who had been helping him dared to speak.
The other young men with Lu Lin were also dumbfounded.
It had always been them beating and bullying others. When had anyone ever dared to swing a fist at them?
Lu Lin withdrew his right fist, turned to Feng Yuanyu with a grin, and revealed eight gleaming white teeth.
"How about that? I successfully persuaded your friend, didn’t I?"
Feng Yuanyu was speechless.
Is that how I wanted you to persuade him? Persuade him until his bones fracture?
Feng Yuanyu’s expression darkened. He walked over to Lu Lin and casually flicked Lu Lin’s shoulder.
"Yes, Brother Lu, not bad. I’ll remember this favor."
With that, he turned and left.
"Carry Xiao Wu. Let’s go."
"Brother Feng, he..." one of them started, pointing at Lu Lin.
Feng Yuanyu merely glanced back at that person, who then fell silent and obediently helped the other young men carry away Xiao Wu, who was still wailing incessantly.
The group of young men departed.
The manager, helped up by the waitress, looked at Lu Lin gratefully. "Young man, thank you."
"But you need to be careful; they might retaliate."
"I recognize those people. They’re the notorious East Forest Seven Youngsters from the East Forest Continent. Their leader..."
Lu Lin waved his hand dismissively.
"It doesn’t matter. East Forest Seven Youngsters, East Forest Eight Youngsters—it’s all the same to me."
"I just didn’t want this kind sister to be bullied by them."
The waitress’s face instantly turned red. She was already thirty-seven or thirty-eight, yet Lu Lin called her ’sister.’ How could she not feel shy?
"Alright, I’m going back to my room now. Goodbye."
Lu Lin waved and turned to leave. His dumplings had already clumped together; if he didn’t go back soon, they’d be truly inedible.
After wolfing down three boxes of dumplings, Lu Lin let out a satisfied belch.
Just then, Lu Lin felt the starship move, and the scenery on the ground below gradually shrank.
The starship had taken off.
「In three days, they would reach the Alien Bopu Airport.」
Lu Lin opened his suitcase, took out all the Star Power Potions, and placed them on his bed. He was about to begin cultivating the Second Layer of the Golden Body Sutra.
The First Layer of the Golden Body Sutra had granted Lu Lin a strength of 3,200 kilograms. This strength wasn’t simply added to Lu Lin’s physique; it stemmed from a comprehensive optimization and enhancement of his muscle tissues, nerve fibers, and mental reflexes.
In the artist’s memory, it had taken a good six months to complete this step. Lu Lin didn’t have that much time. However, thanks to the increase in his Star Power Level, his body had undergone a Metamorphosis. Now was the perfect time for Cultivating Golden Body Sutra.
Aboard the starship, Lu Lin had no interest in watching anime or playing games. He dedicated himself entirely to cultivation in his travel cabin. As for what was happening outside, it didn’t concern him.
After the first twenty-four hours, Lu Lin finally couldn’t endure any longer. He drank a mouthful of Star Power Potion and collapsed into sleep. No matter how strong Star Core Warriors were, they were still human. His body showed no adverse reactions, but Lu Lin’s spirit was reaching its limit.
This was the twenty-fourth bottle of Star Power Potion he had consumed, yet his cultivation of the Golden Body Sutra was still incomplete. However, the progress was encouraging. It was estimated that with just one more day of diligent effort, Lu Lin could successfully cultivate the Second Layer and possess a strength of 6,000 kilograms.
While Lu Lin slept soundly, he was unaware that the Donglin Continent on Saturn had been thrown into turmoil.
Feng Yuanyu’s elders, along with the elders of the other East Forest Seven Youngsters, had stormed the Saturn Governor’s Mansion. They demanded Lu Lin be listed as a wanted target, to be killed without mercy upon capture and severely punished.
The catalyst for all this was a video Feng Yuanyu had recorded of Lu Lin from behind. In the video, Feng Yuanyu had cleverly used Lu Lin’s body to block the view of Xiao Wu assaulting the manager. All that could be seen was Lu Lin rushing forward and, without a word, sending Xiao Wu flying with a single punch. Xiao Wu was sent flying before he could even let out a scream. The video ended there.
It was accompanied by various sensational headlines:
"’Who Is He?! Vicious Incident on C0977 Starship! Iron-Fisted Thug Baselessly Assaults Bystander!’"
"’What’s Wrong With Society? How Can He Assault Someone in Broad Daylight?!’"
"’So This Is a Star Core Warrior! A Star Core Warrior Who Only Bullies Ordinary People!’"
"’Don’t Swipe Away! In One Minute and Thirty-One Seconds, You’ll Witness the Ugliest Side of Humanity!’"
All sorts of headlines appeared. Whether video creators or article writers, they all relentlessly slandered Lu Lin.
This was Feng Yuanyu’s first step: to destroy Lu Lin’s reputation.
The second step involved his family and the families of the other East Forest Seven Youngsters cooperating to expose Lu Lin’s identity and utterly ruin him.
For the third step—since Lu Lin was a Star Core Warrior, he was surely heading to a university on an alien planet, just like them, for this trip. They would then post these kinds of videos on the forums of that alien planet and see which university would dare to accept him.
Once these three steps were complete, Lu Lin would be utterly discredited, his future prospects destroyed. Then, Feng Yuanyu would see if Lu Lin could still smile as brilliantly as he had that day.
As for fighting back, Feng Yuanyu hadn’t even considered it.
This is the Interstellar Era; all this fighting and killing is so tedious, he thought. What he enjoyed most was using his intellect to manipulate these reckless brutes, who only knew violence, playing them right in the palm of his hand.
「On Saturn.」
This wave of news about Lu Lin grew increasingly intense, eventually reaching his parents.
"Lu Ping, Lu Ping, come and look!" Meng Yu called out. "Isn’t that our son in this video, hitting someone?"
"That’s odd. Our son has such a good temperament; why would he hit someone?"
"Those people must have done something wrong," Meng Yu asserted with conviction. Growing up, Lu Lin had always been a very considerate child, never causing his parents any worry. In elementary school, Lu Lin was a favorite among his classmates and teachers. After going to Blue Star, he was able to take care of himself and never caused any trouble.
How could a child like that hit someone?
Lu Ping leaned in for a closer look. The figure in the video—his build, clothes, and back—was identical to Lu Lin’s.
"Heh, it really is the little rascal," Lu Ping remarked. "That’s a fine punch. Reminds me of my own prowess back in the day. Not bad."
"What do you mean, ’not bad’?" Meng Yu retorted. "Aren’t you worried at all?"
"Worried about what? Let them talk. Our son wouldn’t do anything wrong."
"That’s right. Our son is so sensible; how could he do anything wrong? There must be more to this," Meng Yu agreed, though she couldn’t help but worry.
But facing such a powerful campaign slandering Lu Lin, the couple felt utterly helpless.
In the Green City Governor’s Mansion, Bai Jingwei also saw this news, brought to his attention by his secretary.
"Is this Lu Lin?"
"Yes, Governor. Although his face isn’t fully visible, I’ve contacted the Double Name Air Cargo Airport, retrieved the footage of Lu Lin boarding the starship, and confirmed it’s him."
"Hmm, so what’s the full story here?"
"I... I don’t know the details yet," the secretary replied, hesitant to say more. The families of the East Forest Seven Youngsters wielded considerable influence in the East Forest Continent; it was unclear why they would suddenly target such a young man.
"Alright. Call the C0977 Starship and have them send me the complete video," Bai Jingwei instructed. "Also, deliver a warning to the seven major families of East Forest. Tell them to behave themselves lately."
"Yes, sir."
The secretary acknowledged and quickly left to contact the Saturn aviation authorities.
A flicker of disgust appeared in Bai Jingwei’s eyes. The East Forest Continent had been turned into such a mess by these seven families. However, even he couldn’t resolve this problem completely in a short amount of time.