Lin Muci walked out of the academy gates. After a moment's thought, she took the little rabbit Yue Xiao to the underground marketplace.
She wanted to find Ling Kuang.
Indeed, the people in the underground marketplace knew where Ling Kuang was. When she saw him, his gaze first fell on her chest. Seeing it was empty, he frowned and asked her.
"Didn't your father give you the medal?"
Lin Muci looked at him with some surprise before understanding. Ling Kuang was referring to the first-class military merit medal.
"I put the medal away."
"When I went to the academy today, a new student named Lan Po arrived. Altesius told me that fellow possesses the talent of a god-tier mecha craftsman..."
Lin Muci hesitated but continued speaking.
"So I want to know – is he the second Shadowfoot Insect disguised as a human, like you said?"
This matter was very important to Lin Muci.
What surprised her was that Ling Kuang looked at her and directly shook his head without any hesitation. She heard Ling Kuang say.
"No."
"He is not the second Shadowfoot Insect disguised as a human that I spoke of."
"He is a genuine human, through and through."
While feeling surprised, Lin Muci also felt relieved.
Her greatest worry was that this student named Lan Po was a Shadowfoot Insect.
"If he were a Shadowfoot Insect, I wouldn't have let him enter your class."
"His mecha crafting talent is also real, which is why the military treated him like a treasure and wanted him to enter the mecha academy to learn systematic mecha manufacturing."
So he wasn't a Shadowfoot Insect.
But then, where was the Shadowfoot Insect?
"Do you know where that Shadowfoot Insect is?"
She wanted to ask Ling Kuang about the whereabouts of the Shadowfoot Insect.
Ling Kuang, however, fell silent. He looked at Lin Muci with a smile that was not a smile. His eyes clearly showed he wasn't going to tell her the truth. Lin Muci glared at Ling Kuang and snorted. Ling Kuang chuckled again, rubbed her ear, and pulled her into his embrace.
Ling Kuang spoke.
"Are you angry?"
"Do you feel like I'm hiding things from you, deceiving you?"
Lin Muci was truly and seriously angry.
She snorted, still feeling a bit huffy. Ling Kuang leaned in and kissed her cheek.
"Don't be angry."
"Darling, don't be angry, or you won't be beautiful anymore, darling."
Ling Kuang kissed Lin Muci's cheek repeatedly. His kisses were so dense on her cheeks that Lin Muci could clearly see his eyelashes.
As his eyelashes fluttered, Lin Muci looked at his profile and felt her heart race. She then heard him speak voluntarily.
"Darling, don't be angry, darling is the most beautiful."
"I promise, this matter will be resolved soon."
Lin Muci actually didn't know – when did the man in front of her learn such slick talk? However, upon hearing his words, she snorted, which could be considered a reluctant acceptance of his statement.
But she soon noticed new activity in the underground marketplace.
Moreover, the marketplace was bustling with people, and the number had clearly increased significantly. Lin Muci watched the crowd in the underground marketplace, furrowed her brows, and asked.
"These people..."
"Are they here for a specific purpose?"
Ling Kuang hadn't expected her to be so perceptive about the change. He nodded and then told Lin Muci.
"One very important purpose they have for being here is that they want to auction for the 'Night Elegy'."
Night Elegy? That was a completely unfamiliar term.
"What is this?"
Ling Kuang immediately answered her question.
"It's a divine artifact."
Lin Muci's spirits instantly soared!
She stared at Ling Kuang with wide, almost stunned eyes, her lips trembling. For a moment, she couldn't believe it.
"A... divine artifact?"
"Wait, you're saying a divine artifact will be auctioned here? That's unlikely, isn't it?"
"And what exactly is the Night Elegy... something that can be called a human divine artifact, why haven't I heard of it?"
Ling Kuang looked at her, his expression extremely calm. Lin Muci heard Ling Kuang say.
"Of course, you haven't heard of it."
"Because the Night Elegy – although it's a human divine artifact, like my Heart Burner, it also exists as a forbidden item. Although humans are collectively called humans, there are subtle differences in their essence, and the most important difference is bloodline."
"Even among humans, different inherited bloodlines can lead to some differences in abilities."
Ling Kuang sighed. He looked at the girl in front of him and said softly.
"The divine artifact known as the Night Elegy, its full name is 'The Dirge of the Night Elegy'. This divine artifact was born at the cost of blood sacrifice from a human race. Although it possesses incredible magical power, it is also deemed an extremely inauspicious item!"
Lin Muci exclaimed.
"Like this?"
"What race?"
Ling Kuang said.
"The Blood Race."
"Legend has it that they sustain their lives by consuming fresh blood. Later, they were completely annihilated by the insectoids during the insectoid war. The divine artifact they left behind is said to possess unbelievably powerful abilities."
Ling Kuang narrowed his eyes. He paused, then continued.
"The Dirge of the Night Elegy can induce dreams and hallucinations, paralyzing people completely in their dreams. Even top experts find it difficult to resist this kind of temptation. Furthermore, it is a rare offensive divine artifact. Unlike mechas, this artifact focuses more on directly piercing the deepest weaknesses in people's hearts."
"It targets precisely what each person fears most, making it difficult to counter."
"And it is said that this divine artifact bears the most malicious curse of the Blood Race."
"Every owner, if unable to break the Blood Race's vicious curse, will have their life force drained by this artifact and will not live for more than three years."
"Perhaps for this reason, every owner of this artifact has met a terrible end, suddenly dying!"
Lin Muci's eyes widened.
"Then why are they putting it up for auction?"
Ling Kuang smiled and told Lin Muci.
"Because of human greed!"
"Even knowing that this divine artifact carries a vicious curse, it is still a divine artifact."
"And it is an artifact that can be publicly auctioned in an underground auction house without causing trouble with the councils. Therefore, many powerful and influential people are very interested in this artifact."
"They believe they will be the exception, that they can successfully subdue this artifact."
"So once the news of the Night Elegy's auction spread, many people naturally came here."
Lin Muci hummed. She thought for a moment, then asked.
"Then why—"
"You don't seem as interested in the Night Elegy?"
Her brows furrowed slightly, as if she was very curious about the answer to this question.
"I thought, after having the Heart Burner, you would become more interested in such cursed items!"
Ling Kuang smiled, the corners of his mouth turning upward. He said.
"Why would I be interested in a cursed item that brings me no benefit? However, I am extremely curious about—"
"The secret behind the downfall of the Blood Race back then."
Hearing him say that, Lin Muci also felt a bit curious and couldn't help but ask him.
"A secret? You also think this is a secret?"
Ling Kuang smiled and said.
"Yes."
"This is naturally a secret, and I suspect that if we dig deeper into the inner workings of this secret, it would be quite astonishing. Because the Blood Race, back then, was considered quite powerful among humans. They had extremely long lifespans, astonishing intelligence, and held significant influence within the council."
"But who would have thought that such a once incredibly powerful human race would eventually... vanish into thin air."
Ling Kuang said at this point.
He sighed.
Judging by his tone, there was a hint of faint sentimentality.
Lin Muci reached out and rubbed her chin.
"Perhaps the inner workings of this matter are indeed not as simple as we imagine."
"But the Blood Race is extinct, leaving behind only a cursed divine artifact – and since you have no interest in divine artifacts, then we naturally don't need to pay attention to this auction..."
However, before Lin Muci could finish speaking, a very loud explosion suddenly rang out from afar!
Then, where her gaze fell, she saw seven or eight mechas materialize out of thin air. And they were mechas of extremely novel designs, leaping into the air and engaging in fierce combat!
The continuous explosions resounded in people's ears. The booming explosions made their hearts tremble. Explosions kept coming, and a blood-red object floated in mid-air.
The man who had just said he had no interest in the blood race artifact suddenly smiled.
"Someone is robbing it in broad daylight?"
"They truly treat the rules of the underground district as child's play!"
After saying this, he immediately leaped into the air, then jumped up and summoned his Heart Burner mecha!
Once his mecha entered the fray, the feeling it gave was immediately different.
His mecha charged forward, almost pushing aside everything around it. Those few mechas that were previously fighting fiercely.
Were immediately knocked aside.
Then he controlled the Heart Burner, grabbed the blood-red object, and let out a cold snort, his voice filled with killing intent.
"Get back!"
It was as if silence fell in an instant.
Then, continuous streaks of light flickered around. The light fluctuated back and forth. He held the blood-red object and directly returned to Lin Muci's side, stepping out of the Heart Burner. The blood-red object fell into his palm.
Lin Muci was completely shocked!
She gasped, looking at the man, her whole body trembling, a hint of anger flashing in her eyes.
"You said there's a curse on it, and you still grabbed it with your hand? Aren't you afraid of dying?"
The man on the opposite side heard Lin Muci say this, he smiled and shook his head.
"It's not that terrifying. At least it won't kill me right now."
"Let's go, those people won't catch up. I'll take you somewhere to see what's so special about this Blood Race divine artifact that was being fought over in the streets!"