Chapter 369 – Extraterrestrial Life, Do You Need Fire?

Lu Yuan stepped out of his house.

Dressed in a white down coat, he tucked half of his face into the fluffy collar.

His hair had grown a bit long, with bangs hanging down his forehead, making the skin on his cheeks appear even fairer and more jade-like under the restored pitch-black hair color.

He seemed to radiate a faint glow from within.

The weather today was overcast with a touch of damp cold, and the weather forecast indicated that another heavy snowfall was imminent.

Walking down the long street, Lu Yuan casually pulled out a silver and black card from the pocket of his down coat.

The card was exquisitely crafted and looked high-end. On one side, there was an image of a Flying Bear with three pairs of golden wings on its back.

Yuwen Tong had given him this card. His original ID card had been destroyed and discarded in the secret realm of Embers Mountain.

At the third-stage and above, the white wings on the back of the Flying Bear would turn silver.

Beyond that, the wings would become golden.

A Flying Bear with six golden wings almost represented the highest rank that an ordinary combat member of the Yellow Bear organization could reach.

Lu Yuan admired the card for a moment before giving it a slight flick with his fingers.

The card slid up along his elbow and gradually fused into his flesh.

“Connection successful…”

A pleasant electronic synthesized voice sounded in his ear, and a familiar login interface popped up in front of him.

Ever since he lost the auxiliary optical brain built into his ID card, Lu Yuan hadn’t “surfed the internet” for about half a month.

Now, rejoining the Yellow Bear network felt much like finally getting a chance to go to an Internet Cafe after being in a hermetically sealed school for two weeks.

“Ding dong, ding dong-“

The first thing he heard was a series of notification sounds.

His inbox was filled with “999+” unread messages. Just seeing the conspicuous red notification made his scalp tingle, so he decided not to open them.

He first browsed the Forum, only to find that the Yellow Bear Forum was almost entirely dominated by the keywords “Phoenix Egg” and “Lu Yuan.”

His name was inherently linked with the Phoenix Egg.

Lu Yuan casually glanced at a few high-traffic posts.

Images of his battles in the secret realm of Embers Mountain had surfaced.

The scenes of him instantly defeating Oresa, tearing apart a Sky Level Mecha with his bare hands, and finally piercing the “Ice God” with a single move had left all the Flying Bears in awe.

These stunning achievements, contrasted with his publicly stated virtual age of 18 and actual age of 17, struck everyone like a sledgehammer to the heart.

“Demon Blade of the Era!”

This comment had received over a hundred thousand likes on the Forum.

It wasn’t just “peerless” anymore; it had become “epoch-making,” implying “unprecedented and unmatched.”

Some had even begun comparing his combat power with Torr, currently recognized as the top “Hidden Star” powerhouse of the Distant Star Federation’s Thunder Spirit Star.

The analysis, mostly made by those with combat power not exceeding the third-stage, wasn’t very reliable. However, Lu Yuan was primarily interested in the information about Torr.

There was a combat video of Torr included in the post.

It showed Torr battling a Divine Level Mecha, which was the fight that had made him famous, purposely released by the Distant Star Federation back in the day.

In the video, Lu Yuan finally saw Torr’s true form.

A tall man encircled by purple Thunder.

Unfortunately, his face was obscured, and only his dazzling purple hair, as shining as lightning, was visible.

The entire battle was intense and awe-inspiring. The purple-haired man seemed like a deity from a mythical legend, capable of wielding Thunder.

He could draw down massive tree-like bolts of lightning from the sky, scorching vast areas of tens of square kilometers into wastelands, and he thoroughly outclassed the Divine Level Mecha.

“The promotional video did somewhat exaggerate Torr’s power, but his strength is indeed immense-extremely immense…”

One of the Eight Great Protectors under Lu Yuan, protector Lei, wielded the power of the evil deity, which also revolved around Thunder and was inherited from the Thunder Holy Temple.

But compared to Torr, Lei’s thunder abilities were like glowworms next to the bright moon.

Honestly, watching the spectacular and mighty bolts of Thunder in the video made Lu Yuan a bit envious.

Regardless of strength, it was undeniably cool!

“A true powerhouse should control Thunder and flame.”

“I’ve got the flame now, all that’s left is Thunder…”

Lu Yuan thought to himself. When the legendary level secret realm of Thunder Holy Temple opens next time, he must enter and unlock the corresponding professional panel.

“How did that saying go again…”

Lu Yuan stretched out his hand, spreading his fingers and mimicking a gripping motion.

“With the power of thunder… I shall shatter the darkness!”

“pong!”

A soda bottle lying near a trash can not far ahead suddenly exploded into the air, startling several stray cats who immediately puffed up and bolted.

Lu Yuan chuckled, stuffing his hands back into the pockets of his down coat, and continued browsing the Forum.

With his current level of access, he entered a higher-tier communication platform.

This platform was exclusively for members of the “Supernova” organization and Flying Bears with combat power above the sixth-stage.

The number of posts decreased significantly, and the atmosphere of “celebration” and “fervor” was notably absent.

Supernova members and powerhouses above the sixth-stage had their own pride. Even if they were shocked by his strength and achievements, they wouldn’t resort to sycophantic flattery and praise.

Here, Lu Yuan didn’t find a single post flattering him.

Most of the discussion revolved around secret realm exploration and Cultivation experiences, with information exchanges that were polite yet detached, far less lively and casual than the external platforms.

“The exploration of Embers Mountain continues…”

Lu Yuan saw a few messages indicating that, due to his involvement, the Xia State exploration team seemed to be under significant pressure in Embers Mountain, facing numerous obstacles in their subsequent explorations.

The relationships among the Distant Star Federation, Xia State, and Javier-three overlord-level nations-had become delicate.

A single Phoenix Egg had torn off the masks of some individuals, bringing to light hidden agendas and covert actions.

Lu Yuan sensed a faint aura of danger from this and furrowed his brow slightly.

As the catalyst for these changes, this rising star of Xia State might very well be targeted by certain people.

Lu Yuan suddenly understood the true meaning behind Yuwen Tong’s words before he got off the shuttle.

“I really did oversimplify the problem.”

His eyes flickered with determination. He decided that once he handled the last matter at hand, he would relocate his family to Xiabang.

Only there would they be truly safe.

“What’s this?!”

Lu Yuan suddenly noticed a piece of information that caught his attention, and his expression turned slightly surprised.

The post, written by a seventh-stage individual, mentioned the three “Meteors” he had seen last night.

“Suspected extraterrestrial unidentified aircraft… the captured signal wavelengths did not belong to any known nation or organization in the world…”

Lu Yuan read through the entire message and all the comments. It appeared that quite a few people had observed the same three “Meteors” last night.

The incident had even drawn some attention from the intelligence group, which held a temporary emergency meeting.

However, they didn’t reach any concrete conclusions.

The main issue was that the final landing point of the three unidentified aircraft was within the borders of the Distant Star Federation.

Moreover, discovering extraterrestrial civilizations or creatures was not entirely unprecedented.

What made this instance special was that suspected extraterrestrial aircraft had directly landed on the planet.

This was considered the first case of its kind.

However, since the landing didn’t occur in Xia State, even if they were interested, they couldn’t directly intervene. They could only wait for the Distant Star Federation to “research” the matter first and see whether they would eventually disclose the findings.

“Extraterrestrial life… and they can build aircraft… Interesting.”

Lu Yuan couldn’t help but marvel.

If they had landed in Xia State, he would definitely have applied for a “visit.”

He had never seen an alien in his life.

As he casually browsed various messages, Lu Yuan walked forward along the long street.

With his upgraded access level, the information he could now obtain-both in terms of level and scope-was far superior to what he had before.

This round of “online surfing” was something he couldn’t easily put down.

Lu Yuan was currently on his way to a secret base of the Evil Martial Alliance in Jiaoyan.

His team of Protectors had reported significant progress regarding the “Heart of the Feathered Serpent Deity.”

Lu Yuan was heading there to hear the detailed report.

Among the three legendary level materials needed to unlock his second legendary level professional panel, the Heart of the Feathered Serpent Deity had always been one of his planned targets.

Given the chance to acquire it, he absolutely couldn’t pass it up, so he was quite invested in this matter.

“Rustle-“

The weather had been overcast for most of the day, and by the afternoon, a wind had picked up, making the sky look even gloomier.

Plastic bags and discarded wrappers on the street rustled and tumbled in the cold wind.

There were few people on the road, and most of the shops on either side of the street had their doors tightly shut.

It was the epitome of a bleak, deep winter scene.

Lu Yuan walked for a while and then stopped at an intersection where the traffic light was glowing red.

Straight ahead, across the street, a man buying cigarettes at the entrance of a convenience store caught his attention.

The man wore a high top hat and a gray wool coat.

From the side of his face, he looked quite young, but based on his flaming red hair and pronounced facial features, he was clearly not from Xia State.

If he was just an ordinary foreigner, Lu Yuan wouldn’t have found it too unusual.

Although Jiaoyan is on the edge of the old city circle and not some major first- or second-tier city, encountering a few foreigners on the street wasn’t that rare.

But Lu Yuan’s eyes narrowed when he saw the man reach out to pay for the cigarettes, revealing a dimly glowing metal ring on the back of his hand.

“A Cyborg?”

Lu Yuan’s eyes flickered slightly.

At that moment, the light turned green.

Lu Yuan stepped forward.

Across the street, the red-haired man with the top hat, having finished buying his cigarettes, also began walking along the zebra crossing towards Lu Yuan.

As he walked, the red-haired man kept his head slightly low, trying to light the cigarette he had just unwrapped.

Apart from Lu Yuan and the red-haired man with the top hat, there were no other vehicles or pedestrians on the road.

Lu Yuan walked forward with a calm expression.

“Click-click-“

The red-haired man with the top hat struggled to light his cigarette with his lighter. Perhaps the wind was too strong today, preventing him from igniting the cigarette in his mouth.