Star Odyssey

Mr. Tradeo laughed when he heard Zi Fang’s comment. “That would require the Zi family to join the Hall of Honor. Then, we would have to work for them in the future.”

“But wouldn’t it also be bad for us to work with Lu Yin?” Zi Xianxian asked. She knew Lu Yin quite well, and she understood that he would never help Amethyst Exchange unless it could benefit him somehow.

Mr. Tradeo shook his head. “That was just a suggestion, as no one in the Outerverse can help us aside from the Hall of Honor, Shamrock Enterprises, the Mavis Bank, and Lu Yin.

Zi Tianchuan felt a headache appear the moment he thought of Lu Yin. Ever since Lu Yin had first established the Great Eastern Alliance, the Outerverse had never had a moment of peace. Lu Yin’s climb had been very smooth thus far, and he was even the person who had caused the Zi family to fall into their current crisis. However, Mr. Tradeo was also correct; Lu Yin had indeed saved the Zi family. Zi Tianchuan’s emotions vacillated between anger and gratitude when it came to the youth.

Only the absolute top forces in the Outerverse were capable of saving the Zi family at this time, but Zi Tianchuan had no desire to be controlled by the Hall of Honor, and neither did he wish for their family’s company to combine with another force like the Mavis Bank. Thus, his best choice at this time was to ask Lu Yin for assistance.

Although the Zi family wouldn’t be affected if they asked Ancestor Li to help, calling out their old powerhouse would cause the Hall of Honor to blacklist the family. Would that be better or worse than collaborating with Lu Yin? Zi Tianchuan was uncertain.

The family patriarch then looked at Mr. Tradeo. “Mr. Tradeo, could you perform a divination for us?”

Zi Xianxian simply called Lu Yin.

She thought that asking Ancestor Li to help the family was absolutely the wrong choice. Thus, their only option was to ask Lu Yin for help. Although he was a very ambitious person, he still had his own principles, which meant that it would be better for them to work with Lu Yin compared to the Mavis Bank or Shamrock Enterprises.

Zi Tianchuan didn’t stop Zi Xianxian from reaching out to Lu Yin. Instead, he turned to look at the Astral River. If not for the Outerverse being cut off from the Innerverse, the Zi family would have never ended up in this predicament.

Zi Fang asked, “Are we really going to work with him? Aren’t you worried that he’ll want to take control of the Zi family?’

Zi Xianxian sneered. “If we choose to work with a major force like the Mavis Bank, then you can see if we’ll ever be able to break away from them.”

Zi Fang stayed quiet after that. Lu Yin was clearly a much better choice compared to those financial titans.

On Zenyu Star, Lu Yin answered Zi Xianxian’s unexpected call.

“Alliance Leader Lu, how’s Luo Shen doing?” Zi Xianxian asked.

Lu Yin answered, “She’s doing fine. She’s helping promote the Great Eastern Alliance now.”

“Luo Shen is the Jade Goddess of Amethyst Exchange, and she’s still under contract with us. I don’t think it was good for you to just take her away,” Zi Xianxian said.

Lu Yin laughed. “Just be direct and tell me what you want.”

Zi Xianxian hesitated. “We need your help.”

“Give me some more details,” Lu Yin replied while flipping through a dossier on Amethyst Exchange that had been jointly compiled by Aegis, Thousand Eyes, and the Second Imperial Squadron.

The Zi family was not doing very well at the moment. Since they were one of the four great conglomerates of the Outerverse, they were still a major force even after their fall, and they also still had an Enlighter supporting them. Despite all of that, there were still some people who dared to attack the Zi family, which showed how extensive their planning must have been. The Zi family was also exhausted by all of the simultaneous attacks, and their first and foremost priority was to protect Skylush Planet, which had led to most of their intelligence network being destroyed.

What Zi Xianxian told Lu Yin closely matched the information that he had read. However, the girl was far more optimistic than public speculation.

If the situation continued to develop in this direction, then everything that the Zi family possessed would disappear, including Amethyst Exchange. However, Lu Yin was actually surprised that the Zi family had not been destroyed outright by the Hall of Honor. Darkstar Gorge had not even been given a chance to explain themselves in the past while Shenwu Continent had only been saved due to Lu Yin himself. This showed the might of the Zi family.

“Well, Alliance Leader Lu, are you willing to help us?” Zi Xianxian asked.

Zi Tianchuan, Zi Fang, and Mr. Tradeo all turned to look at the screen as they waited for Lu Yin’s response.

Lu Yin replied, “It’s my fault that the Zi family was forced into this situation, and I’m definitely willing to help. However…” He paused for a moment, causing the hearts of the Zi family members to sink; Lu Yin’s help definitely came with a caveat. Zi Xianxian was already aware of what was about to come, as she knew Lu Yin quite well.

“However, I want to join Amethyst Exchange and have the right to access all of Amethyst Exchange’s intelligence,” Lu Yin said seriously.

Zi Xianxian rejected his demand reflexively. “That’s impossible. We can allow you to join, and we can even provide you with free information. However, even I can’t access our classified information.”

Lu Yin calmly responded, “Then you’ll have to find someone else. I won’t be able to help the Zi family in that case.”

“Lu Yin, you were the one who forced us into this mess!” Zi Xianxian started to get anxious.

Lu Yin’s voice turned cold. “Zi Rong colluded with the Neohuman Alliance and could even use the corpse king Transformation. He threatened my friend and even went to my home planet to threaten people there. You should already be thankful that I didn’t make things worse when the Hall of Honor investigated the Zi family. Otherwise, you would have suffered the same fate as Darkstar Gorge.”

Lu Yin hung up after making his stance clear.

He was not worried that the Zi family would refuse his demands, as they were in desperate straits. Unless they had a hidden power that was capable of shocking the entire Outerverse, there was no way they would be able to survive what was facing them. However, if the Zi family did have such a hidden powerhouse, then that would actually cause them even more trouble in the future, as the Hall of Honor would be upset.

The Zi family wouldn’t be able to say no to Lu Yin.

Zi Xianxian stared at her gadget in a daze.

In a low voice, Zi Tianchuan said, “Agree to his condition.”

Zi Fang was surprised. “Father, some of the information that we have is related to our ancestral training, and even we haven’t accessed those records before. How can we allow Lu Yin to access that information?”

Mr. Tradeo smiled. “Only you know what information the Zi family has gathered, and you can simply control what Lu Yin has access to.”

Zi Tianchuan nodded and turned to look at Zi Xianxian. “Take Lu Yin to browse through our information. Don’t worry, we’ll place some of the classified information in a separate, safe place. Lu Yin will never know about it.”

Zi Xianxian responded, “We should remove the information that we have on the Ten Arbiters, as that’s most likely what Lu Yin wants.”

Zi Tianchuan replied. “Although the information concerning the Ten Arbiters is restricted, it doesn’t matter right now since we’re cut off from the Innerverse. Just let him look at that if he wishes.”

The Zi family then agreed to Lu Yin’s condition. As long as he was able to help the Zi family overcome their crisis, he would become a major shareholder of Amethyst Exchange, and his position would stand just below the Zi family. This would not cost him a single cent, and his power would even surpass Zi Xianxian and Zi Fang’s.

Lu Yin was thrilled, as he had been waiting for this day for a long time. The Ten Arbiters had always been a mystery to him, and not even Wendy Yushan knew much about them. Amethyst Exchange definitely had some information regarding the Ten Arbiters, as Lu Yin had once asked Zi Xianxian about them. Even if their information was incomplete, he would still be satisfied with just a general understanding of the Ten Arbiters. Mostly, he wanted to see who had a connection with the Cosmic Sea.

However, before that, he would first have to help the Zi family deal with their struggles.

The people attacking the Zi family were all from intelligence organizations that were second only to Amethyst Exchange in the Outerverse, and they included competitors who had already been defeated by the Zi family. As a result, these people were based all over the Outerverse.

Lu Yin would be able to settle things immediately if these people were located within the Great Eastern Alliance’s borders. However, some of them were in the central and western regions, and Lu Yin’s influence in those areas was not very strong.

Thus, he reached out to Aegis.

The following day, the Zi family was still waiting for the Great Eastern Alliance to do something when they saw an announcement from Aegis.

Aegis had publicly announced that they were supporting Amethyst Exchange, and they also warned the people of the Outerverse that anyone moving against Amethyst Exchange would also be moving against Aegis.

This announcement shocked the Outerverse. Although Aegis and Amethyst Exchange were both members of the four great conglomerates of the Outerverse, they did not have much of a relationship and rarely collaborated if ever. However, Aegis was actually supporting Amethyst Exchange during their crisis.

Aegis was an overwhelming deterrent to Amethyst Exchange’s enemies, as this organization boasted a large number of mercenaries and assassins.

Once the announcement was released, many of the powers that had been attacking Amethyst Exchange immediately halted all of their plans and decided to wait and see how things developed.

The Zi family was confused; why was Aegis helping them?

But before they could even understand what had just happened, the Nalan family also announced that they would be collaborating with Amethyst Exchange and helping them build up trade routes between the various weaves of the Outerverse.

The Nalan family’s announcement showed that they were also supporting Amethyst Exchange.

Moments later, Endless Borders also announced their support for Amethyst Exchange. Although the impact from Endless Borders’ support was not as impressive as Aegis or the Nalan family’s, most people had no desire to offend such a financial giant.

Three of the four great conglomerates of the Outerverse had publicly announced their support for Amethyst Exchange. Thus, the forces that had been attacking Amethyst Exchange immediately cancelled their plans. Not one of them dared to proceed as they had been.

Before Amethyst Exchange had been subjected to the Hall of Honor’s investigation, they had successfully suppressed all of these various organizations. And now, with the support of the other three great corporations of the Outerverse, Amethyst Exchange’s various enemies retreated into hiding once again.

The Zi family was stunned, as the threat against them had suddenly disappeared.

Zi Tianchuan looked at the positive news coverage regarding Amethyst Exchange on the universal network. This amply showed the influence of the four tycoons.

He was not dumb, and he knew that the reason why Aegis, the Nalan family, and Endless Borders had supported the Zi family was because of a certain person: Lu Yin.

Zi Tianchuan had thought that Lu Yin would voice his support for the Zi family and then use his position as the leader of the Great Eastern Alliance that influenced a third of the Outerverse to assist Amethyst Exchange. The Zi patriarch had never expected that Lu Yin would be able to solve this problem without even relying on the Great Eastern Alliance. Lu Yin’s influence in the Outerverse had scared Zi Tianchuan.

Even at Amethyst Exchange’s peak, their influence had never been even close to Lu Yin’s current influence. Lu Yin was truly a scary person.

Zi Tianchuan suddenly remembered the incident where hundreds of officers in the central weaves’ united military had been killed in the span of a single night. He felt a chill run down his spine; he still didn’t know how much of Lu Yin’s power remained hidden or how much influence the youth was keeping concealed.

This was the scariest aspect of Lu Yin.

After contacting Aegis, the Nalan family, and Endless Borders, Lu Yin immediately headed towards Skylush Planet. He was not worried about not being able to clear up the Zi family’s crisis. If the three great corporations were not able to solve the matter after working together, then there was no way the Great Eastern Alliance would be able to do anything about it.

Right now, all he wanted to do was read the information concerning the Ten Arbiters on Skylush Planet.

Lu Yin arrived after a few days of traveling. Its current location was a bit further to the west than before, so the trip this time took slightly longer.

He was once again personally welcomed by Zi Tianchuan. Although the patriarch was smiling like before, his smile looked forced, and his eyes were filled with fear when he saw Lu Yin.