Chapter 2557: The End and the Beginning
Everyone's gaze instantly focused on Jiangnan!
The members of the Ten Thousand Races Sequence all twitched at the corners of their mouths, having forgotten about this!
This guy was someone who feared nothing—how could he possibly give face to the Bose Clan?
Di Chou was furious: (ꐦ‵□′) "What do you want now?"
Jiangnan immediately refused to back down, hands on his hips and glaring: (｡･ˇ口ˇ･) "That's it for punishment? You think that's enough to fool anyone? I'm the most direct victim here, and there's no compensation at all?"
"In that instant, I almost got crushed by the World Will, you know?"
Yu Gen gritted his teeth—bah, if it were that easy to kill you, we'd have done it long ago!
Di Chou raged: (ꐦ｀言´) "Hasn't the compensation already been paid? What more do you want? Don't ask for trouble!"
Jiangnan quickly stepped back two paces, pretending to be afraid: ੧੧(･ˇ▿ˇ･｡) "Oh dear, oh dear~ I'm so scared~ Is this your idea of an apology?"
"I suffered such a huge loss because of your violation, and there's no special compensation? Not to mention the points you deducted are too few!"
"At the very least, the Star Hunt Ranking points and rewards for Innocent and Zhong Xu should be transferred to us humans, right?"
Yu Gen's eyes widened: "Transfer to you? It wasn't you who killed them, so why should they be transferred to you?"
If it really were transferred to humans, their points could even push them to first place on the total ranking!
Jiangnan curled his lip: (乛◡乛｡) "Look~ I barely said two words and you're already angry. I'm not asking for it. I have plenty of points—I don't give a damn about a few hundred thousand!"
"As the direct victim of the Bose Clan's violation, I demand special compensation to make up for my mental losses!"
"Otherwise, this matter isn't over! The mighty overlord of the starry sky openly cheats in the Cosmos Grand Hunt? Does this Sequence War have any credibility left?"
"And what's this 'Cosmos Seed' you've been mumbling about all along? The name is quite suggestive, isn't it? What is it? Do you dare to tell everyone? I'm sure everyone here is curious!"
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone in the venue began to murmur.
Indeed! What exactly was the Cosmos Seed that the Bose Clan cared about so much? And what was its entangled relationship with the Cosmos Grand Hunt?
Yu Gen's expression was as unpleasant as if he'd eaten a used slice of bread.
If the Ten Thousand Races Sequence truly learned the origin of the Cosmos Seed, the Bose Clan would completely lose its credibility.
Would the next Cosmos Grand Hunt even be possible in the Chuangjie Daxu?
All Yu Gen wanted now was to get this matter behind them. He said coldly: (￢益￢ꐦ) "So you're the only one who disagrees? Speak! What will it take to settle this? Name your price!"
Jiangnan grinned slyly. Good—he'd loosened up.
(°～°〃) "As I said, as the direct victim, I want special compensation. I don't lack money or points, and I don't want the resources either—we already have over two hundred rich mining zones."
"What I'm short on is manpower. I'm asking you for three hundred Star Ruins, liberate the racial Slave Marks, and send them to my human Milky Way Star Domain. That's not too much, is it?"
When Yakeli heard this, his eyes lit up and he secretly gave a thumbs-up.
Boss Nan was awesome—he actually dared to pursue such dreams!
Yu Gen's eyes bulged: (ꐦರ益ರ) "What? Three hundred Star Ruins? Why don't you just rob us? You—"
Jiangnan spread his hands: ʅ(･´‸･)ʃ "Aren't we already robbing you? Robbing isn't as fast as asking. So, are you giving them or not?"
The members of the Sequence covered their faces. Was he not even trying to hide it anymore?
So the Star Group Army, which had been robbing everywhere and liberating slaves, was indeed Jiangnan's people.
Yu Gen squinted: (≖Ĺ̯≖ꐦ) "Heh—just for your so-called 'Star Project'? Humans can't even take care of themselves, yet you still have the heart to pity the slave races? You're just raising a bunch of bloodsuckers!"
"Sooner or later, humanity will be devoured bit by bit, your group will fall apart, and you'll pay the price for what you've done."
Jiangnan smiled: (๑⁼̴◡⁼̴) "Isn't that exactly what you want to see? So you should give me a hand, right? What I do is none of your business."
"Three hundred Star Ruins—yes or no?"
Yu Gen's eyes flickered. Losing three hundred Star Ruins wouldn't hurt the Starfall Round Hall much—it was just a drop in the bucket among the total Star Ruins they had developed.
But every Star Ruin was an inexhaustible mountain of gold, providing long-term, sustained income for the Bose Clan.
Losing them meant losing them permanently.
(︶益︶ꐦ) "Three hundred is too many! Even one hundred is not—"
Jiangnan immediately said: (͡°͜ʖ͡°)✧ "Then one hundred! Deal! No backing out now!"
Yu Gen was cut off mid-sentence and forced out two words through gritted teeth: (̿▀̿益▀̿̿ꐦ)̄ "I'll give it."
Otherwise, Jiangnan would go around talking about the Bose Clan's violation and the Cosmos Seed matter, making it known to everyone. If someone got suspicious and actually investigated something, the loss would outweigh the gain.
After all, there's no such thing as a wall that doesn't leak. After so many seed-taking missions, someone might eventually connect the dots.
Let Jiangnan have his moment of triumph for now.
With the promise made openly before the entire starry sky, Jiangnan wasn't afraid Yu Gen would renege.
Besides, humanity's current Star Project didn't need to be kept secret anymore. Perhaps making it known across the starry sky wasn't a bad thing.
At least it could let those slave races struggling in the darkness know:
There are still people in this world fighting for you. Hold on—someday, the light will spill into the dark corners. Never give up hope.
After the Bose Clan's punishment plan was confirmed, the Star Hunt Ranking's point rewards were added back to the total race points ranking.
The ranking immediately shifted.
First place became Silicon, followed by Dark Cosmos Entity, then humans. The top three all exceeded ten million total points. The Bose Clan, after having over a million points deducted, dropped to fourth place.
Behind them were Apocalypse Race and Gamma Race.
Under Jiangnan's absolute score control, even with the bonus points, Dark Cosmos Entity remained ahead of humans.
Miu Ke looked at the total points ranking with immense satisfaction—he'd picked up first place for free.
Noah's grin stretched from ear to ear—he never imagined that after being the perpetual third, he'd actually climb to second.
Even though Jiangnan had tried to suppress the score, he couldn't fully control it, and ended up in third place.
But the Bose Clan really made way for him, didn't they?
At this moment, Yu Gen's heart burned with rage. He wished he could slap the city of Chenguang City to pieces.
As the overlord of the starry sky, to drop to fourth after a single Cosmos Grand Hunt—even if it wasn't the final result—
this was absolutely intolerable!
Looking at the human ranking above the Bose Clan's head, Yu Gen wanted to die.
The Cosmos Seed was lost, Jiangnan wasn't killed, Innocent was crippled, and their rank had fallen—they had accomplished nothing!
It was a miracle Yu Gen's mentality hadn't collapsed completely. But the most important thing now was to find the Cosmos Seed's whereabouts.
Otherwise, he couldn't explain himself to Xun Zu.
Yu Gen immediately announced loudly: (ꐦ︶︵︶ꐦ) "I declare! The first round of the Sequence War, the Cosmos Grand Hunt, is officially over!"
"The Grand Hunt Race Points Ranking will serve as the base score for the second round, the Sequence Offensive and Defensive Battle."
"This Sequence Offensive and Defensive Battle will still be held in the Sea of Star Embers. In three days, the Sea of Star Embers will open. All races may enter freely to build and fortify."
"The preparation period remains 180 days. In three days, the Sacred Law Council will announce the specific rules of the Sequence Offensive and Defensive Battle to each race's embassy at the Sacred Law Star Palace."
"Meeting adjourned!"
After saying this, Yu Gen vanished on the spot—he didn't want to stay here another second.
However, when the various sequence members heard this, their faces immediately clouded with worry, and not a few let out heavy sighs.
"Sigh—Sequence Offensive and Defensive Battle, huh? Can't afford it. It burns through people and money. After this battle, whatever racial foundation we've painstakingly built over the years will be drained dry."
"How many years of racial GDP will be burned? The Sea of Star Embers—truly a place people both love and hate."
"What else can we do? Can we not fight? The lower the rank, the worse the racial rights. All our racial development for the next ten thousand years depends on this Sequence War's ranking."
"The bottom line—it's still a game for the big races. We can't afford to go bankrupt over it. We'd better look around and see if there's a big leg to cling to. One hundred eighty days? We need to hurry and make arrangements."
With the Cosmos Grand Hunt over, not a single race was smiling about the upcoming Sequence Offensive and Defensive Battle.
They all left with gloomy faces, each seeking their own path.
It was clear how much of a headache the Sequence Offensive and Defensive Battle was for them.
Humanity also retreated into the Dimensional Gap, heading toward the Lost Kingdom.
Yang Jian was rubbing his temples, equally worried.
"Well, our days of peace are over."
Jiangnan raised an eyebrow: (๑◔～◔ิ) "Not so? We just got third place, holding over ten million points."
"As long as we perform normally in the upcoming Sequence Offensive and Defensive Battle, after the Sequence War ends, we should easily land in the top ten, right?"
Yang Jian shook his head with a bitter smile. "It's not that it's hard to fight—it's that it's too expensive, too draining on resources. After one Sequence Offensive and Defensive Battle, even the richest local tycoon would end up wearing torn underwear."
"We do hold over ten million points, but we have to be able to keep them. The rules of the Sequence Offensive and Defensive Battle are different from the Cosmos Grand Hunt."
"In the Grand Hunt, points you earn are yours. Even if you're killed, they're safe. But in the Sequence Offensive and Defensive Battle, points can be yours—or they can end up in someone else's hands."
Jiangnan's eyes instantly lit up: (๑¥ꇴ¥) "So that means we can steal from others?"
"This—this is exactly what I'm best at!"
Yang Jian covered his face. Indeed, Jiangnan had an extraordinary talent for stealing.
"This is a racial war between civilizations. The power of an individual is insignificant, and war is the most expensive thing there is. Humanity is in a stage of rapid development, needing money and resources everywhere. Add the expenses of the Star Project on top—even the landlord's family has no surplus grain."
"Races that have developed for hundreds of millions or billions of years have unimaginably vast foundations, enough to support the consumption of war."
"But when it comes to accumulated foundation, humans have no foundation—only underwear."
Jiangnan: (•́ω•̀٥)