Chapter Seventy-Seven: The Kindness of the Lin Family

Lin Tiannan chatted with Song Yue for a while, asking about the current state of Earth and mentioning the Master, expressing his admiration for such learned scholars, yet never once bringing up the matter of the underground palace. Song Yue guessed he perhaps did not wish to burden him with too much pressure.

The importance the Lin family placed on the underground palace was evident; otherwise, they would not have invited so many outstanding young warriors. Yet Lin Tiannan was a cultured man, his manner exceedingly gentle.

After smiling and graciously excusing Song Yue, he remarked that his presence might make things less relaxed for everyone, so he left with a group of family elders, giving the young people space to interact freely.

Once Lin Tiannan departed, Song Yue had barely returned to his seat when a group of attendants pushed in carts laden with food.

Seeing what was on the carts, Song Yue was momentarily stunned, then felt a surge of emotion. Once again, he experienced the style of those in power—meticulous and flawless.

The attendants swiftly cleared away the healthy, leafy dishes from the table, replacing them with mountains of various meats.

Song Yue did not even need to look; the aroma alone told him what these were.

They were all top-tier ingredients he had once dreamed of tasting!

Such delicacies had only occasionally appeared in the Master’s home. His mother and elder sister would sometimes buy him a bit, and during New Year his father and brother would bring some home, almost all ending up in his stomach.

But he had never eaten to his heart’s content.

He wondered if the Lin family’s warriors might have unlimited access to such fare. At least from this meal, they were truly generous!

With the elders gone and the finest warrior food served, the atmosphere grew lively.

The people at Song Yue’s table began to toast one another.

What surprised him was that Lin Huan was actually drinking water!

Lin Han, holding a wine glass and already slightly tipsy, toasted Song Yue, saying, “Brother Yue, please don’t mind—my sister is hopeless with alcohol, so I’ll toast you on her behalf!”

Your sister… hopeless with alcohol?

Song Yue cast a sympathetic glance at Lin Han—after only a little fruit wine, she was already dazed and tipsy, while her sister could easily outdrink her several times over!

He did not expose the truth.

Perhaps Lin Huan genuinely had no fondness for alcohol before traveling to Earth.

Lin Huan smiled, raising her water glass, and sent a message to Song Yue: “I never drink at home, so they don’t know I can. Don’t give me away!”

Song Yue acknowledged her and Lin Han with a slight nod and sipped lightly.

He said to Lin Han, “I’m not much of a drinker myself.”

Lin Han laughed, “A warrior who can’t drink will be laughed at!”

At this point, others at the table began to toast Song Yue.

They had not opposed him earlier, and now, seeing Lin Tiannan’s favorable attitude toward Song Yue, they became even more friendly.

Song Yue responded to their goodwill with a smile, raising his glass in return.

Soon, people from other tables began to approach. Even those young men who had previously mocked Song Yue with words now came over, faces flushed from drink, to apologize.

“Sorry, we were prejudiced against Earth people before and said some things we shouldn’t have. Please don’t hold it against us.”

Song Yue smiled and rose to respond politely.

He had not come to Tianyue to stir up trouble; the Elite Martial Arts Center was opening a branch here. Though these young people seemed somewhat snobbish, anyone invited by the Lin family could not be useless.

Most were natives of Tianyue; it was better to make friends than enemies.

This could also help pave the way for Meng.

Of course, only if the other party was willing to be friends.

Those stubborn, hard-headed types who still sat at a distance sneering at Song Yue—he did not spare them so much as a glance.

The meal lasted late into the night. Lin Han had planned to take Song Yue to sample various delicacies, but that idea was dashed.

At the end of the banquet, tongue thick with drink, Lin Han promised Song Yue that tomorrow she would take him everywhere, to eat and play to his heart’s content.

A group emerged from within—here, the climate was entirely controlled by intelligent systems, wind at will, rain on command. At this moment, a gentle breeze made everything feel wonderfully pleasant.

Lin Feng had been waiting outside. Seeing Song Yue, he offered to take him to rest.

Lin Huan glanced at Lin Feng, “Thank you, Uncle Feng. You go back and rest well—see you tomorrow!”

Song Yue waved, “See you tomorrow!”

Then Song Yue and Lin Feng boarded a small flying vehicle, ascending slowly through the admiring eyes of those who had come out together.

The Lin family’s building was like a city unto itself. The autopilot was not particularly fast, and Lin Feng pointed out various places, giving Song Yue an ongoing introduction.

As a senior steward of the Lin family, Lin Feng was quite eloquent; his explanations were lively and engaging.

“To speak of it, Tianyue Star is one of humanity’s ancient places of residence. Unlike Earth, its civilization has never suffered a break in continuity!”

“Billions of years of history have been preserved. Without artificial intelligence, trying to memorize all that history would drive anyone mad.”

Song Yue felt a pang of emotion. The Earth’s civilization, as he knew it, had undergone countless cycles; each time, humans reemerged from the ruins of the previous era.

It took ages of ignorance before entering the fast lane of development.

Compared to Tianyue Star’s uninterrupted civilization, Earth’s was indeed very young. No wonder many elders here looked down on Earthlings.

Your perspective depends on your position—what you say is often determined by where you stand.

From Lin Feng, Song Yue gained a preliminary understanding of Tianyue Star.

Lin Feng brought him to a small estate with beautiful scenery: lush lawns, clear lakes, and schools of five-colored koi swimming in the waters.

After settling Song Yue in, Lin Feng handed him a tiny device.

“This is Tianyue Star’s communicator. You can activate it using our native language. You can use it to search any information you wish. I’ve granted you a high level of access, so you can even see some restricted matters.”

With that, Lin Feng took his leave.

Song Yue sensed a deeper meaning in Lin Feng’s final words.

He activated the intelligent device and said, “Search for the recent state of the Ou family.”

The device was advanced; instantly, a dense array of information appeared, all about the Ou family’s current affairs. Its intelligence was extraordinary, filtering out irrelevant data and leaving only the most important.

Even so, there was still plenty.

Song Yue patiently read through it.

Most of it concerned the Ou family’s business activities. Lin Feng had not lied—some of this information was not public—but Song Yue had little interest, skimming over it.

He was more intrigued by the Ou family’s recent cultivation endeavors.

Soon, he found news about an elder of the Ou family requiring a potent medicine to prolong life.

According to the records, the Ou family dispatched many teams; the one led by Ou Yuanfu to Earth was just one among them.

He also uncovered several pieces of information that would normally be hard to access.

First, about Ou Yuanfu.

As an adversary, Song Yue was curious about Ou Yuanfu’s recent movements.

Ou Yuanfu had been dismissed!

Apparently, after failing to obtain the medicine on Earth and losing personnel, Ou Yuanfu returned to Tianyue Star and was soon stripped of all duties by the family.

Now, he was just an ordinary family member.

Analysis suggested Ou Yuanfu had a fierce verbal clash with the family elders; the details were unclear, but that night the Ou family issued an internal notice, revoking all his positions and barring him from any confidential areas.

Such a punishment… quite severe.

A fierce verbal clash? Just an argument!

Was it because his failed trip to Earth led to blame, and his dissatisfaction sparked a quarrel with the elders? It seemed possible, but not highly likely.

The second key piece of information concerned Song Yue himself.

Within the Ou family, a kill-on-sight order had been issued for Song Yue!

This was not public knowledge. The gist: Song Yue had slain direct descendants of the family and was the key figure behind Ou Yuanfu’s string of losses.

Such a person must be severely punished.

Song Yue even saw an internal speech by the family elders:

“Lin family’s direct descendant Lin Huan has invited Song Yue to explore the Tianyue Star underground palace. Because of strategic cooperation and alliance, Lin family’s actions are regrettable, but we cannot openly target Song Yue—there’s no need to provoke conflict with Lin family.”

“So we act in the underground palace!”

“All Ou family members, upon spotting Song Yue, must immediately inform their companions. Others must drop all non-essential tasks and cooperate in eliminating Song Yue.”

“Whoever succeeds will be heavily rewarded by the family!"

“There’s a high chance Song Yue carries the advanced medicine Ou Yuanfu failed to retrieve. Find his storage artifact and bring it back—heavy reward!”

“Here are some personal details on Song Yue…”

Song Yue reviewed this information, then glanced at the high-tech device Lin Feng had given him.

He suddenly smiled.

This may be Tianyue Star’s “mobile phone,” but the information inside was clearly a deliberate message from the Lin family!

To have access to the Ou family’s internal speech, so freely given—this was a gift Song Yue would not forget.

He mustn’t suspect the Lin family of using him as a tool; with their power and status on Tianyue Star, there was no need.

So this information was simply a generous favor.

It also contained detailed profiles of most Ou family members dispatched to the underground palace: names, heights, appearances, cultivation realms, their specialties—everything.

Reflecting on how Lin Tiannan had singled him out for a conversation at the banquet, Song Yue suddenly had a thought: could it be the Lin family truly considered him a prospective son-in-law?

That could not be! Favor was favor, but business was business. Not to mention, he and Lin Huan had no spark!

Song Yue then whimsically searched for information about his father and brother.

To his surprise, there was plenty—quite detailed, too.

“From Earth, ostensibly a family-run interstellar enterprise with broad interests: mining, medicinal herbs, cosmetics, daily goods, etc. In reality, closely tied to Huaxia’s official agencies…”

The assessment was neutral; interestingly, much of the news about his father and brother was new to Song Yue.

It even noted that the Ou family had investigated Song Yue’s father and brother, but the matter was quickly dropped.

It seemed they had been warned off!

That was intriguing—who could have warned them? The Huaxia government?

Given the outsiders’ attitude toward Earth’s civilization, Huaxia’s warning to the Ou family should not have carried much weight.

He really ought to find time to see what they were up to.

If you think “The Ninth Gate” is worth reading, please share the book’s URL [/13_13302/] with your friends on QQ, WeChat, or Weibo. Thank you for your support!