Exposed

Luo Feng's heart tightened, letting Talasha stroke his small braid. Beside them, Yawu said, "I also feel Beifa is down today."

"Is something bothering you?" Talasha continued stroking Luo Feng's small braid.

"I'm not in a good mood, just don't feel like talking," Luo Feng said sullenly.

Talasha looked at Luo Feng kindly: "It seems our Beifa has something on his mind. Think it over, and if you can't figure it out, come tell Teacher Talasha, and I'll help you."

"Mhm." Luo Feng nodded, yet he could feel the deep affection—familial love—Talasha and Yawu held for 'Beifa'.

It was an incredibly strong familial bond.

"The information was indeed accurate," Luo Feng mused inwardly. "Although the special lifeforms, the Doukou, are fierce towards invading alien races, internally, they treat each other like family. If anyone kills one of their kin, it will trigger a relentless pursuit from all Doukou."

"You two play here," Talasha smiled. "If anything comes up, find me in the Cultivation Hall."

"Okay, Teacher Talasha," Yawu quickly replied.

"Understood, Teacher Talasha," Luo Feng also said.

Talasha smiled and then turned to leave.

Luo Feng secretly breathed a sigh of relief. The Talasha who had coldly killed the Demon Snail Monkeys in the video, brimming with killing intent, now seemed like a benevolent mother. Luo Feng, however, didn't know... that the evolution of the universe had not birthed these special lifeforms, the Doukou, all at once, but rather in succession.

Some were birthed early, some late. Over three hundred million years ago, a new Doukou was born.

Talasha... was the ninth to be birthed among the thousands of Doukou, billions of years before Beifa and Yawu. Her strength also ranked among the top ten of the thousands of Doukou, and she bore the important responsibility of teaching some of the weaker Doukou. This was why Beifa, Yawu, and others called her 'Teacher Talasha'.

Luo Feng looked at the ice sculptures before him. Among them were Demon Snail Monkeys, powerful alien Lei Quan Tribe members... and even a human expert! All were frozen, their souls long disintegrated by the cold.

"What interesting Demon Snail Monkeys." Yawu carefully observed the Demon Snail Monkeys for a long time. "This is my first time seeing them in the real world; I've only seen them in the virtual world before."

"Virtual world?" Luo Feng's heart stirred.

Virtual technology was quite common in the universe. Building small-scale virtual worlds, like Earth once did with the 'War God Palace' virtual world after obtaining a personal optical computer from the wreckage of an ancient spaceship, was nothing special. Small-scale virtual worlds had always been common technology; the difficulty lay in super-large scale ones.

A virtual world encompassing a galaxy. A virtual world encompassing a starfield, or a star sector, or even an entire human territory, or the entire Virtual Universe! The larger the scope, the exponentially higher the difficulty!

"It's indeed easy for the Doukou to build a virtual world covering the 'Ice Prison Star Belt'. They could easily achieve it just by using some intelligent optical computers obtained from the alien experts who invaded them throughout history," Luo Feng understood.

"Beifa, let's go explore the Secret Art Hall," Yawu said. "Teacher Talasha's secret arts are very complex."

"I won't go," Luo Feng said. "I want to walk alone."

"Oh." Yawu nodded, "That's right. Teacher Talasha's secret arts are suitable for us, but not so much for you."

Luo Feng paused for a moment before realizing Yawu was referring to the difference between the green and purple Doukou.

"Then I'm off!" Yawu then happily darted away and disappeared.

"What good luck." Luo Feng secretly breathed a sigh of relief at the sight. "I was originally trying to figure out how to act alone, but I didn't expect to find an opportunity so easily. Right, to the place where the black metal plates are stored." Luo Feng also darted off, beginning to fly erratically through the palace.

In the Cultivation Hall, deep within the palace.

Talasha was sitting cross-legged on the icy ground, her invisible divine power sweeping through the inner palace. A faint smile appeared on her face: "Yawu went to the Secret Art Hall, and Beifa went to the Hall of All Things... Yawu, really, she knows Beifa is in a bad mood, yet she doesn't stay with him and goes to the Secret Art Hall instead. Beifa doesn't cultivate my lineage anyway... Well, the Hall of All Things has all sorts of strange items collected from those alien races; it might distract Beifa."

Talasha then closed her eyes, her consciousness connecting to the virtual world to communicate with other clan members.

For the special lifeforms, the Doukou...

Over long ages, there were indeed many alien Immortals who ventured into the Ice Prison Star Belt hoping for a lucky break. Although 99% were captured, some lucky ones did manage to steal treasures, which meant alien Immortals would always come back to try their luck after some time. After they were killed, many of the treasures they carried were almost useless to the Doukou, usually discarded as decorations or playthings. Talasha had placed many such playthings in a hall, naming it the 'Hall of All Things'.

The black metal plate... was in the Hall of All Things!

In the Hall of All Things.

Luo Feng wandered casually and arrived at the Hall of All Things. Because the entire palace layout had been precisely detected by the Demon Snail Monkey's 'large detector' earlier, he already had an accurate mental map of the palace's structure and knew it perfectly.

"Now, it's all up to luck."

Luo Feng stepped into the Hall of All Things, treading on the cold icy ground, his gaze falling upon the various items casually piled on the floor. There were some weapons, some armor, some special materials, all scattered haphazardly. These weren't particularly valuable, at least not in Luo Feng's eyes.

"Black metal plate." Luo Feng suddenly waved his hand, sweeping some items aside, revealing the black metal plate buried beneath.

"The third black metal plate." Luo Feng knew with a touch that it was the one he was looking for.

"Now it's all about luck... Once I have the black metal plate, I'll leave immediately," Luo Feng secretly thought. "It'll take a while from when I leave the palace until I'm out of the Ice Prison Star. If Talasha notices something amiss during this short time... then I'll be in huge trouble. However, she shouldn't be too wary of her own kind, so I might have a chance to escape."

"And it seems she doesn't value the black metal plate, just leaving it here casually." Luo Feng no longer hesitated. After taking the black metal plate and putting it into his World Ring, he walked straight out.

*Whoosh!* Luo Feng darted through the palace, his speed neither slow nor fast.

The moment Luo Feng darted past the inner hall's threshold, a voice sounded in his ear: "Beifa, going back already? Not waiting for Yawu?"

"No, I want to go back now," Although Luo Feng's heart trembled, he still said, "I'll visit Teacher Talasha again next time."

"Mhm, go ahead," Talasha kindly instructed.

Luo Feng paid no mind to anything else, quickly flying out of the palace and then along the passage towards the outside of the Ice Prison Star. Although he possessed the ability of 'teleportation', Luo Feng dared not use it... because using teleportation would definitely expose him, as explicitly stated in the Virtual Universe Company's data. Though extremely anxious, Luo Feng forced himself to fly outwards.

In the virtual world constructed by the Ice Prison Star Belt.

In a plaza, Talasha was sitting with three other Doukou clan members, drinking some fruit wine, and shaking her head: "This child, Beifa, I don't know what's wrong with him. He came to me just now, sullen, and I felt he had changed somehow. I wonder what happened."

"Maybe his confession was rejected," one of the Doukou laughed.

Among the thousands of Doukou, though they couldn't reproduce, green Doukou would generally pursue purple Doukou to pair up and live together. Because green Doukou were more numerous and purple Doukou were fewer... and many purple Doukou preferred to live alone, rejections were quite common.

"Talasha, you said Beifa came to you and was sullen? I just saw Beifa and Boya and a few others laughing loudly as they went to play a combat game."

"Laughing loudly?" Talasha's expression subtly changed. The Doukou were pure by nature and didn't conceal their emotions. Someone who was sullen just moments ago, now happily laughing with other clan members to play a combat game?

Talasha, sitting cross-legged in the Cultivation Hall of the palace, suddenly opened her eyes, her expression subtly changing. Invisible divine power rapidly spread outwards, sweeping towards the Demon Killer Luo Feng who had just flown out of the Ice Prison Star's passage. That invisible psychic energy penetrated Demon Killer Luo Feng's body... and easily discovered the 'Life Core' within the imposter Beifa.

"It's not Beifa!" "It's an alien!" Endless, terrifying killing intent suddenly erupted from Talasha's eyes.

*Whoosh!* Talasha, who was originally still in the palace, instantly teleported away, reappearing directly in front of Luo Feng.

Teleportation was a taboo in the Ice Prison Star Belt! Although some powerful experts among these special lifeforms, like Talasha, knew how to teleport, none of them normally used it. They all relied on 'cosmic shuttling' to visit other companions, because... the fastest way for alien races to steal treasures was teleportation. As long as the Doukou didn't use teleportation, if any spatial fluctuations indicative of 'teleportation' were detected, it definitely meant an alien had arrived! Other than that—when discovering and pursuing alien races, teleportation could naturally be used. In short, detecting teleportation fluctuations meant an alien invasion or a major event was occurring.

"An alien!" "Has an alien arrived?"

In the Ice Prison Star Belt, within each Ice Prison Star, dozens of powerful Immortal Doukou simultaneously sensed the teleportation fluctuation.

And the two largest Ice Prison Stars in the Ice Prison Star Belt, one with a diameter of 103,000 kilometers and the other 96,000 kilometers... these two Ice Prison Stars were the residences of those two terrifying Cosmic Venerables. The 'Cosmic Venerables' among special lifeforms were inherently incredibly powerful.

"An alien?" "There's an alien?" The two Cosmic Venerables also detected it.

"As long as I fly out of the Ice Prison Star and then accelerate to light speed, I can escape without anyone knowing." Luo Feng was rushing out of the Ice Prison Star's passage, continuing to fly towards the high altitude of the Ice Prison Star. Near the Ice Prison Star's surface, there were strong air currents, similar to Earth's atmosphere, which, though not as dense, still created resistance. He had to fly out to accelerate to light speed.

*Boom!* A powerful aura suddenly appeared above Luo Feng. It was the purple figure, Talasha, erupting with overwhelming killing intent, her eyes fixed on Luo Feng, her cold voice echoing through the heavens and earth: "Alien!!!"

Luo Feng, flying upwards, saw the purple figure above him, and his expression instantly changed drastically.