After her words, all the excitement he felt for finally reaching his destination disappeared like a cloud of smoke. Without even realizing, his steps had also slowed down.
Xavier didn't like the way he felt. Hesitating for a moment, he quickly asked, "What do you mean by those words? And don't tell me outer space merchants are what I think them to be..."
Zerin replied with a cold, hollow chuckle, "Here I thought I would have to explain to you what an outer space merchant is… it seems you are not as stupid as you look. That's right, these are a group of the most insidious, scheming, and demonic bastards that you could encounter roaming through the vast space aboard their large cruise ships. In search for new planets that had recently come into contact with the Infinite Record, they buy these planets for dirt cheap, then leech off all the resources of the new planets..."
Xavier's expression darkened. Zerin's explaining was painting a very bad picture of the situation. If she wasn't lying, it wasn't difficult to imagine just what kind of group these space merchants had to be to be labeled as "demonic" by the demons themselves.
Suddenly she paused, her tone turning slightly dark. "Now that we have reached this point, let me ask you something. Tell me, young boy, what do you think is the most precious thing in the universe...?"
This straightforward question of hers caused Xavier to come out of his lost state. He repeated her words with a thoughtful look on his face. "The most precious resource in the universe..."
He didn't even need to think and the answer automatically appeared in his mind. "Living beings. There is nothing more precious than living beings..."
The universe was vast and endless with countless planets filled with all sorts of resources that humans cannot forget, yet finding a planet with life was like finding a needle in a pile of hay.
"Keke... partially correct. Although living beings are precious, to space merchants, it's not that big of a problem; they can simply turn to large human farms for a quick supply. What is really precious are the quality living beings—living beings who can awaken a high-grade class with a ridiculous amount of untapped potential. And the planet which just came under the Infinite Record jurisdiction proves all this."
Although not completely, a slight understanding of what was happening around him started to form in his head.
It appeared there was more to the situation than he earlier thought.
However, he didn't like the way Zerin talked about this situation. Her tone, which made it sound as if she stood on some higher ground, disgusted him to the core.
With a cold and indifferent face, he simply muttered, "As if you are any better. I very clearly remember the first notification. If not for the Abyssal Invasion, this would still have been a normal place..."
Zerin spoke no more after that. He also didn't care; in his current situation, knowing this was enough. If he knew too much, the situation might be more detrimental to him.
At some point, the eyes of everyone present—including the awakeners resting in the corner, as well as the non-awakeners—were already on Xavier's figure.
Most had a look of recognition in their eyes, as during his journey back, Xavier rescued quite a few people.
On the other hand, there was a look of complete shock and disbelief in the eyes of people like Aron and Millie.
They had watched with their own eyes Xavier facing that monstrously large tiger.
Aron was unable to contain his shock and muttered in a slightly loud voice, "He actually defeated that monster...?"
Captain Mia was keeping an eye on everyone, especially on the group of awakeners, so Aron's loud exclamation didn't go unnoticed.
"Hmmm... what did this fellow do to shock them so much...? Surely nothing absurd..."
By now a few people holding plates filled with food walked close to Xavier to sincerely thank him for saving them.
One of these people was the mother and daughter pair, who he had rescued from the car.
Xavier stood there stiffly accepting the food. He would be lying if he said he was not hungry; his stomach was practically rumbling non-stop, but he wasn't in the position to care about minor things such as hunger.
So when the smell of fresh and hot vegetable soup reached his nostrils, he unconsciously swallowed his saliva.
Seeing the hungry look on his face, the people also took their leave, not wanting to disturb his meal.
However, just as he was about to take the first sip, the sound of footsteps getting closer to his position came from the back, following a soft aroma scent spilling in the surroundings.
Captain Mia looked at Xavier, appearing holding the steel spoon ready to eat.
With a smile she said, "Not so fast, Mister. First you need to go through some procedure, then you can enjoy your meal like the rest of the people here..."
A frown couldn't help but appear on Xavier's face. He didn't like how she stopped him from eating, but upon thinking, her words made sense, and complying with authority was something that he learned ever since being a kid.
So he swallowed his desire as he calmly nodded his head.
Thinking a few more minutes are not going to hurt anyone; at least he would be getting food.
"Good!"
Seeing how compliant Xavier was, the smile on Captain Mia's face widened. At this point she was practically grinning from ear to ear.
As Xavier started moving, Zerin's cold voice echoed in his head.
You better watch out... Things might get ugly...
A puzzled look briefly flashed on his face, not understanding why things could go downhill.
With all these thoughts in his mind, Xavier stood on the assigned location waiting for the testing to begin.
On Captain Mia's signal, a soldier holding the Abyssal Corruption Detector in his hand placed it directly above Xavier's forehead.
Xavier felt slightly uncomfortable. For some reason this scene made him feel as if someone was pointing a gun at him, although it was only a harmless detector meant to detect Abyssal Corruption.
Bzzz!
Just then the soldier's eyes suddenly turned wide like saucers; that surprise soon turned into something sharp and hostile.
"Abyssal Corruption 50%... Kill him!"