Stelle laughed, then danced with glee. One moment she sighed with emotion, the next she burst into song, then she was sobbing with joy.
"I've won! I've won! Five million Stellar Jades! This is my entire life!"
Cyrene, Dan Heng, Ruan Mei, and Herta all covered their heads and turned away. Look at that child, so overjoyed she's gone mad, babbling nonsense.
Herta turned back, fixing Lygus with a cold, resolute stare. "Hand over all the authority permissions for Amphoreus."
Lygus stood frozen, grinding his teeth, clenching his fists. To be toyed with and threatened like this by a junior of the Genius Society was an insult to Zandar's name. And now that Irontomb was on the verge of birth—the critical step toward ending Nous—should he really give up now?
"Senior, you wouldn't want the remaining clones of Zandar to be dismantled by me and Ruan Mei, would you?"
Helpless, Lygus knew he had to go protect his remaining clones and plan anew for his great ambition to destroy Nous. As an old Xianzhou saying goes, "Impatience ruins great plans."
His face, already ashen, forced a smile more bitter than sorrow. "The young are fearsome, truly fearsome. Here—all my authority permissions for Amphoreus. I surrender them."
In the end, Lygus chose to hand over all his permissions for Amphoreus.
Keep the green hills, and you'll never lack firewood. As long as he lived, he would—must—fulfill his vow to destroy Nous!
With that, Lygus opened a spatial rift and left Amphoreus.
The moment he left, Stelle—still dancing with joy—snapped back to reality, reaching out in despair. "My Stellar Jades! My Stellar Jades! Lygus, you haven't given me my five million Stellar Jades!"
Herta held her head, then casually tapped her magic key. A spatial rift recalled Lygus, who had already warped three star systems away.
Lygus was furious. "Herta! As a member of the Genius Society, how can you be so untrustworthy and unvirtuous?! Didn't I already give you all the authority permissions for Amphoreus?"
Herta pointed at Stelle, who was oscillating between joy, shock, and mania. "Leave the five million Stellar Jades. Then you may go."
Lygus paused, looked at Stelle, and suddenly understood. This girl was not only connected to the Stellaron Hunters and the Express crew, but she was also a precarious piece on the board of Celenova and even Nanook.
"Five million Stellar Jades is no small sum. I cannot carry that many on me at all times. How about this—I will give the coordinates of where the Stellar Jades are stored to this young Stellaron friend."
Lygus stepped forward and handed Stelle a star map with coordinates.
Herta and Ruan Mei examined it and both frowned. The so-called coordinates pointed to a planet on the verge of being devoured by the Voracity.
Stelle's eyes, however, sparkled with boundless anticipation.
"It's a trap. Don't trust him."
Stelle seemed not to hear Herta's warning. She clutched the star map as if it were a priceless treasure.
"Didn't you hear? There's something wrong with it. And you're still holding it like a treasure?"
Stelle answered coldly, "Five million Stellar Jades! How many Simulated Universe runs would it take me to save that much? The bigger the waves, the more the Stellar Jades. Either I get nothing, or I get it all! I'm going to see Himeko and ask her to change the Express's next warp destination to that planet!"
Everyone exchanged glances, all reaching the same conclusion. This one is beyond saving.