The Shepherd King didn’t answer directly. Instead, he asked, "Have you ever heard of ’Pillage Evolution’ and ’Growth Evolution’?"

"I know a little," Su Ze replied. "The Intelligent Races of the universe all rely on Pillage Evolution, while other non-intelligent life forms use Growth Evolution."

"Good. Since you understand the concept of Intelligent Races, this will be much easier to explain." The Shepherd King paused before continuing, "Pillage Evolution is so named because this evolutionary path requires constant pillaging. It involves seizing the more perfect and powerful genes of other life forms to enhance oneself, and plundering various resources to accelerate one’s own growth. But the targets of this pillaging aren’t limited to just beasts and Spiritual Plants."

"Like the Corrupted?"

Su Ze immediately thought of the Corrupted. They pillaged their own kind, not beasts.

"You could say that. There are actually many of what you call ’Corrupted’ in the universe. But the Corrupted pillage their own race. This act is cursed. While it makes them stronger, it also taints them with an irremovable stench. The Corrupted are outcasts within their own races throughout the universe, much like the ones on your Blue Star. The Corrupted of all races can only band together for survival, forming their own organizations.

"The only difference is that they are extremely powerful in the universe, a force that cannot be ignored. The strongest Corrupted factions, in particular, are powerful enough to contend with the great races of the universe."

’The Corrupted are that strong in the universe?’

Amid his surprise, Su Ze also noted some other information in the Shepherd King’s words. It seemed the Corrupted weren’t unique to the Human Race; other races produced them as well.

However, this led Su Ze to another question. "Do you become Corrupted only by absorbing extracts from your own race, or does it also happen when you absorb them from other Intelligent Races?"

"That’s exactly what I was about to get to," the Shepherd King said. "There are hundreds of Intelligent Races of all sizes in the universe. It’s said that hundreds of millions of years ago, there were even more—perhaps thousands or even tens of thousands. These Intelligent Races all share four common traits."

Su Ze listened intently, knowing the important part was coming.

The Shepherd King continued, "The first common trait: all intelligent life relies on Pillage Evolution.

"Second, absorbing the Evolutionary Material of one’s own race will taint you with a stench, turning you into what you call a ’Corrupted’.

"Third, every Intelligent Race has a unique strength, its Racial Talent. For example, our Nian Race possesses formidable consciousness.

"Fourth, when an Intelligent Race pillages the intelligent life of another race, not only do they not get tainted with a stench, but they even receive an additional enhancement. However, this is limited to beings at the god-level and above."

Understanding dawned on Su Ze. "So the Nian Race invaded Blue Star to rear us humans, to turn us into a Hunting Ground for your future Thought Race Divine Spirits? A gene pool that you can pillage at will?"

"Perhaps it’s more than that. If you humans were just an ordinary Intelligent Race in the universe, you wouldn’t be worth the effort of rearing. Only those at the god-level are valuable enough to be pillaged. To cultivate a large number of god-level powerhouses from a planet with such a low level of evolution as yours... it would be more cost-effective and less trouble for us to just go out and capture a few god-level powerhouses from the cosmos.

"The key point is, in all our years of traversing the universe, we of the Nian Race have never encountered a single member of the Human Race. In other words, you humans of Blue Star are a completely new Intelligent Race that we’ve discovered!

"Of course, you could also be one of those races that were long ago annihilated, lost to the dust of history, and thought to be extinct by the various races of the universe. As I said, hundreds of millions of years ago, there were thousands, even tens of thousands of Intelligent Races, but now only a few hundred remain. This is because of the constant wars of pillaging waged between them.

"The great races of the universe rose to prominence by achieving victory in those wars of pillaging, one after another. Many of the defeated races were driven to extinction. It’s possible your Human Race was one of those that were once wiped out.

"Perhaps your Blue Star holds the last remnants of the Human Race in the entire universe."

’There are no other humans in the universe?’

A complex mix of emotions stirred in Su Ze’s heart. He had fantasized that there might be a powerful faction of the Human Race out in the universe that could come to Blue Star’s aid.

’But what the Shepherd King said isn’t necessarily true,’ Su Ze thought. ’At the very least, I know of another beautiful blue planet, just like Blue Star, that has many humans on it.

’The only thing is, that planet has no power of evolution, no way to begin evolving.

’Come to think of it, Earth is extremely similar to Blue Star before the dawn of the Era of Evolution. If it weren’t for the rain of evolution brought by that giant butterfly, Blue Star would probably be just like Earth, singularly focused on developing technology.’

"So we’re especially valuable just because the Human Race is rare and scarce?" Su Ze asked, finding it a bit hard to understand. "It’s true that rarity increases value, but since humans are just consumables in the eyes of the Nian Race, meant to advance your own evolution, our value must be measured by practical utility."

’It makes no sense for us to be exceptionally valuable just because we’re rare, unless humans are more useful than other Intelligent Races.’

"You still don’t understand my meaning. When Intelligent Races pillage one another, the goal is to plunder the ’Racial Origin Gene’ from other races. Every race’s Origin Gene is unique.

"Take one of our Nian Race’s god-level powerhouses as an example. When a Thought Race Divine Spirit absorbs the Evolutionary Material from a Crystal Race god for the first time, the boost they receive is immense. That’s because they plunder a massive amount of the Crystal Race’s Origin Gene. However, when they absorb Evolutionary Material from a Crystal Race god a second time, the effect is drastically reduced. The reason is that most of the Origin Gene they acquire in the second pillaging overlaps with what they obtained the first time.