Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“There’s no rush to return the favor. Just don’t forget about it,” Han Xiao joked.
Every time Bennett owed him a favor, their relationship points would increase. Being in good relationship with one of the main characters on the planet would definitely be quite beneficial.
Triggering a hidden storyline without actively looking for it was clearly one of the benefits it had brought. Bennett’s relationship network was very wide, so one could go through Bennett to get in contact with many others, most of them being strong ones with missions that had a chance to be triggered.
After waiting for a while, Bennett transferred Hannes’ call.
Ka-chin.
They both kept silent after the call was connected. They could only hear the sound of each other breathing.
In the end, Hannes spoke first. “I’m Hannes, we have met last night.”
“Bennett had told me. Heard you need my help. What’s it about?” Han Xiao got straight to the point.
“It’s regarding a secret that was buried in history. We have found some traces of it, and I want to find out about this secret.
Han Xiao was very confused. He had no idea what secret he was talking about.
However, a notification showed up on the interface. Han Xiao could not move his eyes away from it the moment he saw it; he was completely shocked.
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You have triggered Planet Aquamarine’s Hidden Main Storyline Grade A Mission [New Era—Origin].
Remarks: This mission will cause unknown and irreversible effects to some events and organizations. Please consider carefully before choosing to accept or reject.
_____________________
Han Xiao’s eye immediately widened.
A main storyline mission that no one ever triggered!
There were three main storylines in Planet Aquamarine—two of them were the war between the Six Nations and Germinal Organization and the creation of the refugee camp, and another hidden main storyline was triggered by the players, but it was not it!
He had completely no recollection of it, which meant this mission had not been triggered by the players in his previous life!
Hidden main storylines were a special type of mission. They needed an opportunity to be triggered, and they would impact the other main storylines and change the plot in one way or another. Han Xiao had played through many versions in his previous life, and he had read about hidden main storylines on the forum before.
Without exception, they all impacted the main storyline missions of their civilization or planet in a profound way.
The first time Hannes and the guys appeared before the players they were already dead. No wonder no one triggered it.
Han Xiao suddenly realized how dangerous this mission was. Even two people at the maximum level for Planet Aquamarine had died. It would probably be much more difficult than he thought.
Han Xiao’s grade A mission against Germinal Organization [Fall of the Germinal] was a branch of the main storyline mission. Players in different organizations would receive different main storyline missions. For the Six Nations, it would of course be to destroy the Germinal Organization, but for Germinal Organization, it was the other way around.
However, Han Xiao’s mission was special because he did not belong to any organization but was Germinal Organization’s enemy. Thus, the requirements and details were different, but the main goal was the same.
However, he knew nothing about this hidden main storyline mission.
Origin? Does it mean to dig into the history of the planet? In that case, which event’s origin is this?
The unknown was feared, yet people were curious about it. Han Xiao felt an itch in his bones—it was the feeling of excitement and anticipation.
He was an extremely long-term player that loved to dig the important factors in ‘Galaxy’, and this was a secret that no player had found out about!
“Accept.”
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You have accepted [New Era—Origin].
+10 Relationship with Hannes, Vernina, Garian, and Jiang Yuan.
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Hmm? Han Xiao noticed something.
He knew that Jiang Yuan was the last person buried in the grave, but who was this Garian?
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Talk to Hannes. Listen to his introduction.
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The mission requirement at the moment was only this. Han Xiao was used to it; it was something like an opening cinematic.
“It has something to do with us attempting to kidnap Dorasi last night. He took part in a secret plan some years back, and this secret plan of Maple is one of the leads. There are many secrets in the nation of Maple.
“When you infiltrated the government officials’ mansions, did you feel weird that these officials were protected around the clock, but this doesn’t happen in other nations?”
Han Xiao nodded. “I know about this, the ‘Ulrich Assault’ from many years ago.”
“Yes, Ulrich Assault…”
Hannes described the event in detail.
Ulrich’s position in Maple at that time was similar to a prime minister. He had been attacked at home, not by a few people, but a large group of civilians who somehow had weapons from an unknown supplier. They used gunpowder weapons and burned Ulrich’s expensive mansion to the ground. Ulrich, his wife, and their three children aged around ten years old were brutally slaughtered by the attackers. The entire process was recorded and uploaded online. It shocked the nation and even the entire world.
The reason for this was that Ulrich approved a policy that was basically to remove power and citizen benefits from the civilians and to use it as an investment of a ridiculous project, which was actually a way for Ulrich to put money into his own pocket.
Corruption of the government officials in Maple was known throughout the world, but before the war of the old era had broken out, Maple had been known for their gentle government. They were normal and not a strong nation.
When the old era war broke out, the government implemented policies that were very pressurizing for the civilians. Most people showed understanding and accepted the policies under pressure, and some even actively contributed. The government officials of Maple had tasted the delicious fruit of evil. After the war ended, because of the pressure from the nation losing power after the war, they did not go back to the old easy-going policies. Instead, they continued to pressure the civilians with tax and labor, which was used to recover the nation’s power. Conflicts within the country became worse as time passed by, the gentle society environment disappeared and never returned.
People who were not living the life they wanted were like a spring that was pressed to its limit—the policy Ulrich approved was the last straw.
Then, half an hour after Ulrich was attacked, the special force received a command to kill everyone who took part in the attack. They showed no mercy. The nation was shocked, and this signified as the opening of the change of times in Maple.
If this had happened before the old era war, it would have a been a scandal that could cause the complete downfall of the government, but in the new era, where power was left unchecked, the other five nations had no intention of getting involved.
It was already difficult for everyone just to protect themselves after the war. Organizations that protected human rights and power alliances no longer existed.
The structure of the world changed. The balance was broken; economies were close to collapsing; resources and military power became the only standard to measure a nation’s power. Maple felt that the civilians’ feelings did not matter anymore, so they did not serve the citizens like before. In their eyes, it was time for the citizens to serve the nation.
The old era was over. With everything being destroyed and waiting to be rebuilt, it was a chance to reshape the country, so they chose a radical way of doing it.
The assault that shocked the nation also alerted the government officials of Maple. They decided to retrieve the ‘weapons’ from the civilians. The government officials had never been this united before—they approved twenty-four strict policies with high efficiencies within two days. The twenty-four-hour protection of the officials was the most basic policy, and there were even insane ones that graded civilians, which led to ‘rotten meat’ being evicted from the big cities every so often—rotten meat being citizens deemed worthless.
Thus, the effects of the assault went down a weird path. The Maple government announced that the attackers were not ordinary citizens—there was a reactionary group in the nation who planned the attack. Their weapons were the best evidence.
The Maple government listed dozens of lame pieces of evidence. With the justifying excuse of capturing the reactionary group, they started to use force to take back the power that they had given to the civilians, pressure the ‘reactionary group’, ‘deal’ with anyone who ‘might be a threat to the nation’, then lock the information down. They wanted to turn civilians into a completely controlled labor force.
