Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
All the game players were in an uproar, surprised.
“How was the mission triggered?” Bun-Hit-Dog was at a loss.
“Should be a sudden mission, but why did Han Xiao only just realize that he lost something important?” Maple Moon grabbed her chin and murmured with a thoughtful expression. However, the concern of the other players was different from her. They did not ask why; they just cared about the reward.
“Officer Class armor!” Second Prince’s eyes were shining.
This was one grade higher than their Enlistee Class armor, so everyone wanted it.
“Competitive mission…”
Hao Tian’s face became focused. Suddenly, the ground shook, he turned around and saw the Frenzied Sword charging off, full of anticipation. Even the ground was cracked. Frenzied Sword had immediately dashed off to find clues, without any delay at all.
Only Li Ge’s expression was different from everyone else’s. His eyes were filled with sparks and explicit surprise.
Black bead… Isn’t that the one I have‽
So, Han Xiao is the special character triggered by the bead! That makes sense.
The bead was in his hands, so did that not mean that he had already met the mission requirement‽
No one knew that he was already one step ahead. Every other competitor was fated to work for nothing. What an excellent feeling!
Deep joy filled his heart. Looking around at the players’ discussions, Li Ge secretly felt great.
At this time, Han Xiao rushed back. Just as the crowd was about to go up to question him, Li Ge pushed everyone away, took out the bead that he had kept close to him, and passed it to Han Xiao.
“Black Star, this seems to be what you have lost,” Li Ge said.
Han Xiao’s eyes sparked, he took the beads and said cheerfully, “How did you know this is my precious? I lost it a few days ago, didn’t expect you to pick it up. You’re really lucky. You’ve helped me a great deal. Let me think… Well, you armor seems to be damaged, so let me give you a new set of armor as a reward.”
A satisfying smile appeared on Li Ge’s handsome face, strongly contrasting the other players, whose faces were all stiff.
What the hell? The mission ended at the beginning? It’s not a competition; it’s a waste of feelings!
Annoyed, uncomfortable, and envious eyes focused on Li Ge, while Li Ge enjoyed the attention and shrugged with pride.
Seeing this, Han Xiao played around with the bead, smiled, and did not speak.
Competitive missions were different to other missions. In addition to the actual reward, as long as Li Ge felt he had an advantage over others, he would give up the bead willingly. This was a characteristic Han Xiao found from Li Ge’s past actions, so he had tailored this mission for Li Ge, making him feel advantaged.
Hence, Li Ge obediently handed over the bead. Even his pride was in Han Xiao’s calculations—he was still kept in the dark and feeling joyous.
Walking to the side, Han Xiao looked at the notification on the interface.
_____________________
You have received an unknown item. Giving it to a special character will give you a very high reward, or you can take it to be identified.
_____________________
The item description of the bead was the same. Han Xiao sized up the bead—it was dark and smooth, giving off magical glow from time to time. He quickly filtered his memories in his mind.
Something from the magic side, some kind of Energy Gem? Enchanting Ball? Hmm… Unlikely, DarkStar took it so seriously. This bead should be more precious, maybe a Secret Message Bead?
A Secret Message Bead was a high-grade magic safe, only unlockable with a special verbal password. Its confidentiality principle was the precise Magic Seal formed by magic patterns similar to a maze—only the password could trigger the ‘eye’. It was very complicated.
Of course, since there was a lock, there was a corresponding method of breaking that lock. With the use of large magic deconstruction instrument to analyze the magic lock, or having high-level Mages unlock it artificially, the Secret Message Bead would thus be ‘pried open’.
What’s important is not the bead, but the things inside.
Originally, he had thought that the bead would trigger a hidden mission, but it seemed like the Secret Message Bead was just a prerequisite. DarkStar’s goal could not be guessed with just a bead—the things inside were the key to unlock the next step.
The introduction mentioned two ways to use it—one was to give it to a special character. Li Ge had no idea, but Han Xiao was not the same. DarkStar or Godora were most likely the ‘special character’. The bead could be exchanged for a reward and determine which side he was on, and if he went for identification of the bead, it should trigger a hidden mission.
Whichever option, he could choose freely.
Han Xiao smiled slightly and was in a good mood.
Initially, he had only been hired to rescue the Silvers, but after unexpected twists and turns, not only did he join Floating Dragon, he also ruined DarkStar’s plan.
Now the Secret Message Bead was in his hands, and DarkStar had been misinformed about the bead’s location. A good result.
…
In the Floating Dragon Island prison, the three large mercenary groups’ people were resting in their cells. Over the course of their confinement, they had already finished their conversation topics, and it was meaningless to dispute whether Black Star could complete mission. Anyway, they could only watch and wait. Everything depended on Han Xiao.
Although Goa said to trust him, everyone subconsciously thought that Han Xiao had no chance.
No one spoke, and their faces were all filled with boredom. The room was silent.
Footsteps approached. They thought that it was the patrol guard, but unexpectedly, the person stopped in front of the cell and said, “Everyone, I have completed the mission.”
This voice… Black Star‽
Goa, Cerleni, Porter, and the rest suddenly looked up and saw Han Xiao was standing outside the cell prison with a smile.
“You rescued the Silvers‽” Porter jumped up to the railing, staring at Han Xiao in disbelief.
“You’re not joking, right?” Cerleni interrupted, with a doubtful tone but also some anticipation.
Han Xiao directly took out the communicator. He had just contacted the employer. The employer had learned that his companions had been rescued again and was very surprised; Han Xiao had saved them a large sum of money, so the employer was not stingy with his praise, almost complimenting him up to the sky.
Han Xiao, of course, did not know that there had also been an argument among the employers. The captain who chose to trust him was the happiest, feeling that Han Hsiao did not disappoint him, and the person who had suspected it had nothing to say, especially the people who suspected that Han Xiao had worked together with Horlaide to scam them. They felt rather ashamed.
The employer personally confirmed that his companions had been rescued by Han Xiao, and the hundreds of mercenaries simple stood up with their mouths wide open.
The vast majority of mercenaries initially had no hope; everything had felt helpless when they got caught, and they had no choice but to give the mission to Han Xiao. Yet, Han Xiao really succeeded!
Goa clenched her fist and said with bright eyes, “You have lived up to our expectations.”
Han Xiao raised his brow and complained, “Is that so? The way you guys are acting now looks like you never had any expectations.”
The mercenaries scratched their heads, embarrassed. When Sky Ring, Blades, and Purple Gold, the three famous armies joined this mission, although the Black Star was a teammate, they had felt some sense of superiority despite not showing it on their faces.
In the eyes of most of the mercenaries, Han Xiao’s team was just an optional add on. However, it was the people that they had underestimated who had completed the missions alone when everyone else was powerless.
All the mercenaries were embarrassed.
After being happy for a while, they controlled their emotions. Cerleni asked about what happened, and Han Xiao described the relevant parts. Of course, he hid the things about DarkStar and such.
After he finished, Cerleni shook his head and said, “Horlaide wanted to use his companion to blackmail the Silvers. The thought was very good, but the result was him losing everything. This is what greed does…”
Han Xiao nodded. Horlaide had been blessed with a lot of choices, but his appetite was too big. If he had sold the Silvers earlier, he would not have been targeted.
The word greed was close to the word poverty 1 .
The mission was completed successfully, relying on Black Star Mercenary Group. Naturally, after this achievement, the mercenaries recognized Black Star’s capabilities and admired them.
In addition to informing his comrades, Han Xiao visited also to ask about when they would be released.
“Our superior in the army paid the compensation. They are rushing to Floating Dragon, and when they arrive, we will be free. So it’ll probably be just a few more days,” Goa said.
“A few days… That’s not too bad.”
Han Xiao nodded. The good stuff was in his hands, and the mission was completed. He wanted to leave together with the three large mercenary groups, return to get the two class advancement knowledges from the Silvers, and combine them into ‘Compression Technology’. Only then could he be considered to have stepped into the new level of a Mechanic. He had been looking forward to this day for a long time.
He did not want to stay in the Floating Dragon—trapped in one place was not conducive to the development of the mercenary group. His faction was the basis of the blueprint, and although there were many benefits in Floating Dragon, the opportunities were limited, far less than the vast universe. However, Han Xiao could not give up the Floating Dragon faction. He hoped to submit an application for field activities so that he could have the best of both worlds.
“There are still a few days left. I hope I can convince Ames…”
After Han Xiao left, the prison was no longer filled with boredom. It was filled with a happy and relaxed atmosphere.
The mercenaries main worry had been resolved, so they were very contented.
In the cell, Cerleni and Porter were thinking of the same thing.
I wonder if Black Star will continue to be a mercenary. His team is very capable, and he has Floating Dragon as a backer now. They’re not the small mercenary group without any backing anymore. By the time this thing ends, I will request that the superiors form a partnership with Black Star Mercenary Group. We can’t let Sky Ring have them exclusively.
…
In order to let the floating island travel freely in the universe, Ames had equipped it with top of the line devices. The shield generator was from the Revelation-Grade Main Ship of Federation of Light, and the plasma engine was from the Horn-Grade Assault Ship of the Crimson Empire. Its voyage performance was extremely good, and although Ames had bought all these devices using her own influence, she had still paid an outrageous price for it.
Floating Dragon Island passed through the meteoroid shower safely, and a lot of spaceships took off immediately after the shield was deactivated, leaving the floating island before it entered the boundary of the two civilizations.
A few days later, Peggy’s spaceship had long been away from Floating Dragon Island. It was slowly sailing in an unpopulated Star Zone. There were no Fixed Stars there, only dead gray planets filled with dead silence.
Suddenly, folds appeared in the dark space ahead, and a huge object hundreds of times larger than Peggy’s spaceship came out of the stealth mode, stopping in front of Peggy’s spaceship.
The size comparison was like a bean and a watermelon.
This object was tall and ferocious, completely black apart from some subtle golden patterns. It did not have a streamlined shape but consisted of two isosceles trapezoids fused together from their bases, like a prism. This was not a normal spaceship—it was DarkStar’s medium mother ship, similar to a mobile base, containing a large number of combat ships. One mother ship signified a fleet!
DarkStar had no fixed bases; all of their bases were mother shops, perennially in stealth and mobile states, moving everywhere. That was why the organization was mysterious and difficult to contact—no one could grasp DarkStar’s position. They hid in the dark and waited for an opportunity to make a move.
The scavengers of the ship were shocked and began speculating.
Peggy was overjoyed when he saw this.
“DarkStar did not break their word. They’ve come to take me in!”
