Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Han Xiao committed Summer Night Flower’s name to memory before throwing this matter to the back of his mind.
This was something that would definitely happen. Players were explorers after all; there would be some who wanted to seek something fresh. Since this could not be avoided, Han Xiao could only let nature take its course.
Only the crops that went through wind and rain would be truly precious.
After browsing through the forums for a while, Han Xiao suddenly felt the sofa tremble slightly, and someone sat down beside him. Turning around to look, it turned out to be Reynold.
“Not playing cards anymore?”
“Lagi dragged Feidin over. What’s the damn point of playing?” Reynold replied expressionlessly.
Han Xiao then chuckled before casually saying, “You must let me know if you have any requests.”
“No.”
“Think about it carefully again. Don’t need to worry about troubling me. You must let me know if you have any problems…”
Reynold had a strange look on his face. “Why do you ask me this question every month or so?”
“It’s just me showing concern for my subordinates…” Han Xiao let out a dry cough. In order to obtain Reynold’s Perfect Mechanical Sense, Han Xiao showed concern to Reynold every now and then in an attempt to trigger a mission.
However, ever since Han Xiao saved Rossellin, not a single mission had appeared from Reynold again. Just when would he be able to finally obtain the Perfect Mechanical Sense talent?
Should I get some people to kidnap Rossellin so that Reynold will seek my help to save her?
“Your Excellency Black Star, how long do you think this war will last?” Reynold suddenly asked.
Han Xiao thought for a moment before saying, “If you were to ask for my opinion, a war represents opportunity, and the longer the war, the better. However, this war can only be considered ordinary when compared to the other galactic wars, which last hundreds of years. As long as the Crimson Dynasty finishes their negotiations with the Federation of Light, Klent will retreat. According to some intel that I received, the Universal Civilizations will probably finish their negotiations in a few years.”
Reynold shook his head. “Looking at the current situation, Klent has completed almost half of their plan. When the Crimson Dynasty has fulfilled their wish, they will help Klent redraw the territorial borders of the Seoul Star Cluster and include the few Star Clusters conquered by Bloodshed Land in the territory of their Seoul Star Cluster. If Purple Crystal doesn’t find a backer, they won’t get any help for sure.”
“That’s right. An independent civilization will have to endure all this,” Han Xiao replied. He had some thoughts of his own but did not feel that it was necessary to let Reynold know about them. After pausing for a while, he continued, “However, even after the end of the secret war, the Crimson Tide won’t disappear quickly. It is just like how a rock being thrown into still waters won’t only create a splash but ripples as well.
“There are numerous civilizations in the galaxy, and they all have their own desires for more, which is like extremely combustible firewood. The Crimson Tide is like a spark to light up their dormant desires. The moment their desires are ignited, they won’t be extinguished easily.
“Purple Crystal also know that they cannot let Bloodshed Land occupy so many Star Systems. The purpose of this battle is to organize a large-scale retaliation, clear out all the strongholds that Bloodshed Land have in the Kant Star System, and snatch back control of the entire Star System. This is the largest military operation that Purple Crystal has launched since the start of the war, and they are sending out almost all their forces.”
In two days’ time, the Black Star Army would be officially deployed to meet up with the other members of Section Zero and head toward the Kant Star System.
This time, he was prepared to give the players a chance to show off their abilities and give all the dirty work to the players. More importantly, he wanted to groom the players and make them perform more war missions so that his crops could grow up healthily.
Since the players would not die, if they did not go to hell, who would?
Furthermore, the overall gaming experience would be better if the game was more dangerous. If the players did not experience some deaths, they would not be motivated at all.
…
Summer Night Flower had his eyes fixed on the forums, paying attention to the replies to his posts. Disagreements formed the majority of the replies, and his expression became ugly as he saw them.
He had only managed to create this post after some deep thought, and Summer Night Flower had felt extremely delighted at that moment. The way he saw it, he would definitely be able to knock many of the players awake and lead them in the right direction, gaining their praise in the process.
However, the reaction to the post was completely contrary to his expectations, and most of the players sided with the Black Star Army. Most of the replies were extremely sarcastic and said that his post was completely worthless and no more than a blind guess. This made Summer Night Flower extremely infuriated.
“These people do not know how to think at all!”
As Summer Night Flower saw more and more sarcastic replies, his mood became terrible, and he decided not to read the replies anymore.
Summer Night Flower edited his post and added, “All of you will know who is right and who is wrong when the truth verifies my thoughts. At that time, it will be too late for all of you to regret!”
At the same time, another player called ‘Hate the Heavens’ also saw Summer Night Flower’s post.
Hate the Heavens had always felt that he was extremely good at spotting hidden storylines that no one knew about. He was also an avid reader of the post by Galaxy Chronicles and had even set up a small guild for players who enjoyed digging up hidden storylines.
When he saw the post, Hate the Heavens immediately felt that Summer Night Flower must be right.
The Main Storyline would not give them a meaningless faction, so there must be a hidden storyline in Klent!
Hate the Heavens made his decision and sent a link to Summer Night Flower’s post to all the members in his guild.
“All of you look at this post. I think that it is extremely logical, and I plan to join the Klent faction.”
The guild immediately broke out into commotion.
“You must consider this matter carefully Guild Leader! You will be screwed if your guess is wrong!”
“I think that it makes sense. Guild Leader, count me in. This trip will definitely be interesting.”
“Guild Leader, how are you planning to join them? I don’t think we have a path to join them, right?”
“I searched for some information, and there is a news report of Bloodshed Land hiring soldiers in Colton,” Hate the Heavens replied. “I think that there will be a chance to join the enemy if we go to the frontline stronghold of the enemy alone. We can make use of this opportunity to change factions.”
“This can be considered betrayal, right? We won’t be able to return to the army again in future,” another person added.
“So what if we can’t return? Bloodshed Land is a large faction, and it may not be any worse than the Black Star Army. Furthermore, we may have the chance to come in contact with the Crimson Dynasty in the future,” Hate the Heavens replied indifferently.
“All of these are guesses. Guesses can be wrong.”
“I feel that it can’t be wrong.” Hate the Heavens shook his head. “Besides, with so many players being in the Black Star Army faction, we will know about any developments in the army. However, no one has triggered the hidden storyline in the Klent faction, and I want to play a storyline that no one knows about…”
“But the benefits of the Black Star Army are so good…”
“Haha, I am not a professional player. Why do I need to be so powerful?” Hate the Heavens replied with loud laughter.
He was a player who craved satisfaction, and the allure of a fresh storyline was far greater than benefits. Among the players, there were plenty who felt the same.
Summer Night Flower’s post did have some effect. Apart from those who replied with sarcasm, there were some who began considering his words and grew curious about the Klent faction.
There were a small portion of players who were like Hate the Heavens and sought a fresh storyline, but the majority were gambling on the benefits that the Klent faction could bring to them.
…
Two days passed in the blink of an eye.
It was the day to go out for battle, and all the manpower had been gathered up. A large fleet was awaiting orders in the military dock of the headquarters.
More than a million players formed a special fleet and waited on-board the battleships with excitement.
They were no longer strangers to these large-scale missions, but most of them still felt excited whenever they participated in a mission that involved more than a million players.
As a faction that had gathered all the players together, such missions gave them a sense of belonging, and they felt as though they had a mission on their shoulders.
All the members participating in the battle waited in their respective battleships with Lagi’s face being displayed on the screen of all the battleships. He was currently briefing all the participants of the mission. This should have been the job of the faction leader, but Han Xiao felt that Lagi was a demonic talent when it came to boosting the morale of the troops and thus allowed him to take this job.
As such, everyone had no choice but to listen to Lagi’s monotonic voice.
“We will all die eventually, and the difference is only whether we die today or tomorrow…”
-20 Morale.
“Regardless of whether we are powerful or weak, we cannot avoid death. Being alive is only a process of rotting away slowly. Everything you do is meaningless to the universe, including this battle. Regardless of victory or defeat, it has nothing to do with all of you…”
-40 Morale.
“However, even if we know that the outcome cannot be changed, we will still continue to work hard. Even if we know that life is more important than everything else, there will be some who take risks. Even if we know that we are no more than a small chess piece in the war who will be reduced to dust by the various weapons, we are still willing to fight… Why is this?”
The morale slowly rose back up.
“It’s because of money!”
The morale instantly went back to zero!
“We will only be able to enjoy life with money. We will not have to bend our backs to others if we have money. We will be able to take care of all our problems easily with money! We are warriors, and fighting is the way for us to earn money. Do you lack money? Then pick up your weapon and slaughter the enemy. A war is the best opportunity for us to earn money. Every single enemy has a price on their head, and your earnings shall be determined by the number of enemies you kill!”
A special effect has been triggered: +80 Morale.
Any righteous slogan would only make the members of the army sneer in disdain. After all, the secret war was a battle of benefits between Klent and Purple Crystal. They had nothing to do with the war but chose to participate in it for money. As such, the best way to stir the army would be to tell them the truth and let them know how much money their enemy was worth.
All the players looked at each other with dumbfounded expressions on their faces. They had thought that they would be listening to an inspiring speech but never expected it to be such a pragmatic one.
Black Star, you have changed.
But we like it!
Han Xiao stifled his laughter and hurriedly kicked Lagi away, who wanted to add something. If he allowed Lagi to speak freely without following the script, the morale of the army would definitely vanish.
Han Xiao coughed dryly and added, “Set off.”
Boom!
The next moment, the surface of the Black Star Army’s satellite headquarters opened, and a large catapult rail was revealed. Thousands of battleships took off from the catapult rail and formed neat rows outside the atmosphere of the headquarters.
The fleet entered hyperdrive at the same moment and transformed into rays of light disappearing into the universe.
If the pedestrians on Planet Golden Gate stopped what they were doing and looked up, they would be able to see thousands of shooting-star-like objects disappearing into the horizon.
…
On Planet Heber, the Bloodshed Land headquarters…
“Your Excellency Tyrant, intelligence from the frontlines reported Section Zero sending out all of their forces. Their target is the Kant Star System, and Black Star has personally set off,” Jorde reported to Heber respectfully. “I have arranged for the forces from other Star Systems to reinforce them.”
“Mhm.” Heber’s soft murmur indicated that he had heard the report before asking, “Has Black Star grown up yet?”
Jorde hurriedly replied, “It has been a full seven years, and Black Star’s strength has not changed up until now.”
Talking about this, Jorde could not help but heave a sigh of relief. Back then, Black Star’s fame was peerless, and it was as though he could become a Beyond Grade A Super anytime. However, seven years had gone by, and Black Star had not achieved a breakthrough. His fame was no longer as high as before, and some organizations no longer paid close attention to him.
Every Beyond Grade A seed was a genius, but they would always become ordinary after a brief commotion. It turned out that Black Star was no different from the other Beyond Grade A seeds.
Heber shook his head with a tinge of disappointment.
He had been waiting for Han Xiao to grow up and wanted to kill Han Xiao after he became a Beyond Grade A Super. Only then would he have a battle record of killing a Beyond Grade A Super to allow his prestige to increase another level.
Seven years ago, news of Klent working together with EsGod had soured relationships between Bloodshed Land and Klent. However, both parties were allies and fought for their own benefits. Thus, this little conflict did not affect the plan for Bloodshed Land to fight on behalf of Klent.
“I overestimated him.” Heber felt that it was a pity. With his status, there would not be any benefits for him killing a Beyond Grade A seed.
Jorde could not help but ask, “Your Excellency Tyrant, Black Star has not shown any progress over the past seven years. Will he suddenly achieve a breakthrough and become a Beyond Grade A Super?”
Heber looked at him and slowly explained, “Before the appearance of the Primordial Ones, Calamity Grade Supers were the most powerful beings in the universe. This went on for many years, and many generations of geniuses weren’t able to touch the door frame of becoming a Beyond Grade A Super. The barrier to becoming a Beyond Grade A Super won’t be broken so easily. Compared to talent, luck seems to be more important. After all, one will become an entirely new organism after becoming a Beyond Grade A Super…”
This was not the first time that Jorde had heard that a Beyond Grade A Super was a completely new organism. Just where did the huge chasm between the Calamity Grade and Beyond Grade A come from?
However, Tyrant did not wish to tell him, and Jorde could only suppress the curiosity in his heart. “Does Black Star have a chance to become a Beyond Grade A Super?”
“Hmm, perhaps after a few decades of exploration,” Heber said with a deep voice. “However, Klent’s plan will be completed in a few years’ time, and the war will be over soon. At that time, Black Star will die by hand, so he won’t have the opportunity to live that long.”
Heber’s patience was limited, and he would only give Black Star until the end of the war to become a Beyond Grade A Super.
After the war ended, there would not be anything to restrict a Beyond Grade A Super from taking action. At that time, even if Black Star was only at the Calamity Grade, he would personally kill Black Star. Black Star had to pay the price for killing his officers.
