Han Xiao did not want to be buried alive, so he concentrated all the power in his legs and jumped up. The floor cracked open from the strength of his jump, and he flew up in the air. He then turned on the Mini Maneuvering Equipment to give him further boost in speed. With the combined forces of the jump and the Mini Maneuvering Equipment, he rocketed up and burst through the mud above his head.
The next second, the ground exploded, and a black figure bolted out of the ground. The vision became obstructed, and the night sky came into sight.
The West City Area collapsed. Cracks opened from the sunk ground, and dust splashed out from within. Some players got buried and died; some players escaped and watched the scene, stunned.
“The entire city collapsed because of the fight. Such strong destruction power!”
“Isn’t that Black Phantom? Did he do it‽”
“He’s got to be a max level BOSS with such strength!”
“All the Shadow Stalker Vipers are buried alive. Does that mean our mission is completed? There’s no notification though.”
The players were shocked and confused. They looked at Han Xiao at the side who was wearing the mechanical suit with fire in their eyes. They had seen the video of the mechanical suit in action on the forums, and now they had finally witnessed that themselves. It was even more impressive than in the videos.
Jade Green Sky trotted over after he revived and was shocked by the completely different scene than before. He hastily asked about the situation, then contemplated and said, “The mission is not completed yet. There are chances to make use of the situation.”
At the same time, signs of life appeared within the ruins, Shadow Stalker Vipers that were still alive crawled out with struggle. Only a small half of the nest had collapsed, but all the tunnels were blocked, so all the beasts had nowhere to escape.
Seeing this, the players dashed over in a hurry to get the last hit.
Han Xiao was only responsible for dealing with the Beast King—the other small monsters were to be dealt with by the players. The sound of cracking came out of his neck as he twisted it to relieve his tight nerves.
Huang Yu brought some people over and waited on the side.
“When the Inhumans are done the cleaning, you guys go dig through the ruins. Bring the radiation crystals and the carcasses into the warehouses, especially the Beast King’s—that’s rare material. Although I broke quite many parts of it, it should still be of some use,” Han Xiao said casually.
Huang Yu took a look at the sunk ground, gulped, and nodded hastily.
Half an hour had yet to even pass since Black Phantom came, and he had already settled the problem. Even though the West City Area had almost been destroyed, this astonishing efficiency left Huang Yu in complete awe.
After returning to his room, Han Xiao took off Viper and repaired its damage.
…
At around midnight, Huang Yu finally came with the information that the cleaning of the ruins was completed.
“We have stored 846 Shadow Stalker Viper carcasses. 27 of them are mutated, and one is the Beast King. More than 300 undamaged eggs have all been stored in the frozen warehouse. Also, we have collected about two tons of radiation crystals—the 300 pounds that were collected near the center of the nest seem to have a higher concentration.
“By the way, Coney Fury has discovered the source of the crystals. These Shadow Stalker Vipers have been consuming high energy waste as their food source. The slime secreted in their bodies has gone through special reactions, which caused them to harden and thus become crystals.”
Han Xiao was stunned for a second. “So… these radiation crystals are actually Shadow Stalker Vipers’ feces?
“You could say that.”
Han Xiao scratched his head and thought of Frenzied Sword.
Never mind. The truth is too cruel for me to tell him. I don’t think he can take it.
…
As the nest was finally cleaned finish, the players felt relieved, they looked at their interface with anticipation.
_____________________
[Clean the Nest] has been completed.
Current Prize-Pool Experience: 1,340,000
_____________________
Damage ranking:
First: Jade Green Sky (Team)
Second: Red Carp (Team)
Third: No Sleep During the Day (Team)
…
_____________________
The players on the leaderboard were delighted. Although it was unfortunate for those who did not make it, they did not make a lose anyway as the experience from killing the Shadow Stalker Viper was more than enough to cover the experience spent to take part.
“We’re first!” Jade Green Sky and the people of the Sky Territory Core Team One were filled with joy. The players beside them looked over with envy, focusing their eyes on Jade Green Sky’s Heavy Mechanical Arm.
“Sky Territory really is steady.”
“What equipment is their guild leader wearing? Looks really powerful.”
“I have a friend in their team. He said that equipment is a god-tier weapon for Pugilists. It can both tank and deal damage, but it is very expensive, and only Black Phantom sells it.”
Seeing the effect of the Heavy Mechanical Arm, many players started to desire it. Desire would create demand, and demand meant potential customers.
The ruins needed reconstruction. The head of West City Area gave out more missions, and the players rested for a while before starting to help once again.
…
The next day, Han Xiao woke up to the construction noise surrounding him in all directions, and he rubbed his temples helplessly. It was indeed much quicker to have the players help to build the city, but there was one tiny flaw of that, the players didn’t sleep or rest and worked throughout the day—this non-stop noise pollution almost made him mentally fatigued.
The secret base, however, had very good noise reduction measures, and it was in a rural area where no one had done any construction. Han Xiao had gone there secretly a few times and brought some supplies over for storage. He had also enhanced the security measures.
On the surface, Han Xiao did not work in the base.
Han Xiao came to the boisterous workshop then walked to his VIP room, which he had entered many times. Inside were many neatly arranged boxes emitting a magnificent, beautiful, but strange aura.
However, knowing that these are the feces of monsters, Han Xiao could not appreciate their beauty no matter how magnificent they were. He made sure his gloves were on tightly.
Radiation Crystal—can be turned into energy block after purification, non-elemental pure energy. Although it says these are of high concentration, these should be of the low tier in the standard of the universe. The conversion rate is roughly 100:1, so two tons of it should probably be able to produce 45 pounds of energy blocks. These can be used as emergency energy storage; it is a surprising but welcome income.
There were many types of energy—magnetic, electrical, nuclear, light, planet, antimatter, dark, psionic, and many more. If these were psionic energy blocks, they would be as valuable as the entire Planet Aquamarine. However, only very advanced civilizations could acquire, convert, and make use of psionic energy; low-class civilizations would not be able to use it even if they were able to acquire psionic blocks. Those civilizations that had discovered psionic energy too early had all destroyed themselves. To research and experiment on psionic energy without the required technology was suicide—thus, their entire planet was vaporized.
There were also 300 pounds of dark-blue crystals with higher concentration. Han Xiao guessed that it was the feces of the Beast King. The Beast King owned the most amount of high energy waste, so it produced crystals with the highest concentration compared to the others. It could barely be considered middle-tier concentration. The purification rate would be much higher, and they should be able to produce 10 pounds of energy blocks with higher Ona.
300 pounds… this gu
y really can take sh*ts. Han Xiao shook his head.
Han Xiao’s [Basic Extraction] was at max level. The knowledge from the energy brunch could be infused into the Energy Block Extraction Device, which was a rather precise device. Han Xiao contemplated for a while and remembered the knowledge combination. He had plenty of experience points, so he successfully gambled out the blueprint after a few infusions and started to build the device.
It was completed after two hours.
_____________________
Basic Energy Block Extraction Device: Extracts energy blocks out of minerals or crystals containing radiation or energy. Ordinary conversion rate, a rather slow conversion speed.
_____________________
This thing was very steampunk. The input port was in a funnel shape and could automatically take in original materials. Energy Block Extraction Devices were most common in crystal civilizations where magic and technology were both present, and energy blocks were the main energy resource. The headquarter of Japan, Planet Lonnie, was one of such civilizations. It was a unique kind of civilization, but anything was possible in the wide universe.
Han Xiao arranged the crystals nicely and activated the auto drop. The extraction process was fully automated.
It should take about half a day to extract everything. I shall just wait. Han Xiao patted his hands. All that was left were the carcasses and eggs in the frozen warehouses. These could be used to make drugs, but he was not a Pharmacist.
Louis Research Institution was in the Western Continent—it was too far, and the transportation cost would be too high. Also, the time it would consume during transportation would cause the materials to lose their freshness.
Han Xiao pondered for a while and decided to hire a Pharmacist.
Suddenly, he had a flash of insight, and a name buried deep in his memories appeared in his mind.
Chapter 228 - The Exchange
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
A secret meeting was being held in the headquarters of Division 13, and many important members of the Hesla military intelligence department were present—Gu Hui had welcomed them himself.
The expedition was drawing near, so the Six Nations contacted each other frequently to discuss and adjust some final details.
In the meeting room, both parties were calmly discussing the expedition.
Buzz!
The entire place turned silent upon the sound of phone vibration. Everyone looked over with dissatisfaction in their eyes.
This is a very serious occasion. Who’s so disrespectful?
Seeing that the sound came from the deputy director-general of the Division 13, Gu Hui, their expressions became complicated. The expressions on Hesla people’s faces looked like they were saying— Is this your leader? So unprofessional.
Gu Hui frowned. He had many phones, and most of them were turned off during meetings except for the one for emergency matters. Only very important calls would go to this phone.
However, once he took out the phone and saw the number, his pupils constricted. “Pause the meeting. I have to take this call.”
Without paying attention to the reactions of the others, Gu Hui left with his phone hurriedly after he finished the sentence.
The people of Hesla were shocked. Whose call could make the deputy director-general of the Division 13 leave an important meeting in front of everyone?
Who was so important? Was it the superiors at the highest ranking? Then why did they not call the internal line?
Coming to the quiet and isolated room next door, Gu Hui picked up the phone and said in a serious tone, “How come you’re calling?
“Surprised?” Han Xiao’s mocking voice came out of the phone.
Han Xiao used the number and identity of ‘Zero’ to call Gu Hui. Since the intelligence he provided last time, he had become a very important focus target of Stardragon.
Ever since the battle in Dark Crow Valley, Han Xiao had disappeared without a trace. Even Stardragon’s intelligence organizations could not find him. In the face of such a valuable communication opportunity, Gu Hui could not give it up no matter what, even if it meant he had to leave the important meeting.
“What do you want this time?” Through precious contact with Han Xiao, Gu Hui had a rough idea of his personality. Han Xiao was goal-orientated and would not call for nothing. Thus, he went straight to the point.
“I want a person.”
“Who?”
“She’s called… wait, let me go through the wanted list. Her code is Emerald Grass; she’s a pharmacist.”
Gu Hui was stunned for a moment. He told his secretary to check on this person, and very soon, the results came back.
Emerald Grass—her superhuman ability was controlling plants, and she was a top-notch Pharmacist. Once, she had spread an infectious lethal disease with a drug that was not experimented on and caused a large number of deaths, which lead to her wanted status. She had been captured a few years ago and was currently tightly imprisoned on Bell of Death Island.
Bell of Death Island was a prison of the Six Nations for the highly-dangerous criminals. It was an isolated island in the sea with mysterious coordinates and tight security.
“What do you want her for?” Gu Hui questioned.
“Something.” Han Xiao gave a vague answer.
Gu Hui contemplated and said, “Even I can’t bail people out of Bell of Death Island casually. It’s against the rules.”
This was a roundabout rejection.
Han Xiao laughed. He suddenly changed the subject and said, “I heard the expedition is going to start very soon. Tsk tsk, Six Nations coming together for a battle, attacking the land of Andrea from more than a dozen directions, with planes, aircraft carriers, and all sorts. Tell me, will the Germinal Organization accept their fate without resistance?”
Gu Hui’s hand tightened on the phone.
“What intelligence do you have?”
“Plenty. Base locations, military power, missile layout, and the Germinal Organization’s various Inhuman plans,” Han Xiao said in a very tempting tone.
Gu Hui was angry, but he had to fall for the trap. “Emerald Grass is yours.”
“Done.” Han Xiao agreed without hesitation. He had already planned on giving every piece of intelligence he had on the Germinal Organization before the war to give more advantages to the Six Nations anyway, and now, he could even use that to exchange for a very important person.
In version 2.0 of his previous life, Emerald Grass had been a very important character in Planet Aquamarine. As a top-notch Pharmacist, she researched on the mutation virus, created drugs that suppressed the virus effectively, and made a very strong impact.
In his previous life, Bell of Death Island had been a mysterious place. No player could find its coordinates, but they did have some information on it in version 2.0—the mutation virus had spread to Bell of Death Island, causing a very dangerous change, but the criminals imprisoned by the Six Nations in the Bell of Death Island resolved the disaster. They had fought their way out of the island and escaped. Emerald Grass had also escaped during this.
As the saying goes, there are always crouching tigers and hidden dragons.
The prisoners poured into the outside world and became new characters of version 2.0 like dragons flying over a river, causing a storm in the world on top of the disaster.
“The intelligence will be sent to you. I will decide the location to retrieve Emerald Grass,” Han Xiao said then hung up the call.
Gu Hui’s expression changed several times—only Han Xiao dared to hang up on him casually, and he could not do anything about it.
A prisoner in exchange for key intelligence, this deal was a definite win.
Furthermore, Gu Hui realized another benefit.
“He has been lost for so long. This meetup is a chance to follow up on his whereabouts!”
Han Xiao still had a position in the field agent files. Whether he went where, did what, or if he joined
any organizations during his disappearance, this was all unknown to Stardragon despite their interest. It was just the right chance to investigate.
…
In the workshop in Sanctuary Three, Han Xiao waited thirty seconds after hanging up the call, only then did he send the first set of intelligence to Division 13 and held onto the rest temporarily. He knew full well that he should not give out all the intelligence at once.
If I can get Emerald Grass this time, not only can she help to research on drugs, I can even make Sanctuary Three be the first place that suppresses the mutation virus in version 2.0. The Sanctuary has my name in it. The safer it is, the more influential I become.
However, Stardragon will know they exchanged Emerald Grass with me. They won’t give up this investigation chance, and if they find out that Emerald Grass works here, they might guess I’m Black Phantom, and my identity will be exposed.
While evaluating the risks and benefits, Han Xiao suddenly realized something. He had kept his identity hidden at the start because he had been too weak, but now, with Dark Net backing him up and his strength being at the top of the planet, there was no need to hide from the enemy anymore. At the same time, the Germinal Organization was facing its destruction and could not even take care of themselves. Hiding his identity did not matter anymore.
He suddenly felt delighted.
Without him noticing it, his arch enemy was not gigantic in his eyes anymore. He had grown to be able to face the strongest organization on the planet.
From another perspective, exposing his identity could combine the influence of Zero and Black Phantom and cause a chemical reaction, and he was eighty percent sure that he would get legendary points. The players’ impression of him would also increase to another level.
With the things he had done, the players might even mistake him to be the main character of Planet Aquamarine instead of Bennett.
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