His choice this time was a simple and straightforward BOSS mission. It did not have rich rewards, but this kind of time-saving mission was exactly what Han Xiao needed.
Furthermore, Aroshia was now Grade B, so fighting a BOSS around the same level would definitely be much easier.
…
At the same time, in a Star Field extremely distant from Shattered Star Ring, a black spaceship in stealth mode was quietly hovering in space. The exterior of this spaceship was very smooth, reflecting the scenery of the space like a black mirror. It looked like a fan from above and a diamond shape from the front.
It was a Stealth Level Scout Ship, usually known as the Black Light Prowler. As a product of the Federation of Light, it was extremely expensive—top-notch in stealth, detection, speed, and many specifications. Its technology far exceeded most civilizations. On the spaceship black market in various Star Fields, the spaceships from the three Universal Civilizations were the most popular. A second-hand Black Light Prowler could be sold for tens of millions of Enas. It was among the top scout ships.
In other words, this was like an extremely luxurious, high-class sports car.
One nanosecond earlier, a special wave had traveled through countless light-years in the quantum realm and arrived there in an instant. In the cockpit of the spaceship, a finger-sized, oval-shaped accessory was hanging at the top of the cockpit. This transparent accessory received this special wave and emitted a golden glow.
“Hmm?”
A sound appeared in the empty cockpit.
Countless streams of light appeared out of nowhere and gathered into a human-shaped cluster of light. It reached out its hand and touched the accessory that was flickering with weak light.
“Your energy level finally recovered to the level that’s locatable by the detector… So, you were thrown to the Shattered Star Ring by the wormhole… I will look for you very soon. Wait for me.”
In the blink of an eye, this Black Light Prowler turned into a stream of light and disappeared. It only needed microseconds to warm up before jumping. It was so swift that it was almost impossible to catch.
…
After Feidin left with the Black Star Mercenary Group, the impact that it made on the entertainment industry stirred up quite a controversy.
The news that ‘Chen Xing’ had given up his singing career when it was soaring shocked many. Although the reporters and the media did not get any information from Feidin, they started making guesses. Stories with headlines like ‘The Real Reason…’ spread very quickly, stunning the Chen Xing fans and sparking heated discussions.
However, the entertainment news and the mercenary industry were two different worlds, so Han Xiao did not care. He only paid a little attention when this actually made him more famous.
After completing Chen Xing’s mission, he did not waste time and went on to the next location to trigger one of the missions.
In a remote Star System in Colton Star Cluster, the Godoran Civilization had set up research space stations to scout unpopulated planets, researching different planets, life forms, and environments. There were many Observers like Kerlodd in such space stations.
In 075 Godora Research Space Station, upon receiving permit, the spaceship entered the railroad of the space station and parked at the internal dock.
Alighting from the spaceship, Han Xiao and the others looked around. This space station was built to have a very typical Godoran theme.
A few Godora Observers waited at the dock, and one of them asked, “Black Star Mercenary Group, may I know why you are here?”
“Just happened to pass by, and my spaceship needs to refuel, so I’m here to rest for some time. We will pay the corresponding fees, or we can do some missions,” Han Xiao said. “Do you have anything here that needs to be dealt with?”
The leader hesitated and shook his head. “There is no extra work here. Since your spaceship needs to be repaired, you can use our shipyard.”
Mercenaries were semi-neutral and slightly leaned toward the lawful side. They had an access permit by default and could park in many strongholds of Galactic Civilizations. They have reported their arrival before entering the space station, and as the Black Star Mercenary Group had a good name and had fought against DarkStar some time ago, the space station allowed Han Xiao and his friends to park.
If their negative reputation was too high or even were wanted, not only would they not be able to enter many places, they would also be chased by the police once their location was exposed.
After talking for a while, the Godoran Observer led the way and guided them out of the dock into the space station lounge. According to the management regulations, as soon as their spaceship was refueled, they would have to leave.
Of course, Han Xiao did not go there just to refuel. This Research Space Station had a mission that he wanted to trigger. It was easy to get a high rating and simple to do.
The mission’s setting was that a research ship had gone missing and lost contact in a nearby desolate planet. The space station sent another team to look for them, but that team lost contact as well. Hence, the space station reported the situation to the Godoran Directorate General of Intelligence and Investigation and waited for them to send more Observers to investigate the situation. As this was an internal job, the Godoran Observer did not talk about it earlier. They did not want to request help from mercenaries.
However, the players could trigger this mission through the internal personnel in the space station. This was not a hidden mission, so the players just had to pay close attention to the clues, and they would be able to find that person.
That person was Han Xiao’s target.
Chapter 459 - Low Attribute Does Not Mean That I Am Not Handsome
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The space station was not huge. Its exterior was dark gold and gray colored, and its overall design followed the traditional Godora theme—light and twisted.
Unlike other civilizations that focused on accuracy and simplicity, the interior of the space station was rather complicated. One might even get lost without looking at the map on the devices along the corridors. Han Xiao and the others were outsiders, so the restricted areas were not open to them. They could only move around the dock, lounge, and guest hall.
The space station chief was the one who came to welcome them. Despite the Great Mechanic Han not being good at differentiating one Godoran from another, he could tell that this station chief was a very serious person. Standard Observer compressed orbs hung from his Godoran-style hair knot, and his movements and clothes were neat and tidy, classic military style.
Godora Observers came from many backgrounds—some were selected from the military, some were recruited from the society or the security forces then trained, and some took exams to become one. This station chief had clearly once been a military officer; he did things strictly according to the rules and regulations.
The spaceship was sent into the shipyard for repairs and refueling. Han Xiao and the others were resting in the hall. Han Xiao did not tell his friends about the goal of this trip, so the others thought this was just the usual refueling and resting process. Herlous and the three Volga brothers were playing a casual card game at the side. It was a strategic battle style card game—these cards were all renowned individuals and civilizations across the galaxies. Different Star Fields had their own set of cards. For example, in the Shattered Star Ring card set, there were the four Beyond Grade A bosses including Ames.
The battle could be carried out between two or more people. The players would play as a Star Field, pick out a certain number of cards from that Star Field as their card combination, then start the battle. These cards were also classified into different functions—civilization card, strong individual card, exploration card, organization card, ability card, history card, mercenary card, fortune card, treasure card, spaceship card, monster card, and so on. It was very popular across the universe. It was like poker for gal
actic residents. Other than the standard playing method of acting as a Star Field, there were also many other ways to play it.
In Han Xiao’s previous life, quite a number of casual players liked to play this game. They could even find out about the organizations and the force structure of different Star Fields. This card game was made by a galactic commercial organization, and they would update the cards every once in a while, adding new famous people as cards or placing the deceased ones into the ‘abandoned card set’. This could almost be considered as the fame leaderboard of the various areas.
Recently, Herlous and the others had become addicted to this card game. This was because in the last update, a few new cards had been added to the Shattered Star Ring card set and the Black Star Mercenary Group was one of them, acting as a new mercenary card.
Mercenary cards were neutral troops, available to recruit any time by spending money, entering the table directly from the card set. It could be used for many purposes including fast attacks and turning around the situation. In the Shattered Star Ring card set, most of the mercenary cards were large mercenary groups consisting of tens of thousands of people such as Sky Ring and Blades. The Black Star Mercenary Group was a new special card. As the Black Star Mercenary Group’s size was small and not very strong, the producers gave the card the lowest attribute among the mercenary cards, but it had a special effect.
Since the Black Star Mercenary Group card had the identity of Floating Dragon Field Team, it could be infused with the organization card ‘Floating Dragon Island’. If certain requirements were met, the player would be able to draw [Dragon Emperor] Ames directly from the card set.
Han Xiao did not even have to guess where the idea for this card came from—the top news last year about him summoning Ames and Ames destroying the DarkStar mothership with one hit.
In his previous life, the Great Mechanic Han had rarely played this card game as his luck was too bad, but he knew how popular this card game was. He did not expect to now have become a member of the card set, and it was a very pleasant surprise to him. When the players entered space, this would become another way for him to increase his fame.
Since they had been added in as a new card, they could more or less be considered famous. Herlous and the others were having a blast playing it. Of course, they would definitely put something on the line when they played cards.
Beside these gamblers, Sylvia was holding onto a book and memorizing it, immersing herself in the abyss of education. Not far away, Aroshia was resting with her eyes closed. Ever since she entered Grade B, different images had flashed through her mind regularly, causing her to frequently lose her focus. Feidin was sitting in the corner, training his Psychic powers.
The station chief had told them about the rules and regulation in a very serious tone before leaving the hall. Another slightly chubby Godoran with a friendly smile had stayed to take care of them. He had introduced himself as the deputy station chief.
Unlike the station chief, the deputy station chief was very good at chatting and kept a consistent smile on his face. The clue for the mission was with him. Han Xiao vaguely mentioned the topic, and the deputy station chief exposed the clue in a casual chatting tone.
“One of our research spaceships lost contact in a nearby planet. The search team that we sent ended up the same. We saw signs of a spaceship crashing and exploding, so the station chief reported the situation to the superiors. The Directorate General of Intelligence and Investigation planned this mission into their schedule, assuming no one survived… but there’s a possibility that those people are still alive waiting for us to send people over. We might have already missed the rescue timing… Sigh, Nereja’s wife is in the research team—he has been very anxious recently…”
Han Xiao’s eyes sparkled as he asked, “Where can I find this Nereja?”
Deputy station chief shook his head. “This matter has been given to the superiors. According to the rules and regulations, we are not allowed to privately request help from mercenaries.”
“I just want to have a talk with him.”
“Alright then, he should be at the porthole corridor.”
Han Xiao stood up and took his leave, heading toward the location that the deputy station chief told him. Nereja was the person that would trigger the mission.
The deputy station chief looked at Han Xiao’s back, and a strange emotion flashed in his eyes.
Han Xiao came to the porthole corridor, and from far away, he could already see a Godoran Observer staring out the window in a daze with a worried expression. Han Xiao quickly walked up to him and asked, “Are you Nereja?”
“You’re the mercenaries parked here?” Nereja turned his head to Han Xiao. He was a little on edge.
“Yes. I heard two of your research ships lost contact on a planet. My intuition tells me that there is a job here that needs help.”
“This is an internal matter of us Godorans; there is no need for an outsider’s help.” Nereja frowned. His expression was noticeably irritated when mentioning this matter, and this emotion was clearly not toward Han Xiao, whom he had just met for the first time.
“I heard your wife is in the team. I’m sure you’re worried. Maybe she’s still alive. For just a small reward, I can help you to find the targets,” Han Xiao said.
Hesitation flashed past Nereja’s face. He became silent. Han Xiao thought that he would agree, but to Han Xiao’s surprise, he shook his head and said, “This is none of your business.”
Then, he continued staring outside the window and dazing.
Han Xiao froze. According to the steps in his memories, as long as he mentioned this clue, Nereja’s mission would be triggered.
Could it be that I missed something?
He tried convincing Nereja again, but no matter what, Nereja was unwilling to request help from mercenaries. Han Xiao was out of ideas. He pondered hard, and suddenly, he had a flash of inspiration.
Could it actually be because of that?
Han Xiao went back to the hall and dragged Feidin along. On the way, he explained the situation to Feidin, who was still confused. After seeing Nereja, Feidin adjusted his collar and approached him with a gentle smile. Only a few sentences in, Nereja’s eyes were filled with tears, and he turned around to look at Han Xiao.
“He’s right, I can’t let myself regret because of hesitation. Mercenaries, I want to request you to find my wife. This is an act against the regulations, so please don’t tell the others.”
A notification popped up on Han Xiao’s interface immediately.
_____________________
You have triggered mission [Interstellar Beast]
Mission Introduction: You accepted Nereja’s request and are planning to head to a desolate planet to look for the research team that has lost contact.
Mission Requirements: Head toward the target planet and investigate the reasons for them losing contact. Search for the missing research team.
Remarks: Your investigation results affect the final rating of the mission.
Basic Reward: 1,358 Enas (In gray), 85,000 experience, Kenorn Diamond Ring (Purple equipment)
_____________________
Han Xiao narrowed his eyes, his feelings indescribable.
It really is because my Charm has yet to reach the standard of triggering the mission…
Chapter 460 - Interstellar Beast (1)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The Great Mechanic Han had evolved his race once; his genes were optimized, so his looks were naturally good. Even he was sometimes shocked by how handsome he was when he looked in the mirror. However, Charm was more like affinity—it influenced the default Favorability and hidden options when communicating with others. The effect of some abilities also depended on Charm, such as the summoning abilities and beast controlling abilities.
When affinity was insufficient, others might refuse to communicate further.
The player that triggered this mission in the prev
ious life definitely had enough Charm, so they did not meet any obstacles. According to Han Xiao’s rich experience, if the missions could not be triggered even after following the process that he remembered, it would most likely be because a certain hidden prerequisite was not achieved. In those cases, Charm not being high enough was a common one.
However, Han Xiao was definitely not going to put points into his Charm attribute as he was not short of missions. Plus, what on earth was the use of affinity? Being strong was much more useful!
Feidin lived up to his role as an attractiveness focused main character; he convinced Nereja straight away. This mission was not difficult—they just had to investigate the target planet. The mission could be completed even if they only investigated the remains of the spaceships. However, getting a high rating as not that easy. They had to find the majority of the truth about why the research teams had lost contact and find the missing Observers. The mission was called [Interstellar Beast], which was a clue for the players.
Of course, finding Nereja’s wife was one way to increase the rating, dead or alive.
In the mission reward, the monetary reward was grayed out, which meant that it was locked, and no matter how high the rating was, there would not be any extra monetary reward. Nereja only had so much money.
I triggered this mission many years before the players did before, so the process should be somewhat different. There are many uncertain factors in this, but the key point should be the same…
When the previous players accepted the mission, the background was different. At that time, the Godora superiors had already sent more than one research teams in, but they had all gone missing. However, they did send back some new intel before going missing, stating that the planet was shrouded in a strange magnetic field that could disrupt most common communications, hence causing all the research teams that landed on that planet to lose contact with the outside world. The crash marks of the spaceships could only be seen by the observation equipment in the space station, which meant that there was definitely something else that had happened to the research team between the time of them losing contact and landing.
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