“You don’t have to guess. It’s him!” Roddick’s tone was cold and filled with rage.
“Sadly, we don’t have any evidence. He…”
“So what if we do have evidence‽” Roddick interrupted him and ground his teeth.
Even though they knew that the attackers were almost definitely the Black Star Army, it was no use. The Flickering World was their territory. With the forces he had here, messing with the Black Star Army would basically be suicide.
Earlier, Roddick had tried to board the enemy ships and capture the opponent’s crew as evidence, but the attackers kept their distance and did not allow him to do so. To him, even if there was evidence, it would not affect the Black Star Army much if at all. In the Flickering World, the Black Star Army could do almost whatever they wanted!
Although the Modo Civilization was a Super Star Cluster civilization, their base was in the Primeval Star River, which was far from the Shattered Star Ring and the Flickering World. No matter how strong their forces were, there would be nothing they could do to the Black Star Army. Furthermore, they were not universal civilizations, which had a ton of Beyond Grade A allies, so there was nothing they could do to Black Star personally.
So, they knew who the attacker was, but there was nothing they could do. They had no choice but to watch themselves get targeted.
Roddick took a few deep breaths, suddenly turned around, and glared at Lagos. “Contact Garoze. I want to question him personally about why he didn’t join the battle!”
He had no choice but to vent his anger on someone. Nonetheless, Garoze was indeed partially responsible for not joining the fight despite being so close. Roddick had no idea what the hell was wrong with Garoze. His rage was reasonable.
Lagos then contacted Garoze again. The call quickly got picked up, and Garoze appeared on the screen.
“Give me a reason!” Roddick yelled furiously.
Garoze frowned and coldly said, “Watch your tone.”
When facing Black Star who he could not mess with, his attitude was full of respect. However, when facing Roddick, he immediately found the pride of a Beyond Grade A.
There was just one word to describe him—pragmatic.
“Why did you watch on the side?”
“I’ll cancel the job with your boss.” Garoze did not explain himself and immediately hung up the communication.
When he accepted the hire, he thought that the mission would just be to deal with the competition with other outside organizations. Never did he expect to have to deal with Black Star. Hence, this job became unprofitable, so he did not want to do it anymore. Even if he would incur some losses due to breaching the contract, it would be better than getting involved in the conflict between the Modo Civilization and the Black Star Army.
Since he was about to cancel the job, of course, he was not going to expose Black Star. It would be idiotic to offend both sides. Since he had chosen to be on one side, he was going to stand by it.
Furthermore, he did not want to admit that he was afraid of Black Star, so he did not want to tell any outsider the reason.
However, this arrogant and superior attitude made Roddick’s blood pressure, which had just decreased a little, skyrocket again!
Oh, so you think that my position is not even high enough for you to give me an explanation‽
“*ssholes!”
Roddick was trembling with rage, and his fists were clenched tightly.
“We have lost a lot of devices and resources, so we can only turn to the supplies in the stronghold in the Shattered Star Ring, which will definitely slow us down. This will have way too big an effect on our plan,” Lagos said with a frown.
All the organizations were competing. By being behind others from the start, how much potential profit would they lose? Lagos did not dare think too much about it.
It could be said that the Modo Civilization’s plan in the Flickering World was completely shattered by this attack!
At this time, the dynasty’s patrolling fleet that was responsible for maintaining order finally came. They sent a communication request, and a dynasty officer appeared on the screen.
“We have detected energy reactions of a battle. What happened here?”
Roddick took a deep breath and explained what had happened with a long face.
The dynasty officer nodded. “We understand the situation and will immediately send out men to track the attackers. We will notify you as soon as we find anything.”
Then, the dynasty’s patrol fleet turned around and scattered in the attacker’s direction.
It looked like they were sincere, but Roddick and Lagos both knew that this would certainly not lead to anything at all.
…
At the same time, some of the attackers stopped in a certain area and entered stealth mode. They then gathered the seized logistics spaceships together and started moving the resources in them.
The captured Modo Civilization crew members were all chased into a spaceship with its communication signals cut off, and all their devices were confiscated. These captives looked around at the armored warriors with panic.
This time, an armored warrior stepped forward, took off his helmet, and exposed his childish face. It was Nero.
Seeing him, the crowd immediately made a fuss. Some of them had seen Nero’s data before, so they instantly knew that the attackers were from the Black Star Army.
Nero looked around and tried his best to make a serious expression, which only made his childish face more adorable.
“Now, there are two paths ahead of you. First, death. Second, give up your freedom in exchange for your life and work for us forever.”
The crowd went silent. At this time, a voice sounded.
“Are you not afraid of us betraying you?”
Nero squinted. “Who’s talking?”
A short man walked out and softly said, “I’m the vice logistics manager of this fleet, also the leader of the engineering technical team. I’m a high-level engineer.”
Nero’s eyes sparkled.
It seems like we captured one of their high-level technical officers.
“You don’t have to worry about that. You won’t have any chance to come in contact with the outside world. You’ll forever become the shadows of the army,” Nero said slowly. “Those who are not willing, we won’t force you. The hatch is right there; jump into the cosmic space yourself. Make your choice now.”
“Looks like we don’t have a choice,” the vice logistics manager said with resignation.
The people exchanged glances. Without much hesitation, all of them chose the second option.
Very soon, Nero picked out the technical personnel. They were all useful people who would be secretly working for the army to make use of their remaining value.
As for the other crew members, following Han Xiao’s orders, they would be sent to the Kunde Race’s planet. Whether they became slaves or were torn into pieces by the Kunde Race, it made no difference. One way or another, they were tools for the Kunde Race to vent their anger.
Since these people had taken part in the Modo Civilization’s expedition, they were mostly soldiers. Maybe they did not know about the Kunde Race incident, but they were definitely not innocent. Whatever their civilization owed, they would be the ones paying for it. Being soft hearted did not exist in the process of revenge.
…
Han Xiao, who was heading toward Black Star Palace, received Phillip’s brief report. He nodded with satisfaction.
“Now it will be even more difficult for the Modo Civilization to develop in the Flickering World.”
Han Xiao had ordered a fleet to hide their identity and attack the Modo Civilization’s expedition team. As long as they did not leave any conclusive evidence, even if the Modo Civilization knew that he was behind this, he would not be affected.
He did not plan to wipe out Roddick’s fleet—he could not completely annihilate the Modo Civilization’s hope.
He would only be ab
le to carry out long-term revenge if the Modo Civilization continued to put resources into the Flickering World. If they really decided to give up on the Flickering World, he would have to go to their territory in the Primeval Star River to deal with the Modo Civilization, which would be way too troublesome.
Cutting meat with blunt knives was the most torturous…
According to his memories of his previous life, the competition between external organizations would only become more and more intense. There would be many more incidents where people hid their identities to attack other organizations.
Today, this is me firing the first shot in the Flickering World…
A flash of light sparkled in Han Xiao’s eyes.
So, just you wait. This is only the beginning. There’s plenty more to come.
Chapter 1013 - What a Good Man!
Beep beep!
While Han Xiao had these not so righteous thoughts in his mind, his communicator suddenly rang. It was a call from Tarrokov.
As he picked it up, Brother Tar’s old face appeared on the screen full of smiles. Without any formal greeting, he immediately started praising Han Xiao.
“Black Star, amazingly done. I love it when you’re this decisive.”
The external organizations were not sure who was really behind the organization that attacked the Modo Civilization. The dynasty, however, of course knew it was the Black Star Army.
“So, you don’t love me otherwise?” Han Xiao looked calm but chuckled in his mind. “Don’t forget to keep your promise and give me the resources we agreed on.”
Taking revenge on the Modo Civilization was also the dynasty’s request. The dynasty planned to make an example out of them.
Since the dynasty doing things themselves was not suitable, they borrowed Han Xiao’s forces. Of course, they were not going to let the Black Star Army work for free and had signed a contract long ago. The Black Star Army would be responsible for educating the Modo Civilization with violence, and the Crimson Dynasty would compensate them with resources.
To the dynasty, they were hiring allies to strike enemies. To Han Xiao, he was taking the dynasty’s money to do his own missions while also earning some favors, which really was pretty nice.
“Don’t worry, we’ve never not kept our promise.” Tarrokov smiled before asking, “What do you plan to do with those captives of the Modo Civilization?”
“I’ll keep some of them in the army as secret manpower, and the rest will be thrown to the Kunde Race.”
Old Tar nodded and reminded Han Xiao, “No matter what, make sure to take away all of their means of contacting the outside world.”
“The chances of them breaking through the measures I put in place to block their communication is infinitely close to zero. You don’t have to worry about that.”
“You’re right. You’re a Virtual Mechanic after all. I’m overthinking it.” Old Tar chuckled. “Actually, that was pretty much the only reason I called, just to remind you… Anyway, please go harder on the Modo Civilization. I shall hang up now.”
He then ended the communication. Han Xiao tutted in his head.
To disturb him for something this trivial, it was most likely a form of hinting, saying that the dynasty knew the movements of the Black Star Army. This was basically to tell him not to mess with anyone other than the Modo Civilization. The Meeting of the Gods might also have been a factor that affected this.
“Tsk, making me read between the lines again.”
Han Xiao put the communicator away and placed this matter at the back of his mind.
All the players were heading toward the Flickering World. The Shattered Star Ring was the closest Star Field, so it would not take long for the army players to arrive at the Flickering World.
As the version had just started, the players would need some time to get used to it before things got on track.
In his previous life, the players fought their own factions. Other than some famous national war incidents, the usual reasons behind fights were mission conflicts and resources. In an environment like this, the solo players’ lives became tougher and tougher. Gathering in groups became a trend, and more and more players started to create guilds.
According to the official statistics, the number of player guilds increased exponentially during Version 4.0. The more time passed, the more guilds there were. There was one famous event that caused the number of guilds to increase explosively in a short term. With a few large American professional guilds in the lead such as the Devil club, they formed a formal organization that became recognized by the outside world. They then obtained an extremely rare opportunity that other players had been trying to obtain for a very long time, which led to them being officially recognized.
After that, guilds became even more important to the players. They started to gather in large groups, and guilds started to form alliances and official organizations recognized by the outside world. They then formed partnerships with other organizations in the universe through business and diplomatic means using their organization.
With that, the benefits of guilds were extremely clear, as they would be able to obtain plenty more resources compared to ordinary players.
This function had existed in the previous few versions too, but it only showed its true potential in Version 4.0, leading to a turning point in the players’ careers. The main reason was the increase in the players’ strength in Version 4.0. Their influence throughout the universe was on a completely different level, which was why the organizations they built were taken seriously.
“Now, because the faction benefits that I’m giving to the army players are too useful, the players of the other Star Fields might work together to suppress the army players’ advantages. When everyone gets used to the new version, the army players are bound to suffer some losses. After all, there are too many who are against us.”
Since the army players had the advantage, he did not mind pushing it further so that the army players would always be in the lead.
Initially, all the players would have to take some time to get used to the version before entering the stage of forming guilds and organizations on a large scale, so Han Xiao wanted to let the army players enter that stage in advance.
This needed some adjustments in the system that would encourage this behavior.
Han Xiao thought about it for a while before summoning Phillip. He thought of a new system that would only be targeted at the players, which meant the Immortals.
_____________________
Those who are promoted to high positions through making contributions, or farming Contribution Points, and have reached Grade B or above will be allowed to create a new type of combat team. The team shall consist of two or more members with no upper limit of number of members. The division name can be chosen freely. After forming such a team, they can report it in the army. Every month, according to the missions completed and total Contribution Points obtained by all the members, they will receive special Team Merit Points.
Team Merit Points can be used to purchase large amounts of resources, including equipment, knowledges, and abilities. They will also have a crucial use—to purchase the positions to manage the various businesses of the army on behalf of the army, as well as to bid for certain special projects, or exchange for the mining right of some resource rich planets.
Not only that, but with enough merit points, they can choose to become a subsidiary organization under the Black Star Army and be considered semi-independent. For those teams, the merit points can be used to request the army’s reinforcements, use the army’s name to execute legal strategic actions, or submit a request to have both sides work together for a certain matter. They will basically be semi-independent organizations that are partners of the Black Star Army.
_____________________
“This should be about it…”
Han Xiao then looked through the main structure of the new system a few times and nodded.
This system would ‘legaliz
e’ the players’ guilds.
Originally, guilds only existed between the players and were not recognized by the galactic society. For example, the NPC had no idea the Temple of Gods Guild existed, nor did they know who the members were. This system would make the players’ guilds be recognized in the army’s systems, so they would become official organizations with proper documentation.
This way, the players’ guilds would become organizations that actually existed in the universe.
The use of the Team Merit Points would encourage the army players to create guilds without needing to get used to the version. There would no doubt be many who tried this out, especially those official guilds of large clubs.
During Version 4.0 in his previous life, there were always players who left NPC factions to create their own. With this new system, however, it would at the very least tremendously reduce the players’ need to do so.
The price, of course, was that with the independence granted to the player guilds, the army would suffer a certain amount of unrest. Nevertheless, at times like this, giving the players more freedom was the path that had to be taken.
With more strength, the way to treat them had to be improved too. Han Xiao was no evil boss; he gave the players enough benefits even though he would also gain every benefit he could from them.
Version 4.0 was the turning point for the players. From here onward, the players would truly be difficult to control. They would start to spread the seed of anarchism everywhere. There was no way he could control the players as much as he did in the previous versions.
He planned to change that long ago, to give the players opportunities to grow their guilds and provide more resources to them. Only then would he be able to make the players continue to work for him willingly despite their growing strength.
At the same time, this system would also attract foreign players.
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