The inspector stood up, suddenly packing around, before solemnly speaking.
“You’re right. The three Universal Civilizations have been concerned about this. We’re all from the same team here, so there’s no need to cover it up. The Super Star Cluster Alliance has been at odds with us since long ago and will not sit quietly and obey our commands. The dynasty’s main Artificial intelligence, Heroic Soul, has already calculated the probabilities. Not only the advanced civilization within the Ancient Star Desert but even organizations from the outside world will hire countless black market mercenaries and wanted criminals to help them smuggle the virus out. This is also one of the main reasons the blockade was imposed.
“While we require the Ancient Star Desert to cooperate with us to destroy the virus, at the same time, we cannot be too harsh on them. This is especially so for the Super Star Clusters; they can reopen their own external quantum networks at any time. It actually is not up to us to control if the virus will be leaked or not… Of course, they do not dare make any rash moves. Thus, the three Universal Civilizations are attempting to control the situation by being careful and closing one eye so as not to make them anxious. This is also why we are in such a hurry to develop the antivirus. As long as the threat of the virus technology is fundamentally resolved, the small actions made by the advanced civilization will not affect us.”
The inspector then stopped and emphasized, “Your Excellency Black Star, since you’re willing to go out into the field, I will hand over three dynasty fleets for you to command. I hope you can try to catch as many of these b*stards who are eager for profit and disregard the safety of the universe.”
“Okay.” Han Xiao stood up as well, shaking his head.
The other Beyond Grade As concentrated on research, wanting to understand this virus technology. No one wished to waste energy by going out to arrest people. In their opinion, this was hard work that they should not be responsible for.
But our Great Mechanic Han was different. He had the [Intelligent Plague) mission, so in order to raise his Mission Rating, he could not simply rely on research. After all, the credit for that would be shared by a large number of people.
In his opinion, the most direct way to improve the rating would be to catch the fish that slipped through the net with malicious intent. Furthermore, the special mission requirement was for him to destroy the virus core. He naturally wanted the reward and would not just stay in the command center to do research.
As for research, the more that everyone searched, the more they would share. He could wait till Old Man Manison had completely analyzed the structure of the virus to obtain the ready-made secondary research. Not only would this save a lot of his time, he could also relax for the time being.
After reaching a consensus with the person in charge, Han Xiao left the dynasty’s office and went to the prison to visit Harrison.
Upon learning of Han Xiao’s intentions, the Chief Warden immediately welcomed him in with enthusiasm, respectfully leading the way.
In the single cell, Harrison lay on the bed with his hands on his head, staring absentmindedly at the ceiling
“Is this how I’m going to spend the next half of my life?”
He sighed.
In this month that he had spent squatting in jail, not one day had passed when he had not expressed regret. His initial judgment was correct-digging out that triangular device would bring them huge trouble. If he had known that was the case, he would have not taken it out even if he had to risk his life.
The serious consequences brought about by this artifact gave him cold hands and feet. While this was an unintentional mistake, to have caused such trouble left him with a guilty conscience.
Not only did he bring about a disaster, he even threw his entire life away. His interrogators had let slip that this group of ‘culprits’ would be spending the rest of their lives in prison.
“If I knew this would happen, I wouldn’t have come out to do archaeology. I knew it. Curiosity kills the cat. If I had stayed at home and inherited hundreds of millions of dollars from my family fortune, god knows how comfortable I would be now.”
Harrison was disheartened.
Swoosh!
At this moment, the cell door opened, and two people walked in.
“Is it time for interrogation again?” Harrison sat up with a resigned expression.
Han Xiao glanced at him, piecing his young look with the old man in his memories before nodding. “You’re indeed Harrison.” “Eh? You’re not a jailer? Who are you…” Harrison raised his head, and taking in Black Star’s features, he gaped in shock. “Black… Black… Black… Black Star”
Right now, Han Xiao’s face was well known in every household within the universe, his reputation frightening. However, there were a few that had heard about him through the movie (Black Star: Origins) and thus mistakenly thought Feidin was Black Star himself.
But Han Xiao was very magnanimous regarding this. After all, both of them looked equally handsome and alike, so it was a common mistake to mix up both of them.
He had heard that the movie was released whilst he was rushing over here, and the response was excellent. Not only had his reputation skyrocketed, he had also made a fortune. His returns were hundreds of times his initial investment and were still rising. From this, the huge profits within the entertainment industry in the interstellar era could be seen.
Putting aside the distracting thoughts, Han Xiao patted Harrison firmly on his shoulder while saying, “The virus was dug up by you
guys?”
Harrison was patted so hard he almost screamed in pain but quickly recovered. In front of a universally known figure like Black Star, he was a little cautious and nervous, nodding repeatedly.
“Good, then your teammates and you will follow me temporarily.” “This… What do you mean?” Harrison had an expression of confusion.
Seeing his lost look, the prison warden snapped, “You’d better thank His Excellency Black Star. If not for him speaking up for you guys, you’d be sitting here for the rest of your miserable lives.”
Harrison was stunned, an incredulous look on his face.
“Your Excellency Black Star, you… why did you save us?”
“Who said I was saving you? I just felt that you guys are good diggers and might come in handy… The warden will let you guys off later. I’m just here to meet you guys beforehand.” “I can be of help?”
Harrison was lost, not knowing what he could possibly help with.
However, this did not prevent him from understanding that his own destiny was saved by Black Star. His eyes were filled with gratitude, and he wished to hold Black Star’s hand to thank him, but due to their gap in status, he did not dare to act.
In his eyes, Black Star was an angel sent by the heavens to save him, shining with a holy light.Just as he was about to fall into the abyss, a stranger came and gave him a hand. Harrison’s emotions were surging, and he had the urge to slam his head on the floor in gratitude toward Black Star.
While it was the first time they had met, Harrison’s favorability toward him was almost filled up.
Han Xiao smiled at him before turning to walk out of the jail cell. The moment his back faced him, he could not help breaking into a smile as he looked at the combat information on his interface. Harrison’s attribute table was displayed there.
Just by standing by my side, you’re already helping me…
In the attribute column, there was the skill (Advanced Luck Glow] in golden lettering!
The third golden leek has fallen into my hands…
Han Xiao took a deep breath of joy.
That’s right. This should be the smell of luck condensing on him!
Chapter 1104 - Cancer of the Universe, the Catalyst of Disaster
After meeting up with Harrison, Han Xiao ran back to the R&D department and found the Beyond Grade A mechanics.
“You wish to go out and do field work?”
Hearing this, Manis
on and the rest of the Beyond Grade A mechanics felt surprised. They did not understand why Black Star would leave his easy research work and do the troublesome manual labor.
“What sort of attitude is this? I responded to the call of the three Universal Civilizations and am leading by example to take the lead,” Han Xiao said in a tone of righteousness.
“Then just go. Why did you come to us?” Manison did not even bother to entertain him, only glancing at Han Xiao as he tried to find out his intentions.
Black Star, this jerk, had never committed himself until success was certain. If there were no benefits, he would not have chosen to take up field work. He felt that Black Star’s motive should be to find the virus core and also to take the opportunity to infiltrate the major organizations in the Ancient Star Desert.
To be honest, Manison himself had thought of this at the beginning as well. However, he had given up this thought after much consideration.
Right now, would the three Universal Civilizations allow the Beyond Grade As to continue strengthening their own organizations? It was most likely that they would have to surrender whatever they obtained from their operations, so even the dishonest Manison was silently only researching the antivirus. Besides, the attraction of new technology far exceeded his organization’s strength.
At this moment, Han Xiao suddenly laughed, sticking out two fingers as he righteously spoke out.
“Since none of you are fighting, please aid me and lend me some of your troops.”
Everyone stared in shock.
Lending you our troops is akin to sending lambs right into the tiger’s den. Will we still be able to get them back?
How is this lending? You just want us to sacrifice a portion of our troops for you, you lowly peasant! “… How many do you need?”
“Eh, I don’t have large demands. This is mainly the moment when the three Universal Civilizations will be able to see your sense of justice. You guys can decide, and please don’t exceed fifty million per person. That would be too much for me to accept.” Han Xiao ‘modestly’ waved his hands.
Pui, a scale of 50 million per person? Are you thinking about openly stealing so many?
Do you even feel shame?
Everyone secretly slandered Han Xiao but did not refuse his request. The three Universal Civilizations’ mechanics and several neutral Beyond Grade As loaned a portion of their ordinary mechanical soldiers, which reached about eight million in number.
Among them, Manison was the most generous, lending 2.5 million units. To him, this number of soldiers was only a drop in the ocean.
The stingiest was ‘Mechanical Catastrophe’ Francisco; he only gave five thousand troops, doing so unwillingly. Even Jackornitz who was a Mechanical Pugilist and did not have much proficiency in Machinery manufacturing also donated more troops. The Beyond Grade A Mechanics all had illustrious backgrounds, so giving out some mechanical soldiers was nothing to them. They simply treated it as losing some troops in battle. However, it was more important to show some face to Black Star, as well as the three Universal Civilizations, to show that while they were too lazy to make a move, they still supported the field work.
Putting away the troops ‘sponsored by everyone, Han Xiao was satisfied. While this number was a pittance, he just wanted to see the Beyond Grade As grit their teeth and feel helpless in front of him.
Upon arriving at the dock, Han Xiao boarded a flagship arranged for him by the dynasty and took over the commander’s authority from the captain. Right now, the three dynasty fleets were temporarily under his command.
After waiting for a while, a guard hurriedly escorted Harrison and his party over.
“Your Excellency Black Star, the procedures are complete. I’ll leave them with you.”
“Alright.” Han Xiao nodded at Harrison and team with a smile on his face, saying, “You guys are not free yet. You have to follow me. If you mess around, I’ll just throw you back in prison. Do you understand?”
“Understood!”
Before Harrison could speak, all his teammates yelled out loudly, for fear that they would lose their only bid at freedom.
Han Xiao nodded, and after sending the guard away, he gave the command to depart.
The fleet slowly rose up, leaving the command center of the three Universal Civilizations and soaring into space.
At this moment, the captain spoke.
“Your Excellency Black Star, where are we heading?”
“How do you normally operate?” Han Xiao asked back.
“We usually patrol around the desolate universe belt or go check some planets that are confirmed to have traces of infection…”
As of now, there were checkpoints set at every stargate of any civilization in the Ancient Star Desert, the borders, and the transport hub planets. The spaceships had to be inspected, and for those unknown spaceships that avoided the stargate stations and moved freely within the desolate universe belt, as long as they accessed the public quantum link of the Star Field, the three Universal Civilizations would track down their IP addresses and send people to stop them. Most of the field fleets were tasked with roaming around to perform such inspections.
Thus, the biggest problem would be for those spaceships that had shielded quantum network links and could enter stealth mode. They could only monitor the surveillance buoys located throughout the Star Field and try to find the whereabouts of these people.
“Let me think about it…”
After understanding the situation, Han Xiao pretended to ruminate, but he actually opened the players’ forums to scroll through.
The outbreak of the Intelligent Plague had drawn the attention of the players toward the Ancient Star Desert. The discussion on the Ancient Star Desert was a hot post on every major section of the forum.
Because the majority of players were in the Flickering World, they were unable to join the event since the Ancient Star Desert was immediately cordoned off after the occurrence of the Intelligent Plague. They could only use the discussion boards to vent their strong curiosities.
Han Xiao opened the top post, and the discussion of the players jumped into view.
Fart Pockets in Tights: I told you all. The first few versions all had more than one Main Storyline mission, and Version 4.0 is the same. The Intelligent Plague should be the second Main Storyline. Quadratic Formula: But we are not able to participate in this Main Storyline. We cannot even enter the Ancient Star Desert. Can we only watch from the sidelines? Three Gays Under the Moon: Didn’t you see the new update from ‘Galaxy Times’? They made quite a reasonable guess, saying that it is impossible for this Main Storyline to be only for our viewing. There will definitely be opportunities for us to participate, as the chances of the virus leaking are quite high. Only then will there be a continuation for us to act.
Four-Eyed Speculative Emperor: That’s right. Now there are many missions on the black market, all looking to hire people to sneak into the Ancient Star Desert. We players can do the same. Judging by our influence on the Main Storyline for the first two versions, this Intelligent Plague event could be decided by our actions as well. As long as someone succeeds in smuggling the virus out, this version’s event can sweep across the universe!
Undead Don’t Wear Underwear: Shall we let the disaster spread through the universe? It will indeed be the fourth disaster (:3] 2)
Sun Rider: This is too much. Wouldn’t it be better to prevent the disaster? Do you have to make it such that the world is chaotic? Don’t you have a conscience?
Sh*t Smells Good: That’s right. Did you forget what the Army Commander taught us? To actually stab him in the back like that, killing the citizens of the galaxy…
On the forums, the players were divided into several factions, discussing the topic and cursing each other at the same time. The community was on fire. The players did not know that the Intelligent Plague was actually just a backstory in their previous lives, thinking that it was one of the Main Storylines of Version 4.0. With the majority
of people in the Flickering World, unable to enter the Ancient Star Desert, many of them were anxious at not being able to participate.
Some of them believed that the main storyline would not just be a cutscene, so they inferred that the Intelligent Plague did not need to be actively pushed by them and would leak by itself.
Others felt that this main storyline had to be fought for, taking the initiative to release the virus and let the disaster spread in order to obtain the Main Storyline mission.
There were, however, many players in the universe who supported the promotion of the disaster. Some wanted to participate in the Main Storyline, some wanted to earn rewards, and some just wanted to watch the world burn.
‘Indeed, the Cancer of the Universe…’ Han Xiao secretly shook his head.
As the players who were ruled by chaos continued to grow stronger, their negative impact on the universe would become more and more obvious.
However, he was also a little relieved. If the players in his previous life encountered the Intelligent Plague, more than half of them back then would definitely have supported the promotion of the Intelligent Plague. Now, with the Black Star Army as their moral guide, more people were considering the problem from the perspective of the overall situation, opposing the spread of the disaster. There were obviously fewer players within the Chaotic Evil Faction than in his previous life.
My faction guidance plan is still somewhat effective.
Han Xiao felt relief.
As he swept through the other posts, one of them caught his attention. It was titled ‘Ancient Star Desert Player Benefits! Employment task with a reward of five million Enas!
The poster triumphantly shared a screenshot of a mission, which was about smuggling the Virtual Mutiny Virus out of the Ancient Star Desert for five million Enas. For the players, this was a huge sum of money, enough to buy a dozen small and medium battleships.
Seeing that the players who remained within the Ancient Star Desert got such an opportunity to rake in the cash, many of the following replies expressed envy.
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