From the way he looked at it, what had happened had already happened. No matter what explanation he gave the outside world, it was not going to end up well. Therefore, he might as well ignore the public opinion guided by the three Universal Civilizations and let the army members do what they wanted to do, increasing the threat of the ‘Cancer of the Universe’ while removing the positive image the army had. Before he opposed the three Universal Civilizations, the three Universal Civilizations had always been promoting him and increasing his reputation, making the galactic residents give him all kinds of titles and auras. They did these things both to praise him and restrain him; it was a double-edged sword.
With reputation, the actions of the army were restricted. If they did something that violated the rules, they would suffer for it. This was the rope the three Universal Civilizations tried to put on the army.
Han Xiao knew very well that as the form of conflict became more complex, remaining in the rules set by the opponent would only make things more difficult. Therefore, although the players caused a big mess this time, it could be a chance to adjust his strategy.
Wanted criminals like EsGod did tons of extremely evil things, but most people were only afraid of them and did not dare say anything. This was because they knew they were evil villains and did not dare mess with them. One of the important reasons the outside world dared to condemn and scold the Black Star Army was that, in their hearts, the Black Star Army was once ‘good’, and ‘good’ entities could be messed with.
After being ‘good’ for too long, others fear him less and less… Those many civilizations who responded to the call of the three Universal Civilizations and obstructed the association from uniting the black market more or less had this attitude. They felt that they had the Peace Treaty ‘amulet’, so they thought the Black Star Army would not dare violate the rules and do anything to them.
Clearly, this mindset was part of the reason the Feeney Civilization used its colonial planet to protect Dafis. If they really cared about the casualties of their citizens, they would not have done that.
If the other civilizations learned from them and improved on it, the association’s work would only get tougher as time went on.
If the threat of the Cancer of the Universe increased through the Planet Burger incident and the outside world could see that there were a group of violent brutes in the army who were not afraid of violating the rules, some civilizations and Calamity Grade organizations would think twice before deciding to stand against the association…
Play and mess around all you like, but don’t take the Cancer of the Universe lightly!
As long as things like this happened several times and they became afraid and intimidated, a lot of trouble could be avoided, which was beneficial to speeding up the takeover of the black market.
However, these things could not be said out loud. Therefore, the army was not going to admit to any accusations and would insist they were false. As for the truth, the outsiders would have to guess.
As for the public opinion… the three Universal Civilizations controlled the most powerful promotion tool, so his reputation would be damaged sooner or later. Han Xiao was already prepared for it. There was definitely a price to pay for standing against the three Universal Civilizations. Plus, his reputation and image were unreal.
Armed organizations were not civilizations, after all. The things they cared about were different. In the current situation, public opinion did not matter at all. No matter how bad it got, when it came to what mattered, the three Universal Civilizations would not dare make a move.
When he was working with the three Universal Civilizations, a positive reputation was beneficial for the army to obtain more partners and create a profit network. Now that the three Universal Civilizations had made a law that prohibited any civilization and consortium from working with the association, reputation no longer played a part. The image of being ‘good’ was useless; instead, being ‘bad’ worked better.
Because of exactly this, Han Xiao did not mind switching the army’s reputation. To him, they were just different paths. As long as it could help him reach his goal, he would use whichever was better.
When the World Tree war broke out, the negative image would be meaningless. No one would care about such trivial matters then.
Of course, even though he decided to take the ‘bad’ path, there was still a limit to things. Therefore, he still had to restrain the players’ actions to a certain extent. Hence, he personally criticized Jupiter and the others to subtly express his attitude. Causing small scale accidental casualties when fighting bosses was fine, but doing it deliberately was not allowed.
With what had happened, if the players crossed the line again in the future and he ‘followed the rules’ to punish them, most players would accept it.
Since he was going to insist that the army was not involved to the outside world and not stop the other players from imitating it, plus the Guild of Gods made the symbolic first kill which received much more attention among the players and acted within the limits, there was no need to give them any punishment today. Of course, he was not going to reward them either. The guild had to pay for the cost of fighting a boss.
Although this somewhat went against the ‘punish all mistakes’ rule, there was no right or wrong to most decisions made in complicated situations, only what was suitable or not. The rules had to be adjusted often.
Another reason for this was that Han Xiao knew very clearly who the teammates worth earning currently were—the players were the foundation of his rapid growth. His level 360 Promotion was extremely crucial and had to be done as soon as possible. Therefore, knowing his priorities, there was no need to hesitate.
As the enemy started it, unless the players retaliated too strongly, Han Xiao was neither going to stop them nor punish them. Otherwise, he would give them a feeling that they could only get beaten and not fight back, which would impact their sense of belonging to the faction severely, making them frustrated and possibly leave the faction.
Back in Version 4.0, the Black Star Army fought with multiple small factions. The small factions chose to restrain them and blame the players, while the Black Star Army protected its members and poached their players. Han Xiao was an expert in harvesting leeks; he was not going to make such a rookie mistake.
After all, players could not be easily restrained by simple management methods. Them challenging Calamity Grades was something that was bound to happen. Han Xiao knew the players’ mindset very well.
Since we can’t fight bosses properly here, we can just leave this faction. No way are we not going to fight bosses.
Han Xiao knew that not everyone had a strong sense of belonging to the faction.
As players grew stronger, their need for the faction would gradually decrease. Strength was what mattered most. With strength, they had the right to negotiate their prices and could be treated well anywhere. Plus, Han Xiao never doubted the players’ interest in creating their own factions. At this stage, the importance of profit had decreased among the factors that attracted the players to remain in the army. Instead, sense of belonging and habits proportionally increased. His long-term investments in the past netted more and more returns.
Therefore, Han Xiao spoke with the Guild of Gods personally to promote his ’emotional attachment’ to the forums.
He already controlled the spaceship artificial intelligence, so the players could only use their interfaces to record. Therefore, this video would only circulate between the players. No one else would be able to see it.
“I understand. We’ll definitely report to the army in the future for operations like this,” Jupiter answered.
“Hmm, good.” Han Xiao nodded. “Work hard and control the black market of this area soon.”
After saying a few more words, Han Xiao ended the communication, and his remote projection disappeared.
The Guild of Gods exchanged looks and were all smiling with relief.
This feeling of being protected is amazing!
“Poseidon, I recorded the conversation. Should I put it on the forums?” Poseidon asked.
“Yes!” Overjoyed, Jupiter waved and said, “This is Black Star’s personal stand, which means we have new information that’s beneficial to everyone. Post it on the guild’s behalf!”
Chapter 1293 - Black Star Decides How Peaceful the Galaxy Is
The Guild of Gods’ first Calamity Grade kill remained popular on the forums. Players were talking about it all the time. Although the Temple of God team had gotten quite a lot of blame in the past few years, they finally recovered from this first kill. Many players acknowledged and praised their achievement while feeling curious about the army’s attitude toward this matter.
Although the galactic society was condemning this incident, the players did not give a damn. They all saw the post the Guild of Gods posted, which showed the entire incident, and Dafis clearly opposed the army. Plus, the Feeney Civilization protected Dafis first. From the way they looked at it, the Feeney Civilization deserved it and brought it upon themselves.
However, the condemnation from the outside world did indeed bring trouble to the army.
Therefore, many players were waiting to see what the army would do to the Guild of Gods.
Meanwhile, seeing that the Guild of Gods started it, the other large clubs also had the same thoughts.
Although the first kill was gone, killing a Calamity Grade boss was a display of a guild’s strength. The way the clubs looked at it, when more and more guilds killed Calamity Grade bosses, it would most likely become one of the basic criteria of becoming a big guild. When recruiting new members, if they saw that this guild had not even killed a Calamity Grade boss before, they would instantly be less attracted. Clearly, the big guilds of the various countries did not want to lose competitiveness.
However, their thoughts were only limited to that for the time being. Since the Guild of Gods did it first, the other guilds were waiting to see how the army dealt with it. They were going to make plans based on the army’s stand. One way or another, they had to fight bosses, only with different methods.
Observed by many players, the Guild of Gods’ official account released a video. The content of it was their conversation with Han Xiao. In just a few minutes, it was pinned to the top manually and received wide attention on the forums.
The players were surprised by Han Xiao’s attitude and excitedly discussed it.
(The Germinal Organization Leader Is Always Watching: No punishment, Old Black is so generous!]
(Coolest Kid on Planet Aquamarine: Hahaha, I knew the army commander would be sensible. Otherwise, anyone could just hide on colonial planets after attacking us, and we wouldn’t be able to attack them. This is the right decision.)
[Princess Feet: The army commander expressed his intention clearly. As long as we don’t go overboard when fighting back, the army will back us up. Nice.]
[Army Commander’s Big PP: Thank the Guild of Gods brothers for avenging me, amazingly done!)
(Poseidon: Now this is a reliable leader. Old Black never changed.)
(Bun-Hit-Dog: I’m new here, is this how he treats his old comrades? I’m so touched.]
The many players analyzed and discussed on the forums, confirming Black Star’s intentions.
Firstly, when the guilds fought bosses, as long as it was an enemy, not only would the army not stop them from doing it, but it would also encourage it to a certain extent. For example, the army could provide some technological support, help them to create an undisrupted environment, and trap the target.
If they accidentally caused casualties while fighting bosses, as long as they had a reason such as someone protecting their enemy and they did not overdo it, the army would not punish them. Although Black Star did not clearly state what would be considered overdoing it, with the Guild of Gods example, as long as they did not go beyond that, it would definitely be fine.
Many Chinese players were very touched by Han Xiao’s words. As for the majority of players who joined in the later versions, although they did not have much emotional attachment toward Black Star personally, they still felt good about the army’s way of dealing with the incident.
Many guilds were also less worried.
They were worried that the Guild of Gods might be heavily punished, such as getting sealed by the Spacetime Amber. They did not want their guild pillars to face the risk of having their accounts ‘banned and would have no choice but to consider leaving the army. But since the faction’s stand on this was sensible, they did not have to prepare for the worst.
Over the next ten days or so, the three Universal Civilizations continued to stir up public discussion about the topic. All kinds of verbal condemnations kept increasing. The public wanted the Black Star Army to give them an explanation and get rid of those who were involved.
However, the Black Star Army remained firm. The Black Star Army could explain how the Feeney Civilization protected Dafis on purpose, but there was no need to. They only stated that they were still investigating the matter and would not give in to such an accusation that had zero evidence, completely ignoring the public opinion the three Universal Civilizations deliberately stirred up.
The civilizations in the various Star Fields searched for the details through all kinds of channels. None of them believed what the three Universal Civilizations pushed the public to believe easily. They knew that there were definitely some things that were not publicized, and the truth could not possibly be as one-sided as the public believed. However, Planet Burger was indeed attacked. Even if there was more to the incident, the laws were indeed violated. Hence, the various civilizations were only watching and did not do anything
Seeing the Black Star Army’s attitude in this storm, many Star Systems sensed something.
The Peace Treaty set by the three Universal Civilizations had always been their protection. Anyone who violated the laws would be strictly punished. This was one of the key reasons they remained the rulers. For all this time, the Black Star Army had been following the laws like a tiger hiding its teeth and claws. The public gradually forgot about just how dangerous this tiger was out of habit… However, in a special time like now, if the Black Star Army no longer followed the laws strictly, could the three Universal Civilizations restrain them?
The answer was clear-hardly, if at all.
Currently, the three Universal Civilizations had used the laws against the association and closed the galactic society toward it. This was much more severe than the punishment of violating the laws. However, with that, the three Universal Civilizations had no further method of punishing the association anymore other than to start a war, which the association was not afraid of at all… The various civilizations knew that if the three Universal Civilizations were willing to start a war, they would not have waited this long. In this situation, the various civilizations no longer felt that the three Universal Civilizations had the ability to force the association to follow the galactic laws. This meant that the strength of the protection from the Peace Treaty would definitely decrease.
Of course, judging from the Black Star Army’s attitude, they probably did not intend to openly violate the galactic laws. However, as for the things that were in the gray area, Black Star most likely no longer held back. As for the three Universal Civilizations, they would definitely make a decision that caused the least problems for them. As long as the association did not deliberately attack a civilization, the three Universal Civilizations would most likely only make the public condemn them. The three Universal Civilizations doing something about it was not going to happen.
Having understood these things, many civilizations that answered to the three Universal Civilizations’ call started to hesitate. If the Black Star Army no longer restrained themselves, the effects of the laws decreased tremendously. Clearly, continuing to oppose the association was no longer wise. Even if they stood on the three Universal Civilizations’ side, they wo
uld only be used and would have to deal with the damage on their own in the end.
Facing this situation, many civilizations made similar decisions.
When these two giants fight, we’re the ones suffering. We can’t mess with either side, so it’s better to keep a low profile. Responding to the three Universal Civilizations is one thing, but we’d better turn a blind eye regarding the Beyond Grade A Association’s act of uniting the black markets everywhere. The three Universal Civilizations can send their own people to stop them all they like. We’re not going to put in as much effort anymore.
This decision quickly circulated between the upper echelons of the various galactic civilizations. Even the Feeney Civilization was no longer as confident when seeing this. When they were interviewed by the media, although they still condemned the act, their word choice became less extreme and more cautious.
“Cancer of the Universe…”
Holmes browsed the messages on the quantum network and had a grave look.
He was a Calamity Grade super who operated an armed force in the Sea of Star Spirits. He was quite famous in the local Star System.
Ever since the Planet Burger incident got so big, Holmes had paid close attention to it.
He had come to know Dafis when he went to the Endless Nebulae on business in the past. The two of them became friends and occasionally chatted. Because of that, he knew about Dafis’ recent work.
Inspired by Dafis, Holmes also secretly worked with the local civilization and did what Dafis was doing. Through obstructing the act of uniting the black market, he obtained resources and benefits from the civilization.
However, this incident startled Holmes.
He was not as strong as Dafis. When Dafis messed with the Cancer of the Universe and got chased all the way till he was killed, he became alarmed too.
While secretly obstructing the association, Holmes had killed some Immortals too. He could not help but be afraid of the Immortals grouping up and targeting him. He was not as arrogant as Dafis and did not think he could deal with the revenge of tons of Immortals.
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