“Impossible.” Han Xiao rejected it instantly. “The association has already stated its stance in the announcement. Its members have the freedom to research what they want, and we won’t accept forceful measures. The association will restrain the application range of the technology. We hope the three Universal Civilizations will retreat immediately!”
Louis paused and said with a louder and more serious voice, “We will pull our army back as soon as the Mechanic Emperor submits the technology. Before that, we won’t terminate this operation for any reason. You have ten days. We hope the association will think carefully in this time and not make the wrong decision.”
“There’s no need to talk further then?”
“You have ten days.”
Han Xiao nodded and said with a serious voice, “Since that’s the case, I’ll stay here from now on, and if you want to force the association to submit the technology, you’ll have to get past me!”
Then, he crossed his legs and hovered in the center between the two armies. Although he was alone, it was like he had drawn an invisible line that extended out infinitely.
The three Universal Civilizations leaders gave him a deep look before their remote projections disappeared.
The two sides had spoken in the public channel, so everyone present had heard it, including the media.
The expressions of countless galactic residents changed.
“Does this mean the negotiation failed?”
“Neither side is willing to take a step back. Looks like they’re really going to fight!” “There’s still ten days. I wonder if I have enough time to take refuge.”
The galactic society was in fear.
Han Xiao looked around at the three Universal Civilizations’ fleet. Seeing that they were still on standby, he shook his head.
As the president, he represented the association. There was no way he was going to step back and submit the technology. It was the same for the three Universal Civilizations; they were not going to retreat before achieving their goal.
“Ten days…” Han Xiao mumbled. This was the time the three Universal Civilizations had given him. In ten days, if they still could not come to an agreement, a fight might really break out. The three Universal Civilizations probably made up their minds this time and were willing to accept the consequences of starting a war.
He glanced at the interface. In his mission list, a new mission was pinned to the top. It was the mission he had triggered from Manison. The requirement was to defuse the danger the Mechanical Race was in by any means necessary. As long as he could make the three Universal Civilizations retreat, the mission would be considered complete.
Maybe because Manison personally ‘asked him to help’, other than the high experience, the reward also included one chance to draw an ability from Manison.
Of course, Han Xiao was not going to let this opportunity slip.
He casually opened the forums. The stand he made earlier was also recorded by the players in the fleet.
Unlike the galactic residents who were panicking, the players were all looking forward to it. They were all excited about the current situation.
Beep beep…
This time, his communicator suddenly rang. It was surprisingly a call from Marbruce.
Han Xiao was not surprised at all. The open negotiation was more to express their stand to the outside world. The real negotiation still had to be carried out privately.
Picking up the communication, the three Universal Civilizations’ leaders appeared on the screen inside the mechanical suit.
“Black Star, do you really want to start a war?” Marbruce questioned.
“I should be asking you guys that.”
“Don’t be overconfident just because you have the Sanctum Revival. You’re leading the Beyond Grade As to their deaths,” Louis said coldly.
“Isn’t that exactly what you guys want to see? If not because you’re worried about the damages a war might cause, why would you contact me privately now?”
“Hehe, we have already come to some results in our research. We know that using the Sanctum Revival will consume some special resources, and it’s not free; you can’t bluff us. Plus, these revivors have already used their one chance of revival. If a fight really breaks out, you guys will incur damages too. No one wants that,” the pope said.
“What great ideas do you have then?” Han Xiao curled his lips. “We want the Virtual Mutiny Virus and the related information of the Sanctum Revival. In exchange, not only will we pull away our army, but we’ll also void the new law against the association and support your developments. We can even provide you with more than enough Universal Treasures and blueprints, and we can promise that no one in the Black Star Army will be on the cleanse list in the future. These deals will be done privately and not shared with the public. We can say we pulled out our army because we were intimidated by your strength, so your reputation will become even higher…”
“You’re daydreaming, good-freaking-bye.”
Before they could respond, Han Xiao hung up the communication right away.
This was the first time he had hung up on the call from the three Universal Civilizations’ leaders. He would have never done it if it were in the past before the association and the three Universal Civilizations became complete oppositions. He felt great doing it.
“… Hmm, okay, understood.”
After hearing the orders from above, Fleet Commander Simon put down the communicator, returned to the command table, and calmly ordered, “Pass down my orders. Engineering team, start to assemble the Multi-Dimensional Sky Opening Transportation Device. Start preheating in twelve hours and connect with the other side.”
“We’re getting reinforcements?” the chief staff sergeant on the side asked.
“Hmm.”
Simon turned around and looked outside the porthole at Han Xiao, who was sitting alone in the cosmic space. He said with a meaningful one, “Orders from above, we’re going to receive the direct Beyond Grade As who will be sent here.”
“How many?”
Hearing this, Simon looked at him.
“All of them.”
In Black Star Palace’s guest hall, a group of Beyond Grade As gathered and watched the news broadcast of what was happening at the Mechanical Race territory with varied expressions, discussing the matter softly. “Black Star’s stand is too strong. There won’t be room for negotiation like this.” Milizaus was worried.
While adjusting his gun, Sun Hunter said, “Bullsh*t negotiation, this fight is unavoidable. Black Star isn’t just putting on a show by standing there. I’m guessing he’s waiting for the three Universal Civilizations to send their direct members to fight him. Be it duels or fighting them all at once, he’ll accept it. He’s doing this on purpose to intimidate them.”
“Can he do it alone?” Kant frowned. “If the three Universal Civilizations go all-out, Dark Lord and Golden Ring will definitely be there. Those who are stationed in the secondary dimension bases will most likely be called back too. No matter how strong Black Star is, he has limits. Plus, even God Chooser might go.”
“Black Star should be able to deal with the others, but God Chooser…” Kasuyi hesitated. “If he uses the Arcane Church’s National Treasure, Black Star might have problems.”
Hila crossed her arms, put one leg on top the other, and said coldly, “You don’t have to be concerned about Black Star. His skin is thick enough. Better think of the threat we’re facing right now. The three Universal Civilizations’ army have already locked down the Flickering World’s entrance, the Dawn Star Cluster, so they could attack us any time There are probably already at least ten thousand Super Long Range Planet Annihilation Weapons aimed at this place now.”
“Ten thousand? You’re underestimating the three Universal Civilizations way too much.” Sun Hunter snorted.
Kasuyi shook his head. “We’ve done what we needed. We can only wait for the results at the Primeval Star River. The three Universal
Civilizations won’t fire at the other areas before they do anything to the Mechanical Race’s territory at least.”
The others sighed. Although they knew this would happen sooner or later, when it really did, they still were not confident about it.
No matter what, their opponents were the rulers of this universe. The fear in their hearts that had lasted for so long in the past could not be cleared this easily.
The situation turned way too quickly. Even many Beyond Grade As could not get used to it. However, the changes of time were always sudden. Rarely did it give people the time to adapt. They could only accept the reality.
Chapter 1302 - Challenge
Many military base planets were stationed in the Dawn Star Cluster, filled with countless deep holes that had enormous caliber Super-Long-Range Psionic Planetary Obliteration Cannons that were aimed at the nearby Star Clusters—the Garu Star Cluster, Crown Star Cluster, and the Renault Star Cluster. These were all areas of the second exploration phase and were now prosperous areas with many Beyond Grade A Organizations stationed in them. Of the Planetary Obliteration Cannons, Black Star’s territories had the highest number of them aimed at them.
The Dawn Star Cluster was the area the Crimson Dynasty had taken over the earliest. Many of the planets there were military restricted areas. In the past few decades, these planets had all been modified into weapons.
After the first Meeting of the Gods a few decades ago, the Crimson Dynasty had secretly started carrying out this project, planning for the future. What was happening today was exactly what they had been preparing for. If a fight broke out, this Star Cluster could immediately become the bridgehead of the war. At the same time, the regular route between the Flickering World and the explored universe would be sealed up.
Fleets belonging to the three Universal Civilizations stationed in the various places of the Dawn Star Cluster, while the three Universal Civilizations’ temporary combat command center also moved from Planet Lighthouse to a military planet at the heart of the Dawn Star Cluster.
“Maintain the highest alert level in the next ten days. Once the joint fleet starts to fight on the Mechanical Race’s territory, that’ll be our signal to fire at all Beyond Grade A organizations, including the Black Star Army’s territories.”
Inside the temporary combat command center, Euwan Fabick looked around at the many military officers in the room with eyes as sharp as an eagle.
He was a high-level military officer of the Crimson Dynasty who had taken over the position as the Marshal of the dynasty’s exploration army after Tarrokov retired. Due to all the things happening lately, the three Universal Civilizations classified the Flickering World as an independent key war zone, and he had become the commander of this war zone directly, in charge of the military operations of the three Universal Civilizations in the Flickering World.
“Understood,” the others replied simultaneously.
Euwan turned to one of the military officers and said, “Due to shortage of manpower, the people above can’t send direct Beyond Grade As here to help. How’s the setup of the defense measures doing? After the battle starts, the Beyond Grade As will definitely try to assassinate the people in the command center. If we can’t stop them from invading the Dawn Star Cluster’s core, the situation is going to be very tough.”
“The engineering team is setting up the defense measures as quickly as possible. They’ve also left traps and quick support routes. If the Beyond Grade As go too deep, there’s a chance we can surround and eliminate them…”
“Give me a report later.” Euwan raised his hand and stopped him. He then asked about the progress of other things.
Whether the three Universal Civilizations would end up fighting the association or not, this was not something he cared about. He only cared about his own duty, making sure the strategy could be carried out if a battle did start.
In some desolate universe belt in the Dawn Star Cluster, many hovering shrouding devices circled around a small planet and orbited in the exterior atmosphere, putting out illusions to shroud what was happening on the surface so that it would not be detected by others.
From the outside, this was just a desolate planet. However, the real look of the planet would only show when entering the atmosphere. This was a mechanical fortress that was armed to the teeth, filled with countless battleships and mechanical armies.
In the past few decades, the Black Star Army was not only operating its territory but also setting up many secret bases in other areas, and this was one of them.
At the top of a building, Aurora stood at the edge of the balcony looking at the enormous white mechanical ring far away. This was a new fixed directional teleportation technology Han Xiao had obtained from Jayz’s treasure that could transport troops on a large scale. It was not yet activated.
Behind her was a huge crowd. Everyone’s body was giving off a faint light. They were all Hero Spirits who had acquired a physical body. The eight Hero Spirit Kings stood in one row in front of thousands of Calamity Grade Hero Spirits, followed by countless Grade B Hero Spirits.
As early as when Manison’s database was attacked, Han Xiao had urgently recalled Aurora, who was traveling at the time, and given her a secret mission. She was to hide in one secret base and keep using her ability. Other than eating and sleeping, she spent all her time summoning Hero Spirits of the Underworld.
Aurora’s life in this period of time was summoning Hero Spirit, resting, and recovering. Then she would continue summoning more Hero Spirits and repeat. By doing that every day to the limits of her stamina, she finally summoned so many Hero Spirits.
The amount of time these Hero Spirits with a physical body could exist relied on the speed their body was losing vitality. Basically, as long as they were not killed or Aurora did not take away their body, they could last for a very long time. That was especially so when they were in the standby mode as they were now. The speed they were losing vitality was negligible. This was how Aurora had accumulated such a huge army.
Aurora turned to look at the Hero Spirits and softly said, “Black Star said that you guys will have to make a big mess in the Dawn Star Cluster before the ten days are up. Destroy as many of the three Universal Civilizations’ Planetary Obliteration weapons as possible.”
Sorokin snorted. “He really likes to order people around.”
After spending more than four decades as a Hero Spirit, he had accepted his fate and gotten used to his identity. However, he had never given up his hobby of making money. In order to satisfy that, he had found a way to change the societal environment of the Underworld.
As Hero Spirits basically had zero physical needs when they were in the spirit form, through observing over a very long time, Sorokin discovered what they all needed. Hence, he created a concept currency system based on ‘Promises’. One promise meant one owed another person a favor, while the promises from Hero Spirits of different levels and identity represented different values.
When a Hero Spirit gave promises to one or more other Hero Spirits, it was the equivalent of printing money. Sorokin designed a special credibility system to prevent the Hero Spirits from giving out promises without restraint, which would have led to inflation, at the same time solving a series of problems associated with ‘damaged promises’. Plus, the number of promises every Hero Spirit could create in a certain period was limited. Also, this kind of ‘promises’ currency was allowed to be sold to others, similar to giving others one’s ‘debts’.
Sorokin worked quite hard to promote this system. He even convinced Aurora and Onicelu to semi-relate the monetization of this currency with the chances of reviving and the duration of being revived. This way, the Underworld Hero Spirits who usually had nothing to do gradually accepted this system.
Having created a market, using the capitalist methods he was most proficient in, Sorokin harvested a ton of promises. Currently, the Hero Spirits of the Underworld owed him 0.37 Promises on average. He became the ‘wealthiest’ pers
on in the Underworld… Although this did not mean much, seeing his ‘wealth’ increase was satisfying to him on its own.
This war made Sorokin see an opportunity to largely monopolize the promise currency. After all, if a war broke out, the Underworld Hero Spirits would definitely be revived frequently. Although they were summoned for a war, it was much better than staying in the Underworld and doing nothing.
As for the conflict between the association and the three Universal Civilizations, Sorokin was not interested. His position was no longer the same; it was not his problem to worry about anymore.
Aurora turned back and continued to look in front. Facing away from the many Hero Spirits, her expression became worried.
Both the three Universal Civilizations and the association had set up secret bases like this in the various key Star Fields. Once an all-out war erupted, tons of places would be drawing in blood, and she did not really want to see that.
“If a war really breaks out, I hope I can save more people with the Underworld…”
Back in the Mechanical Race’s territory, the media and news groups were still broadcasting the situation. A lot of time had already passed after the failed negotiation. Han Xiao sat in the middle as if he was dividing the fleets of the two sides. None of them moved.
Looking at the broadcast that was like a still image, the countless galactic residents kept feeling more anxious.
More than half a day had already passed, yet neither side had made a move. Were they going to just keep looking at each other for ten days? If that was the case, their stand would not change even after ten days.
While many were feeling pessimistic, a change happened in the three Universal Civilizations’ joint fleet. The Multi-Dimensional Sky Opening Transportation Device was suddenly activated. After rapidly spinning for a while, it released a bright light, and a small fleet arrived through teleportation.
“Reinforcements?”
The Legendary Mechanic c1-1385 Page 939