But now, Han Xiao had the power to choose if he wanted him to be one of his spare tires.
Li Ge… I’ll have to think about it.
…
Frenzied Sword and Bun-hit-dog did missions in Black Pine. It was not a place for high-level players. The missions were difficult, but Frenzied Sword was a pro player after all. With his skills and the equipment that he had received from Han Xiao, he was having a good time and grew rapidly.
Through the missions in Black Pine, Frenzied Sword had received new equipment and new abilities, but these things could not fill his heart. Instead, he felt empty inside.
When he thought of Han Xiao, his heart would be filled with desire.
Only by following Han Xiao could he understand the true meaning of life, and the missions in Black Pine paled in comparison
“When will he return…”
Frenzied Sword was melancholic.
Outside the isolation zone in Black Pine, Lu Cheng was talking to Frenzied Sword. “Honestly, you have surprised me. You actually suppressed the plague.”
Frenzied Sword was upset. Bun-hit-dog pulled him to the side, and only then did he come back to focus.
“Hmm, yeah,” he replied perfunctorily
In the beginning, when Black Phantom had left the two of them to deal with the plague, Lu Cheng did not take it seriously at all, but not long after, he realized that these two people really could be of huge help. The characteristic of them being able to revive meant that they were unafraid of the infection and could do many things the researchers did not dare to.
The plague in the colony stopped spreading with the help from the duo, and the lightly infected patients were already cured. The number of people in the isolation zone had visibly reduced.
Lu Cheng has always been surprised by the characteristics of Inhumans. He had told the people of Green Valley Ville to research these ‘homeless wanderers’. He contacted his friends from other organizations and knew that the Inhumans phenomenon was happening everywhere in the world. As the Inhumans’ area of activity started to grow, even the Six Nations could not keep the secret from the civilians.
As the level of players increased, players from novice villages started to explore the map slowly. Many left Green Valley Ville, and some of them came to Black Pine.
Lu Cheng did as Han Xiao taught him to, which was to treat the Inhumans like mercenaries. He noticed that Han Xiao had surprisingly pointed him down the right path.
“Er… rewards?” Bun-hit-dog reminded the distracted Lu Cheng.
Frenzied Sword glared at Bun-hit-dog.
During the mission, he had done almost everything. Bun-hit-dog had just spent the whole time recording from the side like a boss, and yet he had the guts to ask for rewards.
Lu Cheng laughed and told his subordinates to pass the agreed rewards to the duo.
Frenzied Sword carefully read the details of the pieces of equipment that he had received. With the creation of the pro league, he had felt more pressure, so he improved on his skills as much as he could during his free time.
But Bun-hit-dog did not care. He browsed through the forums, then suddenly, he said, “There’s news about Black Phantom. He can give out main storyline missions… how come he never brought it up to us? We triggered his hidden storyline, so why aren’t we getting at least the same treatment?”
Frenzied Sword’s expression tightened, and he said in a low voice, “When he returns, he will definitely give the main storyline missions to us too.”
“Where did that confidence come from?” Bun-hit-dog questioned.
“I…” Frenzied Sword was at a loss for words. He was rather anxious, but he comforted himself with a firm expression and said, “I believe in him!”
Chapter 198 - Responses from All Sides (2)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
In a military base in Stardragon, many players crowded around as if attending a mini fair on a bright, sunny day.
Stardragon’s approach toward the players was gentle. They held many internal meetings and tried to command the players. They realized that other than some Inhumans being mentally ill, they were capable of normal communication. They decided to put the players together as a special division and made them serve the military.
This military base was specially created for the players. Commanders from Stardragon gave out missions, and many players were opening stalls and grouping up—the whole area seemed to be prospering.
Impacted by Han Xiao, many players chose to join the Stardragon, including Maple Moon.
Fighting and killing was not Maple Moon’s style; she liked to collect materials and build machines then sell them to other players. Many players liked coming to her for supplies and repairs, so Maple Moon could easily find a team when doing her missions.
Maple Moon was just a casual player. The time that she spent online was less than other players. Plus, she preferred to enjoy the game more than doing missions all the time, so she wasted a lot of time by doing that.
Even so, with the prize pool rewards that she had received from Han Xiao, she still surpassed most of the players and became one of the players on the level leaderboard.
Maple Moon looked at her experience bar and excitement showed on her face.
Almost level 20. I will be able to find Black Phantom very soon.
…
A piercing cold wind blew across the wasteland with thin snow. Together with the ground, they created a view filled with gray and white.
In a wasteland on the Northern Continent, a player with an animal skin coat slowing trekked across in the cold wind. On the horizon behind him was the novice village that he had left from.
With blood scabs on his fists, seven dead Frost Wolf bodies lay one hundred meters behind him.
Frost Wolves were a common predator in the Northern Continent. Their level was around 10, so players at the time had less than a 20% chance of winning under the siege of seven Frost Wolves, but there were only a few shallow scratches on this player.
The ID above the player’s head was ‘Hao Tian’, which was clearly an old ID.
Hao Tian—a famous pro player, a pillar of the Long Sky club, and a veteran in the pro scene—had used this ID for many years.
There were many esports clubs in China, but only a few were considered top tier, such as Guild of Gods, Long Sky, Dynasty, Fried Eggplants with Fish… Yes, that club was called Fried Eggplants with Fish, and their mortal enemy was the Kimchi Club in Korea.
Hao Tian suddenly received a ranged communication request from Li Ge, so he stopped and accepted.
“Hmm?” This greeting clearly conveyed the fact that Hao Tian did not like to talk too much.
“Have you heard that the Esports Association has confirmed the creation of Galaxy Pro Competitions?” Li Ge asked.
“Oh.”
“What class did you change to.”
“Pugilist.”
“I’m an Esper,” Li Ge said. “Level up quickly. The situation of the Chinese players is not looking good. I need help from people to fight top clubs from other countries.”
“Speak for yourself.” Hao Tian did not give face at all, and he hung up.
Both were top players; their styles were very different.
Hao Tian had been in the pro scene for many years. He had steadily trained and climbed up to where he was. He did not like to talk, did not like to manage public image—all he did was shine in the competitions.
Li Ge was very passionate about managing his image. He often went to shows, so he had countless more fans than Hao Tian. Plus, he was handsome, so he had many female fans. Li Ge was the type of player that was talented enough to surpass other players without much hard work.
Every pro player had their own talent, and Li Ge was full of talents.
Some people are just that talented.
Many people admired Li Ge, and many envied him. Hao Tian was not one of those. He had known Li Ge for a very long time. Li Ge was just someon
e who succeeded in the same industry as him and nothing more; he did not care for other factors.
Li Ge was his old rival. Hao Tian lost to him many times, and in order to reach a higher place in Galaxy, he spent almost all of his time strengthening his in-game character. He did not want to miss any opportunity.
He opened the forum as was his habit, then saw the posts about Black Phantom giving out main storyline missions.
He suddenly stopped walking and turned back around toward the novice village.
With Hao Tian’s skill, a novice village was already useless to him, but for the missions of Black Phantom, he was willing to wait.
…
In the basement of the Dragon Horn building, the headquarters of Division 13…
The corridor toward the central computer room was dark and metallic, with infrared detectors in the walls all along the corridor. The ground was equipped with devices that recognized and recorded weight and footprints.
Gu Hui typed the password at the door, then had his eyeball, fingerprint, and voice scanned. Within a few seconds, the center computer recognized Gu Hui through the floor and infrared detectors.
“Identification authorized. Welcome, Deputy Director-general,” a robotic voice emotionlessly said.
All the security devices were turned off. The path was clear, and Gu Hui walked into the spacious center computer control room with a serious expression. He was carrying out the order of the highest ranked superiors—inquire about the Inhuman phenomenon from the galactic civilization far away in the universe, Godora.
It was an important issue. All the cameras in the center computer room faced him, and the leaders were watching through them.
Gu Hui knew that it was not only Stardragon—all the other countries were going to do this as well. The Inhuman phenomenon was too weird. They had absolutely no way of solving it and could only seek help from galactic civilizations. Godora was the only superior civilization that they were in contact with. It had a mostly neutral but slightly biased attitude toward them, and they did not interfere too much with Planet Aquamarine.
Gu Hui turned on the central terminal and typed a series of long passwords to unlock the encryption. He then opened the deepest layer of the program and typed another string of secret passwords, activating a secret program.
The screen turned entirely white, then a new simple window popped up. It was filled with countless options and links in weird Godoran symbols. All except one were gray, which meant they could not be selected.
The only one that could be selected was translated into Planet Aquamarine’s language.
_____________________
Godoran Communication Window with Star Zone 9, Planet Aquamarine.
_____________________
This was a star zone communication device model called [Feathers of Light—8]. All of the Six Nations on Planet Aquamarine had received it from the Godoran Civilization. It allowed them to connect with the galactical civilizations. This technology was yet to be obtained by Planet Aquamarine.
The Godoran Civilization locked many functions of the program and closed the hundreds of connections on the network; it was limited to only single-directional communication from Planet Aquamarine. Thus, Planet Aquamarine could only make use of less than 0.00000001% of the galactical communication device, and they could only get information about the universe from Godora.
But Planet Aquamarine did not have a choice.
Gu Hui calmed his mind and clicked the link. The ten-second wait felt like hours, but eventually, the screen flashed, and a dialog window appeared.
A sentence in the Godoran language appeared before it flashed into Planet Aquamarine’s language through the translation function from the device. “Human from Planet Aquamarine, why did you request communication?”
Gu Hui revised what he had planned to say before typing it out word by word. “My friend from Godora, I’m the person in charge of the intelligence organization of Stardragon on Planet Aquamarine. I have requested the communication due to an abnormal phenomenon on our planet. We call it the Inhuman Phenomenon. The details are as below…”
Gu Hui explained their research on the Inhumans briefly and sent the documents and records over. Then he ended his message with a brief plea for assistance. “As our technology is unable to find the reason behind this, we hoped you could help us to solve it. If you can provide assistance with this, we will give you our sincerest appreciation. Godora and Stardragon will forever be close friends.”
Chapter 199 - Aurora
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
After a few seconds, the person from Godora replied.
“There are many technologies that can achieve this effect. It also might be a natural occurrence. There are far more weird events in the universe, so don’t have to be so surprised. Tens of thousands of species die and come to life every second. We would have to research on it ourselves to know the exact cause.”
“That is what we are hoping for,” Gu Hui wrote back, “for you to send someone here to do field research.”
“Request authorized. Current date: 10th August 688 Galaxy time. Mission has been submitted into the schedule. ETA 7th May 689.”
Galaxy’s calendar was set by the three biggest civilizations. It is used across the entire universe, but of course, many places had their own calendar, just like the use of dialects. The general calendar would usually only be used in the communication between two civilizations so that time calculation would be easier.
“So long?” Gu Hui was stunned.
“Every activity follows a schedule. The request needs to be queued. I have already received the request from other nations on your planet, so it will be settled at the same time”.
The reply of the receptionist from Godora was typical. Gu Hui feel it was quite familiar. He thought about it and realized… Isn’t this the same tone as government officials pushing things around?
Gu Hui turned off the communication with a sigh.
“Have to wait one year. Who knows how the Inhuman Phenomenon will turn into after one year?” Gu Hui shook his head. “Luckily, the Inhumans are able to communicate and are passionate about being mercenaries. They are controllable to a certain extent.”
The highest ranked superiors of Stardragon hosted a meeting. Since there was currently no solution to the Inhuman Phenomenon, they decided to immediately focus on declaring war with the Germinal Organization before the phenomenon grew worse, to prevent the Germinal Organization using this phenomenon as a tool for them making a comeback.
Preparation for the expedition war started again.
…
Ta, ta, ta!
The military boots stepped on the metal floor. Hila walked in the corridor full of twist and turns with an expressionless face. She did not even hesitate at the intersections. She was too familiar with this place—this place where Aurora was locked up.
At the end of the deep corridor, a thick, metal gate blocked Hila’s path. She walked over with light steps, and the automatic guarding guns kept their aim all on her like they were going to open fire at any moment. Two guards stood in front of the metal gate and stopped Hila.
“I have authorization.” Hila’s tone was cold.
The guards turned around and tapped a few times on the control panel, made sure that Hila had received one-time authorization from their leader, and nodded. “You have one hour.”
He opened the metal gate. Light shone from within and brightened the exquisite but ice-cold face of Hila.
A pure white room came into her sight.
It was very simple: one bed, one table, one chair, one toilet, and one bookshelf full of books.
In a bed as pure as the feathers of an angle, a tiny, scrawny body cowered.
Hila walked forward inattentively and stopped five meters outside the room. She reached out and pressed against the glass that surrounded the room. She could not move forward anymore.
The corner of her eyes shook.
&nbs
p; The palm pressed against the wall turned into a fist. She clenched her fist so hard that her bones started to turn white.
“Sis?”
The blanket started moving. A tiny bald head extended from within cautiously. Her face was pale like she was suffering from malnutrition and had not gotten enough sunlight for a very long time. Her eyes were flashing with surprise as she saw Hila.
Aurora lifted the blanket and stumbled toward the glass. Her steps were weak and powerless. She was only as tall as Hila’s shoulders and so skinny that she looked like she only had her skeleton left. The exposed arms from her patient suit were full of needle scars. Aurora pounced toward the glass with happiness. She put both of her hands on the glass and said, “You’ve come to see me!”
Hila hastily extended her hands and pressed against Aurora’s palms across the glass. She endured the lump in her throat and softly asked, “Recently… have you been alright?”
“The people in white lab coats have not come as often. The last injection was thirteen days ago already.” Aurora’s large eyes blinked, and she showed a faint smile.
Hila smiled reluctantly. She looked at the needle scars on Aurora’s body, and it felt like her heart was being stabbed rapidly. She knew why they drew blood from her fewer times—it was because Aurora recovered slower. Every time her blood and bone marrow was extracted, she needed more time to recover.
Her ability allowed her to feel one’s life force. The life force of Aurora, which had once been as bright as the sun, was now a candlelight that might extinguish anytime.
Her life force was withering.
Aurora sat down and hugged her knees. “Tell me stories elder sister. I want to hear the last one that you didn’t finish.”
The Legendary Mechanic c1-1385 Page 112
