Herlous volunteered to help move the equipment boxes, and the two of them walked out the simulation room side by side. Then they came to realize that Frenzied Sword and a few players were waiting outside with surprised faces.
“Black Phantom, you’re so strong!” Stars twinkled in Frenzied Sword’s eyes.
Frenzied Sword was very hardworking, so he had wanted to find Herlous to trigger a tutoring event, but coincidentally, he had witnessed the earlier battle. He was stunned, as the mercenary group only displayed one grade B, Herlous, but Han Xiao had been fighting him evenly earlier. That meant that he had to be a B, too! Frenzied Sword immediately made a logical guess—it must have been because Han Xiao hid it during the test.
In traditional ideals, the leader should be the strongest. Originally, when the captain was not as strong as the newly joined cadre, the players had felt rather weird. Now, Frenzied Sword and the others felt much more comfortable. The Great Mechanic Han’s image was strong and mysterious. In the players’ eyes, he could do all sorts of unbelievable things, and what he just did matched his position in their hearts.
Frenzied Sword was the first follower—he had witnessed Han Xiao’s rising experience step by step. Every time that he saw Han Xiao, he was glad of the choice that he had made. However, after entering the galaxy, Frenzied Sword had been somewhat upset. The team had expanded, and there were more people—he felt neglected.
Back then, Han Xiao gave him these high reward missions with strange requirements every day, and Frenzied Sword could not get enough of it. However, the missions now were too formal—Frenzied Sword missed that feeling…
However, at the same time, he was secretly delighted about it as well. No other players had witnessed these strange missions, not even Hao Tian, Maple Moon, and Bun-Hit-Dog knew what Han Xiao had been like back then. He was the only one to have experienced it. This was a very interesting and fun experience, and he thought back on it often.
Han Xiao raised an eyebrow and took a step to the side discreetly. Somehow, he felt that Frenzied Sword was looking at him weirdly.
“Who’s Black Phantom?” Herlous was confused.
Han Xiao waved. “Don’t mind it, that’s my nickname on my mother planet.”
“Oh, I forgot, you’re famous on your mother planet.” Herlous discreetly decided to find other teammates to know more about Han Xiao’s past. He was very interested.
There were few activities during the trip, and other than occasionally sparring with Herlous, Han Xiao chatted with Gashley whenever he was free to hear more about Sky Ring’s history. They sometimes also talked about the knowledge of traveling through the universe.
Gashley was an experienced mercenary—he had been to many places and had a lot of stories to tell. In terms of words, the Great Mechanic Han never backed off, and in terms of knowledge, ten Gashleys tied together would not be able to match up to him. They chatted happily and had very pleasant conversations, gradually familiarizing themselves with one another.
Most of the formal mercenaries were forthright and liked to make many friends.
Players communicated with the other Sky Ring mercenaries often. When talking about their armor, the Sky Ring mercenaries displayed the effect of the Sky Ring Armor. They were all products of compression technology. By pressing down on the triangular crystal on their chest, the humble Sky Ring combat suit would expand and become various full forms. It was truly gorgeous.
The Sunil Enlistee Class armor paled in comparison, so the players were all shocked and jealous.
Seeing that the players were tempted by their resources, the Sky Ring mercenaries tried to tempt the players privately by promising a free Sky Ring Armor after joining Sky Ring. If their recruitment was successful, the recruiter would be rewarded as well. Recruiting members from other mercenary groups was a very common activity—it was free real estate. Many Sky Ring mercenaries also belonged to other mercenary groups originally, and they had been attracted to Sky Ring due to their better offer.
However, this did not work on the players at all. Tempted did not mean shaken; they were still waiting for better things to appear in the mercenary group shop. One day, there might be Sky Ring Armor in the Black Star shop too. Therefore, they were in no hurry. These players trusted Han Xiao very much.
The private invitations were all rejected, and the Sky Ring mercenaries were very surprised. They had not expected the mercenaries under Black Star to be so loyal, and shock naturally turned into respect for the group.
When Han Xiao heard this from Bun-Hit-Dog, he felt warm inside. The faction unity was starting to shape slowly. This group of players had backbone.
…
At the same time, among some asteroid belt in the Fawn Galaxy, a few scavenger spaceships were moving stealthily. They kept the information disruption force field activated at all times, maintaining their Stealth mode. This was the scavenger organization that had attacked the Silvers. It was a slave trader that often sold slaves—they were notorious for their ruthless acts in the Shattered Star Ring.
The hold of one of the spaceships consisted of prison cells used exclusively for containing slaves. This group of scavengers had done quite a number of jobs before they attacked the Silvers. The not so valuable ‘goods’ were locked together, and the valuable slaves were imprisoned alone. Naturally, the seventeen captured Silvers were imprisoned alone.
A golden-skinned, messy-haired man walked into the prison area with a very gloomy look on his face. He was the leader of this group of scavengers, Peggy, a hybrid Godoran. The blood running through his veins was only one-eighth Godoran, but his appearance was still very similar to that of a Godoran. The Godoran genes were indeed very strong. He had tiny scales on different places on his skin and vertical pupils like a snake, suggesting that he had some kind of Snakeman genes.
The prisoners in the large cell immediately became riled up when they saw him.
“Let me out!”
“I’m an explorer of Holy Stone Civilization, how dare you detain me! Let me go now, or I will…”
“Who are you going to sell us to?”
The prisoners were very noisy, but Peggy ignored them completely. He skipped the large cell area and walked into the corridor of the single person cells. He had yet to do a routine interrogation after catching these Silvers—it was now time to test the ‘goods’.
Chapter 363 - Invisible Corner (2)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The Shattered Star Ring was filled with criminals, so it was very rare to see visitors from other Star Fields. Yet, there were still people who came.
Peggy asked eleven of them in a row, and the results were mostly the same. These Silvers were all friends and travelers, wanting to witness the edge of the visible universe, and Shattered Star Ring was one of the edges of the visible universe. They had passed by and had unfortunately been abducted by Peggy.
He walked into the next cell, and the Silver inside was somewhat different. The others would at least shiver a little when they heard the cell door open, but this guy was very calm and did not move at all. It was like he was not a prisoner but a guest of this ship.
“Are you the leader?” This Silver spoke first, his tone very calm. “I’m willing to buy my freedom with money. You can decide any price.”
“I’m not interested.” Peggy was expressionless. His spaceship maintained information disruption to prevent getting located, to prevent risks, so they would not let the slaves use their communicators before they were safe.
With a wave of his hand, his subordinate walked forward and frisked the Silver’s body. This Silver struggled violently and yelled with rage, “I have a lot of money! Aren’t you selling slaves for money‽”
Suddenly, a scavenger subordinate discovered something. He tore his shirt open and took out a tiny black bead from his lining. This Silver immediately became much more violent and wanted to pounce over to snatch back the black bead, but he was pressed strongly on the floor, only able to
growl furiously.
“What’s this?” Peggy took the black bead from his subordinate and squeezed it. It was very hard, and the surface of the bead was emanating a deep light with a tint of magical glow.
“Give it back to me! I’m an emissary of DarkStar; this belongs to the DarkStar. If you dare take it away, destruction and death will fall upon you!” this man yelled angrily.
“DarkStar?” Peggy laughed coldly. “You did your homework well. Despite being far away in the Sea of Star Spirits, you know there’s a DarkStar organization in our Shattered Star Ring. I didn’t joint DarkStar even though I’m a hybrid Godoran, you want to scare me? Do you think I’m easily fooled?”
Peggy saw DarkStar as the great pioneer of liberation, and he had always wanted to join, but because DarkStar was too mysterious, he never could come into contact with them. If DarkStar gave him orders, he would willingly give his life.
Silvers were far in the Sea of Star Spirits, how could they possibly have any connection with DarkStar. He had caught them out of nowhere, and this guy happened to be the so-called ’emissary’? How could it be so coincidental! It was nothing but intimidation—Peggy had seen it way too many times.
“Seeing that you’re so nervous, this bead must be valuable. I’ll take it.”
Peggy pocketed the bead and planned to find someone to identify it when he was free. He brought his subordinates along and left the cell, then closed the gate.
Outside the door, the subordinate licked his lips. His face was filled with greed as he said, “A Silver has never appeared on the slave market of Shattered Star Ring before. It will definitely sell for a good price—this is a huge profit. Boss, who are we selling them to?”
“I’ve contacted the customer,” Peggy said. “We’re going to Floating Dragon Island.”
The subordinate widened his eyes. “that’s that man’s territory!”
“The customer this time is that guy’s subordinate, very generous with money.” Peggy had a gloomy smile as he walked away.
In the prison cell, this Silver was furious. He cursed in his mind, Damn scavengers! Luckily, the Secret Message Bead can only be opened with a password. They can’t take out what’s inside…
…
Star Zone 4, Fawn—Planet Number 122—was a planet without an owner or civilization. The Silvers that sent out the missions were camping there. Since their call for aid, numerous mercenary spaceships had arrived on this lifeless planet, and all sorts of spaceships surrounded the middle and shaped a base. In the heart of it was the Silvers’ traveling spaceship.
Gashley’s spaceship landed slowly, and Han Xiao and the others swarmed out to look around.
The base was filled with voices—most of them were mercenary groups. The Silvers’ mission had attracted many renowned mercenaries in the Shattered Star Ring.
Gashley brought the others toward the main team. They arrived below an even larger spaceship, and about a hundred Sky Ring mercenaries were gathered here. Han Xiao looked up—this spaceship had the Sky Ring symbol on it, too.
“You’re finally here.” A tall woman wearing hooded robe walked over.
It was the Three-Ring Level cadre [Ice Sorcerer], original name Goa, leader of the Sky Ring for this mission. She had light blue long hair, a cold nature, and a void-like voice, just like ice. This was a Mage—although Han Xiao could not feel the magic flowing in her, he could feel the coldness from her.
Seems like she’s an ice element Mage, Han Xiao thought.
Just like the Mechanic class, the Mage class also had complicated knowledge and a variety of styles. Ice mages were hard to deal with, and they had all sorts of annoying skills like slow, freeze, and stiffen.
Goa glanced at Gashley. She saw Han Xiao and the others beside and asked with a frown, “Who are they?”
“Black Star Mercenary Group. We just made a partnership agreement, so they’re here to help,” Gashley said.
“Never heard of them before.” Goa shook her head.
Han Xiao was not bothered. Black Star Mercenary Group’s name was limited to Juberly Hub; it was far from being famous. Compared to Sky Ring, his mercenary group was not noticeable at all.
Goa thought that they were just a bunch of sidekicks, but suddenly, she felt a sense of danger. The senses of a mage reminded her that she had met someone strong, only then did she start to seriously size Han Xiao and the others up. She noticed that two of them had very active cell energy in them.
“Two grade B Supers…” Goa’s expression changed a little. Although grade B Supers were rather common, they were not everywhere. Even in Sky Ring, grade B Supers were at least Three-Ring Level cadres, and this mercenary group with only dozens of members had two grade B Supers; the ratio was very high.
She was the only grade B in this team, their high-level combat power was not even as high as this small mercenary group.
Goa stopped looking at them and said, “Our employer has hired many mercenaries—they’re not short of combat power. However, the situation right now is not very good… Since everyone is here, let’s head over there first. We’ll speak on the way.”
They walked to the Silver’s ship, and Goa explained the current situation.
This Silver had spent a large sum to hire mercenaries to save his captured friends—he was very generous indeed, but the mercenaries still had yet to start. They were stuck at an awkward stage—no one knew the enemies’ location! The scavengers that had attacked the Silvers were nowhere to be found, so no matter how many mercenaries gathered, there was nowhere to start.
Such intelligence lacking missions were very troublesome. The mercenaries used various detection methods, but that group of scavengers had turned on information disruption and could not be located. They did not leave many traces during their crime either. Although they knew that the scavengers would be fencing, they did not know where they would be going to.
If they were further delayed, the people of his race would be sold already. The surviving Silver was very anxious, and he released new requirements. If anyone could provide effective location information, he would give a generous bonus.
“Other than us, Blades and Purple Gold are here, too. Purple Gold went to find a fortune teller, so the enemies’ location might be discovered,” Goa said.
The Blades Army and the Purple Gold Army, two large mercenary armies as large as Sky Ring, were also active in the Shattered Star Ring. The rewards for this mission were divided into two parts, the base reward and bonus reward. The base reward was the hiring fee, and the mercenaries that saved the captives would be given a bonus that was multiple times the base reward. Therefore, in these missions, the relationship between the mercenaries was not only comrades but competitors as well.
Formal mercenaries competed with dignity—they would not burden each other on purpose, or their reputation would be damaged.
Usually, when the enemy could not be located and there were no better detection devices, mysterious foreseeing methods might have an unexpected good result. These abilities required very special talents and strict rules, so they were rare.
The players could not awaken foreseeing type powers. Even if they could learn fortune telling in the Mage class, they would only receive very little information when they used it, so it had a lot of limitations.
The people met the Blades’ team halfway, and they walked with each other. Goa and the leader of Blades chatted casually as they led the way.
Both large mercenary groups had their own uniforms. They chatted with the people they knew, and Han Xiao and the others were conspicuous in the middle of these two groups of people, as those around them sized up this unknown mercenary group.
“Who are they?”
“Seems like Sky Ring’s help, think they’re called something like Black Star Mercenary Group. Small group, not well known.”
“Here to watch probably.”
The mercenaries chatted among themselves, and the players felt uncomfortable. They felt like they did not fit into this
crowd at all.
On the way, Han Xiao was pondering on what to do next. He did not know if Goa had plans to hire him, but he did not want to come for nothing. Since they were already there, he did not want to return empty handed.
Many renowned mercenaries of the Shattered Star Ring have gathered here on this planet. I came too late, and I have yet to make a name for myself. It looks like I can’t play a part here.
This was an event that he had not come into contact before, so he had to improvise.
Just as he was thinking, they came to the middle of the base. The Silver appeared in their sights—they had snow white skin, long and cute tentacles above their heads, and stunning clothes made of unknown material that was soft and smooth, and bottom half of the face was covered by an air filtration mask.
This was the first time that the players had seen a ‘Universe Royalty’. They looked here and there and did not realize what was so ‘royal’ about them. It felt no different from other weird looking galactic races.
“If a civilization is strong and ancient enough, the race ruling it will, of course, be royalty. The others will look up to their hobbies as a royal standard. This is an issue regarding societal positions, nothing much to do with their physique.” Han Xiao patted Herlous on his shoulder.
“What did you pat me for?” Herlous rolled his eyes. About this topic, the Sunil clearly did not want to talk to you about it.
The Silver spaceship captain was negotiating with the mercenaries, and he said, “I hope you can quickly set off to save my friends. It’s been delayed for too long; if you people continue to slack, you will not receive any reward.”
“We don’t know the enemies’ location. All detective and tracking methods are no use, and you also did not give us any valuable intel. Thus, we can only wait temporarily. However, do not worry, our friends have already gone to invite a fortune teller. As long as you keep your promise and give the intel provider the bonus reward, I believe that there will soon be a result,” a mercenary said.
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