“By the way,” Sylvia said, “there’s one thing that needs your attention. A star director hopes to see you.”
Han Xiao was surprised.
Star director? Who? Manison?
Seeing Han Xiao’s confused expression, Sylvia explained, “He’s the renowned master-level director, Beny Travol. He is hoping to get your permission to shoot a documentary about you.”
“… That’s new.”
Han Xiao immediately became interested.
In the galactic society that had no shortage of material supplies, the influence of the entertainment industry was humongous. A famous galactic celebrity might have quintillions of fans. For example, Feidin had been considered a local celebrity before.
Galactic star directors such as Beny Travol had extremely high popularity and influence, as well as extraordinary positions in the industry. They were all important people even on the scale of the entire universe.
However, the people in the entertainment industry and someone in the military industry like him were in two completely different worlds that hardly had any connections, which made Han Xiao wonder why this person came asking to shoot a documentary of him. Could this be the effect of his Universe Legendary Points?
Han Xiao contemplated for a while. “Okay then, I’ll meet him.”
“Okay, I’ll contact him personally.” Sylvia nodded.
Han Xiao then glanced at everyone. Seeing that no one spoke, he said, “If there’s nothing else, we’ll call this a day.”
At this time, Hila suddenly thought of something. She took out a small box, placed it on the table, and pushed it toward Han Xiao with her beautiful fingers.
Han Xiao looked down at it. This was a red box with ribbons, like a gift. Confused, he looked at Hila.
“This is…”
“Today is your birthday. This is your birthday present, an amulet. Remember to wear it,” Hila said softly.
Han Xiao was surprised.
This is only February. Today isn’t my birthday. It’s October… Oh, I get it. This should be the birthday of my original identity. Back on Planet Aquamarine, the Germinal Organization definitely investigated me. Hila probably saw the birth certificate of my original identity.
Understanding that, Han Xiao swallowed the words he was about to say back down. He accepted the gift and said with a smile, “Thanks, didn’t think you’d remember.”
“I remember everything about you.”
Hila closed her eyes and left the room before Han Xiao could reply.
The officers around looked back and forth between the two of them with meaningful looks in their eyes. They then left one after another.
Han Xiao was the only one left in the room. He carefully opened the gift box and looked at what was inside.
A tiny dark gold coin lay quietly in the box, hooked on a thin silver chain. It was a necklace.
Han Xiao picked up this coin and suddenly felt a special kind of energy on it. It had both Hila’s Power of the Dead energy and Aurora’s Esper Ability energy.
With a flash of insight, Han Xiao opened the interface and looked at Hila’s Character Summon Card.
If I’m guessing correctly, this coin is a carrier of some kind of ability, and this ability is probably the reawakening ability that Hila just obtained… No wonder she called it an amulet. Basically, she gave me a revive token.
The Character Summon Card did not display the limitations and cost for Hila to use this ability, but Han Xiao was certain that Hila would not be able to casually just gift this ability to anyone. It was most likely quite costly.
Han Xiao wore the amulet on his neck, stood up, walked to the window, and gazed at the scenery outside Black Star Palace.
If not because Hila suddenly brought it up, he would totally have forgotten the meaning of ‘birthdays’. In all the years he had spent in Galaxy, this was the first time someone had given him a birthday present.
Although the birthday of this body was not the same as his own birthday, Han Xiao still felt nostalgic and emotional.
Memories often would not stop coming up once reminded. The images of the past kept appearing in his mind like it was lifetimes ago.
“Birthday…”
A soft sigh sounded in the room.
Chapter 1063 - In Order to Save the Universe, I Have Decided to Become...
1063 In Order to Save the Universe, I Have Decided to Become…
In the Emerald Star Cluster was one of Beast Ancestor’s stronghold planets.Two fleets with the same Beast Ancestor symbol stood against each other in space. The atmosphere was tense.
The situation was clear—the smaller fleet wanted to leave the stronghold and was stopped by the guarding fleet.
Inside the command ship of the guarding fleet, Byram looked at the fleeing fleet in front of him that was prepared to start a fight anytime with complicated feelings. He then said in the public channel, “Jotina, do you know what you’re doing? This is defection!”
As soon as his sentence ended, a female creature appeared on the screen before him. She had light-brown skin, a lustful face, and black beastly patterns at the tips of her eyes and her temples, as well as white lines on her cheeks in a pattern like cat whiskers. She looked similar to a leopard. Her clothing was wild and unrestrained, showing her astonishing body shape and beauty.
At this point, the face of this woman was filled with a firmness.
“Gorutan is done. We’ve made up our minds. If you want to stop us, you can try.”
Looking at the woman on the screen, Byram sighed in his mind.
This person’s name was Jotina. She had some beast bloodline and was one of the Four Admirals under Beast Ancestor’s command, like the Vanguard Officials and Black Star Guards. She was an ace combatant who stood at the top among her brothers and sisters. She was also a Beyond Grade A seed. Given her wild personality, quite a number of brothers and sisters were afraid of her.
However, a lot of people knew that Jotina was in the rebel faction and had always hated Gorutan. Gorutan, however, did not care if his children hated him. His offspring were just tools to him. As long as he was alive, he did not fear anyone escaping his control.
He had maintained control of his organization with his own strength, and once he was gone, it instantly started cracking up like rats leaving a sinking ship.
On this day, Jotina brought a big batch of rebel faction members and planned to leave the Beast Ancestor’s organization, hence this confrontation.
Byram was in the neutral faction, so he did not have overwhelming loyalty for Gorutan. He sighed and said, “We’re all brothers and sisters. Why fight each other? Father is only captured. He might return in the future. Why not stay and work through this difficult time together?”
“Shut up!” Jotina yelled. “I’ve been waiting for this day for way too long. If you don’t let us go today, don’t blame me for not having mercy.”
Byram stayed silent. He turned and looked at the enraged expressions of the loyalists, shook his head internally, and ordered, “Let them go.”
Without the overwhelming strength of the Beast Ancestor that kept this many people in their place, his organization had absolutely no unity, and everyone had their own plans. Byram was not willing to fight with them.
However, the loyalist faction was not having it. From the way they looked at it, immediately leaving when their father was in trouble was an act of total betrayal that needed punishment.
Although Byram was the commander, many officers did not obey him and suddenly fired, starting a battle.
Battleships were sunk one after another, creating fireworks in the comic space. Calamity Grades dashed about in between the battle and fought each other with no mercy.
After a very long time, the battle finally ended. Tons of battleship wreckages were floating in the cosmic space.
After paying a hefty price, the betraying fleet finally broke away. The loyalist faction also suffered a huge loss. Many officers were killed by Jotina on the spot,
so none continued chasing after her.
Without father, there will be other Beyond Grade As who come to get us. These loyalists will be cleaned up sooner or later. I’d better find a way out as soon as possible.
Byram looked at the wreckages and sighed in his mind. He knew that the Beast Ancestor’s organization was no more.
Meanwhile…
“We finally got out. They didn’t chase us…”
Inside the command ship that was covered in battle scars, Jotina sat on the ground, leaning against the wall. She was exhausted and covered in wounds, blood pooling under her.
She was surrounded by many officers who were defecting with her. After the intense battle earlier, everyone had wounds and was bandaging each other up.
A Calamity Grade officer turned to Jotina after stitching a comrade up. “Big sis, where do we go now?”
Since Jotina was the initiator of this operation and was also the strongest, she was recognized by all as the leader of this defecting team.
“Escaping was just the first step. Don’t forget our target. We can’t rely only on ourselves; we have to go to a big organization,” Jotina said while gasping for air.
“Who should we go to?”
“Whoever that beat up Gorutan.” Jotina struggled to get up, looked outside the porthole, and murmured, “Black Star is worth depending on…”
…
A few days later, outside Black Star Palace…
“I’ve already disturbed you guys for quite some time. I’ll leave today. Thanks for your help.”
Silver Shadow stood before his spaceship, nodding to express his appreciation for Han Xiao.
Some time ago, he had used the Evolution Cube and stayed as a guest in the Black Star Army, bonding with Han Xiao. The relationship between them improved quite a bit, from familiar faces to good friends.
After staying for a few days, he still had other things to attend to so he decided to bid farewell today, Han Xiao came to send him off.
“Okay, I won’t keep you then. Feel free to come here to play in the future.” Han Xiao smiled.
Silver Shadow nodded, shook Han Xiao’s hand, led a group of his subordinates onto the ship, and closed the hatch.
The spaceship’s thrusters fired up as it sped up and dashed out of the dock, turning into a stream of light and quickly disappearing into space.
Watching the spaceship leave, Han Xiao nodded with satisfaction.
The time he had spent with Silver Shadow over the past few days had sped up the progress of winning Silver Shadow over. With the favors he owed him, he would be able to at least ride him three more times.
Han Xiao left the dock and returned to his office.
“Phillip, any news from the three Universal Civilizations?”
“Not yet, hum…”
“It’s been so many days. It should be time for them to contact me.”
Han Xiao shook his head. Over the past few days, he had been waiting for the federation and the church to contact him. It seemed that these two were still considering what attitude they were going to present when contacting him, so no one had called him yet.
During the Planet Lighthouse battle, he had handed over the captives to the dynasty, and the dynasty had negotiated with them. This time, however, he had basically caught all the captives by himself. Plus, he was much stronger. Therefore, Han Xiao told the dynasty that he wanted to negotiate with the federation and the church personally.
At this time, Phillip suddenly paused and reported, “Master, hum… there’s a new communication request. It’s from the Arcane Church.”
Speak of the devil… Han Xiao told Phillip to pick it up.
Very soon, a remote projection appeared in the room. This was a high-ranking official of the church who was in charge of diplomatic matters. He took a bow as soon as he appeared, looking very respectful.
“Your Excellency Black Star, I’m the diplomat of the Arcane Church. First, on behalf of the church, I would like to apologize for this incident…”
“Hmm, let’s skip all that and cut to the chase.” Han Xiao glared at the church diplomat in front of him and said with a deep voice, “If you want Tolaen back, it depends on how sincere you guys are. I have to emphasize one thing though: the compensation must include a public apology on your side.”
The church diplomat blinked a few times and said softly, “That won’t be a problem, but we can put aside Tolaen’s matter first. I want to talk about the federation’s captives…”
Han Xiao raised his brow.
What a surprise. The Arcane Church is in no hurry to bail Tolaen back but instead wants to gain a federation captive first.
Although he could understand the reason behind this, Han Xiao still thought it was quite tragic… for Tolaen.
Shaking his head, Han Xiao said, “The church wants to buy a Beyond Grade A captive of the federation, huh?”
“Not one. The more, the better. I’m sure Kasuyi has spoken to you about this as well. The church wants something to regain the Ten Thousand Deity Scepter. Your Excellency Black Star, we come with a lot of sincerity this time, and we’re willing to pay a high price.”
“How high?” Han Xiao raised his brows.
“These are our initial terms.”
The diplomat brought up a list and displayed it.
Han Xiao quickly scanned through the list. Not only did the terms include tons of resources compensation, but the church was even willing to use non-strategic Universal Treasures to acquire the captives. The terms were quite generous.
However, he was not going to easily agree. He purposely acted like he was considering for a while. Then, he said slowly, “I’ll have to endure pressure from the federation if I sell their captives to you, and this is all you’re offering? It doesn’t seem sufficient.”
“How about you propose the terms, and we can…”
Han Xiao snorted and interrupted him. “Go figure, change the terms till I’m satisfied.”
By not being the one stating the terms, he would be able to give the federation and the church a hard time. Otherwise, the two of them might not learn the lesson. Also, it would not be beneficial to public opinion if he easily agreed to their terms.
“Okay then, we’ll go back and change the terms. Can I assume that you don’t object to selling the federation’s captives?” the church’s diplomat asked.
“Depends on my mood.” Han Xiao did not make a guarantee.
Seeing that Han Xiao was not taking a clear stance, the church diplomat had no choice but to go offline and report the situation to his superiors.
As soon as he disconnected, the communication request from the federation came.
“How coincidental,” Han Xiao murmured and picked up the communication.
“Greetings, Your Excellency Black Star, I’m the Federation of Light’s…”
“Alright alright, I know who you are. Cut the crap. Show me your terms for bailing the captives.”
The federation’s diplomat’s words were forced right back down his throat, and he had no choice but to obediently show Han Xiao the terms.
After looking through the list, Han Xiao shook his head in his mind.
The price the federation gave was not as high as the church. After all, this was just ordinary bailing for them.
Tsk tsk, cheeky as always, you lost three people, but you don’t want to pay a huge price?
In your dreams!
Han Xiao narrowed his eyes, tapped the table, and said slowly, “Just now, the Arcane Church contacted me and made an interesting proposal.”
“What proposal?”
“They want to buy the Beyond Grade A captives of the federation from me… and they’re willing to pay a high price.”
Han Xiao gave him a meaningful look.
The federation diplomat was startled and quickly said, “D-Did you agree?”
“Hmm, I’m still considering it. However, the price the church gave was quite tempting.”
“You can’t just de
cide to sell the federation’s important ally to the church, or…” The federation diplomat was just about to threaten Han Xiao when he suddenly realized that he was facing Black Star, who had just cost them a huge loss, so he quickly changed his tone. “Anyhow, as long as you don’t agree to the church’s proposal, we will definitely do something.”
“That will depend on your sincerity and how high a price are you willing to pay to make me reject the church’s offer.” Han Xiao smiled.
“Understood… Understood. I’ll relay your thoughts to the upper echelons immediately and change the compensation terms.”
The federation diplomat wiped off the sweat on his forehead and hastily disconnected.
He knew that Black Star was driving the price up, but there was nothing he could do. Even though he thought he saw through Black Star’s intentions, the only thing he could do was to obediently follow it.
After getting rid of these two, Han Xiao leaned back in his chair and smirked.
If this had happened in the past, the risk of doing something like this would have been very high. However, after this battle, he had showcased more than enough strength to be noticed. Only then would the church and the federation be willing to negotiate with him calmly instead of continuing to plot against him.
With these captives in his hands, he had enough leeway to ask for over the top prices. Even though he had made it clear that he wanted the federation and the church to compete with each other, they could do nothing but put up with it.
This feeling of having the upper hand is indeed great… Han Xiao smiled.
While he was pondering, his communicator rang again. It was Sylvia.
“Army Commander, the galactic star director I told you about a few days ago has arrived at Black Star Palace.”
“So soon?”
“They were in the Flickering World to begin with. I’ve already sent someone to receive them. Should I bring them right to the guest room?”
“Hmm, I’ll go see him now.” Han Xiao stood up.
…
A civilian spaceship parked at the exterior dock of Black Star Palace, and a group of people walked out from it.
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