by <unknown>
As he became stronger and his organization developed quicker, the battles he was in became larger. The help that Floating Dragon could give to him now was not as great as it used to be.
In the cockpit, Han Xiao piloted the spaceship while thinking of a plan.
Ames isn’t helping, and Aesop was basically useless, so I have to complete the Promotion as soon as possible. Every little increase in my strength counts…
After thinking for a while, Han Xiao took out the communicator and was about to contact his friends to find people to spar with.
Beep beep!
The communicator suddenly vibrated. It was a sudden message from Bennett.
Han Xiao was shocked. He read through it, and his face instantly turned grave.
It was not good news.
Ever since Bennett built Black Star City, due to all the matters he had to settle every single day, it had been quite some time since he contacted Han Xiao. If there was nothing important, Bennett would not disturb him.
This novice planet had always been rather important to Han Xiao. Although the old players had basically all joined his army, there would still be many more new players in the future.
He was very sensitive at this time. There was no way for him not to connect what was suddenly happening on Planet Aquamarine with the third round of (Prey).
Han Xiao frowned and was on high alert.
“This is certainly a trap!”
One day earlier on Planet Aquamarine…
In the government affairs building, Bennett had just finished reviewing the files. He heaved a sigh of relief, put the pen down, and rubbed his temples, trying to ease his tiredness.
“Sigh, being a leader of a nation is more tiring than fighting a war.”
Bennett sighed. He picked up the hot tea beside him, blew into it, and sipped slowly. The warm tea flew down his throat, bringing warmth to his stomach. The tiredness started to gradually disappear, and he exhaled comfortably.
He turned his chair around to face the floor-to-ceiling windows, overlooking the city outside. Trains were running along the tracks, and pedestrians were laughing. It was harmonious and lively. He smiled with relief.
Seeing that the people had peaceful and stable lives, Bennett felt that everything was worth it.
Ring ring!
Suddenly, the telephone on the desk rang hastily.
“There’s really no time to rest at all.”
Bennett picked up the call.
“You—Your Excellency, the Six Nations!”
A government official was on the other side of the call, stuttering with a sharp voice. Bennett could hear his panic clearly even through the call. He felt that his eardrum was hurting and held the telephone a little further away from his ear.
“What are you yelling about? What happened?”
“Th—the Six Nations have declared war on us at the same time!”
Bennett immediately became stiff. His eyes widened and stood up instantly.
“Have all of them gone insane”
Clank!
The teacup fell to the ground, and the hot tea spilled all over the floor.
Chapter 668. My Network Is Beyond Your Imagination |
The Six Nations declared war without warning, seemingly wanting to eliminate the seventh country that Bennett had built. Bennett spent the entire day trying to prove it. He had personally dialed dozens of phone calls on private lines with the leaders of the Six Nations, which were all rejected. He had no idea why the Six Nations had suddenly gone crazy, and he had no way to find out. He could not deal with such a big matter alone, so he eventually notified Han Xiao.
If the third round of the mission did not appear, Han Xiao would most likely have thought that this was due to the technology given to the Six Nations by the galactical financial groups causing their confidence to expand, thus wanting to regain power… which was also highly unlikely. The Six Nations were not idiots. The more they came into contact with the galaxy, the more they would know how tiny they were; the difference was very clear and visible. The Six Nations would not become arrogant so easily.
The galactic financial groups only invested in Planet Aquamarine because of him and Floating Dragon. He alone was the reason that Planet Aquamarine was developing so rapidly. The Six Nations should know very well that they were depending on Han Xiaodeclaring war on him basically meant that they were digging their own graves.
However, the Six Nations had all lost their sanity at the same time. This did not make sense.
“I’m almost certain that there are others behind this, and they’re most likely the new group of hunters. These people are more difficult to deal with. They’re using Planet Aquamarine to lure me back.” Han Xiao frowned.
If he did not receive the alert from the interface, he would definitely have been shocked as soon as he heard about the Six Nations’ betrayal. He would also be suspicious, but he would not be as alert as he was now, so he would go back to find out the cause of it.
Making the Six Nations betray him was bait; the real enemies were hiding in the shadows. They had the ability to destroy Planet Aquamarine directly, but that was meaningless. Their real target was Han Xiao, so if they appeared, it would alarm him.
If Planet Aquamarine was destroyed, it would mean that they had destroyed one of the very few ‘weaknesses’ that Black Star had. They would then have no way to trick him. Hence, they chose to use Planet Aquamarine as a trap and secretly set up an ambush on Planet Aquamarine, waiting for him, the prey, to step right into the trap.
“Luckily, the mission alerted me…”
Han Xiao secretly felt relieved. He had to admit that the enemies this time were much smarter. If he had not been alerted by the mission notification, he might have fallen into this trap. By then, he would have been in a very difficult situation.
“My current advantage is that the enemies think I do not suspect anything, but I already know about their existence.”
Han Xiao pondered. The hunters had made the Six Nations betray him for some reason, which was a scheme that he had no choice but to step into. Planet Aquamarine had strategic significance to him; it was a huge leek plantation, so he could not watch the enemies mess up the situation that he had taken so long to build up to. Therefore, he definitely had to go back there and deal with the problems with the Six Nations.
The enemies definitely knew about this.
“Hiding from the enemies will only cause worse damage; only by facing them directly can I possibly resolve the issue. Fortunately, I have time to think about a solution. The enemies’ strength and numbers are unknown, but there shouldn’t be fewer than six Calamity Grades. It would most likely be difficult for me to fight them alone. I have to get some help.”
Han Xiao rubbed his chin and was a little troubled. The Dragon Emperor had said that she would not help, Section Zero was at war, and further organizations would take too long. After thinking for a while, it seemed like the only ally that could be of help at the moment was Godora.
“The Purple Crystal Civilization might be of help, too…” Han Xiao hesitated. Purple Crystal had quite a few Calamity Grades for sure. They were officially a part of the government, so they did not take part in the secret war.
However, Han Xiao was not sure if Purple Crystal would help him. They might only be interested in the war but not this.
“I shall give it a try. It never hurts to ask anyway.”
Han Xiao took out the communicator.
He was definitely going to look for help. Unless no one would be helping him, he would not return alone.
Networking was part of one’s strength!
…
On the frontline of the secret war, the army of the Bloodshed Land had arrived at three border Star Systems and had started expanding once again. Section Zero was having an extremely tough time. They could only send small fleets to disrupt the enemies, trying to slow them down.
They were in a very passive position in the war, and countless dif
ficulties were popping up every single day. The never-ending difficulties made Ralph extremely stressed, especially the problems with the high-level combatants.
After all kinds of persuasion and profit promises, the high-level combatants of Section Zero finally stopped avoiding fights, but they still were not willing to go all out. They saved seventy percent of their strength to protect themselves and only used thirty percent to deal with the enemies. In terms of high-level combatants, Section Zero was still completely at a disadvantage, getting beaten black and blue by those war maniacs of the Bloodshed Land. Ralph had been thinking of the reliable Black Star every day.
Although Black Star would not be able to change the situation of the war alone, Black Star was the only one that had given all he had.
Ralph was still settling the matters when his communicator suddenly received a communication request from Black Star. His exhausted mind suddenly became energized.
As soon as Ralph picked up the phone, he said, “Black Star, you’ve finally contacted me. Has your holiday ended? Quickly come back to the battlefield, we need you!”
Han Xiao coughed and said, “Sorry, I can’t go back yet. Civil strife has occurred in my home, Planet Aquamarine. Someone wants to overthrow my representative. I have to return to settle it.”
Ralph was disappointed.
“Did you call to notify me of that?”
“No no, I want the Purple Crystal Civilization’s help.”
Ralph was confused. “Is that necessary? It’s merely civil strife of a surface civilization. Aren’t you able to settle that yourself?”
“It’s not that simple…”
Han Xiao did not hide and told Ralph about the new group of hunters while leaving out the source of this information and changing some of the details.
Currently, only Han Xiao, Aesop, and very few people knew that the true master behind the hunters was one of the Ancient Ones. Last time, when eliminating Albert and gang, Han Xiao did not stop Albert from pushing the blame to Klent, so many Shattered Star Ring organizations thought that Klent was the mastermind, including Purple Crystal.
Han Xiao was hinting that Klent had sent a group of hunters to eliminate him.
After Ralph heard Han Xiao’s explanation, he connected the dots and speculated Klent’s ‘motive’.
Black Star fought the eight Vanguard Officials alone, showcasing his Beyond Grade A potential. Klent planned ahead. They can’t let a new Beyond Grade A appear in the Colton Star Cluster even if the possibility of that is just one in a billion. They don’t want Purple Crystal to have the opportunity to invest in Black Star, so they sent a group of people to secretly infiltrate the Garton Star System, wanting to eliminate Black Star, the Beyond Grade A seed!
Ralph was shocked and felt that he had discovered the truth. The Klent Kingdom’s motive made perfect sense. He could not find anything wrong with his speculation. If he was in their shoes, Purple Crystal would have chosen to do the same thing.
Ralph’s expression became serious immediately, and he said in a low voice, “Got it. There’s a deeper reason behind this. Black Star, we have very high hopes for you. We won’t let Klent threaten you easily. I will submit your request immediately, and the people above should send some high ranking government combatants to help you.”
Han Xiao was delighted. It went smoother than he had thought-Ralph was rather easy to bluff.
What he did not know was that the Purple Crystal Civilization upper echelons had held a private meeting long ago and decided to heavily invest in him. Han Xiao still thought that he was just a normal Section Zero member, but in reality, as long as his requests were not too excessive, Purple Crystal would always be willing to help him. In fact, they would want to help him as much as they could.
“By the way, for insurance, I’m planning to ask for help from the Godorans too,” Han Xiao added.
“Godora is the ruler of the Garton Star System, right? I remember they’re your ally. Sure, they’re under us. Do you need me to tell them?”
“… That would be best.”
Han Xiao was secretly surprised by how Purple Crystal’s people were so easy to convince.
Hanging up the communication, Han Xiao contacted Godora.
Godora was his old ally, so when Serbia the Fifth heard his request, he agreed without hesitation.
If only Black Star had requested help from them, they might have hesitated for a moment. However, Purple Crystal had confirmed that they were involved in this as well, so the Godorans had nothing to be afraid of and were even eager to agree.
In the Godorans’ eyes, Black Star was giving them a chance to improve their relationship with the Star Cluster Civilization.
The detailed plan still required discussion. Han Xiao chose an unpopulated planet near Planet Aquamarine as the gathering location and headed over in his spaceship.
Chapter 669. Ambush and Counter-Ambush |
In a dark cell, a man whose hands and feet were shackled by electromagnetic handcuffs was sitting on the floor. Light glimmered through the window of alloy bars and lit up his furious face.
“The world outside is in a mess. I can’t stay here!”
The man’s voice was husky with a very worried tone.
If Han Xiao was there, he would have recognized this man. This imprisoned man was his former boss from more than seven years ago, the ex-director of the Stardragon National Strategic Defense Department, Gu Hui.
He had survived the Mutation Disaster. In the past three years when Planet Aquamarine was rapidly growing, he had retired from Division 13 and been promoted to an upper echelon in the government.
However, a few days prior, his position had been taken away, and he had been imprisoned.
Gu Hui took a deep breath as the images from a few days ago flashed across his eyes.
He was invited to an upper echelon conference. During the meeting, the national leader had suddenly made a decision that petrified everyoneto work together with all the Six Nations and declare war on Black Star City. No matter how strongly the majority of the officials present opposed this, the leader took an extremely strong stand and refused to retract the decision. The several deputy level officials kept silent and shockingly did not oppose it too.
As both sides stood their ground firmly, this meeting ended without them coming to an agreement. However, before Gu Hui could recover from the shock, one hour after the meeting ended, he was secretly captured and thrown into prison.
“I’m definitely not the only one that’s been captured. All the opposing officials are locked up, too. The upper echelons are going to declare war no matter what. This is a dictatorship!”
Gu Hui still could not figure out the reason behind this. He was rather familiar with the national leader; such extreme and arbitrary behavior felt like it was a different person.
Black Star was now the protector of Planet Aquamarine, yet they want to fight their own protector? Was that not insanity?
Gu Hui had been locked up for many days and was very worried about what was happening in the outside world. Since the people that opposed the decision had been captured, no one would stop the leader anymore. He could not imagine what the consequences of declaring a war would be. He could only pray that at least the military would still have a clear mind and not just follow orders blindly.
“This will definitely lead to Black Star’s revenge!” Gu Hui did not want to imagine Black Star’s reaction to this.
That man was no longer that weak Black Phantom of the past!
He could crush the entire Planet Aquamarine alone!
“Those Six Nations have declared war on Black Star’s forces. This planet is his garden, so he has definitely received the news.”
In a certain city of the Six Nations, Stephanie and the rest were walking down the crowded street, coldly observing the riots happening.
Just a few days ago, this city had still been peaceful and harmonious. Now, however, large groups of people were protesting. They were angry and agitate
d, strongly opposing the government’s declaration of war against Black Star.
The military cooperated with the police to maintain security. Yelling, screaming, and roaring was everywhere. The messy footsteps almost trembled the ground. Some people even threw Molotov cocktails at the buildings, igniting flames and fighting with the police.
Chaos reigned!
This scene was happening in many cities of the Six Nations at the same time.
Stephanie looked at the chaotic scene and smiled in satisfaction.
“Good. Black Star will definitely come back here to investigate, but he won’t know that we are behind this. He won’t know that we are targeting him, so he won’t be very alert. We just have to wait in the dark for an appropriate opportunity to give him a ‘surprise’!”
As she was speaking, the nine of them turned and walked away before disappearing in a flash of light.
This team had ten members, but only nine appeared there.
Ten days later, a stream of light approached an unpopulated planet. This was the gathering location that Han Xiao had set. It was not far from Planet Aquamarine.
The Blacklight Stealth circled around the planet for a while. It then received a signal from the surface and came to the location where the signal was sent. Purple Crystal and Godora’s people had all reached there before him, waiting for his arrival.
The spaceship landed, and Han Xiao walked out the hatch. The helpers approached him. Han Xiao looked around—there were six of them.
“Hello Black Star, we’re here to assist you. You can call me Wilton. I’m a Purple Crystal Calamity Grade combat officer. These are my two team members…”
Wilton seemed to be their leader. Han Xiao nodded and shook hands with the six of them one by one. All six of them were Calamity Grades. Purple Crystal and Godora had each sent three. The leader of the team on Godora’s side was a familiar face— Nagakin.
Even to Star Cluster Civilizations, Calamity Grades were rare high-level combatants, yet Purple Crystal had still sent three to help him, showing their sincerity.
