by <unknown>
And now, the rise of Black Star had torn a small hole in this solid belief. This was something that Manison could not even stop.
Facing the deities from past to present, the Grand Priest and all the priests bowed down to complete the ceremony.
“We respectfully welcome Black Star!”
…
I keep feeling as if someone is praising me behind my back…
Within the cabin, Han Xiao rubbed his nose as he felt a strange emotion.
“Hey, hey, don’t lose focus when you’re talking to me!” From within the communicator, Tarrokov had a helpless expression.
Han Xiao came back to his senses and joked, “Sorry, I was just thinking about what to have for dinner later. Where were we?”
“What do you have to think about? You think I don’t know you only rely on nutrition fluids?”
“Oh, who tattled on me!”
“That’s enough, back to business.” Tarrokov shook his head in resignation. “I can reveal that the development plan made by the upper echelons of the dynasty has been arranged up to the fourth phase, and only the first phase will give you plenty of time to build. After that, more foreign direct investments will be introduced to help you develop while exploring further.”
“Which means, only when these three Star Clusters are completely constructed will the dynasty proceed with the next period, right? Then the advantage that we’ve brought for ourselves by pioneering the Flickering World will end.” Han Xiao stroked his chin.
Tarrokov neither agreed nor denied it. “In short, the development progress for the three star clusters has exceeded expectations and is very smooth. We expect to complete the construction plans in five to seven years before we begin the second phase.”
This timing is still acceptable… Han Xiao secretly nodded.
When Version 4.0 was released, the Flickering World should be in its fourth phase of development, so his own [Flickering World] Main Storyline had to undergo quite a few of the chain missions. Completing the [Exploration Pioneer] milestone would not be a problem. The reason he had called Tarrokov was to find out about this.
After chatting for a while, Han Xiao hung up.
The news of him defeating the Tyrant had already gone on for more than a month, and the results were obvious. The number of new applicants rose by forty-three percent, and the investments from the various financial groups rose by thirty-five percent. As for Bloodshed Land, their influence had taken a hit, and their pace was slowly dying down.
In addition, the Wayne Cards series, which was always sensitive to news, immediately made a change, issuing a statement to announce an epic enhancement to the Black Star deck, as well as a comprehensive weakening of the Bloodshed Land deck. Furthermore, they also changed the status of the strongest within the Star Fields, adding Black Star’s name into the list.
Some of the Beyond Grade A people also sent out congratulatory messages. Among them was Sorokin, who gave Han Xiao a whole new impression of the word ‘shamelessness’.
As it turned out, if one threw aside their dignity, they could still live quite happily.
Now that the Black Star Army had laid its hands on the title of the strongest within the Star Field, the competition against the Limitless Financial Group had basically turned into a tug-of-war, where it would be unsolvable in a short period of time. Since he had also completed his advancement, and his accumulated experience was not enough to reach the next stage, his focus was on the construction of his territory.
After ‘shopping’ within the dynasty for such a long time, he had seen most of the potential stocks. Han Xiao intended to return to the Shattered Star Ring and digest the impact of his battle, as well as adjust the details of the construction. He would also use [Mechanical Proliferation Growth] to transform some of his first-generation mechanical life forms to accelerate the development of the mechanical civilization.
The next step would then be to use the logistics capabilities of his base to build a secondary dimension factory, creating a new generation of mechanical army. Although they could be built within the Dimension Factory, the army bases there were mostly branches and were far less efficient than back at his main base.
“Phillip, set a course back to the Shattered Star Ring.”
“Roger roger, hum…”
…
“Strongest in the Star Field? Hehe…”
There were only a few guests within this retro-style tavern, and a tall, thin man sat next to the wooden bar counter as he stared at the appearance of Han Xiao, showing a playful smile.
He was a Spacehuman, but his skin looked unhealthy and pale, seemingly in a state of malnutrition and lack of light. He looked ordinary. Nobody would be able to pick him out of a group of people.
Staring at Han Xiao on the screen, the tall and thin man revealed a reminiscent expression.
“Obtaining a national pillar like Black Star is a blessing for the dynasty,” the tavern’s owner commented while wiping his glasses.
“That’s right. It’s really a blessing for the dynasty. If there’s a chance, I would really like to meet him again.”
“You’ve seen Black Star before?” The bar owner got interested.
“I could say that. Speaking of which, he even took some things of mine. Hehe… Not sure if he still remembers such a… small fry like me.”
The tall and thin man laughed before standing up, picking up his jacket he draped over his seat, and walking out.
“On your tab again?” The bar owner put down the glass in his hand, speaking as though he was familiar with the man.
“Oh, yes, same old. When my salary comes, I’ll settle everything along with next month’s.”
With this sentence, the man walked out of the bar, putting his uniform back on… which was the uniform of a dynasty army officer.
…
Within a room in the Sea of Star Spirits, a dozen or so different kinds of people were gathered around a long table, discussing something vigorously. There were dozens of printed physical books on the long table, all without titles on their covers.
“Start from the Central Galaxy? Are you crazy? You’re only seeking death!”
“If our target is too far, we will not have enough influence. The Super Star Cluster civilizations are the most suitable for development.”
“We only use these books to promote our ideologies. The quantum networks are strictly monitored by countless civilizations, and not only will we not enjoy any convenience, we’ll also attract attention.”
“To me, I feel that we should wait and see. It might not be a good time now…”
Hearing all the discussions, Rossellin, who was leaning on the sofa, softly coughed twice.
Edmond turned his head toward her, and thinking about it, he rapped on the table to make everyone quiet before turning to Rossellin.
“Do you have any ideas?”
Rossellin faintly smiled. “You guys look like a circus act.”
Hearing this, many people revealed displeased expressions.
Edmond, however, waved his hand, not the least bit angry. “You’re right, we’ve yet to begin our business. Of course there would be many disagreements. I hope to hear your opinion on this.”
Rossellin snorted, sitting up to speak. “The current condition of the universe is stable, with little to no chance for any external friction between the three civilizations. However, there are undercurrents surging, and each civilization is walking on a tightrope. This is because of the Flickering World and the Evolutionary Totems… I’ve already said it clearly within the program. The root of this problem lies in the internal struggle of the three civilizations and its opposition to many of the Star Cluster level civilizations.
“The Flickering World is a way to reshuffle the deck. While the attention of the whole universe is on the Flickering World, we can quietly develop, promoting this idea in a low-key but gentle manner. By sugar-coating it as a religion, we can lurk first and lie in wait for an opportunity.”
“The Star Cluster level civilizations hope to obtain a channel to promote themselves to higher tier, but the Universal Civilizations will also firmly hold on to their interests, leaving these Super Star Clusters and Star Clusters only leftovers,” Rossellin blandly replied. “The latter two have been suppressed for too long and will one day reach a critical point. They will not wait forever, and when all hope is lost, it will detonate. The Flickering World has the potential to be a fuse, and this is the fertilizer for our development.”
Edmond nodded. “I think the same way. It’s best for our timing not to be delayed.”
Hearing this, everyone finally nodded.
Seeing this, Rossellin could not help but sneer inwardly.
In truth, she did not look up to any of these people at all. They were only blindly following Edmond’s twisted ideals and her desire to watch the world burn.
Breaking the restrictions of the three universal civilizations? It sounded good, but she did not care. Her motive was to overthrow the entire three civilizations; only this would make her excited.
Edmond was a firm believer in his own ideals, but in her opinion, this was just a good entry point.
With this age of material abundance, no one would worry about survival, and only the struggle for interests would make the world go around. This was a revolution not initiated because of survival but because of the unresolved contradictions between the three universal civilizations and the other super star cluster civilizations.
The world often stood on the edge of the cliff, struggling to maintain its balance. It just needed someone to push it, like pushing the switch to change the tracks of a railroad to lead history down another path. If there was no such thing, they just had to create one.
“If we are to start our business, we will need a name,” Edmond said seriously.
Looking at his silver skin, Rossellin laughed meaningfully.
“How about… we call ourselves the Silver Revolutionary Army?”
Chapter 956. Education Plan |
After travelling for a period, the fleet finally returned to the Shattered Star Ring. Han Xiao returned to the headquarters immediately, gathering his officers to review the work over this period.
Generally speaking, there were still the same old problems, but the slightly better news was that the Germinal Financial Group was developing smoothly. As the subsidiary financial group under the Black Star Army, they had manpower, money, influence, and even the support of armed forces, which was the same as them being born with a golden spoon in the Shattered Star Ring. It quickly gathered a large number of the affiliated business partners of the army and negotiated long-term cooperation deals, which made the structure of the army much simpler.
What was worth nothing was that Iapetus, whom Han Xiao had taken from the dynasty, had shown excellent business skills. The performance of the team he led was always at the forefront, and they signed up with one cooperation treaty after another for the financial group. Apart from gathering the subsidiary businesses, they even tried to open new channels.
In her comments, Sylvia mentioned that Iapetus had excellent business negotiation skills, strategic vision, leadership abilities, persuasive eloquence, calm judgment, and so on. He was a high-quality management talent and should be placed on the shortlist for an executive position.
The Black Star Army was full of talents. Because of its huge size, there were many officers in all kinds of positions. Phillip would evaluate the army members and select the talents to form a candidate list, which would all be potential officers.
Han Xiao used his free time to review the backlog of documents, and after finishing all official matters, the rest of the officers also relaxed.
“By the way, how is the learning progress of Nero?” Han Xiao asked.
“Good, he is very talented,” Reynold simply replied.
“Ok, when the meeting ends, I’ll go take a look.” Han Xiao stroked his chin. “I have a question for you.”
“Please.”
“If there ever comes a day where I’ll have to kill your sister, what will you do?”
Reynold froze his shock, his expression hesitant. “This…”
“No need to be scared, just say your true feelings.”
“… Why would you want to kill her?”
“For example, she commits a severe crime or undermines the benefits of our army.”
Reynold breathed out slowly before saying expressionlessly, “If that’s the case, then I will not hold any grudges against you. She must be responsible for her own actions. However, I will not continue working for you at that time as well. I hope you can understand.”
The atmosphere suddenly grew tense, and everyone held their breath. They knew that Han Xiao did not say things without a reason. Could it be that Rossellin, who had left the army, had really done something?
Han Xiao also stared at him for a while before he laughed and nodded. The atmosphere lightened considerably.
“Who can tell what will happen in the future? Don’t mind me. There’s nothing wrong with your answer.”
Reynold silently nodded but retreated to a corner, deep in thought.
Glancing at his face, Han Xiao secretly shook his head.
When the original three founders of the Silver Revolutionary Army came over to the Black Star Army to poach Rossellin, he had planted an (Observer’s Mark) on Edmund. Not too long ago, he had seen the official establishment of the Silver Revolutionary Army through the (Observer’s Mark]. The movements of Edmond and company could not even escape his eyes.
Based on his original plans, he wanted to sit and watch the growth of the Silver Revolutionary Army. One reason was that he was growing leeks; only when the three Universal Civilizations started to pay attention to the Silver Revolutionary Army would he then be able to render a great merit. Secondly, he wanted to have someone that he knew clearly trigger the contradictions between the civilizations. Only then would he know how to deal with it. Lastly, he wanted to sit behind the scenes and watch as he felt that there might be a chance to utilize the Silver Revolutionary Army in the future.
However, Han Xiao’s thoughts had never been set in stone. He had always adjusted his plans flexibly according to the situation. Now that his position in the dynasty had been consolidated, this achievement might not be needed.
As for the threat with the World Tree Civilization, that was supposed to be an issue in the future, but it had turned into a randomly triggered explosive. With external threats looming, it was unknown whether he should allow the Silver Revolutionary Army to wreak havoc.
The conflict between the three universal civilizations and the Super Star Cluster civilizations was something inevitable. The latter was bound to one day rebel against the dominant civilizations due to their contradictions. The Silver Revolutionary Army was just the fuse.
Han Xiao knew that killing off the Silver Revolutionary Army in advance would not help to resolve any conflicts, but there was a chance it would postpone the outbreak.
But no matter what he chose, the upper echelons of the Silver Revolutionary Army would have to be killed. In many cases, ideology was even more frightening than weapons. Reformers typically did not meet a good end, so Han Xiao was also concerned about Reynold’s thoughts and wished to give him a heads up. However, for someone like Reynold, once he made up his mind, no one could change his thoughts. Sylvia looked around before coughing, breaking the silence. “By the way, I have an interesting proposal here. Please take a look.”
She raised her communicator and showed a virtual screen with a document within.
Han Xiao swept across and raised an eyebrow. “… Super Education Plan?”
“That’s right. We opened training camps on many planets to train reserve members, but it was too militarized, and only those who signed a contract to be reserve army members would receive grooming. This proposal is for the Black Star Army to provide funding and open a private Super co
llege in the Shattered Star Ring, where any civilian can pay for school and need not be a reserve…”
“Wait.” Han Xiao raised his hand up. “Such schools are everywhere, and every galactic civilization has their own official Super college. There’s no need for me to also have another.”
“No, this is different.” Sylvia shook her head. “You’re the strongest in the Star Field. This identity has appeal and can attract the maximum number of students. The school that we will run is different.”
Han Xiao stroked his chin, browsing the proposal, and casually asked, “What about the benefits?”
“Opening such a school will allow you to effectively expand your influence, and you can also use this as a form of social responsibility,” Sylvia said. “Many business partners of the army are too distant from your average galactic resident; the establishment of a college will allow the galactic residents to turn their admiration for you into actual support, allowing your influence to penetrate deep into the masses. Also, this will allow the idle army members to have something to do.”
“Sounds like a good plan.” Han Xiao nodded. This sort of idea was also good to help him cultivate more leeks. In the past, this was not done, mainly because his influence and funds were not large enough. Now, the Black Star Army really had the qualifications to diversify into the education sector.
No matter how strong a Beyond Grade A was, or how great their reputation was, to the ordinary galactic residents, they were just like movie stars. Apart from being a teatime topic and a focus of public opinion, the actual impact on their daily lives was not great. Opening a school was a great way to capitalize on one’s influence as the process of providing welfare to the people would result in them increasingly supporting the various businesses of the Black Star Army in their daily lives. The benefits were long term and multi-faceted.
Moreover, with the size of the Black Star Army skyrocketing, there were many idle soldiers around.
