Chapter 1 The Brilliant World Conflict

In the current universe, the conflict in the Shining World is seen as a rebellion by the Super Star Cluster Alliance against the multi-year hegemony of the three major civilizations. After months of fermentation, the interstellar society has given the event a formal name: "The Brilliant World War."

For the Brilliant World War, the Super Star Cluster Alliance has been preparing for decades. During the first to third phases of exploration, they continuously sent stowaways to infiltrate the star field and establish secret stargates. While the three major civilizations were busy dealing with the intelligent plague some time ago, the Super Star Cluster civilizations secretly prepared war resources, avoiding detection, and established hidden warehouses in desolate cosmic belts in different locations, and even built secret military communication networks.

Now, all the hidden moves have been connected. The Super Star Cluster civilizations have built secret transportation networks to deliver blood to the Shining World. The secret force transporting the Soul Conversion Twins arrived in the Shattered Star Ring across the star field through a secret stargate channel, without leaving any records in public stargates or similar places.

In the temporary detention room of the main ship, Lagos, the supervisor of the Modo Civilization Expeditionary Fleet, is communicating with the Soul Conversion Twins, explaining the mission.

"...You two, your target is Iso Harrigan, Dragon Throne's adoptive father, and currently a special consultant to the Black Star Army."

"The higher-ups transferred us here, isn't it to deal with Black Star? Why the change of target?" The elder brother of the Soul Conversion Twins asked in a shrill voice.

"This is the plan to deal with Black Star. Iso is a key figure. He is very important to Dragon Throne, and Black Star maintains a special relationship with Dragon Throne. We can use this method to divert Black Star's attention from us and withdraw the Black Star Army."

Lagos said in a deep voice.

Over the past few months, he and the exploration army's high command have repeatedly analyzed the pros and cons, and finally chose a roundabout route.

This combat plan has been approved by the staff headquarters. According to Modo's current situation, to make Black Star stop, they can only plunge Black Star into another vortex.

The Modo Civilization also knows Iso's reputation. This long-lived species possesses extremely strong prophetic abilities and is difficult to deal with, but compared to directly dealing with Super-A grades, the difficulty is even greater, so targeting Iso has the highest probability of success.

Moreover, precisely because Iso's predictions are powerful, he must be eliminated specifically—in the past few months, Iso, paired with Nilo, has been searching extensively in the Shattered Star Ring, and has discovered the locations of multiple transportation lines of the Super Star Cluster Alliance, causing considerable losses. If the Black Star Army only targeted the Modo Civilization on the surface, and could only "accidentally injure" other Super Star Cluster civilizations, the impact on the war situation would expand further.

Although Nilo's luck also played a significant role, in the eyes of the Super Star Cluster civilizations, the main "contribution" was Iso's predictions. Therefore, even without the need to deal with Black Star, they had to find a way to handle Iso's problem. Now, it's killing two birds with one stone.

However, the Soul Conversion Twins were very disappointed:

"I thought we were going to directly attack Black Star. What a waste of excitement."

Lagos frowned, "If you fail to deal with Black Star, you will surely die. Isn't it safer to deal with Iso?"

Hearing this, the Soul Conversion Twins let out an ironic sneer.

They live a life without light, do they still care about this?

Black Star is a peak Super-A grade, and is bound to be difficult to deal with, but the two don't care about the danger of the action at all. They only have their eyes on Black Star's huge assets and lofty status.

If they could use the Soul Conversion Instrument to seize Black Star's body, all of this would belong to them. Not only would they gain freedom, but they could also become a top powerhouse in the universe, taking away the power Black Star has cultivated for decades and the foundation he has built.

Compared to life and death, the two would rather take this gamble, but there is no need to reveal their true intentions at this time.

"Tell me, what exactly do you want us to do?" The younger brother of the Soul Conversion Twins asked hoarsely.

"Iso is now a special consultant to the Black Star Army. The Black Star Army is heavily guarded and has some special ability to detect hostile targets, so we will use means such as forging transportation lines as bait to lure them out, and try to get the two of you in contact with Iso. Then, you will use the Soul Conversion Instrument to temporarily distort his thinking, manipulate him to intervene in a civilization's conflict, and let him deliberately seek death, framing the civilization, thereby angering Dragon Throne... We will secretly promote this matter, you only need to be responsible for your own tasks, there is no need to know the other details."

Lagos explained in a low voice.

Both publicly and privately, Iso must die, and his death must be blamed on a galactic civilization protected by a peace treaty, causing Dragon Throne to become enemies with that civilization. It would be best to force Dragon Throne to lose control and cause a massacre. In this way, higher civilizations must maintain the peace treaty, turning Dragon Throne into a target of public criticism. Even if they fail to force Dragon Throne to do such a thing, given her nature, she will inevitably break out in conflict with that civilization.

In any case, Black Star will definitely turn around to help, and may even use force to protect Dragon Throne. In this way, the Black Star Army will have another more urgent opponent, and there is a high probability that the army will be withdrawn.

"Got it." The Soul Conversion Twins remained noncommittal.

This is not the first time the two have done this, and they are already familiar with it.

Lagos gave some more instructions before ending the communication. The guarding soldiers closed the door again, preventing the two from moving around at will.

The Soul Conversion Twins looked at each other, and understood each other's meaning without speaking.

—This is an opportunity to become free people. When the Soul Conversion Instrument is in hand, find a way to escape after completing the task, unwilling to continue to be imprisoned by the Modo Civilization as tools.

…

In the office, Han Xiao was flipping through reports from the Shattered Star Ring, occasionally looking up at the remote projections of Nilo and Iso in front of him.

"Discovered 38 Super Star Cluster Alliance transport fleets, completely destroyed 2 secret transport lines of the Modo Civilization, 7 secret transit resource strongholds, seized daily supplies, weapons and ammunition, and 11 suspected transport line clues of other Super Star Cluster civilizations are being monitored... Good job."

After browsing the report, Han Xiao smiled and praised.

"It's all thanks to your excellent guidance."

Nilo touched his head, smiled foolishly, and licked his hand.

"You are now the chief supervisor of the Shattered Star Ring, don't smile so silly, you have to be serious, you know?" Han Xiao tapped the table.

Nilo immediately tightened his face, put away his smile, and looked serious.

He is also an adult now, but in front of Han Xiao, he has always behaved very relaxed, unconsciously revealing a childish side, making Han Xiao feel like he hasn't grown up... but in the eyes of elders like him, their own children will never grow up.

…Of course, it may also be because Nilo's height is very boyish.

At this time, Iso smiled and said, "I like this kid, he has a lot of potential. Give him some time and he will grow into a person who can stand alone, and he really has good luck."

Han Xiao nodded and asked, "Have you had any recent predictions about Modo's movements?"

Iso shook his head, "It's still that vague sense of crisis. Three months have passed, and they still don't seem to be taking action."

Han Xiao turned to look at Nilo, "Then you should pay attention to strengthening intelligence gathering. If there is any disturbance, you must report to me."

During this period, he analyzed the possible plans that the Modo Civilization might take and felt that the probability of directly attacking him was very low. It was more likely that they would attack the people around him, so he strengthened the protective forces around the home planet and various cadres, especially increasing Phillip's monitoring of the entire army.

Because most of the intelligence is reported level by level, it may not be able to reach him, so he lowered Phillip's direct reporting intelligence importance standards. Although this will lead to an exponential increase in the things he has to deal with every day, with many trivial matters, Han Xiao doesn't mind being more cautious at this time.

"By the way, how did you talk to Ames? I'm running around with the Black Star Army now, isn't she afraid that I'll find a chance to sneak away?" Iso asked.

"Oh, she asked me to keep an eye on you. If you run away, I'll catch you back." Han Xiao said with a smile.

"Tsk, I knew it." Iso glared, "Is she that worried? I've seen more of the world than she has, and I've eaten more salt than she's eaten rice."

"Then you must often be too salty." Han Xiao raised his eyebrows, "Listening to your tone, it seems like you really have the intention of sneaking away."

"I've been under house arrest in Longtan for decades, I can't just stay there until I die of old age." Iso folded his arms in front of his chest, "To be honest, I'm very relieved with you taking care of Ames, so I don't need to stay here anymore. I've spent these years cultivating myself, and it's time to continue my journey."

Han Xiao didn't find it strange either. Although Iso had been staying safely with Ames for decades, this amount of time might be about the same as one or two years in the eyes of ordinary people for a long-lived species like him. This old guy is a thrill-seeking wanderer at heart and cannot be chained to one place forever.

"Then why don't you just tell Ames directly? If you speak frankly and reason with her, she will definitely not stop you anymore."

"No, no, if I did that, she wouldn't send someone to chase me, that would be boring."

Iso shook his head repeatedly, his tone revealing a cheap air of "I'll let you do something intimate if you catch me."

Han Xiao was speechless.

Suddenly, he really wanted to beat this old man...

"Aren't you afraid that I'll be prepared and not let you slip away?"

"Haha, I just want to tell you that you won't stop me." Iso laughed, "I have to maintain a tacit understanding with her, so I need you to help convey my meaning."

Han Xiao understood. Iso was going to leave without saying goodbye, so he was using him as a mouthpiece, and there might be a meaning of getting back at him. After all, it was himself who had caught Iso back last time. The old man still remembered this, and he cared about his face when he got older.

Giving himself a reminder in advance, and then successfully slipping away, then the two would be even. This was one of Iso's few bad tastes.

"Then when are you planning to slip away?"

"I'll finish my last job for you, and I'll leave here after the Brilliant World War is over."

"Heh, we'll see if you can escape from my grasp by then."

Han Xiao and Iso smiled at each other.

Nilo looked left and right, suddenly feeling like he was an out-of-place third party.

Han Xiao gave a few more instructions, hung up the communication, thought for a while, and then dialed a number, turning to contact Ames.

The communication connected halfway through the first ring.

"Yo, busy man, you have time to chat with me again?"

Ames' light laughter was like a trickling stream, flowing out of the communicator.

"What have you been up to lately?" Han Xiao asked with a smile.

"Learning the knowledge you exchanged for me."

Han Xiao exchanged an Esper Ability knowledge last time and passed it on to Ames. She has been studying it at home. Normal Super-A grades don't have panels and can't do it overnight, so they can only study professional knowledge slowly.

The two chatted for a while, and the topic turned to recent events.

"Black Star, how long do you think the Brilliant World War will last?" Ames asked curiously.

"At least three to five years, at most ten or twenty years."

Han Xiao pondered.

The Super Star Cluster Alliance is not that easy to give up. In his previous life, the Brilliant World War lasted for quite a while. Players came into contact with the Proxy War stage at the end of Version 4.0. In the later stages of the war, most of the war zones became battlefields for regular troops. At that time, it was during the version update when players were offline.

This time, there was a sudden intelligent plague, and the Super Star Cluster Alliance was better prepared and could resist for a longer time, but this time, with his involvement, the war process would be shortened. The two factors influenced each other, and the plot of his previous life had already been changed. Han Xiao couldn't say how long the Super Star Cluster Alliance could last this time.

But the final result was likely to be no different from his previous life, and it would end with the Super Star Cluster Alliance's failure. This war was originally a gamble for a glimmer of hope, and it was a very low-success gamble, but the Super Star Clusters still resolutely entered the arena.

"That's so long..." Ames sighed softly, "I was originally planning to invite you to travel to a sub-dimensional world again, it seems like you won't have time in the next few years."

"Again?"

Han Xiao subconsciously rubbed his waist.

"You're not willing?" Ames tilted her head, her long hair cascading over her shoulders like a waterfall.

"Cough cough, actually I'm not that busy. You know, us Super-A grades basically don't personally intervene in the Brilliant World War. After we take down the Modo Civilization, I'll be free. Then I can take some time to accompany you to the sub-dimensional world..."

And take the opportunity to let Iso slip away... Han Xiao thought to himself.

"Then it's a deal."

Ames' eyes curved into crescents, her smile radiant.