Chapter 13 Surface of the Black Star Cup No. 13 Competition Planet

This was a vast ring-shaped valley, like a naturally formed arena, with jagged rocks and complex terrain.

Rows of floating spectator stands hung in mid-air, with countless live viewers looking down on the battlefield, and various media broadcasting the situation in real time.

Whoosh—bang!

Suddenly, two fireballs fell from the sky, crashing on either side of the valley. They were two orbital drop pods, and the high temperature from friction with the atmosphere caused the air to distort slightly.

With a click, and the hiss of escaping gas, the hatches of the two single-person drop pods popped open, and two players stepped out. One was Kuang Dao, and the other was Hao Tian.

"Go! Go!!"

As soon as the two appeared, excited cheers and encouragement erupted from the stands in the sky.

Kuang Dao ignored the crowd, flicked out a silver-white mechanical trident, and stared intently at Hao Tian. "I didn't expect us to meet so soon."

"Random draws for opponents. Anything can happen."

Hao Tian was wearing a martial artist's special interstellar combat suit produced by the army and stretched his arms and legs.

After more than a month of fierce fighting, the Black Star Cup's melee-like preliminaries finally came to an end. Like raising Gu (a type of poisonous insect), more than 90% of the participants were eliminated, and only the remaining elites entered the main competition. Kuang Dao and Hao Tian met in the Undying Group's solo combat event and became opponents.

Hao Tian was the pillar of the old powerhouse, Changkong Club, while Kuang Dao was the spokesperson for the rising star, Jiangcheng Team. As professional high-level players, they had a large number of fans in the player community, and their duel today was highly anticipated.

Not only were players watching players' matches, but normal viewers also loved to watch. The players' gameplay was aggressive and unrestrained, with open-minded ideas, making the matches very entertaining, and attracting a large number of NPC fans as well.

High-level players like Hao Tian and Kuang Dao stood out from the legions of millions of players, gaining a lot of NPC supporters, and were even given nicknames by normal viewers. Hao Tian gained the title of "Steady Boxer," and Kuang Dao earned the name "Mechanical Dancer"... It had to be said that these two names were quite fitting for their fighting styles.

The two were old acquaintances, skipped the trash-talking procedure, and directly entered the physical friction stage.

Clang clang clang!

One was a martial artist, the other a mechanical martial artist. Two figures quickly crisscrossed, sparks and arcs flying with each clash.

As the aftermath of their battle spread, shockwaves carved ravines in the ground, and stone dust and ash filled the air.

After four versions of the game, their micro-control skills had become increasingly refined. Coupled with their B-level combat power, they were already extremely powerful humanoid monsters in the eyes of ordinary people.

Bang!

The mechanical martial artist had many melee skills. Kuang Dao's attacks were continuous, and the mechanical trident thrust out countless phantoms, creating dazzling arcs of electricity that covered all of Hao Tian's vital points.

Hao Tian retreated and dodged, suddenly seizing an opportunity, stopping abruptly, and precisely grasping the two side blades of the trident with both hands.

The countless shadows of the trident disappeared. The edge of the trident's blade was only about twenty centimeters away from his big face, but it couldn't advance an inch.

Crack crack!

The muscles in their arms bulged, entering a contest of strength. The ground beneath their feet exploded, and spiderweb-like cracks spread.

"Snake Core Cannon!" Kuang Dao twisted the spear shaft violently with both hands.

The main blade in the middle of the trident suddenly lit up with a dazzling energy, firing a plasma arc cannon, but Hao Tian dodged it by turning his head.

The beam shot diagonally upward, disappearing in a flash, piercing a stone mountain, leaving a molten, fiery red hole, and the high temperature burned a layer of viscous magma.

Taking advantage of Kuang Dao's failed sneak attack, Hao Tian raised his elbow and struck the spear shaft horizontally, knocking the trident aside. Then, he used a skill, light flashing on his leg, and stomped on Kuang Dao's chest with lightning speed, sending him crashing to the ground.

"War Stomp!"

Boom!!

Kuang Dao's back made contact with the ground, and a ring-shaped shockwave suddenly bloomed. The ground cracked again, sinking dozens of centimeters directly, forming a semi-circular crater around it. The heavy pressure crushed all the rubble into powder.

The unabated shockwave swept across the ground, and nearby stone mountains collapsed with a roar. The dust was swept away, reaching the edge of the ring-shaped mountain range of the battlefield, and a circle of sand curtain rose around the periphery of the battlefield.

His health and armor values plummeted. Kuang Dao straightened his waist, and the armor on his back transformed into a drill, directly drilling into the ground to escape Hao Tian's stinky feet.

Then, his figure broke out of the ground in the distance, and the weapon in his hand had been replaced by a huge cleaving axe. With a diagonal slash, the force field generator on the axe blade generated a curved shockwave that slashed out rapidly.

Pfft!

Martial Daoyun (a type of energy) covered his arms, Hao Tian raised his hand and blocked the curved shockwave head-on.

The deflected shockwave flew into the air and hit the bottom of a floating spectator stand, causing a loud bang. Amidst the excited uproar of the audience, a honeycomb-structured ion shield appeared, blocking the attack.

In this spectator stand that was shaking non-stop, two special envoys from the Guanghui Federation (Shining Federation) sat in the front row of the VIP seats, recording the images of Hao Tian and Kuang Dao's battle, and whispering to each other.

"The power of the Undying has increased again. Compared with the last disappearance period, the intensity has increased significantly. Excluding the larval stage of the Undying, the earliest batch already possesses stable B-level combat power."

"The Undying have experienced three disappearance periods, and the time is getting longer and longer. The way they improve their strength is different from regular training, showing an independent periodicity. After estimation, if there is another disappearance period, the Undying may step into the Calamity Grade domain."

"What a group of terrifying creatures..."

Thinking that there might be tens of millions of immortal and indestructible Calamity Grade lunatics in the future universe, the two special envoys couldn't help but shudder.

Just thinking about it felt like a disaster.

As their strength increased, players were increasingly valued by advanced civilizations, and more and more civilizations gradually began to study the patterns of players in depth, like Sorokin.

The three great civilizations also had the idea of recruiting Undying to serve as suicide squads, but the players of the past were relatively weak and did not catch their eye, and the characteristics of disappearing from time to time and the uncertain upper limit of growth made the advanced civilizations hesitate.

But now that the cyclical nature of players' growth had been proven, advanced civilizations had to consider the possibility of the Undying entering the Calamity Grade, and they were all willing to extend olive branches and offer better treatment.

The Black Star Army, with tens of millions of Undying, naturally increased the fears of the major advanced forces.

In the past, they were mainly afraid of Black Star himself, but now there was another group they needed to be wary of.

To them, the army was like holding a large number of high-quality stocks. If the Undying could really collectively hit the daily limit and reach the Calamity Grade, then the scale of the Black Star Army's high-level combat power would instantly overwhelm the universe-level civilizations.

On the other hand, the Black Star Army's unique attraction to the Undying also surprised the advanced civilizations.

If Black Star didn't disappear periodically, they would almost think that Han Xiao was also a member of the Undying clan.

…

At the same time, Han Xiao, far away in the Black Star Palace, was not paying attention to the competition, but watching the empire's public trial, which was held today.

The image showed the surface of a desolate planet, where the Traveler and another Super-A Grade who had been captured were bound and kneeling on the execution platform, dying and unable to move.

The two were in extremely poor condition at this time, with Clotti's energy existing in their bodies, constantly destroying regenerating cells, maintaining a state of serious injury. They had basically lost their combat power and were unable to break free from their bonds.

Beside the two, a remote projection of an imperial official stood in front of the camera and loudly read a prepared statement.

The content of the speech was to announce the crimes of the Traveler and the other person. Crimes such as endangering public order, war crimes, and mass slaughter were all piled on the two, making them seem utterly heinous, and that living was a waste of air.

What Han Xiao cared about was the empire's sentence on the Traveler. As expected, the empire mentioned what he wanted to hear.

"...The Traveler has always been active as a neutral mercenary. It has been verified that his true identity is a direct Super-A Grade secretly cultivated by the Modo Civilization, attempting to provoke disputes between the Crimson Empire, the Shining Federation, and the Void Spirit Religion, and shake the order of the explored universe, which is unforgivable. It is currently unknown whether this matter has been authorized by the Modo Civilization. The empire will reserve its attitude of holding them accountable."

Hearing this, Han Xiao's lips curled up.

"Hmph, reserve its attitude of holding them accountable, truly the consistent style of the three great rogues. It seems that the empire has already talked with Sorokin..."

He estimated that the Modo Civilization, which was originally watching the show, was now completely dumbfounded, and had been smashed silly by a black pot falling from the sky.

As for the Star Arc Civilization, the Traveler's true owner, they were probably both surprised and grateful.

However, Han Xiao didn't intend to let Star Arc stay out of it and immediately summoned Phillip.

"Hide the path and anonymously send a copy of the information to the high-level officials of the Modo Civilization."

"Send what buzz~"

"Reveal that Star Arc is the Traveler's real backer."

Han Xiao smiled evilly.

In this way, the dumbfounded Modo Civilization might think that this black pot was Star Arc's attempt to pass the blame, or that the Traveler was biting people randomly when he was desperate.

As for whether the Modo Civilization believed it or not, he didn't care. Anyway, with the clues, the Modo Civilization would definitely find a way to verify it on their own, and Star Arc, feeling guilty, would create a rift between the two sides regardless of whether they found anything or not.

Not only could he provoke relations between the Super Star Cluster Alliance, but he also had the opportunity to create a new enemy for Modo, and all he needed to do was send a message.

It was so low cost to stir up trouble, why not do it?

"Tsk tsk, I'm such a little devil..."

Han Xiao was in a great mood and continued to look at the screen.

At this time, the announcement of the crimes had reached the end. The imperial official looked righteous and stern, and said in a deep voice:

"...In response to the above crimes of the two, the Crimson Empire has decided to execute them by cannon fire, to be carried out immediately!"

After saying that, the remote projection disappeared, and a gap suddenly appeared on the execution platform under their feet, and a device the size of a fist rose up, looking like some kind of beacon locator.

Han Xiao was very familiar with it. His eyes flashed, and he whispered, "The empire's mass-produced universe treasure, Key of Destruction..."

At this moment, matrix-like energy circuits lit up on the surface of the Key of Destruction, and a space channel suddenly unfolded in front of the two.

The other end of the channel stored the empire's group army's remote bombardment, full of dazzling light.

Rumble—

The next moment, earth-shattering energy surged out, filling every inch of vision!

The picture quickly zoomed out, turning into a wide-angle view, overlooking the planet from the distant starry sky.

A ray of strong light bloomed on the surface of the planet, and then formed an energy cluster as dazzling as a star, expanding rapidly, and in turn enveloping the planet.

When the energy cluster expanded to its limit, the huge light ball instantly contracted into a point, like the screen of an old-fashioned television turning off.

In the picture, the area after the explosion was empty, and the planet had disappeared without a trace, completely annihilated.

The Traveler and another Super-A Grade, who were already dying, died in the Key of Destruction's group army's focused fire, and their bodies were gone.

"What a waste..."

The corner of Han Xiao's mouth twitched.

In order to create a big scene, the empire deliberately chose to execute them by cannon fire, dragging a planet along to be buried with them. It was a pity for the two bodies, which were extremely rare research materials.

As expected of a cosmic civilization with a large family and a large business, over the years, they probably had accumulated dozens of Super-A Grade corpses in their freezers, and they were no longer rare... Han Xiao was secretly jealous.

Although the Traveler was an enemy, seeing a Super-A Grade being executed by a cosmic civilization, Han Xiao still felt a little sympathy for them. He estimated that other Super-A Grades felt the same way.

"Alas, no matter how big the universe is, it can't be bigger than ambition. It's difficult to have a space for harmonious coexistence... In front of advanced civilizations, Super-A Grades are at a disadvantage. There are still too few people..."

Thinking about the situation of the Super-A Grades, Han Xiao sighed secretly.

Just as he was about to turn off the broadcast, a strange mental wave was suddenly detected by his perception.

"Who is it?!"

Han Xiao's eyes suddenly narrowed, and he suddenly turned his head to look at the center of the room, spraying out a full electric light from his eyes, and instantly entered a battle state.

In his sight, black flames were born out of thin air, gathering into the appearance of the Saint Oath Leader, Oathkeeper, with a full pretense.

The Oathkeeper gently landed on the ground, walked slowly towards Han Xiao, and opened his mouth in a low voice:

"Black Star, don't be nervous, this is just a mental projection without combat power. I'm here specifically to find you. I'm glad to meet you. I want to do a business deal with you."

"You..."

Hearing this, Han Xiao frowned, looked at the Oathkeeper's face, and said in a somewhat uncertain tone:

"Are you... the leader of the Covenant Organization?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the Oathkeeper slipped on his feet and almost fell.

The expression hidden under the hood was confused.

Damn it, how did you know?!