Chapter 1 The Arrival

Somewhere in the Emerald Star Cluster, a small consortium's exploration fleet was traversing space. Organizations like this lacked the power to occupy resource planets and could only obtain profits through normal exploration and contracted work. It was a common sight in the current Shattered Star Ring.

Exploration ships and transport ships were the main types of spacecraft in this fleet. As an expeditionary fleet, in addition to the necessary crew on each ship, extra manpower was also configured, living in a transport ship dedicated to personnel. This ship was mainly equipped with living facilities, and the upper limit of personnel carried far exceeded that of exploration-type functional spacecraft. Most of the staff who did not hold crew positions usually lived inside.

This long-distance transport ship was like a mobile space station, larger than the industrial transport ships in the fleet. It combined the functions of personnel logistics and food supply and was also equipped with many entertainment facilities to meet the entertainment needs of the accompanying personnel. Nowadays, the competition in the Shattered Star Ring industry was fierce. Without daily benefits, it would be difficult to recruit people by simply treating employees as laborers. As a commercial consortium, employees couldn't be said to be loyal, and living conditions were also an important factor in attracting employees.

The space station's hall was a multi-functional social and entertainment venue, full of entertainment facilities and shops for the crew to spend money. The hall was on the bottom floor, and the vertical floor structure was a ring corridor, meaning that the space above the hall was horizontal bridges. Transparent materials were used, and pedestrians could be seen walking by when looking up. Overall, it looked like a bustling commercial plaza with a dense flow of people.

One part of the hall was the employee cafeteria, which was lively and noisy. Employees of various trades could be seen here.

At this moment, in a corner of the cafeteria, Evans sat alone at a table, eating his employee meal in small bites. His cheeks puffed up as he chewed, his eyelids were lowered, and his eyes stared at the table, lost in thought.

He was still wearing his yellow protective suit with the hood open, looking plain and ordinary, just a very ordinary ground crew member. Ninety-nine percent of the people who did this job were ordinary people, belonging to the lowest level of employees of the consortium.

Around him, however, the tables were full of other ground crew members, chatting while eating, occasionally bursting into laughter. Occasionally, someone's gaze swept over the lonely Evans but did not linger, treating him like air and ignoring him.

Evans was already used to this. The ground crew members were mostly ordinary people, with low work efficiency, and many liked to loaf on the job. In comparison, he was more diligent, never slacking off, and often exceeded his task, so he was often publicly praised by the team leader and received a lot of bonuses.

Because of this style, some colleagues, perhaps out of jealousy or because they disliked him as an ex-convict, united a small group of people to isolate him, and gradually more people stopped interacting with him.

Evans didn't care about being ostracized. He was too lazy to socialize with his colleagues anyway. He had spent many years in prison and no longer cared about other people's opinions.

"Hey, Evans, are you sitting alone?"

At this moment, a familiar voice sounded next to him. Evans looked up, and an acquaintance was standing next to him holding a plate. It was the leader of his ground crew team.

The ground crew department had many teams, and each team was divided into various groups. This team leader was just a grassroots cadre with no status. He was Evans' direct superior who favored him.

"There's no one next to you, right? How about I join you? Don't mind, do you?" the team leader said with a smile.

"I don't mind." Evans motioned for him to sit down.

The team leader sat opposite him, chatting with Evans while eating. Only then could the surrounding ground crew members not ignore Evans' table and turned to greet their superior.

Evans was helpless and lowered his voice, "Supervisor, you don't have to help me out. I really don't care about being ostracized."

"That won't do. What if you're in a bad mood and slack off? Our team's work targets might depend on you to complete." The team leader shrugged.

Evans smiled wryly. This supervisor was also an ordinary person, a good-natured person. Because of his outstanding work efficiency, he took extra care of him and was quite friendly.

After quickly finishing his meal, Evans called out to the supervisor who was still eating and got up with his empty plate. He came to the recycling window in the cafeteria and threw the plate in.

Just then, a few people wearing mecha suits walked into the cafeteria. They were all grassroots mercenaries, and their faces were not quite right, covered with an excited crimson color. They were walking in his direction, attracting his attention.

"Superpowers... Looks like they've taken some kind of mental stimulant, high on drugs."

Evans took a few more glances at this group of people. He was about to brush past them and leave the cafeteria when he suddenly heard the volume of the conversation between these grassroots mercenaries suddenly increase. One of them seemed very excited.

"You don't believe I've developed a new use for my Esper ability?! I'll show you!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the excited mercenary clenched his palm, and the air howled as it gathered, forming an invisible wind ball. It slammed to the ground, and the wind ball exploded, turning into tiny wind blades that splashed in all directions.

The consortium had regulations that prohibited the use of extraordinary powers in public places. Minor violations would result in fines, and serious violations would result in dismissal. However, these Class D mercenaries, who had just used mental stimulants, were in a state of excitement and completely lost their minds, forgetting this rule.

The surroundings instantly fell into chaos. The ground was covered with cut marks, and the surrounding employees were caught in the crossfire, hurriedly dodging.

Because the power of the wind ball was limited, others were not injured, but Evans was the closest and was blown away by the wind pressure. The protective suit was cut to pieces.

A touch of bright red appeared in everyone's eyes.

"Someone's injured!"

Many people immediately gathered around to watch the excitement. The employees of the ground crew team squeezed in. When they saw that the injured person was Evans, their footsteps suddenly stopped, hesitating whether to go forward to help. Just as they were struggling, the team leader had already strode up, anxiously helping Evans up and checking his wounds.

"Where are you hurt? Let me see."

"It's just a minor injury. I'm fine, hiss..."

Evans' face was tense, but the twitching of the corner of his eye showed that the wound was quite painful. There were more than a dozen cuts on his body from the wind blades, the skin was torn, and blood was gurgling out, quickly dyeing the protective suit scarlet.

At this moment, a few patrolling guards heard the noise and ran in.

"What's going on here?!"

The team leader pointed to the mercenaries with an angry expression. "They violated the rules and used their Esper abilities in a public place, causing accidental injury to personnel."

The guard frowned and glanced at the scene. He found that Evans was injured and then looked at the mercenaries. He asked in a deep voice, "Is this true?"

After this accident, these people sobered up a bit. The mercenary who threw the wind ball coughed and said, "I did it accidentally. It was just an accident. I'll go and accept the punishment later."

"Well, it's good that only one person was injured. At most, you'll be fined some salary. It's not a big deal." Seeing this, the guard comforted the mercenaries a few times and turned to look at Evans. His eyes lingered on the ground crew uniform on his body, and he said casually:

"You're called Evans, right? It's just some flesh wounds. Go to the medical room and bandage it up. You won't die."

"That's it?" The team leader was dissatisfied. "Not even an apology?"

"It was my negligence. I'm sorry." The offending mercenary glanced at Evans, gave a perfunctory apology, revealing a hint of indifferent arrogance, not sincere at all.

"What's with that attitude!" The team leader was indignant.

At this moment, the guard impatiently interrupted, "Alright, he's already apologized and will be fined later. Don't be unreasonable."

Although the guard looked like he was handling things impartially, there was a difference in his attitude. He was also an Esper. Seeing that the mercenary had accidentally injured an ordinary ground crew member, he felt that it was not a big deal. In his opinion, although the mercenary had committed a crime, as long as he accepted the punishment, it was best to comfort him appropriately. This was more important than an ordinary person.

And the mercenary was also acting as if it was a matter of course. Seeing that Evans wouldn't die, he was too lazy to look at him again and turned to chat with his companions casually.

This scene fell into the eyes of the surrounding people, and many ordinary people showed complex expressions on their faces.

Most Espers didn't care much about the impact on ordinary people. Ordinary people were well aware of this. Even if the other party obediently apologized and accepted the punishment, their attitude was still indifferent. Seeing this scene, many people felt a nameless fire rising in their hearts.

The privilege of Espers was a universally accepted rule, and they were divided into two classes with ordinary people, which was already a chronic problem of class antagonism.

At this moment, Evans tugged at the team leader, supported himself on his knees, and stood up. Drops of blood dripped onto the ground, splashing into bloody flowers. He endured the pain and said, "It's okay, consider it my bad luck. Accompany me to the medical room."

The team leader glared at the opposite side, gave up the idea of arguing, turned to support Evans, and silently walked out of the crowd.

"It's okay, it's okay, everyone disperse." The guard also waved his hand.

However, at this instant, a sudden change occurred!

Bang!!

The spaceship shook violently, as if it had stopped suddenly. Even the internal shock absorption system could not eliminate the huge inertia. Everyone present staggered and fell to the ground, panicking.

"What's going on?"

"It seems like the spaceship has been forced to stop!"

"Did we encounter space pirates?!"

Just as everyone was scrambling to get up and was about to rush out of the cafeteria to take refuge, the spaceship's internal broadcast suddenly sounded, echoing throughout the ship so that everyone could hear it.

"This is the Black Star Army. Your spaceship has been temporarily forced to stop by us. Don't panic. Our goal is just to find one person. His name is Evans, one of your ground crew maintenance members..."

As soon as the voice fell, all eyes in the room focused on Evans.

Swish!

In an instant, the area around Evans became a blank space. Everyone dodged away, avoiding him like the plague, with expressions of suspicion and uncertainty.

The Black Star Army specifically asked for this guy?!

How did he provoke the Black Star Army to make them go to such lengths to find him? Could it be that he has another identity?!

At this moment, Evans' ordinary appearance suddenly became mysterious in the eyes of everyone around him.

"Black Star Army?" Evans was also stunned.

Isn't that a high-level force that I can't even come close to? What do they want from me... They must be looking for the wrong person.

He turned to look at the team leader, but the team leader had already shaken off his hand and was hiding far away, looking terrified.

Evans was about to say something when he suddenly noticed that the guards and mercenaries had come up and were vaguely surrounding him.

"What are you doing?"

"Preventing you from escaping. Since the Black Star Army wants to see you, you'll wait here obediently." The guard said coldly.

Evans' fists suddenly clenched, his chest heaved rapidly a few times. After a while, his fists loosened weakly again, and he said helplessly, "Don't worry, I won't run. I also want to figure out what's going on."

Everyone waited here for a while. Suddenly, footsteps sounded outside, and a group of people walked in. The usually arrogant high-level cadres were all humbly accompanying a group of Black Star Army warriors, and the warrior captain at the head exuded a powerful energy fluctuation. He was a Class B Esper, already a formidable figure to these low-level employees.

The scene became so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. No one dared to breathe heavily.

The group walked to Evans, and the fleet commander pointed. "He is the person you are looking for."

"Hmm." The Class B warrior of the Black Star Army was expressionless, looking him up and down. "You are Evans?"

Evans took a deep breath, "That is indeed my name, but I have no connection with the Black Star Army. I think you might have the wrong person."

Hearing this, the Class B captain took out a resume and displayed it. "This is your resume, right?"

Upon closer inspection, Evans was shocked. He nodded with a forced smile, his face full of doubt and confusion.

The Black Star Army really wants to find me?

"That's right, you're the one we're looking for. Come with me." The Class B captain nodded.

"Wait a minute, I want to know, why exactly are you looking for me?" Evans couldn't help but ask.

Everyone present perked up and listened quietly, waiting for what was to come.

They also wanted to know the reason. What reason made the Black Star Army go to such lengths to find an ordinary person?

Hearing this, a smile suddenly bloomed on the Class B captain's face. He proactively extended his hand and said enthusiastically:

"You are a talent that His Excellency Black Star has specifically requested to recruit. Brother, welcome to join the Black Star Army."

As soon as the words fell, the whole place was silent for a moment.

Boom!

Then, as if a bomb had exploded, a clamorous wave suddenly erupted!

"What!!"

The team leader trembled all over, dumbfounded. The guards and mercenaries from before were even more frozen in place, horrified.

Everyone present wore expressions of incomparable shock. Some even thought they were hallucinating. Countless incredulous gazes gathered on Evans.

Did we hear correctly?

That famous Super-A Grade Black Star actually specifically recruited an ordinary person?!

Could it be that he is a talent that even a Super-A Grade is tempted by?!

I couldn't tell usually. He must be deliberately hiding his talent.

You can't judge a book by its cover!

Everyone's eyes showed awe, and their hearts were filled with exclamations.

Especially the colleagues who usually ostracized Evans, hurriedly shrank their heads and lowered their heads, covered in sweat, afraid of being noticed by Evans, their hearts filled with regret.

"Recruit... me?"

Evans was dumbfounded.

In that instant, he fell into deep self-doubt.

What merits and abilities do I have that a Super-A Grade would be interested in me?

Could it be that it's really like I fantasized when I was a kid...

--My body is sealed with the evil, rebellious, and arrogant power of the cosmic overlord · Lord of Destruction · Black Demon King?!

…

At the same time, in the distant Ancient Star Desert, in a mysterious base, a few figures were discussing the news of the birth of the Chaotic Secret Energy in a private conference room.

"Another Primal Esper Body has appeared."

"It's actually Chaotic Secret Energy. We need to find a way to get it."

"It fell into the hands of Black Star. Black Star is a newly emerged Super-A Grade in recent decades. His growth rate is extremely astonishing and he is not easy to deal with."

"Black Star can live for a long time. We don't have that much time to wait. The Primal Esper Body is the key to opening the Third Sanctuary and cannot be lost... Let's use the products we have developed over the years. Chaotic Secret Energy is an important material for synthesis and must be taken back."

"It's a pity that the body of the Hetero-God fell into the hands of the Crimson Empire. Otherwise, his Esper abilities could have become the best tools."

"Speaking of which, the Myriad Shadows are also almost mature. After a while, we should be able to harvest them."

"Before reaching the agreed date, we must prepare the awakening ceremony."

"May the glory of the First One never fade."