Chapter 178 Triple Defense

In the conference room, whose defenses had been tripled, the remaining Modo Twin Kings and a group of executives were holding an emergency meeting. Everyone present had seen the world and quickly recovered from the initial shock. As soon as they regained their composure, they felt boundless anger and lingering fear.

"Have you found out who did it?"

The Modo Twin Kings' faces were ashen.

Every time they recalled the scene, both of them felt lingering fear. If it hadn't been their unlucky colleague giving the speech at the time, they might have been the ones who died!

Daring to openly assassinate them, the leaders of the civilization, was a provocation to the entire Modo Civilization. Their mood at this moment was one of utter rage.

"The culprit hasn't been caught yet, but the intelligence department has submitted an analysis report of the recording. A matching case has been found in the database..."

A high-ranking intelligence official looked serious. He tapped on the table, and the next moment, a green virtual screen rose from the table in front of each official, displaying the same document.

"The weapon used by the assassin was a golden spear. According to data comparison, the owner of this weapon is the high-risk wanted criminal codenamed [Secret Thorn]. The earliest record is from the Kund Clan incident. This person committed multiple assassinations at that time, then disappeared for more than ten years. Recently, he has been active in the country again, killing some leaders in various industries...

"According to analysis, [Secret Thorn] possesses top Heavenly Disaster-grade combat power, suspected to have reached the level of a Super-A seed. The golden spear he uses is a powerful enchanted weapon, but because there are too few observation records, we don't have much intelligence. However, from this assassination, we can infer that [Secret Thorn]'s weapon has extremely strong energy penetration and extra damage to powerful targets. On the other hand, [Secret Thorn] may be working with a group. There seem to be many other assassinations related to him. We suspect that he established a force during the ten years he disappeared..."

Assassination attempts against Modo Civilization were frequent now, and not all of them were the work of the Assassin Alliance. Other forces were also active in the dark. A high-level civilization would not lack enemies, and some of them took advantage of Modo's chaos. Some were black market assassination organizations, and some were overseas terrorist forces. There were also racial extremists and criminals deliberately posing as assassins. Social security was unstable, and law enforcement agencies were overwhelmed.

After the Modo Twin Kings finished reading the report, one of them shouted, "I'm more concerned about who instructed this assassin! Which force does he belong to!"

"[Secret Thorn]'s appearance is clearly related to the Kund Clan incident. The main parties involved at that time were the Crimson Empire and their allies. Although we don't know which force the assassin belongs to, he is definitely related to the Crimson Empire. He may be a death soldier secretly cultivated by the empire, or a cadre of an empire's Super-A ally..."

"So, this operation is likely to be authorized by the Crimson Empire?!" The Modo Twin Kings' expressions were uncertain.

"This... not necessarily." The intelligence officer thought for a moment and said in a deep voice, "The situation at that time was different from now. More than ten years ago, the Super-A Association had not been established, and the empire still had enough control over its Super-A allies. The assassination at that time was indeed related to the empire, but now the situation has changed. We cannot rule out the possibility that this incident was a private action by a Super-A."

Hearing this, everyone's expression changed, and a figure almost subconsciously appeared in their minds.

"Could it be... Black Star?!"

The Modo Twin Kings were shocked and angry.

Although the Crimson Empire was rogue, assassinating a high-level civilization's leader was far more risky than rewarding for them. It basically made no sense to do so.

After thinking about it, it seemed that only Black Star, who had a deep feud with them, had such a motive.

"Black Star! He gained the upper hand in the Flickering World War and made us suffer a lot, but does that make him think he can do whatever he wants?! Daring to do such a thing, too arrogant! Modo will never let him go!!"

The Modo Twin Kings were furious.

In this way, there was another target for participating in the Flickering World War, not only for the future of the civilization, but also to make Black Star pay for his blood debts. They believed that after this incident, the entire civilization could unite against the enemy, and there would be no more opposition.

But at this time, a high-level official hesitated and objected:

"But I don't think it's right. What is Black Star trying to achieve by doing this? Is it just for a moment of revenge? There's no reason! He is a profit-seeking hero. He has gained an advantage in the Flickering World and taken the initiative... To be honest, he can surround and attack, making us suffer again and again. There is no need to assassinate the civilization leader. Doing so will bring him risks.

"If it is exposed later, the heroic image created by the three major civilizations will be severely damaged, and he will become passive. Black Star doesn't seem like someone who would make such a reckless decision..."

After listening to this reasoning, many senior officials present frowned, suspiciously.

"That makes sense. Black Star won't do meaningless things. If the assassination was authorized by him, he must be trying to achieve a goal..."

"What could be the goal?"

The room became quiet, and everyone frowned, racking their brains, and constantly filling in the blanks.

More than ten seconds later, an intelligence officer's eyes flashed, and he suddenly stood up and said, "I seem to understand Black Star's plan!"

"Oh? Tell us quickly." Everyone's eyes immediately focused on him.

The intelligence officer's eyes flickered, and his tone was firm:

"Black Star is doing this to prevent us from surrendering!"

"Huh?"

Everyone tilted their heads in unison, and a big question mark popped up in their minds.

"You... explain." The Modo Twin Kings frowned.

"My speculation is this. Black Star knows that we are very clear that Modo has basically no chance of breaking the game in his hands. He is afraid that we will give up the Flickering World War and withdraw the expeditionary army. In this way, he will not be able to continue to surround and attack. So, in order to prevent us from retreating in the face of difficulties, he secretly instructed the assassin to do such a thing, openly provoking the face of the entire Modo civilization. He has already calculated our reaction - whether the murderer is his man or not, we will suspect him.

"Then, because of the hostile relationship between the two sides, he thinks that we are very likely to publicly claim that Black Star is the mastermind, so as to attack his reputation. In this way, he will get his wish... Once we claim that Black Star is the mastermind, then under the attention of the entire universe, we must show an attitude of pursuing it to the end and cannot easily withdraw the expeditionary army. Instead, we must continue to invest troops, otherwise, it will be seen by the outside world as a compromise. As a high-level civilization whose leader was assassinated, we will never compromise. In this way, Black Star has successfully maintained the situation, so that we cannot retreat, and he will continue to surround and attack, constantly eroding our forces."

Everyone was shocked, and quickly recalled that their mental journey coincided with this guess, and their backs could not help but feel cold.

Sure enough, our reaction has been calculated by Black Star... Fortunately, we predicted Black Star's prediction.

One of the Modo Twin Kings shook his head again and again and said, "No, no, Black Star knows that we will identify him, isn't he afraid of his reputation plummeting?"

"I think, he may not be really afraid..." An official pondered, "If we don't catch the murderer and have no evidence, who will the outside world believe with Black Star's inherent heroic image? Even if there is evidence, Black Star can still deny it and say that we are framing him... Moreover, his current heroic image is specially created by the three major civilizations. Although Black Star has enjoyed the benefits, he is also bound by his reputation. If he can get rid of it, Black Star is not without benefits. The three major civilizations may be more anxious than him..."

As soon as he finished speaking, many people nodded, feeling that it made some sense.

The Modo Twin Kings suppressed their anger and said, "Then if it was really Black Star who did it, we will not only not pursue it, but also help him cover it up? Absolutely impossible! Don't even think about it!"

The two admitted that this reasoning made sense, but in order not to fall into Black Star's scheme, should they, as a dignified high-level civilization, not pursue the murderer, but hide it and suffer this big loss in vain?

It was too absurd, didn't they want face?!

How could their dignified Super Star Cluster civilization be frightened by this kind of thing? How should such a bad event be handled? It was impossible to compromise in any form!

At this time, the intelligence officer who made this speculation hesitated and spoke again:

"Actually... there is another possibility."

"Go on!"

"Ahem, I just thought about it. Suppose a third party, based on our feud with Black Star, predicted the reactions of both of us, so they sent someone to pretend to be [Secret Thorn] or bought this assassin, deliberately assassinating in full view of the public, causing a huge impact, so as to frame Black Star and deepen our hatred relationship with Black Star... Could this be the case?"

Hearing this, everyone was shocked.

There were many examples of third-party provocations in history, and this speculation was entirely possible.

"Who would do such a thing?"

"Need you ask? It may be our enemies of Modo, or it may be Black Star's enemies, secretly provoking us and watching us fight each other, both sides losing..."

"So, in this case, should we still withdraw the expeditionary army, so as not to fall into the enemy's trap?"

The Modo Twin Kings were taken to think layer after layer, and were confused.

It was no wonder that they over-thought, smart people would always make various assumptions for an undetermined event, guess the reasons behind it, and deduce one layer of things to the fourth and fifth layers, but they could not imagine that the matter was actually very simple, it was just a reckless behavior of a fool, and everything else was self-deception.

"Your Excellencies, we are just assuming now. We cannot confirm that Black Star is the real culprit. Catching the murderer is the top priority!" A senior official reminded.

The Modo Twin Kings came back to their senses, nodded heavily, and shouted:

"Yes! No matter what, we will fully track down the assassin, and be sure to catch him to find out who is behind it. Even if it is really Black Star's trap, Modo will never retreat or compromise!"

After speaking, the two looked extremely ugly, and felt depressed, feeling that no matter what choice they made, they could not escape Black Star's grasp.

Such an opponent was so terrifying!

Everyone present looked at each other, many people wanted to say something but stopped, but in the end they did not speak.

If it was really Black Star's trap, then the decision of the Modo Twin Kings was exactly what people wanted. In the eyes of some people, the Twin Kings had become a little impulsive and lost their minds.

The hard-leaping opposition was being reviewed, but there were still some opposition who had not jumped out, and their hearts were becoming more and more wavering.

Perhaps, Marco and the others were right, it was time to change the leader.

In the corner, seeing that no one was paying attention to him, the intelligence officer who made the speculation sat down, with a look of unfinished interest, and had only one thought in his mind:

-- Help me up, I can continue to fill in the blanks!

…

If Modo was just suspecting Black Star, then the Crimson Empire could be said to be certain.

"... So, Black Star did this, probably to prevent the Modo civilization from retreating?"

In the Crimson Empire, in the Head of State's office, Ulan Rier crossed her hands and rested them on her fair chin, her eyes flickering.

Modo had blocked the video, and the assassination process could not be seen through normal channels, but the three major civilizations naturally had ways to get the recording. It had nothing to do with virtual technology, it was entirely because they had enough intelligence channels that had been built up over the years.

In this regard, the accumulation of high-level civilizations was not comparable to that of Super-As. For example, Han Xiao's power in the Ancient Star Desert was limited. Although his virtual technology could easily get the recording, it also took a process, descending from the Flickering World to launch a virtual intrusion to obtain the recording. If he did not do it himself and wanted to get the information as soon as possible, it would fall into the category of intelligence channel management.

During the Kund Clan incident, Black Star and the Empire had a tacit understanding on the assassination. Because she had seen it before, even if she did not know the exact identity of the user of the golden spear, she could determine that this person was Black Star's subordinate. So, she thought that the assassination of the Modo Three Kings was Black Star's plan.

"Heh, Black Star is more daring than I thought. He can even assassinate the leaders of high-level civilizations... Although it is a bit of a violation of the rules, the effect seems to be good."

Looking at the report on the screen, Ulan Rier's eyes flashed with a hint of brilliance.

Not long after receiving the news, she also saw Black Star's "plan".

The three major civilizations also did not want the Modo civilization to withdraw so quickly. Making these Super Star Cluster civilizations suffer a lot of damage was the goal of the three major civilizations. Black Star's "practice" was in line with the interests of the three major civilizations.

Wonderful, wonderful...

"However, this matter is a bit too much." Ulan Rier put away her smile.

A Super-A assassinating the leader of a high-level civilization was a very sensitive matter that would touch the nerves of all high-level civilizations, including the three major civilizations.

Just thinking about the meaning behind it, one could know how bad the nature was and how much the leaders of high-level civilizations were afraid of it.

Because, this was the old profession of Super-As at the beginning!

The single-soldier combat power beyond the limit, used for beheading, had a higher cost performance than investing in large-scale wars. One could imagine how terrifying the lethality a Super-A who specialized in assassinating could exert.

During the Exploration Era War, the Super-A assassins who specialized in targeting civilization leaders were the nightmare in the hearts of all surviving civilizations. The three major civilizations established Psionic Restraint Rings on their home planets, mainly to prevent other civilizations from attacking their home planets, but also to prevent Super-A assassins from targeting civilization leaders for beheading.

Now this assassination case made Ulan Rier could not help but think of the tragic examples of the Exploration Era. Once someone opened this gap, it was likely to have a far-reaching impact that was not conducive to high-level civilizations.

"Sigh..."

After pondering for a long time, Ulan Rier finally sighed.

Now the times had changed. No matter what, Black Star was an important ally certified by the Empire, and the pillar of the country.

On this matter, she had no choice but to help clean up the mess. It was impossible to do something that "betrayed her allies" both in terms of emotion and reason.

"I don't know if Black Star's subordinates can escape... Just in case, let the people lurking in the Modo civilization secretly provide some help..."