Chapter 1 Fire Meteors

Rumble—

Fragments of the spaceship fell into the planet's atmosphere, plummeting at high speed, frictioning against the air and catching fire, like a wave of fiery meteors descending from the sky.

Even without Sarota's retreat order, Ames' earth-shattering blow had shattered DarkStar's mentality. This kind of destructive power made blowing up a mothership fleet as easy as playing around. The other spaceships abandoned the mothership and scattered to escape.

Spaceships of all kinds fled from the planet and the mothership, including assault ships, floating ships, escort ships, escape pods, etc., each with different sizes. Naturally, the smaller ships ran in the lead. The large warships that fell behind now found their thick armor, which was originally a source of security for the crew, to be a hated disadvantage.

The Joint Fleet pursued relentlessly, and the lagging warships were constantly blown up, causing brief explosions. The escaping air inside the cabins was quickly burned and exhausted, and the collapsing parts became cold space junk.

Ames' descent was very short; she only made two proper attacks before completely destroying the DarkStar mothership fleet. Her target was only the most conspicuous mothership. After shattering the mothership, she was too lazy to continue.

The mothership fell towards the earth like a huge metallic meteorite. As the accumulated acceleration of gravity increased, the momentum became more and more terrifying. The whistling sound piercing the air gradually sharpened. Looking up from the ground, it was as if the sky was falling.

Boom!!!

Like a meteorite hitting a planet, the mothership smashed out a huge crater, with cracks spreading in all directions for dozens of kilometers. The bursting shockwave stirred up dust and sand that blotted out the sky. The earth trembled as if in an earthquake. Goa and the others, who were thousands of kilometers away, also felt the obvious tremors, and the world in their vision shook and blurred!

This collision was like a super-large space-based weapon, triggering a chain reaction. The ground collapsed, and the entire mothership plunged into the planet's surface. The underground space collapsed layer by layer, and everyone hurriedly escaped.

Dong, dong, dong…

The buggy, withstanding the collapsing rain of rubble, flew out of a fissure in the ground and hovered above the surface. With a hiss, the hatch slid open, and Han Xiao jumped out of the vehicle, brushed away the dust and sand, and looked up. He exclaimed, "Spectacular. Fortunately, Longtan is hard enough and didn't fall down with it, or this planet would be doomed."

The pursuing DarkStar troops had already withdrawn. The tables had turned, and DarkStar was now the one fleeing, with the Joint Fleet chasing behind. Many DarkStar spaceships approached the blockade line of Saint Stone and Black Crow.

Siwardy was hesitant, unsure whether to try to escape. Just then, the Black Crow troops on the other side decisively opened fire on the fleeing DarkStar spaceships.

Seeing this, Siwardy was unwilling to fall behind and decisively ordered, "Aim at DarkStar and fire!"

The arrival of the Dragon Seat (Ames) had changed his attitude. He had originally wanted to control the situation and avoid offending either side as much as possible, but now it was impossible. If he abandoned the blockade and deliberately let DarkStar go, what would the Dragon Seat think? That was the enemy she had personally dealt with. Letting the enemy go would be like going against her!

DarkStar was certainly troublesome, but Ames was even more difficult to provoke. This DarkStar fleet had already collapsed and could not organize an effective counterattack. Saint Stone and Black Crow still had the guts to kick a dog when it's down.

Attacked from both front and back, the artillery fire formed a large net, catching the fleeing fish, and one DarkStar spaceship after another exploded.

Whoosh—

More than a dozen mercenary spaceships landed, and teams of mercenaries walked out and entered the wreckage of the mothership to rescue their companions.

Because the mothership had been shot down, Faserleni and other captured mercenaries still had a chance to survive.

With the threat eliminated, the mercenaries who had not been captured gathered to rescue one prisoner after another. Fortunately, the mothership was relatively sturdy and had an internal shockproof structure. Although they had been shaken and battered, most of them survived.

Some DarkStar warriors also survived. Unable to resist, they were all captured. Sarota didn't have time to enter an escape pod and was among them, tied up with his subordinates, covered in dirt.

The situation was set, and the Joint Fleet landed one after another. Tens of thousands of mercenaries disembarked, of various races, with astonishing momentum. They were all famous mercenary groups in the Shattered Star Ring.

If the mercenary industry in the Shattered Star Ring was divided into three levels—high, medium, and low—Han Xiao's Black Star would only be considered at the lower-middle level in terms of strength and scale. The mercenaries who were present, the three Great Mercenary Groups were at the high level, and other collaborators were at least at the upper-middle level.

Each of the three Great Mercenary Groups had sent a deputy commander, all Grade A Supers. Experts gathered, and heroes assembled. At this moment, the battle in the sky finally ended. The command ships of Saint Stone and Black Crow stopped above the planet, and pairs of eyes stared at the Dragon Seat. Ames controlled the force field and slowly landed at the edge of the crowd.

The noise stopped abruptly, and tens of thousands of people turned to Ames in unison. These famous mercenaries lowered their heads slightly to express their respect for the Dragon Seat.

The three deputy commanders, as representatives, quickly walked up and greeted Ames together, with utmost respect.

In the past, when Ames needed to hire them, they had always helped for free. They had some friendship and thought that their goodwill had moved the unapproachable Dragon Seat. Ames had helped out because of their reputation, and they felt flattered.

The surrounding mercenary groups also thought so, with envious expressions. Even Ames gave face to the three Great Mercenary Groups. The influence of the three Great Mercenary Groups was indeed growing.

"Thank you very much for your help. Without you, our members would have been doomed…"

The three men spoke solemnly, expressing their gratitude, but Ames didn't even look at them, and her footsteps didn't stop, directly passing them.

Everyone was stunned, and their gazes followed her. They saw Ames stop in front of Han Xiao and the others and said, "You're all right. I arrived just in time."

"You only had time after three days. You're really idle…"

Han Xiao narrowed his eyes. He hadn't been in the Longtan camp for long, and Ames didn't have a deep impression of him. Taking advantage of this opportunity, he could communicate more and build a good relationship with one of the super experts in the Shattered Star Ring, which would be very beneficial.

Ames didn't know much about him, but Grand Technician Han knew her very well. She was carefree and casual. He didn't need to be too polite when speaking to her. Although he was temporarily her subordinate, he didn't need to lower his stance too much. Moreover, he basically knew Ames' likes and dislikes, so it was easy to strike up a conversation, and they quickly started chatting back and forth.

The others were left aside. The atmosphere was strange, and dead silence reigned. Pairs of stunned eyes stared at the two people who were talking and laughing happily.

The three deputy commanders turned around stiffly, with embarrassed expressions. They had misunderstood. Ames' performance made it clear that she hadn't come for them, but had been called by this unfamiliar mercenary.

"He's also a mercenary who was being hunted down? Why is he so close to the Dragon Seat?"

"What's his name… Black Star? I've never heard of that name before…"

"What's the relationship between the Dragon Seat and him?"

The members of the various large mercenary groups were astonished and whispered to each other, inquiring about Han Xiao's origins. The name Black Star quickly entered the ears of everyone present. After learning that Han Xiao was a member of Longtan, everyone's eyes changed.

The Dragon Seat's subordinates were a transcendent force. They didn't hesitate to make a big move to rescue their subordinates. Black Star's own scale was not large, but his methods were particularly wild. He was equivalent to the Dragon Seat's agent outside. No one dared to underestimate him and directly included him in the "do not provoke" list.

On the news ship, Brimullina stopped talking. She knew that the audience at this time wanted her to shut up and stared at the screen with bated breath.

Before this, no one—whether it was Saint Stone, Black Crow, DarkStar, the mercenaries, or the viewers watching the news report—had guessed that this would be the ending. This conflict had dragged on for three days, but the Dragon Seat had suddenly descended and decisively solved DarkStar. And the person who had called the Dragon Seat was actually one of the mercenaries.

They had thought that the members of the three Great Mercenary Groups were the main focus among this group of mercenaries who were being hunted down and subconsciously ignored the Black Star Mercenary Group, whose reputation was not obvious. They had thought that the Joint Fleet was the biggest reinforcement, but they didn't expect that it was this small, unassuming mercenary group that had called for help that was even stronger than the three Great Mercenary Groups, with a shockingly powerful backer.

In the Streaming Light, Siwardy's eyeballs almost flew out of their sockets.

"Since you're all right, I'll leave. Don't forget to help me find out the whereabouts of my teacher."

After beating up DarkStar and rescuing everyone, Ames flew directly into the sky, returned to Longtan, and set off, leaving as quickly as she had come, without saying much.

As soon as Ames left, the tense atmosphere relaxed, and many people breathed a sigh of relief. The existence of the Dragon Seat was too awe-inspiring, making them afraid to be presumptuous.

At this time, the three deputy commanders came to Han Xiao together, took the initiative to make friends, and expressed their goodwill to him on behalf of their respective mercenary groups. Not only them, but other large mercenary groups that had ignored Han Xiao also sent people to express their intention to cooperate.

In an instant, Han Xiao was surrounded by hundreds of people, all of whom were leaders and deputy leaders.

"I'm benefiting from Ames' reputation and sharing her influence. These mercenaries are cooperating with me not because they value my strength, but because of my identity as a member of Longtan and the forces behind me," Han Xiao thought to himself.

This was the benefit of being in Ames' camp. By showing off his own backer, he had instantly gained fame. With the protection of the Dragon Seat, even DarkStar, who had suffered a loss, would not dare to deal with him easily, which was a kind of deterrent force.

Although it had a hint of borrowing someone else's power, Grand Technician Han never minded taking advantage of the situation and only cared about what role it could play. The benefits were obvious, but there were also disadvantages. The first was that his reputation was growing too fast and did not match his own strength. Second, the Dragon Seat's reputation would overshadow Black Star's name, affecting future growth. Continuing to rely on Longtan's name would not be conducive to establishing his own brand, and this influence would last for a long time.

Having a backer was naturally good, but for Han Xiao, who wanted to be independent and form his own camp, a too-famous backer was an indirect shackle. However, Black Star had only been established for a short time, so the advantages definitely outweighed the disadvantages. Moreover, the Dragon Seat had helped him once, so as a reward, Han Xiao didn't mind doing something for her.

Before long, Han Xiao's communicator had dozens of contact methods for mercenary groups, all of whom were industry contacts. Only large mercenary groups at the level of the three Great Mercenary Groups would receive such enthusiastic pursuit.

At this time, a prompt appeared on the interface, and the mission was settled.

[【Escape from Death】Completed!]

[Mission Rating: B]

[You have gained 1,200,000 experience points! Reputation +3!]

After persisting for three days, the rating was two levels higher than the minimum standard, and the rewards were much greater. Han Xiao felt that it was acceptable, neither too much nor too little. However, the few players who persisted until the mission was completed showed ecstatic expressions. Following Black Spectre would definitely bring them meat to eat. This had almost become a rule in their hearts. They had received 1.2 million experience points from just one mission, and they almost didn't know how to use this "astronomical figure" of experience.

Success was always for a few people, and most players had failed the mission, showing envious and jealous expressions, wishing they could strangle their boastful companions.

Han Xiao browsed the interface, opened the NPC template, and suddenly had a new discovery. His eyes lit up.

"This is… a new instance dungeon has been generated?"