Chapter 1 Black Star Mercenary Group

Black Star Mercenary Group

Credit Score: 875 (Reputation Level - High)

Total Size: 173 members

D-grade: 39 members

C-grade: 132 members

B-grade: 2 members

Completed Missions: 76

Main Area of Operations: Colton Star Cluster

Achievements: [Sunil Defense War]

[Silver Spirit People Rescue Operation]

[Rose-9512 Planet Exploration]

[Jubely Hub "Hunton" Large Stargate Maintenance and Defense (Note: Eradicated parasitic Space-Time Worms)]

[Pursuit of Purple Fungus Civilization Rebel Leader "Pi Li Po La Pa · Wa Sa Sa"]

[Remaining 71 Employment Missions... [Fold/Expand]]

Founder: Black Star - Han Xiao

Established: October 2, 688

Overall: A small to medium-sized mercenary group with an excellent reputation, high credit, and strong capabilities. They have completed numerous employment missions with high praise. Most of their mercenaries are undying. They have cooperative relationships with many large mercenary groups. They are permanently stationed at the Jubely Hub, frequently handling surrounding affairs. They are under the command of Dragon Emperor Ames and are a reliable mercenary group active in the Colton Star Cluster, mainly accepting combat and escort missions, and are trustworthy.

——

Over the past nine months, the Black Star Mercenary Group's resume had become much richer.

With the players as combat power, there was no loss of manpower, and the gains could be amplified, which was very convenient. In the past nine months, he only took on cooperative employment missions, developed in a low-key manner, and reaped a lot of money.

His savings reached 784,000 Enas. In addition to buying some materials, metals, and parts to manufacture new machinery, the rest was saved up, ready to be used to complete his class advancement mission. With so much money, buying a high-end knowledge wasn't a problem, but two would be a bit tight.

According to the standards of interstellar mercenaries, the Dusk Star mission was very simple, and the reward was naturally not high, but he accepted this mission not just for the reward.

Han Xiao planned to inquire about news of the Heterochromatic Disaster on Dusk Star, so when traveling during the day, he let the spaceship lingering in the outer space of Dusk Star go ahead first. He hitched a ride over, and having many partners was a good thing; travel was completely free, even better than calling a spaceship with DiDi.

The faint light of the communicator screen shone on his face, the light and shadows three-dimensional, uncertain.

"The International League is in a few days. After I'm done here, I'll take the team back to the Jubely Hub. Three months ago... well, about two weeks ago in player time, the Events League announced the format for the first International Finals. They said that the mall had set up a collection crystal specifically for qualified high-level players from various countries to purchase. The effect is similar to a dungeon crystal, gathering people from various planets into a simulated competition venue, and the entire event will be broadcast on all channels."

The format of the first competition was the same as in his previous life. After the players were able to travel through space, the international competition was held in a real environment, and the stage became planets and star systems.

The players from the major Chinese clubs had been following him for a year, earning so much that they were drooling, and their equipment was very powerful. Their performance in the international competition would definitely be better than in his previous life. In the first competition, the performance of the Chinese clubs was quite annoying. They didn't know how to play the game until the match point, and they played in a stalemate. In order to avoid being blamed by public opinion, their tactical style was basically dragging and cowardly, or in short, overly cautious. They were all bladder matches. Sometimes they could exhaust the enemy to death, but sometimes they spent most of the day, and in the end, they still lost, which made people feel frustrated and uncomfortable.

In the end, when broadcasting matches of the Chinese teams, the ratings were very low. Players preferred to watch the passionate duels of foreign gays. They would skip the Chinese team's pressure-resistant bladder matches. Although the ranking of the Chinese clubs in the first competition was passable, there were no outstanding performances. The first impression they left on players and audiences around the world was only that they had good pressure resistance.

"If they don't play more fiercely this time, they'll have followed me for nothing."

Han Xiao curled his lips.

"After the International League is over, the version update will be almost here. The players will disappear temporarily, and the income from accepting employment will not be high. At that time, I won't be a mercenary anymore. Small team actions are more flexible, which is just right for making some preparations for the Heterochromatic Disaster 2.0. I need to make some plans and, by the way, trick some protagonist-type characters to increase the number of cadres..."

While he was thinking, his senses suddenly detected a subtle abnormality. Han Xiao's eyes flashed, he stood up, walked out of the tent, and the surroundings were silent. He looked around and was slightly stunned.

The prison wagon in the center of the camp was empty, Leizale was nowhere to be found, and the surrounding guards were also gone.

"Escaped?"

He didn't want any trouble with the mission. He put on his mecha and scanned with the radar, and found Leizale's signal in a small forest outside the camp. There were also signals from a dozen soldiers nearby, and not far away, there was a separate signal hidden, much stronger than the soldiers. Searching the database, it turned out to be Ricks, the commander of the Knights.

"The other soldiers are asleep. What are they doing taking Leizale to the forest in the middle of the night? Holy crap, wouldn't you know..."

Han Xiao gasped.

That's an old man!

This taste, he was convinced!

He walked into the forest in fear, tiptoeing, ready to turn around and run before seeing anything unclean. He turned on night vision mode and carefully looked at the scene in the forest.

Leizale was tied up tightly, wearing magic-suppressing iron chains, and several knights surrounded him, holding steel swords.

The lips of the knights moved, seemingly saying something. Han Xiao turned up the sound collection function of his combat suit and heard their conversation.

"I'll ask one last time, where did you get the ritual method?"

"I found a stele in an ancient underground city ruin, with a incomplete ritual method written on it. I changed the spell by using blood as power. How many times do you want me to say it?"

"Who else knows this spell?"

"No one, after I memorized the spell, I destroyed the stele. Do you think I would tell such a dangerous spell to others? It's only safe in my hands."

Leizale said impatiently, answering the knight in front of him.

The knight rubbed his hands, his tone suppressing excitement, "How about this, let's make a deal, you tell me the method of the ritual, and I'll let you leave. To be honest, I'm also very interested in the upper realm... hehe."

Leizale's eyes lit up, as if he had grasped the last straw.

Haha, when God closes a door, he opens a window!

Then, Leizale thought for a while, a sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth. Judging others by himself, he felt that after he said the method, these guys would definitely kill him to silence him. He secretly raised his guard and asked, "How can I believe that you don't want to trick me out of the spell?"

The knight in front of him said, "We are the guards on duty at this time. If you die, it will be easy to track us down."

"Then aren't you afraid that I'll kill you after I escape?" Leizale squinted.

"Hmph, do you dare? Once there are magic fluctuations, those upper realm mercenaries will come to deal with you."

"Then if I run away, won't you be tracked down anyway?"

"Hehe, you don't need to worry about this."

"What if you call people immediately after you let me go?"

"Then you can expose us."

After a series of conversations, Leizale gradually believed that these knights really wanted to make a deal with him, and his tense nerves relaxed a little. His attention was focused on arguing with the knight in front of him, and he didn't notice that the knights behind him quietly raised their steel swords, aiming at his vitals.

Even if Leizale reached B-grade, if he was stabbed through by a steel sword while his abilities were suppressed, his life would be in danger.

Han Xiao observed secretly, and his eyes flashed when he saw this. He originally thought that these knights were after Leizale's spell. The deal was about to be settled, so why did they suddenly have murderous intent?

Seeing that these knights were about to attack, Han Xiao thought for a while and walked out.

Hearing the footsteps, everyone present suddenly turned their heads to look. When they saw who it was, they were all shocked.

Leizale's face changed drastically. Why is it you again!

If the conversation just now was heard, the hope that had finally risen would be extinguished by a splash of urine.

Han Xiao glanced at them and found that although these knights were surprised, they didn't have the panic of being caught in a private deal.

"What's going on?" Han Xiao decided to ask first.

"You... did you hear it?" A knight asked cautiously.

"Guess." Han Xiao's eyes fell on his steel sword.

"Kill him!"

The knight shouted violently and stabbed Leizale in the chest with his sword. Blood splattered everywhere.

Han Xiao's face suddenly became strange. He thought that these knights wanted to deal with him. What's the situation now?

Leizale's eyes widened, and before he could react, the other knights also stabbed him with their swords. Han Xiao's figure flashed, and these knights only felt a blur in front of them. Their bodies flew into the air and fell out. In an instant, Han Xiao kicked each of them, sending them all flying.

"Although I don't know what the situation is, I'll stop you first."

Han Xiao glanced at Leizale, who was kneeling on the ground, his face pale, panting heavily. Although he was a mage, his stamina was at least over a hundred. He wouldn't die. The steel sword didn't go in deep, probably piercing his lungs, making it difficult to breathe.

"Can anyone explain?" Han Xiao glanced at the knights, but they all pursed their lips and said nothing.

Turning his head to look into the depths of the forest, Han Xiao said to the darkness, "The one hiding there, if they don't speak, then you explain it to me."

Footsteps approached in the forest, and Ricks, who had been hiding for a long time, walked out, his face heavy. When Han Xiao appeared, he knew that he couldn't hide anymore.

Taking a deep breath, Ricks said slowly, "These knights are my confidants. I arranged for them to be on duty together and brought him here to kill Leizale."

Han Xiao raised an eyebrow, "Wasn't he already captured? Why do you still need to assassinate him? You can just openly hack him to death."

Ricks shook his head, "The king wants me to capture him alive, give him a public trial, and put him in jail. Black Star, you are not from our kingdom, so I'll be frank with you. For criminals like Leizale who possess the power of an Ascendant, the kingdom's higher-ups may hand him over to the Godoran envoys in exchange for something. In this way, Leizale would survive and go to the upper realm as he wished. I don't want to give even the slightest chance of survival to someone who almost killed millions of our citizens for his own selfish desires!

Moreover, Leizale knows the ritual to extract Source Water. Maybe someone inside the kingdom has selfish motives and will force him to reveal the ritual spell. If he lives, there is a risk that this terrible spell will spread. Once this happens, a similar crisis will occur again, so even if I violate the king's order, I can't let him reach the royal capital alive!

As long as I kill him like this, I can use the excuse that Leizale escaped and was killed by our side to fool them. Black Star, I am very grateful for your timely assistance, but this is our kingdom's business, please don't interfere."

Ricks' tone was stern. Although he knew that he was no match for Han Xiao, he had no intention of backing down.

Han Xiao suddenly understood.

Ho, so that's how it is. The deal was originally a routine to distract Leizale's attention. You've got some ideas.

He sized Ricks up and down. So righteous and awe-inspiring, could he be another protagonist-type character?

Or... have you already made up an excuse and are acting in front of me?

Han Xiao rolled his eyes and pointed at Leizale, "Since you don't want him to go back alive, why don't you give him to me? It will be easier for you to report back."

"What do you want him for?" Ricks frowned.

"Don't ask, anyway, I will take him to the interstellar... uh, the upper realm, far away from you, and never let him come back."

When Leizale heard this, he was suddenly overjoyed. Going to the upper realm was his dream. He was already desperate, but he didn't expect to find a way out!

However, when he looked up, he saw Han Xiao smiling at him, his smile carrying an inexplicable meaning, unkind, as if exuding a chilling air.

Leizale inexplicably shivered, and the excitement that had just arisen quickly cooled down.

He suddenly had a feeling that this was probably not good news...