Chapter 180 Meteor from the Sky

Li Ge was very high-profile, stirring up new topics of discussion. Some players even started a betting pool on who would win between Li Ge and Hao Tian.

Although Li Ge made it to the top sixteen, he slowly wore down his opponents with his Esper ability, which wasn't very exciting to watch. As a result, Li Ge's odds were higher, and he wasn't favored.

Kuang Dao, on the other hand, was up against Jiang Yu Luo from the Storm Club. This was also a formidable opponent. Jiang Yu Luo was the pillar of the Storm Team, very strong, and a beauty.

Beauties usually receive preferential treatment, especially in the professional gaming world where the male-to-female ratio is unbalanced. Jiang Yu Luo's popularity was off the charts. As soon as the group list was announced, Jiang Yu Luo's fans organized to attack the Jiang Cheng Club's page, threatening to make sure Kuang Dao regretted it if he won.

Han Xiao waited on the snowy mountaintop for seven or eight days. The final rounds of the competition had begun, and to his surprise, Hao Tian actually lost to Li Ge in the one-on-one. In the best-of-five format, he only won the first game. After that, Li Ge defeated him in the next three games.

After rewatching the recordings, Hao Tian performed steadily in the first game. Li Ge roamed the entire time, dragging the game out for ten minutes to analyze Hao Tian's fighting style. From the second game onward, Li Ge gained the upper hand, almost reading Hao Tian's movements. His Esper ability was suited for close combat. Hao Tian was like a bug caught in a spider web, losing three games in a row.

Li Ge was a very talented professional player. His career wasn't particularly long, but he had achieved many accomplishments. Han Xiao had once considered adding Li Ge to the list of candidates.

The media once again changed its tune. Li Ge rose as a dark horse, stealing Hao Tian's original spotlight. This time, Li Ge was favored by the media. He made it to the top eight in the individual competition, and his next opponent was Kuang Dao Nu Jian, who barely managed to defeat Jiang Yu Luo to advance.

Kuang Dao barely defeated Jiang Yu Luo and entered the top eight, which should have been a joyous occasion, but he was angrily attacked by Jiang Yu Luo's die-hard fans. He had hundreds of times fewer fans than Jiang Yu Luo, and his supportive voices were drowned out by the wave of insults. In the end, Jiang Yu Luo had to speak out and plead for them to stop, but her fans were still indignant, as if they had suffered a great injustice.

Jiang Yu Luo herself took the loss gracefully, but some things were unreasonable. She couldn't blame her fans, so she could only apologize to Kuang Dao in private. They had known each other during the closed beta and were considered acquaintances.

Kuang Dao felt wronged. He had won fairly, but he gained a bunch of haters.

But in the end, the results of the competition spoke for themselves. Normal viewers affirmed his victory, and some neutral viewers, motivated by a sense of justice, became fans of Kuang Dao. Kuang Dao gained a wave of fans in a bizarre way. Furthermore, many people switched from being fans of Jiang Yu Luo to hating her... but she was actually an innocent victim.

Being famous often brought trouble. It was hard to say who benefited more, but according to Han Xiao, most viewers just wanted to find a target for entertainment, to participate in a controversy, and to argue for one side.

When they learned that Kuang Dao's next opponent was Li Ge, many of his haters gloated.

"Serves him right!"

"Haha, this loser will stop here."

"Li Ge will definitely crush him."

Kuang Dao's win rate in private matches with Hao Tian was less than 50%. Facing Li Ge, who was sure to beat Hao Tian, his future didn't look optimistic. Han Xiao wondered if the two players he favored were going to be defeated by Li Ge alone.

...

"Sir, satellite radar has detected an abnormal object rapidly approaching the atmosphere!"

At the Ruilan Astronomical Observatory in North Continent, an alarm sounded. The observers stood up from their seats and stared at the large screen, surprised and uncertain.

Satellite radar showed a spot of light coming from outer space, rapidly approaching Aquamarine Star.

"Is that a meteorite?!"

"The target suddenly appeared three minutes ago and was only then captured by the radar. If it were a meteorite, it wouldn't have been detected so late. Also, the rate at which meteorites are captured by the planet's magnetic field isn't this high!"

"Could it be an alien spaceship?"

"The speed is increasing. It's estimated to crash in eight minutes!"

"Where is it? Is it an uninhabited area?"

"The estimated point of impact is a barren mountain range in North Continent... near our border!"

The observatory's director, Dr. Chen, said in a deep voice, "Report immediately and request that troops be dispatched to the scene!"

...

Huang Jian fiddled with the instrument panel, bored. He had been waiting in this godforsaken place for almost ten days, and nothing had happened. Based on his superior's legendary status, he didn't think Han Xiao would come here to enjoy the breeze for no reason. He was curious about what Han Xiao was waiting for.

In the snow, Han Xiao suddenly looked up and turned to board the helicopter, pulling out the equipment box.

Finally, something was happening! Huang Jian perked up and turned to ask curiously, "What are you doing?"

"It's coming," Han Xiao said without looking up, quickly putting on his equipment.

"What's coming?" Huang Jian asked, puzzled.

Just as he asked, a shrill whistle came from the sky. Huang Jian looked up and saw a burning meteor falling from the sky, the silhouette of a spaceship visible within the swirling flames.

Boom!

The falling spaceship crashed into a steep peak, shattering black rock and white snow like exploding fireworks. The spaceship tumbled and rolled through the mountain forest, carving a hundreds-of-meters-long, twisting furrow in the earth, igniting the trees along the way and emitting billowing black smoke. The earth trembled!

The snow on the peaks collapsed, forming a small avalanche. Such a large commotion was hard to miss. As Han Xiao had said, he would definitely know when it arrived.

Huang Jian opened his mouth wide, dumbfounded.

"Spaceship... spaceship!"

A look of shock appeared on his face. Huang Jian looked at Han Xiao in disbelief. He had heard about Han Xiao's various deeds, but seeing was believing! He could even know in advance when an alien spaceship would crash!

Soon, Han Xiao finished changing and put on the Teng Snake battle suit. He moved his hands and feet and took out the "Bat Wings" aircraft, which resembled mechanical wings, from the equipment box and mounted them on the composite track on his back.

The tactical screen displayed the aircraft's status: running normally.

"Fly!" Han Xiao thought, striding toward the cliff. The aircraft hummed, and the tri-fold propellers on the wing surfaces rotated at maximum power, ejecting blue flames from the rear.

Whoosh—

Han Xiao felt the power pulling him up. He soared into the air.

The neural link easily controlled the aircraft, as if it were an extension of his own body, and he quickly flew toward the crash site.

...

The Observer spaceship was tilted and embedded in the ground, covering half of its hull. The surrounding forests and land were on fire, but the spaceship's exterior was mostly intact. The energy shield protected the spaceship from disintegrating during the crash, but the impact on landing had depleted the shield's energy. The engines were also ruined.

Bang!

The half-broken hatch was pushed open. Kerrlodd held his head in pain, staggering out and muttering in Godoran.

Kerrlodd pressed a few buttons on the golden bracelet on his right wrist. A combat suit resembling ancient armor automatically generated from the bracelet, covering his body. There was no helmet, but a translucent energy shield protected his face.

This was the Godoran Investigator's combat suit. Investigators had to travel to different planets, and the combat suit had life support systems and the ability to analyze the environment. A synthesized mechanical voice said:

"Database matched. Location: Ninth Star Cluster - Aquamarine Star.

Gravity level: low.

Current temperature: 3 degrees Celsius.

Climate type...

Air composition...

Civilization level: surface civilization.

Danger level: low.

Evaluation: survivable."

Kerrlodd was a little dizzy. "Check my physical condition."

"Analyzing... analysis complete. Three fractures detected, multiple soft tissue injuries, accompanied by mild concussion. Inject nanorepair fluid?"

"Inject."

A cool sensation ran down the back of his neck. Kerrlodd felt much better. He immediately climbed back into the spaceship's control room, wanting to start the host to check the cause of the malfunction, but he was prompted that all systems were damaged.

Helpless, Kerrlodd opened the spaceship's outer armor, exposing the internal structure. He tore open a pile of wires and pulled out a palm-sized metal box with a blue light flashing, indicating it was running normally. This was an interstellar communicator.

Kerrlodd's interstellar communicator was not the kind of neutered product sold by the Six Nations. According to the Investigator's Code, he now needed to do two things: first, use the communicator to contact headquarters, and second, ask a friendly local civilization for help, which meant contacting the Six Nations.

Just then, a rumbling sound came from the sky. Han Xiao, wearing a dark battle suit with two large mechanical wings extended behind him, landed beside the spaceship.

"Just like the vision, oh, and there's a living person here."

Han Xiao saw the Godoran next to him. With his knowledge, he recognized the Investigator's equipment. He raised an eyebrow slightly, then his gaze locked onto the interstellar communicator in Kerrlodd's hand.

That was what he wanted!

"A native of Aquamarine Star?" Kerrlodd sized him up, switched to the translator mode, and the Godoran language turned into a language Han Xiao could understand. He pointed at Han Xiao and said faintly:

"You, tell me, what is this place?"