Chapter 1 Somewhere in the Shattered Star Ring

Somewhere in the Shattered Star Ring, countless warp glows streaked across the silent, dark void.

The hyperspace mobile formation was a massive fleet composed of red Crimson Dynasty heavy-armored ships like steel behemoths.

The hulls, built in an industrial style, were covered with various ship-borne mechanical components, exuding an intimidating and awe-inspiring aura.

This was the industrial logistics team dispatched by the Crimson Dynasty to the Shattered Star Ring. In addition to its resource transportation function, it was also responsible for industrial construction, with the ability to lay production lines and military factories.

The conventional method was to quickly form strongholds using the Crimson Dynasty's express base expansion packs and frantically mass-produce troops.

This industrial logistics team had two main goals: first, to provide logistics for the Shattered Star Ring garrison and enhance its armed forces.

Second, to go to the Dawn Star Cluster of the Glimmering World and build the main base for the Dynasty's exploration team on the spot.

As for transporting a batch of resources for the Black Star Army, that was just a small matter along the way.

The three great Universal Civilizations possessed many fast military passages across star fields, using super-large star gates to connect star fields, or arranging small and medium-sized star gate routes in barren cosmic belts for continuous jumps.

This logistics team mainly took a lot of time to mobilize manpower, but the journey itself was not long. Starting from the Central Galaxy, it quickly arrived at the Shattered Star Ring.

At this moment, in the forward route of the logistics main force, a small reconnaissance fleet was clearing the way, consisting of only twelve light reconnaissance ships.

Below the radar stereoscopic detection map of the main reconnaissance ship, a middle-aged man with a resolute face stood with his hands behind his back, looking up at the detection map screen.

Taini Amelos, an outstanding graduate of the Empire's "Conquest" Advanced Military Academy, Class 0014855, ranked first in his class in strategic, tactical, combat, and sixty-two other courses.

After graduating, he entered the Dynasty's military and was conscripted to participate in many military operations, experiencing more than a thousand interstellar battles of all sizes, with an independent command record of one hundred and seventy times. He had repeatedly made high-level meritorious contributions and been promoted several times against the norm.

Now belonging to the 33rd Army of the Dynasty, with the rank of Colonel, he was an important figure in the Dynasty's military's younger generation and one of the elite personnel selected for the Evolutionary Cube modification this time.

He had volunteered to be responsible for the transportation team's reconnaissance work, as he did not like being pampered and could not stay idle in the rear.

Taini looked energetic, with an imposing presence. His aura was like a burning flame, masculine and resolute. His back was straight, like an erected flag.

He wore a semi-circular alloy ring around the back of his head on each ear, a high-level multi-functional analyzer made by the Dynasty, with communication, detection, analysis, and strategic view functions.

He was wearing the Dynasty's high-ranking officer's uniform, black as the base color, with red and gold patterns as embellishments, and the Dynasty's national emblem in the center of his chest.

The high-ranking officer uniforms of the Crimson Dynasty were all made of nano-fabrics, lightweight and tough, with extremely high protection, possessing reactive shields, deflection shields, kinetic energy accumulation, light reflection, advanced life support, and environmental adaptability functions, excelling in both combat and life.

"Colonel Taini, radar has intercepted a distress signal, direction coordinates t406.B189.k22, right on our forward route. According to long-range observation, a spacefaring caravan is being attacked by a group of space pirates. The enemy numbers thirty warships, and the ships are of low-level models."

His exclusive adjutant, Ke Bos, snapped to attention and loudly reported the situation.

"Issue a regional broadcast, warning them to leave our forward route immediately."

Taini spoke quickly.

"...Broadcast has been issued, but there is no response from the other party."

Ke Bos glanced at the detection screen and said loudly, "The other party has increased its offensive, intending to resolve the spacefaring caravan seeking help as soon as possible."

"Report the situation to the main force. Everyone else... switch to combat formation! Second-level alert! Load long-range dragging shooting tactics and roaming encircling and annihilation tactics!" Taini issued instructions in an unhurried manner.

His mission was to scout the road conditions and eliminate unstable factors. As an elite Dynasty officer, he did not like to cause trouble. The spacefaring caravan's distress call was not within his consideration. It was only because this group of people happened to be blocking the main force's warp route that he commanded the fleet to drive them away.

The twelve reconnaissance warships were distributed in a fan shape, heading toward the space pirates. As soon as they entered the long-range shooting range, they began to focus fire.

The pirates, under attack, attempted to counterattack, but could barely hit the reconnaissance force. Under Taini's command, the reconnaissance force always controlled the extreme shooting range.

After easily blowing up a few enemy ships, Taini switched tactics, commanding the reconnaissance fleet to maneuver and encircle them.

Although the total number was less than half of the enemy's, Taini could always form a local advantage of more against fewer.

Under his tactical command, it was as if the pirates were surrounded and were being gradually eaten away.

Taini was accustomed to large-scale group operations. Small-team operations were not his forte, but he could still handle them with ease.

His tactical style was as steady as a mountain, unhurried, like an adult playing with children. No matter what methods the pirates used, he easily defused them.

Even if the reconnaissance force did not release bubbles (space stabilizers), the pirates could not find a chance to warp away. They were beaten senseless and disoriented.

The tactical ability was vastly different, and there was also a huge gap in ship performance. The battle did not last long. The pirates were annihilated without any surprises. Taini's battle damage was basically zero. Only a portion of the energy to maintain the shield was consumed.

"Notify the main force, the problem is resolved."

Taini's tone was calm. Having seen large-scale interstellar wars, the battle just now was not even a warm-up for him. It was just something he did casually, and his mood was calm.

"Colonel, the spacefaring caravan's ship is severely damaged and cannot support long-distance navigation. They are requesting to board our ship," Adjutant Ke Bos said in a thunderous voice.

"Reject." Taini's face remained unchanged. "Turn on the scanning probes and remotely detect the individual energy levels inside the caravan's ship. If there are no abnormalities, release small cabins for them to use as vehicles."

Taini was experienced in this. There were too many operational cases in history where distress signals were used as traps. He was used to guarding against traps, scanning for high-level combat forces hiding.

Even if there were no problems, he would not let outsiders board his warship. Instead, he would use the spare small cabins to throw these stranded passengers to the nearest colonized planet, without wasting time escorting them.

Adjutant Ke Bos suddenly received a message. "Colonel, someone among the passengers wants to talk to you. The database has his identity. He is the head of a small consortium in the Shattered Star Ring, and his resume is clean. He says he knows Black Star."

"How does he know we're looking for Black Star? Sounds like a clumsy setup," Taini raised an eyebrow.

"This may be easily explained," Adjutant Ke Bos said, looking at the data, shaking his head. "The news that our Dynasty and Black Star have formed an alliance is widely spread in the Shattered Star Ring."

Taini thought for a while and said, "Connect the communication. I'll talk to him."

Under normal circumstances, he would not bother with such irrelevant people's requests, but the other party mentioned Black Star, which happened to be a topic he had been very curious about recently.

Black Star was the Dynasty's new ally, and Taini knew that the purpose of this trip was to go to Black Star to receive the Evolutionary Cube modification.

Whether he was an enemy or a friend, before dealing with others, he would first thoroughly understand the target through intelligence.

This came from his military habits. He required himself to know himself and his enemy in everything. He had already read the paper information on Black Star and needed more information about Han Xiao.

*Beep.*

The communication was connected, and the leader of the consortium looked excited and nervous.

After encountering the space pirate attack, he thought he was going to be out of luck, but he did not expect to be rescued by the Crimson Dynasty and saw the opportunity to contact a Universal Civilization. In order to attract attention, he reported Black Star's name with a tentative idea.

"How do you know Black Star?"

"More than ten years ago, I hired Black Star's mercenary group and had close contact with Black Star. This is all recorded," the person answered impatiently.

"Okay, tell me everything from the beginning," Taini narrowed his eyes.

Even in the Central Galaxy, there were no examples of such a rapid rise. It could be said that Black Star had broken the historical record of the speed of advancement from an ordinary person to a Super A Grade since ancient times.

Taini was very curious about such a legendary figure.

Moreover, Black Star and he were both of the Mechanic class, and were Super A Grades of the same class. Taini also had the idea of asking for advice.

...

After returning from Heber Star, Han Xiao brought back a large number of cooperative intentions from various forces. Sylvia was immediately busy and discussed the details of cooperation with different forces every day, so busy that she was overwhelmed.

Fortunately, she had a Calamity Grade physique. If an ordinary person came, they would probably die of overwork in minutes.

Sylvia was very diligent, and Han Xiao was very pleased with this. If his affairs manager was Jenny, he was afraid that Jenny would dare to hold a Psionic Detonator and try to die together with him.

Ames did not go back to Dragon Emperor's Main Residence. She was tired of being quiet and took the initiative to find Han Xiao to travel together.

It did not matter where she went. The main thing was that she had an old friend of the same level to chat with every day, and she felt that she could often encounter interesting things when she acted with Han Xiao.

With the Dynasty's elite still on the road, Han Xiao decided to complete the evolution of Aquamarine Star and the Black Spirits first.

It took time to gather the people of Aquamarine Star, so this matter was handed over to Bennet. Han Xiao first went to the Black Spirits—the Black Spirits had a mental link network, making it easier to gather them.

...

Black Spirit Star.

Since the Black Spirits had gained a foothold on this uninhabited planet, the planet was officially renamed on the star map.

*Whoosh—*

The spaceship broke through the atmosphere and landed slowly. The gray-green surface of the planet gradually magnified in his sight.

The radar showed a cluster of life signals. Han Xiao drove the spaceship and easily headed to the territory nest of the Sproutling Tribe.

There were no clouds in the sky.

Passing over the vast land, dominated by rocky surfaces and dotted with sparse forests, a huge sinkhole appeared in front of him.

This was a large open-air nest, with densely packed holes distributed on the walls of the nest, with passages extending in all directions. Originally, this was a nest located underground, but the Black Spirits removed the soil covering their heads, exposing it.

Han Xiao had borrowed some Black Spirits to mine resource planets. The Black Spirits were impacted by various interstellar cultures and began to learn wisdom and civilization.

Because the mental network had a highly unified group consciousness, the efficiency of knowledge dissemination was extremely astonishing. Over the past ten years, the Black Spirits had tried to abandon their habits as beasts and began to learn to use tools to build nests on the ground.

There were also some messy piles of rocks in this open-air nest, which were actually the prototypes of buildings. The Black Spirits were gradually walking from underground to the surface. This place could actually be regarded as the prototype of a city.

In the center of the nest stood a huge statue of the Whispering Divine Stone, carved into a strange shape.

Han Xiao squinted his eyes and carefully identified it for a long time before confirming that the statue with a carapace, covered in thorns, and blade teeth in its mouth was carved to resemble him.

Han Xiao was dumbfounded. With so many artistic modifications added, he could still tell who it was. The Black Spirits' stone carving technology was truly miraculous.

It was just that this aesthetic...

The spaceship hovered in the sky above the nest. All the Black Spirits of the Sproutling Tribe crawled out of the caves and looked up at the spaceship.

Han Xiao walked out of the cabin and slowly descended from the air. The Black Spirits below stirred and bowed down, as if in worship.

Fording released his mental energy, allowing Han Xiao to log in to the Whispering Divine Stone group chat server.

As soon as Han Xiao entered the mental network of the Black Spirits, countless voices surged over. The inner thoughts of each Black Spirit individual were ethereal and clear.

"What a powerful aura, so beautiful."

"Black Star God, you're here to see us again."

Countless Black Spirits were chattering in the mental network, expressing their love and reverence for Han Xiao.

The Black Spirits regarded him as a totem god, giving him the title of "God", and his reputation had always been maintained at [Revered].

The voice of the leader of the Sproutling Tribe sounded, full of worship, "Respected Black Star God, what do you need us to do?"

"This time, it's to help you evolve..." Han Xiao explained the function of the Evolutionary Cube.

Many Black Spirits were pleasantly surprised and chanted strange prayers, believing that this was the gospel of the gods.

This news was transmitted through the mental network and almost instantly notified all the Black Spirits in the nest. They all moved, circling Han Xiao in circles, with their forelimbs on the ground and their lower abdomens raised, in a respectful posture, gathering extremely quickly.

"What an efficient race." Han Xiao could not help but sigh.

He had always felt that the Black Spirits' civilization potential was abnormal.

They were born with a mental link network to coordinate group actions, possessed group unity, and collective action was extremely convenient.

The mental network could also share knowledge and wisdom. The dissemination of knowledge was almost effortless. Perhaps an hour of communication for the Black Spirits could be equivalent to decades or even centuries of knowledge dissemination for some races.