“I can provide everyone here with the opportunity to undergo modification. The conditions for cooperation are simple.”

Han Xiao surveyed the assembled crowd, raised a finger, and slowly said, “First, of course, is money. Each year, you will need to pay a certain amount of Enas in exchange for a fixed number of slots to receive modification from the Evolutionary Cube. This is the basic borrowing fee. It doesn’t necessarily have to be money; minerals, materials, fuel, and other resources can all be converted into monetary value.”

“How much money per year?” asked a representative from a Star Cluster Civilization.

“That depends on your needs.”

Han Xiao wore an honest expression that seemed to say, "I'm always fair in my dealings."

“Your annual borrowing fee will depend on the number of basic slots you want to purchase each year. You must declare it to me in advance, and I will arrange a schedule for you to receive the modification. Each faction can purchase a maximum of one million basic slots per year… after all, I’m very busy too.”

Although Han Xiao had boundless energy, his time was limited. It was impossible for him to devote all of his time to helping so many factions use the Evolutionary Cube. Moreover, the effect of using the Evolutionary Cube repeatedly on the same person would diminish. Limiting the number of slots was also to ensure long-term benefits.

“What if we want the entire race to undergo evolution?” someone couldn’t help but ask.

“Good question.” Han Xiao raised an eyebrow. “In addition to the basic slots, you can purchase extra modification slots, with no limit to the quantity, but the price will be much higher than the basic slots. Not that I underestimate your financial resources, but paying this fee with the vast population of a civilization will probably be a massive drain.”

Many civilization representatives were somewhat disappointed. For them, evolving the entire race at once would be the best outcome. Unfortunately, Han Xiao clearly wasn’t willing to do a one-time deal.

A Star System Civilization’s population started at tens of billions, so the cost would be astronomical.

However, thinking about it, it was indeed unnecessary to evolve the entire race. Every advanced civilization supported a large number of freeloaders who didn’t work. Buying evolution slots for them was clearly a waste of money.

With millions of slots per year, taking an elite route to allow a portion of the population to improve their genes first was acceptable to the representatives of various civilizations.

Han Xiao raised a second finger. “The second condition is business cooperation. This will depend on the nature of your respective factions. Civilizations can provide mining rights to resource planets, transportation routes, and military factory usage rights. Armed organizations must establish military alliances with the Black Star Army. Intelligence organizations must share intelligence. Financial groups must provide more commercial cooperation… This is a prerequisite for purchasing slots from me.”

The people present came from various factions. Han Xiao’s move was to broaden the Black Star Army’s business, get involved in different industries, find more ways to monetize, and strive for overall development.

At the same time, he aimed to form deeper cooperative relationships with various factions through business cooperation.

This was within everyone’s expectations and not surprising.

Through various data analyses, they knew that Black Star was an ambitious guy. Since there was an opportunity to advance into a Super A Grade force, he would naturally not be satisfied with being a mere armed organization.

“The last condition… I hope to have a seat in the Shattered Star Ring Civilization Council,” Han Xiao said in a deep voice.

The Shattered Star Ring Civilization Council was similar in nature to the Star Field Civilization Assembly. It was a civilization political alliance belonging to this Star Field, and Star System Civilizations were a prerequisite for joining.

The representatives of the major civilizations exchanged glances. Someone hesitated and said, “Only civilizations can join the council, Black Star. Your force is strong, but you are not a civilization.”

Han Xiao smiled. “Don’t worry, I know the rules. I plan to take a seat in the name of my home planet.”

Aquamarine Star?

Everyone looked at each other.

“If I remember correctly, your home planet’s civilization hasn’t reached the Star System level. It doesn’t meet the entry requirements…”

Han Xiao spread his hands. “That’s why I’m bringing up this condition.”

Only by obtaining a seat in the Civilization Council could one gain overt political influence, the so-called official status. In this way, even if Aquamarine Star hadn’t reached the Star System level, it could enjoy the protection of the *Peace Treaty.*

He could also benefit from it. Not only would his personal status be higher, but the Black Star Army under his command could also transform into a semi-official army. No longer wandering interstellar freelancers, the members of the army would be able to receive various legal protections, equivalent to a protective charm.

Simply put, if this matter was accomplished, if other players casually attacked members of the Black Star Army (including the army players), once discovered, they would become red-named targets of many forces in the Order camp, while also dropping a large amount of favorability with those forces.

Hearing this, the representatives of the various civilizations looked helpless. This matter exceeded their authority, and they all said that they couldn’t make a decision and would have to ask their superiors for a reply.

However, Han Xiao wasn’t worried. The Shattered Star Ring Civilization Council was controlled by the Star Cluster Civilizations of this Star Field. Now that these Star Cluster Civilizations wanted to cooperate with him, it wouldn’t be difficult to make an exception and add him in. It was easy for them to find a reason.

During the Secret War, many Star Cluster Civilizations were unwilling to see Black Star grow stronger and secretly took many actions, but now the situation was irreversible. They were helpless and could only bow their heads and seek cooperation.

The Shattered Star Ring had been affected by the Crimson Tide for ten years, and its overall structure had undergone subtle changes, with a slight reshuffling of power. This was a good opportunity to seize the moment.

After initially finalizing their intentions for cooperation, the visitors bid farewell and left. They were only expressing their positions today. The specific details of cooperation would need to be handled by the relevant departments of both parties. This was the work of Sylvia and Phillip.

Han Xiao tapped the table thoughtfully.

In his plan, this was a crucial step in the Black Star Army’s expansion, using the Evolutionary Cube as a lure to form a pan-Star Field interest alliance centered around the Black Star Army, turning the army into a hub for faction cooperation!

Not only would he enjoy business cooperation, but he would also connect the channels of various forces, forming a vast network of interests.

To achieve this, the force itself had to be strong enough, and the Black Star Army, as a Super A Grade force, had the qualifications.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Black Star Army could grow rapidly. By maintaining this network of interests in the long term, it could indirectly turn the Shattered Star Ring into the Black Star Army’s rear base camp, obtaining a steady stream of resources.

Currently, the Evolutionary Cube was the key to attracting cooperation, but as long as it was managed properly in the long term and the major factions saw that the joint interest body itself was profitable, even without the Evolutionary Cube, they would continue to maintain their cooperative relationship. Just like Heber had turned the Gathering of the Strong into a recognized high-level circle gathering, Han Xiao’s goal was to make the Black Star Army a recognized cooperation hub and interest aggregate in the Shattered Star Ring.

…

After waiting for three days, the guests finally arrived. Early that morning, Heber invited everyone to the palace to officially begin the gathering.

The hall was decorated like a banquet scene. Musicians played instruments, and representatives from various forces formed small circles of two or three, quietly talking.

Han Xiao’s group also occupied a corner, surrounded by many people.

The players who had followed were also brought in, looking around curiously and constantly throwing *Detection* skills at people. Everywhere they looked, everyone was a big shot. Several Super A Grades were also in the venue, chatting with people.

These players had inquired about information regarding the Gathering of the Strong in the past few days. Seeing so many force representatives at this time, the impressiveness of this gathering skyrocketed in their minds, and they were amazed.

The many guests present, added together, were the ruling class of the Shattered Star Ring. So Black Star was at this level.

Players usually couldn’t get close to activities between such high-level figures. These people posted on the forums to share the situation of the Gathering of the Strong. Many players then learned that there was such a gathering and were excited to discuss it.

“So Black Star is dealing with people of this level now.”

“A faction leader, that’s inevitable.”

“Five Super A Grades are all here, haha, won’t they start fighting?”

“Isn’t the War Domain an enemy of ours? How did Black Star get over there?”

At this time, Heber stepped out from the crowd. Everyone stopped talking and looked at Heber.

“In the past ten years or so, many disturbances have occurred in the Shattered Star Ring. Fortunately, I can still see so many familiar faces today.”

Heber slowly began, “Before the gathering begins, I would like to announce something.”

As he spoke, he turned to look at Han Xiao and said in a deep voice, “After private negotiations, Black Star and I have reached a consensus and decided to temporarily cease hostilities and jointly participate in the Crimson Empire’s development of the Flickering World. Everyone here is a witness.”

Everyone’s eyes turned over, and Han Xiao nodded in acknowledgment.

“Flickering World?”

Many players muttered secretly. This piece of information immediately attracted their attention.

Han Xiao smiled inwardly. He knew that Heber would definitely announce this at the gathering. He immediately released the prepared mission on the faction panel.

At the same time, the faction interfaces of many players changed. The S+ grade main storyline mission, *Flickering World*, was instantly placed at the top of the list of accepted missions.

“Yo, a new main storyline mission!”

“Damn, S+ difficulty? That’s higher than the Secret War!”

“This is the next main storyline for us in Version 3.0!”

“Developing the Flickering World, it seems that this is the next large-scale operation of the Black Star Army.”

The army players were pleasantly surprised, and many accepted the mission.

Such a high-difficulty main storyline was obviously a big event. After the end of the Secret War, many players had entered a period of aimless free exploration, but now they had a new goal.

Due to the recent series of events, players at this stage were bursting with a sense of belonging to the army. In their eyes, the Black Star Army’s storyline was equivalent to the main storyline.

The players didn’t know much about the details of the Flickering World. Countless people posted on the forums to discuss it. Han Xiao glanced at it and was quite satisfied with the effect of this wave of hype.

However, the army players at this time didn’t know that *Flickering World* was not only the Version 3.0 storyline connecting the Secret War, but also the main storyline running through the next version.

…

The cooperation that needed to be discussed had already been discussed in the past few days. For Han Xiao, the official gathering was just a formality.

Since Heber had announced a truce, he naturally wouldn’t allow his subordinates to cause trouble. With his restraints, Frozus was frustrated and didn’t come to cause trouble. It was calm and peaceful.

Participating in the Gathering of the Strong this time had basically accomplished his set goals. Han Xiao was quite satisfied with the results of this trip.

After the gathering, he didn’t stay. After using the Evolutionary Cube on Austin once, he took Ames and Hela and other officers and returned home, leaving as soon as he said he would, waving his hand without taking a cloud.

Whoosh…

As the spaceship left Heber’s Star, Han Xiao retracted his gaze, opened the communicator, and dialed Bennett’s number.

In the past few days, those civilization representatives had reported his cooperation requests to their superiors, and the superiors had already responded, agreeing to these conditions.

There was basically no problem for him to seek a seat in the Shattered Star Ring Civilization Council in the name of Aquamarine Star. Only then did Han Xiao contact Bennett.

Soon, the call connected.

“Han Xiao? Why do you have time to look for me today?” Bennett’s weathered and hearty laughter came out.

“There’s something I need to inform you about…” Han Xiao explained.

Hearing this, Bennett’s tone was surprised and delighted. “You’re helping the Aquamarine Federation civilization enter the Shattered Star Ring Civilization Council? That’s great!”

Aquamarine Star was only a primary interstellar civilization and was too far away from the entry requirements of the Civilization Council. Being able to enter the council as an exception was undoubtedly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“Yes, I will be the representative of the civilization. Do you have any objections?” Han Xiao asked.

The position of the Civilization Council belonged to the entire civilization. Usually, the representative of the civilization was held by the government. However, although Han Xiao had a close relationship with the Aquamarine Federation government, they were still two forces. If he did so, even if this seat belonged to the Aquamarine Star government, they would only be able to express their opinions through Han Xiao, this representative, in the future.

However, Bennett didn’t hesitate at all. “This was originally an opportunity you fought for us, and you are the guardian of Aquamarine Star. Giving the position to you is actually more beneficial to us. You have more say in holding the seat than we do.”

He understood very well that it would take many years for Aquamarine Star to develop and reach the achievements of the Black Star Army today. He didn’t want to see the Aquamarine Star civilization make the wrong choices in the future, so he was laying the groundwork in advance and striving to bind the Aquamarine Star government and the Black Star Army.

Han Xiao smiled, chatted for a few words, and then hung up the call.

After thinking about it, he decided to give Aquamarine Star large-scale access to the Evolutionary Cube after returning. Since he had obtained the Aquamarine Star political seat, the better Aquamarine Star developed, the greater his benefits would be.

“That’s right, I’ll also go and take a look at the Black Spirit Race. The Evolutionary Cube can also be used on them…”

Han Xiao’s heart stirred. This race treated him as a totem of worship, so they were half of his own people.

—

ps1: (Recently, in coordination with the website’s publicity, the editor changed the cover for me)

ps2: (The first and second groups are full. If you guys want to join, join the third group or the V group. The group numbers are on the profile, muacks (￣▽￣)~*)