Chapter 1 Broken Star Ring, Aquamarine Star

Broken Star Ring, Aquamarine Star.

The blue planet slowly rotated. Occasionally, streaks of light shot out from the planet, and other streaks arrived from the universe, as batches of spaceships visited or departed.

Sunlight spilled upon the capital city's towering buildings. Windows reflected the blue sky and white clouds. Trains roared along aerial tracks, while anti-gravity hover vehicles zipped through the metropolis. The entire city bustled with life, a scene of peace and prosperity.

At the Black Star City spaceport, Bennett waited with a group of people.

Standing before the observation window, overlooking the vibrant capital, Bennett's face held a look of gratification.

After Han Xiao helped Aquamarine Star join the Broken Star Ring Civilization Council, many consortia and forces placed greater importance on the development prospects of Aquamarine Star, bringing a new round of development opportunities. Trade flowed frequently, and the planet grew ever more prosperous.

The people of Aquamarine Star, having endured much suffering, smiled more often. The more they enjoyed the flourishing prosperity of their home planet, the more they revered Black Star, the guardian who brought them everything.

A spaceship entered the dock, and its hatch opened. Several legion soldiers escorted Nello out of the ship. Seeing Bennett, Nello wore an expression of reunion with a loved one, his short legs carrying him swiftly to Bennett.

"Dad!"

Bennett turned around, looked down at him, and asked with some puzzlement, "Why are you back so soon? What did Black Star do with you in the universe?"

Nello scratched his head, his tone dejected. "Most of the time was spent studying mechanical theories. Godfather took me on a tour for a few days, then dumped me back here..."

Han Xiao had taken the main force to develop the Flickering World and didn't know when he would return, so he naturally didn't bring Nello along, instructing Sylvia to send someone to return him to Aquamarine Star.

As he spoke, Nello seemed a bit downcast.

"Teacher Reynold said this is just a vacation for me and even gave me holiday homework. He said I can only stay for two months, then he will send someone to pick me up and continue learning mechanical knowledge by his side."

Reynold had received Han Xiao's orders that, in his absence, he would teach Nello. Reynold took this responsibility seriously and had already scheduled Nello's courses for the entire next year.

"It's a rare opportunity that Black Star is willing to train you. Don't disappoint him." Bennett chuckled, squatted down to be at Nello's height, and looked at his child affectionately, asking, "Tell me, what did you see in the universe?"

Nello ticked off the sights on his fingers, describing them one by one in a happy tone. Although Han Xiao's homework made him depressed, Nello was still very satisfied with the trip, having gone to the universe for the first time and seeing all sorts of strange and wonderful things.

Bennett listened and nodded with a smile, secretly sighing with emotion.

He could sense that Han Xiao thought highly of Nello, not just because the boy was his child. Nello seemed to possess some kind of talent that Han Xiao valued. Bennett felt quite proud of this.

*My own kid* is so talented. It seems my genes are still excellent. Bennett secretly considered whether to have a second child.

He didn't want to be too mercenary, but considering the future of Aquamarine Star, if he had a few more talented kids who all became Black Star's students, then the bond between Aquamarine Star and Black Star would be even stronger.

Although he was old, the body of a martial artist was still vigorous and full of ammunition.

In the Aquamarine Star people's selection of the most popular charming men, Bennett, as the leader of Aquamarine Star, ranked second, receiving countless people's support and love. Public support was one aspect, but on the other hand, his position, age, and strong body formed the mature and reliable charm of an older man, which was very attractive.

As for the first place in the most popular charming men of Aquamarine Star… it was undoubtedly Han Xiao, whose position remained unshakable. With so many achievements to his name, the people of Aquamarine Star thought he was handsome no matter how they looked at him.

Before long, Nello's throat became parched from talking. He took a breath, still wanting to share his experiences in the universe with enthusiasm.

Bennett stopped him, patted his head, and stood up. "Alright, you can tell me more when I have time later. Go home and rest first. I still have to wait for someone here."

Nello was surprised. "Weren't you here to pick me up?"

Bennett shook his head and turned to look at the universe outside the observation window.

"I have to receive an extremely important guest."

...

At the same time, far away from Aquamarine Star, a secret blue, cocoon-shaped spaceship hovered in the universe, observing Aquamarine Star from a distance via long-range hyperspace vision.

"This is Aquamarine Star, Black Star's home planet..."

In the spaceship's cockpit, a secret blue-skinned creature stared at the screen, his tone grim. He was the captain of this ship, with four arms, three eyes, and all the crew members behind him had the same physical structure.

This ship was full of members of the Starlight Divine Race.

The captain turned to look around at the crew, and said coldly, "Black Star has taken our national treasure, this is a disgrace to our entire race. Our leaders are weak and incompetent, our compatriots swallow their anger, what they cannot do, dare not do, we, the Avitan Undying Souls, can and dare to do!"

The captain's tone was firm, and all the crew members were stirred, their faces showing indignation as they clenched their weapons.

"Once, because of the Evolution Cube, Avitan Star was attacked, countless compatriots sacrificed, our relatives and friends all died in that disaster. So many people died, so we cannot allow the Evolution Cube to fall into the hands of others! Perhaps in that attack, the main culprit was not only the Heterogeneous God, Black Star is also a suspect!"

The captain pointed in the direction of Aquamarine Star and roared, "Only by inflicting the same bloody revenge can we make Black Star regret his shameless actions, make him understand that the shame he left to the Starlight Divine Race, the despair he left to us, will be claimed back from him!"

The crew members were united in hatred, roaring repeatedly.

Back then, in order to lure the tiger away from the mountain, the Heterogeneous God had almost completely wiped out most of Avitan Star. That disaster was a painful memory for the Starlight Divine Race, and the anger of losing everything caused some survivors to lose their minds and go to extremes. An extremist organization was born as a result, called the "Avitan Undying Souls." These extremists were basically survivors of Avitan, or had relatives and friends who died in the Avitan disaster.

Because of the loss of the national treasure, the Evolution Cube, Sisko's prestige in the Starlight Divine Race had declined. The extremists attributed the tragedy of Avitan to Sisko's incompetence and deeply hated the culprit, the Heterogeneous God. Because the root cause of the Avitan Star disaster was the Evolution Cube, and so many compatriots had sacrificed for it, the Avitan Undying Souls had a morbid obsession with the Evolution Cube. Therefore, they also hated Black Star, who had taken the Evolution Cube from the Starlight Divine Race.

The Evolution Cube was regarded as a national treasure by the Starlight Divine Race, a concept that had been maintained for many years. Now that the Evolution Cube had a new owner, the Starlight Divine Race had always been hostile to Han Xiao. The Avitan Undying Souls were even more extreme and radical. Sisko was unable to retrieve the Evolution Cube, seemingly giving up because he feared the empire. This caused the Avitan Undying Souls to lose faith in Sisko, and they decided to retaliate against Black Star with extreme methods.

Hearing that Han Xiao had left the Broken Star Ring with his troops for a long period, the Avitan Undying Souls felt that the time had come and decided to take this opportunity to fearlessly attack Black Star's home planet, carrying out a terrorist act of revenge, so that Black Star, far away in the sky, could only watch his home planet be destroyed.

Aquamarine Star now belonged to the Broken Star Ring Civilization Council. Even Sisko could not mess around casually. However, the rules followed by these high-level individuals were never something that extremists were willing to consider. They were unexpected factors outside of normal constraints, ignoring rules and not caring about the consequences. Everything they owned had been destroyed, and their reason had been burned away by anger.

Although Sisko was recognized as the best leader of the Starlight Divine Race, he could not control the thoughts of every member of his race. Extreme cases would always appear in every group, and some people would be blinded by hatred. Even the Starlight Divine Race, with their extremely high average level of evolution, could not avoid internal divisions.

The captain turned to look at his deputy. "What's the status of the weapons?"

The deputy nodded emphatically. "Five super-heavy nucleon-type psionic annihilation bombs are running well and can be launched at any time."

"Very good. It is said that one of these bombs can destroy a continent, and more than three can destroy the surface environment of a planet. Our goal is to drop all the bombs on Aquamarine Star, so that this planet will be buried with us, and let them also feel the pain of Avitan." The captain's tone was vicious. The entire crew did not plan to leave alive.

The power of this high-level psionic bomb was not as strong as primordial psionic energy, but it was still a restricted weapon that the three major civilizations prohibited from using casually. It would leave behind a terrible psionic pollution effect, and generally only a Star Cluster-level civilization would have a stockpile.

The Avitan Undying Souls were a newly established extremist organization and did not have the corresponding technological strength. The bombs were actually secretly funded by someone, and the funder was the Star Cluster-level civilization in the Starlight Divine Race's region.

They had always regarded the rising Starlight Divine Race as a threat. Because of the Virtual Mutiny Faction's background, they could not openly target the Starlight Divine Race. The birth of the Avitan Undying Souls gave this Star Cluster-level civilization an opportunity to hinder their opponent. So, under the guise of a puppet force, they secretly supported the Avitan Undying Souls, attempting to create trouble for the Starlight Divine Race.

Just as the captain was about to order the attack, a spot of light suddenly appeared in the corner of the observation radar. The spaceship's AI issued a notification:

"Warning! An unknown large target is approaching!"

Everyone turned their heads and looked in the corresponding direction through the porthole. They saw a cosmic island floating far away, wrapped in a large yellow shield.

"Longtan?" The captain recognized the wandering island known throughout the Broken Star Ring, and wondered why it would appear here. It looked like it was heading to Aquamarine Star.

The Longtan Island slowly approached the secret blue, cocoon-shaped spaceship. Compared to the size of the two, it was like comparing an elephant to a sesame seed. Next to Longtan, the spaceship produced by the Starlight Divine Race was as insignificant as dust.

"Let's get out of the way, don't block Longtan's path."

The captain hurriedly ordered the pilot to retreat to the side. Longtan was a neutral force and would not actively attack any passing spaceship. He planned to suspend the operation and carry out the attack on Aquamarine Star after Longtan left.

The crew was located below Longtan. Through the porthole, they could only see the rocks at the bottom of Longtan and could not see the full picture of Longtan.

The pilot raised the spaceship, flying to above the horizon of Longtan, level with the city's skyline.

The captain and others were immediately stunned, and were shocked to find that Ames, dressed in a black dress, was standing in the most conspicuous place on the Longtan dock, her eyes staring directly at their spaceship!

"She's looking at us?"

As soon as this thought arose in everyone's minds, an unparalleled force field suddenly descended.

*Pfft—*

Blooms of blood exploded!

At the same time, the bodies of all the Starlight Divine Race on the ship were crushed, turning into a mass of red and blue minced meat. Their thoughts froze on the last thought, dying without any warning, passing away on the spot.

On the Longtan dock, Ames casually lowered her hand, retracted the force field, and instructed Verna, who was waiting aside, "Search this spaceship and see if there are any dangerous weapons hidden inside."

"Okay." Verna immediately went to organize manpower.

Then, Ames turned to look at Iso beside her, her eyebrows slightly raised.

"Are you sure the people on this ship wanted to harm Aquamarine Star? Did I kill the wrong people?"

Iso stroked his beard and chuckled. "You want to move Longtan to Aquamarine Star, so a few days ago I did a special prediction for Aquamarine Star... These people are Sisko's clansmen, and it seems that they wanted to destroy Aquamarine Star to retaliate against Black Star because of the Evolution Cube. Although these people didn't succeed in the end, being blasted to pieces by the anti-air dark energy orbital defense cannon that Black Star left here, since we're here, let's lend a hand."

Ames shook her head, somewhat helpless. "I didn't expect to end up guarding his home."

Iso glanced at her. "You moved Longtan to Aquamarine Star, didn't you just want to help Black Star guard his home planet?"

"Heh, I'm just maximizing Longtan's interests and carrying out the alliance agreement between allies. What does it have to do with him? Even if it's for someone else, it's for my two students." Ames turned around and left with her hands behind her back, her black dress floating along the ground like a blooming flower.

Iso watched Ames walk away, then turned to look at Jenny, whose hair was thinning day by day.

"We're almost at Aquamarine Star, let's notify them."

Jenny nodded expressionlessly.

...

Bennett had been standing at the dock, looking up at the universe sky.

A shadow suddenly appeared under everyone's feet, quickly expanding and covering the entire dock.

An extremely large floating island appeared in sight, slowly approaching Aquamarine Star, magnified in Bennett's vision.

Bennett smiled.

"The honored guest has finally arrived."