Chapter 1 An Interrogation

Happy Cabin, an interrogation was underway.

"Who exactly is directing you?"

Han Xiao asked, putting on an act.

Stephanie was bound by electromagnetic tethers, a stimulating high-voltage current running through her body, causing wisps of white smoke to rise. She seemed oblivious, calmly gazing at Han Xiao before her, her face pale and weak. Her lips were slightly parted as she whispered, "I told you, you won't get any information from me."

Han Xiao narrowed his eyes, saying nothing.

The [Prey] mission wasn't over yet, the fourth ring was inactive. Wan Ying could share the senses of his shadows to some extent. Han Xiao didn't want to reveal that he knew the truth, as that would increase the danger of the next ring. So, these past few days, he'd been pretending to interrogate Stephanie whenever he had time, acting as if he didn't know about Wan Ying.

Whether or not he was fighting the air, it never hurt to be cautious… Han Xiao thought to himself.

Han Xiao had already extracted hundreds of tubes of gene serum from her. A+ Superhumans were much more durable than B-grades, like a higher-yielding milk cow. But Han Xiao hesitated about what to do with Stephanie next.

If he didn't know the enemy behind the scenes was Wan Ying, Han Xiao might have kept her to extract more serum. But with Wan Ying able to sense through his shadows, keeping Stephanie was a huge hidden danger.

Han Xiao's eyes shifted. He finally sighed softly. With a flash of his mechanical force, nanites sprayed from a compressed sphere, like black quicksand, climbing up his arm and transforming into a psionic cannon pointed at Stephanie's forehead.

Bang, bang, bang—

A series of shots rang out, and silence returned after a long while.

The door opened, and Han Xiao walked out, shaking his head.

He didn't want to leave any hidden dangers. Although Stephanie had a tragic past, he wasn't soft-hearted. Wan Ying's shadows had lost their selves and couldn't escape control. Death was a release.

Killing Stephanie gave him a 280% bonus for killing enemies above his level, totaling more than 350 million experience points, replenishing a small portion of his dwindling experience pool, and a Stephanie character card.

[Character Summon Card - Stephanie: [Resonance Penetration] - Weakens the target's physical defense by 50%~80% through short-range resonance. For every 100 points of Endurance the target has, they can negate 1 second of duration. The base duration is 24 seconds, with a minimum of 3 seconds. Uses remaining: 0/4]

Han Xiao closed his eyes, recalling the scene from just now. In her death throes, Stephanie seemed to briefly regain her self. He clearly saw a look of relief and gratitude in her eyes, fading away with her life.

At that moment, a notification popped up on his interface.

[You have triggered the mission [Stephanie's Last Wish]!]

[Mission Description: In the moment before her death, she begged for your help to make up for her greatest regret in life.]

[Mission Objective: Find the last remaining member of the Antatar bloodline.]

[Reward: 15 million experience]

[Note: This mission is a relic mission. Some individuals may be interested in this.]

"Triggered a mission…"

Han Xiao was a little surprised.

The Antatar were Stephanie's civilization, one that had vanished into the river of history.

It seemed that being unable to protect her civilization was her eternal regret. However, after becoming one of Wan Ying's shadows, her obsession was twisted, only able to resurface in her final moments.

Relic missions were a special type of mission, with small interface rewards, but they often involved places buried by the dust of history. Exploring relics could lead to additional discoveries.

‘If I have time, I might do it,’ Han Xiao thought.

His vacation was coming to an end. Han Xiao thought for a moment, then took out his communicator, opened his contact list, flipped through dozens of pages, and found Leif's number, initiating a call.

…

Kaya Star System.

In the vast expanse of space, a grim array of warships trailed comet-like tails of flame as they stealthily advanced. This was a complete guerilla fleet of the Zero Authority, with its main force coming from the New Fellan Resistance, a cooperative force on the front lines. The warships were mostly assault-type models.

In the main control room of the Raven-class flagship, Commander Morid and his staff were gathered around a silver-white table for a tactical meeting. Representatives from other cooperative forces in the fleet were listening in. Above the table, a holographic star chart glowed blue, marking the dense network of strongholds and fleets in the Theater of War, with deep red indicating high-risk areas.

"In our tactical sector, there are twelve strongholds of the Theater of War. This operation is a top-level directive from the Operations Command. Including us, a total of twenty-seven fleets are participating in this tactical operation. Does anyone have any thoughts?"

Morid was a Fellan, slender and frail-looking, as if a gust of wind could blow him away. In reality, the strength of his muscle fibers was no less than that of an alloy, and he weighed over a ton. He was one of the high-level combatants of the New Fellan Resistance, a Calamity Grade Mechanic who had integrated semi-organic metal into his body, becoming one with the machine. His physique was extremely tough, belonging to the "integrated mechanical soldier" school of Mechanics.

After Han Xiao temporarily withdrew from the front lines, the situation in the secret war shifted dramatically. The main force and vanguard of the Theater of War joined forces, advancing rapidly and continuously expanding their stronghold map in the three border star systems of West Wind, Chada, and Kaya. In two months, they had built hundreds of mutually supportive stronghold planets. The stronghold locations were carefully selected, and the areas influenced by their radiation covered several star sectors, completing the first strategic blueprint.

The ruling civilizations of the three border star systems remained uninvolved, not intervening in this unofficial secret war. According to inside news, the Theater of War had already sent envoys to contact and negotiate with the civilizations of these three star systems. Although only two months had passed, according to big data statistics and public opinion surveys from neutral intelligence organizations, the influence of the Purple Crystal Civilization in West Wind, Chada, and Kaya had declined by about 13.7%.

Weakening Purple Crystal's influence in the border star systems was the strategic direction of the Klent Empire. Star systems were part of a star cluster's territory, but the regions of star clusters were planned after the fact. Star system civilizations and star cluster civilizations did not have an absolute subordinate relationship.

If Purple Crystal's regional influence declined sharply, and the star system civilizations received solicitations from Klent and future pressure from the Crimson Empire, they would declare independence and defect to Klent. Even if the border star systems of the Colton Star Cluster and Klent's Sol Star Cluster were separated by a barren void belt, these border star systems could be reclassified into Klent's Sol Star Cluster territory. With star cluster-level Stargate technology, distance was not a limitation.

To re-plan the scope of a star cluster, the most important thing was the support of a universe-level civilization. This was the basis for Klent's attempt to seize the star systems. Purple Crystal was semi-neutral. Unless Purple Crystal was willing to become a vassal of a universe-level civilization like Klent, the Guanghui Federation would not help.

Herber's army was composed of battle-hardened elites, recognized as a first-rate armed force in the Shattered Star Ring. In a head-on confrontation, the Zero Authority was no match.

Compared to the powerful Theater of War, the Zero Authority's greatest advantage lay in its strategic depth. The Operations Command adopted Han Xiao's suggestion and adjusted it. In the two months when the Theater of War's momentum was strongest, they changed their tactics, avoiding the strong and attacking the weak, using strategic depth to buy time. They temporarily disregarded immediate gains and losses, allowing the vast star system area to disperse the Theater of War's forces, focusing on harassment and raids, playing guerrilla warfare while waiting for opportunities.

What Morid and the others were discussing was a long-brewing large-scale counterattack, to sound the horn of counterattack!

"The Theater of War's army in the West Wind Star System is the largest, with all eight Vanguard Officers gathered there. No one except Black Star can contend with them. The Kaya Star System is the Theater of War's smallest war zone, making it a perfect breakthrough point," a staff officer said.

Morid nodded. "The strategic objective of this operation is to eliminate the twelve Theater of War strongholds in this sector. The enemy supports each other, connecting the twelve strongholds with a warp station, so even if their support speed is extremely fast, their total force won't change. Our twenty-seven fleets will attack each stronghold planet, dispersing the enemy's forces and stretching their lines. Then, a spearhead force will strike to destroy the warp station, depriving them of the ability to quickly transfer their battlefield. After that, we'll quickly eliminate the twelve strongholds and devour any isolated support forces."

Everyone nodded in agreement. The Commander's tactical course manual contained a large number of tactical cases. This was the correct approach to deal with a warp station. The attacking side had the initiative, and the Zero Authority's Operations Command's tactics were simple and efficient.

"The twenty-seven fleets can be divided into four types: containment forces, feint forces, standby forces waiting to assault the strongholds, and a spearhead force to raid the warp station." Morid tapped the table, his expression serious. "We are one of the three spearhead forces. The enemy has placed heavy defenses around the warp station, so our mission is very important."

"Once everyone arrives at their designated positions, we'll begin the operation…" the deputy said, but his words were interrupted when the holographic star chart was replaced by a communication request.

Leif's figure appeared, his hands clasped behind his back, looking around. He said loudly, "This operation is temporarily postponed. A new reinforcement will participate in this operation. Morid, stand by in the vicinity and wait to rendezvous with the reinforcement. He will raid the warp station with you."

Postponing the plan specifically for a reinforcement?

Everyone was stunned. Morid was the first to react, frowning. "Who is the reinforcement?"

Leif heard this, a relieved and satisfied smile appearing on his face as he raised his voice.

"Black Star."

Morid's eyes lit up.

It was him!

After the earth-shattering battle two months ago, Black Star withdrew from the front lines, but now he was finally back!

"With such a powerful helper, our chances of victory are even greater. At least on the level of high-level combatants, we have the advantage!"

Morid nodded heavily. No wonder they had to postpone the operation. If it was to wait for Black Star, it was an acceptable approach. Black Star could share the pressure from the enemy's high-level combatants.

…

Several days later, the Black Star Army's fleet arrived in the Kaya Star System and joined up with Morid.

The main ships docked, and Morid led a group of captains to wait in the bridge. The door in the distance opened with a hiss, and a man in black walked in first, followed by a group of mercenaries. This time, Han Xiao had brought six hundred warships, accompanied by Melos, Hannon, and other B-grade executives. Reynold was in charge of logistics, and Raki had not yet returned.

Quickly taking a look, Morid stepped forward and extended his hand enthusiastically.

"I am Morid, the commander of this guerilla force, from the New Fellan Resistance. Welcome to our alliance, Black Star."

"Hello, brother," Han Xiao said, shaking his hand.

"Then I won't waste any time. This is the plan…"

The two walked side by side as Morid explained the steps of the operation to Han Xiao. The others followed behind, and the group made their way to the main control room.

Han Xiao listened absentmindedly to Morid's explanation. Leif had already told him the details when he accepted the mission, so he was now just repeating them.

Leif had been looking forward to his return to battle. As soon as his vacation ended, he had Han Xiao come to the Kaya Star System to participate in this long-planned counterattack mission.

In these two months, Han Xiao had basically completed his established goals. He had learned advanced knowledge, completed the reconstruction of the mechanical army, completed his advancement to level 195 in one wave, digested a large amount of stored experience and converted it into combat power, and even had an unexpected surprise, obtaining a powerful attack-type template talent, greatly increasing his combat power.

Because the war situation was passive, the Purple Crystal Civilization valued him more and more. As soon as he returned, Han Xiao was given an important role.

‘I've made a good start. As long as I continue to perform meritorious deeds, my position in the Zero Authority will rise rapidly.’

Han Xiao thought to himself.

His goal was to make the Black Star Army a key force supported by the Purple Crystal Civilization, gaining a large amount of resources. Naturally, he wouldn't refuse important battlefield missions.

He could put the class advancement mission on hold. The interface's experience reserve was limited. With a full ten years of update time, he was afraid of using it all up too early. His current strength was already enough to handle most situations. There weren't many Legacy grade blueprints for level 180, and the ways to obtain them were complicated. Before his next break, Han Xiao didn't have time to do the class advancement mission, and the secret war was an important part of his plan, so he had to take it seriously.

Arriving at the main control room, Morid opened the holographic star chart to give a more detailed introduction. Only then did Han Xiao perk up and listen carefully.

The interface popped up with the tactical mission for this operation, requiring him to act with Morid and complete the battle to raid the warp station.

After analyzing it, Morid pulled up the files of several individuals, his face turning serious.

"According to intelligence, the warp station is heavily defended, with nine satellite fortresses and satellite-grade heavy cannons. There are fifteen Calamity grades stationed there, twelve of whom are strong individuals that the Theater of War recruited in the Sol Star Cluster. The other three are direct executives of the Theater of War, core members."

Morid pointed to a portrait, which showed a ferocious-looking female creature with pale green skin, a golden mohawk hairstyle, and several hideous scars covering her cheeks. Her eyes were blind and replaced with mechanical eyes. Her overall temperament was cold-blooded, and one could tell at a glance that she was a merciless killer.

"Tamaria, a judge of the Theater of War, an upper-level Calamity, nicknamed 'Poison Bone'. It is said that more than ten billion lives have died at her hands, including ten thousand B-grade Superhumans and one hundred Calamity grades. This rumor is too exaggerated, but the truth is probably not far off. In short, she is extremely bloodthirsty and is a well-known madman under Herber…"

"Green skin? She probably has Orc blood," Han Xiao murmured, secretly sighing.

—As expected of Herber's subordinates, even the women are muscleheads.

Herber had many talented individuals under his command. In addition to the Eight Vanguard Officers, there were many notorious Calamity grade executives. However, the Eight Vanguard Officers had the greatest reputation as they debuted as an idol group.

Morid gazed at Han Xiao with deep affection in his eyes.

"This woman, and the other fourteen Calamity grades, are all yours."

Whoa, we've only known each other for less than an hour, and you're really not holding back!

Han Xiao turned his head and patted Melos on the shoulder. "Did you hear that? It's all up to you."

Melos had a confused look on his face.

"Just kidding, how could I let you go to your death?" Han Xiao laughed and twisted his neck. "Don't worry, it's just fifteen Calamity grades… If I can't beat them, I can still run away!"