Chapter 1 Star Sea Calendar, Year 704, July 17

Chapter 2 Black Star Army Headquarters

Clang clang clang...

In the bright alloy corridor, a tall figure with waist-length hair swayed forward. Alloy combat boots echoed with each step on the floor. The white-gold light armor, trimmed with purple, covered only vital areas, revealing a high-strength, black nano-fiber tech suit beneath. It accentuated her lithe figure, her waist twisting with each movement. Blue-green matrix patterns gradually lit up on the surface of the black suit, following the movement of her muscles, particularly dense around her waist.

Several low-ranking Black Star Army soldiers emerged from around a corner, clad in the same Black Star standard armor. Seeing the woman from afar, their expressions turned solemn, and they straightened up to salute.

"Chief Officer, Your Excellency."

She paused, a polite smile gracing her exquisite face, like a hundred flowers blooming in radiant splendor. The soldiers' hearts fluttered. Only after she had passed did they regain their senses, a look of lingering admiration on their faces.

"So beautiful, truly the Black Star Army's number one beauty..."

"If only she would notice me."

"Dream on, you. Her Excellency Sylvia is a Calamity Grade powerhouse and the Commander's chief disciple. Why would she even look at you?"

The woman, already far away, twitched her ear. Hearing their conversation, a hint of helplessness appeared in her eyes.

It was indeed Sylvia.

In these seven years, she had diligently cultivated (struggled for survival). Through tireless training (suffering), she had squeezed out the potential hidden deep within her genes, finally achieving the strength she should have had in version 3.0, stepping into the Calamity Grade realm!

With her strength came fame, and she was promoted to Chief Officer of the Black Star Army. Now, she could proudly claim her title as Black Star's chief disciple without others mocking her, but rather acknowledging it.

Calamity Grades had long lifespans. Seven years had sculpted Sylvia's face into a breathtaking beauty. Fully matured, with flowing hair and a slender figure, she was a natural beauty worthy of a 9.5 rating. With her looks, strength, and high status, Sylvia was pursued by countless rugged men within the army. In terms of popularity among the officers, she was second only to Fording in the Black Star Army.

Sylvia arrived at the open-air platform at the highest point of the base. This was the highest point of the Black Star headquarters in terms of satellite altitude. The surrounding area was filled with the glittering stars of the universe. Looking up, she could see Golden Gate Star nearby, like a gigantic planet hanging upside down in the sky, dominating a large part of the heavens.

Many officers were already standing on the platform. They turned to look at her. Sylvia scanned the crowd. Basically, all the key members of the army holding important positions were here: Vice Commander Lagi, Logistics Director Leonard, Fleet Commander Milos, Head Instructor of Culture Loserin, and so on, about twenty people in total. Among them, no less than fifteen were Calamity Grade!

"Everyone's here. How are the things I asked you to prepare coming along?"

A steady male voice rang out. Sylvia followed the sound and saw a tall figure standing at the edge of the platform, clad in a custom black suit made of nano-material. His back was to the crowd as he gazed up at Golden Gate Star. It was Han Xiao.

"As you instructed, everything is ready," Sylvia nodded.

"Very good."

Han Xiao heard this, turned around, his expression calm, but with a hint of anticipation in his eyes.

Compared to seven years ago, his appearance had not changed much, he still looked young. But after experiencing seven years of hard time, he was already a man approaching forty. The wrinkles were not etched on his face, but in his heart. Although he was still handsome, his temperament had become more steady and mature.

The officers present deeply felt his change. If the Han Xiao of seven years ago was like a fierce tiger, imposing, after seven years of accumulation, his reputation had become fixed. At this time, Han Xiao gave them the feeling of a majestic lion. Just meeting his eyes was enough to make everyone except Lagi feel pressured.

Today was the opening day of version 3.0. Han Xiao had been waiting for this day for a long time.

"A full ten years..."

Han Xiao sighed inwardly. For the players, this was just background information, but he had truly experienced these ten years. For the opening of the new version, he had made many preparations in advance. The officers present were here to personally report on these preparations, but they were only doing things according to Han Xiao's instructions and did not know the reason.

This time, the events of version 3.0 had changed significantly compared to the original storyline of his previous life.

Over the past seven years, the Secret War had intensified. Due to his intervention, Klent was not as strong as in the original storyline. The Zero Organization and the War Domain fought back and forth, not as passive as they had been originally. Both sides had entered a white-hot stage ahead of schedule. The battlefields were not only Westwind, Kaya, and Chaida, but two new star systems had also been affected by the war.

The Secret War was one of the main storylines of version 3.0 in the Shattered Star Ring. Because of Han Xiao's participation, the Secret War was more complex than in his previous life, with more forces secretly participating. When the players returned, the Secret War that Han Xiao had modified would be one of the main storylines they would experience in 3.0!

In these seven years, the Black Star Army's business structure had stabilized, focusing on war, mining, and mercenary work. It developed step by step, successfully gaining a foothold in various star systems. Its influence spread throughout the Colton Star Cluster, with more than five hundred satellite bases, three hundred thousand warships, hundreds of millions of members, and assets reaching hundreds of billions. It was already a behemoth!

Such a large force could easily support millions of players, and version 3.0 was a boom period for new players. With the good results of the second Galaxy Super League as a foundation, there would definitely be more new players from Hua Xia. The Black Star Army had ample capacity to train a massive number of new players.

Seven years of warfare provided Han Xiao with a steady stream of experience, allowing him to reach level 211. The experience levels of version 2.0 were indeed a little difficult to supply his late-game leveling consumption.

The return of the 3.0 players was another opportunity to level up quickly. Han Xiao had been waiting eagerly. He had taken the time over the past seven years to do hundreds of commissions, accumulating a batch of mission completion cards, which he had prepared for leveling up.

Han Xiao's preparations in these seven years were equivalent to sharpening his scythe.

It could be said that now everything was ready, all that was missing was the leeks!

Han Xiao took a deep breath, looked up at Golden Gate Star in the sky, opened the panel, and silently watched the countdown to the update time.

[Version 3.0 is open!]

[Acquiring data... Data acquisition complete!]

[Player forum is open]

[Welcome to Galaxy version 3.0 - The Red Tide!]

Finally, it began!

In version 3.0, the players' strength could undergo a qualitative change from quantitative. The concept of one million Grade C Supers and one million Grade B Supers... was vastly different!

'This version is the era of the Black Star Army's true rise!'

Han Xiao's eyes lit up, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. He turned his back to the crowd and waved his hand.

"Send all the ships out."

...

At the same time, Golden Gate Star.

Since the Black Star Army headquarters had relocated, the Black Star Base No. 1 on Golden Gate Star had been transformed into a surface office, with only a few people stationed there. It was cold, quiet, and very empty.

Suddenly, countless white lights flashed simultaneously, and figures of players appeared one after another. The empty base instantly became crowded, and the deserted base suddenly became lively.

"Haha, finally I can log in!"

"The new version is here, it's here."

"Red Tide? Is the version name so harmonious? It's going to be finished soon."

"It's already 3.0, and I still can't take off my pants?! Bad review!!" A male player was furious.

"I'm shocked, it's the third version, and the undressing party hasn't died out yet?" The person next to him looked horrified.

"We, the undressing party, have been watching and never left..."

"Chang Kong is awesome! Hao Tian is awesome!" Some people were still immersed in the recently concluded second Galaxy Super League and could not extricate themselves.

In the base, more than one hundred thousand players were overjoyed and talking all at once, as noisy as a vegetable market.

Before the version update, all the players gathered at various bases to log off. The players who logged off at Base No. 1 were the most, as many as more than one hundred thousand people, and now they appeared in a group.

Crazy Blade logged in at the first moment, having timed it perfectly. After the end of the second league, he relaxed, but as a professional player, he could not fall behind when the new version opened. All professional players logged in immediately.

Crazy Blade, Hao Tian, Wanghou Jiangxiang, Li Ge, and others all logged in at Base No. 1. They gathered together. The habit of professional players was to first check the changes in the panel.

"The attributes and skills haven't changed, the level cap has been raised, it seems that the level cap of version 3.0 is 120."

Hao Tian said in a deep voice.

"The faction panel is still there, that's great, the Black Star Army hasn't gone bankrupt." Crazy Blade breathed a sigh of relief. The others were also relieved.

The fact that the Black Star Army was still around meant that the faction contribution points they had accumulated in the previous version would not be wasted, and their efforts had not been in vain.

After quickly checking the attribute panel, the professional players were relieved. At this time, the other players were almost done being excited and began to get down to business.

The players had experienced two version updates, and now they had experience. When the new version opened, the most important thing was to first figure out what changes had taken place in the world.

Including the professional players, all the players in the base took out their communicators, opened the calendar, and checked how much time had passed since the version update.

After seeing the date clearly, everyone was in an uproar.

"Damn, a full ten years have passed from 2.0 to 3.0?!"

"This is too long, won't the NPCs of the previous version have forgotten us all?"

"I remember that the time between 1.0 and 2.0 was only about a year, how did it suddenly increase tenfold?"

"Terrifying, terrifying..."

"Speaking of which, could it be related to the main storyline of this version? It took ten years to form the main storyline. I remember that before the update, Meatbun had a video in which Black Star personally revealed the existence of the Crimson Dynasty. Meatbun analyzed that version 3.0 is likely to be related to the Crimson Dynasty. Could the name Red Tide have come from this?"

The fact that a full ten years had passed since the last version shocked the players. This was the longest update span ever!

Everyone was talking about it. At the same time, they looked around, examining the base, wanting to see what changes had taken place in the base after ten years.

Soon everyone discovered something unusual. In the previous version, the base was the headquarters of the Black Star Army, with many mercenary NPCs coming and going. But now it was cold and quiet, and not a single NPC could be seen, as if it had been abandoned.

"Could something have happened to the Black Star Army?" Someone opened the interface of the Mercenary Alliance, but found that the Black Star Army's mercenary resume had disappeared, and they could not search for the Black Star Army.

Then, everyone wanted to open the Black Star Army's subprogram, but a prompt appeared: "The version is too old, the permissions are insufficient, please refresh the registration information."

In the past ten years, Phillip's subprogram had been updated countless times. The players' subprograms had long been unusable, and they had to obtain authorization from the Black Star Army to reregister before they could use it.

This discovery spread quickly, and many people's hearts suddenly rose to their throats.

Almost all the Hua Xia players were in the Black Star Army. The Black Star Army had been regarded as their own faction. The players were eager to know what the Black Star Army had become in their absence.

"Let's go out and have a look first." Crazy Blade was the most anxious and rushed out of the base gate. The professional players also followed.

Seeing someone take the lead, more than one hundred thousand players in the base poured out, leaving the base. They found that the road was unobstructed, and there was no gate ban.

Leaving the base, the players turned back and looked at it, discovering that Base No. 1 had shrunk a lot. It seemed to have been改造ed and had many areas demolished. It looked very dilapidated. Crazy Blade and others couldn't help but feel a thump in their hearts when they saw this.

Outside the base was a street in a city on Golden Gate Star. Orange warm light shone between the buildings, leaving sunset-like shadows. The street was filled with players and was very crowded. Many people had to start their mechs and fly into the air, looking for NPCs everywhere to ask questions and find clues.

Not far away, there were many Godoran pedestrians. Crazy Blade, Hao Tian, and others took the lead and rushed over, grabbing one of them.

"Hey, what are you doing?" The passerby looked terrified.

"Don't be afraid, we just want to ask some questions," Crazy Blade said quickly.

The passerby nodded timidly, and suddenly caught a glimpse of the Black Star logo on Crazy Blade's mech. His face changed, "Are you people from Black Star?"

Everyone's faces lit up with joy. Ten years had passed, and this person still knew Black Star, there was hope!

Crazy Blade hurriedly pointed to Base No. 1 and asked, "Yes, may I ask if that is the headquarters of the Black Star Army?"

"You are people from Black Star, why do you need to ask me?" The passerby looked puzzled, but still honestly replied, "That is no longer the headquarters of the Black Star Army."

"Then where is the Black Star Army headquarters now?" Crazy Blade couldn't wait to ask.

The passerby pointed to the top of his head and shrugged, "Well, isn't that it?"

In the sky?

Crazy Blade, Hao Tian, and others looked up in confusion, their faces suddenly froze, and their mouths grew wider and wider.

Gradually, more and more players looked up at the sky, as if they had all been hit by a freezing spell. They stared at the sky with their mouths wide open, like motionless turtles basking in the sun.

What leapt into the eyes of all the players was a huge steel-colored planet floating in the outer space of Golden Gate Star, occupying most of the sky, as if it would fall to the earth at any time!

There was no need to look for it specifically. Such a large planet was so close at hand that it was impossible to pretend not to see it.

This fortress the size of a planet was the current headquarters of the Black Star Army?!

More than one hundred thousand people looked up at the sky together, all dumbfounded!

In 2.0, the Black Star Army headquarters was just a base. After ten years, the army owned a planetary fortress not much smaller than Golden Gate Star as its headquarters?!

What had the Black Star Army experienced in these ten years?

What did we miss!!