Chapter 1 Remembering Xia Ye Fan Hua

After remembering the player Xia Ye Fan Hua, Han Xiao threw the matter to the back of his mind.

This was bound to happen. After all, players were explorers, and there would always be some who yearned for novelty and the unknown. There was no way to stop them, so it was better to let nature take its course.

Only after experiencing the wind and rain would one know the value of a leek greenhouse.

After browsing the player forums for a while, the sofa beside him suddenly shook as someone sat down. Han Xiao turned his head and saw that it was Reynold.

"Not playing cards?"

"That bastard pulled Fording over to play. What's the point?" Reynold said expressionlessly, rarely cursing.

Han Xiao chuckled, turned to Reynold, and casually asked, "Do you have any wishes lately? Be sure to tell me."

"No."

"Think again carefully, don't be afraid to trouble me, you must tell me if there's anything…"

Reynold's expression was strange. "Why do you ask me this kind of question every month or two?"

"I'm just showing concern for my subordinates…" Han Xiao coughed. For Reynold's Perfect Mechanical Sense, he would ask about Reynold's well-being every now and then, trying to trigger a quest.

However, since rescuing Loserlin, no more quests had appeared on Reynold, which made him very tired. At this rate, how many years would it take to get Perfect Mechanical Sense?

Should I find some people in private to kidnap Loserlin and wait for Reynold to ask me to save her? The Happy House has talents in this area… Han Xiao's eyes darted around.

"Your Excellency Black Star, how long do you think this war will last?" Reynold suddenly asked.

Han Xiao thought for a moment and said, "In my opinion, war is an opportunity. As long as there are benefits, the longer the better. But the Secret War is only a small scale compared to the interstellar civilization wars that last for centuries. As long as the Crimson Dynasty and the Federation of Light end their negotiations, the Klent will also call off their troops. Hmm… According to my inside information, the two major cosmic civilizations are expected to stop negotiating within a few years."

Reynold shook his head. "With the current situation, the Klent's plan has already succeeded for the most part. When the Crimson Dynasty gets its wish, it will help the Klent re-divide the Soll System's area, incorporating the several star systems occupied by the War Realm into the Soll System's territory. If the Purple Crystal doesn't find a backer, no one will help."

"Yes, a civilization that wants to remain independent has to endure these things." Han Xiao remained noncommittal. He had some ideas, but there was no need to tell Reynold yet. He paused and said, "But even if the Secret War ends, the Red Tide won't disappear in a short time. It's like throwing a stone into the water. While splashing, it will also form ever-expanding ripples that won't dissipate for a while."

The Star Sea had countless civilizations and forces, all with their own interests, like a pile of matchsticks ready to be ignited. The Red Tide was like a spark that ignited their sleeping desires. Once the valve controlling desire was opened, it wouldn't be so easy to close.

"The Purple Crystal also knows that the War Realm can't be allowed to occupy so many star systems anymore. This battle is a large-scale counterattack, aimed at completely clearing all the strongholds of the War Realm in the Kantde System and regaining control of an entire star system. This is the largest military operation of the Purple Crystal since the Secret War, almost emptying their nests."

Han Xiao's tone was serious.

In two days, the Black Star Army would officially set off, joining up with other colleagues from the Zero Organization for an expedition to the Kantde System.

This time, he planned to give the players plenty of opportunities to play, handing over all the dirty, tiring, and dangerous work to the players, mainly to cultivate them, so they could do more war quests and fertilize the fields a little more.

—Anyway, players can't die. If you don't go to hell, who will?

Besides, a little excitement would definitely make the game experience awesome. If the players didn't die a few times, they would find it boring.

…

Xia Ye Fan Hua stared unblinkingly at the player forums, paying attention to the replies to his post. Most of the voices were rebutting, making his face look very bad.

This post was a plot clue he had finally thought of, and Xia Ye Fan Hua was quite proud of it. In his opinion, it would definitely awaken many confused players, lead them to the right path, and gain their worship.

However, the response to the post was the opposite of what he had imagined. Players already quite recognized the Black Star Army, and most people were mocking him, criticizing his ideas as worthless and calling them wild guesses. This made Xia Ye Fan Hua angry, feeling like his good intentions were being treated as a donkey's liver and lungs.

"These people don't use their brains at all!"

Xia Ye Fan Hua was indignant. After arguing with a mocking player for a while, he felt terrible. He simply stopped looking at the replies, so his eyes wouldn't be bothered and his mind wouldn't be upset.

"When future developments prove my ideas, you'll know who's right and who's wrong. It'll be too late to regret it then!"

Xia Ye Fan Hua snorted, modified the post, and added this sentence.

At the same time, in another part of the army headquarters, a player named "Chang Hen Tian" also saw Xia Ye Fan Hua's post.

Chang Hen Tian had always considered himself a high-level player of the plot type, who liked to discover unknown plots. In the Star Sea Chronicles forums, he was one of the enthusiastic recorders, and even established a small guild, leading dozens of hardcore players who were keen on digging out the plot background to play together.

When he saw the post, Chang Hen Tian immediately felt that what Xia Ye Fan Hua said was right.

The main storyline wouldn't give a meaningless faction for nothing. The Klent must have hidden plots!

Chang Hen Tian made up his mind and @ed all the members in the guild, releasing the link to Xia Ye Fan Hua's post.

"Take a look at this post. What he said makes a lot of sense. I've decided to join the Klent faction!"

People in the guild popped up one after another.

"Guild Leader, think twice. If you guess wrong, you'll be screwed!"

"Actually, it makes some sense. Guild Leader, count me in. It must be very interesting."

"Guild Leader, how are you going to join? There doesn't seem to be a channel."

Chang Hen Tian replied, "I searched for information, and news reports say that the War Realm is also replenishing its troops on Colton. I think as long as we go to the enemy's stronghold on the front line alone, we'll have a chance to join. We can take advantage of this participation in the war to change factions."

"That's betrayal, right? You definitely won't be able to return to the army in the future," someone said.

"If I can't go back, then I can't go back. The War Realm is a big faction anyway, and it may not be worse than the Black Star Army. And in the future, there will be opportunities to contact the Crimson Dynasty." Chang Hen Tian didn't care.

"This is all just guessing. Maybe he guessed wrong."

"I don't think he's wrong." Chang Hen Tian shook his head. "Besides, so many players are staying in the Black Star Army now. No matter how the army develops in the future, they will know about it. But the hidden plots on the Klent side haven't been discovered by anyone. If I want to play, I have to play some plots that others don't know about…"

"But the Black Star Army has such good benefits…"

"Haha, I'm not a professional player. What do I need to be so strong for?" Chang Hen Tian laughed.

He was a player with a strong thirst for knowledge. The attraction of novel plots was greater than actual benefits. There were quite a few people of this type in the player group.

Xia Ye Fan Hua's post still had some influence. In addition to those who refuted him, there were also some people who were skeptical and curious about the Klent faction.

Only a small number of them were plot-oriented players like Chang Hen Tian, while most of the others were gamblers who valued the benefits of the Klent faction.

…

Two days passed in a flash.

Today was the day of departure. The personnel had all been assembled, and the huge fleet was waiting in the headquarters' military spaceport.

More than a million players, as special warriors, formed an independent unit and stayed on the warships, feeling excited.

They were no strangers to this kind of large-scale mission, but every time they participated in this kind of mission with millions of people, most of them would feel excited and nervous, with a sense of epic feeling of doing great things together.

As a faction that united all players, the Black Star Army made them feel a great sense of belonging in this regard, as if they were shouldering a mission.

All the participants stayed in their respective warships. On all the virtual screens of each warship, Raki's face was displayed, and he was speaking to all the members… Originally, this was the job of the faction leader, but Han Xiao felt that Raki was a genius in mobilizing morale, so he simply let Raki, the vice-leader, do the mobilization.

So everyone had to listen to Raki reading the manuscript in a monotonous tone.

"We will all die sooner or later. The difference is whether we die today or tomorrow…"

Army morale -20.

"Whether weak or strong, no one can defeat death. Life is just a process of slowly rotting. Everything you do is meaningless to this universe, including this war. Whether you win or lose, it has nothing to do with you…"

Army morale -40.

"But even knowing that the ending cannot be changed, we still work hard. Even knowing that life is more precious than anything else, there are always people who take risks. Even knowing that we are just insignificant pawns in the war, and we will be decomposed into dust at any time under the weapons of ion cannons, thermonuclear missiles, and annihilation beams, we are still willing to take the risk of fighting… Why?"

Morale slowly recovered.

"Because… money!"

Morale instantly returned to zero!

"With money, you can enjoy life. With money, you don't have to compromise with others. With money, you can easily solve problems. We are all warriors, and fighting is our way of making money. Are you short of money? Then pick up your weapons and kill the enemy. War is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make money. Every enemy has a clear price tag. How much money you can earn depends entirely on your own kill count."

Triggered special effect — Profit Stimulus, morale +80.

Those empty slogans and beliefs would only be scoffed at by the army members. After all, the Secret War was a struggle for the Purple Crystal Civilization's interests, and it had nothing to do with them. They fought for money, and the best way to mobilize them was to tell the truth. Telling those empty words was not as effective as telling everyone how much an enemy was worth.

Countless players looked at each other. They thought they would hear an impassioned speech, but they didn't expect it to be so realistic.

Black Star, you've changed.

But we like it!

Han Xiao held back his laughter and hurriedly kicked away Raki, who was still eager to add another sentence—if he let him speak freely without following the manuscript, the morale might really be gone.

Han Xiao coughed and took over, saying in a deep voice, "The whole army sets off."

Rumble rumble rumble—

In the next moment, the surface of the Black Star Army's headquarters satellite slowly opened, revealing a large number of spaceport launch rails. Tens of thousands of warships flew out of the rails one after another, neatly arranged in the outer space of the headquarters.

The fleet accelerated into warp speed at the same time, turning into tens of thousands of streams of light, and instantly disappeared into the boundless universe.

The passers-by on Golden Gate Star stopped and looked up. They could see tens of thousands of bright meteor trails streaking across the sky, heading into the distance.

…

War Realm Headquarters, Herbert Star.

"Your Excellency Overlord, intelligence from the front lines reports that the Zero Organization has emptied its nests, and the target is the Kantde System. Black Star has also personally gone out. I have arranged for troops from other star systems to go to support."

War Realm Staff Officer Chod looked up at the mountain-like Herbert and respectfully reported.

"Mm."

Herbert responded faintly, indicating that he knew, and then asked, "Hasn't Black Star grown yet?"

Chod hurriedly said, "It's been a full seven years, and Black Star's strength hasn't changed significantly. He hasn't improved at all."

Speaking of this, Chod couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. Back then, Black Star was so popular that he seemed to be able to become a Super-A grade at any time. But seven years had passed, and Black Star had not broken through, and his popularity had dropped a lot. Some forces no longer paid attention to him all the time.

Every Super-A grade seed was a genius, but they all disappeared among the crowd after a brief sensation. Black Star was no exception. It turned out that he was no different from other Super-A grade seeds.

Herbert shook his head, a little disappointed.

He had been waiting for Han Xiao to grow, wanting to kill him when Han Xiao reached Super-A grade, so that he could use the record of killing a newly promoted Super-A grade to raise his deterrence and influence to a higher level.

Seven years ago, the news that the Klent was colluding with the Otherworlders caused him to have a grudge against the Klent, but the two sides were allies with the same goal of interests, so this small contradiction did not affect the War Realm's plan to continue fighting for the Klent.

"I overestimated him." Herbert only felt it was a pity. With his status, killing a Super-A grade seed would not yield much.

Chod couldn't help but ask, "Your Excellency Overlord, Black Star has made almost no progress in these seven years. Will he suddenly break through the boundaries and become a Super-A grade?"

Herbert looked down at him and said slowly, "Before the appearance of the First Ancestor, Calamity Grade was the strongest individual strength in the universe, which lasted for countless years. Generations of geniuses have not touched the threshold of Super-A grade. The life boundary of Super-A grade is not so easy to break through. Compared with talent, luck is more important. After all, becoming a Super-A grade is almost a new species…"

Chod had heard the rumors that "Super-A grade is a new species" more than once, and was secretly curious about where the huge gap between the strength of Super-A grade and Calamity Grade came from.

But obviously the Overlord didn't want to tell him, so Chod had to hold back his curiosity, changed the subject, and asked, "Then does Black Star have a chance to become a Super-A grade?"

"Well, maybe after decades of exploration, he can become a Super-A grade." Herbert said in a deep voice, "However, the Klent's plan will be completed in two or three years, and the war will end soon. At that time, Black Star will die in my hands. He has no chance to live that long."

Herbert's patience was limited. He made the decision that his waiting time for Black Star to become a Super-A grade would only last until the end of the Secret War.

After the end of the war, there would be no strategic restrictions that Super-A grades could not easily take action. At that time, even if Black Star was only a Calamity Grade, he would personally kill him to settle the score—killing my Overlord's cadre, you must pay the price.