Chapter 164 The Correct Way to Play

Through the player forums and the legion's internal channels, players stationed at other bases learned about the discounted rates for participating in the war.

A little over ten days later, more than a million legion players gathered at the legion headquarters and chose to join the war.

A considerable portion of them fell for the promotional scheme, emptying their wallets and providing the Black Star Legion with billions of Enas in pure profit within half a month, a very lucrative return.

However, the players' primary focus was still on leveling up. For example, a group of professional players single-mindedly rushed to level up in the early stages of the version, and only a small proportion of players chose to study knowledge.

But Han Xiao was not discouraged. Once the players grew fat enough in the future, and had excess experience, they would definitely buy all the knowledge in the legion. This experience would eventually find its way into his pocket. The experience he had gained in just half a month was already more than the total amount he had acquired in seven years, an explosive level of efficiency.

The players happily enjoyed their new equipment, while Han Xiao happily counted his money.

Within half a month, he had leveled up to 217, intermittently. He was still three levels of experience away from the level 220 advancement.

After this wave of harvesting, the players' savings and experience were basically cleared, squeezing them dry of their resources, and they would need time to recover.

"The players' savings are still a bit low. That's right, at the end of the last version, many people went to the professional league selections for fun, and they used their experience to upgrade their skills. These people didn't save much experience. We still need to fatten them up before we can harvest again."

At this moment, in the lounge of the conference room, a group of officers were gathered around a card table, shouting loudly. Han Xiao leaned against a sofa on the side, not participating, alone and focused on thinking about problems.

"After this war, I should be able to gather enough experience for the advancement. Maybe I can level up a few more times and shorten the gap to the Super A grade."

Han Xiao pondered to himself.

Although he wouldn't reach the Super A grade so quickly, Han Xiao was quite satisfied with his current progress. Other Super A grade seeds had not yet found a way to become Super A grades, stuck in a bottleneck and unable to make progress, while he only needed to level up to grow rapidly. There was no real bottleneck for him.

Moreover, he had also hoarded task settlement cards, so as long as he had enough experience, everything would fall into place.

Han Xiao was thinking when a cheer erupted from the card table.

Laji looked helpless and muttered, "I knew I would lose," and stood up from his position. His side of the game had been completely crushed, while on the other side of the table was Leonard, sitting upright, his expression meticulous, slightly nodding, as if saying, "You're too kind."

"Not bad, our Logistics Supervisor has won five games in a row, wiping out five people."

"Tsk, I lost 50,000 Enas, I should have bet on Leonard."

"The Deputy Commander was abused the whole time, the skill gap is too big."

"The Mechanic's logical ability is really amazing... But why is His Excellency Black Star's card skill so bad?"

"Teacher! Someone is saying bad things about you!" Sylvia turned her head and shouted at Han Xiao.

Han Xiao came back to his senses, put his hands behind his back and walked behind Sylvia, leaned over and rested his chin on Sylvia's head, his eyes sweeping over the crowd, with a "Let me see which bastard is criticizing me behind my back.jpg" expression.

Because most of the officers would be participating in the war in a few days, the legion's core members were basically on standby at headquarters. Han Xiao had just held a short meeting, and after the meeting, everyone came to the lounge to play cards and start gambling, a group of old geezers.

Han Xiao refused to participate in any activity that relied on luck.

Leonard was originally looking at blueprints, but Sylvia lost several games in a row and couldn't stand it, insisting on pulling Leonard over to vent her anger.

Although Leonard didn't like to waste time on recreational activities like Wien Cards, he would occasionally be invited into card games by others, and he also had his own deck.

If you can't play Wien Cards, you're too embarrassed to be an officer in the Black Star Legion.

Although the legion's officers possessed powerful strength, they also had their own interests and liked to have fun, like ordinary people, when they were not handling affairs or fighting.

Since he was playing, Leonard took it seriously with his usual style. He had a strong logical ability and had always been very skilled at cards. Wien Cards had a rich variety of gameplay, and after he operated with various sly moves, all that was left was to bulldoze through, continuously defeating five opponents, and showing no mercy to his own sister, Roselyn.

Leonard slowly put away his cards, looked around, and was expressionless, which made him seem extremely arrogant, "Who else?"

Sylvia raised her head and nudged Han Xiao's chin, with malicious intentions, "Teacher, why don't you play a game too."

Hamond honestly said, "I bet Black Star loses, a guaranteed profit."

"Alright," Han Xiao snorted, "Whoever beats me, I'll beat them to death, who wants to play with me?"

"No, no."

Everyone waved their hands repeatedly. You're the boss, you're the coolest, we don't dare to play, we don't dare to play.

Leonard lightly tapped the table and said seriously, "If no one wants to play with me, then I'm leaving."

At this moment, Melos stood up, sat down opposite him with a fierce look, sneering, with a "I'll see what you've got" expression.

"You're very arrogant, I'll let you understand what true skill is."

Leonard was expressionless, "You want to let me know what true luck is, right."

"Hmph, strong luck is also a type of skill."

Melos scoffed.

"It's over, Leonard's winning streak is about to be ended."

"What are you panicking about, Leonard, punish this bastard."

Everyone looked delighted.

After seven years of training, Melos finally crossed the threshold of the Disaster Grade. His talent was indeed superior, worthy of being a character with the protagonist's halo. It was as if he became a Grade A while playing cards, infuriating people.

Among all the officers, Melos was the most enthusiastic about Wien Cards, playing with whoever he could catch, because victory usually belonged to the God Drawers Association. In addition, Fording didn't like to play cards, so Melos had a vague authority in the Wien Card world of the Black Star Legion.

Even the players knew that Melos welcomed anyone, and even they could play cards with Melos. There were even corresponding missions. Winning Wien Cards against Melos rewarded experience, and there was a chance to win rare cards from Melos.

After exchanging a few insults, Melos and Leonard officially began their game, both using the Black Star Legion deck.

Wien Cards were updated five years ago. Now, as an affiliated faction of the Longtan camp, the Black Star Legion had surpassed Longtan in the number of cards on the list, with a total of eight cards. Among them, Han Xiao's personal card was enhanced, with many effects and a high health pool, and had become a rare card.

Before long, Melos drew god cards continuously, and Leonard, although he had good card skills, still fell into a passive position.

Han Xiao suddenly had a mischievous impulse and threw a [Curse of Luck] at Melos.

"Hmph, you're already dead." Melos confidently drew a card, glanced at it, and his face suddenly stiffened.

Wien Cards could be called a luck identification technique. The luck attribute was the most obvious in playing cards. Melos had 90% less luck than himself, but in front of Leonard, he lost the blessing of the luck aura, and all the cards he drew in a row were useless. He was easily counterattacked by Leonard, and the situation quickly reversed.

"Oh, is your luck finally not working?"

"Haha, you've got your day."

Melos had a black face and argued with a stiff neck, "What do you guys know, this is called strategically giving up the advantage, I'll make a comeback later."

The onlookers laughed, and the room was filled with a lively atmosphere.

Han Xiao stopped joining in the fun, sat back on the sofa, and opened the forum to observe the recent movements of the players.

It had been less than half a month since the opening of Version 3.0. Players in other star systems were still in the exploration period, and the news revealed by Han Xiao had become important clues for players in other star systems to find their own main lines, benefiting all players.

This time, the main storyline of the Shattered Star Ring version appeared first again, and players in other star systems were envious and jealous, causing the Shattered Star Ring section of the forum to be the most active, and many players from other star systems came to leave messages and discuss.

Coincidentally, Rou Bao released a new series of videos, speculating that the Black Star Legion was the hidden main line of the Shattered Star Ring for three consecutive versions, giving various analyses, and frantically licking Han Xiao, causing widespread discussion. Han Xiao and the Black Star Legion had become a hot topic in the past half month.

Han Xiao glanced at the posts, which were basically discussing his importance and past deeds. Rou Bao had given him a wave of exposure, which was not a bad thing.

What made him happy was that the new episode of *Galaxy Times*, while introducing the new version, focused on the current benefits of the Black Star Legion based on player information.

Just as a large number of new players would appear in Version 3.0, the *Galaxy Times* highlighted the benefits of the Black Star Legion, which would attract many people to choose to be born in the Shattered Star Ring, indirectly increasing the number of players there.

"Knowledge can only be learned once, and those new players are a new market that can bring new income. In addition to Aquamarine, the novice planet, there are also new novice planets in the Shattered Star Ring. I'll find a time to build a Black Star Legion base there and recruit these new players into the legion in advance."

Han Xiao pondered. In addition to the veteran players who started playing in Version 1.0, he also had to increase the size of his leek field.

"The players in other star systems are also a huge potential market, but unfortunately, the distance between star systems is too far, and the power of the Black Star Legion cannot leave the Shattered Star Ring. There is no hope for the time being."

Han Xiao secretly shook his head. He had been coveting the players in other star systems, but due to distance limitations, he could not get his hands on them.

Casually browsing through the posts, Han Xiao's gaze suddenly stopped. One post caught his attention.

The title was impressively *The True Way to Play the Secret War*.

"What the hell is the true way to play, how come I don't know?"

Han Xiao curiously clicked in. The poster's ID was called "Xia Ye Fan Hua", and the content of the post made Han Xiao couldn't help but raise his eyebrows:

"...Everyone already knows that the Secret War main line can choose two camps, but since we are in the Black Star Legion, basically everyone is on the Crimson Dynasty side from the beginning. Since this is the case, why can we still choose the Klent camp... I think, this contains a potential hint.

And the hint is—joining the Klent camp has greater benefits than staying in the Black Star Legion!

This is the correct way to play this main storyline!

I'm not talking nonsense. The first reason is that I have inquired about the events of the past ten years. Since the beginning of the Secret War, the War Domain has occupied the advantage, and it still has the initiative now, with more and more areas being invaded. According to the trend, the probability of the Klent camp winning is far greater than that of the Crimson Dynasty.

Based on the examples of the Germination Organization and the Aberrant Disaster, I have summarized a conclusion—the higher the level of struggle in the main storyline, the smaller our players' influence on the plot direction.

And the Secret War is a competition between two star cluster-level civilizations. I don't think we can determine the outcome of the war.

In other words, according to the general trend, the Klent camp is the one who will win this Secret War!

Although staying in the Black Star Legion has many benefits, the main mission will eventually fail and the evaluation will be lowered. If you join the Klent camp, even if you are just passively participating throughout the whole time, the evaluation of the main mission will be improved because of the war's victory.

The second reason is that almost no one has joined the Klent camp, which means that competition is small, and there is an opportunity to obtain more resources and opportunities. On the other hand, there are millions of players in the Black Star Legion, so much effort has to be spent to steal heads, resources, and missions in order to get a decent reward.

The third reason is the connection with future versions. The information shows that the backer of the Klent is the Red Empire, and the Red Empire is one of the three major cosmic civilizations. Future versions are likely to revolve around cosmic civilizations, so joining the Klent camp is equivalent to opening the ladder to cosmic civilizations.

Even if the Black Star Legion is strong in the future, it cannot surpass cosmic civilizations.

So in my opinion, staying in the Black Star Legion can only enjoy the immediate benefits, but you will lose more opportunities. Maybe the benefits of the Black Star Legion are a trap, and only smart people can see through it and choose the Klent camp!"

After reading the post, Han Xiao's expression was very subtle.

He knew this player named "Xia Ye Fan Hua". In his previous life, Xia Ye Fan Hua was a famous hidden plot digger who was keen on analyzing plots, had excellent brain-supplementing ability, and was quite famous.

Objectively speaking, Xia Ye Fan Hua's analysis was indeed logical, clear and organized, with an "Everyone is drunk, but I am sober" attitude. At first glance, it seemed that this was really the case.

However, Xia Ye Fan Hua was fundamentally wrong. These were all deliberately done by Han Xiao, where was there any "potential hint".

If someone really believed it and jumped ship to the Klent, then the consequences, just thinking about it, were refreshing.

Han Xiao looked helpless, brain supplementation is brain supplementation, but you also have to conform to the basic laws.

"Smart people are often misled by their own ingenuity... I hope no one will really be tricked."