Chapter 1 The Calm Before the Storm

Twenty days had passed since the Godora guard fleet suffered its unprovoked disaster.

After the last incident, the Godora fleet was on tenterhooks every day. Crew members never dared to spend more than two minutes in the toilet, fearing that they would follow in Commander Batte's footsteps and have their faces covered in… well.

Fortunately, Ames had left for other places to play ten days ago. Until she left Planet Aquamarine, Batte didn't dare protest to Ames in person. He was as cowardly as a quail, swallowing his anger and sulking alone.

Hela and Aurora did not leave with Ames. In order to help with disaster relief, the two remained on Planet Aquamarine.

However, they had accepted Ames's invitation and already possessed the title of "Disciple of the Dragon Throne."

Ames understood the current situation of Planet Aquamarine and did not force the two to leave with her immediately. The two parties reached a consensus that after the Heteromorphy disaster was resolved, Han Xiao would be responsible for sending Hela and Aurora to Longtan for further study.

Having witnessed Ames's strength, Hela recognized the gap between herself and the top powerhouses. The universe was full of powerful individuals, and she deeply realized that she was still very weak and could not protect herself and her sister. Naturally, she would not reject Ames's kindness. It could also be understood that the sense of urgency brought about by her paranoia was the root of her pursuit of power.

In fact, when Han Xiao returned, Hela understood that her future could not be limited to Planet Aquamarine. One day, she would step into a higher level. Her original idea was to put aside her pride and follow Han Xiao into the universe with her sister. However, Ames's unexpected intervention became a better opportunity.

Han Xiao agreed. Although Hela had potential, her combat power could no longer keep up with his current level. Cultivating under the Dragon Throne should greatly stimulate her potential and quickly reach a level where she could stand alone, so that she could help him in the future.

On the other hand, the construction of the sub-base had been basically completed in the past month. The players had worked day and night to transform the main urban area of the shelter.

The main urban area was the area inside the city walls. New cables were laid, and the energy core of the shelter was replaced with a stable interstellar-grade high-energy reactor. The huge energy supply powered the city-level shield covering the main urban area and the hexagonal electromagnetic railgun defense array.

On the day of completion, the main urban area was separately designated as "Black Star Base No. 2." The area surrounding the main urban area was expanded by refugees and could be roughly divided into seven satellite cities. The area was several times larger than the main urban area. This outer area retained the name "Black Phantom Shelter." The advanced level of Base No. 2 far exceeded the technological level of Planet Aquamarine. It was as solid as a rock. Even if the six nations attacked together, they could not do anything to the base.

The urban planning was obvious, divided into the inner city of the base and the outer city of the shelter. This was the prototype of the Black Star Mercenary Group's base on Planet Aquamarine.

Because of sufficient funds, most of the base equipment was bought. The benefit of spending money was saving time. Han Xiao had time to build two mechanical production lines, one for electromagnetic firearms with considerable power for players, and the other for low-level energy shields. Both were suitable for selling to the current players.

Although Base No. 1 also had production lines for these two types of equipment, Base No. 2 needed to have a certain degree of productivity to increase local output and avoid shortages.

Currently, most players had exceeded the level 60 mark and completed their first racial sublimation. The players continued to level up, causing Han Xiao's experience income to decrease temporarily, but the players' wallets gradually became richer, and Inal gradually replaced the original currency system.

In addition to Kuang Dao and others, other players also had some spare money. A small number of players could already afford the mercenary group's faction goods. In the past month, these low-level mechanical goods had brought Han Xiao an income of 380,000 Inal.

Although the overall spending power of the players was still far lower than that of the high-level player groups, it was a good start.

Subtracting the cost of building the base, Han Xiao currently had more than 4.8 million Inal in savings, including the 600,000 income from the high-level player groups.

In addition to these two things, the situation on Planet Aquamarine had been stable for the past month. The Godora incident did not seem to affect it.

The second stage of the Heteromorphy disaster was gradually being contained, and the players' main quest progress was rising. It seemed that everything was getting better, but Han Xiao knew that this was just the calm before the storm.

Just today, a variable finally arrived.

Godora had developed an antidote!

…

Na Gokin secretly escorted the antidote back and went to Han Xiao as soon as possible.

"Black Star, the research department has created an antidote in the experimental stage based on your samples. Planet Aquamarine is the first pilot area."

Na Gokin took out a communicator, retrieved an encrypted document containing the antidote's information, and handed it to Han Xiao to review.

Han Xiao roughly browsed through it, his eyes flashing. "Two kinds of antidotes?"

"Yes, the research department discovered the operating mechanism of the Heteromorphy Progenitor through the samples. They found that the Progenitor's abilities have some kind of radiation reaction, so the first antidote is a mechanical device that can interfere with the ability band of the Heteromorphy Progenitor within a certain range, reducing the Progenitor's special radiation reaction. The specific effect is to reduce the hormone levels of the infected when they get sick. Originally, the infected could not control their behavior when they got sick, but now they will be barely controllable. It can be understood as weakening the Heteromorphy Progenitor's control over the infected."

Na Gokin explained.

Han Xiao nodded. "In this way, as long as this device is deployed, the infected within a radius of dozens of miles will no longer need to inject inhibitors."

The production of inhibitors was far from meeting the needs of the refugees, and they could only be injected into individuals. The suppression device developed by Godora, on the other hand, was a range-based suppression, with an efficiency millions of times higher. It could be said that it solved the biggest problem at present.

Na Gokin said in a deep voice, "The other antidote is an injection. The effect is to destroy the molecular structure of the Heteromorphy Progenitor. As long as it is injected into the Heteromorphy Progenitor, it can destroy it!"

The corresponding picture on the information was a tube of pure white colloid solution.

"As expected…" Han Xiao's eyes narrowed.

The Heteromorphy Progenitor could absorb energy, and most attacks had limited effects on it. Its vitality was very tenacious. As long as it was not completely eliminated, it could grow again. This injection was its nemesis, destroying the internal balance of the Heteromorphy Progenitor, causing a chain reaction like dominoes, directly disintegrating it from the molecular level, causing the Heteromorphy Progenitor's consciousness to disappear.

The second antidote was the means to fundamentally solve the Heteromorphy disaster!

Han Xiao suddenly had a thought. In the previous life's plot, the Heteromorphy Progenitor grew to a very high stage, and the stored energy was transformed into combat power, which was very powerful. Countless players cooperated with the Godorans to deal with the Heteromorphy Progenitor like a Boss. Although there was only one opponent, the Progenitor controlled countless beasts and infected. The scale of that final battle was very grand.

Now, due to his influence, the final battle was more than a year earlier, and the Heteromorphy Progenitor was far from reaching the level of the previous life, which meant that the difficulty of the Heteromorphy disaster Boss had plummeted!

Han Xiao tapped on the table. "So, our current task is to find the Heteromorphy Progenitor on Planet Aquamarine. The probability of finding a needle in a haystack is too low. Do you have any other methods?"

"Yes! In addition to the two antidotes, the research department has also created a detector that can sense the Heteromorphy Progenitor's band! As long as you stay within 2,000 meters of the Heteromorphy Progenitor for more than ten seconds, the detector can lock the Progenitor's location. Alas, due to limited time, the research department can only make detectors with this kind of performance for the time being."

Na Gokin took out a palm-sized instrument, similar to a radiation detector.

Han Xiao picked up the detector and pondered. "Although it can only lock the position within 2,000 meters, it's at least much better than searching blindly… Hmm, the structure of this detector is very simple."

"Yes, as long as you understand the principle of the Progenitor, it is easy to manufacture detectors, and the cost is not high."

Han Xiao's expression lit up, keenly smelling a business opportunity. "That's good! Let the research department give me the blueprints, and I will mass-produce the detectors, distribute them to the Players, and then send them to different continents and different locations for a carpet search!"

"Wouldn't it be faster to send out spaceships…" Na Gokin asked doubtfully.

"Not necessarily. The detector only reacts within 2,000 meters, which can be regarded as a spherical area with a radius of 2,000 meters. As the altitude increases, the sensing range will also continue to shrink. At an altitude of 2,000 meters, only the apex of the spherical area remains. The spaceship must fly very low. Moreover, it takes ten seconds to wait within 2,000 meters to lock the position, so the spaceship can only maintain low-speed flight, otherwise it will miss the Progenitor. Don't forget, the Heteromorphy Progenitor can also move."

Han Xiao shook his head and said, "Compared to that, it's better to organize manpower to search on the ground. In addition to the Players, the armies of the six nations can also help. With sufficient manpower, no area will be missed."

Na Gokin was stunned. Although he felt that something was wrong, what Han Xiao said seemed to make sense, so he had to nod and said, "Then let's do as you say."

Han Xiao smiled when he heard this.

All along, the shelter and Godora could only passively provide disaster relief and were helpless against the Heteromorphy Progenitor. Now everything was different!

With the three things researched by Godora, they could finally take the initiative to attack and eradicate the Heteromorphy disaster!

"Finally, this day has come!" Han Xiao's eyes were sharp.

…

Two days later, Heteromorphy suppression devices were deployed in the shelter and the cities of the six nations, finally getting rid of the production limit of inhibitors. During this period, a large-scale outbreak verified that the suppression device was indeed effective.

Although the infected would still produce various emotions, their reason went online, and people with a slightly stronger will could suppress the impulse when they got sick.

And willpower was exactly the strength of the people of Planet Aquamarine who had experienced disasters.

Finally, the refugees protected by all parties truly felt safe and no longer lived in fear. Although the Heteromorphy disaster had not been completely resolved, the people of Planet Aquamarine saw the dawn of overcoming the disaster for the first time in months.

The happiest person was Yi Ye Qing. She no longer had to work overtime to cultivate inhibitor raw materials, and she was finally relaxed.

When she was free, Yi Ye Qing saw the smiles on the faces of countless refugees for the first time. Her heart seemed to be touched by something, and she realized how many lives her actions had saved.

This feeling… made her feel very special and very warm.

Bennet and the high-level officials of the six nations also breathed a sigh of relief. They didn't know the inside story of Han Xiao's contribution of the samples. They thought it was all Godora's credit, so they sent official gratitude and thanks to Na Gokin, the commander of the Godora disaster relief team.

This made Na Gokin very embarrassed. He felt strange in his heart—the biggest contributor is from your Planet Aquamarine, but you came to thank me. The cart is before the horse!

However, although he complained about these Planet Aquamarine people in his heart, he wholeheartedly abided by the confidentiality regulations and did not reveal Han Xiao's actions to outsiders.

In the eyes of the players, the plot was naturally not that complicated. They only knew that Godora had suddenly developed a suppression device, which reduced the rate at which the progress of the main quest declined every day.

At this juncture, the Black Star Mercenary Group suddenly released a large mission, attracting the attention of all players.

[【Lock the Source】]

[Mission Introduction: The Heteromorphy disaster is the root of the catastrophe, and the unknown fate makes people uneasy. Finally, the day that countless people have been looking forward to has arrived. Black Star has found a way to eradicate the disaster, and he… needs your help.]

[Mission Requirement: You will be randomly dropped to a certain location on Planet Aquamarine, use the Heteromorphy Progenitor Detector to find the location of the Heteromorphy Progenitor on Planet Aquamarine, and notify the Black Star Mercenary Group.]

[Mission Reward: 105w Experience, 10,000 Inal, Black Star Mercenary Group Favorability +1500, Sunil Sergeant-level Reconnaissance Armor x1]

[Note: This mission will affect the progress of the 【Heteromorphy Disaster】main plot and greatly increase the 【Heteromorphy Disaster】mission progress]

"Damn, this mission reward is so high!"

"Ten thousand Inal?! My god!"

"It can also affect the main quest progress. It seems that this is a very important mission."

"Is this a sign that the Heteromorphy disaster main quest is coming to an end?"

The information about this mission set off a huge wave in the Planet Aquamarine forum, and immediately caused a sensation among the players!

For the players at this stage, the reward for this mission released by Han Xiao was ridiculously high!

—Han Xiao's reward amount has become very high with the growth of his strength and influence!

More than one million experience points was very considerable, but that was not the point. The key was 10,000 Inal, which was worth dozens or hundreds of daily disaster relief missions!

Not only that, but the Black Star Mercenary Group's faction relationship was also very valuable, and finally, there was a bonus of a set of sergeant-level armor worth several thousand, which was the set of equipment worn by the high-level player groups, which most players had envied for a long time!

Such generous rewards stimulated the nerves of countless people, and millions of players all became excited.

It was no exaggeration to say that this was the most rewarding mission they had ever seen!

Substantial rewards were better than any mission introduction. The players flocked to the Black Star Mercenary Group's base to accept the mission, almost breaking down the door.

Soon, the players learned from the Black Star mercenaries that the 【Lock the Source】mission required a special item, which happened to be purchased in the faction store, and this time it was open to all players, and anyone was qualified to purchase it.

Countless players couldn't wait to open the faction store and find their target. Soon, the item information jumped into view.

[Heteromorphy Progenitor Detector: Within 2,000 meters of the Heteromorphy Progenitor for ten seconds, you can lock the location of the Heteromorphy Progenitor. Price: 3 Inal]