Chapter 139 Moving Home with the Stone

A few days later.

The Interstellar Construction Brigade finally arrived at Sunil. The players' temporary camp had undergone a magnificent transformation into a construction site. The structure blueprints for Base Number Three were an upgrade from Base Number One. The engineering team showed off their skills, using advanced equipment to quickly lay the foundation and build houses.

The players came in handy, their work enthusiasm soaring. Upholding the spirit of hard work and endurance, they strived to add bricks and tiles to the Black Star Army's expansion and construction. Cooperating with the engineering team in a two-pronged approach, the construction efficiency of Base Number Three was astonishingly high.

More Black Star Army members responded to the call and gathered on Sunil Star. Aroshia, Reynold, Sylvia, Jin Dai, Haman, and other executives were all present, bringing thousands of mercenaries. In addition, hundreds of thousands of players operating outside were also rushing over one after another. So far, the number of players on Sunil Star had risen to 280,000.

Sunil's announcement of a Grade A mission ignited the players' enthusiasm. Every Grade A mission they had seen so far had been a main storyline quest. The upcoming war between Sunil and the subterranean aliens was also regarded by the players as a new main storyline.

Since entering the interstellar era, the players had yet to experience a major event that could be considered a new main storyline. The Black Star Army was their guiding faction, the backbone in their eyes. Everyone believed that following the Black Star Army was the key to unlocking the next stage of the story, and the current situation proved their thinking.

Because of the Black Star Army, the Sunil main storyline had emerged. This was a storyline brought about by the faction. The players clearly understood the primary and secondary relationships, and they saw even greater potential in the Black Star Army. This meant that they could grow with the faction and trigger more main storylines. Due to the nature of the Black Star Army's work, after Sunil, there would definitely be other main storylines with a bright future.

Recognizing this, countless players were excited, imagining the future possibilities of the faction. They couldn't help but feel a great sense of anticipation, their hearts itching and their bladders tingling—perhaps the real advantage of being born on Aquamarine Star was the ability to join such a good faction as the Black Star Army.

Han Xiao had been paying attention to the players' activities. Collective activities helped to increase cohesion. Mainline missions like Sunil could make players feel more belonging. Han Xiao remembered many planets with large Grade A missions. This was part of his plan. As long as the Sunil pilot project was completed, he would be able to bring players a "main storyline" every once in a while.

...

In the conference room, all the executives gathered together. This was the most complete attendance in months. All the executives were summoned to participate in this employment, bringing with them most of the army's spaceships and a massive amount of supplies.

Han Xiao sat at the head of the table and projected information onto the table, explaining the situation:

"The Sunil people have researched the physiological structure of the subterranean aliens and have made progress. The subterranean aliens have some intelligence. The tentacles on their heads are important organs for perceiving the outside world, releasing weak psychic power to detect the outside world, which provides feedback to the brain to form an image. In other words, the tentacles are their eyes..."

Reynold interjected, nodding slowly, "Psychic perception-type creatures? Such a race has great potential."

Everyone glanced at him but said nothing.

Han Xiao continued, "The subterranean aliens' communication methods are divided into two types. The first is touching tentacles, allowing two aliens to communicate mentally. The second is that if the subterranean aliens are near a certain amount of Whispering Stone, they can perform a wide-area mental connection and communicate with all others within range. The amount of Whispering Stone determines the range of the wide-area mental connection."

"In addition, the subterranean aliens have a weakness. They seem to be very afraid of ultraviolet light. Research shows that normal sunlight can sunburn them. This is both good news and bad news, meaning that we cannot lure the subterranean aliens to the surface."

"So, we currently have two countermeasures. First, send mercenaries into the underground to fight, step by step, slowly eliminating the aliens. On the other hand, we must try to make large-scale biochemical weapons against the subterranean aliens. Yi Ye Qing, this task will be entrusted to you."

Han Xiao quickly explained the situation and began to assign tasks. He had pharmacists under his command, so he was too lazy to spend more money to consult with various drug research institutes.

"Hmph, you only think of me when you encounter problems. You don't come to me when everything is fine. Let me tell you, I like saving people now. Don't come to me for researching poison gas or anything. I want to be a good person."

Yi Ye Qing crossed her arms and turned her head away, expressing her dissatisfaction.

Han Xiao glanced at her. "I approved your research funding application last time."

"Don't worry, I'll definitely get the poison out for you!"

Yi Ye Qing instantly changed her words, without any integrity.

Han Xiao rolled his eyes and turned to look at Fording, putting on a smile. "Fording, I want you to help me detect the subterranean aliens' mental network to help us understand their communication state and see if you can mislead them."

Since the subterranean aliens used mental communication, this was where a psychic could play a role.

"So that's why you called me over?"

Fording looked helpless and shook his head.

"I refuse to help."

He was not a mercenary, just a customer, and did not want to participate in this massacre. He felt relatively resistant.

"Okay then."

Han Xiao did not force him. Anyway, he still had the Volga brothers. Just as he was about to turn his gaze away, Han Xiao suddenly remembered something and asked, "By the way, how are you and Morningstar doing now?"

He was still thinking about Fording's personal mission.

"I chat with her every day. Our relationship is okay..."

Fording scratched his cheek, a little embarrassed.

Seeing this, Han Xiao's mouth twitched.

What are you embarrassed about? Is your relationship really just "okay"?

Han Xiao's scalp tingled. He felt that the result he had once predicted was gradually becoming a reality.

Too terrifying. Could he be witnessing true spiritual love?

Coughing, Han Xiao tapped on the table and returned to the original topic, saying seriously:

"Currently, we have only discovered seven nests, all built near the subterranean Whispering Stone veins. Reynold, create some large-scale equipment for detecting Whispering Stone veins based on the psychic radiation of the Whispering Stone. It's best if you can detect them through the surface. Configure them on spaceships and let our spaceships search the globe to find all the subterranean alien nests."

Reynold sat upright, nodding steadily, "I will definitely not fail my mission."

At this moment, Merlot scratched his head and suddenly interjected, "I have a question."

Han Xiao looked over. "What's wrong?"

"Actually, I wanted to ask just now..." Merlot pointed at Reynold. "Who exactly is this person?"

Reynold had only joined for less than a month. Apart from Sylvia and Aroshia, who stayed at Base Number One, the executives present basically did not know him. However, they could feel Reynold's powerful aura. He was probably the strongest person in the field besides Black Star. Merlot asked what was on everyone's mind.

"I am Reynold, a Mechanic. Because I admire His Excellency Black Star's demeanor, I specifically joined the Black Star Army to ask him for knowledge. His Excellency Black Star is now my teacher. Sylvia is my senior sister. I serve as the logistics director of the Black Star Army. I am very happy to work with you all."

Reynold's tone was methodical.

"Senior Sister?!" Everyone was shocked, staring at Sylvia, as if they wanted to carve the words "suspicious" on their faces.

Sylvia shuddered, shrinking her neck, and said angrily, "I've said it hundreds of times, don't, don't call me that!"

With this little interlude, everyone got to know Reynold and accepted this colleague.

After the matters were discussed, Han Xiao stood up. "Let's get to work."

...

Two days later.

The sun was shining brightly.

In the military camp near the cave, a massive number of players gathered, along with a Sunil armored army, fully armed and ready to go.

Today was the day of the official action. Since the subterranean aliens feared ultraviolet rays, the strategy of luring them out of their lairs was abandoned. Developing poison and detecting more nests would take time. The only thing that could be done right now was to attack the underground.

Unlike the serious and silent atmosphere of the Sunil troops, the players were rubbing their hands and eager to try.

"So many people are acting together. What a big scene."

"Hehe, the bigger the scene, the more interesting it is."

The main mission had officially begun. Most of the players had come, mainly those who were fond of fighting. This was a race war. Personally participating in a war scene with hundreds of thousands of people made many people's hearts surge and they were very excited.

Most people did not care about the group state of the subterranean aliens. They only cared about the task requirements. They just needed to be told where to go, who to kill, and how much reward there would be.

The commander-in-chief of hundreds of thousands of players and the Sunil troops was Merlot, who was standing at the forefront with Shelin De and other Sunil warriors behind him, along with some Black Star executives, Aroshia, Jin Dai, Haman, and the Volga brothers.

Han Xiao did not act together. He was supervising the construction progress of Base Number Three, guarding strictly and preventing the engineering team from cutting corners.

In order to allow the huge troops to enter the underground, Sunil had widened the diameter of the cave in these few days. The dark hole was like the big mouth of an abyss.

Merlot turned around to face everyone, opened his mouth to speak, exerted his martial arts strength, and his voice turned into a surging sound wave, which reached the entire army, sonorous and powerful,

"Sunil's warriors, our race has suffered too many hardships. The final enemy is underground. Only by removing them can we end all this and allow Sunil to move towards a bright future, so... my compatriots, fight with all your strength!"

The Sunil soldiers' breathing became heavy. Everyone who was willing to become a soldier had long decided to sacrifice themselves for the race. Now that they finally saw hope, everyone was full of fighting spirit. The subterranean aliens had suddenly become their mortal enemies.

"Let's go!"

Merlot took the lead and walked into the cave. The huge troops followed behind him and entered the cave mightily.

The long march did not wear down the Sunil's high morale. Many players were also influenced by this atmosphere, feeling that they were saving Sunil, and they all felt a sense of pride.

Finally, the vanguard troops finally arrived underground and quickly took out various lighting equipment to light up the dark underground world. Unexpectedly, the troops did not continue to advance, but stayed around the cave and began to build a camp.

Because the underground world was too big, there were several nests nearby that could not be eliminated overnight, so the tactic was to advance step by step, directly build a camp in the underground world as a bridgehead and supply point, and provide a place for the mercenaries and Sunil soldiers to rest.

After organizing the team, Merlot opened the life detection radar and was shocked after only one glance.

The life signals of the No. 1 nest they had explored last time had all disappeared!

And their attack target this time was the No. 1 nest, but now the target was gone?!

Merlot looked surprised. He thought the radar was broken.

Merlot suddenly became vigilant. They did not know enough about the subterranean aliens. Abnormality often meant danger.

At this time, the large troops at the back entered one after another. Merlot quickly ordered them to stand by and handed over the work of building the camp to the large troops. He personally led the vanguard troops to the No. 1 nest.

As they went deeper, Merlot became more vigilant, ready to be attacked at any time. However, they went all the way smoothly and arrived at the depths of the nest.

The subterranean aliens in the No. 1 nest seemed to have disappeared out of thin air.

"Where did they go?"

Merlot was puzzled and did not stop moving forward. Soon, he arrived at the location of the Whispering Stone vein.

After seeing the situation of the vein clearly, everyone was stunned.

The vein was empty. The mining traces were obviously left by the subterranean aliens, as if they had dug out all the Whispering Stones.

Merlot hurriedly asked people to explore the situation of the entire nest. Not long after, he finally came to the conclusion that the subterranean aliens of this tribe had left the nest with the Whispering Stones.

"Why is this happening? The other nests clearly haven't changed. Why did the nest we explored last time disappear..."

Merlot suddenly widened his eyes and suddenly realized that could it be because of their appearance that the subterranean aliens had taken the initiative to migrate?

The intelligence level of the subterranean aliens exceeded his imagination.

Moreover, there were tens of millions of subterranean aliens. They had evacuated cleanly in just a few days. The efficiency of this race was too terrifying!

"What should we do now?"

Everyone looked at each other. They came with high fighting spirit, but found that the enemy had disappeared. They felt like they had punched cotton, and their hearts were empty and full of disappointment.

Merlot hesitated for a moment and said, "Set up camp first. The situation here is beyond our expectations. I need to report to the higher-ups first."

...

"What, the subterranean aliens showed amazing intelligence?!"

Sunil's high-ranking official, Okitz, was shocked when he received Merlot's response.

The Whispering Stone was something that Sunil had to destroy. They thought that the subterranean aliens were restricted near the vein, but they did not expect the subterranean aliens to take the initiative to dig out the Whispering Stone and migrate everywhere.

Although the vein was gone, the Whispering Stone produced by this vein still existed, and it was wandering around with the subterranean aliens, which increased the difficulty in disguise.

Moreover, the potential displayed by the subterranean aliens had already sounded the alarm in Okitz's heart.

"Given time, the subterranean aliens will definitely grow into a new intelligent race and sooner or later become a new civilization, competing with us for the planet's survival resources... we must kill them in the bud!"

Okitz clenched his fists tightly.

...

"Huh? They ran away with the Whispering Stone? What kind of operation is this?"

Han Xiao also received the report and looked thoughtful.

He suddenly had a bold idea.