Chapter 1 Many Days Later

Through the porthole, a metallic-colored planet gradually approached in the field of vision. There was no verdant green of forests, no earthy gray of land, no azure blue of seawater. Omnipresent steel replaced nature, occupying the surface.

"Destination detected, buzz... Approaching Norius, buzz... Surface temperature optimal, buzz..."

In the spaceship's hall, a round-headed robot emitted a mechanical voice, its cylindrical body resembling a can. Slender mechanical arms were mounted on either side of its body. Its height was about one meter, only reaching the thighs of an average human. It moved on a single wheel.

Suddenly, a large hand grabbed the robot's head, lifting it into the air. The robot seemed a little flustered, its two mechanical arms waving wildly in the air, adding to the strange cuteness of its round body.

"I've been captured, buzz..." the robot said.

At that moment, a man in black sitting on the sofa spoke.

"Put it down. How many times have I told you, Melloes, don't play with my robot!"

Melloes shrugged and put the robot down. The little guy returned to the ground and hurriedly used its single wheel to skate next to the sofa, trying to hide behind Han Xiao's leg, shivering.

Han Xiao casually stroked the robot's metal head, as gentle as he would be with a pet.

Melloes put one hand on his hip and scratched his head with the other, his tone helpless. "Is this artificial intelligence you made really capable of combat?"

"Can't you even remember its name? It's called Phillip!"

Han Xiao rubbed his forehead. "It's just a semi-finished product."

During the spaceship's journey, Han Xiao wasn't idle. He combined many stronger blueprints, updated his combat machinery, and used the newly acquired [High-End Virtual Intelligence Technology] to create Phillip—an artificial intelligence. Compared to previous intelligent chips, artificial intelligence had increased computational speed, logical structure, and data capacity by many orders of magnitude.

There are several modes of artificial intelligence. The two most distinctive are: first, directly inputting template data to make the intelligence seem to have its own virtual personality, but in reality, it still follows a fixed closed thinking framework, only simulating intelligent creatures. The advantage is that it's obedient; the second is truly having independent thinking, possessing imagination, and being able to think for itself, with only low-level commands being controllable. Obviously, the latter is more flexible and has the potential to become a virtual life or mechanical life, but the risks are also higher.

Han Xiao only needed a good helper for the time being, so Phillip was the former. The reason it was a semi-finished product was because some logical commands had not been set yet, and the virtual personality still had flaws that needed more time to improve. However, running it was no problem. Phillip could download data through the network, but it would not affect its fixed virtual personality, and Han Xiao casually made a robot body for it.

As for why he named it Phillip, that was the name of the turtle he kept in his previous life, used to commemorate his prematurely deceased electric shaver. For lazy people who want to keep pets but don't like cleaning, turtles are the perfect choice... Maybe the owner would die before it did.

Looking at the increasingly approaching planet outside the window, Han Xiao said in a deep voice: "We're almost there. This is one of the transit stations for entering the Shattered Star Ring. There will be many guys from other star systems, and who knows how many powerful Supers. We need to keep a low profile and avoid unnecessary trouble. Our goal is to find Dragon Emperor's teacher... Ames is rushing back from other star systems. Even if her vehicle is fast, it will take a lot of time. Let's look for clues in Norius first."

Norius is on the edge of the Shattered Star Ring. This planet currently does not belong to any civilization or regime. A long time ago, a super-consortium saw the strategic location of this planet and paid to buy it. At that time, this planet was just a numbered barren uninhabited planet with a harsh environment. The consortium transformed it into a man-made planet, using countless devices to change the ecological environment, making it habitable. Thus, it became a transit station for entering the Shattered Star Ring.

Since there are no planets for a long distance near Norius, and the nearest jump stargate requires at least three days of warp travel, many travelers choose to stop here to replenish fuel and supplies, repair their spacecraft, and have some fun, which has made the consortium a fortune in short order, recouping their investment in less than fifty years.

The economic prosperity has also attracted many interstellar citizens who have smelled the opportunity to make money, opening shops here. Similarly, various commercial organizations have also started operating here. Norius gathers countless travelers and is very prosperous, with a large population and mixed people—but Norius does not accommodate villains like Longtan. Wanted orders are effective here, and almost no space pirates or wanderers come to this place.

However, the consortium controlling Norius is wary of space pirates targeting this rich land. Therefore, they have deployed many escort ships in outer space and set up the port outside the planet, not allowing any spacecraft to enter the planet's atmosphere—not even the escort ships themselves, to prevent outsiders from stealing the escort ships to sneak in! Furthermore, the consortium has deployed a super-large energy shield to cover Norius' atmosphere, preventing remote strikes from destroying the surface.

All visitors must park their spacecraft in the spaceport. If they forcefully enter the atmosphere, the escort ships will fire a warning before opening fire. If travelers want to go to the surface city for entertainment and consumption, they have to take the ten-thousand-meter elevator connecting the sky and the earth.

These are Norius' defense measures, which are very strict and also make travelers feel safe.

However, there have been space pirates who did not give up. Some tried to force their way in, only to be blasted to pieces by the escort ships. Others robbed on the surface, but were caught by the security forces guarding the elevator when they arrived at the port. The most common situation was that space pirate gangs were killed by passing travelers while robbing on the surface—no one knew what kind of people the travelers from other star systems were.

Hidden dragons and crouching tigers!

As they got closer, they could see five huge steel space stations like mountains suspended in different directions around Norius. These were the five outer space ports, covered with various anti-ship turrets, surrounded by a large number of escort warships.

The spacecraft stopped at the nearest port. Han Xiao completed the spacecraft's registration procedures and brought the others, who were curiously looking around, to the elevator area, which was packed with people of all kinds.

Aroshia raised her eyelids and said, "This place gives me a familiar feeling. I seem to have been here before..."

At that moment, a prompt suddenly appeared on the panel!

Han Xiao took a look and saw that the progress of the second ring of [Restart] had increased by 1 point.

'It seems that Norius is one of the locations of Aroshia's memory fragments. She came here in one of her previous lives, and I stumbled upon it.' he thought.

Fording looked around and said, "Just here, I have sensed at least forty B-grade energy fluctuations."

"No wonder we have to keep a low profile." Sylvia was a little nervous, feeling like a sheep had wandered into a tiger's den. Fortunately, her teacher, Uncle Melloes, and Sister Aroshia were also very powerful, which made her feel a little more at ease.

In his previous life, Norius was a high-level area. Players had to pass through similar transit stations if they wanted to go to other star systems, and the players' levels were already quite high when they could leave the star system.

After waiting in line for a while, it was finally their turn. The elevator attendant kept taking tickets, wearing a professional smile and welcoming each passenger.

When it was Han Xiao's turn, the ticket inspector suddenly smiled and said, "Welcome to Norius, Black Star."

"You recognize me?" Han Xiao lowered his head to look at him, feeling slightly surprised.

"I'm just passing on a message. Have a pleasant journey."

When entering the port, the monitor automatically detected the identity of the visitors, so the senior managers learned of Han Xiao's identity. The Black Star Mercenary Group now has some fame in the Shattered Star Ring, especially with its Longtan background, which should not be underestimated. The consortium values celebrities in all walks of life, so the manager specifically instructed that the Black Star Mercenary Group should be treated with even more courtesy.

The elevator space was very large, carrying hundreds of passengers each trip. After waiting for a short while, everyone felt a slight sinking feeling under their feet as the elevator started moving. Soon, it slid out of the space station along the track. The walls of the elevator were transparent glass windows, and the magnificent high-altitude scenery immediately came into view.

There were dozens of elevator tracks connected to the port nearby, like towering pagodas, all in operation. This height was above the clouds, as if treading on a sea of clouds. The tracks extended downward into the clouds, obscuring the ground. Looking straight ahead, the sky gradually changed from black to blue on the same horizontal plane, and the artificial star's light shone brightly, as if one could reach out and touch it.

"So beautiful! Phillip, take a picture." Sylvia's eyes sparkled.

Phillip's mechanical eyes flashed continuously, taking pictures like crazy. It was originally an assistant, and Han Xiao had given other executives secondary permissions. When he didn't issue commands, others could order Phillip.

Passing through the clouds, Han Xiao looked down at the entire surface city. Countless personal transport flyers flowed endlessly, only allowed to fly below two thousand meters. Buildings hundreds of meters high were like steel spears pointing to the sky. This was a city completely made of steel, with no plants visible. However, it was not a scene of lifelessness, but rather a city of brilliant neon colors, extremely prosperous. Large ecological devices provided the freshest air, and many city management devices were hidden beneath the steel ground, controlled by the city management system.

The city's foundation was a type of mass-producible colony-level machinery. When thrown on the surface of a planet, it would unfold into such a city. The Norius Consortium bought this kind of "foolproof automatic city expansion pack" from the Crimson Empire, easily transforming the planet. Money really can do whatever you want!

There were more than a dozen cities on the surface of Norius, connected to each other by electromagnetic rails, using high-speed trains for transportation. Han Xiao and others were heading to City No. 4.

Looking at the increasingly approaching ground, Han Xiao suddenly frowned, his heart stirring slightly.

"I have a feeling of uneasiness, like something is going to happen..."

...

When the elevator arrived on the surface, the group followed the crowd out of the station. A wave of noise rushed towards them, the streets were crowded with people and various species.

Bang!

Phillip was bumped by a passerby, spinning around several times. Sylvia saw this and bent down to pick up the robot, preventing it from being kicked away.

"There are too many people here, how are we going to find someone?" Melloes pushed away an insect-like female creature who seemed to be selling herself and asked loudly.

Han Xiao had already had a plan in mind, saying, "Because Norius is a transportation hub, many intelligence organizations have set up branches here, recording the information of all travelers. I know what the target looks like, as long as we ask an intelligence organization, we will definitely get a clue."

Melloes suddenly realized, "You really do know everything, you're so reliable."

The group walked through the crowd, and after about twenty minutes, Han Xiao stopped in front of a tall building.

"This is the place. The ninety-seventh floor is the office of a legitimate intelligence organization." Han Xiao looked up. The location of legitimate organizations was easy enough to find out.

The group took the elevator upstairs and arrived at the ninety-seventh floor. The place was dimly lit, with black cloth covering the floor-to-ceiling windows, as if deliberately creating a mysterious atmosphere. After walking in, there was only a receptionist at the door, and next to it was a narrow corridor. The space here was originally very large, but the other places were black walls that could not be passed through.

To ensure the privacy of customers, this floor was divided into opaque cubicles by walls, used for detailed discussions of transactions. The passages between these cubicles were like mazes. This corridor was the only entrance, with countless bifurcated paths, so that customers would not meet each other.

"I'm here to buy intelligence." Han Xiao stated his intention to the receptionist.

"Please wait."

The receptionist pressed a button on the table.

After waiting for a while, a human transaction officer wearing a black suit came out of the corridor and said in a deep voice: "Please follow me."

Han Xiao and the others followed the human transaction officer into the corridor, turned into a side path, and headed to a cubicle.

Just a few seconds after the group walked into the side path, another avian transaction officer led a customer who had just purchased intelligence out of another side path, heading to the door, just barely missing Han Xiao and the others.

"Thank you for your patronage."

At the door, the avian transaction officer said goodbye to his customer.

This customer was wearing a hood and was covered in a black robe, concealing his appearance.

He didn't say anything and walked out, pressing the elevator button.

At the moment the elevator door opened, as he lowered his head, the light briefly illuminated his face under the hood.

Ashes!