Chapter 161 A Great Undertaking

More than ten days later, the Imperial fleet, along with the Black Star Army, escorted all the Kunde Clan civilians to the Audran Star System in the Goroo Star Cluster, one of Black Star’s territories.

The handover between the Black Star Army and the Empire went smoothly. Han Xiao chose to settle the Kunde Clan in this star system.

With land in hand, there was no need to panic. With a wave of his hand, he temporarily lent hundreds of habitable planets to the Kunde Clan, averaging about 10 billion people per planet.

With the productivity of interstellar society, one planet could easily support 10 billion people, and the living conditions were not bad. However, compared to the Kunde Clan’s original situation, it was undoubtedly much more crowded.

Before obtaining star gate technology, the Kunde Clan was crippled, with relatively poor mobility in the universe, resulting in low efficiency in transporting the population. Although the Kunde Clan occupied several star systems and created thousands of colony planets, the territory was not small. In fact, due to the limitations of cosmic mobility, most of the colony planets did not have many people. They basically went there to settle down, and there was not much circulation.

At this moment, the fleet released the Empire’s planet transformation starter packs to quickly build simple cities on the surface, then landed, transporting all the Kunde Clan civilians to these planets in batches.

On the ground’s landing platform, countless Kunde Clan immigrants obediently followed the Empire’s instructions, walked out of the spaceship, and stepped onto the unfamiliar land, like a tide pouring out of the spaceship’s hatches, gathering into a boundless sea of people.

Countless people curiously looked around, sizing up their future new home.

At the same time, in the command hall of the inner ring main base of the Black Star Palace, countless staff members wearing army uniforms worked in their respective positions, and in front of the hall was a super-large screen composed of hundreds of virtual small screens, monitoring the immigration situation on each planet.

Han Xiao stood in the center of the hall with his hands behind his back, looking up, taking in all the monitoring screens.

“Migrating the population of an entire star cluster level civilization is truly a great project,” Aurora said with her hands on her hips beside him.

“After the death of the Kunde Clan leader, they have no leader and can only obey arrangements. They are very obedient, so the migration is very smooth.” Melos nodded beside him.

He also came with the fleet. He had not seen Han Xiao for a long time, and he missed him very much, occasionally turning his eyes to peek at Han Xiao’s back.

“There are not many accidental casualties, which is very good.” Han Xiao hummed.

“Now that we suddenly have so many population resources, how should we use them?” Sylvia’s remote projection flicked her hair and asked softly.

Han Xiao raised his hand and stroked his chin, slowly saying:

“These population resources cannot be used immediately. The Empire has arrangements for them. They are responsible for their cultural transformation. During the transformation period, the Kunde Clan’s communication network will be blocked, and they will not be allowed to access interstellar society or develop technology… The only thing suitable to teach is esper knowledge, right? We have to let them grow slowly.”

“The time for these population resources to take effect has not yet arrived. We have to support them temporarily. After the Empire lifts the ban, they will be the Black Star Army’s talent reserve base, an important source of troops…”

“So, in order to achieve this goal, you have to mix some extra things into the Empire’s cultural transformation and carry out the army’s ideological construction on them…”

Trillions of people, more than the entire army combined. If you want to harvest so many leek seeds, you must first plant them in the ground and fertilize them, so you must increase the Black Star Army’s position in the Kunde Clan’s hearts.

Although the legacy mission reward included a lot of faction favorability, normal ideological construction was also essential, which would achieve twice the result with half the effort.

Speaking of this, Han Xiao suddenly paused and pondered:

“Also, spread the teachings of the Machinery Faith among the Kunde Clan and let as many people as possible believe in the Machinery Faith.”

During the transformation period, the Kunde Clan could not bypass the firewall to access the internet, which was equivalent to being isolated from the world. There was no better environment for spreading religion. It was a good opportunity to use the Machinery Faith as a foreign religion to impact the Kunde Clan’s beliefs.

Without the interference of external information, the object of their faith would naturally only be himself. In this way, the Kunde Clan could become a treasure land for supplying energy to the [Key of the Machinery Faith].

For other mechanics, developing new believers was the best way to activate the [Key of the Machinery Faith]. Although the efficiency of spreading the religion was very low, it was better than nothing.

Manison wanted the faith of existing believers, which was the biggest piece of meat. Apart from that, he was happy to see others spread the religion. Anyway, sitting in the position of the strongest mechanic, the pie expanded, and it was only beneficial to him. There would always be believers whose faith would flow to him, so he would never lose out.

For Manison, other people developing new believers was planting leeks for him. He only needed to harvest them at the right time.

Therefore, as long as someone did not want to take his position as the main god of the Machinery Faith, Manison would not step in. He wished that there would be more and more believers in the Machinery Faith.

Everyone was chatting casually when an operator next to them reminded, “Army Commander, the immigration is complete.”

Han Xiao turned to look at the screen. The monitoring screen showed that all the Kunde Clan civilians had stepped onto the ground.

“Alright, project the virtual sky.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the spaceships on each planet projected a virtual sky, which unfolded above the Kunde Clan immigrants’ heads. Everyone looked up.

They saw Han Xiao’s figure appear on each huge sky, smiling and speaking. His loud voice swept across the sky:

“Kunde Clan friends, I am Black Star. From now on, I will be responsible for your resettlement, so you will often see me on TV for a long time to come.”

“Today, you will move into your new home. These planets are all my territory. You can ask the Black Star Army members stationed on each planet for help at any time. Don’t worry about safety.”

“I am also deeply sorry for your experiences. The Empire is investigating the masterminds behind your exploitation. I will try my best to find them, punish these people, and seek justice for you.”

“In short, I wish everyone to get rid of the pain of the past and embrace a new life as soon as possible.”

Han Xiao did not give a long speech. He was not yet qualified to make the Kunde Clan grateful to him, so he stopped there and played the good guy.

The virtual sky disappeared, and many Kunde Clan immigrants looked at each other, causing a slight commotion.

Compared to the Empire, most people had a decent impression of Black Star, but it was not yet friendly.

He said he would help us seek justice? I don’t know if it’s just empty words.

Having experienced great changes, the Kunde Clan people found it difficult to believe the verbal promises of outsiders.

After finishing the simple speech, Han Xiao nodded to Melos, who then walked out of the room.

After a while, a dense sound of footsteps came from outside the hall. Melos led a group of academy graduates headed by Nello into the hall. They had returned with the fleet and were receiving a meeting with Han Xiao today.

“You’re here.”

Han Xiao glanced at this group of students.

After about four months of war, many people had shed the immaturity they had when they first met, and their temperament had changed a lot.

After falling into the “enemy’s” trap, Nello accepted the lesson and constantly reflected on it. Now, he had a bit of a calm aura, and Mia next to him also looked much more capable.

However, Han Xiao could not help but lower his eyes and look at the hands of the dog couple clasped together.

“Cough.” Noticing Han Xiao’s gaze, Mia embarrassedly let go of her hand and pretended to be nonchalant as she stroked her hair.

The two were originally classmates and close friends, just a little ambiguous, but after the last incident, the ambiguity index rose sharply. Although no one broke the window paper, they had been behaving like a real couple recently.

I feel like I’ve become a matchmaker…

Han Xiao twitched the corner of his mouth, steadied his mind, and praised:

“I am very pleased to see your changes. Now, you are qualified army soldiers.”

Hearing this, the students could not help but straighten their bodies, quite proud.

After encouraging everyone a few words, Han Xiao turned to look at Mia and smiled, “I promised to find you a Calamity Grade teacher. From today onwards, Melos will be your teacher. He will do his best to teach you.”

Melos had already learned about this matter. He was most loyal to the army and had no complaints. He smiled and nodded.

“Although I am usually very busy, I will still try to find time to guide you. Don’t worry, I am different from Reynold. I prefer a more relaxed education.”

“Thank you, Your Excellency Black Star! Hello, Teacher!” Mia looked surprised and hurriedly thanked Han Xiao, then stepped forward to greet Melos.

Seeing this, a large group of students behind could not help but show envious expressions.

Who was Melos? He was a high-level member of the army, the veteran who followed Black Star the earliest!

Being able to become his student would definitely allow one to become the backbone of the army in the future, undoubtedly embarking on a broad path.

However, these people were not the most envious. Nello gnashed his teeth with jealousy on the side.

—I also want a normal teacher! Why did I have to run into Reynold!

Han Xiao retracted his gaze, stared at Nello, and raised his eyebrows. “What kind of expression is that?”

“…Nothing.”

Nello was bitter and did not want to say.

He paused, suddenly remembering something. “By the way, Godfather, I seized an enemy weapon in battle some time ago. I think it’s strange and want you to help me take a look.”

“What’s so strange about it?”

“I got it from a Kunde Clan officer during a boarding battle. I asked my teammates to help me identify it…” Nello scratched his head. “It seems to be a high-level enchanted magic weapon.”

Han Xiao was slightly stunned.

Enchanted weapon?

This thing was very common in interstellar society, but the Kunde Clan did not have an Esper system. They were a purely technological civilization that did not understand any magic at all.

Where did the magic weapon in the Kunde Clan officer’s hands come from?

“Let me see it.” Han Xiao immediately became interested.

“I put it in the house and didn’t bring it with me. I’ll get it for you later.” Nello scratched his head.

Hearing this, Han Xiao was about to criticize him when the communicator suddenly beeped, interrupting him.

Taking out the communicator, he saw that the caller was Isyos.

Why did this old man take the initiative to contact me?

Han Xiao muttered to himself, waved his hand to dismiss the crowd, walked to the side, and answered the call.

“Isyos, what’s the matter?”

“It should be you who has something to do.” Isyos looked impatient. “I just foresaw that you would contact me, so I took the initiative to find you to ask if you have something to ask me.”

Han Xiao’s face twitched.

Using preemptive strikes is okay, your ability is really useful…

“That’s right, I do have something to ask you to help me with. I need you to use your ability to predict the whereabouts of a group of people…” Shaking his head, Han Xiao roughly explained the Kunde Clan’s matter.

Isyos was also straightforward. “Send me the information later. The more information, the more accurate the prediction.”

“Got it.” Han Xiao nodded, paused, and suddenly changed the subject. “How are Ames and Hela?”

“Adventuring everywhere, what else can they be doing?” Isyos rolled his eyes. “You can’t contact her, why are you asking me? Alright, I’ll hang up if there’s nothing else. I’ll tell you when the prediction comes out.”

After speaking, Isyos directly cut off the communication.

Han Xiao helplessly put away the communicator. Having an old man at home was like having a treasure. There was no other way.

However, he did not intend to rely entirely on Isyos. He stepped out of the hall, went straight to the airport dock, and opened one of the hangars.

In the hangar was a severely damaged spaceship that had been completely scrapped—this spaceship was the one that the stowaways had placed on the Kunde Clan’s planet, which the Empire had seized after the war.

Han Xiao had specially applied to Tarrokov, and Old Tar had specially sent someone to send this spaceship over.

Technology, magic, and metaphysics were all used, but the Empire had not found any clues on the crashed spaceship, so they did not mind letting Han Xiao check it, as long as he could find clues.

Isyos’s predictions could only see things that would happen in the future, but Han Xiao’s special skill [Bold Explorer] could see fragments of an item’s past experiences.

He felt that using both methods would always produce something.

His palm stroked the spaceship’s charred outer armor, which was full of pits and bumps. The armor metal seemed to have been corroded by some kind of corrosive liquid, not at all round and smooth, and it was cold to the touch.

“Let’s see what clues I can find this time.”

Han Xiao let out a breath and activated [Bold Explorer].

Whoosh—

His vision suddenly spun, and everything in front of him was like broken glass, scattered in all directions.

Suddenly, these fragments stopped, instantly rolled back, pieced together, and the world underwent a great change.

The scene in front of him turned into an industrial dockyard. A huge spaceship skeleton floated in mid-air. Countless mechanical arms assembled parts around it, and the sound of countless mechanical clattering was like a neat symphony.

Han Xiao observed his surroundings and quickly recorded the environment in his mind.

The next moment, his vision shattered and reorganized again. This time, it turned into a cosmic space. A spaceship that had already taken shape was falling toward a planet, plunging into the atmosphere like a blazing red meteor. He could vaguely identify that this was what the crashed spaceship looked like when it was intact.

At this moment, the screen suddenly stopped.

His original vision returned, and he was still standing in the hangar, stroking the crashed spaceship.

[[Bold Explorer] has ended]

[Your Luck attribute has been reduced by 60% for 14 days]

Han Xiao was used to ignoring the skill’s side effects. It made no difference to him whether it was reduced or not.

Recalling the fragments he had just seen, his eyes flashed slightly.

“This fragment reveals the fragment of this spaceship being manufactured and crashing. Although the process is very short, there seems to be a good clue…”

When he was in the dockyard fragment, he quickly recorded the surrounding environment and discovered a detail—the workers working in the dockyard all had the same mark on their clothes.

He entered the Empire’s database and checked it, and quickly came to a matching target. It was a trademark of a shipbuilding company located in the Shattered Star Ring.

“The manufacturer is locked…” Han Xiao’s eyes flashed.

Generally speaking, shipbuilding companies would keep the production numbers of all the spaceships they manufactured. Although he did not know what the number of this spaceship was, it was at least a clue.

“It seems that I have to send a mechanical unit to the Shattered Star Ring.”

At this moment, Han Xiao suddenly remembered something.

“That’s right, the Shattered Star Ring… is Manison’s lair.”