Chapter 1 The Universe-Level Civilization's Offensive

A universe-level civilization that fully employs its public opinion weapons is qualified to borrow the platform of interstellar media throughout the universe to make its voice heard. The influence of a universe-level civilization spans across various star fields and is far beyond the reach of regional star cluster-level civilizations.

Ulan Riel, the head of state, addressed the entire universe, detailing the course of events. Subsequently, the Imperial News Station released official documents, recording the intelligence of the incident and making it public.

The document emphasized that the Arcane Church, driven by greed and the Evolutionary Cube, disregarded the empire's sovereignty over the Shattered World and openly joined forces with the notorious Fallen Ark to attack imperial military forces, causing significant losses to the empire. The empire strongly condemned this behavior, reserved the intention to hold them accountable, and announced the temporary suspension of all diplomatic activities with the Arcane Church, entering a state of wartime alert.

The empire's wording was serious and earnest, leading interstellar citizens to believe they had suffered considerable losses. However, after reviewing the detailed account of the events recorded in the document, they were surprised to discover that the empire had not lost much strength in the attack. Instead, they launched a counterattack, repelling the enemy and even capturing two Super-A grades in the Shattered World as prisoners.

The empire's description emphasized the contributions of Black Star, widely publicizing his achievements. The empire was both helping Han Xiao increase his deterrent power and striking a blow against the Arcane Church. The Arcane Church served as the backdrop for Black Star's achievements. The wider the notoriety of this incident, the greater the blow to the prestige of the Arcane Church.

The spread of Black Star's achievement of capturing Dillon alive caused an uproar. Han Xiao had only recently become a newly emerging Super-A grade, causing a sensation some time ago, so interstellar citizens were no strangers to him.

Unexpectedly, in less than a year, Black Star, still considered a tender newcomer among the Super-A grades, was able to capture a powerhouse of the same level.

The achievement of killing or capturing a Super-A grade has extraordinary significance in the universe. In the hearts of most people, there is more or less a sense of personal heroism, yearning for their own power, and the Super-A grade is the pinnacle of individual power. If someone conquers a peak, the people will elevate him to a higher altar.

Han Xiao had previously fought with Sisko and Heber, only achieving a draw. Although it was also a Super-A grade feat, it was ultimately lacking.

This time, however, he had truly defeated a powerhouse of the same level. It can be said that after this battle, Han Xiao's prestige and status in the universe were completely consolidated.

The document also pointed out that Heber had captured a Super-A grade, but it paled in comparison to Black Star's achievements. After all, most interstellar citizens could also understand the difference in environmental factors revealed in the intelligence. One was a counterattack from an absolute disadvantage, while the other created a one-on-one situation after surrounding an enemy. There was no comparison at all.

In addition to being surprised by the ferocity of the imperial counterattack, more people were concerned about the impact of this incident. The outbreak of direct conflict between the Crimson Empire and the Arcane Church has once again strained the already tense interstellar situation.

For the past decade, it was the stand-off between the Light Federation and the Crimson Empire, but now the Light Federation has become low-key, and the Arcane Church, which was just making soy sauce in the Crimson Tide, has taken the stage.

Since the Shattered World was discovered, the interstellar situation has been in turmoil.

Even the most oblivious interstellar citizens can see that the struggle between the three great civilizations has always revolved around this new star field. This is the "thread" and "main contradiction" in the intricate interstellar situation, and most of the regional chaos in various star fields is related to it.

...

After the empire issued its statement, the super star cluster-level and star cluster-level civilizations became aware of the situation and, in shock, quickly used their intelligence networks to inquire about the news, organizing manpower to analyze the intelligence revealed in the empire's official documents word by word.

Black Star became the focus of attention for these forces, arousing the suspicion of countless forces. In the internal databases of various factions, Black Star's threat level was greatly increased.

The three universe-level Super-A grade allies have always been the focus of research for various forces. Unlike those Super-A grades who have joined the empire for decades or hundreds of years, Han Xiao has only been with the empire for about a year, and his information is extremely limited. His seniority and status among the empire's Super-A grades are not high. But now, these forces have to adjust Black Star's threat level to the same level as the Empire's Three Pillars, making him a major focus.

The Arcane Church revealed the methods displayed by Han Xiao through secret intelligence channels. Various forces knew that Black Star was suspected of possessing two universe treasures, the Evolutionary Cube, which need not be mentioned, as it was the cause of this battle.

And the other suspected universe treasure, which can resist the All-God's Scepter and seal Super-A grades. With such means, in the intelligence of various parties, Black Star has a special strategic position, not just normal Super-A grade combat power.

Greed naturally exists. The Arcane Church revealed the intelligence in order to make many forces covet the universe treasures in Han Xiao's hands. They did succeed. However, even the Arcane Church returned in defeat, and other forces did not dare to take any action.

Black Star's record in this battle deterred many coveting forces.

...

A few days later, the empire launched a military counterattack. The Arcane Church's military stargate station in the Shattered Star Ring was attacked by the empire's garrison. The battle was fierce. It is said that the energy reaction of the battlefield could be observed even across a star region.

After Sagman's assault fleet failed, the Arcane Church guessed that the Crimson Empire would cut off their stargate channel in the Shattered Star Ring, and dispatched reinforcements in advance, even mobilizing other Super-A grade combat power to go to the Shattered Star Ring to garrison.

However, in order to launch a surprise attack, the Arcane Church secretly sent six Super-A grades, leaving the other Super-A grades in their respective garrisons to attract attention. It took some time to mobilize them at this time, and the empire just caught a time difference.

Aimes, the only Super-A grade in the Shattered Star Ring at the moment, participated in the attack before the Arcane Church's reinforcements arrived. Her force field is a weapon in interstellar warfare, easily disrupting and piercing the formation of the stargate station garrison, and using the force field to crush the stargate, cutting off the enemy's retreat. She helped the empire remove the Arcane Church's military stargate stations one by one, catching the Arcane Church off guard.

Immediately afterwards, the empire sent troops to monitor all public stargates and set up eyes and ears in the Shattered Star Ring to monitor the whereabouts of the Arcane Church's troops.

However, as a universe-level civilization, the Arcane Church also has various means to deal with it.

...

Shattered Star Ring, an interstellar transit station.

The Old Medal Bar is located in the seventh waste station of this planet. On the surface, it is a slightly backward and dilapidated bar for workers to consume, but it is often crowded with customers. In secret, it is a base for a black market merchant nicknamed "Night Bat".

There is no absolute order in the universe. There is always shadow under the light, and the interstellar black market is the largest shadow in interstellar society.

Where there are people, there is demand, and where there is demand, there are smugglers who take risks. Black markets exist in various regions of the universe, some are the product of the local ruling civilization turning a blind eye, and some are rooted in the gray areas not controlled by civilization, growing arbitrarily.

In the interstellar black market of the Shattered Star Ring, Night Bat is not a big man. On the contrary, he is unknown. His main business is collecting waste products, smuggling through this disguise, and selling some non-military machinery.

He does not hide it. Basically, the local people know that the Old Medal Bar is his black market base, but because the scale is too small and the things sold are very safe, it has not attracted the attention of any forces. There are no less than a thousand small black market merchants like him in this interstellar transit station.

One day, the Old Medal Bar welcomed a cargo ship captain. This captain was a long-term partner of this waste station, selling some waste products to Night Bat and mixing some smuggled goods in it. Night Bat personally invited him to the base in the basement of the bar as a guest.

After dismissing the others, only Night Bat and the cargo ship captain were left in the old and dim office.

Tsk! The cargo ship captain lit a cigarette, took a full puff, and exhaled a cloud of smoke. The gray-white smoke curled and dissipated, and he smacked his lips. Then he took out a piece of paper from his arms, pressed it on the desk, and pushed it to Night Bat across the table, saying:

"This is the waste product list this time."

"Thanks."

Night Bat is a thin man with a flattering smile on his face. Anyone who sees him will only think of the word "profiteer".

"The goods have been delivered, I'll go first." The cargo ship captain stood up.

"Don't you want to stay and have some fun? I heard that the Red Widow in Gray Shed Street recently got a few mixed-race species with elven blood..."

"Mixed-race elves... forget it, maybe later. Have you heard? The Crimson Empire and the Arcane Church are fighting in the Shattered Star Ring. The situation outside is turbulent now, it's too dangerous. I'll go home after this trip, and come out to work after they're done fighting."

The cargo ship captain seemed a little tempted, but he still waved his hand and left the room.

Night Bat also followed out, summoned his subordinates to unload the containers from the cargo ship and move the waste products inside.

In the midst of the busy work, people's attention will not pay too much attention to the small changes around them. No one noticed that Night Bat, who was personally directing the scene, suddenly became one or two centimeters taller from a certain moment, and his body shape had changed slightly. And a certain worker under the cargo ship captain had the opposite change.

After working hard for a long time, the unloading was finally completed. The cargo ship took off and left the planet.

The cargo ship captain set up the automatic flight, just took off his survival armor and put on casual clothes, and was about to go back to his room to rest for a while, but received a report from his workers, saying that parasitic iron-eating insects had appeared in the warehouse area.

This is a common interstellar parasite that can destroy the structure of the ship. Once discovered, it must be removed immediately.

The cargo ship captain rushed to the warehouse area. More than thirty workers had already set up high-burning flamethrowers, burning the brown beetles that were dozens of centimeters long into ashes all over the ground.

"Captain, we have controlled the situation and are checking the extent of the iron-eating insect infestation. Some of the goods have traces of being gnawed." A worker reported.

Hearing this, the cargo ship captain's face became anxious. The goods he was transporting were all customer orders. If they were damaged, he would have to pay compensation.

He is just an ordinary person who is common in the universe, doing this small business for a living, and cannot afford to compensate for the transported goods.

"Hurry up and take me to see!"

The two rushed into the warehouse area, the firelight behind them getting farther and farther away.

At this moment, the worker suddenly drew a silenced pistol from his arms and turned to aim at the cargo ship captain's eyebrows.

"You..." The cargo ship captain suddenly froze, with a look of astonishment.

Before he could speak, the worker decisively fired.

Puff puff puff!

The muffled sound of the silencer rang out, and three bullets shot into the cargo ship captain's head, which was undoubtedly a fatal injury to ordinary people.

The cargo ship captain fell to the deck with a thud, and blood slowly overflowed.

The worker wiped his face and rubbed off a thin, cicada-winged mimicry mask, revealing Night Bat's true face.

At this time, Night Bat had a cold face, without a trace of profiteering, all of which was disguise.

He groped the cargo ship captain for the captain's authority magnetic card and communicator, then carried the body back to the area where the workers were burning the iron-eating insects swaggeringly.

Night Bat walked out of the darkness. The situation in the field had changed drastically. Of the original thirty-odd workers, only five were standing now, all holding silenced pistols in their hands. More than twenty workers' bodies were lying all over the ground, all of whom had been shot to death.

"Captain." These people looked at Night Bat and nodded in salute.

They were all spy agents cultivated by the Arcane Church. Night Bat had been disguising himself as a black market merchant for many years, running an inconspicuous smuggling channel, and some team members disguised themselves as workers and worked for the cargo ship captain for a long time.

These people have been smuggling for many years, secretly transporting various important equipment mechanical parts in batches. Night Bat has hoarded several sets of stargate equipment. When unloading the goods not long ago, he let these workers do tricks and quietly sent the stargate equipment to this cargo ship.

After lurking for so long, they have been waiting for the organization's call. The Arcane Church activated these hidden pieces at this critical moment. Their mission is to seize an inconspicuous ship with a disguised identity, secretly rendezvous with the Super-A grade, and use the stargate to help Sagman and others evacuate.

Night Bat's team is not the only spy. At the same time, a similar scene is being staged in various areas of the Shattered Star Ring.

Countless small characters who usually have no sense of existence have taken action.

The Super-A grade is the pinnacle of individual power, but no one can be called the protagonist of the universe. The universe is too big, and every small person has their own role. Some inconspicuous small characters can also affect the overall situation.