The Legendary Mechanic, page 287
While Noriosse did not wish to provoke both parties, there was no need for them to accede to the demands of both parties completely. While this action of theirs might result in conflict with Godora, it was not too serious and within an acceptable range.
The financial group still intended to seek compensation from Godora. With an important figure of DarkStar dead, Godora would be more willing to compromise in other areas. Furthermore, it was impossible for DarkStar to make any form of compensation, but Godora, being a lawful civilization, would definitely be a ‘good person’ and keep to the rules.
While Nagakin still wanted to persuade the protector, Han Xiao stopped him and did not say another word.
Han Xiao could tell that it was impossible for the financial group to back down and could only give up his plan to surround Ember. While it was a waste that his previous disguise had lost its effect, Han Xiao was used to the situation changing at any moment in time. At the very least, everything went pretty close to his plan.
Since we can’t fight, this mission is almost over, and we won’t be chased anymore, Han Xiao thought to himself.
Looking up at the sky, a black cloud could be seen floating above him, and Ember’s figure could be seen. He had finally rushed back.
Looking at the miserable battlefield through the protective shield, Ember was visibly shocked. With his gaze sweeping over the battlefield, his eyes were suddenly fixed on Anur’s corpse, and the shock on his face turned into fear!
Perhaps it isn’t completely useless to bait Ember back. Allowing him to see Anur’s corpse and dealing him a psychological blow isn’t too bad either.
…
A few minutes earlier…
Ember followed ‘Anur’s’ instructions and sped toward the battlefield. He was looking forward to diving into battle so that he could make up for the mission that he failed.
With Teacher’s speed, it is impossible for any enemy to struggle free from him, and it will be impossible for Black Star to escape like before. We can finally get rid of him today!
Thinking about that, Ember was full of anticipation and excitement as he charged over joyfully.
However, the scene before him was completely different from his expectations! He never could have imagined that his undefeatable Teacher would be defeated and even killed!
The instant that he saw Anur’s corpse, Ember was completely stunned, and a chill ran up his spine.
How was it possible for Anur to be killed!
Ember immediately took out his communicator and dialed Anur’s number.
Du du du…
The few seconds of waiting felt like forever, and when the call finally went through, the image displayed on the screen was not that of Anur but Han Xiao letting out a maniacal laughter.
“Are you surprised? Are you shocked‽”
Ember was indeed shocked. “Why is it you‽”
“Oh, do you not like my handsome face?” Han Xiao chuckled before changing his face to that of Anur’s. Sending a flying kiss, he continued. “How about this face?”
Ka-cha!
The screen began to crack.
Ember had almost shattered his communicator in rage. His final hope had just been destroyed!
Anur was really dead!
Numerous emotions filled his heart. Disbelief, anger, panic, grief…
If the enemy could take Anur out, it means that he was also in danger!
“I am the only one left. I cannot stay behind to fight and let all of our soldiers die here!”
Ember gritted his teeth and escaped on his black cloud.
The situation needed to be reported to the upper echelons. Escaping as he reported the situation to his superiors, the news that he reported set off an explosive commotion within the upper echelons of DarkStar!
The upper echelons of DarkStar had been prepared to hear a report of the mission being accomplished but never expected to hear such a nightmare instead.
None of them had expected that Anur would die in this mission, which they had been certain would succeed. Sending out two Calamity Grade Supers at once, all of the upper echelons felt that the mission was a guaranteed success! However, this piece of news had completely disrupted their plans.
The forces of DarkStar had been waning over time. During their peak, DarkStar had eight Calamity Grade Supers, and Anur was one of them. He was a highly-respected figure in the organization. However, the battles over the years had injured and killed the majority of these experts. Before that day, only two of those eight figures had remained, and Anur had been one of them. Apart from those two figures, all the other Grade A Supers were new faces who they were grooming.
Losing such a figure was definitely a huge blow to DarkStar. The rate at which Calamity Grade Supers were groomed could not keep up with the rate that they were being killed at. In the organization, Calamity Grade Supers were already extremely rare.
In less than a minute, the upper echelons of DarkStar gave an emergency order to Ember.
“Give up on the mission and leave Noriosse immediately. We will send a fleet to pick you up. After losing an important member of the organization, we cannot afford to lose another one!”
Originally, he had been the one giving chase, but the roles had been reversed, and he was now the escaping party. Ember was indignant about his loss, but he had no choice and could only swallow his indignation. Turning off his communicator, Ember escaped at top speed and did not dare delay for a second, afraid that the enemy may catch up to him.
In truth, it was impossible for Han Xiao and the others to leave the protective shield. Those from Noriosse wished for Ember to scram as quickly as possible, and Ember did not know that there was no one chasing him.
…
An hour later…
Ohm!
The protective shield was retracted, and the golden pillars returned underground. Noriosse had finally retracted the protective shield.
This also meant that the financial group was certain that the battle was over. Their surveillance showed DarkStar’s fleet picking Ember up before leaving immediately, and everyone from the financial group heaved a sigh of relief. While they had a few thousand battleships around Noriosse, it was best if they did not engage in battle.
With the troops chasing after him retreating, Han Xiao knew that Nagakin’s mission was completed. When Godora sent their reinforcements, the mission would be concluded. Getting rid of an Anur was already a good bargain for them.
Despite the battle being over, the effects of the battle had only just begun to show. With a Grade A Super from DarkStar dying, Godora would definitely pay close attention to this event, and the entire Shattered Star Ring would have their eyes on this news. While countless people were dying every single second, there were differences between people. The death of a Calamity Grade Super was naturally far more significant than the death of an ordinary individual.
Furthermore, with him using Ames’ abilities, Ames would definitely be very curious.
However, none of that was important at the moment. Dealing with the members of the Noriosse financial group was what they needed to face. After Han Xiao and the others were freed from their predicament, they were immediately requested to meet the upper echelons of the financial group.
The financial group was getting ready to settle their scores, and they had to give Noriosse a suitable amount of compensation.
Chapter 503. Effect and Plan |
The protector took everyone to another city on an aircraft. In the middle of the city was a skyscraper. Even in the iron city that was filled with buildings, the skyscraper stood out like a middle finger being pointed to the sky.
At the peak of the skyscraper was a helipad protected by a transparent cover. The cover gradually opened up, and the aircraft landed on the helipad. From the helipad to the interior of the building, numerous soldiers were lined up orderly by the side. Han Xiao and the others followed after the protector and entered the top level of the luxurious skyscraper.
A man was seated on the sofa with his back facing the crowd who had entered the room. He was looking at a wall of holographic screens with the scenes of the battlefield being displayed on them.
“Look at what you have done on my planet.”
After pressing a button, the sofa turned around on its own to face Han Xiao. After seeing his appearance, Han Xiao felt that he looked extremely familiar. All of a sudden, Han Xiao remembered seeing a picture of this person before him.
A couple of days ago, he had still been playing a cat and mouse game with Aesop. Aesop had requested for him to steal an accessory. After he asked Phillip to make a search, Han Xiao had found out that the accessory was something that the head of the Noriosse financial group had purchased his wife. The person in front of him was the head of the financial group. Just what was he called again?
“Rockfess. I am the owner of this planet,” the man said with a calm voice. “I know who you are. Nagakin from Godora, Wilsander from Floating Dragon, and Black Star also from Floating Dragon.”
Because he belonged to Floating Dragon on the surface, the Black Star Mercenary Group was deemed a part of the Floating Dragon army. Han Xiao was not too bothered by this as the status of being part of Floating Dragon had always brought him more benefits than disadvantages. Allowing his mercenary group to be tied together with a gigantic faction was extremely helpful to the growth and fame of his mercenary group.
“I have roughly understood what happened, and I am uninterested in the battle between Godora and DarkStar. However, your actions have resulted in damage to my planet, and Godora has no rights to deploy their army in my territory. I require an explanation from all of you and suitable compensation. My subordinates are currently calculating the exact damage, and we shall negotiate the details after they are done.”
Rockfess did not give the two a chance to interrupt and spoke without allowing anyone to refute him.
“I will report this matter to headquarters, and Godora will compensate your losses. Black Star is only a mercenary who I hired, and his actions were part of my request. Godora will never shortchange our friends, and Godora will compensate you on his behalf.”
With Anur being killed, Nagakin was in an extremely good mood. For an official of his level, taking action would definitely result in destruction, and there would definitely be people to clean up after them. He had never thought about escaping from paying compensation before.
Because Rockfess had extremely good connections and had a pretty good relationship with a couple of civilizations in the Shattered Star Ring, Godora was not willing to offend him either.
“Don’t worry, I never intended to seek compensation from him.” Upon hearing that, Rockfess looked toward Han Xiao with a smile, and his tone became gentler. “Give my regards to Ames.”
He actually isn’t asking for compensation? Han Xiao immediately felt goodwill toward Rockfess, “You know Ames?”
“Hahaha, who in the Shattered Star Ring doesn’t know of the Dragon Emperor?” Rockfess said with a laugh. “I have dealt with Floating Dragon a few times. I heard that Aesop wanted you to steal something of mine, but you caught him instead. Haha, well done.”
Han Xiao came to a realization. It turned out that Rockfess knew Aesop. No wonder there was such a prank.
However, Han Xiao did not think that it was strange at all. After being alive for so many years, Aesop was a legendary figure, and his connections were extremely deep with his friends being scattered all over the universe.
With Aesop’s abilities, the figures whom he befriended were naturally those with authority and power. Since Ames had taken Aesop back, Floating Dragon would definitely receive a huge boost, and their hidden forces would definitely be expanded.
In truth, Rockfess’ warm attitude was not entirely because of Aesop. He had always been supplying resources to Floating Dragon but had rarely requested anything in return, treating it as a form of sponsorship. Rockfess was not the only financial group that was doing so, and there were at least twenty different financial groups sponsoring Ames. When Ames first built Floating Dragon Island, she had released a notice that she wanted money, and numerous financial groups had swarmed over to give her money immediately. After so many years, there were many financial groups that still maintained their sponsorship status. If not, with Floating Dragon’s horrendous management situation, it would have been impossible for them to support all the maintenance, repairs, and other expenses.
Behind every one of the four beyond Grade A Supers in the Shattered Star Ring were numerous financial groups. A powerful organization would always draw a large number of willing sponsors; thus, these powerful beings never needed to be afraid of going broke. Many of the financial groups in the universe were past the stage of accumulating wealth, and if they were not able to convert their wealth into influence or something useful, their wealth was no more than a useless string of numbers. Investing their wealth into such organizations that housed powerhouses was the best option for them.
For someone like Ames, it was no longer her asking others for money but others taking the initiative to offer her money. Whether or not so wanted to accept the money was dependent on her mood.
As long as one became sufficiently powerful, many problems would be taken care of easily. At the same time, however, one’s actions and words would also take on more responsibility.
In the later versions, a few unions would have the right to cooperate with the financial groups to obtain resources and funds. The impact of the players’ presence in Galaxy became deeper and deeper, and there were more and more avenues for both parties to interact. The influence that they had on the world was extremely dynamic and realistic, thus allowing the players to remain passionate about the game.
“I heard about your arrival as soon as you stepped onto Noriosse. Meeting you in person, you are even more powerful than in the legends.”
Rockfess took the initiative to reach out, and Han Xiao shook his hand. Smiling without saying a word, a thought suddenly surfaced in his head.
His plans for Version 2.0 would require a large amount of gold. To hold millions of players in his mercenary group, the hardware of his mercenary group must have an all-round upgrade, and all of that required money.
If he could mimic Ames and find sponsors, it may be much easier on his wallet.
Because Han Xiao was used to being a lone wolf in his previous life, he only had a vague understanding of deals between the guilds and NPCs. However, Han Xiao had never given it a try himself, and he needed to earn all of the money required for his plan. At this moment, a new idea sprung up in his mind. Perhaps the influence of a faction may be larger than I think.
Until then, Han Xiao’s core business had been to earn the player’s money to upgrade himself and his faction. However, could he improvise a little and get the NPCs to give him money while harvesting the money from players?
With this flash of inspiration, a new and exciting plan began to form in his head. While the plan was not feasible for the time being, it would greatly increase the benefits that the players could give him once Version 2.0 was unveiled. Of course, that was predicated on everything going according to his plan.
“Your Excellency Rockfess,” Han Xiao said, “I actually have something that I wish to request and hope that we can find some time to discuss the matter.”
“Alright, I will give you my personal number.” Rockfess nodded. “After this matter is over, we can talk about it in detail.”
…
A conclusion was made regarding the matter of compensation—Godora would be in charge of paying for all compensation. Rockfess then arranged for a completely safe stronghold for them to stay in. Before the reinforcements from Godora arrived, they were all required to stay there.
Aroshia met up with Alvin and the others. Alvin was extremely thankful that he had managed to escape death, and the Teleportation Mage left immediately after receiving his payment. He did not wish to have any relationship with those unlucky people.
Over the next few days, the news of this great battle began to spread rapidly, and the headlines of the various news outlets were getting more and more exaggerated.
The details of the battle were not leaked, and the various articles only reported a small portion of the battle and the outcome. While the infamous DarkStar was not the most powerful organization on the list of evil organizations within the Shattered Star Ring, it was the most radical one. It had destroyed many civilizations within the Garton Star System and caused countless citizens to lose their homes. However, there was rarely news of a head-on battle with DarkStar as they usually snuck into the various civilizations stealthily.
This time, a powerful member of DarkStar had died in the eyes of the public, and it was a truly joyous occasion.
With the news spreading, Han Xiao received multiple notifications of his Renown stat increasing on his interface. Just like before, his Renown stat increased in various Star Clusters, and his Renown level had reached [Slightly Famous] in most regions. In the Garton Star System, where he was most active, his Renown level had already reached the level of [Well Known].
In the eyes of most galactic residents, Ames’ strength was the only supporting pillar for the whole of Floating Dragon. However, her subordinates did not have much fame and rarely took action outside of Floating Dragon. In this respect, Floating Dragon was far inferior to the powers of the other three beyond Grade A Supers. The other three beyond Grade A Supers all had numerous experts under their charge with their soldiers being the elites of the elites. However, Ames only had a couple of little cats as her subordinates.
For the organizations of the other three beyond Grade A Supers, even if they did not have their leader, their organization would still be a tyrannical existence.
During the previous incident when Ames smashed up DarkStar’s mothership, the majority of the focus had been on Ames’ strength as well as the new member of Floating Dragon, Black Star. However, the news this time had shown Black Star’s strength, and many of the galactic residents and organizations had the same thought.
