The Legendary Mechanic, page 527
Now that he had come to explore the Flickering World, Tarrokov would be considered as his semi-boss. Tarrokov would be contacting the dynasty’s many allies on behalf of the dynasty, relaying the dynasty’s orders to them. Han Xiao knew that he would be seeing this guy a lot for quite a long time.
Luckily, Tarrokov was a very senior military boss, and he was very gentle and steady, easy to get along with. This was also the reason the dynasty had sent him to take care of the matters in the Flickering World.
“Bloodshed Land and Klent arrived at the Flickering World two days ago. Come with your fleet as quickly as possible. When you’re here, we will discuss the field exploration plans.”
“Okay.”
Han Xiao nodded, and Tarrokov hung up the communication.
Han Xiao opened the 3D star map. The current map of the Flickering World appeared before everyone’s eyes. Only the Dawn Star Cluster was marked as green and completely explored, which had a rather complete star map. The other ninety percent or so of the area was all gray and had no details.
The dynasty had built many strongholds in the Dawn Star Cluster, among which the main stronghold was on a planet at the border of the Dawn Star Cluster that connected to the unexplored area. The planet was named Planet Lighthouse, signifying its place as the lighthouse that guided the explorers’ return.
The gathering location marked by Tarrokov was there.
“It will still take some time till all the fleets cross the stargate.” Aurora pressed here and pulled there on the operation table, bringing up the gathering countdown that was calculated by the artificial intelligence.
Officers with important jobs such as Sylvia, Herlous, Reynold, and Lagi had all remained in the Shattered Star Ring to maintain the army headquarters’ operations. Han Xiao had only brought some of the army’s officers along this time, such as the Black Star Guards. Most of them did not have any jobs to do usually, and they were now assigned to different posts to take care of different matters in the exploration team.
The tons of non-combat knowledge that Aurora had learned could now be of use. She became Han Xiao’s administrative officer and was responsible for the miscellaneous matters.
“Phillip, plan the route,” Han Xiao said.
“Roger that, hum…”
An illuminated line immediately appeared on the star map, marking the quickest route to Planet Lighthouse.
The dynasty knew the importance of transportation and had built many military stargates in the Dawn Star Cluster to allow frequent jumps, tremendously reducing the traveling time within the Star Cluster. These were all marked on the star map. However, this was only the case during the closed exploration period. Han Xiao knew that once the Flickering World was open to the public, the dynasty would recover some of those military channels.
Han Xiao thought for a moment and said, “Split a few engineering fleets out from the main fleet and build the quantum communication stations for our army in the Dawn Star Cluster. Let the dynasty know about it. Tell them that this is for us to interact with the people in the Shattered Star Ring headquarters more easily.”
It was the countless base stations and network nodes everywhere in the known universe that allowed the quantum network to exist in all places. However, as the Flickering World had no such stations, it had yet to connect with the quantum network of the known universe and could only redirect signals from the dynasty’s nodes and base stations. This move from Han Xiao was to plot out the army’s network base stations here. When the Star Field was open to the public in the future, they would become natural intelligence channels. Usually, this was an authority only high-level civilizations had.
However, now, this was one of the privileges given to the dynasty’s allied forces. The dynasty would not stop him.
The army’s battleships passed through the stargate one after another. Very soon, they all arrived at the Flickering World and immediately headed toward Planet Lighthouse in hyperdrive.
There were currently no outsiders in the Dawn Star Cluster, so the trip was smooth. After traveling for a few days and through dozens of military stargates linking the various strongholds, they crossed the entire Dawn Star Cluster, and Planet Lighthouse was within their sights.
A planet surrounded by countless battleships appeared outside the porthole.
On a tiny planet, the dynasty’s direct exploration team, the Bloodshed Land’s exploration team, the Klent Kingdom’s exploration team, and the late to the party Black Star Army’s exploration team gathered. The number of spaceships gathered there exceeded a hundred million!
It was marvelous!
Among which, the dynasty’s direct spaceships had the highest number. They made up to about seventy percent of all the spaceships.
Not far away from the planet, there were many stargate stations coexisting but were yet to be activated.
The surface of Planet Lighthouse was covered by machinery and metal, not showing even the slightest soil. The dynasty’s exploration team used the dynasty’s well known ‘Foolproof Planet Base Expansion Pack’ on Planet Lighthouse. It flattened the ground through high pressure, increased the planet density, changed its landscape, and modified its crust, directly turning this planet into a Planet Grade Military Base.
The fleet stopped outside the atmosphere. Han Xiao and the Black Star Guards took a small spaceship and landed on Planet Lighthouse’s dock.
Whoosh!
The hatch opened.
Han Xiao stepped onto the metal dock, looked across at the metal buildings, and fixed onto the most conspicuous building far away.
It was a few-thousand-meter-tall building. All the buildings around it looked like dwarfs under a giant. This was Planet Lighthouse’s stronghold headquarters.
There were already officers waiting at the dock. After they did their formal military greetings, they invited Han Xiao and the rest to board the ground carrier and head to Planet Lighthouse’s headquarters together.
Whoosh!
As they traveled across the buildings on the planet’s surface, the sound of wind howled outside their carrier.
Han Xiao observed around and realized that the buildings on the surface were mainly hangars and warehouses. Countless carriers and mechanical assistants were transporting trucks of resources like hard working ants.
Seeing that they were looking around, the officer explained, “Planet Lighthouse is the logistics base of the exploration team. A large amount of supplies and resources are stored here.”
Han Xiao nodded. The three Star Clusters that would be explored in the first stage were Renault, Garu, and Crown, all neighboring Star Clusters of the Dawn Star Cluster. Planet Lighthouse was located at a crucial junction and was the best transit station.
The ground distance was very short, and they arrived at the Planet Lighthouse headquarters very soon. Through the anti-gravity lift, they came all the way to the middle level at the headquarters, more than 1,400 meters above the ground.
Following the instructions, they walked into an enormous strategy conference room. There were already many people in the room. Han Xiao narrowed his eyes and immediately saw Heber—with his tiny-mountain-sized body, he was the most conspicuous.
Heber turned and looked over. Their eyes clashed in midair. Heber’s eyes had no emotions in them. He sat still on his seat and did not move before casually nodding in greeting.
Behind him were the Eight Vanguard Officials of the Bloodshed Land, who all looked at Han Xiao with hostility in their eyes.
That was especially so for the Chief Vanguard Official, Fosters, who looked like he wanted to turn his sight into knives and stab Han Xiao with them.
Although the Black Star Army and the Bloodshed Land had agreed to have a ceasefire, the hostility that the Bloodshed Land officers felt toward Han Xiao would not reduce because of it.
“Humph.”
Seeing this, Hila took a step forward, and the Black Star Guards behind her followed right after, staring at the Vanguard Officials of Heber.
Hila and Fosters’ sights met and almost created explosions in midair. The atmosphere became very tense.
In the past, when Han Xiao attended the Tyrant Party the second time, Fosters had challenged Han Xiao’s subordinates. As the captain of the Black Star Guards, Hila had accepted the challenge, but Heber had appeared and told Fosters to back off, so the two of them did not end up fighting in the end.
Now that they had met again, this history appeared in both of their heads.
One was the Bloodshed Land’s Chief Vanguard Official; the other was the Black Star Army’s captain of the Black Star Guards. Be it their position, identity, or strength, they were naturally opposed to each other. Whoever beat the other would prove that their faction was better than another. The two of them stared at each other coldly while adding each other’s name to the list of enemies they had to fight in the future.
Since Aurora had more than enough safety assurance, other than to repay Han Xiao, Hila continued to work for Han Xiao to become stronger. As she had the experience of being restrained by others, she had a very strong desire for power. Although she did not take the extreme path like she did in Han Xiao’s previous life, she did not give up on any opportunities to challenge someone strong.
Han Xiao was not bothered. He waved and told the Black Star Guards to take a step back.
There was no way they would end up fighting right under the dynasty’s nose, so there was no point in just staring at each other.
Seeing that the two sides had settled down, Han Xiao smiled at Heber.
“You’re quite early.”
“Unlike you, I don’t like to be late,” Heber replied indifferently.
He saw Han Xiao as someone on his level but had no intention of learning more about him or befriending him.
The two sides had a deep hatred for each other and only reluctantly became allies because of the dynasty. Although they were now at peace, they were still competitors in terms of the Flickering World exploration.
Since they were business competitors, Heber did not want to be friendly. His action of asking for a ceasefire with the Black Star Army in the past had already reduced his reputation within the Bloodshed Land. He could not let people mistakenly think that he was actually afraid of Black Star.
Han Xiao chuckled and knew exactly what Heber was thinking, but he did not mind.
Ty-Ty has been having a hard time. Let’s not make it worse.
Not bothering about Heber, Han Xiao turned and looked at Tarrokov, who was standing beside the strategic analysis board. He smiled and said, “Chief commander, we finally meet.”
“Your Excellency Black Star, Zoel might have already said this, but let me say it again. On behalf of the dynasty, we welcome your alliance.”
When Han Xiao was speaking with Heber, Tarrokov watched from the side and did not speak. Once Han Xiao spoke to him, only then did he give a formal reply.
“Looks like we’re going to be colleagues for a very long time in the future.” Han Xiao shook Tarrokov’s hands.
“Please, take a seat.” Tarrokov smiled and pointed at a seat.
Han Xiao nodded and led his people to sit down. His men and Heber’s men sat on opposite sides of the room, and the Klent Kingdom’s men were in the middle.
The leader of the Klent Kingdom was someone Han Xiao did not know. They did not show Han Xiao any politeness at all, not even a greeting.
Compared to Klent, Heber’s hatred was nothing. Klent’s decade-long plan had been completely shattered. The secret war had been ended by Han Xiao single-handedly, and the resources they invested had yielded zero profit.
The loss they made was uncountable!
Hate Purple Crystal? They basically won without doing anything.
Hate the Crimson Dynasty? As if we would dare!
Hate the Bloodshed Land?
… Wake up!
Therefore, their hatred could only land on Han Xiao, no one else.
If the Bloodshed Land’s hostility toward Han Xiao was two stars, Klent’s hostility was at least ten stars.
“Since everyone’s here, let’s get started.”
Tarrokov completely ignored the conflict between the three sides and turned on the strategic analysis board behind him. He brought up the unexplored star map of the Renault, Garu, and Crown Star Clusters.
“These three Star Clusters are the targets of the first stage of developments. The Bloodshed Land and Klent will explore Renault, the dynasty’s direct teams will explore Crown, and the Black Star Army will explore Garu. These are your choices, which were made long ago. Now, let me talk about the details… The task of exploration is very cumbersome, but in the end, it can be divided into a few key points.”
Tarrokov extended a few fingers.
“The drawing of the star map, the large-scale deployment of area observation buoys, the installation of a traffic network, the construction of transit stations and strongholds, the completion of the detailed information of the various planets… and the collection of resources.”
Han Xiao nodded. These were just the main goals. There were tons of tasks that had to be carried out in reality. They had to carry out construction at the same time as exploring the map. The reason they had brought so many people there was to split up and increase their efficiency.
This time, Tarrokov said, “The dynasty has the most manpower. In order to ensure progress, we will be sending some teams to follow the three of you and provide assistance.
The dynasty made up to seventy percent of all the forces there, so it was normal to give them some of their manpower. However, this was just one reason; surveillance was another reason.
The dynasty was willing to let its ally forces take part in the exploration and share the benefits, but it could not completely leave things to its allies. Sending out these surveillance teams would prevent its allies from not reporting the resources discovered or reporting the incorrect quantity deliberately, ensuring the accuracy of the results of the exploration.
The dynasty has invested a lot of this, so of course, they’re getting the largest portion of the resources in the new Star Field. Completely sensible…
However, there was still a lot of room in terms of how much extra profit the explorers would obtain.
The others had no idea what was on those unexplored planets and could only explore them one by one. It completely depended on their luck.
Han Xiao also did not know what was on most of the planets. He was an extremely experienced player in his previous life, but he was not as experienced as remembering the information about every single planet… However, he still knew full well about the famous and unique planets in the Flickering World.
This meant that he did not need to do field exploration to know which planets were extremely profitable and rich.
“Hmm…”
Han Xiao caressed his chin and contemplated.
Chapter 819. Special Exploration Route |
819 Special Exploration Route
Heber and the Klent commander knew that the dynasty would send out surveillance teams, so they were not surprised either.
Tarrokov explained the details as he pointed at the locations on the star map. The others listened silently.
When Tarrokov was finished, the Klent commander suddenly said, “We know what you’ve just said. What I want to know is, us Shattered Star Ring allies are the first teams to take part in the exploration, and the dynasty will be sending its allies from other Star Fields here too, so when will the next batch of dynasty allies arrive?”
Star Fields were too huge. Even all of them combined were just a leaf within a forest compared to a Star Field; they were very tiny. With just them, God only knew when the Flickering World would be fully explored. Therefore, the dynasty would be sending more manpower there in the future. Those dynasty allies who arrived later would be both allies and new competitors.
What Klent cared about was when the next batch of competitors would arrive, basically how much time they had ahead of others.
Tarrokov smiled.
“That depends on the arrangements of the dynasty’s upper echelons and the gathering speed of our allied forces, as well as the progress of our exploration. I have yet to receive any notification on the exact time. However, according to my estimation, the next batch of exploration teams will only arrive in half a year’s time at the earliest. Before that, the dynasty will have to rely on you guys. If the progress of the exploration is outstanding, the dynasty will not be petty in terms of rewards.”
The few of them nodded. If the exploration was smooth and the results were beyond expected, it would all become their contributions. The dynasty would take a large portion of the resources, so they would be given rewards based on the results of the pioneering. This was the key factor of their competition.
The one whose exploration went the smoothest and obtained the most profit would be merited the most.
Tarrokov paused and asked, “For the Star Clusters you’ve decided to explore, what direction are you guys planning to enter from?”
The Star Cluster could be divided into dozens of Star Systems. They were all exploring into the center from the edges of it.
The border line was extremely long, so the direction they were going to enter from was very important. If they started exploring from poor locations, they would make a huge loss since they would waste a lot of time not discovering many resources.
The only information they had to decide on this was the semi-complete star map drawn through astronomical observations. The most they could do was just avoid the obvious desolate universe belts, but the resources on the planets were still unknown.
Although Tarrokov had only just asked, the few of them had discussed and analyzed this privately long ago.
