The Legendary Mechanic, page 96
Planet Aquamarine’s progress in mechanical suit research has always lacked behind. Rumor had it that only the country of Theseus had exoskeleton mechanical suit prototypes, but they were heavy and bulky and could not improve the user’s physical abilities. However, this mechanical suit was far beyond their knowledge and understanding.
In galactic civilizations, single unit combat suit was standard equipment for soldiers, which reduced the gap between humans and Superhumans, and it was more than a bargain for players.
The Viper was a piece of equipment ahead of its time—it should never have even appeared in front of players in version 1.0. In fact, no mechanical suit was supposed to have been created in version 1.0 and definitely not owned by any player.
Chapter 177. The Start of the 'Inhuman' Incident |
The White Lion King jumped up in the air and pounced toward Han Xiao.
As the wind pressure came closer to his head, Han Xiao calmly raised his hand toward the White Lion King. An invisible force shot out from his arm as he turned on the Field Repulsive Machine. The White Lion King was knocked back and fell to the ground.
Han Xiao was using many modules simultaneously, so the energy level was steadily decreasing over time.
After countless punches, the White Lion King’s health was down to around 30%. The White Lion King howled toward the sky. Its skins turned red; it had entered Rage Mode. Or as the players called it, the second phrase. Han Xiao could feel the pressure bursting in a short moment
I shouldn’t face him directly during Rage Mode. Han Xiao decided to retreat to a safer range. For the time being, it was his combat style to be able to strike and escape anytime he wanted.
The White Lion King chased him for some time, then it slowed down, showing signs of exhaustion.
Just at this moment, [Flaming Will]’s cooldown ended, Han Xiao immediately held up his Ghost sniper rifle and shot at the other undamaged eye of the White Lion King.
This was the highest damage multiplier he had gotten ever since he learned [Overload]—4.1 times!
Lucky!
With this one shot, the only eye that the White Lion King had left burst into a cloud of blood. It was gravely injured and fell to the ground with just a few hundred points of health left.
“It’s dead!” In his excitement, Han Xiao let out a sigh of relief. Viper’s power was higher than he had expected, and it covered the Mechanics’ weakness of having low physical attributes and provided strong protection at close range, and it had high functionality in almost all aspects.
Viper was the basis of his secondary combat strategy. Just like how his sniping strategy built up slowly, his mechanical suit also needed more modules to be completed. This was just the beginning. This battle was a test of its actual combat capabilities, so he could figure out a clearer plan for future improvements. There was room for improvements in both combat and stealth abilities.
The White Lion King was unable to move, so Han Xiao went up and finished it easily. He took out the retractable knife and cut out its heart. It was the size of a basketball, filled with violet colored nerves, hot like a ball of fire.
_____________
You received a special item [Mutated Heart].
You have triggered mission [Virus Research]!
Mission Introduction: Beasts in this area are all infected by Death Virus. Some organizations are looking for research samples that are strong enough. That’s right, I’m talking about this heart you’re holding.
Mission Requirement: Bring [Mutated Heart] to Louis Biological Research Institution in seven days.
Reward: Death Virus Drug x 1
_____________
This mission was a bonus rewards mission triggered by the heart. The drug reward was able to increase one’s attributes permanently, and there was a small chance to give the user a rare talent ability.
In the previous life, the Beast King BOSS was always killed within hours after spawning, and since the Death Virus Drug could be used more than once, the biggest guilds were the ones that controlled the area to grind the drug.
Louis Biological Research Institution was open to the general public, and players could exchange all kinds of weird materials for drugs that were not any less weird. It was in Maple.
Han Xiao took out the liquid nitrogen suitcase that he had prepared and placed the lion heart inside, then he heard the sounds of footsteps. Yang Dian and Ned walked to him with hesitation.
“Thank you for helping us,” Yang Dian said as he looked at Viper’s mask. However, he could not see Han Xiao’s face.
Han Xiao did not reply. He checked through his inventory and left—the smell of blood would attract more beasts. Plus, he needed a place to rest.
The duo looked at each other awkwardly, then caught up to Han Xiao and introduced themselves. With high hopes, they said to Han Xiao, “We came here to save an exploration team. They went deep into the zone to find the cure of the virus and have lost contact. We hope you can help us.”
_____________
You triggered Grade D Mission [Save the exploration team].
Accept or reject?
_____________
“Reject.”
Han Xiao swung his hands, turned his voice to an electrically mixed fake voice, and said, “Don’t bother me.”
Saving them would mean having to bring a group of normal people across the forbidden zone—the chance of success was too low. Every second spent there would increase the level of danger. Han Xiao’s target was only the mutated heart, and it was completed. Thus, there was no need for him to waste his time in the zone. He did not want to just follow the missions blindly.
“They are in danger because they wanted to solve the disaster. How can you not help!” Ned said anxiously.
Han Xiao turned on his hovering shoes and left without replying. It was clear what he meant at this moment. Do whatever you want, but don’t drag me into it.
The duo watched with resignation as Han Xiao left.
Not everyone is kind like them, and they knew that, but they were still upset over losing such strong help.
…
Han Xiao left the Forbidden Zone and went back to the cargo plane that was parked far away. He took the mechanical suit off and let out a sigh of relief.
Viper had amazing capabilities, and he was satisfied with the actual combat results.
The plane took off for Maple, to get in touch with Louis Biological Research Institution and exchange the heart for the drug. He also planned to do a threatening mission while he was there, and the contact for the Blood Pact Society was also in Maple.
Han Xiao looked at the brief mission introduction on his laptop.
My contact is a hitman? Wait a minute, this name looks familiar, Golden Fox? I might have seen it somewhere before.
Han Xiao raised his brows a little but did not bother much about it. Putting the matter aside, he opened the forum—his focus at the moment was players.
Han Xiao still had two novice villages in the Western Continent that he had not visited. The new players there had already almost reached an average level of ten. By this time, they would have all started leaving the village to explore the map, but because of Han Xiao, some players stayed to wait for his arrival.
The feeling was great. His actions had affected the players in what they did, which was all because of the recent popularity and influence he had gained.
Reading through the forums, some new posts had attracted his attention. They were mostly from players in the land of Andrea, and the content was all complaining.
“Question, why is the Germinal Organization coming to novice villages to capture us?”
“I have been brainwashed, my faction is locked, and I have lost relationship points—why is this happening?”
“An NPC sliced me into pieces and asked about my origins…”
“Me too!”
“Is this part of the storyline? But I did not get any alerts on my interface.”
Some players recorded the process of Germinal Organization capturing players in the novice villages. Fully armed soldiers placed handcuffs on players one by one, and some players resisted but were shot immediately by paralysis bullets.
A group of cuffed players sat in the back of the car. Space was tight, and they could only see the outside world through windows covered by bars.
These players were brought to the bases of Germinal Organization one by one. Its bases were unlike the ones on the other three continents, which was very hidden. The bases of the headquarters in Andrea were all humongous and had extremely tight defenses.
The land of Andrea was brown. If someone could see from a satellite vision, they would see the bases of the Germinal Organization as black colored areas spreading across the brown land, like virus spots. This forsaken land was filled with abundant radiation and dirt with depreciating signs of life. The Germinal Organization took many old country facility ruins and inherited their facilities, including places that were once military sites.
Inhuman incident has started. Han Xiao’s eye twinkled. He had experienced this incident before in the previous life; it had been the hottest topic at the time.
Curiosity toward players from NPCs is the core attraction point of Galaxy—players appearing was part of the storyline. Different planets had different approaches toward the players, and Planet Aquamarine was the first planet for this to happen.
Before, as a player, he was basically rubbernecking and did not do anything. Now that he had a different perspective, he felt he could find out something else.
I have made the Germinal Organization lose all of their secondary bases, so the number of players joining them would be much fewer, and they have probably realized the damage that has caused.
Just imagining how angry their leader would be made Han Xiao happy.
Han Xiao turned on his laptop and browsed information through the Dark Net. The existence of players had already been noticed by many organizations; the natives of Planet Aquamarine were surprised by their arrival.
The Six Nations might make a move very soon, which would delay the expedition war, but it would still be earlier than my previous life.
Han Xiao narrowed his eyes. The war occurring earlier give him both advantages and disadvantages, advantages being the players have yet to grow strong enough, and when the Six Nations burst into an all-out war, their impact would be minimal, which reduced the accidental factors. With the power of the Six Nations, as long as the players did not interfere, they would totally crush the Germinal Organization.
Because of Han Xiao’s interference, the main storyline of the war between Six Nations and the Germinal Organization would very soon enter the climax, before the players even had enough ability to join into the story.
Chapter 178. Fermentation |
Stardragon’s Western Capital, Division 13 headquarters.
Gu Hui, the vice-chairman, and Division 13’s leaders gathered in the secret meeting room. Gu Hui pressed a button on the table, and the doors and the windows shut entirely. All surveillance devices lost their functionalities.
Gu Hui put on a serious look as he distributed the documents to everyone in the meeting. The documents had authorization stamps from the highest officials, which meant this information was highly confidential. It was the observation information of the Inhumans.
“Five days ago, rumors about the existence of Inhumans started spreading through the Dark Net. After investigating, it has been confirmed to be true. The documents state it clearly. Inhumans have been appearing and spreading in every continent like a virus. They appeared out of nowhere, and their origins are unknown.
“From the information that we found on the Dark Net, the Inhumans have the following characteristics…” Gu Hui stated the information that they had on the players, which was similar to what the Germinal Organization had. They knew that the players disappeared instantly, would not die, and one other point. “Through our observation, their average power is not high. The threat level is identified as low.”
“If we don’t suppress this phenomenon, it might spread like a disease and cause a disaster,” one person said.
Gu Hui nodded and said, “The highest officials have given us their commands. Contacting these Inhumans will now be our priority.”
“What about the expedition? The supplies and our army have already been prepared. We can head to Andrea anytime.”
“The highest-level superiors have already come to an agreement with the leaders of other countries to temporarily stop the expedition. We have to first understand the situation of this inhuman phenomenon; it has higher threat potential.” Gu Hui Knocked the table, he scanned through everyone and said, “Ask our people to bring back some Inhumans. Also, be friendly—we do not know anything about their origin.”
“Some of our agents are undercover in Andrea. Should we call them back?” the head of field operations said.
“No need, let them retrieve more intelligence. We have enough manpower,” Gu Hui said. “When we have a conclusion on this, maybe the officials will seek help and answers from the Galactic Civilizations.”
…
As the average level of players became higher, their actions made a greater impact and attracted the attention of the organizations. The Six Nations, Vagrants, Dark Net, and many large financial organizations were all paying attention to the Inhuman Phenomenon. They had been sending their people to contact these Inhumans with different approaches. Some were friendly, and some were not. The exception was Germinal Organization—they captured large numbers of players in Andrea, which forced player in the novice village to leave the village early.
For players, which organization they joined would not actually make a difference to them, but they would naturally want to resist if they were forced. The Germinal Organization had definitely left a bad impression on players, and for those who were already captured, they could only accept their fate.
Players in Andrea had a tough time. Their game experience was extremely bad, but it made players very curious about one thing—Why were the NPCs surprised about their existence? The NPCs acted almost like real people.
More and more organizations started contacting players, and more and more players experienced similar situations. They started making guesses actively on forums about the situation, and this topic soon became the most popular topic in the forum.
This only happened on Planet Aquamarine and not any other planets, so a large number of players from other planets visited the Planet Aquamarine site, which made it the most visited planet site of all the novice planets.
There were hundreds of new posts every second; its popularity was astonishingly high.
All kinds of speculations surfaced. The seemingly most possible and accepted theory was the Electrolux theory, but the game developers did not give any response. Players could only make random guesses, some of which were quite out of the box.
“We actually went through reincarnation to conquer a new world for our gods, serial number A12651 reporting for duty!”
“Bullshit, we’re Earth’s army to conquer alternative dimensions, and we have an honorable mission on our hands.”
“798 Space feet from the Earth Association. Commander Blacky is waiting for deployment. Victory belongs to earth!”
“You’re all wrong. The earth is just an illusion. This is actually the reality.”
“You youngsters are too naïve. This is all part of the Elder’s plan.”
“This marks the first step of Skynet’s domination over mankind. One day, all of our minds will be locked up in the game.”
“Hail Hydra!”
“Previous commenter is in the wrong set!”
“Sigh, I’m a retired soldier of the 1999 clan wars. Come to think of it, that was a really dark age.”
“This Grandpa above surely has a strong body, playing Full Dive VR games at such an old age.”
These ridiculous speculations became a joke that was trending all over the forum.
In a big picture, organizations contacting players with caution was beneficial. It was easier for players to pick a side or organization to join, except for players in Andrea who were being continuously captured.
Han Xiao was following the situation. He had information from both the Dark Net and the forum, which meant that he knew much more than any players or NPCs.
The mindset of both parties was very different. The organizations were careful and serious about it, while the players found it fun.
Interesting. Han Xiao raised his eyebrows.
The influence from the Inhuman incident was slowly fermenting as the organizations found out more and more about the players’ characteristics.
The pro players from my previous life should have met their opportunities by now.
Planet Aquamarine was China’s base camp, so there would definitely be some players who had met an opportunity, unlike other normal players.
The storyline was going on the right path. Han Xiao rushed to Maple, as the Mutated Heart Mission had a time limit.
Louis Research Institution was in Kaylos city in Maple. It was not near the border this time, so Han Xiao had to travel in a car for two days after being smuggled into the country.
The country of Maple felt lifeless. Its rigid political system, uneven wealth distribution, and resources were all tightly controlled by politicians, and the low class had very limited opportunities to improve their life. ‘Barely living and just waiting to die’ was the best phrase to describe civilians in Maple.
Walking on the street, long-faced pedestrians passed by him. Han Xiao rubbed his face. He felt that such a confident and handsome face did not fit in with the state of the people on the street.
Han Xiao changed his face again and even wore spectacles. He was sure that nobody could recognize him.
Louis Research Institution building was very tall and silver, which fitted the technology theme. The people in the building were all wearing white coats, as if they were worried about others not knowing they were doing technological research.
A receptionist walked to him with a well-mannered smile as soon as he walked in.
In galactic civilizations, single unit combat suit was standard equipment for soldiers, which reduced the gap between humans and Superhumans, and it was more than a bargain for players.
The Viper was a piece of equipment ahead of its time—it should never have even appeared in front of players in version 1.0. In fact, no mechanical suit was supposed to have been created in version 1.0 and definitely not owned by any player.
Chapter 177. The Start of the 'Inhuman' Incident |
The White Lion King jumped up in the air and pounced toward Han Xiao.
As the wind pressure came closer to his head, Han Xiao calmly raised his hand toward the White Lion King. An invisible force shot out from his arm as he turned on the Field Repulsive Machine. The White Lion King was knocked back and fell to the ground.
Han Xiao was using many modules simultaneously, so the energy level was steadily decreasing over time.
After countless punches, the White Lion King’s health was down to around 30%. The White Lion King howled toward the sky. Its skins turned red; it had entered Rage Mode. Or as the players called it, the second phrase. Han Xiao could feel the pressure bursting in a short moment
I shouldn’t face him directly during Rage Mode. Han Xiao decided to retreat to a safer range. For the time being, it was his combat style to be able to strike and escape anytime he wanted.
The White Lion King chased him for some time, then it slowed down, showing signs of exhaustion.
Just at this moment, [Flaming Will]’s cooldown ended, Han Xiao immediately held up his Ghost sniper rifle and shot at the other undamaged eye of the White Lion King.
This was the highest damage multiplier he had gotten ever since he learned [Overload]—4.1 times!
Lucky!
With this one shot, the only eye that the White Lion King had left burst into a cloud of blood. It was gravely injured and fell to the ground with just a few hundred points of health left.
“It’s dead!” In his excitement, Han Xiao let out a sigh of relief. Viper’s power was higher than he had expected, and it covered the Mechanics’ weakness of having low physical attributes and provided strong protection at close range, and it had high functionality in almost all aspects.
Viper was the basis of his secondary combat strategy. Just like how his sniping strategy built up slowly, his mechanical suit also needed more modules to be completed. This was just the beginning. This battle was a test of its actual combat capabilities, so he could figure out a clearer plan for future improvements. There was room for improvements in both combat and stealth abilities.
The White Lion King was unable to move, so Han Xiao went up and finished it easily. He took out the retractable knife and cut out its heart. It was the size of a basketball, filled with violet colored nerves, hot like a ball of fire.
_____________
You received a special item [Mutated Heart].
You have triggered mission [Virus Research]!
Mission Introduction: Beasts in this area are all infected by Death Virus. Some organizations are looking for research samples that are strong enough. That’s right, I’m talking about this heart you’re holding.
Mission Requirement: Bring [Mutated Heart] to Louis Biological Research Institution in seven days.
Reward: Death Virus Drug x 1
_____________
This mission was a bonus rewards mission triggered by the heart. The drug reward was able to increase one’s attributes permanently, and there was a small chance to give the user a rare talent ability.
In the previous life, the Beast King BOSS was always killed within hours after spawning, and since the Death Virus Drug could be used more than once, the biggest guilds were the ones that controlled the area to grind the drug.
Louis Biological Research Institution was open to the general public, and players could exchange all kinds of weird materials for drugs that were not any less weird. It was in Maple.
Han Xiao took out the liquid nitrogen suitcase that he had prepared and placed the lion heart inside, then he heard the sounds of footsteps. Yang Dian and Ned walked to him with hesitation.
“Thank you for helping us,” Yang Dian said as he looked at Viper’s mask. However, he could not see Han Xiao’s face.
Han Xiao did not reply. He checked through his inventory and left—the smell of blood would attract more beasts. Plus, he needed a place to rest.
The duo looked at each other awkwardly, then caught up to Han Xiao and introduced themselves. With high hopes, they said to Han Xiao, “We came here to save an exploration team. They went deep into the zone to find the cure of the virus and have lost contact. We hope you can help us.”
_____________
You triggered Grade D Mission [Save the exploration team].
Accept or reject?
_____________
“Reject.”
Han Xiao swung his hands, turned his voice to an electrically mixed fake voice, and said, “Don’t bother me.”
Saving them would mean having to bring a group of normal people across the forbidden zone—the chance of success was too low. Every second spent there would increase the level of danger. Han Xiao’s target was only the mutated heart, and it was completed. Thus, there was no need for him to waste his time in the zone. He did not want to just follow the missions blindly.
“They are in danger because they wanted to solve the disaster. How can you not help!” Ned said anxiously.
Han Xiao turned on his hovering shoes and left without replying. It was clear what he meant at this moment. Do whatever you want, but don’t drag me into it.
The duo watched with resignation as Han Xiao left.
Not everyone is kind like them, and they knew that, but they were still upset over losing such strong help.
…
Han Xiao left the Forbidden Zone and went back to the cargo plane that was parked far away. He took the mechanical suit off and let out a sigh of relief.
Viper had amazing capabilities, and he was satisfied with the actual combat results.
The plane took off for Maple, to get in touch with Louis Biological Research Institution and exchange the heart for the drug. He also planned to do a threatening mission while he was there, and the contact for the Blood Pact Society was also in Maple.
Han Xiao looked at the brief mission introduction on his laptop.
My contact is a hitman? Wait a minute, this name looks familiar, Golden Fox? I might have seen it somewhere before.
Han Xiao raised his brows a little but did not bother much about it. Putting the matter aside, he opened the forum—his focus at the moment was players.
Han Xiao still had two novice villages in the Western Continent that he had not visited. The new players there had already almost reached an average level of ten. By this time, they would have all started leaving the village to explore the map, but because of Han Xiao, some players stayed to wait for his arrival.
The feeling was great. His actions had affected the players in what they did, which was all because of the recent popularity and influence he had gained.
Reading through the forums, some new posts had attracted his attention. They were mostly from players in the land of Andrea, and the content was all complaining.
“Question, why is the Germinal Organization coming to novice villages to capture us?”
“I have been brainwashed, my faction is locked, and I have lost relationship points—why is this happening?”
“An NPC sliced me into pieces and asked about my origins…”
“Me too!”
“Is this part of the storyline? But I did not get any alerts on my interface.”
Some players recorded the process of Germinal Organization capturing players in the novice villages. Fully armed soldiers placed handcuffs on players one by one, and some players resisted but were shot immediately by paralysis bullets.
A group of cuffed players sat in the back of the car. Space was tight, and they could only see the outside world through windows covered by bars.
These players were brought to the bases of Germinal Organization one by one. Its bases were unlike the ones on the other three continents, which was very hidden. The bases of the headquarters in Andrea were all humongous and had extremely tight defenses.
The land of Andrea was brown. If someone could see from a satellite vision, they would see the bases of the Germinal Organization as black colored areas spreading across the brown land, like virus spots. This forsaken land was filled with abundant radiation and dirt with depreciating signs of life. The Germinal Organization took many old country facility ruins and inherited their facilities, including places that were once military sites.
Inhuman incident has started. Han Xiao’s eye twinkled. He had experienced this incident before in the previous life; it had been the hottest topic at the time.
Curiosity toward players from NPCs is the core attraction point of Galaxy—players appearing was part of the storyline. Different planets had different approaches toward the players, and Planet Aquamarine was the first planet for this to happen.
Before, as a player, he was basically rubbernecking and did not do anything. Now that he had a different perspective, he felt he could find out something else.
I have made the Germinal Organization lose all of their secondary bases, so the number of players joining them would be much fewer, and they have probably realized the damage that has caused.
Just imagining how angry their leader would be made Han Xiao happy.
Han Xiao turned on his laptop and browsed information through the Dark Net. The existence of players had already been noticed by many organizations; the natives of Planet Aquamarine were surprised by their arrival.
The Six Nations might make a move very soon, which would delay the expedition war, but it would still be earlier than my previous life.
Han Xiao narrowed his eyes. The war occurring earlier give him both advantages and disadvantages, advantages being the players have yet to grow strong enough, and when the Six Nations burst into an all-out war, their impact would be minimal, which reduced the accidental factors. With the power of the Six Nations, as long as the players did not interfere, they would totally crush the Germinal Organization.
Because of Han Xiao’s interference, the main storyline of the war between Six Nations and the Germinal Organization would very soon enter the climax, before the players even had enough ability to join into the story.
Chapter 178. Fermentation |
Stardragon’s Western Capital, Division 13 headquarters.
Gu Hui, the vice-chairman, and Division 13’s leaders gathered in the secret meeting room. Gu Hui pressed a button on the table, and the doors and the windows shut entirely. All surveillance devices lost their functionalities.
Gu Hui put on a serious look as he distributed the documents to everyone in the meeting. The documents had authorization stamps from the highest officials, which meant this information was highly confidential. It was the observation information of the Inhumans.
“Five days ago, rumors about the existence of Inhumans started spreading through the Dark Net. After investigating, it has been confirmed to be true. The documents state it clearly. Inhumans have been appearing and spreading in every continent like a virus. They appeared out of nowhere, and their origins are unknown.
“From the information that we found on the Dark Net, the Inhumans have the following characteristics…” Gu Hui stated the information that they had on the players, which was similar to what the Germinal Organization had. They knew that the players disappeared instantly, would not die, and one other point. “Through our observation, their average power is not high. The threat level is identified as low.”
“If we don’t suppress this phenomenon, it might spread like a disease and cause a disaster,” one person said.
Gu Hui nodded and said, “The highest officials have given us their commands. Contacting these Inhumans will now be our priority.”
“What about the expedition? The supplies and our army have already been prepared. We can head to Andrea anytime.”
“The highest-level superiors have already come to an agreement with the leaders of other countries to temporarily stop the expedition. We have to first understand the situation of this inhuman phenomenon; it has higher threat potential.” Gu Hui Knocked the table, he scanned through everyone and said, “Ask our people to bring back some Inhumans. Also, be friendly—we do not know anything about their origin.”
“Some of our agents are undercover in Andrea. Should we call them back?” the head of field operations said.
“No need, let them retrieve more intelligence. We have enough manpower,” Gu Hui said. “When we have a conclusion on this, maybe the officials will seek help and answers from the Galactic Civilizations.”
…
As the average level of players became higher, their actions made a greater impact and attracted the attention of the organizations. The Six Nations, Vagrants, Dark Net, and many large financial organizations were all paying attention to the Inhuman Phenomenon. They had been sending their people to contact these Inhumans with different approaches. Some were friendly, and some were not. The exception was Germinal Organization—they captured large numbers of players in Andrea, which forced player in the novice village to leave the village early.
For players, which organization they joined would not actually make a difference to them, but they would naturally want to resist if they were forced. The Germinal Organization had definitely left a bad impression on players, and for those who were already captured, they could only accept their fate.
Players in Andrea had a tough time. Their game experience was extremely bad, but it made players very curious about one thing—Why were the NPCs surprised about their existence? The NPCs acted almost like real people.
More and more organizations started contacting players, and more and more players experienced similar situations. They started making guesses actively on forums about the situation, and this topic soon became the most popular topic in the forum.
This only happened on Planet Aquamarine and not any other planets, so a large number of players from other planets visited the Planet Aquamarine site, which made it the most visited planet site of all the novice planets.
There were hundreds of new posts every second; its popularity was astonishingly high.
All kinds of speculations surfaced. The seemingly most possible and accepted theory was the Electrolux theory, but the game developers did not give any response. Players could only make random guesses, some of which were quite out of the box.
“We actually went through reincarnation to conquer a new world for our gods, serial number A12651 reporting for duty!”
“Bullshit, we’re Earth’s army to conquer alternative dimensions, and we have an honorable mission on our hands.”
“798 Space feet from the Earth Association. Commander Blacky is waiting for deployment. Victory belongs to earth!”
“You’re all wrong. The earth is just an illusion. This is actually the reality.”
“You youngsters are too naïve. This is all part of the Elder’s plan.”
“This marks the first step of Skynet’s domination over mankind. One day, all of our minds will be locked up in the game.”
“Hail Hydra!”
“Previous commenter is in the wrong set!”
“Sigh, I’m a retired soldier of the 1999 clan wars. Come to think of it, that was a really dark age.”
“This Grandpa above surely has a strong body, playing Full Dive VR games at such an old age.”
These ridiculous speculations became a joke that was trending all over the forum.
In a big picture, organizations contacting players with caution was beneficial. It was easier for players to pick a side or organization to join, except for players in Andrea who were being continuously captured.
Han Xiao was following the situation. He had information from both the Dark Net and the forum, which meant that he knew much more than any players or NPCs.
The mindset of both parties was very different. The organizations were careful and serious about it, while the players found it fun.
Interesting. Han Xiao raised his eyebrows.
The influence from the Inhuman incident was slowly fermenting as the organizations found out more and more about the players’ characteristics.
The pro players from my previous life should have met their opportunities by now.
Planet Aquamarine was China’s base camp, so there would definitely be some players who had met an opportunity, unlike other normal players.
The storyline was going on the right path. Han Xiao rushed to Maple, as the Mutated Heart Mission had a time limit.
Louis Research Institution was in Kaylos city in Maple. It was not near the border this time, so Han Xiao had to travel in a car for two days after being smuggled into the country.
The country of Maple felt lifeless. Its rigid political system, uneven wealth distribution, and resources were all tightly controlled by politicians, and the low class had very limited opportunities to improve their life. ‘Barely living and just waiting to die’ was the best phrase to describe civilians in Maple.
Walking on the street, long-faced pedestrians passed by him. Han Xiao rubbed his face. He felt that such a confident and handsome face did not fit in with the state of the people on the street.
Han Xiao changed his face again and even wore spectacles. He was sure that nobody could recognize him.
Louis Research Institution building was very tall and silver, which fitted the technology theme. The people in the building were all wearing white coats, as if they were worried about others not knowing they were doing technological research.
A receptionist walked to him with a well-mannered smile as soon as he walked in.
