Blood Cloud Chaos Sector

Feng Xiao brought Ilde back to the docking platform and paused, staring in confusion at the gear-filled, mechanical construct before him.

"What... is this thing?" His Divine Sense detected no energy fluctuations, so he turned to look at Wang Hao, who appeared just as bewildered.

"I have no idea. I just went to participate in a gaming competition, and they said the first-place prize was an antique with some collection value..."

Wang Hao spread his hands helplessly, indicating he was just as clueless.

They even delivered it to the designated address; how thoughtful.

Just as he was about to toss the thing into the warehouse as a souvenir, the Heart of Dawn suddenly began to vibrate.

[Mysterious cosmic artifact detected. Absorb to repair the Heart of Dawn?]

A cosmic artifact?

Repair the Heart of Dawn?!

He enveloped the mysterious gear construct with his overwhelming Divine Sense, but no matter how he inspected it, he could find nothing unusual. He had no choice but to ask the Heart of Dawn.

Giving it to the Heart of Dawn was a certainty; after all, no matter how good these so-called Star Sea treasures were, they couldn't compare to the power of the Heart of Dawn.

Still, he at least needed to know the information regarding this so-called Star Sea treasure.

[Shattered Body: Mysterious-grade artifact Origin: A fragment of the main torso of the God of Fragmentation—remnants shed by a high-dimensional lifeform. Effect: Fusing it with your starship core will grant you individual power exceeding your current level by 40, and your starship will receive a massive combat power bonus. Includes, but is not limited to, various high-level buffs or powerful skills, and can even reinforce the ship's hull. Side Effect: The higher the fusion rate between your starship and the Shattered Body, the easier it is for the God of Fragmentation to perceive and control it. Complete fusion will turn the ship into a carrier for Mechanical God Descent. Note: The God of Fragmentation is classified by the Star Sea Human Alliance as a four-star high-dimensional lifeform. The Mechanical God Descent event is classified as a three-star disaster.]

Feng Xiao felt a headache coming on. High-dimensional lifeforms... gods... star-level disasters... wasn't this supposed to be a sci-fi universe with just a touch of rule-based mystery?

How did high-dimensional lifeforms even get involved?

While he didn't know how the star-level ratings were determined, anyone with a brain could guess it was definitely not simple.

"Heart of Dawn, use it to repair yourself."

Feng Xiao composed himself, showered Wang Hao with praise and a generous bonus, and immediately issued the order.

Although the Shattered Body appeared to have extremely potent effects, one had to look at the big picture; that terrifying side effect was more than enough for Feng Xiao to discard it.

As soon as he finished speaking, the massive, mysterious gear-driven machine rapidly faded, disappearing from the spot as if erased by a rubber.

[This repair will take two hours.]

He nodded slightly and walked into the Star Origin, smacking his lips in delight as he looked at the red stealth Star Weapon in the warehouse.

Currently, the Star Origin had three blue-grade Star Weapons—the Fierce Star, Titanium Steel Armor, and Star Matrix—each occupying one Star Weapon slot.

The Tianyi Medical Chamber and Storm Piercer, both purple-grade Star Weapons, occupied two slots each, and counting the Eternal Sun Wall which took up four slots...

With only one of the twelve Star Weapon slots remaining, it wasn't enough to equip any other Star Weapons above blue quality, but that would change once he reached the Elite level.

At the Elite level (lv41--lv60), the standard number of Star Weapon slots was ten, which could reach forty after the amplification of a Legendary-grade hull.

From that point on, the Star Origin wouldn't lack Star Weapon slots, and besides, the current number of slots was already quite exaggerated.

Tengshe was temporarily shelved, and that purple-grade main cannon wouldn't be available until the super-racing competition ended in twenty days.

As for upgrading...

He had enough Star Points and plenty of Titanium, so it wouldn't be too late to upgrade specifically when an emergency arose.

If he didn't have time for a temporary upgrade and got wiped out instantly, there was no point in worrying; if he encountered that level of danger, the few levels he might have gained beforehand wouldn't have helped anyway.

[Star Net Local Notification: Someone in your area has posted an x27 Large-scale Mercenary Mission. Minimum requirement: Advanced starship. This mission offers generous rewards but may be time-consuming. Do you wish to accept?]

The pop-up message instantly caught Feng Xiao's attention, and he curiously clicked the mission link.

[X27 Large-scale Mercenary Mission Mission Type: Recovery, Bandit Suppression Description: A treasure used by the Chairman of the Mude Consortium to save his wife was recently seized by a large-scale pirate fleet from the Blood Cloud Chaos Sector. After negotiations failed, the Chairman of the Mude Consortium intends to dispatch his direct starship fleet and hire a large number of starships to retrieve it. Notes: 1. The Blood Cloud Chaos Sector is a lawless zone on the Alliance border, gathering criminal forces from dozens or even hundreds of galaxies and nebulae. 2. Due to various internal reasons, a small number of first-generation starships have leaked out. The Blood Cloud Chaos Sector is currently extremely dangerous and is a region for Star-Land class and above starships to farm military merit and gain experience. 3. The target, the large-scale pirate fleet, is a coalition pirate group with strength approaching that of a super-large pirate fleet. Possesses the following armed forces: Star Vault (lv91-lv120) starship ×1 Star-Land (lv61-lv90) starship ×3]

Elite (Lv41-Lv60) Starships × 59

Low-grade to High-grade Starships × 358

(Most of the low-grade to elite-grade starships are second or third-generation models with low combat effectiveness.)

Armed cruisers, light carriers, heavy battleships, medium battleships, light battleships, and other conventional warships total approximately 4,600.

(The enemy numbers are known, but there is no guarantee that there are no unknown enemy armed forces.)

4. The enemy Star Vault-class starships, as well as starships below the elite grade including conventional warships, are the responsibility of the Mude Consortium and the Violet Fifth Fleet.

Star-Land-class starships and elite-grade starships are the responsibility of the mercenary forces.

5. The mission begins in twelve days. You may enter the Blood Cloud Chaos Sector ahead of schedule. All losses incurred during this mission will be fully reimbursed by the Mude Consortium.

Mission Reward: Calculated based on battlefield performance.

Minimum Guaranteed Reward:

Star-Land-class starship: 2,000,000 Star Points

Elite-grade starship: 150,000 Star Points

High-grade starship: 20,000 Star Points

Accept?

Upon acceptance, the minimum guaranteed reward will be issued immediately, and the mercenary agreement will take effect at once. Passive participation or desertion will be dealt with according to the Alliance Mercenary Law.

The Blood Cloud Chaos Sector?

A fine place to go!

For some reason, Feng Xiao was suddenly reminded of his experiences exploring war-torn regions in his past life, and his blood began to boil with excitement.

Wang Hao felt the same; it had been a long time since he had engaged in intense combat, and he had been feeling rather bored.

As for Ilde, he followed Feng Xiao's lead entirely.

"Well? Are we taking it?"

Feng Xiao looked up and asked, smiling the moment he saw their expressions.

He tapped to accept.

[Mission accepted successfully. Uploading your basic external profile...]

[Displaying accepted personnel—

Star-Land-class starship × 2

Elite-grade starship × 44

High-grade...]

"We've signed up this many?" Feng Xiao flipped through the list in surprise, growing even more excited.

This was his first time experiencing such a grand-scale event. The scene of nearly a thousand starships locked in battle would undoubtedly be a significant highlight of his exploration career!

The reward evaluation was primarily based on the destruction of enemy armaments. The Star Ring would connect to the starship's combat assessment system to track performance, though the most important metric for a reclamation mission should be overall impact.

The three of them quickly checked the supplies on the Star Origin, then started the starship and headed out of Red Mountain City.

Soon, the Star Origin arrived before a unique, massive, cube-shaped starport.

Red Mountain No. 5 Military Starport.

The base of the Violet Fifth Fleet.

[Please state your origin...]

[Mission accepted.]

[Will you wait for the fleet to assemble or proceed to the Blood Cloud Sector in advance?]

[Proceed in advance.]

[Please assemble at the designated coordinate area in twelve days. Furthermore, high-grade starships traveling to the Blood Cloud Sector alone face extreme danger. Please take note.]

[Understood.]

After acknowledging the official warning, the Star Origin continued forward until it passed through a large military stargate located on the left side of the starport.

It connected directly to a starport on the outskirts of the Blood Cloud Chaos Sector!

Blood Guard Starport!

Although it was called a starport, it was actually the size of a planet; in reality, it was a standard war planet.

Surrounded by three small battle stars with diameters of 8,000 kilometers, they collectively formed the Blood Guard Starport.

The entire starport was equipped with three medium-sized planet-killer cannons and hundreds of dark matter railguns, not to mention countless other high-powered energy cannons and advanced energy missile bases.

And the planet-killer cannons here were the kind that could pierce through over a dozen planets in a single shot...

There were as many as 80,000 warships stationed there, including powerful conventional vessels like super-carriers and star-sky carriers, as well as a full 2,000 Alliance military starships.

The stationed Alliance starships were all at least elite-grade!

There is no lack of existences that transcend the Star Vault.

It, along with three other starports of the same scale, suppresses the entire Blood Cloud Chaos Sector, ensuring that no war-level looting incidents occur.

Small-scale looting is unavoidable; one only needs to ensure that these criminal forces do not unite to wipe out a large number of recognized nations.

The rest is left to the nearby nations and major powers to handle, which serves both to train their troops and provide experience for various free starships—the best of both worlds.

Looking at the Blood Guard Starport, which is composed of a main battle star, three auxiliary small battle stars, and hundreds of 500-kilometer-class military bases.

Feng Xiao and his two companions were all struck with awe. Can you imagine a man-made object the size of a planet?

And it was a weapon of war, at that!

After offering a few words of praise, the three of them did not linger and quickly departed. According to Alliance regulations, destroying illegal criminal starships in the Main Universe earns Star Points, and the Star Points stored by the criminal starships also belong to you.

No matter where those Star Points are hidden, they will be yours.

It is said that the principle behind this is the passive skill effect of a mysterious Star Weapon belonging to a big shot in the Police Department, used to stimulate the enthusiasm of free starships for striking against criminal forces.

I have to say, Feng Xiao is truly very enthusiastic right now; criminals are always filthy rich, no matter which world you are in.

Inside the Alliance Colonel's office at the Blood Guard Starport.

As the military officer directly under the Alliance responsible for commanding the entire Blood Guard Starport.

The Colonel was extremely busy, yet at this moment, he was staring blankly at the departing Star Origin.

"Titanium Steel Armor... Fierce Star main cannon... If it also has the Mystic Azure Armor shield, then there is no mistake..."

After a moment of thought, the Colonel shook his head and buried himself back into his work. There had been a few too many mercenary units entering the Blood Cloud Chaos Sector recently, and they required coordination.

"Those guys in the Blood Cloud Sector have been stirring up a lot of trouble lately. I should find a time to round them up; the Star Sea Festival is almost here, yet they still won't settle down."

The Star Origin quickly reached sub-light speed. After traveling for about ten minutes, a fixed notification arrived.

[You have entered the Blood Cloud Danger Zone]

Looking at the oppressive starry environment before him, Feng Xiao initiated acceleration and went straight into sub-space faster-than-light travel, displaying absolute disregard for anyone else.

"It's just the outer rim anyway..."

[Warning! This ship has entered an area covered by Li-style Particles!]

[Warning! High-energy reaction detected!]

"..."