Somewhere in the Endless Nebula Star Field, a small fleet hovered in a transportation hub area, with flashes of warp light constantly passing by. The fleet remained motionless, seemingly waiting for someone.
In the main ship's command center, Morgan paced back and forth in front of the porthole, his expression both serious and anxious. The crew members in the room watched him silently as he moved about.
After a while, Morgan paused, his tone serious, and said in a deep voice, "Hurry up again and ask when the Black Star Army will arrive?"
"... Boss, you asked just two minutes ago, and they already said they're almost there. It's not appropriate to ask again, is it?" the adjutant next to him couldn't help but complain.
"Mind your own business! Ask away! Otherwise, I'll dock your pay this month!" Morgan glared and rattled off a string of words. "Who knows when the enemy will show up? Do you know? You don't know! Then what are you talking about! You're not responsible for my life, of course I'm not worried! I can't beat seven or eight Calamity Grade enemies. If I die, I'll take you down with me!"
The adjutant was speechless, not taking it seriously at all. He had followed Morgan for a long time and knew the guy's personality all too well: cowardly, hesitant, indecisive, petty, stingy... Sometimes the adjutant really wondered why such a person could become Beyond Grade A Seed.
Morgan Panthern, a seasoned Beyond Grade A Seed, runs a small force in the Endless Nebula Star Field, occupying a small area to ensure the convenience of daily life, without expanding, and his presence is minimal.
After the Sanctuary Revival was exposed, he packed his belongings without hesitation and headed to join the Beyond Grade A Association. His first choice was the Black Star Army. Besides the advantage of proximity, he also had a good personal relationship with Hadavy. The two were online gambling buddies and got along well.
However, before he and his team even left the star field, he received a private message from the Black Star Army, saying that some mysterious forces seemed to be sending assassins to hunt down Beyond Grade A Seed, possibly seven or eight Calamity Grade in a team. Therefore, the Legion specially dispatched an escort team and instructed him to be careful alone before reuniting with them.
This terrified Morgan, who immediately halted his journey and decided to wait for the legion's escort before setting off again. Not only that, he also ordered his fleet to stop in a busy traffic area, in broad daylight, for fear of a murder attack.
Of all the Beyond Grade A Seed who received the notification, he was the most cowardly.
Just then, the spaceship's communicator suddenly rang, and a baby face appeared on the screen.
"Hello, this is Nero from the Black Star Army. We've arrived and see you. Come and make contact."
Upon hearing this, Morgan was overjoyed and hurriedly looked out the porthole, where he saw a fleet bearing the insignia of the Black Star Army leaping over and stopping not far away.
"The reinforcements have finally arrived! All ships, listen up! Full speed ahead! Head over there and rendezvous immediately!" Morgan slammed his hand on the table excitedly.
"They're already within sight, it'll only take a dozen seconds, why are we still going full speed ahead..." the adjutant muttered to himself.
The two fleets quickly converged, the main ships docked, and Nero led his men onto Morgan's spaceship.
As soon as Nero entered the cabin, he saw Morgan waiting at the entrance to the passageway. Without saying a word, Morgan rushed up and grabbed his hands, looking very touched.
"My dear family, you've finally arrived! Do you know how I've been these past few days? I've been living in constant fear. Now I can finally relax!"
"No need to get so worked up, it's all part of my job." Nero's lips twitched, and he forcefully pulled his hand away.
If he hadn't wanted to avoid Morgan's barrage of calls, he probably would have arrived two days later.
Morgan didn't mind at all, and looked excitedly behind Nero, "I wonder how many experts the legion sent to meet me this time?"
"An expert? If I had to name one, I'd say it's me." Nero scratched his cheek, a little embarrassed.
Morgan's eyes widened, and he said hesitantly, "Only one... uh, it's not that I don't believe in your abilities, but wasn't the notification that assassins usually operate in groups of seven or eight Calamity Grade? With just the two of us, it might be a bit risky in terms of numbers..."
"There's no other way. Recently, there have been too many Beyond Grade A Seed wanting to join the Black Star Army. The Legion's high-level combat power is insufficient. For some candidates, we can only send Grade B superhumans to assist them. Normally, this kind of work would be best left to the Immortals, but they have entered their disappearance period, which has lasted for fifty years. Therefore, the Legion cannot spare any more strong individuals," Nero explained.
"Then... then the security issue..."
"Don't worry, all the contact personnel have brought Black Star's mechanical combat squad, as well as Aurora's specially made life-saving potions, which are enough to guarantee your safety."
Morgan was relieved and asked, "Can we set off now? Shall we head straight for the Shattered World?"
Nero scratched his head. "No need for that. We just need to go to the main legion branches in each star system. They usually store Godfather's Dominion avatars and the Throne of the Sovereign Mecha there. We can borrow them and send them directly back to headquarters."
Han Xiao hadn't originally planned to do this, but after discovering the Hunters, he temporarily granted him special privileges, allowing the Beyond Grade A Seed to use the Sovereign's Teleportation to avoid the risks of a long journey.
As for talents joining other Beyond Grade A forces, Han Xiao has no prejudice against any particular faction and provides the same assistance, only charging a symbolic handling fee. This is one of the purposes of the association's existence: to allow Beyond Grade A forces to integrate resources. As the president, he sets an example in this sensitive situation.
The two talked as they walked to the command room, and the fleet finally set sail and began its journey.
At that moment, Morgan suddenly remembered something and asked curiously, "By the way, you just said that there have been a lot of Beyond Grade A Seed joining the legion recently. Have they all encountered assassins? Has anyone been hit?"
Upon hearing this, Nero's expression turned slightly serious, and he nodded slightly.
"It was wise of you to Stay Where You Are and wait for me. Some Beyond Grade A Seed, although they received the notification, still went their own way, thinking that they could continue their journey as long as they were careful. In the end, they were ambushed and killed before they could meet up with the support team."
Because of the distance, some people had already rendezvoused with the support team. We were relatively late. Before us, some of my colleagues had indeed fought the assassins and were mostly unharmed, but some members of other factions were wiped out by the assassins, which was a pity.
Morgan trembled. "Who on earth has the audacity to target so many Beyond Grade A Seed at once? It's terrifying."
Nero pondered for a moment and said, "The Legion Commander didn't reveal the identity of the mastermind, but it's not hard to guess... The enemy's ability to track the whereabouts of so many Beyond Grade A Seed indicates an extraordinary intelligence network. They can also send out so many assassins; most organizations don't have that capability. Moreover, their targets are all Beyond Grade A Seed who recently traveled to the Shattered World... The target is obvious, and the suspicion of an advanced civilization is very high."
Although it's a secret operation, the outside world will eventually discover that these Beyond Grade A Seed are missing, which will likely scare away some people who want to join the association, thus achieving their goal.
"Sigh, this is tough," Morgan sighed softly, her face full of worry.
Nero patted him on the shoulder and comforted him, "Don't worry, I'm here. You'll be fine."
Morgan nodded, then suddenly asked, "By the way, how are all these Beyond Grade A Seed assigned to positions in the legion?"
"Well, I'm not too sure about that either. I think only a small portion will serve as guards, while the rest will take up positions in various departments of the legion to fill vacancies in high-level combat power. It mainly depends on your willingness; the legion won't force you too much," Nero guessed.
Morgan's eyes lit up. "Then can I choose which Beyond Grade A to follow?"
"Sure, everyone can submit an application, but it depends on whether they choose you." Nero nodded. "Who do you want to choose, Lord Black Star? The competition is fierce on my godfather's side; there's a possibility of not being selected."
Morgan quickly denied it, saying apologetically, "No, no, I don't want to follow Black Star, I want to follow Aurora."
Nero looked him up and down, then suddenly realized what was going on.
Ah, I see. This guy must be terrified of death to the extreme, so he wants to enjoy the ubiquitous milk flowers with Aurora, making it hard for him to die later.
You coward, just like me!
"Report: Six more assassins have lost contact and may have been captured by the enemy. All related communications have been cut off."
"Report: The attack on target 045 failed. Three soldiers were killed, and the rest managed to escape."
Inside a secret intelligence processing center, a large number of intelligence personnel sat in front of instruments, constantly reporting the situation, making the room very lively.
The wall of the room was a huge screen made up of multiple smaller monitors. Below it was a single chair, where a tall, thin figure sat with his back to the others, looking up at the monitors.
This place is a secret department jointly established by the Super Star Cluster Alliance many years ago. It has no specific name, is very mysterious, and has extremely high authority, reporting directly to the leaders of various civilizations.
This secret department is responsible for planning and directing highly classified covert operations, as well as training secret assassins. Various supercluster civilizations secretly select talented children and send them to various secret training bases for brutal training from a young age, so that they can later carry out missions that cannot be seen in the light of day.
The department's training methods aim to squeeze out potential, combined with cutting-edge technology and magical industrial techniques, constantly forcing growth, resulting in extremely high dropout and mortality rates. However, it does effectively increase the birth rate of Calamity Grade superhumans and shortens their growth time to some extent.
These assassins will never know exactly who they are working for, from the time of their training until they carry out their missions. In fact, for certain purposes, this department has specially trained a group of special assassins who believe they are working for the Three Universal Civilizations. They have used many methods to ensure that outsiders cannot trace the Supercluster Civilization through these assassins.
All personnel within the department are special members not recorded in internal files, and are addressed by code names. The tall, thin figure in the room is the head of this secret department. No one knows his name or resume; they only refer to him by his code name—"Bone Man."
Listening to his subordinate's report, the Bone Man leaned forward, placed his hand on his nose, and slowly said:
"It seems those Beyond Grade A have all become aware of our hunt, assigning guards to all targets... A chain of suspicion has formed. We've achieved our objective; continuing would only result in pointless manpower sacrifices. Cease operations and have them withdraw."
"Clear!"
Everyone immediately obeyed and carried out the order without asking any further questions.
The Bone Man bit its nails, squinted, and its wrinkled eyes creased together.
"Heh, the reaction from the Beyond Grade A Association is pretty much as expected..."
In the conference room where the Three Universal Civilizations united, projections of Mabrus, Louis, and the leader of the Arcane are gathered together, holding a meeting.
"Tsk, the situation has changed; the elimination plan can't continue."
Mabrus frowned, and the other two didn't look too good either.
Although research on the Sanctuary Revival has begun, the Three Universal Civilizations also intend to hunt down Beyond Grade A Seed. Even if they gain control of the Sanctuary Revival in the future, this large number of existing Beyond Grade A Seed, having already joined the Association, will not switch allegiance later. This represents years of accumulation, and with a large portion already taken, they will have to wait for new recruits to grow. Both sides are destined to enter a long-term talent war, thus returning to the problem of an excessive number of non-direct descendant Beyond Grade A. It would be better to curb the total number of Beyond Grade A in advance.
Before they could even make a move, the Three Universal Civilizations discovered that these targets were all under protection.
At first, the three were a bit confused, thinking that Black Star had predicted their actions, and the trust between them had indeed been broken.
However, after careful investigation, it was discovered that an unknown force had struck first, alerting the enemy.
This completely disrupted the plans of the Three Universal Civilizations, which disgusted them greatly.
Originally, the Three Universal Civilizations ' plan was to mobilize manpower and use a powerful intelligence network to monitor the routes of all neutral Beyond Grade A Seed heading to the Shattered World, secretly gather ambush forces, and once all forces were in place, strike at these Beyond Grade A Seed at the same time, wiping them out completely without giving the outside world any time to react.
This kind of bluffing and killing tactic is not something they would do. If they were going to do it, they would simply wipe them all out in one fell swoop, leaving no evidence.
Although the identity of the force that made the move has not yet been determined, even Three Universal Civilizations would know that it is almost certainly the Super Star Cluster Alliance.
"The Superstar Cluster deliberately stirred up trouble, giving the Association time to react. They're trying to strike first and sabotage our operation," Louis, annoyed.
"Unexpected, yet reasonable." The leader of the Arcane Sect said expressionlessly.
In the eyes of the three, the Super Star Cluster Alliance's intention was clear: to stir up trouble, create suspicion between the Association and the Three Universal Civilizations, and exacerbate the conflict.
The Beyond Grade A Association only provided covert protection, without publicly accusing them. If the Three Universal Civilizations were to proactively clarify, it would seem like they were trying to cover something up. Moreover, even if they were to pin the blame on the Super Star Cluster Alliance, the Association would likely see it as a routine attempt to shift blame, given their long history of such behavior...
Given the current relationship between the Three Universal Civilizations and the association, this is like mud falling into your pants—even if it's not excrement, it's still excrement. It's very difficult to gain their trust unless there is irrefutable evidence.
Moreover, in their plan, if the truth came out, they already intended to shift the blame to the Super Star Cluster. Now that the Super Star Cluster has struck first, they probably anticipated this... Since they're going to be smeared anyway, they might as well seize the initiative, interfere with the plans of the Three Universal Civilizations, and help the Association acquire talent reserves.
Having been tricked so many times, the Super Star Cluster has learned its lesson. Since their reputation has already reached its limit, they might as well just give up and go all out.
--I'll drag you off the cliff with me, we'll die together, let's see how you try to scheme against me then!
Moreover, given the current situation, the Super Star Cluster Alliance is not really afraid of being framed by the Three Universal Civilizations; they have become completely shameless and unyielding.
Since we've already missed our chance to Shattered World, we'll just stay home and not go out. Go ahead and start a full-scale war against us if you dare; you think you can really kill us?
The three of them were indeed having a bit of a headache dealing with this Super Star Cluster Alliance.
If eliminating these and the Beyond Grade A Seed of the _Book_Input Association to establish authority were enough, then even if suspicion arose, it wouldn't matter, since there would be no way to prove anything. But now, without killing many people, they've already taken the blame, which is a bit of a loss.
"Cancel the purge plan targeting the Beyond Grade A Seed; they're all protected, and there's no chance now."
The three of them were not in a good mood.