"Pay it back slowly, just don't forget," Han Xiao joked.
Bennett's favorability towards him increases every time he owes him a favor, and maintaining a good relationship with one of the planet's main characters will be of great help.
The fact that this hidden storyline has come knocking is clearly one of the hidden benefits. Bennett has a vast network Bennett connections; he can reach many powerful figures, and these figures generally have some good missions that can be triggered.
After a short wait, Bennett transferred Hannes's call to him.
Click. and Tu Shu
After the call connected, both remained silent, the only sound being each other's breathing.
Hannes spoke first, "I am Hannes. We met once, just last night."
"Bennett told me that he heard you wanted my help. What's wrong?" Han Xiao asked, getting straight to the point.
"It concerns a secret, buried by time in the dust of history. We've found some clues, and I want to uncover this secret."
Han Xiao was completely confused and had no idea what the secret he was talking about was.
Suddenly, a new notification appeared on the panel. Han Xiao glanced at it casually, but immediately couldn't look away, his face filled with shock.
[You have triggered the hidden main storyline Grade A quest on Planet Aquamarine [New Era--Origin]]
[Note: This mission may have irreversible and unknown effects on certain events and factions. Please choose whether to accept it carefully.]
Han Xiao's eyes widened suddenly.
"A main quest that no one has ever triggered before!"
There are three main storylines on Planet Aquamarine. Two of them are the main storylines: the war Six Nations and Germinal, and the establishment of the Sanctuary. The other is a hidden storyline that the player discovers, but it is not the mission that he triggers!
He had absolutely no recollection of this, meaning no player had ever triggered it in his previous life!
Hidden main quests are a special type of mission that requires a specific trigger and can affect the main questline, faction environment, and thus alter the plot. Having played many versions in his previous life, Han Xiao had seen expert players share hidden main quests on forums.
Without exception, they all had a unique impact on different civilizations and different planetary storylines.
"Hannes and the others were already dead when they first appeared in front of the players, no wonder no one triggered the event."
Han Xiao's heart skipped a beat. Even two peak level 60 figures from Planet Aquamarine had died. The difficulty of this mission was probably beyond his expectations, and the depths of the situation were unfathomable.
His Grade A quest [The Seed Sleeps in the Dust] against Germinal is a branch of the main questline. The requirements of the main quests that players receive are different depending on their faction. For the Six Nations, the task is to destroy Germinal, while for Germinal, it is the other way around.
Han Xiao's mission was special because he didn't belong to any faction, yet he was an enemy of the Germinal. Therefore, the requirements and details were different, but the general goal remained the same.
He knew nothing about this hidden main quest.
Origin? Does that mean tracing the history of the planet? But which event's origin is being traced?
The unknown is frightening, but it also arouses curiosity. Han Xiao felt a tingling sensation deep within his bones—a feeling of excitement, anticipation, and stimulation.
He himself is a hardcore Galaxy player who enjoys uncovering hidden elements, and this is a secret that no player in his previous life had discovered!
"Accept."
[You accept [New Era--Origin]]
[Hannes's favorability +10, Vernina's favorability +10, Grian's favorability +10, Jiang Yuan's favorability +10]
"Huh?" Han Xiao was taken aback.
He knew who Jiang Yuan —one of the names on the three tombstones—but who was this Grian?
[Talk to Hannes and listen to his introduction]
The task requirements were currently limited to this text, which Han Xiao wasn't surprised about; it was similar to a "cutscene" to start a task.
"Our attempt to kidnap Dorasi last night is related to him. He was a direct participant in a secret project from years ago, and this Red Maple secret project is one of the clues. The country of Red Maple holds many secrets."
"When you infiltrated the officials' residences, did you find it strange that these officials were protected 24 hours a day, while other countries didn't have this system?"
Han Xiao hummed in agreement. "I know that, the Ulik Attack from many years ago."
"Yes, the Ulik Attack..."
Hannes recounted the past in detail.
Ulik was a minister in the Red Maple at the time, with power similar to that of a prime minister. He was attacked in his own home by a large group of civilians who somehow obtained weapons. The civilians used gunpowder weapons to raze Ulik's valuable villa to the ground. Ulik, his wife, and three children around ten years old were brutally murdered by this group of high-ranking attackers. The entire incident was recorded and posted online, shocking the nation and even the world.
The cause was that Ulik passed a bill that essentially removed some of the rights and benefits that civilians originally had, diverting funds to a ridiculous project, which was actually a way for Ulik to line their own pockets.
Red Maple's bureaucratic corruption is notorious worldwide, but before the outbreak of Old Era War, Red Maple was a well-known moderate government, law-abiding and not a powerful nation.
When Old Era War, a high-pressure and austerity policy was implemented. Most people understood and tolerated the high-pressure management for the sake of the country's survival, and even made voluntary contributions. However, the bureaucrats of Red Maple tasted the benefits of this, and coupled with the pressure of the country's severely damaged strength after the war, they did not restore the previous lenient system after the war. Instead, they continued to exploit the common people in various ways, such as taxes and labor, to replenish the country's strength. As a result, domestic contradictions gradually intensified, and the once mild social environment was gone forever.
People whose lives are not going well are like springs that have been pressed to the bottom, with thick dark clouds accumulating in their hearts, brewing a thunderstorm. The bill passed by Ulik became the fuse that ignited public resentment.
Thirty-one minutes after the attack on Ulik, special forces received orders to kill all civilians involved in the attack without mercy, causing a national uproar and setting the stage for a dramatic turn of events in Red Maple.
If this were in the Old Era War, this would have been a colossal scandal that could have brought down the government. However, in this new era where power is unchecked, the other five countries have no intention of intervening.
The post-war world is filled with fear and insecurity; the various human rights organizations and power alliances for joint decision-making that once existed are long gone.
The world order has changed, the balance has been broken, the economic system has almost collapsed, and resources and military power have become the only standard for judging national strength. Red Maple felt that public opinion was no longer important and that it was no longer necessary to serve the people as before. Now it was time for the people to serve the country. It just so happened that the old era was in the process of rebuilding after the war, which was an opportunity to change the national structure. So they chose a radical approach.
The shocking attack served as a wake-up call for the Red Maple bureaucracy, prompting them to withdraw "weapons" from the hands of civilians. Never before had the Red Maple bureaucracy been so united, passing twenty-four harsh laws with remarkable efficiency within two days. The 24/7 protection of officials was among the lenient laws; some even included outrageous measures like classifying people and regularly removing "rotten flesh" (expelling the worthless lower classes) from major cities.
Thus, the trial of the attack took a bizarre turn. The Red Maple government publicly stated that the attackers were not ordinary civilians, but that a secret reactionary organization within the country had planned the attack, and that the source of their gunpowder weapons was the best evidence of this.
The Red Maple government listed dozens of flimsy pieces of evidence and began using the arrest of reactionary organizations as a high-sounding pretext to ruthlessly reclaim the power they had granted to the people, suppress fabricated "reactionary organizations," arrest people who "might threaten the country," imprison and execute them, and block outside information, all in an effort to turn civilians into domesticated laborers.