The handling of the aftermath of the attack by Red Maple became the biggest scandal of the year. However, under the force of suppression, the national structure was reshaped, transforming the country into a different kind of nation. The people were divided into a pyramid structure, with almost no upward mobility between classes. The people saw no hope for life and began to drift aimlessly, waiting to die.
"Kings and Generals born with a special destiny?" Under such high pressure, a resistance organization was indeed born. However, this was no longer the era of cold weapons. The level of weaponry possessed by the country was an insurmountable barrier. Without external intervention, it would be almost impossible for the outcome of "the old regime is dead and the Huang Tian Dang Li." Moreover, the Red Maple regularly swept away "threatening people," and the people went from panic to numbness.
The attack began with a small mob's excessive venting of anger and ended with many more people suffering the consequences, illustrating the meaning of "like an egg hitting a rock" and "an ant trying to shake a tree." It directly led to the transformation of Hongfeng's social structure, establishing a dictatorial rule and solidifying the ruling class's position.
The source of change in a moderate government was war. The pressure of war overwhelmed the Red Maple government, forcing it to shift the burden onto the people, and then things spiraled out of control, just as it is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality.
The people are the cornerstone of a nation, like individual parts in a machine. When the "nation" machine needs to operate under Overload, these parts will age and break down faster, sacrificing their prime years. But by simply replacing these parts, the machine can continue to function. Only the replaceable parts are damaged, and these discarded parts form the "carriers of an era."
Han Xiao was intrigued; he quite enjoyed the history and stories of civilizations. After Hannes finished speaking, he thought for a moment and said, "What does this have to do with the 'secret' you mentioned?"
"What I want to say is that war changes a lot. I experienced that darkest, most chaotic period. Many people were controlled by ideology, a sense of mission, and a sense of honor, becoming tools of killing, yet still believing it was a noble mission. Only a few people woke up, like Bennett, who became a hero. But an era that needs heroes is never a good era. Behind the war lie dirty conspiracies, kept secret and wanted to be buried forever. We want to bring these deeply buried things to light."
Han Xiao raised an eyebrow, "What benefit do you get from this?"
"No, but the beings of this world have the right to know what they have experienced, instead of being kept in the dark and having these schemes suppressed by major powers, becoming secrets that will never be opened. I don't believe that just because of contact with interstellar civilizations, the originally stable situation will crumble overnight. I don't believe that a so-called theory of internal strife can start a war; there must be a behind-the-scenes manipulator pushing things along."
Han Xiao said, "Every country has secrets; that doesn't seem surprising."
Hannes smiled. "Now that we've entered a new era, the world should change too. The rules are changing, so why stick to old common sense? Besides, I owe someone a favor. That person has a strong thirst for knowledge, and he proposed this initiative, so I joined."
Wow, judging from their tone, these people seem to be anarchists who died tragically in their past lives. This mission is fraught with danger. Han Xiao didn't ask any further questions. After thinking about it, he agreed to join. Regardless of their initial intentions, this was at least an extremely rare hidden mission, and refusing it would be a waste of talent.
Hannes requested a meeting. Since they were both in the same city, Han Xiao found their safe house by following Hannes's directions.
The group met and sized each other up. Han Xiao's gaze swept over Hannes and Vernina, then turned to Grian, whom he was most curious about.
As he sized up the three men, Hannes and his companions were also staring at him.
This is the legendary Black Phantom.
"You're quite impressive," Vernina said calmly.
"Although we only met today, I owe you a favor for coming to help," Hannes said.
I have tons of people who owe me favors, congratulations on joining the family bucket.
Han Xiao casually asked, "So what do I need to do?"
The three exchanged a glance. Grian took out a stack of files and said, "The clues are hidden in years of accumulated intelligence. It took me a long time to find some leads; it was very tedious. We need to divide the work."
Han Xiao browsed the files, and the panel finally changed.
[[New Era--Origin]]
[This is a series of interconnected missions; you can complete the following objectives.]
[The End of the One Clinging to Life: In Xingfeng City of Raylen, find a person named "Old Diwen" and obtain the fragment of [Sully-485 File] from him.]
[The Lost Key: In the ruins of the capital of the West Mountain Nation in the Southern Continent (coordinates...), search for a lost key item [Appendix - Item Appearance]. This is the product of the last research project before the fall of the West Mountain Nation.]
[The Long-Buried Past: The Verne Settlement in the Western Continent (coordinates...), the warlord who controls this settlement, Verne, whose father was a high-ranking officer in a fallen country, holds unknown clues. Follow Verne to uncover the secret.]
[Mysterious Captive: Decades ago, an intelligence agent of Stardragon was captured and imprisoned by a nation that has since fallen. The agent was held in an unguarded secret prison, where he remained undiscovered. Find him or his belongings; the location of the ruins is in the North Continent...]
[Fellow Traveler: A Lone Walker in seclusion in the wilderness, who has preserved some valuable information. According to intelligence, he recently appeared near the Mourner Valley in the Western Continent. Be careful, he is not an ordinary person and was once active on the battlefields of the old era. Friendly contact is recommended.] (Jiang Yuan)
[This is the first stage of the task. Once one objective is completed, the task will be settled. The number and details of the completed objectives will determine the requirements of the next stage.]
[First stage reward: 350,000 experience points, with additional rewards depending on the task evaluation]
Han Xiao raised an eyebrow. This type of mission had a high degree of freedom, somewhat similar to the faction-based mission series from before, but this main storyline was obviously more complicated and consisted of a series of interconnected missions, where the completion of the previous mission affected the requirements of the next.
"These kinds of tasks are usually open-ended, with different clues at each stage leading to different endings. Generally speaking, the more objectives you complete, the better, and the higher your evaluation will be." Han Xiao had done this type of task before, so he knew there were many possibilities.
Like navigating a maze, to reach the exit, one must obtain as much information as possible. The fates of Hannes and the others in their previous lives indicate that this mission has a high-risk ending.
The quest rewards are truly befitting of the main quest's name; the basic reward for just the first stage is a whopping 350,000 experience points, which is extremely generous. Moreover, the additional rewards are very likely to be random items, skills, or feats.
However, the mission was too tedious, with locations spanning three continents, which would consume a lot of his time; it truly lived up to its Grade A difficulty rating. Han Xiao frowned, somewhat troubled.
"I'll give it a try." I'll accept it first, no matter what.
Grian nodded. "These tasks are assigned to you. The three of us have other operations to attend to."
Hannes and his two companions were all formidable figures from the old era, and their actions were certainly not simple. Han Xiao decided to ask people on the Dark Net to keep an eye on them.
After receiving the mission requirements, Han Xiao left the safe house.
"So, is he trustworthy?" Vernina asked.
Hannes shook his head, then nodded. "We don't know much about him. Let's see what he does."
Grian said, "The file I gave him contains both truth and falsehood; it only contains about one-tenth of the clues I have. If he can complete it, that would be best. If he has ulterior motives, we haven't lost anything, since it's all just unverified intelligence anyway."
"He's Bennett's friend, so he should be trustworthy."