Han Xiao can issue various types of tasks. Challenge tasks are generally more difficult and are usually used for large-scale tasks. Every player's actions will affect the final result of the task. All players are making small contributions to the task, and it is necessary to work together and help each other to complete the task.
He had seen challenging missions before that could influence version updates, with millions of players striving for the same goal. Each person's actions would generate a single-digit contribution point, while success would require tens of millions of contribution points. Once successful, it would have a crucial turning point in the storyline—that was roughly the idea.
[The Last Stand] is Han Xiao's way of ensuring that players on Planet Aquamarine continue to value the Third Sanctuary after he leaves. In the mission description, he hints at an impending catastrophe without explicitly stating it, but the implication is enough to leave players speculating and sparking their imaginations about the future plot.
Han Xiao himself didn't say anything, which made the players believe that the information came from the mission and was authoritative.
The little tricks used when releasing test tasks before were just for generating buzz.
Freezing a mission is a special practice that temporarily halts its commencement. Han Xiao then remotely activates the mission once the disaster is confirmed. This acts like bait, constantly piquing the players' curiosity and revealing clues about the future, making them eager to know the truth.
The prerequisite for issuing a mission is that the two parties are not too far apart. This is an implicit condition that Han Xiao discovered after testing it multiple times. After leaving the planet, he will not be able to continue issuing missions to players on Planet Aquamarine, but remotely controlling already issued missions is not a problem.
"I still have a few days left in the Sanctuary, enough time for me to travel throughout the entire Sanctuary and get all these hundreds of thousands of players to accept quests," Han Xiao thought to himself.
This way, hundreds of thousands of players will remember the Third Sanctuary and solidify their impression of the main city. At the beginning of version 2.0, these players can protect the Sanctuary and help them get through the most dangerous period.
These past few days have been nothing short of tumultuous for players, with one crisis following another.
Originally, the Germinal storyline had been over for quite some time, and Han Xiao had been keeping a low profile. Players began to believe the assessment of the Galaxy Times, thinking that the protagonist's role in this storyline was gone, and he had become a purely functional NPC.
However, after remaining dormant for more than half a year, Black Phantom has become active again in recent days, and its movements are quite shocking.
He actually wants to select players to go to space together!
That's not all. The Black Phantom also left behind an unopened prize pool mission, and the few words in the description seem to reveal that a huge catastrophe will sweep across Planet Aquamarine in the future.
This "outdated" NPC has returned to the spotlight, causing another uproar. Many veteran players felt a sense of familiarity, recalling how Black Phantom had been leading the trend since the beginning of the open beta. The reappearance of this scene even felt somewhat heartwarming.
On the forum, countless players are discussing what kind of "catastrophe" is about to befall Planet Aquamarine.
"Alien invasion? Six Nations at war again, completely destroying the planet's environment? Or a natural disaster?"
"I think this might be the start of a new main storyline. Look, other planets are having their main storylines going really fast, while we on Planet Aquamarine are so idle. It's about time a new storm hits!"
"As the saying goes, the affairs of the world, after a long period of unity, tend to divide; after a long period of division, tend to unite. Could it be that we're about to witness the Romance of the Six Nations?"
The discussion was heated, and one player suddenly had a brilliant idea, connecting two recent events involving Han Xiao.
"Could the Black Phantom's haste to leave the planet be related to this disaster? He wants to escape it!"
"Impossible! I remember an episode of ' The Veggie Bun Hits Himself ' where Black Phantom gave a motivational speech about protecting life. Wasn't he supposed to be a great man?"
"If that's the case, then there must be no hope, which is why Black Phantom abandoned his homeland and decided to run away. The scale of that catastrophe must be enormous... The main storyline can't be that intense, right?"
"Not necessarily. Maybe Black Phantom is just a coward. Didn't you see he brought helpers with him when he ran away?"
"Are you kidding me? He's the main character of the story. He even destroyed the Germinal. Why would he run away?"
"You can't say that. A large part of his deeds in the Germinal storyline were orchestrated behind the scenes. His enmity with Germinal has historical reasons; it's a life-or-death struggle between the two sides, so he had to fight Germinal to the death. But Disaster is different; he can seek advantages and avoid disadvantages, so of course he would choose that path."
"I thought he wouldn't have any more scenes after defeating the Germinal."
There isn't just one version of events when it comes to a topic; some people support Han Xiao, while others make malicious speculations.
Han Xiao didn't care at all. It was a good thing to have opposing voices; conflict would attract more attention. On the contrary, if everyone just sang praises, it would easily become tiresome.
Meat Bun couldn't help himself. He didn't want to see the players belittle Han Xiao's reasons for leaving. He had ulterior motives. He had already decided to make a series of shows about future interstellar adventures. If the audience viewed them as runaways, it would have a negative impact on the show's appeal. On the contrary, if Han Xiao's reasons for going to space were noble, then their adventures would resonate with the audience on Planet Aquamarine. And, coincidentally, Meat Bun had just the right material.
So, in the latest episode, Meat Bun revealed Han Xiao's private remarks to the four of them that night. These remarks showed that Han Xiao left to find a solution to the disaster in the starry sky, which immediately elevated Han Xiao's image.
At the end of the program, Meat Bun released a preview. "Looking up at the mysterious starry sky, my heart yearns for it. I will follow Black Phantom to the vast starry sky. For this, I will be making a new series to record every detail of the interstellar adventure and show the interstellar world to you. Please look forward to it."
Because the topic was so popular, Meat Bun's program was widely circulated. Players suddenly realized that Han Xiao had gone to the starry sky to solve the disaster, and they were immediately filled with awe. Of course, a small number of people were still skeptical.
Regardless of their attitudes, they were all paying attention to this event, very curious about how Han Xiao would travel to interstellar space and stand shoulder to shoulder with the sun, and were looking forward to the show that Meat Bun would be in later.
This series of messages is only circulating among the player community, while some local forces are still in the dark.
Snow and ice filled the sky, and the north wind howled.
This is a continuous snow-capped mountain range located within Raylen County. The mountains are home to many wild animals and are rarely visited by humans. There is not a single city within dozens of miles. From time to time, the roars of wild animals, whether loud or low, echo through the mountains.
Raylen's secret research institute is hidden inside the mountain.
Inside the research institute, Kerlodd's spaceship was suspended in mid-air, with countless instruments and cables intertwined around it, monitoring various parameters of the spaceship and displaying them on a large screen. Numerous researchers moved back and forth, adjusting the instruments.
Within ten days of acquiring the spaceship, Raylen secretly organized a team to conduct research. These researchers were the top talents from the military and intelligence agencies, pure scientific researchers, mostly ordinary people, but also including Mechanic Class superhumans.
Despite the collaboration of so many top talents, progress has been extremely slow. The spaceship's technological sophistication far surpasses that of Planet Aquamarine. Moreover, Goddora's technology incorporates magic, allowing many functions to be achieved through magical inscriptions, a system completely different from Planet Aquamarine's technological system.
Researchers with no prior experience with magic were completely stumped. From their perspective, the spaceship seemed to be missing many essential modules. They couldn't even find the energy source, only a few things that appeared to be related to energy—a few strange components and a pool of dark, oil-like liquid in a transparent container, which they used for various experiments and observations.