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Black Star Mercenary Group
Credit Score: 875 (High Credit Rating)
Total size: 173 people
Grade D: 39 people
Grade C: 132 people
Grade B: 2 people
Number of hires completed: 76
Main activity area: Colton Star Cluster
Resume: [Battle for the Defense of Sunil]
[Silver Spirit People Rescue Operation]
[Planet Rosay-9512 Survey]
[Maintenance and guarding of the large stargate "Liedon" at Juberly Hub (Note: Elimination of parasitic air-eating worms)]
[Pursuit of the Purple Fungus Civilization Rebel Leader "Pili Pola Pa Vasasa"]
[71 remaining mercenary missions... [Collapse/Expand]]
Founder: Black Star - Han Xiao
Creation time: October 2, 688
Overall Assessment: A small to medium-sized mercenary group with an excellent reputation, high credibility, and strong capabilities. They have consistently achieved high ratings in completing mercenary missions. Most of their mercenaries are immortal. They have cooperative relationships with many large military groups and are stationed year-round at the Juberly Hub, often handling surrounding affairs. They belong to the Dragon Emperor Ames and are a reliable mercenary group active in the Colton Star Cluster. They primarily accept combat and escort missions and are trustworthy.
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Over the past nine months, the Black Star Mercenary Group has accumulated a considerable amount of experience.
With players as combatants, there was no loss of manpower, and the gains could be amplified, which was very convenient. For the past nine months, he only did cooperative mercenary missions, developed quietly, and reaped a lot of money.
With savings reaching 784,000 Enas, aside from purchasing some materials, metals, and parts to manufacture new machinery, the rest was saved to complete the job change quest. With so much money, buying one High-End Knowledge wouldn't be a problem, but two would be a bit of a stretch.
By the standards of interstellar mercenaries, the Planet of Dusk mission was simple, and the reward was naturally not high. However, he accepted the mission not just for the reward.
Because Han Xiao planned to investigate the news of the Mutation Disaster on Planet of Dusk, he sent the spaceship that was lingering in the outer space of Planet of Dusk ahead of him while traveling during the day. He had hitched a ride with the ship; having many collaborators was great, as travel was completely free, even better than using Didi to hail a spaceship.
The soft glow of the communicator screen illuminated his face, casting three-dimensional light and shadow that shifted and changed.
"The international league is in a few days. After we finish dealing with things here, let's take the team back to the Juberly Hub. Three months ago... well, that is, a little over two weeks ago for the players, the tournament league released the format for the first international finals. They said that the store has set up a special collection crystal for top players from various countries to buy. The effect is similar to the Dungeon Crystal, which gathers players from various planets into a simulated competition arena, and the entire competition will be broadcast live on all channels."
The format of the first tournament was the same as in the previous one. Only after players were able to travel between stars did the international tournament take place in a real environment, with the stage becoming planets and galaxies.
The players from several major Huaxia clubs had been following him for a year, making a fortune and acquiring incredibly powerful equipment. Their performance in international tournaments would definitely be better than in his previous life. In the first tournament in his previous life, the performance of Huaxia clubs was quite infuriating. They couldn't play the game until the match point, resulting in incredibly close games. To avoid public criticism, their tactical style was basically dragging things out and playing too cautiously, resulting in endless, drawn-out matches. Sometimes they could wear down the enemy, and sometimes they would drag it out for ages, only to lose in the end, which was frustrating and painful to watch.
Ultimately, this resulted in very low viewership ratings when broadcasting matches featuring Huaxia teams. Players preferred watching the intense, high-octane battles between foreign players, and would simply skip over the tough, drawn-out matches featuring Huaxia. Although the Huaxia club's ranking in the first season was decent, there were no standout performances, and the only first impression they left on players and viewers worldwide was their ability to withstand pressure.
"If we don't go all out this time, we'll have wasted our time following me."
Han Xiao curled his lip.
"By the time the international league is over, it will be around the time of the version update. Players will temporarily disappear, and the profits from hiring them won't be as high. We'll stop being mercenaries then. Smaller teams are more flexible, which is a good time to prepare for the 2.0 Mutation Disaster. We need to plan this out, and while we're at it, we'll also try to trick some main character types to increase our leadership..."
As he was pondering, his senses suddenly detected a subtle anomaly. Han Xiao's eyes flashed, he stood up, stepped out of the tent, and found himself surrounded by silence. He glanced around and was slightly taken aback.
The prison wagon in the center of the camp was empty, Rezar was nowhere to be found, and the guards around it were also gone.
"They ran away?"
He didn't want the mission to go awry, so he switched to his mech and scanned the area with radar. He discovered that Rezar's signal was in a grove of trees outside the camp, along with signals from a dozen soldiers nearby. Not far away, there was another signal, much stronger than the soldiers'. Searching the database, he found it belonged to Rex, the commander of the Knights.
"The other soldiers are all asleep, what are they doing taking Rezar to the woods in the middle of the night? Holy crap, no way..."
Han Xiao gasped.
That was an old man!
He was impressed by the taste!
I entered the forest with a pounding heart, tiptoeing, ready to turn and run at any moment before I saw anything unclean. I turned on night vision mode and cautiously peered into the woods.
Rezar was bound tightly, wearing chains that suppressed his magic, and several knights surrounded him, gripping steel swords.
The group's lips moved as if they were saying something. Han Xiao turned on the sound detection function of his combat suit and heard their conversation.
"I'll ask one last time, where did you get the ritual method from?"
"I found a stone tablet in the ruins of an ancient underground city, with incomplete ritual instructions written on it. I modified the spell using blood as fuel. How many times do I have to say it?"
Does anyone else know this spell?
"Not a single one. After I memorized the spell, I destroyed the stone tablet. Do you think I would tell anyone such a dangerous spell? It's only safe in my hands."
Rezar answered the knight who had asked the question with an impatient look on his face.
The knight rubbed his hands together, his voice barely concealing his excitement. "How about this, we make a deal. You tell me the method of the ritual, and I'll let you leave. To be honest, I'm also quite interested in the Upper Realm... hehe."
Rezar's eyes lit up, as if he had grasped at the last straw.
Haha, there's always a way out!
Immediately afterward, Rezar thought for a moment, a mocking smile appearing on his lips. Putting himself in their shoes, he realized that after revealing the method, this group would definitely kill him to silence him. He became secretly wary and asked, "How can I believe you're not trying to trick me into giving you this magic?"
The knight before him said, "We are the guards on duty at this time. If you die, it will be easy to trace us back."
"Aren't you afraid I'll kill you all after I escape?" Rezar squinted.
"Hmph, do you dare? The moment there's a magical fluctuation, those upper-realm mercenaries will come after you."
"If I run away, won't you still be tracked down?"
"Hehe, you don't need to worry about that or the book issue."
"What if you release me and then immediately go to call for help?"
"Then you can just give us up."
After a conversation, Rezar gradually came to believe that the knights really wanted to trade with him. His tense nerves relaxed a bit, and he focused his attention on haggling with the knight in front of him. He didn't notice that several knights behind him quietly raised their steel swords and aimed them at his vitals.
Even if Rezar reached Grade B, being stabbed through by a steel sword while his abilities were suppressed would still be life-threatening.
Han Xiao observed secretly, and his eyes flashed when he saw this. He originally thought that this group of knights were after Rezar's magic and that the deal was about to be finalized, so why did they suddenly have murderous intent?
Seeing that the knights were about to make their move, Han Xiao thought for a moment and then stepped forward.
Upon hearing footsteps, everyone present turned around abruptly, and were all startled when they saw who it was.
Rezar's expression changed drastically. "It's you again!"
If that conversation had been overheard, the tiny spark of hope that had been kindled would have been extinguished by a pee.
Han Xiao glanced around and noticed that although the group of knights were surprised, they did not panic as if their private transaction had been exposed.
"What happened?" Han Xiao decided to ask first.
"You... you heard that?" a knight asked cautiously.
"Guess." Han Xiao's gaze fell on his steel sword.
Kill him!
The knight roared, turned around, and thrust his sword into the chest of the unsuspecting Rezar, causing blood to splatter everywhere.
Han Xiao's expression immediately turned strange. He had thought these knights were trying to deal with him, so what was going on?
Rezar's eyes widened, and before he could react, the other knights also thrust their swords at him. Han Xiao's figure flashed, and the knights only felt a blur before their eyes as they were thrown into the air. In an instant, Han Xiao kicked them all away.
"Although I don't know what's going on, I'll stop you first."
Han Xiao glanced at Rezar, who was kneeling on the ground, pale-faced and panting heavily. Although he was a mage, his stamina was still over 100, so he wouldn't die. The steel sword hadn't pierced deep, but it probably punctured his lung, causing him to have difficulty breathing.
"Can anyone explain this?" Han Xiao glanced at the knights, who all pursed their lips and remained silent.
Turning his head to look into the depths of the woods, Han Xiao said to the darkness, "The one hiding there, they're not talking, so you'd better explain yourself to me."
Approaching footsteps echoed through the forest. Rex, who had been hiding for a long time, emerged with a solemn expression. He knew he could no longer hide when Han Xiao appeared.
Taking a deep breath, Rex slowly said, "These knights are my trusted men. I arranged for them to work together. I brought him here to kill Rezar."
Han Xiao raised an eyebrow. "Haven't we already captured him? Why bother with Assassination? We can just hack him to death in broad daylight."
Rex shook his head. "The king wants me to capture him alive, give him a public trial, and lock him up in jail. Black Star, you're not one of our kingdom's people, so let me be frank with you. A criminal like Rezar, who possesses the level of an Ascended Being, will likely be handed over to the Goddora envoy in exchange for something. That's how Rezar survived and even got to go to the Upper Realm. I don't want to give someone who almost killed millions of citizens for his own selfish reasons even the slightest chance of survival!"
Moreover, Rezar knows the ritual of drawing Source Water. There's no way that someone within the kingdom might have ulterior motives and force him to reveal the ritual magic in order to keep him alive. This terrible magic could easily spread, and if that happens, a similar major crisis could occur. So even if it means disobeying the king's orders, I cannot let him reach the capital alive!
"If we kill him like this, we can use the excuse that Rezar escaped and was killed by our side to cover it up. Commander Black Star, I am very grateful for your timely assistance, but this is a matter for our kingdom, please do not interfere."
Rex spoke with a stern tone, showing no intention of backing down even though he knew he was no match for Han Xiao.
Han Xiao suddenly realized.
Wow, I see. So the trading was a tactic to distract Rezar. That's interesting.
He sized Rex up and down. So righteous and awe-inspiring—could he be another protagonist-type character?
Or... did you already prepare an excuse and put on an act for us?
Han Xiao's eyes darted around, and he pointed at Rezar, saying, "Since you don't want him to go back alive, why don't you hand him over to me? That way, it'll be easier for you to report back."
"What do you want him to do?" Rex frowned.
"Don't ask me that. Anyway, I'll take him to interstellar space... uh, the upper realm, far away from you, and I'll never let him come back."
Upon hearing this, Rezar was overjoyed. His dream was to go to the upper realm. He had been in despair, but unexpectedly, a new path opened up for him!
However, when he looked up, he saw Han Xiao smiling at him, a smile with an indescribable meaning, malicious and seemingly radiating a chilling aura.
Rezar felt a chill run down his spine, and his initial excitement quickly faded.
He suddenly had a hunch that this was probably not good news...