On the spaceship, everyone went about their own business. After two months of travel, they had adapted to this pace of life.
Han Xiao returned to his room alone, opened the control panel, and frantically rubbed his hands together.
"Four chances, let's do a four-pull combo, don't disappoint me again!"
After so many failures, he was quite calm. As Mechanic Class, his consistent approach was to make up for poor quality with quantity.
Beep beep beep...
Just as the random rewards were about to begin, the communicator suddenly rang, and I received a remote communication.
Who is it?!
The ritual was interrupted, and Han Xiao sounded somewhat annoyed.
"It's me, Nirega. Do you remember me?"
Looking at the Goddora people on the screen, Han Xiao recognized them at a glance. "Oh! You're that green... cough cough, it's nice to see you. This seems to be the first time you've contacted me since what happened last time. What do you need me for? Are you going to hire me again?"
"No, I'm here to deliver a message." Nirega laughed heartily, "Do you know someone named Kerlodd? He was my classmate in the investigator training course. He called me a few days ago, saying that his investigator account was being used by someone else in another location, and the coordinates happened to be around here. When I was chatting with him, I mentioned you, and when he heard your name, his reaction was a bit... uh, overreacting. It seems he wants you to pay back the money."
Han Xiao suddenly realized that he had entered Kerlodd's identity ID into the missing spaceship's system. At that time, the radiation storm blocked the signal. After bringing the system core back to the space station, the people there would naturally retrieve the video footage and discover the operation logs.
Kerlodd was a Goddora investigator who was once sent to investigate Planet Aquamarine but was captured by himself.
Han Xiao nodded. "Oh, he and I are very good friends. How's that guy? Give him my regards."
Nirega's expression was strange.
"... Are you sure he's a friend? He asked me to tell you—'Black Star, you're not allowed to use my ID anymore! When are you going to pay me back the money you extorted from me? You've become a well-known mercenary, are you really going to be stingy with a few hundred Enas?'"
"Hehe, he still loves to joke around. We've been through thick and thin together, how can you measure that with money?" Han Xiao chuckled.
I spared his life back then; wasn't that a life-or-death bond?
To be honest, the reason I kept my promise and let Kerlodd go was to leave a channel for communication with Goddora. I never expected that he would later join the Floating Dragon Island. However, the Kerlodd storyline can still be useful.
'I've instructed Kerlodd to take the anomalies on Planet Aquamarine seriously. I wonder if they've sent anyone else to investigate. Perhaps this will add a variable to the 2.0 storyline... probably a good one.'
Han Xiao thought to himself.
"Alright, tell him I received the message, there's no way he'll pay back the money."
"Alright..." Nirega smiled wryly, then suddenly remembered something and said, "By the way, we had a personnel reshuffle not long ago. The original station chief was transferred, and the deputy station chief took over the space station. You really can't figure out what the higher-ups are thinking. But it's not so bad, the deputy station chief is much better than the original station chief. The station chief found out that I hired you, and he gave me a demerit. What an annoying guy."
Han Xiao raised an eyebrow. "Station Chief? I have no problem with him; he's a good person. On the contrary, the Deputy Station Chief is a slippery fellow. If he didn't have ulterior motives, why would he suddenly bring up an unresolved internal matter to a mercenary he'd just met? Besides, the rescued investigators are all protecting you. Who do you think would report you afterward? Your current opinion of the Station Chief reflects the success of the Deputy Station Chief in undermining him. However, being a good person isn't always useful. Even if the Deputy Station Chief has ulterior motives, without him, your wife and those missing investigators wouldn't have been rescued. In the end, perhaps you don't regret being used."
In fact, the person who posted the daily quest rewarding Star Roaming Beast Dungeon Crystal in the previous life was the newly promoted deputy station manager. He instructed players to complete some internal tasks in order to quickly accumulate achievements. If it were the original station manager, he would never have allowed outsiders to interfere with internal tasks.
"Hey, what you said makes some sense. The deputy stationmaster seemed really happy after the stationmaster was transferred."
Nirega paused, lost in thought, and sighed, "Sigh, speaking of which, the station chief was just following the rules. He might be a bit rigid, but he's a military officer, so it's understandable. However, I still prefer the deputy station chief. If everything were blown out of proportion, the world would only have those three cosmic-level civilizations left, and they'd definitely still be at war. Other civilizations would either become vassals of them or be destroyed in the crossfire... Sigh, between hypocrisy and war, I would choose the former, and probably most people would. Although I don't know much, I can guess. The Dark Forest period of the Exploration Era was hell; the peaceful Galaxy Era we have now is hard-won..."
"Alright, alright, you can keep lamenting all you want. I have things to do, bye."
Han Xiao decisively turned off the communication, reopened the panel, and exhaled.
"Let's begin..."
Beep beep beep!
Just then, the communicator rang again.
Interrupted again, Han Xiao became furious.
Can't I just have a quiet round of smoking?! All the luck I've built up is about to dissipate!
"Who the hell is looking for me again... Oh, Ames, hello there, have you eaten? What do you need?"
Dragon Emperor captivating and alluring figure appeared on the screen, surprising Han Xiao. Ames rarely contacted him; why was she suddenly reaching out?
"Black Star, I need you." Ames's expression was somewhat strange.
Han Xiao's lips twitched. "Excuse me for asking, but which kind of need are you referring to?"
"I've found out where the teacher is. He's come to the Shattered Star Ring. Black Star, you've seen him in his current state. You'll come with me to find him." Ames's tone left no room for argument.
"Okay..." Han Xiao sighed, "When?"
"The sooner the better. I'll let you know as soon as I get back to the Shattered Star Ring."
"Are you not on Floating Dragon Island right now?"
"I went on a trip to the home planet of the Federation of Light," Ames said.
Very good, very powerful. Master Han was speechless.
"Alright then," Han Xiao said helplessly, "Where is your teacher?"
"Someone said he was spotted in Noriosse recently. Go check it out before I get back."
Nodding, Han Xiao remained calm. Although the claim that he had met the Dragon Emperor Teacher was a fabricated Lie, he did know who the Dragon Emperor Teacher was and was not afraid of not recognizing him.
After hanging up the call, Han Xiao rubbed his temples and opened the control panel for the third time.
"Hurry up and smoke, I have a feeling I'm going to lose again this time... I hope no one will come looking for me this time."
Interrupted twice, Han Xiao's carefully cultivated emotions withered away, leaving him staring blankly with dead fish eyes.
[Drawing in progress... Drawing complete]
[The type of reward you received this time is: [Skill]]
After a quick glance, I chose the most useful option out of the three: a gunslinger skill called [Lock-On Shot]. Its effect is that the next shot will always hit, and there is a 10-18% chance of hitting a weak point.
Han Xiao remained calm and, without pausing, immediately began the second random reward process.
[Drawing in progress... Drawing complete]
[The type of reward you received this time is: [Item]]
Han Xiao's eyes lit up. "Here it comes, here it comes, my chance!"
Please choose one of the following three rewards.
[Esper Awakening Fluid): If you haven't obtained any main class, using this item gives you a chance to become Esper Class.]
[Double Experience Card: Doubles EXP gained from monster kills and quests, lasting six days]
[Skill Enhancement Card: Has a 70% chance to enhance a skill, increasing its base effect, and a 20% chance to mutate the skill into a more powerful, similar new skill.]
"I drew two cards, but I didn't get the Mission Settlement Card." Han Xiao felt a tightness in his chest.
To be fair, the Skill Enhancement Card were somewhat useful to him, but since he didn't get what he wanted, Han Xiao was still a little annoyed.
No doubt about it, the Awakening Fluid is useless, and he doesn't need the Double Experience Card either; he directly chose the Skill Enhancement Card.
"My luck's on! Third time!"
Han Xiao felt a surge of hope, activating a new random reward.
[Drawing in progress... Drawing complete]
[The type of reward you received this time is: [Experience]]
"..."
"Great, really great! I'm so inexperienced, this is perfect timing..." Han Xiao clapped his hands, then slammed his head on the table, gritting his teeth. "Yeah, right!"
He has always believed that, of all types, experience is the most useless reward.
Having chosen the most popular option, "two million experience points," Han Xiao looked utterly dejected and activated the final random reward.
[Drawing in progress... Drawing complete]
[The type of reward you received this time is: [Item]]
[Medium Experience Crystal (x8): Grants a certain amount of experience upon use, ranging from 100,000 to 1,000,000]
[Solar Flame Battle Pattern Aura (Fashion): When worn, the body will display a special appearance, and there will be special lighting effects and _picture_book fruit--whether it's strong or not depends on the version, whether it's cool or not is a lifelong matter]
[Mission Settlement Card (x2): Receives the task reward directly with the lowest rating, which is considered a successful completion of the task.]
Exhaling a breath of stale air, Han Xiao closed his eyes with a sense of relief, a feeling of fulfillment echoing in his heart.
"Finally... I finally got it..."
Bang!
The next second, he sprang up like a dead fish, slapped a handprint on the metal tabletop, and roared to the sky.
"Number one consecutive draws in the world!!"