It took two days to travel from Planet Golden Gate to Planet Aquamarine. Even when passing through the Juberly Hub, Han Xiao did not personally pick up Frenzied Saber and the others. Instead, he sent one of his ships to pick them up and rushed back to Planet Aquamarine as quickly as possible.
The long-dormant forum reopened, and he was fully aware of the players' movements. Just as the spaceship arrived in the outer space of Planet Aquamarine, the players posted a video of the large-scale riot at the Third Sanctuary on the forum. The players' sudden predicament was, in fact, good news. Master Han realized this was an opportunity. After being away from Planet Aquamarine for several years, it would be best to make a memorable entrance upon his return. So, he decisively led all the mercenaries in an airdrop... This was the standard mercenary arrival mode.
During version 1.0, he left behind the infamous title of "Black Phantom" on Planet Aquamarine, becoming famous worldwide. Naturally, he couldn't return in disguise. This wasn't because he wanted to be high-profile, but because doing so would greatly benefit his upcoming plans.
A stunning return not only fulfills the "promise" he made when he left the planet, but also demonstrates his close connection to the 2.0 storyline, exciting players. This is a way to shape his own image. To attract players to join his faction, in addition to being strong and able to provide benefits, image is also very important, just like a corporate brand. After accumulating experience in 1.0, he knows that he has the inherent advantage of having familiar faces among players.
The most important point is...
--Anyway, showing off costs nothing!
Seeing the shocked and ecstatic expressions on Bennett's and the surrounding players' faces, Han Xiao was quite satisfied, knowing that his plan had clearly succeeded.
"You..." Bennett began, but for a moment he didn't know what to say.
"Let's talk later, let's take care of things here first."
"Okay." Bennett had a bellyful of questions, but he could only hold them back for the time being. He was very curious about what Han Xiao's experiences were in interstellar space—he couldn't see Meat Bun's video.
"Don't worry, I've handled this kind of situation countless times. Leave it to me." Han Xiao patted Bennett on the shoulder and laughed, "I'm a professional now."
As for the Beast Disaster, I've handled at least six or seven similar incidents. The one with Sunil is the most memorable and I have a lot of experience with it.
Han Xiao had a clear understanding of the situation. As long as the beast horde was dealt with, there would be plenty of time to knock out the refugees. The problem was that the players couldn't stop the beast horde, but for his mercenaries, it was a piece of cake.
When he wasn't strong enough, he thought the wilderness of Planet Aquamarine was dangerous. But after wandering the interstellar space for so long, his perspective has broadened. In his current view, the wild beasts of Planet Aquamarine are nothing. His strength is enough to sweep across the globe and annihilate the top-tier villages.
The Black Star mercenaries unleashed a barrage of attacks: hundreds of beam cannons pierced through the beast horde, Great Fireball bombarded the ground like missiles, and powerful slashes sliced through the beasts, the thunderous roars shaking the earth and even drowning out the beasts' screams.
whoosh whoosh--
Melos wielded his ten-meter-long ship-slaying sword, spinning it like the wind, as if it were nothing. Any wild beast that came within tens of meters was sliced in two without any hindrance, like a meat grinder.
Wow!
Sherinde's legs moved with such rhythm that they created more than a dozen afterimages. His twin daggers, smeared with dark black, darted past beasts like snakes, leaving shallow wounds on their skin. However, his martial arts skills had already penetrated the beasts' hearts with cutting force. Although it was only a shallow cut, the piercing blade wave had already pierced through the flesh, leaving a horizontal incision inside the beast's body, causing massive internal bleeding, but the injury was not visible on the outside.
Any beast struck by him would collapse to the ground the next moment. His attacks were gentle and without a trace of killing intent, yet extremely cruel.
Tongtongtong--
The cannons roared, Jinda was like an unfolded fortress, with guns protruding all over her body, twenty or thirty cannon barrels in total, spewing out dense rain of cannon fire, shattering everything in front of her. She was so excited that her face was flushed.
For her, each time she fired a shot was just as pleasurable as mating.
"Roar!"
On the other side, Harmon roared, his whole body suddenly swelled up, his muscles bulged like engorged sponges, his originally dense hair was pushed aside by his muscles, his body full of bulging veins, like a small giant wearing a beast-hair battle robe, his size even a few sizes larger than these beasts, these elephant-like ferocious beasts in front of him are like large dogs.
Wielding a black hornstone Battle Axe the size of a door, he unleashed a barrage of violent attacks, hacking, Charge, striking with the handle, and slapping repeatedly, fighting like a warrior until he was covered in blood.
Bang bang bang!
One after another, wild beasts were sent flying by his blows, landing heavily on the ground like trucks rampaging through a crowd.
Harmon's combat skills are highly refined; his movements are both violent and savage, yet possess a strange beauty, a fusion of strength and grace. With his enhanced physical abilities and the secondary profession of warrior, he can be considered an unconventional martial artist, even more savage and brutal.
With no room for maneuver, the numerous players hurriedly recorded the scene, their excitement and adrenaline surging as they watched. The combat power of these Grade B officers far surpassed that of Planet Aquamarine, making it feel like watching a blockbuster movie. The sudden arrival of Black Star greatly surprised them; the way the orbital drop pod made its entrance was incredibly cool, like a sudden appearance of justice from the heavens!
Han Xiao took a closer look and determined that he didn't need to take action. With his current combat power, he could create a stronger impact on the players' minds. However, after thinking about it for a while, he finally gave up on the idea. It would be better to leave room for the players' imagination and maintain the mystery so that the level of sophistication could reach the sky.
The initially troublesome emergency was quickly resolved by the Black Star mercenaries. The wild beasts were all killed off, and the meat could be made into jerky and stored, which alleviated the food problem. Without the rampaging beasts, hundreds of thousands of players quickly subdued all the sick refugees. According to the statistics, less than 100,000 people died, which was much better than the worst-case scenario... at least that's how it appeared in terms of numbers.
But looking at the mountain of refugee corpses, Bennett couldn't feel any better.
The area outside the Sanctuary was a mess. Bennett temporarily left Han Xiao behind and directed the Sanctuary soldiers to clean up the battlefield. Han Xiao admired this character of prioritizing important matters.
The emergency mission has been completed, and the reward progress has exceeded 100,000, making up for all the lost progress. Thousands of players rushed forward, surrounding Han Xiao and his group with great interest. Since Han Xiao left, only those high-level players could enjoy his interaction, which made them extremely envious. Now that Black Star has finally returned to the embrace of the vast majority of players, they couldn't wait to go up and touch it.
Players are no strangers to the Black Star Mercenary Group, given the large audience of Meat Bun's video series. However, the mercenary group at this time is clearly different from the one in Meat Bun's last video before the update. It's unclear what happened during the update, but the Black Star Mercenary Group has gained many unfamiliar new officers. Players only recognize a handful, such as Melos and Aroshia, and can't help but curiously observe the other mercenaries.
"These people's armor looks so cool."
"So Sunil people, are they all working for Black Star now?"
"Wow, that girl is so young and beautiful, I'd give her a 9.5." A player with a keen eye noticed Sylvia.
"So many furry monsters..." A player wanted to complain about the Luhan Beastmen were obviously much taller than the others, but Harmon looked over with a strange look in his eyes, as if there was a kind of longing and eagerness. The player immediately felt a tightness in his anus and a chill run down his spine, and hurriedly hid in the crowd.
In reality, the first thing Harmon thinks about when he sees anyone is to bring them into his War Alliance, so it's normal for him to be so eager when he sees people... yeah, no problem.
Many mercenaries are unattractive, so in comparison, handsome men and beautiful women have a very strong presence. For example, Fording attracted the attention of almost all the female players.
"That guy is so handsome..."
Fording noticed the female players' gazes, looked back, and gave them a polite, warm smile. In their eyes, the world seemed to brighten instantly, and their hearts were captivated.
"My God, he's inhumanly handsome!"
"I... I might be starting to fall in love."
"My girlish heart is about to explode!"
Han Xiao glanced sideways, feeling that these female players had hearts floating around their heads like bubbles; he hadn't expected Fording to have this effect.
Most female players are more emotional and have different values than male players. Between practicality and appearance, they tend to prefer the latter. The female-looking Fording is simply a magnet for female players.
'Letting Fording attract female players is good for the faction's appeal. Bringing him along was definitely the right thing to do...' Han Xiao nodded, suddenly feeling like he was a madam. Fording was the most powerful male prostitute under his command.
He doesn't usually overthink things, but seeing the players makes him happy—they're all walking wallets!
Although the female players were all looking at Fording, Han Xiao had no objections. As long as it was beneficial to the plan, he wouldn't let it shake his own charm.
Because Meat Bun's "Black Star" series of videos is like a TV drama, players on Planet Aquamarine are very concerned about the development of the Black Star Mercenary Group and can't wait to know the stories of these new officers. They are extremely curious.
Meanwhile, the mercenaries were also observing the players.
Sylvia whispered, "Why are the people from Teacher's hometown looking at us so strangely? Do you feel the same way?"
"No, isn't it normal?" Fording said.
The players, who had been crowding around, parted to make way for the group, who then passed over the hundreds of drop pods embedded in the ground and entered through the gate.
Entering the Sanctuary, Han Xiao looked around and sighed, "Everything here is exactly the same as before I left. I really miss it... Wait, why is there such an ugly statue here? Who is this statue, and why is it in my Sanctuary?! Huang Yu, Huang Yu! Come out and explain this to me!"
Not far from the Sanctuary's entrance stood a towering statue, visible to everyone who entered. Han Xiao noticed it immediately and felt a pang of discomfort. This was his Sanctuary; what was the point of placing someone else's statue there, especially one so ugly?
Huang Yu followed, sweating profusely. Although he was now the de facto manager of the Sanctuary, he subconsciously reverted to his attitude as an assistant in front of Han Xiao, speaking cautiously.
"Lord Black Phantom... that's your statue. You haven't returned for too long, so I had someone commemorate you."
"... Actually, it's quite good-looking." Han Xiao changed his tune as quickly as a Category 5 typhoon.
The mercenaries examined the statue, then looked at Han Xiao, and shook their heads. What is this? It doesn't resemble Black Star at all. This statue is clearly an ordinary human. Even our captain doesn't know what species it is.
"Teacher, are you famous in your hometown?" Sylvia asked curiously.
At this moment, Bennett finally had time to come over, and upon hearing this, he couldn't help but shake his head and say, "Black Phantom isn't just famous; he's a legend on this planet."
The mercenaries exchanged glances. A legend? They were a little curious about their leader's past exploits.
"Black Phantom?" Sylvia's eyes widened as she turned to Han Xiao. "So your nickname has always been this awful. I thought it was just one example."
"... Are you upset that I've been too lenient with you lately? If you want to copy theory books, just say so. I can make sure you have a very fulfilling year ahead of you."
Han Xiao squinted, grabbed Sylvia's smooth face with one hand and pulled hard, making her hiss and gasp in pain.
Despite the casual conversation, he hadn't forgotten the important matter and turned to Bennett, asking, "How's the situation now?"
"The disaster you predicted really happened. Sigh, let's talk about it in the conference room." Bennett couldn't help but scrutinize Han Xiao, hesitating before asking, "By the way, how did you get back?"
Han Xiao suddenly realized, "You reminded me, I forgot something, wait for me."
He took out his communicator and pressed a few buttons.
Rumble--
Suddenly, the wind pressure increased, stirring up dust and sending sand and stones flying.
Shadows appeared on the ground, then quickly expanded, covering most of the Sanctuary.
More than a dozen spaceships hovered above the Sanctuary, their enormous size blotting out the sun, creating a truly spectacular sight.
This is the fleet that Han Xiao brought. He didn't want to stay in outer space, so he called the spaceships down and parked them above the Sanctuary, blotting out the sun!
This is thousands of times more impressive than an airdrop capsule!
The hundreds of thousands of players on the ground looked up, mouths agape, utterly dumbfounded.
Turtle, it's been smelled!