Keton flinched, his voice trembling, "I mentioned it to him, and he thought it was interesting, so I brought him along..."
Han Xiao became increasingly puzzled. "What do you mean? Didn't Goddora instruct you to do this?"
Keton paused, realizing the group had misunderstood something. He hesitated, but then remembered their lie detector abilities. His face fell, and he whispered, "No, this has nothing to do with Goddora. This is my personal plan."
Hannes and Bennett, filled with righteous indignation, suddenly froze.
"I have this power. My usual work is too boring. One day, looking at the situation of the Planet Aquamarine civilization, I suddenly had the idea to use the Planet Aquamarine civilization as a sandbox to play with this planet. After all, it's an indigenous civilization, so it's easy to fool them, and there's little risk... Because the government doesn't interfere in civil wars between low-level civilizations, I wanted to provoke a war and watch you fight each other because of it. I thought that would be very interesting... I thought of it, so I did it."
"Angley worked with me, but he later chose to stay on Planet Aquamarine. He felt that returning to Goddora was pointless, and it would be more interesting for him to stay on the native planet and witness firsthand how his impact would affect it."
After Keton finished speaking, the entire room fell silent. The lie detector did not sound an alarm, meaning that everything he said was true.
Hannes and Bennett stared wide-eyed in disbelief.
Wasn't this Goddora Civilization's plan?
Just because it's... funny?
"Impossible!" Hannes exclaimed, "You're just an ordinary person. How could two ordinary people have accomplished something like this without Goddora's intervention?!"
Keton shrank back and whispered, "Actually, it's quite simple. Nobody suspects the envoy is fake... because we really are Goddora people."
Hannes was stunned. He had preconceived notions that two ordinary people could not possibly cause a war on Planet Aquamarine, but now he was speechless.
Yes, they are all from Goddora.
That's enough...
Because the Goddora Civilization is advanced, the Goddora people are also "advanced"—who would doubt that?
Bennett's face was icy as he suddenly grabbed Keton by the collar. Countless people on Planet Aquamarine had lost their homes and families in the war, all because this Goddora man in front of him found it amusing. But looking at Keton's panicked but remorseless eyes, the words of anger that Bennett wanted to say welled up in his mouth, but he swallowed them back down.
--At that time, in the eyes of this Goddora person, the civilization of Planet Aquamarine was probably like an anthill... How could playing with ants be a sin...?
Han Xiao's expression was strange; he found it all absurd.
He had assumed that there was a hidden force plotting behind the civil war on Planet Aquamarine, but the truth was unexpected. There was no force plotting against the then-weak civilization of Planet Aquamarine. The real reason was just a whimsical idea from a daring outsider. There was no conspiracy, no trickery, it was that simple.
A bored nobody in Goddora started a war for his own amusement, then acted as if nothing had happened afterward. Ultimately, due to his position and the Goddora Civilization's lack of regard for Planet Aquamarine, the matter was concealed for decades.
Angley, a loser who can't make it in his own society, deliberately bullies the weak, stirs up trouble, treats it as a game, and seeks a sense of superiority on the native planet.
What these two relied on was their golden skin.
It's that simple, utterly absurd, yet tragically real.
Because of their weakness, they were reduced to playthings.
This gave Han Xiao a sense of déjà vu, like a respectable woman being moaned and groaned by a brat who relies on his family's power and influence, and being unable to resist.
For Planet Aquamarine, this was like a bolt from the blue, an undeserved disaster.
Although he had no special feelings for Planet Aquamarine —he wasn't the kind of person who would be swayed by emotions—he was indeed a little annoyed at this moment. It wasn't about Goddora; in this matter, the crimes of the Goddora Civilization were perhaps powerful enough to make their citizens too arrogant.
"This is... absurd." Han Xiao exhaled a breath of stale air, his feelings complicated.
Even when the panel popped up a message that the hidden Grade A mission was completed, he wasn't in the mood to check it immediately.
The Sky Ring mercenaries left, Keton was left behind. He was knocked unconscious and locked in a cage, and Han Xiao handed him over to Bennett for disposal.
Hannes and Bennett found this fact hard to accept. The changes on Planet Aquamarine over the past few decades seemed meaningless in the face of this absurd reason. A civilization was being manipulated by two aliens, a laughable joke.
This planet could have been a better place...
"It's come to this now, don't overthink it. If this is the truth, you have to believe it whether you want to or not." Han Xiao shook his head.
Bennett, head down, seemed lost in thought. Suddenly, he stood up and looked intently at Han Xiao.
"I didn't interrupt when you were negotiating with the Six Nations, but I thought you were harboring ambitions at that time. Although I didn't say anything, I did feel resentment... But I was wrong."
Bennett clenched his fists. "Now I understand your good intentions. Weakness is the original sin. You went to space not only to deal with disaster, but also to fight for a future for Planet Aquamarine... You are greater than me!"
Han Xiao's lips twitched; he had never thought that way.
Does this mean that the higher the level of affection, the stronger one's imagination becomes?!
"If it weren't for you, this planet would have remained forever in the dark. On behalf of the entire Planet Aquamarine, I thank you." Bennett bowed deeply, remaining seated for a long time. Hearing this, Hannes also stood up and bowed in the same manner.
"Don't do this... You're all making me feel like I'm becoming a good person." Han Xiao said helplessly. Everything he did was driven by self-interest, but his actions stemming from those interests had resulted in some positive outcomes.
But he never considered himself anything special, and now he's starting to think about how to make the most of Keton.
Meanwhile, at the Black Phantom Sanctuary.
Players came and went, still active on the front lines of disaster relief. Meanwhile, in the arena not far from the square, the Black Star mercenaries launched a new round of selections. The sounds of fighting and shouting carried far and wide. Many refugees who had been injected with inhibitors regained hope for life. Despite the disaster, the Sanctuary was full of vitality.
Several Goddora relief ships hovered in the sky. Nagokin looked through the porthole at the scene in the arena below, lost in thought.
His adjutant, standing to the side, observed his expression and asked, "Nagokin, what do you think of these Inhuman?"
"Very promising." Nagokin nodded slowly. Through his observations over the past few days, he had come to deeply appreciate the player's potential, and his initial slight interest had turned into intense focus.
With this unexpected stroke of luck from the Inhuman, Nagokin felt that his mission had expanded beyond disaster relief.
Although they helped with disaster relief on Planet Aquamarine, it didn't mean that Goddora cared much about a low-level civilization. It was just due to public opinion and their status. In Nagokin's view, the Inhuman seemed to bring them greater benefits.
"There are a lot of Inhuman. There are probably over a million on the entire Planet Aquamarine. With so many superhumans and the potential to grow, they are a force to be reckoned with wherever they are," the adjutant said.
"That's right, perhaps we should engage in deeper exchanges with the Inhuman... They have value in being won over."
What do you want to do?
"... Send out recruitment notices to them. Just like Black Star, we, Goddora, should be more competitive than any other mercenary group."
Nagokin made a decision. He respected Black Star's power, but with such a large pool of superhuman resources before him, he couldn't stand idly by for the sake of civilization's interests and wanted a share as well.
Even if the Inhuman is from the same hometown as Black Star, he can't give it all to the other party.