Meanwhile, on Planet Aquamarine.
Two days ago, the Mutation Disaster ended, and people around the world were overjoyed. Looking back on the nightmare of the past six months, the order and structure of this planet were overturned and reshuffled in the catastrophe. However, the suffering is over, and the refugees have regained the courage to start over and rebuild their lives. They even have stronger cohesion and willpower.
The damage caused by the Mutation Disaster will take time to repair. Refugees need to adapt to the new environment. The Six Nations and the Sanctuary are in dire need of reconstruction. Most of the refugees who were sheltered stayed and survived the disaster. The next step is to develop.
Bennett has been discussing with his staff these past few days a change in development strategy, formally transforming the Sanctuary into a government, expanding its territory, building cities, and making the refugees under his rule his own people.
Reforming the Sanctuary is a long and arduous task. This is part of the development of the Planet Aquamarine civilization. If things continue as they are, Planet Aquamarine will not be able to reach interstellar territory for many years, barring any unforeseen circumstances. However, with Han Xiao as an exception, anything is possible.
Only two days have passed, and Planet Aquamarine has just entered the recovery period, so Han Xiao hasn't paid attention to it yet.
His focus was on recruiting players. With the main storyline of Planet Aquamarine 2.0 completed, the next key step was to implement the plan—massively guiding players into interstellar space.
Seventy percent of the reason Han Xiao resolved the Mutation Disaster ahead of schedule was to allow players to enter interstellar space earlier, thus creating greater profits for the Black Star Mercenary Group.
Now everything is ready except for the final push. All that's needed is to announce the departure time to all players, while simultaneously imbuing them with a grand sense of mission to enhance their sense of belonging.
Then, at that time, all the players from Black Star will gather together and head towards interstellar space, thus completing the core objective.
With three to four hundred thousand players now in the Black Star Mercenary Group, Han Xiao doesn't plan to recruit all the remaining players at the last minute. He needs to maintain certain entry requirements, otherwise it won't be good for the players selected to join Black Star. Therefore, he doesn't plan to take the remaining players away all at once.
However, Han Xiao will leave a way for players to join. Black Star Base No. 2 is located on Planet Aquamarine. He plans to leave behind some mercenaries, some mechanical creations, and several transport ships. Players who are left behind can join Black Star after passing the selection process and will be transported to Number One Base by ships.
Han Xiao plans to use this as a tradition to get players used to long-term recruitment. Joining Black Star is currently the simplest way to enter interstellar space, so players will naturally flock to it. The same goes for newcomers born on Planet Aquamarine in the future. Not only players, but even the natives of Planet Aquamarine are Han Xiao's targets. This fertile land cannot be used to grow only one type of crop.
He left a bridge connecting Planet Aquamarine to the stars, much like farming requires sustainable development; you can't just harvest once and call it a day.
These were the plans that had been formulated. The main storyline had just ended, and Han Xiao did not implement them immediately, but instead gave the players some time to catch up.
He also plans to take a few days off.
However, news of the DarkStar's attack on Planet Golden Gate ruined Master Han's holiday.
In the workshop of Black Star Base No. 2, Han Xiao stopped repairing the Mechanical Beast Guards and stared intently at the communicator screen. It was a live interstellar news broadcast: the Planet Golden Gate Danger at Every Turn. At this moment, more than a dozen super-large mercenary groups arrived to provide support, and the originally one-sided battlefield became evenly matched, with both sides fighting fiercely.
"The attack on Planet Golden Gate did indeed occur. It seems that resolving the Mutation Disaster early did not affect DarkStar's attack operations on another level; they haven't abandoned their plan." Han Xiao secretly breathed a sigh of relief, glad that he hadn't guessed wrong.
Having experienced his past life, Han Xiao knew about DarkStar's plan. He didn't know the exact timing of each step, but he knew the sequence of DarkStar's actions.
The attack on Planet Golden Gate was one of the plot points. Han Xiao wasn't entirely sure that DarkStar would act the same way as in his previous life, but after some private analysis, he felt that attacking Planet Golden Gate was DarkStar's key plan and shouldn't change.
A month ago, when providing the samples of the Mutation Source, Han Xiao no longer concealed DarkStar's plan. He told the Goddora War Bureau everything as a suggestion, saying that it was a vague conjecture obtained through analysis and prediction. Because of the example of DarkStar's previous life, Han Xiao's reasoning was very convincing.
Because of the sample, Han Xiao and Goddora cooperated closely, and the War Bureau decided to set up an ambush based on this intelligence, taking a gamble.
Since the beginning of the Mutation Disaster, Goddora has been constantly taken advantage of by DarkStar and desperately needs a major victory to prove itself, stabilize domestic conflicts, and restore the people's confidence.
To ensure the secrecy of the ambush, Goddora did not deploy its own troops— the War Bureau knew that DarkStar would be monitoring their troop movements, and that gathering around Planet Golden Gate would expose their intentions. The War Bureau wanted to lure them into a trap, so it needed external armed forces, and thus it thought of mercenary groups.
Only the largest mercenary groups are willing to accept war-level mercenary contracts.
The risks are high, but the profits are also astonishing. A single war-level contract can be equivalent to hundreds or thousands of small-scale combat missions. In addition to the payment, the right to dispose of the spoils of war is also clearly stated in the terms of the war contract.
Han Xiao has been in the mercenary world of the Shattered Star Ring for several years, and he's not just wasting his time. As the saying goes, you have to love what you do, and you can't be a professional without connections. He has partnered with hundreds of mercenary groups, fought side by side many times, and has deep friendships with them. His connections in the mercenary world are intricate and extensive. The Black Star Connections are not just empty words.
This time, Han Xiao acted as a middleman, secretly facilitating connections. Through his introduction, large mercenary groups such as Sky Ring, Blades, Purple Gold secretly established employment relationships with the Goddora War Bureau.
DarkStar, of course, had no idea that their plan had already been revealed by Han Xiao. They thought that a surprise attack on Planet Golden Gate would catch Goddora off guard, but little did they know that Goddora had been eagerly anticipating DarkStar's attack on Planet Golden Gate.
As the middleman, Han Xiao received a referral fee of 150,000 Enas, which was quite considerable. Of course, the mercenary groups like Sky Ring that participated in the battles received terrifyingly high rewards; Goddora, with its deep pockets, could afford to engage in war-level mercenaries.
"Interstellar warfare mercenaries not only need a large number of people, but also a powerful enough fleet. Once I lead the players into interstellar space, Black Star's numbers will be among the ranks of super-large mercenary groups. However, the number of warships will be much smaller, so we still need to make money."
Han Xiao pulled himself together, watched the live war broadcast on the screen, a slight smile playing on his lips, strode out of the workshop, went to the Blacklight Stealth's cockpit, and tapped on the control panel.
"Resta, I need your help."
The next second, the luminous figure appeared.
"Black Star, what do you need me to do?"
"You are an AI life form, capable of virtual displacement along quantum network paths, right?"
Resta nodded and said, "This is my way of survival. Even if my physical body is destroyed, I can still live in the quantum network."
"I'll have Phillip open the path. You go to Number One Base. I'll have the Sky Ring people connect to Phillip and build a mobile tunnel for you. They'll try to infiltrate a DarkStar mothership and help you enter its systems. I need you to bypass or even replace the original AI system and infiltrate DarkStar."
Han Xiao said in a deep voice.
Resta is a virtual life form living in the quantum network. In addition to assisting in virtual intrusion, it can also reside in the physical host, usurping its place, just as it did with the Blacklight Stealth. The original intelligence of this spaceship was torn into data and absorbed by it.
If Resta wants to infiltrate, its processing speed allows it to easily bypass most AI firewalls, read the target's data, and disguise itself. However, this requires the target to have already opened a virtual path to the outside world, forming a bridge of connection. Hardware connections are much more effective than virtual intrusions.
The DarkStar mothership uses a mother AI, which cannot sever links at will like a child AI. If it can deceive the mother AI and remain hidden, it will not be discovered and will be able to access the DarkStar's core database.
Resta: "I can try, but I have a condition."
"You say."
"I know you want to use my strength to fight the enemy, and I'm willing to help you, but I need your help to help Aroshia regain her memories as soon as possible."
"Okay." Han Xiao nodded. He hadn't deliberately tried to complete Aroshia's personal quest, mainly because finding the right location was too troublesome. However, with the player's help, it became much simpler.
After quickly persuading Resta, Han Xiao contacted Gurega, the commander of the Sky Ring Alliance, Gurega readily agreed.
After agreeing on the tactics, Han Xiao tapped the communicator and said:
"Phillip, connect to the Blacklight Stealth, open the data path to Number One Base."
"Okay, buzz..."
Phillip controls both bases. As long as the path is open, Resta can instantly traverse the physical distance between Planet Aquamarine and Planet Golden Gate and appear at Number One Base via the quantum network—the path, the link, and the medium are key.
This is a characteristic of AI life; as long as it is not locked down by the virtual layer, physical means are ineffective against it.
Resta nodded, and the light figure vanished in an instant.
"It went through my data channel, buzzing..."
Han Xiao looked at the projection of Gurega and nodded, saying, "Then I'll trouble you."
Gurega laughed heartily, "Consider it a thank you for referring a big job to us."
Han Xiao let out a breath after hanging up the call.
"I don't know if it will work..."
Planet Golden Gate was not only Goddora's ambush, but also his trap.
DarkStar is elusive, and from the beginning Han Xiao knew that the only way to eliminate DarkStar once and for all was to pinpoint their location!
The battle on Planet Golden Gate has entered a fierce stage. The DarkStar Fleet is powerful, but it is not doing well against the various mercenary groups. Although DarkStar is a terrifying organization that strikes fear into people's hearts, being scary does not mean being particularly good at fighting. In terms of combat, mercenary groups are the professionals.
Especially for large mercenary groups like the Sky Ring Alliance, which have an excellent reputation in the Shattered Star Ring, their combat strength has been honed in blood and fire.
The garrison on Planet Golden Gate could only maintain a defensive posture initially, but after reinforcements arrived, they launched a counterattack. The fighting was fierce, with warships frequently exploding into clouds of smoke. DarkStar was caught off guard by the mercenaries and suffered even greater losses.
On several occasions, the Sky Ring Alliance even broke through their formation, stormed up to a mothership, and stormed inside to board it. Only when the Calamity Grade destroyers guarding that mothership intervened were the enemies forced back.
The situation is evenly matched... However, being evenly matched means that DarkStar is at a disadvantage.
"Those damn mercenaries!"
Degulish was furious, glancing frequently at the time, before finally gritting his teeth, "We didn't have time to destroy Planet Golden Gate before Goddora's reinforcements arrived. Issue my order: a full retreat! This operation has failed!"
Unable to break through after a prolonged siege, Degulish had no choice but to issue a retreat order. The surprise attack on Planet Golden Gate was originally intended as a blitzkrieg, but it turned into a protracted war. If the stalemate continued, the risks would only increase. Since the strategic objectives could not be achieved, there was no need to continue to increase losses. All five motherships had suffered damage, but at least they were not destroyed. If the fighting continued, things might not be so simple.
Many high-ranking officials on DarkStar were quite disappointed, not expecting that Goddora had also become shrewd. It seemed that they would have no choice but to follow the leader's alternative plan and deal with the disaster planet instead.
DarkStar regrouped and retreated quickly. The various mercenary groups gave chase only briefly before stopping. Their job was to repel the enemy, not to eliminate them. Mercenaries are pragmatic; they get what they pay for. The word "overtime" doesn't exist in their vocabulary.
DarkStar retreated and disappeared into the universe.
In the eyes of the Goddora people, however, it was a case of DarkStar being driven away; the enemy came with great force but ultimately returned defeated.
The residents of Planet Golden Gate were overjoyed, forgetting the unpleasantness of being forbidden from escaping by the garrison, and were generous with their praise. Some people's change of attitude was so rapid that it left the guards speechless.
This victory directly Inspiration Goddora people, and news and public opinion throughout the Garton Star System were praising the victory. The panic brought by the DarkStar disappeared by most of it.
Just one victory is enough to dispel the gloom cast by the DarkStar and restore the confidence of most people. This is precisely the motivation behind the War Bureau's determination to win at least once.
Han Xiao watched the news broadcast patiently, waiting, but the communicator still didn't respond until DarkStar retreated.
Han Xiao tapped his fingers on the table, lost in thought.
The worst-case scenario is that Resta is discovered and forced to flee. The mothership's intelligence cannot lock down Resta. However, this would mean Resta would be out of contact. He still cares about such a good wingman for virtual intrusion.
"Let's wait and see. It should take Resta some time to deal with the mothership's main AI."
Han Xiao paced back and forth in the room for a long time before his communicator suddenly rang.
He glanced at it quickly, his brows immediately relaxed, and his expression softened.
Han Xiao fiddled with the communicator, his eyes gleaming, and a smile appeared on his face.
"I wonder how much the Goddora people are willing to pay for this information."