Han Xiao glanced down and looked down from the sky. The ground in the area where the battle had just taken place was cracked, like a crushed biscuit, with two huge craters and lingering smoke from the explosion.
Slowly flying back to the ground, Han Xiao put away the Void Dragon and returned to his original attire.
Jayn and Gadeli came to greet them, both looking disheveled, especially Jayn, who was covered in wounds and whose unruly chest hair still danced with youthful energy.
"Black Star, did you kill that woman?" Jayn asked impatiently.
"No, she got away." Han Xiao shook his head.
"Her target is you. Do you know who that woman is?"
"I don't know, this is the first time I've been attacked by her."
Han Xiao knew Shana's name, but there was no need to tell the two of them.
The two were furious. They had been caught in an undeserved disaster; their entire force had been wiped out, and their hard-earned fleet was gone, leaving them severely weakened.
However, blaming Black Star was out of the question, as Black Star was also clueless and had no intention of harming them. Besides, Black Star's combat strength and status were far beyond their reach. The two could only accept their bad luck and feel extremely frustrated.
Although Jayn and Gadeli were in a bad mood, they were amazed by Shana's fighting prowess. Even three Calamity Grade couldn't hold her back. If it weren't for Black Star's burst of power at the crucial moment, the two of them probably wouldn't have been able to defeat the enemy on their own.
After the three rested and exchanged information, Dotter finally sent a message, urgently inquiring about the situation:
"What's wrong with you? What just happened?"
"A strange superhuman, possibly with an A+ level of ability, suddenly attacked me. Their origins are unknown..."
Han Xiao explained it once, then a thought struck him, and he casually asked someone from the Amethyst Civilization to help him investigate.
"No problem, we will thoroughly investigate the other party's identity, and I will let you know if there are any results."
Dotter solemnly agreed, then said to the three, "We are still preparing for the formation of a united force. There should be new developments sometime this year, at which time we will summon all partners. Please be prepared at all times."
The three had no objections and talked for a while longer before ending Dotter's communication.
Han Xiao put away the communicator and looked at the two of them, "What are you planning to do next?"
The two wore wry smiles.
"We're so unlucky," Gadeli sighed.
"We'll go back and recruit more men and buy more warships," Jayn said helplessly. "Hopefully we can make up for this loss."
Upon hearing this, Han Xiao immediately had an idea. Both of them were powerful Grade A superhumans, and their forces had suffered heavy losses. Perhaps he could try recruiting them.
"Actually, you can join my Black Star Army. With your strength, you have no problem becoming the vice-captain. I sincerely invite you to join me."
Han Xiao smiled slightly and extended an invitation.
The two were taken aback, exchanged a glance, and looked thoughtful before giving their reply.
"Thank you for the invitation, but I have no plans to join any other faction at the moment," Jayn politely declined.
"I still prefer building my own power base, sorry." Gadeli shook his head.
"It's alright, my invitation is valid indefinitely. We can discuss the details anytime you're interested."
Han Xiao didn't take it to heart and wasn't too disappointed.
Recruiting Calamity Grade powerhouse is far more difficult than recruiting Grade B. Every Grade A superhuman is qualified to rule a region, and strength is often proportional to ambition. He was not surprised that Jayn and Gadeli wanted to build their own power and become regional overlords, rather than be subordinate to others.
After all, even Beyond Grade A powerhouse might be rejected when recruiting Calamity Grade powerhouse. As high-level individual combatants in the Galaxy, they are still quite reserved in this regard, just like a virgin.
"By the way, Black Star, we'd like to ask you for a favor."
Jayn was a little embarrassed and shook his chest hair.
"Just say what you need to say." Han Xiao tried his best to keep his eyes from being drawn to Jayn's distinctive chest hair.
"Uh, our spaceship was destroyed, so..."
Han Xiao chuckled and patted Jayn on the shoulder. "Don't worry, we're partners in arms after all. Take my spaceship, I'll get you to the nearest port planet."
"Haha, thank you for your help."
Seeing that Black Star was so easy to talk to, Jayn happily stroked his chest hair. His race considered chest hair to be beautiful, and a mouthful of carefully groomed, smooth, and silky chest hair was the epitome of a handsome man, looking just like Second Master Guan's beard.
Han Xiao's forehead veins bulged, and he forced a smile, saying, "Put your clothes on first... don't spill your fur on my boat."
Shana's solo spaceship transformed into a streak of light, traversing the universe.
Inside the cockpit, Shana injected herself with a healing agent, which, combined with her own regenerative abilities, allowed the broken bones to glue back together, barely restoring her normal mobility before she could communicate with her companions.
A projection of Eilet appeared on the screen; he was Shana's mage companion, and they usually acted in pairs.
As soon as the call connected, Eilet spoke.
"Shana, did you catch Black Star...? Huh, you look terrible, what happened?"
I messed up.
Shana's face remained calm as she briefly explained the process.
"Hahaha, you're so pitiful..."
Instead of sharing the blame, Eilet looked gloating and laughed incessantly.
Shana's face turned ugly, and she said hatefully, "I'll kill you one day."
After laughing for a while, Eilet's smile faded, and she said calmly, "You Reckless this time, which makes us seem suspicious. We all need to keep a low profile for a while."
Shana snorted and remained silent, making no excuses for her failure, yet feeling no shame either. A mistake was a mistake; it wasn't a big deal to her.
"Black Star's combat strength has been underestimated. Although you didn't reveal our intelligence, it has put him on guard, making him more difficult to capture. We'd better put him aside for now and deal with other targets first."
Eilet said slowly, "Anyway, you should go back to headquarters to rest and then meet up with me. We'll discuss the next steps then... Remember to shake off all spies and don't reveal our location."
You don't need to emphasize that.
Shana spoke coldly, hung up the communication, activated her concealment device, and turned to head towards the base camp.
Unbeknownst to her, a large eyeball was silently watching her from the void.
After seeing off his teammates from the future Section Zero, Jayn and Gadeli, Han Xiao drove straight back to the Garton Star System and stopped at the main base on Planet Golden Gate.
The nearby mercenaries all saw the landing spaceship, recognized it as Han Xiao's vehicle, and knew that their leader had returned from some wild adventures. They paid their respects for a while.
The Blacklight Stealth parked directly in Han Xiao's private hangar. He went straight to the Planet Core through the access dog channel and, without saying a word, went directly to Fording.
Generally speaking, Fording trains his telekinesis on the base's rooftop. When Han Xiao arrived at the rooftop, he immediately saw Fording sitting cross-legged in mid-air, with ripples of telekinetic energy constantly emanating from him.
Fording closed his eyes and sang a song. His telekinetic techniques were inherited from Morning Star, using telekinesis through singing. His lips parted slightly, and the heavenly song was like a spirit in the wind, soothing fatigue and pain. Han Xiao's mood also calmed down.
His singing can surround the entire base and has an amplifying effect, giving players a temporary positive buff. This is a unique feature of the main base on Planet Golden Gate; you can get buffs here. Fording is essentially a human broadcast background music.
Fording carried his older sister with him, inherited all of Morning Star's knowledge, and possessed extremely strong talent, resulting in rapid growth in his strength.
Two years ago, he was already able to suppress Morning Star on his own, but he did not leave. Instead, he stayed with the Black Star Army to cultivate in silence, occasionally traveling around with mercenaries, leading a colorful life.
Sometimes he would go out alone to travel to other places, but he would always return to the Black Star Army to rest and recuperate. Han Xiao was happy to be his support, as long as he was allowed to touch him.
Full marks are given for touching the target, zero marks are given for not touching the target.
However, Fording's personal mission was not yet complete. Ever since Fording fulfilled his promise and handed over Morning Star's tens of millions of dollars in savings to Han Xiao, his relationship with Morning Star had changed from an ambiguous period to a cold war.
Han Xiao estimated that only after the two of them opened their hearts, opened the door to a new world, and faced the fact that they were perverts who liked spiritual communication, could they enter the honeymoon phase, allowing him to complete his mission.
There was another person in the corner of the rooftop. Aroshia sat listening to music. Two years ago, Han Xiao shared the quest to find memory locations with the players. The quest had been very successful in the past two years, and the progress was fast. It was about to be completed. Aroshia liked to listen to Fording sing, as it stimulated her to recall more fragments of her memories.
Upon seeing Han Xiao Han Xiao, Aroshia's arm transformed into energy, gently wrapping around him like a ribbon as a greeting.
Sensing Han Xiao's footsteps, Fording stopped singing, turned around, and smiled, "Black Star, what do you need me for?"
"It's nothing, you sing yours, I'm just here to try my luck."
Han Xiao stepped forward, patted Fording for a while, and then turned and left without looking back.
Fording touched his nose and gave a helpless, wry smile.
He always felt that Black Star had some misunderstanding about him. Was he just lucky? How come Black Star didn't know?
Han Xiao thoroughly enjoyed himself, then left the rooftop. On the way, he opened the panel and, taking advantage of his good fortune, hurriedly calculated the first reward of [Prey], drawing one of Shana's abilities.
[First ring completed]
[You have received a reward: Draw one of Shana's abilities (skills/features)]
[Note: Shana is a special ability user; some of the skills you can draw have their effects automatically adjusted based on your class.]
[Randomly selecting... Selection complete]
Please choose one of the following five abilities as a reward:
[1. [Magnetic Field Vision] - Specialty: You have a keen insight into magnetic fields, Mechanical Affinity +12%, Mechanical Force Bonus Range +6%]
[2. [Magnetic Force - Vortex] - Skill: Control skill. Releases a magnetic force that attracts a large external magnetic field. There is a chance to inflict the [Confusion] status on all targets within a certain area. The probability depends on the Intelligence attribute and the external environment. Consumes 160 Qi, cooldown 46 seconds.]
[3. [Electromagnetic·Chaotic Speed Star] - Skill: Ranged skill, stacks electromagnetic acceleration force on multiple objects, accumulates massive kinetic energy and fires it, dealing 210~742 damage to a single object, the value depends on the object's size and the electromagnetic force accumulation time, consumes 75 stamina, cooldown 12s]
[4. [Strong Magnetic Field Shield] - Skill: Defensive skill, enhanced Practical Combat Mechanical Force Techniques. Creates a magnetic field shield within a three-meter radius of the user. The shield value Infinite, and maintaining the shield requires continuous energy consumption. If the damage received exceeds a critical point within one second, the magnetic field shield will briefly shatter. Cooldown: 2.5 seconds. The shattering critical point depends on the energy consumed per second, and the maximum damage received at the critical point cannot exceed 22,000. Furthermore, each time the shield takes damage, it will consume additional energy.]
[5. [Super Electromagnetic Induction] - Specialty: Your "Magnetic" attribute strength is enhanced, and the value of each strength bonus will vary greatly.]
These skills were all the result of adjustments, which didn't surprise Han Xiao, because all of Shana's skills basically came from her own superpowers. It was impossible for him to obtain her superpowers, and most of the skills that increased the strength of the "Magnetic Field Metal Manipulation" superpower would not work on him.
Fortunately, Magnetic Field Metal Manipulation is a good fit for the Mechanic Class, and many skill adjustments have made it very useful for the Mechanic Class as well.
After a quick glance, Han Xiao found nothing particularly outstanding, but nothing particularly bad either; he thought the draw was just average.
"If I hadn't touched Fording, I probably would have drawn some bad luck. It seems Fording's luck has balanced out my bad luck."
Han Xiao mentally numbed himself with a self-deceptive mentality reminiscent of Ah Q.