Chapter 1 The Great Technician Han Has Evolved

Han Xiao had undergone a racial evolution, optimizing his genes, naturally possessing a handsome appearance. Sometimes, when he looked in the mirror, he would be captivated by his own handsomeness. However, his charm attribute was more akin to affability, influencing the initial favorability and hidden options when interacting with other characters. Some skills also depended on charm, such as summoning and beast taming.

Insufficient affability might cause others to refuse in-depth communication with you.

In his previous life, the player for this task must have met the charm requirement, so they didn't encounter any obstacles. With Han Xiao's vast experience, if the task in his memory couldn't be triggered as expected, it was likely that a hidden prerequisite hadn't been met, and charm was a common requirement.

However, Han Xiao wouldn't spend points on charm. He didn't lack tasks, and friendliness was useless; strength was what mattered!

Sure enough, Fording, worthy of being a protagonist with face-based skills, persuaded Nileja. This task wasn't difficult; it only required investigating the target planet. Even investigating the wreckage of the ship would complete it. However, obtaining a high rating wasn't easy; it required finding most of the truth behind the scientific team's accident and locating the missing investigator. The task name, "Star Roamer," itself was a clue for the players.

Finding Nileja's wife was also a way to improve the rating, whether alive or dead.

In the task rewards, the monetary reward was in gray, indicating it was locked. This meant that no matter how high the rating, there would be no extra money. Nileja only had that much money.

"The timing of me triggering this task is several years earlier than in my previous life, so there should be some differences in the process. There are many uncertain factors, but the key points should remain the same..." Han Xiao mused.

In his previous life, players accepted the task with a different background. At that time, the Godora headquarters had already dispatched investigation teams, and more than once. However, all of them had gone missing, though they had transmitted some new information before disappearing. They said that the planet was shrouded in a strange magnetic field that could disrupt most conventional communications. As a result, all the landing investigation teams went missing. The wreckage of the ship could only be seen from the space station's telescope, leading to the conclusion that the investigation team must have encountered other accidents before losing contact and crashing.

Since it was a natural factor, the investigation bureau's headquarters didn't pay much attention—the headquarters was responsible for investigating incidents throughout an entire star system, and the backlog of tasks was countless, keeping them very busy. Only extremely important events would be transferred to real people for judgment by the intelligent system. The headquarters' event processing AI system arranged the processing order based on task importance, so this task was placed on the regular schedule. After another investigation team was sent and also went missing, all the investigators were presumed dead, and on-site exploration of the planet was halted. Instead, the astronomical observatory was asked to study the planet's environment first.

Thus, the investigation was temporarily shelved. When the players arrived, the problem was finally solved. No one was more suitable for exploration than players who couldn't die.

It was worth mentioning that the deputy station chief Han Xiao encountered at this time had already been promoted to station chief by then and still revealed the task clues.

Now, these clues that should have been known hadn't been revealed yet. Fortunately, Han Xiao remembered them; otherwise, going there rashly would be dangerous. He guessed that if he brought back these clues, they should also count toward the task rating.

Nileja took out his communicator and sent over many documents, his face solemn. "This is the planet's coordinates and the location of the ship crash. My wife's name is Laini; this is her photo. Please find her."

"I understand."

Han Xiao nodded and pulled Fording back to the hall.

After refueling the ship, the station chief appeared again, this time expressing his intention to see them off. Han Xiao had obtained the task he wanted, so he didn't linger. He boarded the ship with everyone and told them about the operation on board.

"You actually accepted a private commission? This is a Godoran internal affair. Won't Godora object if we interfere?" Meros hesitated.

"The planet isn't Godora's anyway. Who says we can't go?"

Han Xiao shrugged and entered the planet's coordinates. It showed as an unnamed planet. The planet hadn't been fully investigated yet, so it wasn't officially named in the database. This was also one of the differences from his previous life.

The universe was vast. Even today, there were still many undiscovered planets. Those numbered resource planets had all been recorded in the database after on-site investigations, and this planet was clearly an unexplored, mysterious planet.

In the dark universe, the ship's tail emitted a faint blue flame, heading towards its destination. It accelerated to the extreme, turning into a warp stream, disappearing into the brilliant galaxy.

...

A few days later.

The porthole revealed a dusty gray asteroid, devoid of vegetation and desolate. There was no star nearby, so the planet couldn't see the sun. The surface temperature was extremely cold, though there were traces of volcanic activity, so it shouldn't have reached absolute zero.

The planet's environment was clearly unsuitable for most living things to survive.

"Put on your protective suits; exposure to the air will damage your body."

As he spoke, Han Xiao put on his Void Dragon Mechanical Suit, adjusting the internal temperature to maintain constant warmth. This power consumption was insignificant to the miniature portable nuclear fission reactor. Although it was nuclear-powered, the radiation was sealed and isolated by the reactor's special shell. Of course, even if it leaked, with Han Xiao's current endurance, he would definitely pass the judgment. Nuclear radiation couldn't hurt him; at most, it would give him a temporary debuff that slightly reduced his attributes.

Meros was holding a spare Viper that Han Xiao lent him, stuffing himself into it, sighing, "Ah, if only the General-level armor my brother gave me was still here."

Han Xiao reached out, expressionless, "Give it back if you're not wearing it."

"Don't be so stingy." Meros chuckled and hurriedly put on the mechanical suit.

Aroshia didn't need a mechanical suit for protection. As long as she became energy, she could ignore harsh natural conditions.

For this mission, Han Xiao only brought Meros and Aroshia. Everyone else stayed on the ship. Their strength wasn't enough, and they would only be a burden.

Because the planet's magnetic field could block communications, Han Xiao had the ship stay in outer space and agreed on a rendezvous time. The three of them used the ship's small aircraft to land on the planet.

The ship entered the edge of the atmosphere, and the belly hatch opened, releasing a small aircraft. This was the Dragon Butterfly reconnaissance aircraft, exactly the model used by the Dragon Taneen Guards. Han Xiao had learned the blueprint a long time ago.

After releasing the aircraft, the ship immediately ascended, leaving the atmosphere.

Inside the aircraft, Han Xiao sat in the driver's seat, skillfully operating the control panel. The other two sat in the co-pilot seats behind him.

"Let's go. The area where the Godora scientific team crashed is down there."

The magnetic field affected the radar, but Han Xiao had already calibrated the position while on the ship. The destination was directly below.

With a pull of the joystick, the anti-gravity thrusters at the bottom of the aircraft glowed faintly, quickly descending.

Everything around was pitch black, making it difficult to see. This kind of planet, not illuminated by stellar light, existed like a ghost in every corner of the universe. Han Xiao switched the aircraft's spectrum observation, and the field of vision lit up, allowing him to see the surrounding environment. At the same time, the scene under this spectral view was covered with a faint red hue.

"About six thousand meters from the ground," Meros reported.

"Buckle up; it might be bumpy next." Han Xiao's eyes flashed, and he suddenly shut down the engine and anti-gravity suspension.

Whoosh—

The aircraft immediately lost weight and plunged headfirst.

Meros' bladder tightened, and he asked in astonishment, "What are you doing?"

Before Han Xiao could answer, the aircraft suddenly shook violently, and electrical sparks burst from the internal circuits. At least three-quarters of the buttons on the control panel malfunctioned.

The radiation monitoring instruments immediately issued an alarm, and a sandstorm-like light and shadow swept across the spectral screen.

"At an altitude of two thousand to six thousand meters on this planet, there is a radiation storm. It can paralyze most of the ship's equipment for a period of time. That's how those scientific team ships crashed. But there's still a buffer altitude of about two thousand meters, and their shields can withstand it, preventing them from crashing into pieces on the ground." Han Xiao explained, "Higher-end ships can withstand it, but Godora's scientific research ships obviously won't be equipped with cutting-edge equipment."

"What should we do?" Meros exclaimed in shock, "Aren't we trapped on this planet? And the ship can't pick us up."

"Don't worry. The radiation storm has periods of weakening every now and then, and we can leave then." Han Xiao wasn't flustered at all. He remembered the mission process, and after completing it, this task would become a Boss-fighting instance. You could get instance crystals by doing daily tasks in that space station. Countless players had visited this planet; he was more than familiar with it.

The planet's gravity was quite high, and the aircraft's falling speed was very fast. In the bumps, it soon passed through the radiation storm, and he saw the ground's impact crater. The distance was rapidly closing. At this altitude, with the strength of the aircraft's shield, the hull would definitely be smashed to pieces.

Of course, the three of them each had their own means. They definitely wouldn't die from the fall, but the aircraft was a resource, and Han Xiao didn't want to abandon it easily. He pressed a button, and gliders popped out on both sides of the aircraft. He switched to the neural mimicry operation mode, connecting the glider to the arm's neuron signals, making it as flexible and free as operating an arm.

With the propulsion engine extinguished, the aircraft slowly changed from falling to gliding, also rapidly approaching the ground.

Boom—

Finally, the aircraft landed at an inclined angle, scraping the ground and scooping up a large amount of sand and dust. The shield generator was still running, the shield flickering, sometimes bright, sometimes dim. The shield and the paralyzed propulsion engine were not the same system and had different principles. Although it was also affected by the radiation storm, it had recovered a certain degree of defense.

Bang bang bang...

It bumped around inside for a while before finally quieting down. Aroshia rubbed her butt, which now wasn't energy and hurt from the shaking.

Han Xiao stood up and pulled down the manual latch on the hatch with a bang. The hatch popped open, and extreme cold rushed in, the constant temperature inside the mechanical suit dropping a lot in an instant before slowly rising back.

"Air temperature, about one hundred degrees below zero, relative humidity... huh, it's actually quite high. It seems this planet has a water source."

Han Xiao moved his hands and feet, taking a breath of the built-in oxygen. He didn't want to be running around naked in this place without the mechanical suit.

Aroshia almost froze and hurriedly transformed into an energy body. After reaching Grade B, she had more refined control over her Esper Ability. At this time, after becoming energy, she maintained her human form. All the details like facial features were maintained, except that her body was glowing energy; everything else remained the same.

"Without radar, and the landing location is a bit off course. It seems we can only slowly search for the wreckage of the scientific research ship." Meros looked around, feeling lost.

Han Xiao squatted down, touching the ground. Underneath the rough black sand was hard rock. The ground density was relatively high. Then he looked up, searching for certain marks in the sky.

Soon, he used the mechanical suit's vision zoom to see the light emitted by the ship staying in outer space. So, he pointed in that direction.

"No need to search. The target is over there."