Chapter 1 The Sound of Inhaling

"Hiss—"

The sound of gasps rang out one after another. The surrounding crowd cast incredulous, envious, and jealous glances. Those squeezed around Han Xiao hastily retreated, isolating him and making him extremely conspicuous.

"Who is that guy? What's his relationship with Morning Star?"

"Why him?"

"What a lucky bastard, damn it, why not me…"

Han Xiao remained unfazed and nodded. "Alright."

"Please come with me."

Morning Star turned around, and Han Xiao followed, trailing behind the group. Morning Star's assistant communicated with the organizers, and the officials quickly verified Han Xiao's identity. It turned out he was a mercenary they had cooperated with, and he had a Dragon Tamer background, making him trustworthy. Although it was inappropriate to allow a mercenary into the venue, they agreed to the request out of consideration for Han Xiao's clean record and Morning Star's reputation.

Walking through the passage and boarding the celebration spaceship, Sylvia looked bewildered, not understanding what was happening. She had boarded the celebration venue she had dreamed of in a daze. Coming back to her senses, she hurriedly tugged at Han Xiao's clothes, marveling, "You actually did it?!"

"Judging from my understanding of you, your memory hasn't deteriorated to the point of idiocy yet. Perhaps I should make you memorize a few more books to exercise it?" Han Xiao stared at Morning Star's back, keeping his eyes straight ahead.

"I-I thought you were lying…" Sylvia didn't know what to say. It was just as Han Xiao had said, the two of them were invited aboard, but she never dreamed that the inviter would be Morning Star, and it seemed like a spontaneous decision.

Suppressing her excitement, she couldn't wait to ask, "How did you do it?"

"No matter how many people there are, they can't hide my charm." Han Xiao said perfunctorily.

The real reason, of course, was the [Mysterious Statue] Han Xiao carried with him. Morning Star had a special perception of the spiritual undercurrent contained in the statue. As long as it was within a certain range, it would definitely attract his attention, so Han Xiao knew that Morning Star would invite him aboard for this reason.

…

After everyone boarded, the main star's major cities launched a series of fireworks. Then, with a rumble, the celebration vessel, 'Beauty and Celebration', took off, orbiting around Fairland Main Star. The ship radiated a colorful glow, and people on the surface could look up and see the giant spaceship, resembling a celestial body in orbit.

Han Xiao was arranged in the VIP room of Morning Star's team. Morning Star didn't talk to him immediately but went to prepare for the show. He instructed his assistant that if Han Xiao asked about the reason for the invitation, he should tell him that he would meet with him privately after the celebration.

However, the assistant waited and waited, but Han Xiao didn't show any curiosity. After entering the room, he kept his eyes closed, seemingly not caring at all about why he was invited. After waiting for a long time without any reaction, the assistant had to speak first.

"This… sir, Morning Star wants to talk to you after the celebration. Please be patient and enjoy the show."

"Mm." Han Xiao was economical with his words.

In fact, he knew Morning Star inside and out and had no intention of asking.

After a while, the audience was seated, and the dome suddenly cracked open, revealing the starry universe. A thin layer of energy shield isolated the vacuum. This was the central location of the spaceship, and it was actually a giant open-air stage!

The VIP room vibrated and slowly rose, suspended in mid-air, tilted downwards at a forty-five-degree angle. One wall was a transparent screen, looking down at the stage, taking in the entire view. The VIP room itself had a gravity stabilizer. Although the room was tilted, the people inside were sitting steadily on their chairs. There were more than two hundred such VIP rooms, like balloons floating above the stage.

The stage lit up, shimmering with colorful lights, twinkling in the universe, dazzling and magnificent. A grand performance unfolded in the universe.

At the same time, countless citizens of New Fairland watched the magnificent scene through broadcasts, a celebration for billions of people, the focus of all attention.

Sylvia was awestruck by the grandeur. This was the first time she had personally participated in the celebration.

She had begged her father many times, but he had always refused. However, Han Xiao had done what her father couldn't, fulfilling her wish.

Sylvia turned to look at Han Xiao, her heart filled with complex emotions.

This person was both an enemy and a benefactor, both a debtor and a teacher…

Sensing her gaze, Han Xiao said faintly, "What?"

"Nothing, old…" Sylvia pursed her lips, "Old geezer."

"What kind of weird title is that? Are your eyes not working properly?" Han Xiao looked at her suspiciously.

The celebration performance continued. Han Xiao was not a citizen of New Fairland and was not interested in those formalities. However, the performance was quite wonderful. The grand finale performer was none other than Morning Star.

All the light gathered on Morning Star. On the huge stage, only the place where he stood was lit, while the rest was in darkness. However, just standing there, he exuded a special aura, as if the entire stage was filled by him alone, and the whole audience fell silent.

The first note floated out from under Morning Star's veil, ethereal and pure, like the sound of nature. The song seemed to become the torrent of time, taking the audience back to the distant ancient times, transforming into the first pioneers, looking up at dawn, at the boundary between darkness and light, the first morning star emitting a faint but firm light, carrying both light and darkness.

Before the performance, the audience had taken off their translators, unwilling to interfere with their enjoyment of the pure singing. At this moment, even if they couldn't understand the lyrics, the vastness contained in the song captured every heart. Countless images seemed to flash before the audience's eyes: stars shining and dimming, all things repeating in cycles.

As he sang, the light on the stage began to spread. At the highest note, the light suddenly filled the stage, and beams of light shot out toward the depths of the universe.

A tremor originating from the soul rushed into the brain along the audience's spine.

"What a beautiful song…" Sylvia murmured to herself, in a state of intoxication.

Han Xiao's eyes flashed.

The song, containing surging psychic power, was indeed very infectious.

‘Spending so much money on such a grand performance is enough to buy several spaceships. What a waste…’

Han Xiao shook his head. Art was definitely not for him.

The singing ended. Whether the audience was present or watching on screen, they were immersed in it, reluctant to leave. Morning Star bowed slightly and retreated from the stage. After he left, thunderous applause surged like a tide.

Han Xiao stood up, twisted his neck, and looked at the assistant. "Take me to see him."

…

In a private room, Han Xiao and Sylvia sat waiting as guests.

The door creaked open, and Morning Star, who had just finished his performance, walked in, smiling apologetically. "Sorry to have kept you waiting. I hope you enjoyed the performance just now."

"You sing a little bit better than me." Han Xiao nodded.

Sylvia widened her eyes, shocked by his shamelessness.

Morning Star smiled, removed his veil, revealing his delicate features. From a human aesthetic point of view, he was very handsome. By the way, human aesthetics were the most common in the universe.

The most beautiful woman Han Xiao had ever seen was Aroshia. In terms of appearance alone, Morning Star was second only to Aroshia, but this was a male with a dick… it was quite exciting, but he wasn't into that.

"I know you're curious about why I invited you," Morning Star said.

"Mm, I'm curious." Han Xiao was expressionless.

No, you're not curious at all!

Sylvia screamed wildly in her heart.

"The thing is, my side job is a collector. I like to collect some special items, and you seem to have something I want."

As he spoke, Morning Star took out a statue. Except for the different shape, the material and size were exactly the same as the one in Han Xiao's hand.

Seeing this, Han Xiao took out the [Mysterious Statue] he carried with him, his tone surprised.

"Wow, what a coincidence!"

Coincidence my ass!

Sylvia's expression twisted, and she struggled to hold it in.

"Your friend doesn't seem very comfortable. Does she need to go to the bathroom…" Morning Star said with concern, "Or should I call a doctor for her?"

"No need, thank you." Han Xiao turned his head and glared at her.

Morning Star shrugged and continued, "This is a set of collectibles. Originally, there were four pieces, two of which are here, and two of which are scattered outside. Once two pieces are close together, within a certain range, you can sense the location of the other statues."

Morning Star chuckled, leaning lazily against the back of the chair, with a hint of femininity. His demeanor didn't resemble a male at all. "I just heard that you are a Star Mercenary, so I would like to ask you to find the last two statues for me. I will pay for this. How about 100,000 Enas?"

"O-one h-hun…" Sylvia almost choked.

This was too generous!!

Han Xiao wasn't surprised. It was normal for celebrities to be rich.

Moreover, this mission was famous in his previous life, and one of the reasons was that the reward was completely mismatched with the difficulty of the mission.

"Okay, are there any requirements?" Han Xiao's lips curled slightly.

"Requirements…" Morning Star tapped his finger on his lips, "Of course, the sooner the better."

[You have triggered a C-level quest [Finding the Statues]]

[Quest Introduction: A singer named Morning Star is collecting a strange statue. He hopes you can find the remaining statues for him.]

[Quest Requirements: Find the other two [Mysterious Statues]]

[Note: When you have two statues, if there are other statues within a certain range, you will be aware of it.]

[Reward: Basic reward 100,000 Enas, 1.1 million experience]

[After the quest is completed, it will be rated based on the completion time. The shorter the time, the higher the rating, and additional rewards will be given.]

"The mission is in hand."

Han Xiao's eyes narrowed.

This was exactly the mission he had specially come to trigger. It was one of the most suitable missions he had listed from his memories for farming ratings.

Searching for items wasn't difficult, but it was very time-consuming. He had to run around to find the location of the remaining statues and inquire about information from many people. The process was complicated, and time was the basis for the rating.

But for Han Xiao, there was no difficulty at all. Thanks to the old iron buddies from his previous life (referring to the players), he himself knew the location of the last two statues. He could skip the entire search process, go straight to the point, and get a high rating without any suspense.

Not going to find A-level missions to take head-on, he had to act circuitously, using high-rated missions to get the chance of random rewards and draw a mission settlement card.

The reward of the mission itself was not important. Each random reward was the key.