Chapter 1 Jinmen Star

The trip back and forth took almost a month. Han Xiao brought the twenty-four stolen spaceships back to Base Number One. The captured ships were smaller and, after repainting them to remove the messy exterior designs, they were incorporated into the assault fleet.

The Raven Cannon-class warship was the same level as the Kuang隼-class warship. After being stored in the hangar and repaired, they could be put into use.

Adding these spaceships obtained from the double-cross, Han Xiao's fleet was close to one hundred ships, divided into four units. The first was the Fortress-class flagship as a separate unit, which was the strategic core. The second was the warship unit composed of the Kuang隼-class and Raven Cannon-class, responsible for guarding and frontal combat. The third was the assault ship unit composed of the DarkStar assault ships and Star Pirate raiding ships, which excelled in speed. The fourth was the leased transport ship unit, used to transport a large number of personnel.

As for the BlackLight Stealth, that was Han Xiao's exclusive vehicle. Produced by the Guanghui Federation, its level and performance far exceeded the other spaceships of the Black Star Army. Risda was also unwilling to let too many people use his body.

Watching the last spaceship park into the hangar, Han Xiao asked Philip to close the hangar door and lock Slek and the other prisoners in the secret prison of Base Number One.

This prison was built with extremely tough alloy and was equipped with a large number of automatic defense weapons, such as defense turrets, nerve gas, etc., as well as tranquilizer pipe injectors, high-temperature cutting ray railings, strong electromagnetic confinement suction cups, large vacuum suction fields, and other control methods. The walls were equipped with a large number of miniature cameras, and Philip monitored them around the clock to prevent the prisoners from escaping.

However, on the way back, he extracted the Supergene from this group of prisoners every day, including Slek, who appeared very weak.

Because the Calamity Grade had stronger recovery ability, Slek received special attention, and his production capacity was more than five times that of others.

Han Xiao had already stored hundreds of bottles of ability potions, sorted into categories. Some were kept for his own use, and some were put into the Faction Store for sale.

Inside Base Number One, bridges crisscrossed like a honeycomb. Han Xiao walked on the road, and players could be seen everywhere, gradually becoming familiar with the new main city.

Many people looked at Han Xiao. He was a well-known NPC in the eyes of the players, and also the Faction Leader. When players saw him, they had a feeling of seeing a close acquaintance. Many people would take the initiative to say hello, and Han Xiao nodded in response.

The Faction had a backlog of many affairs waiting to be dealt with. Han Xiao checked on Sylvia's homework, then returned to his room, took out a concentrated nutrient bar from the refrigerator, and processed the affairs while chewing.

The first problem was to deal with the aftermath of the numerous player employment missions.

Except for Suilun Star, most of the players who were hired to work in various parts of Garton Star System had completed their missions and returned. This was the first large-scale employment activity of the Black Star Army. Han Xiao attached great importance to it and asked Philip to screen out the problematic records and check them one by one.

Of course, not all players went smoothly. Some players had a low mission completion rate, and a small number of people even messed around, making the employment a mess, which implicated the reputation of the Black Star Army. For the former, Han Xiao would ask Philip to sincerely apologize to the employer in the name of the Black Star Army. For the latter, the mercenary file credit points would be reduced. This was equivalent to a criminal record, and the level of acceptable missions would be reduced.

Since the Black Star Army was to be expanded with the help of players, Han Xiao was prepared for the problems that would follow. For the time being, these were all minor problems. The impact of the players was naturally far greater than the disadvantages.

The first large-scale employment activity stabilized the reputation brought by the Godora Medal Ceremony.

Nowadays, employers in the Garton Star System prefer the local Black Star Army when looking for mercenaries. The Mercenary Alliance has certified the Black Star Army's leading position in the Garton Star System and continuously provides a large number of high-quality local employment missions.

This had a consequence: the mercenary industry in the Garton Star System was gradually being monopolized by the Black Star Army. Although a Star System had a large population, not many people necessarily needed to use mercenaries. Free mercenaries active in the Garton Star System suddenly found that they could hardly find high-quality employment anymore. The mission list given by the Mercenary Alliance was mostly low-paying work.

Free mercenaries were very envious of the business enjoyed by the Black Star Army. Many people found that if the Black Star Army continued to develop according to this trend, the employment backlog in the Garton Star System would be completed sooner or later, and then the newly added employment missions would be taken away by the Black Star Army. These free mercenaries might have no work to do, which was a very bad prospect.

The rise of the Black Star Army could not be stopped. There were three trends among the free mercenaries in the Garton Star System. The first was to ignore future development and be satisfied with the status quo. The second was to leave the Garton Star System and find work elsewhere.

The third was to apply to join the Black Star Army.

A large number of free mercenaries chose this path. The Black Star Army was now of considerable size and had an excellent reputation. Since the Black Star Army had a tendency to monopolize the mercenary business in the Garton Star System, joining Black Star was also a very good choice. It was good to be under the shade of a big tree, and they could turn from victims into beneficiaries and enjoy the Black Star's business.

In Han Xiao's business strategy, there was a plan to improve the reputation through players and use this to attract free mercenaries. After the players joined, the scale had exploded to hundreds of thousands of people, the infrastructure was basically complete, and the funds were abundant, so he did not intend to control the number of people. He asked Philip to screen the files of these free mercenaries who applied to join, eliminate some who obviously wanted to rub missions, and keep the mercenaries who were capable and had achievements.

The first batch of free mercenaries who passed the screening numbered about six or seven thousand.

However, this number would still change. Han Xiao asked Philip to send a notice to this group of mercenaries, setting a date, and telling them to come to Base Number One for an interview in fifteen days. It was estimated that some people would be brushed off at that time, and only those who were finally left would be the new mercenaries who were truly recruited into the Black Star Army.

Recruiting more free mercenaries was an important part of the Black Star Army's expansion.

The second matter to be dealt with was still related to the players.

After the first independent employment activity, this group of players had a concrete understanding of the interstellar environment and mission process. Many players on the forum shared the difficulties they encountered in performing employment missions.

Han Xiao also paid attention to this aspect of the problem. In his previous life, he also experienced the stage where players were not accustomed to the environment when they first entered the interstellar world, so he had expected this. He basically understood the problems that the players encountered.

As early as a year before the opening of version 2.0, the mechanical production line he built, in addition to manufacturing mechanical equipment, also had a part that was auxiliary props, in order to improve the players' business capabilities.

Now, the players finally had this demand. Han Xiao was prepared to put this part of the mechanical props into the Faction Store as well. Coincidentally, most of the players were about to return to Base Number One after completing the first wave of employment, so the sales would definitely be very hot.

...

In the store area of Base Number One, people were constantly coming in and out. This was the place with the highest density of players.

Although they could shop online through Philip, they could only see the actual products in the store area, and this was also the place to pick up the goods.

Many players were using their newly acquired rewards to buy equipment.

At this moment, the Faction Store suddenly refreshed, and a series of new products were placed at the top, with a striking "new!" sign in the upper right corner.

"There are new products so soon?"

"Let's see what they are."

Every time the store was updated, it would attract a large number of players' attention, and this time was no exception.

Di di di——

In the crowd, the sounds of communicators kept ringing, forming a single piece. Many people took out their communicators and saw that Philip's auxiliary program had also released a notification of the store update, and they could view it in the pre-order list.

Soon, the players discovered that the things that were updated this time were not equipment for combat.

The introduction of the new products jumped into view:

[【Small Land Leveling Core】—Can quickly change the terrain in a small area into flat open space, which can be used to build temporary strongholds. The specific parameters are...]

[【Multifunctional Airdrop Package】—The interior contains a variety of mechanicals needed for airdrops, adapted to various emergencies encountered in airdrops...]

[【Portable Small Folding Bunker】—Can be deployed in an open space to form a temporary alloy fortress as a position, equipped with position weapon slots and basic warning functions...]

[【Automatic Defense Machine Gun Turret】—Large-caliber machine gun, with 1,000 steel-core bullets and 300 sabot rounds, which can provide a certain amount of firepower support...]

[【Patrol Sentry Post】—A small reconnaissance robot with reconnaissance, patrol, and warning functions, which can be used as a position sentry post...]

[【Anti-interference Electromagnetic Bracelet】—Resists electromagnetic interference and data intrusion to a certain extent...]

[【Portable Strong Electromagnetic Jammer】—Jams the operation of mechanicals within a certain range...]

[【Nuclear Magnetic Power Flight Backpack】—Provides long-term flight capability, with a self-destruct function...]

[【Stress Resonator】—Adjusts the vibration frequency to shatter metal and concrete buildings over a large area...]

[【Worker Bee Armor】—A soldier-style mining armor for collecting ore and fuel, equipped with multi-functional excavation tools and energy mine guns. The armor has a high load-bearing capacity and is suitable for transporting ore...]

The players faced complex environments when performing employment missions, and the mission requirements were different, including but not limited to infiltration, pursuit, collection, reconnaissance, assassination, frontal combat, etc., and it was easy for emergencies to occur.

Although these mechanicals that Han Xiao added were not equipment to improve combat effectiveness, they could adapt to many situations and belonged to tactical props, which could effectively improve the players' ability to cope with accidents and increase their business capabilities as mercenaries.

The technology of these mechanicals was not high, but they were things that the players needed very much, and they belonged to cheap and affordable auxiliary props.

Among them, for example, the machine gun turret was something that Han Xiao had made long ago. He had been using the turret flow all the time, but he was now selling it to players on a large scale. Electromagnetic turrets or energy turrets, which were more high-end, had not been taken out for sale yet. What he was selling were gunpowder turrets. The current average level of the players was around Level 70, and gunpowder turrets could still be used.

At present, some Mechanic-class players could also manufacture some of these products, but whether in terms of quality, cost, or production capacity, the cost performance was far lower than directly purchasing the Black Star Army's products.

These functional props just met the new needs of the players.

"Seems very useful."

"I'm about to take on employment, this wave of new products is very timely."

Many players looked surprised.

Not only the players in Base Number One, but also the players who were doing missions on Suilun or other planets received Philip's notification and were moved.

In particular, the 200,000 players on Suilun Star needed to deal with complex wilderness situations and clear the Whispering Stone ore veins underground to deal with the Evil Menace. The appearance of the [Worker Bee Armor] was simply a timely help.

The number of warehouses was limited, and the players rushed to buy them. These new products were cheap and in great demand. In less than twenty minutes, the inventory was sold out and all of them were ordered. Many people did not buy them and did not hesitate to spend money to pre-order.

The players were already accustomed to the "growth-type Faction" characteristics of the Black Star Army. They felt that this time, the players of the Black Star Army had worked together to drive the Faction's development, which was why this wave of equipment was updated. Looking at the new products in the Faction Store, many players felt a sense of accomplishment.

...

After adding these auxiliary props, Han Xiao was also observing the sales situation. Because they were functional props, they were positioned as cheap and affordable, and the prices were relatively low. However, after selling all the inventory, his funds climbed steadily in less than half an hour, and the players' money poured into his personal account.

This transaction earned him a full 6.6 million Enas!

With the funding from Norios and the income from selling the inventory of equipment last time, Han Xiao's savings amounted to 44 million Enas!

This was a huge sum of money.

"The funds are very abundant. With this money, I can build a mechanical army as I wish." Han Xiao was very satisfied.

With so much money, if he only used it for himself, it would take a long time to spend it, but obviously, these funds would also be used to maintain the operation of the Black Star Army and support the expansion of the Black Star Army.

The development blueprint that Han Xiao formulated for the Black Star Army was very grand. He planned to use the Garton Star System as a base, select dozens of important NPC resource planets, and continuously establish sub-bases to turn the Garton Star System into the Black Star Army's stronghold and firmly control the mercenary business here, even forming a monopoly.

Then, he would expand the business to other Star Systems and establish sub-bases in other Star Systems, expanding step by step. This would require a lot of money to be burned in many places, such as adding a large number of spaceships, recruiting a large number of people, and establishing cooperative relationships with more forces, etc.

The mercenary group status was just a stepping stone. Han Xiao's real goal was to create a super-large armed force. The War Realm was a precedent.

The funds estimated to be spent on this blueprint were an astronomical figure that he could not estimate either.

All he knew was that the current money was far from enough.

The task was heavy and the road was long.

"But well, this can't be developed in a short period of time anyway. Anyway, the sales channels have been set up and the profits are continuous, so I don't need to be particularly frugal with the funds."

Han Xiao smiled, took out his communicator, and ordered a large batch of mechanical materials from the raw material supplier he had been cooperating with.

Finally, he was free and had time to completely strengthen all his combat equipment to the Calamity Grade level!

"I hope there won't be any more sudden events like the Violet Serpent Star Pirates recently..." Han Xiao thought to himself.