Chapter 115 The Forum

On the forum, many player mercenaries were sharing their experiences. The Aquamarine Star section had become the most popular area, with players from other newbie planets occasionally sneaking over to watch.

Some complained about the various bizarre alien species, some photographed the magnificent cosmic landscapes, and some took photos with well-known NPCs… mainly Aroshia, Fording, and Sylvia.

Han Xiao had promised Rhysda, so he released the images Aroshia remembered to all players, writing a new mission to have hundreds of thousands of players search together, naturally increasing efficiency.

Meatbun and *Galaxy Times* followed the trend closely, both releasing new videos about the experiences of the first batch of interstellar players, introducing the Black Star Army and the various functions of No. 1 Base. At the same time, the awarding ceremony of the faction leader Black Star received special attention.

Han Xiao was already a well-known NPC in the eyes of the players, and once again increased his presence.

Interspersed among these was another popular post, namely, the changes on Aquamarine Star.

There were still hundreds of thousands of players on Aquamarine Star working hard to pass the No. 2 Base assessment. They witnessed the interstellar consortium helping Aquamarine Star develop, and they also received more mission opportunities.

Han Xiao learned from the posts that, with the help of the interstellar consortium, Aquamarine Star had ushered in a technological explosion, with various fields blossoming, countless buildings rising from the ground, and was rapidly entering the interstellar era.

He was not surprised by this. He knew there would be such consequences when he promoted it to the interstellar reporters.

However, in the eyes of the players, the transformation of Aquamarine Star could be summarized in one sentence:

When one attains enlightenment, all their pets ascend to heaven!

The chronicle compiled by the players clearly recorded the changes on Aquamarine Star. The current transformation was almost entirely driven by Han Xiao alone.

Because of Black Star's influence in the universe, Aquamarine Star was able to develop rapidly.

Allowing hundreds of millions of Aquamarine Star people to benefit, Black Star was a great man of this planet by this alone.

This glorious image possessed extremely high personal charisma. Many Aquamarine Star players secretly developed a sense of cohesion. Sentiment has always been an inexplicable thing.

…

A few days later.

The players' movements were roughly divided into four types.

First, staying at No. 1 Base, getting familiar with the new main city, and triggering missions from the stationed Black Star mercenaries.

Second, those who suffered from indecision and choice paralysis, ultimately staying on the prosperous Golden Gate Star, deciding to start from this planet and unearth missions and events.

Third, accepting different employment missions, following Philip's guidance, taking interstellar travel groups that offered preferential terms to the Black Star Army, going to different star regions in the Garton Star System, doing missions while exploring the interstellar space.

Finally, two hundred thousand players who accepted the Sunil rescue mission followed the Sunil mercenary squad led by Melos, taking Black Star Army's warships, heading to Planet Sunil in a mighty manner.

The players' subjective initiative was very strong, and they were only in the early stages of entering the interstellar space, so they chose to be more cautious.

Because of their unfamiliarity with the interstellar world, they were likely to violate different laws, so the employment missions Han Xiao issued were temporarily limited to the Garton Star System, and Philip's subprogram would promptly remind them of local laws and regulations, minimizing the chance of players breaking the law.

However, there would always be players with excessively high chaotic attributes who liked to mess around. After all, players did not like being restrained, and their minds were as vast as black holes.

Han Xiao knew too much about the players' "creativity", so he was not blindly optimistic because of the current good situation.

As the saying goes, people's hearts are like water, and the masses move like smoke, especially the players who were born with chaos. For this reason, Han Xiao had prepared an emergency program long ago, and it would be used sooner or later. He did not have a desire for control, but a punishment mechanism must exist.

Of course, it was still a smooth early stage, and he was still very happy.

Most of the players left No. 1 Base with curiosity and excitement, embarking on employment missions and exploring different star regions.

This was the first batch of employment missions. After experiencing the Alienization Disaster and the DarkStar incident for several months, the Black Star Army's business finally officially started.

Han Xiao set up a pre-order equipment function for Philip's subprogram, so that players active outside could also view faction products, which was more convenient. They could pay in advance and pick up the goods when they returned to the base.

However, players could also pay an extra fee to purchase door-to-door delivery services. The cost depended on the distance, and the goods would be shipped together after a certain batch was accumulated. But if they were willing to spend more money to purchase private transportation services, they could be shipped immediately.

Shipping costs were higher than labor and fuel costs. This was a means of generating additional revenue, but the players were still very poor, so this service was still in the trial operation stage, and the specific details were yet to be improved. Due to the vastness of the interstellar world, the cosmic logistics industry was extremely developed. With Han Xiao's current reputation, it was not difficult to find several logistics companies to reach a cooperation. He could even build his own logistics transportation channels.

Building a large mercenary group was like building a business group. Transportation, reputation, manpower, assets, treatment, business scope, and so on all needed to be considered. Players were like a company's trump card project, containing great benefits, which could be harvested wave after wave, continuously bringing profits. So the current work was to improve all aspects of the faction around the trump card project.

…

Melos led the team to Sunil. In case of emergency, Han Xiao put an observation mark on him. This was the third mark.

Some time ago, he had tried the [Chaotic Observer] race talent. The field of vision could cross the limitations of physical distance, and the perspective was locked within a certain range of the marker. He saw Aroshia gorging herself, and he saw Seer V working diligently, while the observed person was completely unaware. It was simply a peeping artifact.

No. 1 Base suddenly became much empty. In addition to the players who stayed, only Aroshia and Sylvia stayed at the base. The others took the mercenaries to do some medium- and high-difficulty missions.

Han Xiao also stayed at the base.

With more than 30 million Enas in his account, his confidence was as thick as a dragon. With a wave of his hand, he directly purchased a large amount of materials.

Money was the combat power of the army flow. He had advanced to the Heavenly Disaster grade and could create more powerful machinery. He was preparing to strengthen the original mechanical legion, not only to restore the previous legion organization, but also to add some new numbered troops.

Han Xiao was preparing to go into seclusion to manufacture. This would take some time. Fortunately, he had hundreds of thousands of alloy livers in his command, running fully automatically, giving him more free time to do other things.

Anyway, Ames did not urge him, and he was not in a hurry to send Hela and Aurora to Longtan.

"I still owe the Norius Consortium a loan of four million. The loan period has not reached two years yet, and the current interest rate is only ten percent. It will increase after the two-year period."

Han Xiao suddenly remembered this debt. Now that he had plenty of deposits, he weighed it and decided to pay off the money earlier while the interest rate was not high.

He contacted Rockefeller, the leader of the Norius Consortium, and the other party's projection appeared in front of him.

"Black Star? Haha, it's been a long time since we last contacted. You've been in the limelight recently."

Rockefeller had a friendly smile on his face and spoke enthusiastically.

Compared to his attitude when he took out the loan, he was now showing obvious goodwill.

"Actually, I prefer to keep a low profile." Han Xiao coughed pretentiously, and then said, "I'm contacting you this time because I'm planning to repay the four million loan, plus interest, for a total of four million four hundred thousand."

The loan notarization was very strong. Repaying the money was definitely necessary…

Rockefeller suddenly changed the subject. "I wonder if you would be willing to accept a new grant?"

Han Xiao had just transferred four million four hundred thousand Enas, and was staring at the amount of the expenditure with silent heartache. Hearing this, his eyebrows suddenly rose, and a playful look appeared in his eyes.

More than a year ago, he had sought investment from Rockefeller, but Rockefeller had refused to fund him, only agreeing to provide a loan. Now, the other party was taking the initiative to mention the grant?

Heh, it seemed that his recent achievements had made Rockefeller think that he had investment value, which was why he had changed his attitude and proactively offered this suggestion.

Although Rockefeller was more snobbish, Han Xiao was not surprised. The world was bustling for profit. Only when potential or strength was shown would someone invest. This was the iron rule.

"Of course, I'm very interested in this suggestion." Han Xiao smiled slightly.

Rockefeller's eyes lit up.

He had not been sure of Han Xiao's intentions, and was worried that Black Star's wings were full and he no longer needed external funds. Although there would be no loss, he would regret missing out on a potentially promising investment channel.

Black Star was willing to continue to accept investment, which was a good thing, representing that his early investment had paid off.

Rockefeller quickly thought for a moment and said, "Mr. Black Star, I have decided to add an additional investment of five million two hundred thousand Enas to the Black Star Army."

"So what kind of return do you want?" Han Xiao stroked his chin.

"Haha, this is just an early investment. I hope to reach a long-term investment contract with the Black Star Army, with our Norius Consortium providing funds to support the development of the Black Star Army, including but not limited to mercenary benefits, transportation, business expansion, base construction, and so on. Furthermore, we can borrow the name of the Black Star Army to a certain extent, carrying out commercial activities in the Garton Star System or other star systems that value the Black Star Army, and receive the help of the Black Star Army as soon as possible when encountering difficulties that require the use of violence…"

Rockefeller spoke eloquently, talking about the general terms of financial groups investing in armed forces.

In theory, it would be better to invest in Longtan, as the Black Star Army was an external armed force of Longtan, but Black Star himself had a certain amount of influence, and had instead become another object with investment value.

Han Xiao listened patiently and came to the conclusion that the Norius Consortium wanted to contract the logistics construction of the Black Star Army.

The Norius Consortium had good credit, a good reputation, many businesses, and a rich foundation.

He just happened to want to improve the Black Star Army's logistics capabilities. With the help of Norius, he could save a lot of effort… More importantly, he could save a lot of money. The cost of building an armed force was very terrifying.

A fat sheep… Han Xiao sighed inwardly.

"Sounds good, Mr. Rockefeller, I am willing to sign the investment contract."

"Okay, I will have someone prepare it immediately and send it to you later."

Rockefeller was in a great mood, and his interest in talking was still high. He smiled and said, "If the Black Star Army's operating conditions continue to improve in the future, our Norius Consortium can also help you operate the securities market, build a brand, issue credit bonds, and publicly raise bonds."

"Let's talk about this later…"

The corner of Han Xiao's mouth twitched.

The so-called credit bonds were stocks. With economic development, there would always be wise men who were proficient in the art of harvesting leeks who would think of such things. Long ago, there were securities in the galaxy. Countless large financial groups and enterprises had listed and issued credit bonds for people all over the universe to buy. Because the base was too large, they were divided into different stock markets according to region, generally based on a star system. For example, the Garton Star System had its own exclusive credit bond market.

Players could also buy credit bonds, which gave them a lot of freedom. In his previous life, some players had made a lot of money through the credit bond market, but of course, more people had lost all their savings. With the environment in the galaxy, the degree of market volatility was conceivable.

Han Xiao had a lot of experience in making money through credit bonds. In his previous life as a professional gamer, he had done a lot of buying low and selling high. As for how to lower the price of a certain company's credit bonds… Heh, when he helped people level up their reputation, he never took the normal route. He had already done so many bad things, so it made no difference if he did one more. He had too many debts to care about.

Of course, the aftereffects were very serious. Now that he had a foundation, he had no interest in repeating the same mistakes.

As for Rockefeller saying that he wanted the mercenary group to go public, there were very few such examples, because the operating conditions were unstable and there were casualties from time to time.

After signing the contract, the communicator "dinged", indicating that there was an income. The number of deposits rolled over, and there were five million two hundred thousand more Enas.

"The future is still very long, happy cooperation." Rockefeller smiled and extended his hand.

Han Xiao narrowed his eyes and reached out to shake Rockefeller's projection.

"Happy cooperation."