Chapter 126 War Spoils

Han Xiao was a little surprised, his face blank with confusion.

These assault ships were clearly his spoils of war. Why did Batette suddenly want to interfere?

Many guesses flashed through his mind, but they were all rejected one by one. A few small assault ships were not enough to make Godora envious. Did Batette need these ships to expand his victory? That didn't seem likely either. Based on their performance when fighting side-by-side, Batette didn't care about Aquamarine Star, but he had basic respect for him. It didn't seem like he would turn his back on him for such small spoils.

Batette's expression was natural, without any guilt, which made Han Xiao quite curious. He emphasized, "Are you sure these assault ships are your spoils of war? I seem to remember that I shot them down."

"Indeed." Batette nodded and said, "But according to the regulations, all the losses of DarkStar on disaster planets are counted as Godora's spoils of war. This is our basic requirement for protecting disaster planets."

"Regulations?"

"Oh, it's a disaster relief operation manual formulated by the War Affairs Bureau."

Godora made the rules and expected him to abide by them?

Han Xiao raised his eyebrows. "You gave up Aquamarine Star at a crucial moment, which led to the enemy's commando entering the atmosphere. In the end, I repelled the enemy."

Batette shook his head and said in a deep voice, "It wasn't an abandonment. It was just a tactic to put pressure on the enemy. After all, it was too late to reinforce. The battlefield is ever-changing, and we can only make suitable actions according to the timing. If my fleet hadn't tied down the main force of DarkStar, you would have faced several times the enemy. Even in terms of effort, we contributed more... I hope you can cooperate with my work."

Han Xiao narrowed his eyes.

Indeed, without the Godora fleet facing the enemy head-on, he would have faced more than just a small commando, and it would have been difficult to achieve the current results. If Godora came to protect the planet, they naturally wouldn't want to contribute for nothing. Even the spoils of war seized on disaster planets had to be handed over to them.

It sounded reasonable, but if he were to abide by Godora's so-called "regulations," the premise was that he also belonged to the Aquamarine Star regime that was being protected. However, although Han Xiao was protecting Aquamarine Star, he was an independent force. Godora's so-called rules didn't apply to him. Obedience was impossible, and there was no need to swallow his anger.

"You seem to have misunderstood something. I am an interstellar mercenary group, the Longtan Outpost Armed Forces, not a native planet regime to be summoned and dismissed." Han Xiao's eyes narrowed, and he slowly said, "So what makes you think you can order me around?"

Batette's face froze, and he stared at Han Xiao, his expression changing several times.

This was a simple conflict of interest. The two stared at each other, neither giving way. Batette wanted to be tough, but in front of the famous Black Star, he couldn't put on a condescending posture. After all, Han Xiao's status in the interstellar world was far beyond his. One was a well-known cadre under Longtan, and the other was just an ordinary commander in Godora's War Affairs Bureau.

The situation here attracted the attention of the surrounding people. Mercenaries, Godora soldiers, and players all gathered around. Especially the players, who had already turned on the recording function. Rou Bao was standing in the most conspicuous position, always on the front line of news.

"What's going on?" Just then, Nagokin arrived after hearing the news.

Batette helplessly recounted the process. He felt that he had done nothing wrong. Seizing the spoils of war was also in accordance with the operation manual process. He didn't expect Han Xiao to not buy it, and he was immediately in a dilemma. But now it was good. Senior official Nagokin had arrived, and Batette had a backbone and breathed a sigh of relief.

Who knew that after listening to the process, Nagokin looked dissatisfied and shouted angrily, "Batette! Are you an idiot?!"

"Ah?" Batette was stunned.

"If Black Star hadn't participated in the war, we would have had to watch the DarkStar fleet slip away. Who do you think helped us seize the DarkStar command ship?!" Nagokin loudly rebuked Batette. His position was higher, and he had the right to scold people. Nagokin was already a little dissatisfied with Batette's disobedience to his command, and now he took the opportunity to vent his anger.

Black Star's status and strength were not to be underestimated. Nagokin was unwilling to let this kind of trivial matter affect his good relationship with Black Star. His position was higher than Batette's, and it was just right for him to represent the Godora high-level officials to reprimand Batette, which would provide a way out for both sides.

Batette thought Nagokin would speak up for him, but he didn't expect him to stand on Black Star's side. He was immediately depressed and didn't dare to interrupt Nagokin, his face full of embarrassment.

After reprimanding him, Nagokin turned to look at Han Xiao and said, "This is a misunderstanding."

"I guessed as much." Han Xiao chuckled.

"Feel free to dispose of your spoils of war. We won't interfere. Godora never mistreats friends." Nagokin nodded, gave him a tacit wink, and dragged Batette away.

Seeing this storm subside, the surrounding people breathed a sigh of relief. The conflict between the two Guardians made everyone a little nervous. Han Xiao narrowed his eyes, watched the Godora people leave, said nothing, and called the mercenaries to board the assault ship to check the damage.

Only strength can earn respect. If he were an unknown person today, Nagokin would not have helped him. Han Xiao was very clear about this. He would not be grateful to Nagokin because of this trivial matter. These Godora people were basically the same, aloof, judging the situation, bullying the weak and fearing the strong... In fact, most civilized regimes were like this, so there was nothing strange about it.

Now Nagokin's attitude could prove that his actions had finally brought him enough status to be taken seriously by Godora. The results were remarkable, but Han Xiao would not get carried away because of this. He remained calm. He knew very well that status needed the support of strength. As long as his strength was strong enough, others would automatically give him the respect he deserved.

The small conflict that happened here was quickly spread to the Six Nations through various channels. When the high-level officials of the Six Nations saw Godora's respect for Han Xiao, and then thought of their marginal status, they couldn't help but yearn for Han Xiao's status even more, and they once again affirmed that their decision to agree to Black Star's conditions was correct.

On the player forums, some people learned about the process of this attack by inquiring about information from Godora and the mercenaries. Naturally, they didn't like DarkStar, who had caused them to lose their main quest progress, and Godora's behavior of abandoning them at a critical moment made the players even more unhappy.

Only Han Xiao's performance did not disappoint the players. Not only did he repel the enemy, but he also captured the DarkStar commander. He couldn't be said to have turned the tide, but he was a pillar of support. The players already had a very good impression of Han Xiao, and after these posts came out, his image was raised several floors. As the saying goes, there is no harm without comparison. It all depends on the contrast of his peers.

This kind of reliable persona has always been very marketable. In addition, he has a good temperament, a good image, speaks well, and is handsome. He exudes a strong personal charm between his gestures. Han Xiao feels that he can attract a large number of female fans this time!

——In fact, he doesn't mind the guys either. What kind of fans aren't fans? Anyway, he doesn't refuse anyone.

However, this did not lead to more players wanting to join the Black Star Mercenary Group... because almost everyone who wanted to join was already there. After such a long operation, the Aquamarine Star market was basically in the shape of Han Xiao. The rest was to continue to maintain it and constantly refresh the players' goodwill towards him.

If he wanted other player channels, he would have to open up new markets, but it was naturally not the time yet.

While the influence of this incident was spreading among the player groups, Han Xiao checked the condition of the nine assault ships. The mercenaries had overdone it, and the internal damage was relatively serious. The intelligent system also needed to be reinstalled and replaced with a Wommy. The ships could only be used after the repairs were completed.

Fortunately, the wreckage of the assault ships that crashed in different locations on Aquamarine Star were all materials, so Han Xiao didn't have to spend money to buy them.

The crash coordinates were scattered across half the planet, some fell into the sea, and some fell on the ground. The ship's radar could be used to locate these locations. Han Xiao sent a group of mercenaries to drive transport ships to salvage them. All the wreckage could be recovered in two or three days.

Han Xiao did not accompany the team. After being promoted to a Virtual Mechanic, he could fuse a lot of valuable blueprints. He stayed in the shelter, ready to manufacture some new machinery.

After this attack, DarkStar would not visit Aquamarine Star again in a short time. He estimated that he could relax for a while.

...

Andia Continent, Germination base site.

Not long ago, a meteor fell from the sky and crashed heavily on the scorched earth, rolling and digging out a gully hundreds of meters long. When the smoke cleared, there was only a broken assault ship wreckage burning fiercely. It was a DarkStar ship that had been shot down by the mercenary group and happened to fall here.

A skeleton sat not far from the crash site, slowly stood up, and staggered towards the ship wreckage.

The Heterogeneous Prime attached to the cervical vertebra sensed the high-intensity energy reaction in the wreckage, which was the energy core of the ship.

The nuclear radiation of the Germination site had been absorbed by the Heterogeneous Prime, and the dropped ship was simply an airdrop for him.

The skeleton climbed into the cabin from the hole in the hull and found the leaking energy core.

Countless filamentous black tendrils stretched out from the Heterogeneous Prime, tightly wrapping the energy core like a spider treating its food. The air began to distort, and high-intensity energy poured into the Heterogeneous Prime continuously along the tendrils. The tendrils were constantly switching between expansion and contraction.

The energy core of a ship stored a huge amount of fuel. As the Heterogeneous Prime sucked it, the fuel disappeared rapidly. The Heterogeneous Prime's absorption speed gradually accelerated, like a whale swallowing and drinking. The Heterogeneous Prime began to make a "thumping" sound, like a heartbeat.

The energy core made a final whirring sound, then became silent, the light gradually dimmed until it disappeared. The Heterogeneous Prime retracted all its tendrils, and the skeleton froze in place.

Suddenly, the Heterogeneous Prime sprayed out countless black mucus, splashing out. The mucus was very thick, with the texture of paint. The Heterogeneous Prime excreted for a long time, until the mucus almost covered the entire room, and this strange behavior slowly stopped.

The next moment, all the sprayed mucus seemed to come to life and began to flow. The skeleton was in the center of the room, and all the mucus surged towards the skeleton, constantly clinging to it along the soles of its feet.

The last puddle of mucus also climbed onto the skeleton. At this time, the skeleton had changed greatly. It was no longer a lonely skeleton, but a jet-black human body. The mucus seemed to solidify and form flesh. The body looked very strong, and the facial features slowly emerged. Eyes, nose, mouth, and ears moved around on the face, and finally found suitable positions.

If Han Xiao were here, he would find that this appearance vaguely resembled the Leader, but without the disfigurement.

This monster opened its mouth wide and made meaningless cries, actually possessing vocal cords.

The Heterogeneous Prime had swallowed a lot of energy, and its growth rate jumped up. The main body no longer passively transformed all the absorbed energy, but could control part of it for cell proliferation, so a small puddle of Heterogeneous Prime could spray out a room full of mucus.

The Heterogeneous Prime shared the senses of countless creatures and understood various life forms. Based on the skeleton, it combined the structure of the human body. This monster was not a host, but a simulated body. Except for being jet-black and lacking sexual characteristics, it was almost no different from a human body. The Heterogeneous Prime was wrapped in the simulated body.

The simulated body lowered its head, looked at its body through its own eyes, and curiously touched it. It shared the senses of all the infected, but this was its own body that it controlled. This sense of control was completely different, and it could not help but produce a strange feeling...

Freedom!

The Heterogeneous Prime's original intelligence was basically driven by instinct, but now, the chaotic thoughts began to fade away, gradually becoming clear.

It was like a two or three-year-old child suddenly having memories, and the world in front of them became completely different.

"Air, hand, body..."

The simulated body made indistinct sounds. The vast memories stored by countless shared senses surged like a stormy sea, and a sense of sleepiness quickly came over it.

The simulated body staggered out of the ship, away from this place, and walked aimlessly in one direction, its back disappearing into the desolate horizon.

In another area of Aquamarine Star, the DarkStar infiltration team's instruments detected a sharp increase in the Heterogeneous Prime's energy index. All the members were shocked.

The meaning of this situation was recorded in the work manual. It meant that the Heterogeneous Prime's energy absorption had reached saturation and was about to begin the next stage of evolution!

The Heterogeneous Prime had evolved ahead of schedule compared to the previous timeline!