Chapter 171 War Broker

At the same time, Planet Aquamarine.

The Alienization disaster had ended two days ago, and the people of the world were overjoyed. Looking back on the nightmare of the past half-year, the order and structure of this planet had been subverted and reshuffled in the catastrophe. However, the suffering had passed, and the refugees regained the courage to start from scratch and rebuild their lives, and even had a stronger sense of cohesion and will.

The losses caused by the Alienization disaster would take some time to repair. Refugees had to adapt to the new environment, and the Six Nations and the shelters were in urgent need of reconstruction. Most of the sheltered refugees stayed, having survived the disaster, and the next step was development.

Bennet had been studying with his think tank these past two days, preparing to change the development policy and officially transform the shelter into a regime, expanding its territory, and building cities, so that the refugees under its rule could become its own people.

The reform of the shelter was a long and arduous task. This was the development of Planet Aquamarine's civilization. If it continued to develop normally, it would be many years before Planet Aquamarine could come into contact with interstellar society. However, with Han Xiao, an anomaly, everything was uncertain.

Only two days had passed, and Planet Aquamarine had just entered a period of recovery, so Han Xiao had not paid attention to it for the time being.

His focus was on recruiting players. With the Planet Aquamarine 2.0 main storyline completed, the next key point in implementing his plan was to guide players into interstellar society on a large scale.

Han Xiao had solved the Alienization disaster ahead of schedule, seventy percent of the reason being to allow players to enter interstellar society earlier and create greater profits for the Black Star Mercenary Group.

Now that everything was ready, all that was needed was the final push. He just needed to announce to all the players that the time to leave was near, while imbuing them with a magnificent sense of mission to increase their sense of belonging.

Then, at that time, he would gather all the Black Star players and step into interstellar society together, and the core goal would be achieved.

Currently, three to four hundred thousand players had joined the Black Star Mercenary Group. Han Xiao did not intend to recruit all the remaining players in one go at the last moment. He still needed to maintain a threshold, otherwise it would not be fair to the players who had been selected to join Black Star. Therefore, he did not plan to take away all the remaining players at once.

However, Han Xiao would leave behind channels for joining. The Black Star Second Base was located on Planet Aquamarine. He planned to leave behind some mercenaries and a portion of mechanical creations, as well as several transport ships. Players who were left behind only needed to undergo selection here, and after passing, they could join Black Star and be sent to the First Base by ship.

Han Xiao planned to use this to form a tradition, making players accustomed to long-term recruitment. Joining Black Star was currently the easiest way to enter interstellar society, so players would naturally flock to it. The same would be true for newcomers born on Planet Aquamarine in the future. Not only players, but even the native inhabitants of Planet Aquamarine were Han Xiao's target. This fertile land could not be used to grow only one type of crop.

He was leaving a bridge connecting Planet Aquamarine to interstellar society. It was like farming, emphasizing sustainable development; he couldn't just harvest one crop and be done with it.

These were the established plans. The main storyline had just ended, and Han Xiao did not implement them immediately, but instead gave the players some time to rest.

He also planned to rest for a few days.

However, the news of DarkStar's attack on Garton Star destroyed the vacation of the Great Technician Han.

In the workshop of the Black Star Second Base, Han Xiao stopped repairing the Mechanical Beast Guard and stared intently at the screen of the communicator. It was an interstellar news broadcast. Garton Star was in a precarious situation. At this time, more than a dozen super-large mercenary groups arrived to support, and the originally one-sided battlefield became evenly matched. The two sides fought fiercely.

"The Garton Star attack really happened. It seems that solving the Alienization disaster ahead of schedule did not affect DarkStar's attack operations on another level. They did not give up their plan." Han Xiao secretly breathed a sigh of relief, glad that he had guessed correctly.

With the experience of his previous life, Han Xiao knew DarkStar's plan. He did not know the specific timing of each step, but he knew the order of DarkStar's actions.

The Garton Star attack was one of the plot nodes. Han Xiao was not absolutely certain that DarkStar would act as it had in his previous life, but he had analyzed it privately and felt that attacking Garton Star was the focus of DarkStar's plan and should not change.

A month ago, as early as when he provided the Alienization Primordial sample, Han Xiao stopped concealing DarkStar's plan and told the Godora war bureau the plan as a suggestion, saying that it was a vague guess obtained through analysis and foresight. Because of the example of DarkStar in his previous life, Han Xiao's reasoning was very convincing.

Because of the sample, Han Xiao and Godora had close cooperation, and the war bureau decided to set up an ambush based on this information and take a gamble.

Since the beginning of the Alienization disaster, Godora had been taking advantage of DarkStar and urgently needed a great victory to prove itself, stabilize domestic contradictions, and restore people's confidence.

In order to conceal the ambush, Godora did not send its own troops—the war bureau knew that DarkStar would definitely pay attention to their troop movements. Once they gathered around Garton Star, their intentions would be exposed. The war bureau wanted to lure the enemy in, so it needed an external armed force, so it thought of mercenary groups.

And those who were willing to accept war-level employment were only super-large mercenary groups.

The risk was high, but the profits were also extremely amazing. One war-level employment could be compared to hundreds or thousands of small-scale combat missions. In addition to the remuneration, the right to dispose of the spoils was also clearly written in the war employment terms.

Han Xiao had been in the Shattered Star Ring mercenary world for several years, and he didn't do it for nothing. As the saying goes, love what you do, and be professional if you don't py. Hundreds of mercenary groups were his partners. They had fought side by side many times and had deep friendships. His connections in the mercenary world were intricate. The Black Star network was not just talk.

This time, Han Xiao acted as a broker, secretly connecting the dots. Under his introduction, large mercenary groups such as Heavenly Ring, Blade Edge, and Zijing secretly reached employment relationships with the Godora war bureau.

DarkStar naturally did not know that their plan had already been revealed by Han Xiao. They thought that the raid on Garton Star would catch Godora off guard, but they did not know that Godora had been waiting for DarkStar to attack Garton Star.

As an intermediary, Han Xiao received a referral fee of 150,000 Enas, which was quite considerable. Of course, the remuneration for mercenary groups such as Heavenly Ring, who participated in the battle, was terrifyingly high. Godora was rich and could afford war-level employment.

"Interstellar war employment not only requires numbers, but also a sufficiently powerful fleet. When I lead the players into interstellar society, the number of Black Star can be among the ranks of super-large mercenary groups, but the number of battleships is far behind, so I still have to make money."

Han Xiao put away his thoughts, looked at the war broadcast on the screen, curled the corners of his mouth slightly, strode out of the workshop, came to the cockpit of the BlackLight Stealth, and knocked on the control panel.

"Risda, I need your help."

The next second, the Light Man emerged.

"Black Star, what do you need me to do?"

"You are an AI lifeform and can move through the quantum network on a virtual level, right?"

Risda nodded. "This is my way of survival. Even if my host body is destroyed by physical means, I can still live in the quantum network."

"I'll have Phillip open the path, and you go to First Base. I'll have the people from Heavenly Ring connect to Phillip to build a channel for your movement. They'll find a way to break into a DarkStar mothership, help you enter the mothership's system, and I need you to bypass or even replace the original intelligent system and lurk inside DarkStar."

Han Xiao said in a deep voice.

Risda was a virtual life living in the quantum network. In addition to assisting in virtual intrusion, it could also reside in physical hosts, like a cuckoo occupying a magpie's nest, just like it had occupied the BlackLight Stealth. The original intelligence of this spaceship had been torn into data and absorbed.

If Risda wanted to lurk, with its computing speed, it could easily bypass most AI firewalls and read the other party's data for disguise. However, the premise was that the target had already opened a virtual path to the outside world, forming a connection bridge, and hardware connections were much more effective than virtual intrusions.

DarkStar motherships used a parent intelligence that could not cut off the link at will like a child intelligence. If it could deceive the parent intelligence and lurk, it would not be discovered and could access DarkStar's core database.

Risda: "I can try, but I have a condition."

"You say."

"I know you want to use my power to deal with the enemy. I'm willing to help you, but I need you to help Aroshia recover her memory as soon as possible."

"Okay." Han Xiao nodded. He had not deliberately completed Aroshia's personal mission because it was too troublesome to find a place, but with the help of the players, this matter would be much simpler.

After quickly persuading Risda, Han Xiao contacted Heavenly Ring Allied Forces Legion Commander Gulejia, who was very obliging.

After agreeing on the tactics, Han Xiao knocked on the communicator and said,

"Phillip, connect to the BlackLight Stealth and open the data path for First Base."

"Okay, buzzing..."

Phillip controlled the two bases. As long as the path was opened, Risda could instantly cross the physical distance from Planet Aquamarine to Garton Star and appear at First Base through the quantum network—path, link, and medium were the keys.

This was the characteristic of AI lifeforms. As long as it was not locked in the virtual layer, physical means were ineffective against it.

Risda nodded, and the next moment, the Light Man quickly dissipated.

"It passed through my data channel, buzzing..."

Han Xiao looked at Gulejia's projection and nodded. "Then I'll have to trouble you."

Gulejia smiled heartily. "Just consider it a thank you for introducing us to a big deal."

After hanging up the communication, Han Xiao let out a breath.

"I don't know if it will work..."

Garton Star was not only Godora's ambush, but also his trap.

DarkStar was elusive. From the beginning, Han Xiao knew that the only way to solve DarkStar once and for all was to lock down their location!

...

The battle of Garton Star entered a white-hot stage. DarkStar's fleet was powerful, but it could not get any advantages in front of the major mercenary groups. Although DarkStar was a terrifying organization that made people tremble, being scary did not mean being particularly capable of fighting. In terms of combat, mercenary groups were the professionals.

In particular, large mercenary groups such as Heavenly Ring Allied Forces, which had a good reputation in the Shattered Star Ring, had combat power honed in blood and fire.

Originally, the Garton Star garrison could only maintain a defensive position. After the arrival of the reinforcements, they launched a counterattack. The two sides fought fiercely. From time to time, warships exploded into a cloud of fireworks. DarkStar was caught off guard by the mercenaries and suffered even greater losses.

Several times, they were even broken through the formation by the Heavenly Ring Allied Forces, who charged in front of a mothership, crashed into the mothership, and engaged in boarding battles. In the end, the Calamity Grade who guarded that mothership took action and forced the enemies back.

The situation was evenly matched... However, evenly matched meant DarkStar's disadvantage.

"These damned mercenaries!"

Degulish was furious, frequently looking at the time. Finally, he gritted his teeth and said, "We don't have time to destroy Garton Star before the Godora reinforcements arrive. Pass down my order, the entire army retreats. This operation has failed!"

After a long siege, Degulish had to issue a retreat order. The raid on Garton Star was intended to be a blitzkrieg, but it had turned into a protracted war. If the stalemate continued, the risk would increase. Since the strategic goal could not be achieved, there was no need to continue to increase losses. The five motherships had suffered varying degrees of damage, but at least they were not broken. If they continued to fight, it might not be the case.

Many DarkStar executives were very regretful. They did not expect Godora to have become so cunning. It seemed that they could only follow the leader's other plan and turn to deal with the disaster planets.

DarkStar gathered its formations and quickly retreated. The major mercenary groups symbolically pursued for a while and then stopped. Their employment was to repel the enemy, not to eliminate the enemy. Mercenaries were very pragmatic, giving a fair day's work for a fair day's pay. The word "overtime" did not exist in the mercenary's dictionary.

DarkStar retreated and disappeared into the universe.

In the eyes of the Godorans, however, DarkStar had been beaten away. The enemy had come menacingly, but in the end, they had returned empty-handed.

The residents of Garton Star were overjoyed, forgetting the unhappiness of being forbidden from running away by the garrison, and were generous with their praise. The speed at which some people changed their attitudes made the guards dumbfounded.

This victory directly encouraged the Godorans. For a time, the news and public opinion in the Garton Star System praised this victory, and the panic brought by DarkStar suddenly disappeared by more than half.

Only one victory was needed to clear away the haze brought by DarkStar, and most people could regain their confidence. This was exactly the motivation for the war bureau to win this battle no matter what.

...

Han Xiao had been watching the news broadcast, patiently waiting until DarkStar retreated, but the communicator still did not respond.

Tapping his fingers on the table, Han Xiao secretly pondered.

The worst outcome was that Risda was discovered and could only run away. The mothership's intelligence could not block Risda, but in that case, Risda would be out of contact. He was still very concerned about such a good virtual intrusion co-pilot.

"Wait and see. It should take some time for Risda to deal with the mothership's main intelligence."

Han Xiao paced back and forth in the room. After waiting for a long time, the communicator suddenly rang.

He hurriedly glanced at it, his brows relaxed, and his expression relaxed.

Playing with the communicator, Han Xiao's eyes flickered, revealing a smile.

"I wonder how much money the Godorans are willing to pay for this information."