Chapter 357 A First Blood

A myriad of artillery fire struck the warp base, tearing it apart in an instant. It transformed into countless fragments in the silent void, scattered in the cold universe.

At this moment, Han Xiao had already returned to the Blacklight Stealth Ship. He took off his mechanical suit, rubbed his sore shoulders, and only revealed a smile when he saw this scene.

"Finally won. It wasn't in vain that I put my old bones on the line."

The panel popped up a notification that the tactical mission was complete. Destroying the satellite fortress alone greatly increased the mission evaluation. His favorability with the Purple Crystal Civilization increased by 1,350 points, and he was rewarded with tens of millions of experience points.

However, this was just a small part of his gains. Simply killing Tamara and other Calamity Grades beyond his level brought him more than five billion experience points.

"Killing Calamity Grades to earn experience is pretty efficient. Without players to harvest, Calamity Grades are also a good choice."

Han Xiao's eyes darted around.

Indeed, war was an opportunity. Where else could he encounter so many hostile Calamity Grades?

After this battle, he had a clear understanding of his own strength. Compared to two months ago, his combat power had undergone earth-shattering changes.

With [Legendary Combat Technique], he could crush most opponents with just his mechanical army. Although he had only recently entered the A+ Grade threshold, his actual combat power had already surpassed the top A+ Supers, and he also had a perverted Boss Template.

These powerful template talents gathered together, cooperating with each other, produced an extraordinary chemical reaction, and the actual combat effect was better than he imagined.

Ordinary Calamity Grades below twenty were just delivering experience points!

"With this kind of strength, as long as there is no Super A Grade involved, the others in the war zone should not be my opponents..."

As soon as Han Xiao had this thought, he immediately slapped himself and quickly dispelled the idea.

That was close; he almost set a flag!

Putting away his thoughts, Han Xiao turned to look at the battlefield.

With the base station destroyed, the enemy lost its channel for continuous reinforcements, and the stalemate was instantly broken. Zero Organisation's morale was greatly boosted, and they began to clear out the remaining enemy ships. It was only a matter of time before the enemy completely collapsed.

Han Xiao completed his mission and did not interfere in the subsequent battles. He led the Black Star Army's fleet to paddle and fish on the sidelines.

Morid and the other three fleets surrounded and intercepted the enemy's remaining forces. The battle was no longer in doubt and quickly came to an end—Zero Organisation finally reaped a great victory.

The three fleets cleaned up the battlefield, seized the spoils of war, and then left the scene together.

…

After warping for more than an hour, the fleet stopped and slowly sailed in a safe zone.

Han Xiao received a notification from Morid inviting him to attend a post-war meeting on the flagship.

Calling on Melos, Hannon, and other officers, Han Xiao piloted a spacecraft to dock with the flagship.

*Chi—*

The pressure valve sounded, the hatch opened, and before him was the docking corridor. Han Xiao led his men onto the flagship, and several reception staff members who had been waiting immediately greeted him with respectful tones.

"Your Excellency Black Star, everyone else has arrived and is waiting for you."

"Lead the way."

Han Xiao nodded and followed the reception staff all the way to the outside of the flagship's conference hall.

The door opened, and a lively and cheerful chat immediately came from inside. The atmosphere seemed very relaxed.

There were many people in the room. The person in charge of each cooperative force in the fleet had been invited over. Everyone was happy to have finally won a victory.

Han Xiao stepped in. The chat in the hall stopped abruptly, and everyone turned to look over. When they saw that it was Han Xiao, their eyes revealed awe, respect, and other emotions, and they actively made way for him.

"Black Star, you're here. Please take a seat quickly."

In the center of the hall was a round conference table, where the people in charge were seated. Morid was sitting in the main seat. When he saw Han Xiao, he immediately stood up and warmly invited Han Xiao to take his seat.

"Everyone's here. Have you eaten?" Han Xiao came to his seat and casually greeted everyone.

"Haha, everyone is here. Then let's start the meeting. Your Excellency Leif has something to say to us."

Morid smiled, tapped the table, and Leif's remote projection screen appeared in the center of the conference table.

Leif cleared his throat and began to speak.

"Everyone, you have done very well. You have removed the base station, isolating twelve strongholds in the war zone. Their forces are completely scattered, and our ambushing troops have successfully removed these twelve strongholds, and our casualties are very small. This is an unprecedented victory for us!"

*Clap clap clap…* Everyone politely applauded.

"Morid, you made a decisive decision and destroyed the base station, which is a great achievement; Carey, you contained the enemy and completed your task; Pierre, you..."

Leif praised the people in charge present one by one, and the applause of the crowd continued for a long time. Han Xiao's expression was strange. This scene couldn't help but remind him of performance appraisals.

They finally won a battle and immediately evaluated their performance. It was too real.

"And the biggest contributor to this victory..."

Leif turned to look at Han Xiao, smiling like an old chrysanthemum blooming, "Black Star destroyed the enemy's satellite fortress alone, and destroyed the enemy's defenses. It can be said that he was the key point in reversing the battle, and his contribution is indispensable!"

Everyone nodded emphatically, deeply agreeing.

Who said that one person cannot influence the situation? Black Star alone can complete this kind of key tactical mission. His actions laid the foundation for the entire victory and determined the direction of this battle.

"Cough, I just did my duty." Han Xiao held back his expression and waved his hand, pretending to be indifferent.

Morid couldn't help but add, "If it weren't for you, we would have at most won a pyrrhic victory in the end. You are of course the greatest contributor and deserve it!"

The corner of Han Xiao's mouth twitched, and he could only smile politely... The tone of your speech makes it sound like you're going to reward me with a small red flower?

Leif smiled and said, "Don't be modest. I have already notified the higher-ups. They are very satisfied with your contribution. The higher-ups have decided to increase their investment in the Black Star Army to commend your achievements, and they will also consider becoming long-term partners with you."

As soon as these words came out, the faces of the people present changed slightly, and their faces were full of envy.

The biggest goal of everyone participating in the secret war was to become a long-term cooperative force of the Star Cluster level civilization, and Black Star had already walked ahead of them.

I'm afraid that in the eyes of the Purple Crystal Civilization's higher-ups, the importance of the Black Star Army has surpassed that of other Zero Organisation members.

That's right, talking about substantial benefits is reliable... Han Xiao smiled slightly.

"By the way, you also killed Tamara, the Judicator of the war zone. This is the first high-level cadre of the war zone to be killed. The war zone has lost a general, and you have done a great job."

Han Xiao was stunned. So the grumpy old woman who died in his hands was the first important cadre of the war zone to fall in the secret war.

In other words... I got Xiao Ba Ba's first blood? (Xiao Ba Ba is a nickname for Heber)

Uh, as the saying goes, you have to pay back sooner or later.

So Heber shouldn't be angry... right?

Technician Han's heart was surging.

Because the battle situation had been unfavorable for the past two months, Leif was under great pressure and had been thinking about winning back a city. As soon as Black Star returned, he brought a victory, and finally made the war zone lose. Leif only felt elated.

He was in a good mood, and he was more and more satisfied with Han Xiao.

In his eyes, the combat power displayed by Black Star obviously exceeded the standard of a normal Calamity Grade. Generally speaking, only a Super A Grade could crush a group of Calamity Grades. However, Black Star was not a Super A Grade. He felt that there was only one explanation, and that was that Black Star's potential was extraordinary, and he was transforming too quickly. He was obviously much stronger than he was two months ago!

The Purple Crystal Civilization had investigated Han Xiao's resume. About ten years ago, Black Star had just entered the interstellar world to establish a mercenary group. At the beginning, he was not even B Grade, but he rose rapidly in just ten years.

This shows that Black Star has the potential of the top Super A Grade!

Looking at the history of the rise of all Super A Grades from the end of the Exploration Era to the present, no one has risen as fast as Black Star!

Leif was very excited. As long as the Overlord did not take action, with Black Star's strength, he might be able to sweep all the Calamity Grade powerhouses in the war zone. He was simply a powerful weapon at the high-level combat power level. This was the greatest advantage of Zero Organisation!

This time, Leif's awarding of merits was intentional. The first was to use the reward of Black Star as an example. Through timely reward feedback, he encouraged more forces of the Zero Organisation to fight and win, so that they would work and contribute, and make up for the shortcomings of the joint forces.

The second goal was to show an attitude of importance and win over Black Star once again.

Killing two birds with one stone, with no disadvantages.

At this moment, the people present did not expect that the impact of this battle was even more far-reaching than they imagined...