Chapter 154 A Happy Occasion for Black Star

Han Xiao first returned to Longtan, dropped off Ames and Izo, then decisively eliminated the six from Albert's group. On the way to Longtan, he extracted many gene serums from their bodies.

He didn't plan to lock them up in "Star Pirates' Happy Cabin," not wanting to risk anything. He never showed mercy to his enemies.

Killing the six earned Han Xiao a large amount of experience and dropped several long-term character summon cards.

Albert and the others faced death with composure, only Aire was panicked and resentful, but none of them revealed the true identity of their backer. This didn't stop Han Xiao, but the loyalty of the six to their master surprised and weighed on him.

Someone capable of inspiring such loyalty in A+ grade powerhouses must be terrifying, likely a Super A grade. No matter which member of the Ancient Ones organization was behind it, they were beyond his current capabilities.

By eliminating the enemy's capable subordinates, he had made an enemy, but Han Xiao had no other choice. The enemy had targeted him first, he couldn't just sit and wait for death. Enmity was inevitable.

The third part of the [Prey] quest hadn't refreshed yet, and he didn't know what kind of power the enemy would send to deal with him next. The only good news was that Super A grades wouldn't casually travel to other star systems to attack, and he wouldn't face a Super A grade head-on. Still, he felt a heavy pressure in his heart.

To this end, Izo specially "divined" for him, vaguely predicting that the hunter incident was coming to an end and wouldn't flare up again in the short term, which relieved Han Xiao.

That was right, the star systems were separated by long stretches of barren space, and interstellar travel or communication wasn't easy. With Albert and the others gone, the enemy couldn't deal with him for the time being.

Now Han Xiao's status in Longtan was growing day by day. He was Ames' best assistant, and Izo valued him highly, telling him many secrets of the Ancient Ones organizations along the way, helping Han Xiao guess the identity of the enemy behind the scenes.

The Ancient Ones weren't of one mind. Each member had their own interests, and they formed a force to combine the influence of all members, gain more prestige in the universe, and thus benefit all members. Usually, they rarely acted in the name of the organization.

Izo believed that the master behind Albert was just one member of the Ancient Ones, which was much better than facing the entire Ancient Ones.

With Albert and the others eliminated, the matter came to an end. Han Xiao returned to the No. 1 Base headquarters in the Garton Star System with Lagi.

Lagi was the only A grade cadre in the Black Star Army. Han Xiao introduced Lagi to the other cadres, letting everyone know that a new person had joined. Lagi had just escaped, was still somewhat withdrawn, and didn't communicate with his colleagues, familiarizing himself with the environment. Han Xiao didn't assign Lagi to a position for the time being.

An A grade powerhouse was enough to become a vice commander, but Lagi had just joined, and Han Xiao felt he needed to communicate with him in depth before entrusting him with important responsibilities.

The secret war between Klent and Purple Crystal wouldn't start for a while, so he couldn't farm faction relationship points. Han Xiao didn't have any urgent matters, so he was idle again.

Just then, during the period when he went out to cause trouble, a major event attracted the attention of the players.

The second professional league was about to begin!

Some players uploaded exciting videos of dozens of Calamity Grades in a free-for-all battle, showing the ability of Black Star's network. Meat Bun's new video also mentioned information about the next version, which was related to the Scarlet Empire as revealed by Han Xiao. These posts gave him a wave of exposure... However, in the face of the popularity of the professional league, everything else had to step aside, and he couldn't steal the limelight from the professional league.

Now it was the later stage of version 2.0. After a version of operation, the number of *Galaxy* players continued to increase. Although it hadn't reached the explosive growth stage of his previous life, the number was considerable.

The first season was quite successful, and the number of people following the second professional league skyrocketed. *Galaxy Times* had several consecutive issues dedicated to the professional league, warming up for the professional league.

Han Xiao returned to his room, took out a bottle of Shuai Zhai Happy Water, chugged down a mouthful, and then opened the latest *Galaxy Times*. This was the last issue before the league began, making a final mobilization, adding the final touch to this grand event.

Two hosts showed off their pun skills and got to the point, emphasizing the rules of the second league.

Version 2.0 added several novice planets, but most players had already left the novice planets and officially entered space. Therefore, the division of the competition areas was no longer based on novice planets, and adjustments were made - each star system with novice planets was used as a competition area, because some novice planets were located in the same star system, several competition areas were merged.

Last season there were thirteen sub-competition areas, now there were nine major competition areas, which meant that teams from some countries would meet in the divisional competition, strong teams clashing, vying for qualification. Even though this year's qualification spots had been relaxed, the competition would be even more fierce.

The sub-competition area venues were no longer novice planets, but several uninhabited planets selected in each competition area that were very close to each other, using the entire planet as the venue. Players who had entered space could naturally come to the venue.

There weren't many changes in the competition system. It was still divided into two major events, team competition and individual competition.

Last season there were only three forms of battle, namely, arena matches, team battles, and individual battles. This year, a fourth type was added, called survival matches. As the name implied, it was a battle royale mode, which would appear in the points-based divisional regular season and international regular season, and would be applied to both team competitions and individual competitions.

According to the *Galaxy Times*, team survival matches were a free-for-all between four teams, the only winner would receive a large number of points, the second and third place would receive a certain number of points, and the last place would receive no points. Individual survival matches were a free-for-all between sixteen individual competition players.

In terms of the schedule, the first stage was still the divisional preliminaries and the secondary league. All players could sign up for the preliminaries and fight to the death. The secondary league was a springboard for some club's second-tier teams. The two would produce a total of the top forty teams and the top sixty-four individual competition players, then they would play a pre-season for adaptation, and then enter the divisional regular season.

The divisional regular season adopted a round-robin battle, points system. Finally, the top eight teams and the top sixteen individual competition players would enter the divisional finals. After the divisional regular season, the points champion of each competition area would participate in an exhibition international all-star game.

The divisional finals were best-of-five, fighting in pairs, competing for the divisional champion and runner-up. This year, because the number of competition areas was reduced, the number of spots for entering the international competition was relaxed, and the top four teams and the top eight individual competition players in each competition area could enter the international regular season.

This time, the gap between the international competition and the divisional competition was greatly shortened, and the schedule was more compact than the previous season.

The international regular season was also a points system. The most elite players from each competition area competed. The top eight teams and the top sixteen individuals entered the final international finals, competing for the world championship.

Han Xiao watched the forum videos and nodded secretly.

The competition system was the same as in his previous life, what changed was the people participating.

Then the program focused on introducing the seed players in China, and invited the captains of China's four major clubhouses, as well as Mad Blade Raging Sword, who ranked among the best in the international individual competition last time.

The two hosts interviewed a few people, asking some questions about the preparations. Everyone communicated and interacted normally, and the atmosphere was relaxed.

At the last question, the two hosts asked about the goals of each team this season, as well as their outlook. The answers from the four major clubhouses made countless Chinese viewers excited.

Wang Hou Jiang Xiang of Dynasty smiled lazily: "This season, Dynasty only has one goal, to win the Grand Slam of the team competition, we are bound to win the divisional champion and the world champion!"

Li Ge of Shrine spoke in a very formal tone, "We will try our best to win every game, play our full strength, and hope to achieve something in the international competition, not to disappoint all the supporters of Shrine."

Sun Eggplant of Fish Fragrant Eggplant was expressionless, "Last season, we missed the qualification for the international competition. This season, we will avenge our shame and strive to become the final winner."

Hao Tian of Changkong sat upright and spoke in a serious tone, "Our only goal is the world championship!"

The four major clubhouses all issued championship declarations, showing full confidence, which made the Chinese players' hearts surge.

Last time, Dynasty won the runner-up, although the performance wasn't bad, not to the point of being criticized, but missing the championship, the Chinese players were still quite regretful.

Because they were close to the peak, they were even more persistent in pursuing the final victory. The declarations of the four major clubhouses boosted morale.

"This time, the qualification for the international competition is the top four in the division. If our four major clubhouses take the top four spots and all enter the international competition, that would be fun."

"Hehe, that's not necessarily true. Although the four major clubhouses are powerful, the other first-tier teams are not bad either. Jiang Yuluo's Storm team and Yan Ran's Madmen team are not easy to mess with, and the strong teams like Tiangong, Jiumen, and Longhu are also very competitive."

"I'm optimistic about the Jiangcheng team. Mad Blade Raging Sword was among the top sixteen in the international individual competition last time. Jiangcheng reorganized the team with him as the core. Maybe they will be a dark horse."

Many viewers discussed with video barrages.

The Mad Blade on the show wasn't as domineering as the captains of the four major clubhouses, saying that this was his first time leading a team, and he would do his best to enter the international competition, not daring to make a championship declaration.

Clubs in other countries were under a lot of pressure. Aquamarine was the main base of Chinese players, and they entered space a year or two earlier than them, resulting in a very high average level of Chinese teams, all of which were strong teams that were not easy to deal with. Even the French team, which won the championship last time, didn't dare to underestimate them, saying that they would do their best to defend their title.

Han Xiao was quite looking forward to what ranking China could get this time under his influence.

In his previous life, Dynasty and Shrine won the world third place and the international top eight respectively in the second league. This time, China's overall strength had a significant advantage, not only in equipment, skills, and experience, but also professional players participated in interstellar combat early on, and their operating skills had also been fully honed.

"The second league is an important stage. The first one was just a trial run. The second one has a higher level of publicity, and its influence is many times that of the first one, which directly led to a large number of new players pouring in in version 3.0, and the number of players exploded. The better the Chinese results, the higher the exposure, which is also beneficial to my faction."

Han Xiao thought to himself.

Currently, the Black Star Army's millions of players were all the earliest ancient players, and more new players would pour in in the future.

The massive number of new players in 3.0 was the second opportunity to expand the size of the army. Without the advantage of guiding the faction, he had to compete with the many factions in version 3.0, and the league was a way to increase attraction.

In addition to long-term benefits, there were also business opportunities in each league.

Players earned money to transform it into combat power. During the league, the demand for equipment from players would briefly soar, and the massive number of gene serums in the warehouse would be very salable. He was only afraid that he wouldn't have enough stock.

The professional league stimulated the consumption demand of players, and players were happy to empty their wallets. This was an opportunity to make a big profit.

The competition venue was several uninhabited planets in the Garton Star System. Han Xiao planned to gather the fleet to sell equipment on site, becoming the logistics support for all participating players. How happy would it be for players to spend money on the spot, whether it was repairing equipment, selling props, or learning skills.

Anyway, whether the players were happy or not, Han Xiao was very happy.

"There are still ten days before the league starts, it's time to set off."

Han Xiao's eyes gleamed.