Chapter 1 Kant Star System, Fourth Star Sector

A massive fleet was lingering in a void of space, comparable in size to the Amethyst Group Army or the Klent Overlord Fleet, both of which were official fleet formations of star cluster-level civilizations. At the heart of this fleet were two colossal flagships, tens of kilometers in length, incorporating the Amethyst military shipbuilding technology. Their exteriors were dark purple, multifaceted prism crystals, like artificially cut purple diamonds, with vein-like blue-gold energy patterns shimmering within. Burgeoning psionic energy coursed through vessel-like transmission pipes, imbuing the flagships with immense defensive capabilities, and the ability to unleash ultra-compressed psionic annihilation rays from every edge.

Star Diamond-class flagships, the signature model of the Amethyst civilization, were forged using the binary stars as furnaces, and the Amethyst civilization's special material called "Dark Matter Flow Crystal." These super-strong flagships were produced by the Amethyst No. 3 warship factory, serving as the war weapons of Organization Zero.

Every time Han Xiao saw these two behemoths, he practically drooled. They contained the crystallizations of star cluster-level civilization engineering technology. Sadly, these flagships were not for sale, and the Amethyst civilization's technology leaned towards crystal magic and rune magic, with less mechanical technology content, which was not a good match for him.

After a long-distance high-speed warp, Han Xiao brought the Black Star Army fleet to the assembly point. Hundreds of thousands of warships were already waiting here, all forces belonging to the various members of Organization Zero. After ten years of war, Amethyst had invested a massive amount of resources and used its military factories to churn out ships in support of Organization Zero, causing the fleet size of each member to expand considerably.

The Black Star Army's flagship was a spherical armed satellite base. Based on its appearance, Han Xiao gave it a name he felt was very fitting: "Marble." This was Han Xiao's improved version of the satellite fortress, smaller in size, with enhanced mobility and combat capabilities, using a more stable dark energy reactor as its core. The cost was within a controllable range. According to Han Xiao's estimates, it was roughly equivalent to the combat power of a flagship built by an ordinary interstellar civilization.

This blueprint came from the satellite defense fortress in the War Realm. Han Xiao amplified his Soulful talent, creating many modified versions, thoroughly implementing the principle of seizing and using... After all, Han Xiao had selected virtual technology as his inclination. Unlike the armed inclination which specialized in creating super-large machinery, he could not gamble on obtaining blueprints for certain colossal machines. Therefore, reverse engineering existing mechanical creations was easier for him.

Psionic energy was still too dangerous. For the time being, Han Xiao only used psionic energy in high-level super-powered mechanical weapons. For large fortresses like this, he used more stable energy. Dark energy was ubiquitous in the universe, and it also belonged to the application scope of [Aberrant Energy].

The leaders of all participating forces were summoned to a war meeting on one of the Star Diamond-class flagships named Eternal. Han Xiao, as the leader of the Black Star Army, naturally had to participate. He was currently in a conference room with hundreds of people, listening to the remote commander of the Amethyst civilization droning on and on.

The virtual screen displayed a map of the War Realm strongholds in the Kant Star System. Each warp base was linked to three to fourteen planetary strongholds, forming a rapid support system. The War Realm had a total of eleven base systems in the Kant Star System. The overall flat map presented a fan shape, spreading inward from the first base system at the star system's border.

The enemy's fan-shaped territory could be roughly divided into three layers: six weakest outer base systems, four buffer zone intermediate base systems, and the bridgehead base system where they initially landed. This large-scale counterattack was from the outside in, all the way to the core base system, expelling all enemies.

"...Intelligence shows that the War Realm is aware of our actions and has increased vigilance. We are facing a head-on, hard-fought battle..."

Han Xiao wasn't listening too intently. He had already learned this information from Lefay. He casually looked around, killing time.

Those present were all leaders. The most powerful organizations, such as Arc Light Organization, Hero Group, and New Feland Rebels, were once the ace members of Organization Zero. Now, the leader of Organization Zero had become the Black Star Army, and all these organizations were a step below him.

At this moment, the commander said, "The War Realm has mobilized reinforcements. Hadaway will join this battle. Your Excellency Black Star, we will rely on you to hold the line on our side."

Han Xiao snapped back to attention and nodded. The other leaders nodded to him in acknowledgment.

He was now the strongest fighter on Organization Zero's side, holding the line for the entire organization. The enemy's strongest individuals were all to be dealt with by him. At the high-level combat power level, all the forces present relied on him. This was also one of the important reasons why the Black Star Army held such a prominent position in Organization Zero.

"According to intelligence, Hadaway and the reinforcements are holding the innermost bridgehead, building various powerful defensive facilities, wanting to use the outer base systems to delay our progress and buy time to strengthen their defenses..."

"Can't we directly attack the enemy's bridgehead?" A force leader asked.

The commander said in a deep voice, "The border of the Kant Star System is adjacent to the Kaya Star System. After the War Realm broke through the star system border blockade, their power spread to Kant. Therefore, the rear of the bridgehead is also a stronghold of the War Realm. If we directly attack the bridgehead, we will have to occupy it. At that time, we will be attacked from both sides, suffering a pincer attack from the Kaya Star System and the outer strongholds of Kant. So, we will start by eliminating the enemy's strongholds from the outermost area. The pressure will be much less."

Looking around, the commander continued, "Because we need to seize the time, we must eliminate all the outer base systems as soon as possible. The enemy forces in the outer strongholds are the weakest. Our forces have an absolute advantage. We will divide our forces into six routes to attack the six outer base systems. The specific allocation is as follows..."

After listening, Han Xiao found that the Black Star Army would lead several troops to attack a relatively strong base system. His eyes rolled, and he suddenly said:

"I have a suggestion."

"Please speak," the commander said with considerable respect.

Han Xiao pointed to the star map, "This smallest base system is only linked to three planetary strongholds. It's too troublesome to send a dedicated team over there. Let us Black Star Army handle it. I'll take some people over and wipe it out."

The commander hesitated for a moment, then nodded, "Alright, then I will withdraw that part of the force."

He trusted Han Xiao's strength very much. With only three planets, and no Grade A Super, Black Star could handle it alone. Having a powerhouse like Black Star hold the line in the central army would be a waste of resources.

"Then the reward..."

"Rest assured, we will definitely make you satisfied." The commander nodded. Amethyst wouldn't be stingy with Black Star Army undertaking additional tasks.

Han Xiao smiled, "I don't need much. Give me 7,000 tons of Dark Matter Flow Crystal and 2,000 tons of String Alloy."

Rare materials could be used to create many elite-level mechanical soldiers. Compared to money, Han Xiao now preferred faction-specific materials as rewards.

"I will report it," the commander said, his mouth twitching.

...

Back on the Marble, Han Xiao summoned Fleet Marshal Melos and explained the strategy of dividing the forces.

Laki would lead the main force to participate in the joint attack on the other side, while Han Xiao himself would take a large number of people to attack the smallest base system separately, dividing the forces into two routes.

"Do you need to take people with you?" Melos asked doubtfully, "You can destroy three planetary strongholds alone, right?"

"I plan to take Sylvia and Marian, as well as a part of the Undying Unit, mainly to train them." Han Xiao shrugged.

"Alright," Melos nodded.

"I have something else to tell you. You must use the Undying Unit that I didn't take with me to the death. Throw them into the most dangerous battlefields. Any risky work should be thrown to them."

Melos scratched his head, "I understand. Then let them act with Harmon."

After giving some instructions, Han Xiao used the faction panel to issue a limited-quota mission to the entire army, stating that they would divide the forces into two routes, and draw a portion of the people to follow him, with only 300,000 slots.

Through the faction panel, the 300,000 slots were snapped up in less than three minutes. Han Xiao mobilized hundreds of spaceships, took Sylvia, Marian, and 300,000 excited players, detached from the main force, and headed straight for the target location.

Han Xiao's goal in this military operation was to fatten up the players, so that they could get as much experience as possible. Therefore, he was willing to be responsible for more tactical actions.

In addition to the main quest's subsidiary missions, he also planned to use up the faction reward quota every day, giving experience to all players in the name of following the army.

...

Planet k-00156, one of the planetary strongholds in the War Realm's outer base system in the Kant Star System.

This was a new stronghold that had not been completely transformed, with an earth-gray and steel-colored intertwined surface. Thousands of warships patrolled the outer space, guarding the stronghold.

Hundreds of streams of light cut through the dark universe, leaving the warp mode and stopping not far from Planet k-00156. Time was of the essence. Han Xiao did not stop and quickly led the detachment to this place.

The 300,000 players stared at the planet through the viewing windows inside the spaceship, their faces excited.

"That's the target, right."

"We're finally going to fight. I'm almost suffocated."

"Have you triggered the battle mission? Mine is to destroy the planetary stronghold in front of us. Is yours the same?"

Many players successively received the main quest's subsidiary battle missions, all requiring them to break through Planet k-00156.

Mad Blade and a portion of professional players participated in this mission. Maple Moon followed, and Meat Bun didn't need to be said. Wherever Black Star went, he would go, always on the front line of news.

At this moment, the warning yellow lights lit up in every spaceship, and at the same time, the smart system sounded Phillip's voice.

"All members go to the assault pods to prepare for the airdrop, check the integrity of the armor, check the operating status of the life support system, we will enter the atmosphere of Planet k-00156, descend to the surface, kill the resisting enemies, destroy the ground base cluster, repeat, all members..."

Many players heard the order and went to the airdrop pods in groups. Maple Moon turned to look out of the porthole, with hesitation on her face.

The defense fleet of Planet k-00156 had already discovered the approaching detachment and quickly surrounded them. The enemy had thousands of warships, dozens of times the number of this detachment. Their side was like sheep surrounded by wolves. It seemed impossible to break through the enemy's blockade, so how could they carry out the airdrop.

Maple Moon had always paid more attention to details in this area.

"What are you waiting for? Let's go." The meat bun next to him pushed him. Seeing this, Mad Blade also stopped to wait for her to catch up.

"Wait a minute." Maple Moon waved his hand, took out the communicator, called out Phillip, and asked: "The enemy's fleet is surrounding us, how should we deal with them? If our warship is destroyed, everyone will be sucked into the universe."

"That's not what you need to worry about." Phillip said cutely: "The enemy's fleet won't cause us any trouble, buzz."

Maple Moon wanted to ask more, but the meat bun beside him suddenly exclaimed, "Look outside, Black Star is facing them alone!"

The surrounding crowd heard the words, and stopped, curiously looking out of the window. Maple Moon also hurriedly raised her head, and Mad Blade took a few steps back to the window and looked out.

They saw Han Xiao flying out of the fleet alone, facing the enemy's thousands of warships.

The enemy's thousands of warships recognized him and fired directly. Tens of thousands of ion cannons seemed to turn into a triangular cone, rapidly firing.

The players watching in the spaceship couldn't help but feel nervous. In the previous version, Black Star had not shown overwhelming strength in space. Although they knew that Black Star in this version must have become stronger, this was the first time they had seen him take action, and no one knew what level he had reached.

This was the focused fire of thousands of warships!

Could he block it?

Just as everyone was nervous, Han Xiao suddenly made claws with both hands, as if using space as a canvas, and yanked hard, changing the curvature of the space around him. The countless ion cannons that were shot at him suddenly dispersed and shot around him, all passing him by.

Immediately afterwards, the space around Han Xiao rippled in circles, and barracks boxes jumped through space, arranged neatly behind Han Xiao in a matrix.

Mad Blade quickly glanced at it and calculated the number of barracks boxes, a total of one hundred and twenty-one!

The next moment, all the barracks boxes opened at the same time, as if releasing Pandora's box, and endless mechanical black tide surged out, firing millions and tens of millions of energy cannons, like a moving thunderstorm cloud, covering the sky and the sun. Almost in the blink of an eye, it swallowed a small half of the enemy's fleet.

The shields of hundreds of enemy warships were instantly torn apart, and the hulls exploded into continuous fireworks!

In just an instant, half of the enemy's thousands of warships were lost!

Even though this terrifying mechanical black tide was rushing towards the enemy, the players watching on the spaceship couldn't help but have their breaths stagnate, and felt a sense of oppression.

In these seven years, Han Xiao didn't have much experience to level up, so he concentrated on expanding the Mechanical Army to improve his strength. Now the scale had reached tens of millions, and he built a new AI, specifically responsible for combat calculations, while Phillip was specifically responsible for housekeeping.

"Warning, detected a sharp increase in energy levels! Pay attention to evasion!" The spaceship sounded an alarm, which was transmitted to everyone's ears.

Suddenly, a strong energy fluctuation was generated on the surface of Planet k-00156. The viewing window of the spaceship automatically adjusted to magnify the view. On the surface of Planet k-00156, there was a large anti-space orbital cannon specially designed to hit flagships, as high as two hundred meters, which had been activated and aimed at Han Xiao, with a strong purple light surging in the muzzle with a diameter of hundreds of meters.

Han Xiao's eyes were also attracted to it. He threw out a compressed ball, which quickly unfolded in space and turned into a Glacier Freezing Star Cannon. Mechanical force flowed through the mechanical structure, and more terrifying energy erupted. The cannon barrel spewed out an ice-blue beam of light, quickly crossing the distance and accurately hitting the anti-space orbital cannon on the surface.

The viewing window of the spaceship faithfully showed the results of this attack. Everyone only saw that the base cluster where the large anti-space orbital cannon was located was left with only a frozen giant pit, full of ice chips, and the surrounding land was completely frozen, stretching for dozens of kilometers, and the area was still expanding.

Although they couldn't hear the sound, many people shivered and felt a chill behind their backs.

If this was hit on a normal colony star... I'm afraid one shot would destroy a city.

Just as everyone was stunned, Han Xiao suddenly moved, passed through the chaotic enemy fleet, quickly rushed to the vicinity of the enemy's huge flagship, and directly turned on the Mechanic Apostle Transformation. The eyes under the mecha lit up with surging blue light, which was a sign that the energy in the body was extremely full.

Han Xiao pressed his palm on the flagship's advanced high-intensity electromagnetic shield, and constantly released psionic energy through his body. The arcing shield was immediately dyed a psionic blue, flickered a few times, and shattered into a sky full of light particles. Han Xiao was unimpeded and directly killed to the flagship's external armor, made claws with both hands, and slammed into the flagship armor.

The constant psionic energy poured into the enemy flagship along the ten fingers. Fine cracks with a psionic blue light quickly spread across the flagship's outer armor, like the veins of energy, centered on Han Xiao's palm.

The entire flagship was like a shining shattered porcelain, and when the light of the crack was so dazzling to the extreme, the flagship exploded with a bang, and blue flames surged out, quickly burning the internal oxygen, maintained for a moment and then extinguished.

At the same time, the Mechanical Army had destroyed all the enemy warships, like tired birds returning to their nests, recovered the barracks boxes and disappeared without a trace, leaving only wreckage of warships floating in the sky, like giant beasts eaten by ants, leaving only skeletons.

The battle ended in less than five minutes. For interstellar powerhouses of his level, as long as there were no Grade A Supers of the same level to restrain him, it was easy to blow up a small fleet, which was completely basic operation.

The spaceship sounded Phillip's cheerful voice.

"His Excellency Black Star has cleared the obstacles, please be prepared, we will airdrop in three minutes, repeat, Black..."

"Gulu." The players watching swallowed subconsciously.

Is this the world of the strong?

Awesome, awesome.