Chapter 1 The Beginning

The Hedgehog, its exterior as formidable as a porcupine, traveled alone across the vast Goust Wastelands, a cargo container trailing behind it, looking top-heavy and awkward. Inside the container were millions worth of parts and materials, all purchased by Han Xiao in a single, large transaction.

Han Xiao was the only one in the vehicle. While driving, he monitored the coordinate radar, heading toward a ruined city called the Gray Iron Wastes.

After completing the River Valley Manor mission, the Blood Contract Society's favorability had greatly increased, directly jumping to Friendly. At this rate, as long as he continued doing missions, he could steadily obtain Legend Points before the public beta, and incidentally complete the class advancement mission to acquire the [Night Stalker] class.

This secondary class was relatively rare in Version 1.0. Besides using it to obtain new skills, Han Xiao also planned to use it to reach Level 40 and begin his second advancement mission. The main class, [Apprentice Mechanic], had a level cap of fifteen. The further he progressed, the more experience was needed to level up. Adding a secondary class was a good choice to improve his efficiency in gaining experience and to refine his combat style.

Before implementing his plan to deal with Germination, Han Xiao intended to establish a secret base to store supplies and stockpile equipment, giving himself a fallback.

Currently, Farian was reliable, but he was used to having a backup plan in case a conflict arose with Farian one day. Although the possibility was small, relying on himself was safer.

Everything changes, especially relationships. Brother Xiao had seen too much of this kind of thing, like his ex-girlfriends...

*Sigh*, as long as you swing the hoe well, there's no corner you can't dig up. Since ancient times, deep affection can't be retained, only routines win people's hearts. If love has a color, it must be the color of forgiveness. Society is too impetuous, and one careless mistake can lead to straying. Unworthy of mention, unworthy of mention...

"Almost at the Gray Iron Wastes."

The reddish-brown earth was like congealed dark-red blood. The wheels crunched over the hardened mud and sand, creating a unique, hoarse friction sound. Through the window, he could occasionally see strangely shaped plants sparsely growing on the wasteland, desolate and withered.

In the distance, at the end of his vision, the outline of a ruined city appeared.

The Gray Iron Wastes, a dead city, even wanderers were unwilling to live there. Only insects and beasts survived.

It was once the capital of a nation, surrounded by lush plains. When the flames of war spread, the city became ruins, and the plains turned into the current Goust Wastelands.

Civilization and wasteland merged into one on this planet.

The world is always changing, for better or worse.

This ruined city had an abandoned base no one knew about, which was Han Xiao's target.

Approaching the Gray Iron Wastes, the style became even more desolate. Buildings were covered in vines, and the streets were covered in green moss. There was no sign of human life.

Several one-legged jumping wall snakes hopped away from the middle of the road.

The sound of the car's engine awakened the life dwelling in this dead city. Insects crawled out from the houses and cracks in the road, watching the car rumble past on the side of the street. They touched their compound eyes with their limbs and twitched their antennae.

In the southern part of the Gray Iron Wastes was a structure that looked like a military base. The electric fence was full of holes and had no power. Most of the buildings inside had collapsed. Han Xiao drove the car in and parked it outside a semi-circular bunker marked with a red "s-539". The bunker door was only a gap, and dust floated in the air, a bit choking.

Getting out of the car, Han Xiao took out the Prime Arachnid and threw it into the armory. He had modified the Prime Arachnid's camera to have thermal imaging and electromagnetic scanning, and it could also hear sounds. After spending half an hour using the Prime Arachnid to explore the inside of the bunker and confirming that there were no creatures, he walked in with peace of mind, turned on his flashlight, and groped his way to a room in the bunker. He found a wall with a gap, and suddenly pulled it open, revealing the elevator shaft behind it.

The abandoned base he was looking for was below the bunker.

Han Xiao knew this place well. In his previous life, this was his base, but it was later seized by a guild.

Back then, Brother Xiao was just a little kid, bullied by others because they had more people. Looking at it now, he possessed this secret base, and the fortifications were already in place. As long as he provided energy, he wouldn't have been afraid of being attacked. He could only blame himself for being too weak back then.

The underground abandoned base had enough space, and there were two emergency exits. It was covered in cobwebs and dust everywhere.

"Let's call this Gray Iron Base." Han Xiao gave it a reliable name.

At this time, the base had no power. Han Xiao took out many flashlights with their own power source to provide lighting, and then began the most critical energy modification. The original cables of the Gray Iron Base connected to the power plant in the military base. Now that the entire city was dead, the power plant had naturally stopped running.

The power plant was on the ground, some distance from Gray Iron Base.

Han Xiao came to the power plant, which was even more dilapidated. Many generators had already broken down, but he wasn't counting on these old devices. He had known this would be the case, so he had spent a lot of money buying a batch of solar-powered generators from Farian, which were in the cargo container. He took them out one by one, replaced some of the equipment in the power plant, and then transferred the underground cables connecting to the Gray Iron Base to the new solar-powered generators.

Returning to Gray Iron Base, there was now power, and the lights came on, clearly showing the full picture of the base.

The base, which had been silent in the dark for a long time, finally welcomed the light again.

Solar-powered generators are clean, efficient, and concealed. The excess electricity during the day is stored in batteries. The current power can support the base's operation around the clock.

Han Xiao started cleaning the base. It was full of dust and cobwebs. At this time, he couldn't help but miss Lu Qian, who had maxed out her housework skills. Speaking of which, he hadn't seen Lu Qian for a while, and he missed her cooking a bit.

"I left without saying goodbye, I wonder what her reaction is."

Thinking of Old Man Lu repeatedly promoting his granddaughter, Han Xiao couldn't help but smile.

After cleaning, he moved the supplies from the Hedgehog down, sorting and stacking the parts and materials in the warehouse. Water and canned food were placed in the refrigerator in the food storage room. He then spent some experience to directly upgrade [Beginner Programming] to Level 10, modified the control room, and created a chip program to coordinate all the data of the base's fortifications... The specific function was like the work allocation panel in a simulation management game, convenient for energy allocation.

In the following days, Han Xiao was modifying the base, gradually taking shape. The warning devices included infrared detection and heat detection. The fortifications included small machine gun arrays and piercing traps. The armory bunker on the ground was also repaired, fixing the metal door to make Gray Iron Base more hidden.

Most importantly, Han Xiao created three assistant-type Rangers!

With [Beginner Programming] maxed out, the low-level intelligent chips he created could store some simple operation blueprints, allowing the robots to manufacture things. Connected to the base's main control system, they could manufacture ammunition and other machinery around the clock. Han Xiao himself could also gain some experience, which meant he was getting experience twenty-four hours a day. Each Ranger assistant could contribute 2,000 to 4,000 experience points per day, and three would contribute nearly 10,000 experience, very stable.

Gray Iron Base had limited energy. Three assistant robots were the limit. The stockpiled parts and materials were only enough for the robot assistants to manufacture for ten days, so logistics couldn't be interrupted. Fortunately, Han Xiao could take advantage of this time to go out and do assassination missions, forming a complete chain.

"If early-stage players want to build a base, they can only hire many mechanics to participate. Each player has a tendency in the knowledge they learn due to the experience gap, and there are shortcomings. But my three branch knowledge areas are upgraded simultaneously, and one person can be competent in all the work. However, the shortcomings are also obvious. My experience requirements are several times that of ordinary players, but fortunately, I have a way to make money," Han Xiao thought to himself.

Gray Iron Base was small but complete, neat and completely new. Han Xiao looked at the fruits of his labor these past few days, and a sense of fulfillment welled up in his heart.

"I can be considered a man with a base now."

With the modification of the base completed, the next thing to do was to deal with Germination. He hadn't provoked them for a while, and they had developed a bit more. Han Xiao looked at the progress of the destruction, and it had indeed decreased by a few tenths of a percent.

But Han Xiao wasn't in a hurry at all. The reason why he put this goal last was because he no longer planned to take down Germination's branch bases one by one like a small-time operator.

He was going to do something big!

Han Xiao's plan was simple and high-profile. He would throw all the information he knew about Germination's branch bases to the Six Nations!

Crazy and deadly!

The Six Nations had been hostile to Germination for a long time. Once they seized Germination's weakness, they would never let it go. As long as he made this crazy move, the Germination organization would inevitably suffer a major blow, but at the same time, it would shake the entire Aquamarine Star's situation, and perhaps the original plot would be derailed...

But that's what makes it exciting!

Fearing to change the plot is never the mentality of a strong person.

An unchanging world has no fun for a chaoticist!

Han Xiao clenched his fist, and rich strength flowed within him, the confident beat of drums ringing in his chest.

"Now I am no longer the weakling who first entered Aquamarine Star, having to consider everything. I already have enough strength to contend with most of the enemies on this planet."

Strength is confidence, and forbearance is for the day when you no longer have to forbear.

Now he could protect himself, and he could finally complete this idea that he had had for a long time!

Han Xiao connected his phone to the computer, created an anti-tracking program, hid the number and address, and then dialed a familiar number.

"Hello, who is this?"

Feng Jun's voice rang on the phone.

Han Xiao joked, "Guess~"

Feng Jun almost choked on his saliva. This cheap voice was too familiar. He immediately recognized that it was Han Xiao, and he never expected that Han Xiao would call back!

"You, you actually dare to call back?!"

Feng Jun was stunned.