Chapter 1 A Glimmer of Hope

Generally speaking, cultural transformation movements targeting large civilizations last two to five generations. The Kundu Clan's closed-off transformation has been less than thirty years. It's a bit premature to discuss opening up now.

The empire's decision to lift the ban early probably has other intentions.

Han Xiao's eyes darted, a faint guess forming.

Although the Kundu Clan was defeated, the trillions of survivors are a rich population resource, now settled in the Black Star Army's territory, practically becoming the army's property. During the cultural transformation, the Black Star Army is constantly conducting ideological construction, promoting the benefits of the army, and trying to cultivate the Kundu Clan's longing and loyalty in advance.

The empire is probably doing this to stop the Black Star Army's propaganda to the Kundu Clan as soon as possible, preventing the army from continuing to cultivate ideas, avoiding the Kundu Clan from completely becoming the army's talent pool, and at the same time letting the incompletely transformed Kundu Clan cause some small troubles for the army.

"Tsk, such petty thoughts..."

Han Xiao curled his lips.

He only met with Mabrus not long ago, and there was a reaction so quickly. There must be high-level instructions behind this. The change in the empire's attitude towards him is faintly visible.

Han Xiao didn't take it to heart, it was good news for him instead. After pondering for a few seconds, he said, "Reply to the empire, welcome the inspection team to visit. Have someone discuss a time arrangement with the empire. We will also arrange an inspection team to accompany the imperial envoy for an on-site inspection."

"Understood." Sylvia nodded. "There is another matter. Infinite Conglomerate has been in arrears with Sprout Conglomerate for three months of business payments. I asked the finance department to negotiate, but the other party shirked responsibility and didn't give a reply. Do you want to personally intervene?"

"Infinite Conglomerate owes me money? Hasn't their cash flow had any problems recently?"

"Intrepid has already had someone calculate it. Infinite Conglomerate's business is very stable, and even the performance in some areas has created new records. The cash flow is very healthy, but they just won't pay."

"How much is owed specifically?"

"A total of thirty-four cooperative projects, totaling 48.2 billion Enas. You..."

Before Sylvia finished speaking, Han Xiao glared and interrupted her.

"Yo, this bastard actually owes money and doesn't pay it back. I'll talk to him personally."

After speaking, Han Xiao found Sorokin's private number and dialed it directly.

The ringing tone sounded for a while before the communication was finally connected. Sorokin's projection appeared on the screen, and his superficially enthusiastic voice came out.

"Your Excellency Black Star, what a rare guest. I was just wondering why I was in such a good mood today. It turns out that a distinguished guest has come to my door. I wonder what you need?"

"It's nothing else, I just heard that you owe me a lot of money recently. I'm here to urge you to settle the final payment."

Han Xiao raised his eyebrows.

Sorokin immediately put on a troubled expression, and complained in a heartfelt tone:

"Oh, the conglomerate's situation hasn't been good recently, and the cash flow is tight. You also know that for big businesses like ours, in order to maintain our power, we have to burn hundreds of millions of funds every day as soon as we open our eyes. I can't get the money now."

"Stop lying, do you think my finance department is just for show? The report on my side says that your business is in good condition, and you have expanded a lot of business. You're telling me you don't have money?"

"It's precisely because we expanded our business that we need to spend more money to open up channels. The speed of burning money exceeded expectations, and we really can't spare the money."

"Bullshit, don't blame me for not reminding you, if you don't settle the final payment within the agreed time limit, you will have to pay liquidated damages. Don't regret it then... Oh, I heard recently that you are using your headhunting company to poach my people, preparing to use high salaries to lure Intrepid's team to jump ship. Is there such a thing?"

"Hehe, I'm a businessman, it's all normal business operations, don't take it to heart."

The two exchanged blows for a while, but Sorokin was impervious to salt and oil, and just wouldn't let go and give the money.

Looking at Sorokin's uncharacteristic performance, Han Xiao's eyes suddenly flashed, and he had a faint guess in his heart. He immediately changed the subject and said meaningfully, "It seems that this is not a business problem, but that some contradictions have arisen in our understanding of our identities."

Hearing this, Sorokin showed a smile that was not a smile, and slowly said, "I thought we had a tacit understanding of cooperation, but it seems I was wrong..."

The two spoke ambiguously, just because they didn't want to leave evidence. In fact, they both understood each other's meaning.

Since Han Xiao took advantage of Goode's disappearance to report Sorokin's abnormal situation to the empire, Sorokin has been subjected to searches and targeting by the empire both overtly and covertly, and has had to be careful and fearful for the past two years, which is extremely annoying.

Sorokin initially thought that the empire was conducting a normal search of suspects, so he endured it, but the empire's recent actions made him feel more and more wrong. He inquired through contacts and was shocked to find that the motive for the internal search of the empire was actually to suspect his identity.

Currently, only Black Star in the universe knows his secret. Originally, the intention of Infinite Conglomerate to cooperate with concessions was to shut Black Star up, but the empire is now targeting him, which can only mean that Black Star revealed the information, which made Sorokin feel shocked and angry.

That's why there was this scene today. Since he was betrayed, Sorokin didn't want the Black Star Army to lie on him and suck his blood anymore.

"If there's nothing else, I'll go offline first. Hehe, I still have work to do."

Sorokin said with a fake smile and hung up the communication.

The screen went black, and Han Xiao also put away the communicator, his expression playful.

He did it on purpose, forcing Sorokin to switch from the dark to the light, and was quite curious about what Sorokin would do in response.

"You think I'm just simply trying to make things difficult for you, but I actually hope to make you lose your composure. If you take the initiative to attack me, then that would be even better. Then it would be justified for me to beat you up."

Han Xiao's eyes flickered, and he chuckled.

Sorokin's identity is similar to Goode's, both are a layer of amulet, but Han Xiao dared to touch Goode because of level suppression. He could see all of Goode's abilities and was confident in taking him down steadily. But Sorokin is different. His level is even higher than his current level, and there are a lot of question marks on the panel. He doesn't know what methods he is hiding, and Han Xiao is worried about a reversal.

Most importantly, taking down Goode involved too much. If he didn't take action, everyone would suffer together. Sorokin's importance has not reached this level, so Han Xiao doesn't want to break the association's rules for personal grudges. This is his only remaining integrity.

Of course, this is limited to not taking the initiative to attack. If Sorokin jumps over the wall in desperation, then Han Xiao doesn't mind playing him a song of "Welcome to the Underworld."

...

On the other side, as soon as he cut off the connection, Sorokin's expression collapsed, his face gloomy.

He was now a little regretful that he shouldn't have hesitated when his identity was exposed, and should have eliminated Black Star as a hidden danger as soon as possible.

Although gathering all the Soul Seeds would cause this body to be scrapped and lose this vest, keeping Black Star would still expose the vest.

Since he would lose blood no matter what, he might as well drag Black Star down as a scapegoat.

Sorokin's expression was uncertain. Although he was fierce in his heart, he actually had to struggle, worrying about whether he was making a fuss over a minor issue and whether he could defeat Black Star.

"In any case, arrange the retreat first. It's a pity to leave such a huge asset of Infinite Conglomerate to others. I have to find a way to inherit a part of the financial resources. Too large a flow of funds will attract attention from all parties even if it goes through black market channels. It is best to break it up into smaller pieces and turn the funds into real objects..."

Sorokin gritted his teeth.

Whether he takes action or not, preparing a retreat first is definitely correct, so that he can have the confidence to take action at any time without being passive.

"Black Star's body is indestructible, and his spirit is the only breakthrough point, but this is only relatively speaking. No matter what, he has the resistance level of a peak Super-A grade. Killing him is extremely difficult, and he has the Emperor's Mech, so the plan to exile him to an unexplored universe will not work either. So according to my ability and the cosmic treasures collected in secret, the more successful plan is only one, that is, to severely damage or seal his soul, so that he has to fall into a long sleep.

In that case, I'd better get the Soul Flame back. The success rate will be higher. I don't know if the Soul Flame has a host now. If so, I can only kill him and take back this Esper Ability..."

Sorokin thought to himself.

...

A few days later, the empire and the Black Star Army agreed on the date of the inspection and sent envoys from the Central Star Sea to the Shattered Star Ring.

The imperial inspection team would spend a lot of time on the road, so Han Xiao ordered the garrison troops on hundreds of Kundu Clan's residential stars to spread the news of the inspection team's upcoming arrival to every planet, telling the Kundu Clan that as long as they behaved well, they would see the light of day again.

Originally, the action of inspecting cultural transformation was generally carried out in secret, because once the inspection target knew the news in advance, in order to be released early, they might "cheat" and deceive the inspection team. There have been similar cases in history.

But this time the empire didn't react, because releasing the Kundu Clan early was also their secret goal. Although Han Xiao's approach was not in compliance with the rules, it was in line with the empire's wishes, so they turned a blind eye. Han Xiao also hoped that the Kundu Clan would be released early so that he could get the mission rewards, so he seized the opportunity to act, which not only conformed to the interests of the empire, but also met his own needs. Everyone was happy.

Both sides were taking what they needed, the only difference was that Han Xiao guessed the empire's thoughts, but the empire didn't know what benefits he had.

The notice of the upcoming arrival of the imperial inspection team quickly spread throughout every Kundu Clan residential star. The many Kundu Clan, who had been living in a daze, gradually ignited hope.

Kundu Clan's 77th residential star, the south of Xigeya City, apartment No. f0044, rooftop.

Barton stood on a high place, looking out over the entire city. He saw rows of towering gray rectangular apartments neatly arranged, the same height, shape, and spacing, like upright metal coffins. The city layout revealed a strong sense of industrialism. The sky was gray, and the sunset was faintly visible in the clouds, the afterglow coating the city with a layer of decadent twilight.

Barton couldn't remember how many times he had seen such a monotonous and unremarkable scenery. In his eyes, this was not a city, but a lifeless large prison.

The biting cold wind blew, bringing the sound from behind.

"Brother Barton, the news says that this is the first inspection by the Crimson Empire inspection team. Can we really leave here?"

Hearing this, Barton looked back. Hundreds of people stood on the rooftop, all young Kundu Clan.

He was silent for a while, then nodded slowly, his tone firm.

"We definitely can!"

They were all children of the residents of this apartment, born in the "Great Lockdown Era." Barton was the oldest and was the recognized leader of all the young people here.

During the cultural transformation, their lives could only be arranged by others. The residential areas were planned, and the residents of each area were also arranged. Travel required reporting to the local intelligent management system, and they could only leave the divided living area with permission. Every move was under surveillance.

The Kundu Clan under control were not allowed to develop technology. The only thing that could be spread was some Esper Ability knowledge. This was still the work of the Black Star Army, which regarded the Kundu Clan as a talent reserve and did not want to raise them all as shut-ins.

Cultural transformation permeated every aspect of life, all kinds of daily necessities, news propaganda, education courses, etc. More than 20 years have passed, and it has become the norm in the life of the Kundu Clan. They receive these information every day, and the change of thinking takes place imperceptibly.

But for the first batch of newborns born in the Great Lockdown Era, the past glory of the Kundu Clan only existed in language. Young people couldn't imagine what that scene was like. On the one hand, they received education in public schools, and on the other hand, they were affected by the hatred left over from the previous generation.

The elders who experienced the defeat of the Kundu Clan, some still harbored deep-seated hatred, admonishing their descendants not to forget the hatred, and some kept silent, choosing to let their descendants forget the past, only in this way could the race be released and have a new future.

Planet lockdown, social decline, and divided ideas have jointly created a confused generation. No one knows where the road ahead lies.

Now, the arrival of the imperial inspection team has finally allowed them to see hope that is more precious than anything else.

"In our lives, there may only be this one opportunity... Whoever has an accident is the sinner of the entire race."

Barton scanned the hopeful gazes and said in a deep voice.

A young man sighed, "Brother Barton, we may not have problems, but you also know that in this apartment alone, there are too many people with hatred... I guess this is not what the inspection team wants to see."

Barton was silent for a while, then slowly raised his pliers. He saw tiny arcs of electricity jumping on the surface of his body, and said in a low voice:

"There always needs to be someone to take the lead and set an example. We still have time to prepare. Go, negotiate with everyone in the apartment who harbors hatred. For the sake of the race, they will be sensible.

If there are really people whose brains are filled with hatred, whose wills are distorted, and who are unwilling to make any changes, holding everyone back..."

Barton's voice stopped for a moment, and painful emotional colors appeared on the carapace.

"Then kill them, even if there are our family members inside."