Chapter 628 Two Years Later (2/2)
”We don't even have the right to be wanted criminals.” The taller pirate laughed bitterly and did not know whether he should be happy or sad.
There was a saying among the pirates—they would rather meet the Dragon Emperor than meet Black Star!
One of the reasons for the swift uprising of the Black Star Army was because they took on the role of bounty hunters. All the galactic pirate groups around the Garton Star System had become the prey for the Black Star Army. These pirate groups had been wiped out, and all their battleships had been captured. The Black Star Army had at least four hundred battleships that had been snatched in this manner.
The pirates in the neighboring Star Systems had felt threatened, and a portion of them had joined hands to assassinate Black Star for their own survival. However, they had ended up falling into an ambush with over a million mercenaries being sent into battle. In the end, those allied pirates had ended up being completely wiped out.
While many infamous pirates had been captured, the majority of these pirates had been hidden by Black Star with only a small portion being exchanged for their bounties. These pirates that were taken out by Black Star had been tortured by Black Star to the point they did not even seem like humans.
After this piece of news was spread, many pirates trembled in fear and all felt that Black Star had some sick fetish toward pirates. Thus, Black Star immediately seemed a hundred times more ferocious in their eyes, causing the saying that they would rather meet the Dragon Emperor than Black Star to spread.
Dragon Emperor Ames was on neutral ground, but her field team had something against galactic pirates. Thus, they would rather land in Ames' hands than end up being in Black Star's hands.
As such, the pirates in the Star Systems surrounding the Garton Star System all escaped, and the security of these few Star Systems became extremely good. Currently, there were only a few small, puny galactic pirate groups left behind.
”Who would have thought that the members of the Black Star Army would appear here? Could it be that the Black Star Army think that it isn't enough to monopolize the jobs in the Garton Star System and want to expand into Hyde?”
”Who knows? However, that isn't impossible. In the few neighboring Star Systems, apart from the few Star System level civilizations, which other organization dares provoke the Black Star Army? They've already monopolized this region.”
After catching their breath for a while, both of them continued running.
…
Frenzied Sword and Hao Tian were currently searching for clues in the transit station. After a few hours, they finally managed to piece together the clue for the last phase of the mission.
All of them came to a deserted maintenance workshop, and their target was a crippled maintenance worker. He had lost both his arms and replaced them with prosthetic limbs. He was currently repairing a badly damaged communicator and had an ordinary aura.
However, according to the information that the players received from the Detect skill, this maintenance worker called Ronaldo was 'Fatally Dangerous'.
Hao Tian and Frenzied Sword looked at each other and pushed Sleepy Winter into the workshop in unison. Sleepy Winter had the highest Charm stat among them and was the most suitable to talk to NPCs.
Sleepy Winter took out the mission item, handed it over, and respectfully said, ”Hello, someone requested that we hand this over to you.”
They had accepted a hidden mission that required them to hand this mission item over to Ronaldo. The mission item was a letter.
Upon hearing that, Ronaldo looked up and glanced at the crowd. He then placed the machine in his hands down before calmly asking, ”Who are all of you?”
”We are from the Black Star Army.”
”Black Star Army‽” Ronaldo's gaze flickered, and he said in a deep voice, ”I've heard of you guys before. It's said that Black Star is an extremely powerful Mechanic. It's truly a pity. If it was a year ago and both my arms were still around, I would have wanted to exchange pointers with him.”
Frenzied Sword and the others were shocked.
Han Xiao was a Grade A Super, and if the person before them dared say exchange pointers, he should be a Grade A Super as well. This hidden mission was truly unfathomable.
”Don't be in a rush to leave. Let me see what's written.”
Ronaldo lowered his head and opened the letter that was filled with secret codes. He lived in seclusion due to some reason and could only use such a method to transmit information.
All the players waited for a moment, and Ronaldo sighed after reading the letter.
”These are truly turbulent times. A new storm is about to arrive. Sigh, please tell your employer that I am in seclusion and will not accept any hires. I only wish to stay here silently; the tremors of the Shattered Star Ring shall not affect me anymore.”
The final mission objective on their interface changed to 'report back to their employer', and they would be able to accept the mission reward at any time. However, these players did not leave immediately as they were extremely sensitive to hidden storylines. Upon hearing Ronaldo's words, they knew that there was information to be dug up.
”I wonder, what do you mean by a storm?” Sleepy Winter asked.
Ronaldo looked at him and perhaps found Sleepy Winter to be more pleasant to the eyes. ”Have you guys not noticed the hidden currents in the Shattered Star Ring over the past year or two? The seven Star Cluster level civilizations' actions have been weird; this is the signal of a storm. A whirlpool is gradually forming and is only in its infancy. When this whirlpool surfaces, the entire Shattered Star Ring will be dragged in, and not a single organization will be able to avoid the storm.”
Everyone was completely puzzled. They had only visited the few Star Systems around the Garton Star System and did not understand much about the storm in the Shattered Star Ring. After all, their area of operation was not large enough.
There were some players who wanted to explore new maps and visit other Star Clusters. However, the effort that they put in and rewards they received usually did not match. They could only view the scenery most of the time and make a wasted trip.
The galaxy was extremely large, and just the Shattered Star Ring alone was already enormous. Trying to find a mission alone was akin to finding a needle in a haystack. On the contrary, the Black Star Army had numerous missions for them to choose from, and they would definitely have returns. Thus, their target was extremely obvious.
Sleepy Winter continued asking, and Ronaldo replied, ”No one knows the target of these Star Cluster level civilizations, but the storm definitely isn't a coincidence. I think that there must be a powerful organization directing the changes in the Shattered Star Ring.
”Powerful organization? Is it the three Universal Civilizations that have only appeared in the background, or is it someone else?” Everyone guessed to themselves.
The players did not know about the Tyrant's gathering and naturally did not know what was going on behind the scenes. However, this did not stop Frenzied Sword, Hao Tian, and the others from guessing that this was related to the storyline of the future version.
After all, this was not the first time. Black Star had also revealed Version 2.0's Mutation Disaster during Version 1.0.
Having clues of the future version ahead of time could provide them with a huge advantage.
Right at this moment, Ronaldo seemed to have thought of something and said, ”Right, all of you are Black Star's subordinates. Give something to him for me.”
Everyone was stunned for a moment before nodding. This was obviously a new mission.
Following which, Ronaldo took a pen and paper to write a long list of names before handing it over to the players.
Sleepy Winter received the piece of paper, and the interface notified him that he received a copy of [List of Names].
This time, Frenzied Sword could not help but ask, ”What is this?”
”This is a list…” Ronaldo said with a deep voice. As though he thought about a terrible memory, he grabbed the position of his arm, and a trace of anger and fear flashed past his eyes. ”A list of targets.”
”Er, why do you want us to pass this to Black Star?”
”Because… he is on the list!”