Colorful and lively lights flickered, and the energetic, exciting music elevated the atmosphere. Ladies of different races with minimal clothing danced seductively on the round, rectangular shaped booths all around the place. Under them was a screen introducing, or making up, each lady's background, age, and so on, filling them with all sorts of terrible and erotic stories, stimulating the audiences' l.u.s.tful thoughts.
Every booth was surrounded by a large group of males not taking their eyes off the dancer for a second. Their laughter was rough, and some even reached out to touch the dancer from time to time. Not far away was the bar with semi-private seats. Most of the people in them were males too, hugging and moving their hands around the alluring-eyed ladies accompanying them to drink.
Waitresses in revealing clothes carried drinks around, and the male customers from all sorts of races occasionally groped them.
The sound of laughter, mumbling, and teasing filled the extravagant atmosphere. It was like the air was painted with a layer of seductive pink.
At a luxurious table, a few males were chatting loudly and gulping down one drink after another. They were clearly mercenaries.
These people all had ladies in their arms. Their groping was rough and aggressive, such that pain could be seen in many of the ladies' eyes, but they did not dare to say anything. They could only smile.
These ladies knew who these mercenaries were; they were from a relatively well known mercenary group and were all Grade B Supers. In the eyes of these regular people, Grade B Supers were someone they absolutely could not mess with.
However, among these mercenaries looking for fun, there was an outcast.
At the side of the table, there was a tall and skinny man without any lady beside him. The drink in front of him was untouched, too. He was sitting up straight with his hands on his thighs. He was the odd one out in this environment; the others were having a whale of a time, but his expression was so serious as if he was doing scientific research. Even the pa.s.sion of the other mercenaries was brought down.
"Come on Reynold, don't be so serious, drink some booze. It's on me anyway. Have as much fun as you like," the captain of this mercenary group said as he looked at his odd comrade. His tone did not sound like superior but instead was almost fawning.
Reynold's body did not move—only his neck turned as he looked over. His eyes were bright and sharp, like an owl in the night. Monotonously, he said, "Alcohol slows down my brain, makes me think slower. I need to keep myself sober."
"Er, then you can find a woman…"
Before the captain finished, Reynold said, "Women distract me and break my thoughts. Biological desire also affects my clarity."
"Alright then…" The mercenary captain giggled. He could not do anything about Reynold. Reynold's position in his mercenary group was very high and irreplaceable.
That was because Reynold was a Grade B Mechanic.
In the universe, the number of Mechanics was relatively low. They were rare, especially high-level Mechanics. Unlike Pugilists, Espers, and Psychics, Mechanics needed tons of knowledge. Only Mages could be compared with the amount of knowledge Mechanics needed. To Mechanics, knowledge was fundamental to becoming stronger.
His team had worked together with Reynold for quite a long time. Reynold had been providing them with weapons, devices, and repairing their s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p and machines; he basically took care of the logistics of the entire group. Plus, he had Grade B combat ability. Reynold's position was even slightly higher than his, the captain.
If not because Reynold was so important, the mercenary captain would have been done with his strange personality long ago.
"Have you heard? Many freelance mercenaries want to join the Black Star Army. They say Black Star will monopolize the Garton Star System's mercenary business. What do we do?" a mercenary asked.
"Ignore them. It's still a long way to go for Black Star to monopolize Garton Star System even if he wants to. By then we will just go to another Star System to find work." The mercenary captain curled his lips and did not care.
Then, Reynold spoke with an expressionless face. "Let's join Black Star."
It was silent.
The mercenaries looked at Reynold in shock.
"What do you mean? I'm the captain, don't make decisions for me," the mercenary captain said with a displeased tone.
"Okay." Reynold nodded. He instantly took out his communicator, pressed it a few times, then stood up and walked away immediately after.
"Wait, where are you going?" The mercenary captain suddenly felt something was not right.
"I've left the group." Reynold walked further and further.
The mercenaries were stunned. Did he just quit the group without any hesitation because of a single disagreement? So decisive?
The mercenary captain panicked. He quickly stood up and yelled, "Are you out of your mind? No matter what, we've fought alongside each other for so long. We all took you as a friend, and you're just leaving like this‽"
"Me and you, we were cooperating equally. I did not sell myself to you, so why can't I leave?"
Without even turning his head around, Reynold walked out without stopping at all. Every step felt like it was measured precisely with a ruler. His back disappeared at the door.
The group of mercenaries exchanged looks with confusion.
"What the h.e.l.l is Reynold thinking? Does he think there's no future working with us?" one of them said frustratedly.
The mercenary captain's face was gloomy. He threw the lady in his arms onto the floor without looking and heavily bashed the table.
Clank!
Cracks spread out on the table, startling everyone.
"That a.s.shole!"
Without Reynold, the strength of his group was hugely reduced. Knowing that, the mercenary captain was furious, but there was nothing he could do.
…
Inside a pa.s.senger room on a galactic traveling s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p in the Garton Star System, Brock looked at the interview notification from the Black Star Army on his communicator, and his eyes flickered.
He was a hybrid G.o.doran, a freelance mercenary. His resume had pa.s.sed the first round of selection, and he had been notified by Phillip to go to the interview.
However, being a mercenary was just part of his fake ident.i.ty. Brock's real ident.i.ty was a hidden member that DarkStar had left in the outside world. Before he became a mercenary, he had been an elite member trained by DarkStar.
DarkStar's fleet had been wiped out, and almost all his superiors had been captured, but there was a group of DarkStar members who did not follow the fleet and hid in the outside world, keeping up their fake ident.i.ties. These people had once been DarkStar's intelligence network, and now they were DarkStar remnants. Since the leader had gone bankrupt and bolted, they now had no leader and could only be concerned with their own safety.
Recently, G.o.dora had been cleaning up the remaining DarkStar forces, and it was quite effective. Many of DarkStar's hidden intelligence channels were torn down.
For safety, the DarkStar remnants had stopped contacting each other. Some wanted to escape, some wanted to clean their background, and some wanted to change sides.
Brock was one of the people who hid very well. Not long after DarkStar was destroyed, he had actively broken away contact with the other remnants. His mercenary resume had nothing suspicious. On the surface, he had no connection to DarkStar—his ident.i.ty was well hidden.
However, he did not plan to clean up his background.
Before DarkStar was attacked, Brock had accepted a mission to infiltrate Black Star, and he had decided to continue carrying out this mission.
With the help of his clean ident.i.ty, he planned to pa.s.s the interview, become a member of Black Star, and stay hidden.
The first reason was that G.o.dora was very close to Black Star, so with the ident.i.ty as a Black Star mercenary, he could protect his secrets better.
The second reason was Brock's main motive. He was loyal to DarkStar and loathed Black Star; he strongly believed that the DarkStar leader would one day return!
With a gloomy expression, Brock thought, The Black Star Army is an obstacle. If I infiltrate it, maybe I can climb up to become a team leader or even an officer. I can split the Black Star Army from inside. Once the leader returns, it will be time for me to fulfill my duty. I will become a nail in the heart of the enemy…
…
The players bought the new equipment and excitedly started new missions.
While doing the missions, they were also exploring the universe. They were still at the first stage of familiarizing themselves with the universe, and it would probably take two to three more missions for them to fully get used to the galaxy.
On the other side, the hundreds of thousands of players on Planet Aquamarine were pa.s.sing the test one after another. Every so often, tens of thousands of players would join the Black Star Army. These players were considered newbies, but they at least knew how to start a mission with the help of the forums, so they did not start with nothing. If there was anything they did not understand, they could even ask the first group of players that joined the Black Star Army.
Hence, Han Xiao did not have to worry about the players for some time. It was going in the right direction; he just had to leave them be and let them have fun.
Fifteen days pa.s.sed by quickly, and it was finally the day to interview the newcomers.
Over the past two weeks, Han Xiao had placed himself in solitude and built many new machines. However, updating all his equipment was a very demanding task, so he had yet to complete it. He had no choice but to pause for a moment and take the time to interview these mercenaries.
In the base's vast hall, thousands of mercenaries waiting to be interviewed had gathered. There were humans, beasts, and insects, women, men, or s.e.xless. They sized each other up.
"So, this is Black Star's headquarters."
"Looks quite grand, not bad."
Brock looked around. When he followed the big group in, he had kept observing the structure of the base, looking for weak spots and memorizing them, forming a map in his mind.
After waiting for a while, the alloy floor in front of the thousands of people opened up in a spiral manner, showing a circular hole. Dressed in his windbreaker, Han Xiao slowly flew up and landed in front of everyone.
The eyes of the thousands of people concentrated on Han Xiao. Some were curious, some were pa.s.sionate, and some were filled with admiration.
With Han Xiao's current fame, strength, and position, he was indeed an important person in the Garton Star System.
"So, he's Black Star…" Brock narrowed his eyes slightly. He had seen a recording of Han Xiao before, but this was the first time seeing the real person. He sized Han Xiao up secretly.
Han Xiao glanced over the people, turned around to look at Sylvia, and nodded.
Sylvia nodded in return, then walked forward, cleared her throat, and spoke in her crisp voice.
"Welcome, everyone. You are all experienced senior mercenaries, anyone that pa.s.ses the interview will become a member of us Black Star Army. You will need to sign the Mercenary Alliance's contract; all the benefits and privileges are stated inside. Of course, so are the rules and regulations of the Black Star Army, as well as your responsibilities."
Then, Sylvia stepped aside. Herlous was not there, so Han Xiao was using her as an a.s.sistant.
Han Xiao glanced over the crowd again and loudly said, "You all know the rules. If you have any problems, you can leave now."
The thousands of mercenaries murmured, but none left.
"Okay, we shall not waste any more time. Let's start the test." Han Xiao raised his hand. "It's simple. Every one of you will walk in front of me and let me tap you. Through the tap, I can roughly sense your Energy Rank. Those who pa.s.s will wait to the side."
The mercenaries had no problem with that. No one there questioned the ability of a Calamity Grade.
However, many were unconfident. This kind of test depended purely on Black Star's judgment. If he said that someone pa.s.sed, they pa.s.sed; if he said someone failed, they failed. There was no physical standard.
This time, Han Xiao said again, "Don't worry, for those who do not pa.s.s, I won't allow you to have wasted your time coming here. You will have two choices. One is, of course, to leave. The other is to accept training from the Black Star Army and increase your strength through high-intensity training. During that time, you won't be allowed to accept missions until you pa.s.s the test. Only then will you be allowed to use the Black Star Army's name to accept missions."
He took talents seriously. Clearly, the more strong freelance mercenaries, the better, but he knew that not every skilled mercenary would be willing to be under his command. Talents needed to be cultivated.
Therefore, Han Xiao had decided to create the Mercenary Training Camp.
The Great Mechanic Han had thought of this long ago; it was an important part of his expansion plan. In his plan, the sub-bases were not only strongholds but could also recruit and train people.
His recruitment target was not limited to mercenaries; he was going to recruit people from different planets. Planet Aquamarine was one example. Other than the players, there were also the planet's natives that wanted to enter the galaxy. Planet Sunil was the next target for that.
Upon hearing this, many mercenaries' eyes gleamed. The fact that they could still join Black Star even if they did not pa.s.s wiped away their worries.
They queued up properly to be tested by Han Xiao.
This interview method was to look at their attributes through the combat information triggered on the interface through touching.
While these mercenaries were clueless, Han Xiao knew their every ability back and forth, even their trump cards.
Testing one person took two seconds. There were six to seven thousand people there, so it would take many hours. This method was very troublesome, but the origins of freelance mercenaries were extremely complicated. Many of them were not citizens of the Garton Star System, so G.o.d only knew what their background was. Hence, Han Xiao felt he had to be careful. Plus, it had been peaceful recently, so he was able to squeeze out the time.
After some time, it was finally Brock's turn.
Without panic or worry, he walked forward and let Han Xiao tap him.
There was no risk of being exposed through testing his Energy Rank. After all, it was absolutely impossible for Black Star to know that he belonged to DarkStar just by touching him.
Brock was confident.
An opportunity to observe Black Star so closely was very rare. This was even an amazing chance for a.s.sa.s.sination. However, Brock suppressed those dangerous thoughts and prepared to wait by the side like the person in front of him.
The moment he turned around, Han Xiao's voice came behind him.
"You… wait!"
