The screen disappeared as Han Xiao waved his hand before he turned to Aurora and Feidin behind him, speaking in a solemn tone.

“This matter is only known to the two of you at the moment. Don’t tell anybody else for now, or else there will be trouble. Do you understand?”

“… You’re saying that there’ll be people like the Germinal Organization’s Leader?”

Aurora pursed her lips. The painful memories of her past flashed through her head, and a trace of fear flitted across her face. This, however, was quickly replaced by determination.

She was different from the self in the past. She had Han Xiao and her sister by her side, and she believed that she would not repeat her past mistakes.

“Yes, if word gets out, this will arouse the interest of many of the hegemons of the universe. You’ll be dragged into the storm.” Han Xiao nodded.

If Hila’s ability to reap one’s longevity made others fear her, then Aurora’s ability would drive all Beyond Grade As crazy. She had the ability to control the entire universe. Most Beyond Grade As wished to extend their life span. Even those species with naturally long life spans were no exception. For example, if EsGod was still roaming around, he would not have spared no quarter to seize Aurora’s power. This priority would have been even higher than the Evolutionary Totem.

Not only the Beyond Grade As, even the advanced civilizations would be tempted. With Aurora entering the Calamity Grade, she had a high efficiency in the generation of life energy. Most likely, they would not treat her like the Germinal Organization had treated her, but they would put her under house arrest, with her only job being to produce more life potions.

In this way, he would also stand at the cusp of the storm, facing the covetous gazes of many Beyond Grade As. Thus, he had to have strength that far outstripped his current self in order to suppress the greed in the hearts of others. Aurora’s ability was a double-edged sword, so Han Xiao did not intend to disclose Aurora’s information before he reached a higher level.

Feidin nodded and agreed. “Relax, I’ve always regarded Aurora as my sister, and I will not leak the news.”

Han Xiao left them with some more instructions before sending the two off. He remained in the room alone, sighing to himself.

After Aurora entered the Calamity Grade, her connection to Hila had improved, becoming akin to a symbiotic relationship.

Now that Aurora had just advanced, she still needed time to familiarize with her abilities. When she awakened her new ability to treat Hila remotely, it would be very scary to face Hila.

In his previous life, because Hila lost Aurora early, without the other end of the symbiosis, she could only rampage in the cold universe alone. Right now, while Hila had not yet embarked on an endless killing spree and her growth rate was slower than in her past life, with this milkmaid Aurora that ignored distance, Hila’s combat power would far exceed that of her past life.

“I’m afraid Hila will catch up to me in terms of tank-ability…” Han Xiao was helpless. Hila had unlimited uses of the Aurora Character Summon Card.

The Super High Risk Esper Abilities were all overpowered, and the two sisters could even form perfect coordination and soul resonance, which was terrifying. Only mental and spatial abilities could possibly restrain the sharing of life between the two.

Thinking about it, Han Xiao opened the communicator, sending a message to Ames, telling her about the news of Aurora entering the Calamity Grade.

…

In the outer space above Planet Aquamarine, Floating Dragon Island remained. Ames did not participate in the competition in the Flickering World, choosing to stay in the Shattered Star Ring. She wished for Floating Dragon to develop in a low-key manner, not chasing after fame and fortune. Such was the nature of a salted fish, stiff and unmoving.

While she did not participate in the lively trend, Ames was still updated about the Flickering World. Han Xiao knew that Ames enjoyed having fun, so he shared first-hand information with her every day, telling her what was happening in the Flickering World daily to satisfy her curiosity. Since then, regularly checking Han Xiao’s news had become a daily necessity for Ames.

In her bedroom within the palace, Ames leaned against the headboard of her bed, condensing a small sphere using her force field to nudge at the giant white bear lying on the floor beside her, as though teasing a cat with a stick. It was obviously a fierce creature, yet in front of her, it appeared extremely obedient, rolling livelily around the floor.

When Ames moved into Planet Aquamarine, Aurora had placed all the pets she raised on the planet in Floating Dragon, asking her teacher to help care for them as her pastime.

There was another person in the room. Jenny stood to the side, reporting on the business situation of Floating Dragon. Even if Ames was not paying attention, she continued to seriously read the details out.

“… the recent polls show that thirty-nine percent of the Floating Dragon soldiers are dissatisfied with the status quo. Compared with the previous survey, the proportion has now increased by seven percent. Many of the subordinates came here after hearing the reputation of the Beyond Grade A, hoping that they would achieve some fame under your name and advance their careers, but with the lack of battle opportunities, their hearts have moved. This is especially so given that we have not participated in the Flickering World exploration. We have thus lost quite a few warriors…”

Ames seemed to let the words flow in and out of her ears, as she continued to use her force field to nudge the bear.

Jenny dryly coughed before continuing. “Ignoring the trend of the times is not wise. We should change our decision and set foot in the Flickering World…”

Ames suddenly raised her head to glance at her, slightly smiling as she said, “I thought you didn’t like writing reports? This is your twenty-second time asking me to send troops into the Flickering World. Why are you so active now?”

“… Didn’t you mention wanting to develop?” Jenny stroked her receding hairline. Toward this fickle shopkeeper, she was full of resignation toward her behavior.

While she detested work, she was unwilling to let go of the development Floating Dragon had been going through these few years. She could not allow herself to see Floating Dragon go to waste just because of her laziness.

“As my subordinates, they should adapt to me, not me to them.” Ames seemed not to mind it, only sighing. “If only Black Star was still under me, I wouldn’t need to worry about such things.”

“…” Jenny’s expression became pained. My heart, it hurts!

Ames ignored Jenny’s expression, waving her hand as she spoke. “In any case, there’s no need to persuade me further. I will not go to the Flickering World. I have no interest in that area.”

Before Jenny could squeeze in another word, Ames’ communicator rang. The moment she took it out, her eyes lit up.

“Black Star has sent me another message. Jenny, please wait outside.”

Seeing this, Jenny could only force her words back down and walk out of the room, feeling sour in her heart.

I have not even finished talking about the official matters, but because of the daily news that Black Star sends, you do not even want to hear the important business reports anymore…

I’m obviously the first in line here…

Without caring about Jenny, Ames read the news that Han Xiao sent over in detail. Other than the news shared and the warm greetings, there was also a piece that refreshed her spirits.

“Aurora has finally reached the Calamity Grade. My students are really great.” Ames was in a good mood.

At the end of the letter, Han Xiao also sent her an invitation to visit Black Star Palace and meet up with Aurora.

“To go over to the Flickering World…”

Ames hesitated.

If it was sent over by Black Star, she could not possibly reject…

What good timing.

Thinking thusly, Ames called Jenny back in.

“Prepare the spaceship. I’m going over to the Flickering World.”

“You’ve thought it through? I’ll assemble the team immediately!” Jenny exclaimed in joy.

“What team? I’m going solo.” Ames waved the communicator. “Black Star invited me over to play.”

Jenny’s smile vanished in a flash.

Sigh, I’ve wasted half a day of saliva, but you immediately respond when Black Star asks you to go.

So, this is the feeling of someone who has been swayed by the other party…

At this moment, there was a song that could perfectly depict Jenny’s feelings.

In this world, who is still not living a life that’s akin to purgatory[1]…

…

In the Flickering World’s free competition zone, more than a dozen general purpose spaceships were slowly cruising through the universe, carrying the guild members from several well-known Southeast Asian clubs such as Red Bay, Titan, and Archipelago.

“Everyone, our next move is critical and is related to whether we can quickly gain a foothold in the Flickering World.”

In the meeting room, the Red Bay Captain, Venomous Snake, rapped on the table as he spoke in a serious tone.

“Snake is right,” a Red Bay veteran, Forest Python, echoed. He used to be the captain of Red Bay and actively gave up his position when he was older, opting to train the newcomers instead. Venomous Snake had taken over as the new captain from the previous season.

“The current advantage of the Chinese players is huge, so we have to huddle together. Before the players from the other countries arrive, we must not provoke them first and develop in a low-key manner,” Titan’s Captain, Bangkok Buddha, analyzed. “However, the approach of the Chinese players is full of foresight. Maybe we can imitate their gameplay and communicate with the NPC forces in the same manner.”

The Chinese clubs had an unparalleled advantage in the free competition zone, having already obtained a lot of help from the NPC organizations. This group of Southeast Asian guilds that were new to scene were naturally afraid to touch them. They first had to stand firm and develop themselves.

Due to the intervention from the army, the Chinese guilds had learned about the high-efficiency gameplay of Version 4.0 in advance, and the guilds of the various countries would naturally discover this point when conducting research. Thus, the Southeast Asian guilds wanted to copy their gameplay methods.

“But it’s not as easy as it seems.” Some of the people hesitated. “The Chinese players are able to succeed simply because they’re affiliated with the army, but our faction has no such system, no independent qualifications, and no way for us to become a regular organization.”

The guilds in the bigger clubs had not jumped ships at all and still belonged to factions from the Blackhole Edge.

The other factions did not have multiple regiments like the army, and for them, becoming a regular organization and turning independent right now was impossible.

Moreover, they were not free but rather recruited and bound by their factions. Before going to the faction base, they only had a limited time to move freely, which was incomparable to the time that the army players had.

“The Main Storyline Missions for our factions have been announced, and the free time we have in the free competition zone is limited. Let’s quickly look for opportunities,” Venomous Snake concluded.

Everyone discussed various countermeasures and decided to adopt the method of casting out their nets wide.

Very quickly, they hit countless nails. Because they were not an independent organization, they could only borrow the name of their faction and act as a special team. The vast majority of the organizations that they contacted directly rejected them. They were also foreign organizations, and not local tyrants such as the Black Star Army, so all of them were competing against each other. There was no need to invite wolves into their camp.

As for the remaining organizations, they were willing to listen to their requests based on the strength that they showed. While the scale of the Southeast Asian guilds was not as large as the Chinese guilds, it was still possible to form a group of more than ten thousand by uniting together.

But for Red Bay, Archipelago, and the other Southeast Asian clubs, they were not independent organizations, so they could only propose cooperation agreements. Only this way could they then develop a stronghold.

After hearing their requests, even those organizations that were interested immediately hung up on them.

Venomous Snake and the rest felt surprised. This was turning out far from expected. The Chinese players had achieved great success through this method, so why was it that they had such a difficult time communicating with the NPC organizations?

After researching, they figured out the crux of this matter. The organizations rejected them as they were unqualified as partners.

The players belonging to guilds such as Red Bay and Archipelago were mostly from Star Cluster level civilizations, which did not carry much weight in the Flickering World.

The reason behind the success of the Chinese players was because they belonged to the Black Star Army. Many organizations were willing to cooperate with them in order to embrace the thigh of the Black Star Army, which was their backer, to stabilize their strongholds and deter other organizations.

But the Star Cluster Civilizations, which were also foreign forces, did not possess such a privilege.

These people were helpless. Their faction was unwilling to lend them strength, and they also could not replicate the practice of the army players. It was no wonder they snagged only so many nails in their strategy.

The deeper they understood what the Black Star Army was capable of, the more they envied the Chinese players.

After exerting a Herculean effort, the Southeast Asian guilds finally managed to find a few small breakthrough points, completely incomparable to the scale of what the players in the Black Star Army were getting. After which, they had to respond to the call of their factions and follow them to work, temporarily unable to move freely.

Even Red Bay, Archipelago, and the other first tier guilds in Southeast Asia found it difficult to start, let alone the other Blackhole Edge players who did not join the Black Star Army. Without the capital to imitate the gameplay of the army players, they could only brute force their way through as they had done in the previous versions before Version 4.0.

As more and more players arrived, the situation quickly got complicated, and the World Server gradually took shape.

At the same time, Han Xiao had already arrived and hidden himself within the Emerald Star Cluster.

Han Xiao had carried out many plans for the army, and his leek field had successfully grown and expanded. It was time to mercilessly reap the harvest.

As more ‘fresh leeks’ moved their bases to the Black Star Army, his efficiency in gaining experience in the short term multiplied.

When the Black Star Army expanded to nearly eight million members, the amount of experience he needed to upgrade to level 320 was finally accumulated!

[1] It’s like the Chinese version of What Are Words by Chris Medina—王建房”在人间”