In the Dawn Star Cluster, one spaceship after another sailed out of the stargate, stepping into the territory of the Flickering World.

The major organizations had long been freely exploring the Flickering World, and those that had just arrived were only tourists, small obscure organizations, and reinforcements.

This fleet consisted mostly of reinforcements from the Blackhole Edge. Its composition was complicated, with armies from Star Cluster and Star System Civilizations, armed forces, financial groups, and even players present.

In the entire universe, the Shattered Star Ring appeared to be an exception in having a player-formed faction. They were all from the Black Star Army. As for the others, their makeup was extremely scattered.

Within the Blackhole Edge, the most powerful player to join in this trip was inside a neutral organization named Nineteen Towers Psionics Association. The organization could be understood as a regional organization of mages and psychics, and one would obtain contribution points within the organization through the provision of magic services. The contribution points would then be exchanged for resources and knowledge, just like a platform for professional exchanges.

In the spaceship, the professional players of the Blackhole Edge gathered together. They were composed of players from different clubs across several countries.

In the International League, the players from Southeast Asia did not have much of a presence, as their results for each season placed them at the bottom. The only impression the audience had of them was that they were not very good in tactical operations. They tended to be reckless, and their fighting style was fierce.

The teams in Southeast Asia that were more popular were the Red Bay Club with Old Yue, the Titan Club with Old Qin, as well as the Archipelago Club in Indonesia. These three were the regulars participating in the International League.

At this moment, the common topic was related to the Pro League.

“There has been no news about the Pro League yet, but the opening of the World Server is likely to cause a change in the competition format, and the mode of qualifying through sub-areas might be cancelled,” Venomous Snake, the Captain of the Red Bay Battle Team said.

“If there is no longer a division-based system, it will be difficult for us to qualify.” The Captain of the Archipelago Team, Gravel Castle shook his head as he replied with a tragic expression.

The reason they appeared every year was purely based on the division system. In the Blackhole Edge, the weak fought the weak, so without this system, they would not make it into the International League.

“Thus, those of us who come from the same Star Field must now unite and seize the opportunity given to us through the World Server, developing ourselves well,” Venomous Snake said.

“This is difficult. The advantage of the Chinese players in the World Server is too huge. We cannot compete against them alone. We can only see if the clubs of the other countries are willing to ally with us.”

“Unfortunately, we’ve already invested too much in our current faction, so we cannot jump ships. Even if we enter the Black Star Army now, we will not be able to win against the local Chinese players. We have to come up with a plan to give us an advantage.”

At this time, Venomous Snake narrowed his eyes and muttered, “While we cannot jump ship, we still can utilize the benefits offered by the Black Star Army. The best method would be to allow some guild members to join the Black Star Army and increase their contributions within. They could then purchase a large amount of resources at discounted rates. At the same time, we can get them to monitor the movement of the players in the army, which will be beneficial for us.”

“Espionage?” Everyone present shared a look. “This is indeed a good idea, but will this cause us to be targeted by the Black Star Army?”

“What does the business of us players have to do with them?” Venomous Snake was nonchalant. “What we should take notice of is the Chinese players. We need to be careful of them stealing the supplies that we purchase.”

“Good, then we shall do it that way!”

Everyone confirmed the battle strategy and buried their heads to discuss the details.

…

The Lesykes Army was a large private mercenary group active around the Blackhole Edge. However, it had an official secret backer—it was the secret military force of the Ursa Civilization. This organization was named after the leader, and right now, the Captain Lesykes had just brought his reinforcements to enter the Flickering World.

In the command room, Lesykes shouted in an excited tone.

“Increase speed. Rush over to the free competition zone as soon as possible.”

The Ursa Civilization had many secret mercenary groups under them, so the civilization rarely gave him any missions. Normally, he was only disguised as a normal mercenary, so he attached great importance to this opportunity to acquire some merits.

Initially, he only sent in the advance troops, and he remained in the base camp to monitor the operations of the mercenary group. However, when the Flickering World was officially opened, the players, who had disappeared from the Blackhole Edge for twenty years, came back online.

In every Star Field, the traits of the players were different, so the impressions they left on the local organizations were also different. Due to the scattered population of the players within the Blackhole Edge, their exposure was far from comparable to the players in the Black Star Army. Thus, their threat level was also lower.

However, there were also a large number of local organizations that had noticed the special existence of the players, thinking that they might be the same species as the Black Star Army’s Immortal troops. But the problem was that because the players were too scattered, the local organizations were unable to figure out their actual population. Before the players showed their ability to resurrect, they would behave like any other person, making it difficult to distinguish them.

Lesykes was one of the few to notice that the players had reappeared, and he was extremely impressed with these guys who did not seem to fear death. Therefore, he made a personal decision to recruit them en masse.

As it happened, many of the players in the Blackhole Edge were also looking to enter the Flickering World. They hit it off, and he was able to recruit over ten thousand of the players to transport over to the Blackhole Edge as a support force. This would allow him to claim extra credit.

Not long ago, he had received some good news; the Ursa Civilization had fallen into trouble on the front line. One of their collection units was overturned by the Immortals of the Black Star Army, and they desperately required reinforcements. Lesykes felt that he had suddenly become the person who supplied coal during a snowstorm, and he could not help being overjoyed.

This batch of reinforcements is just in time to help the civilization fight against the Black Star Army. Not only that, in the fight with other organizations, they can also use these Immortals to take the advantage. I’ve made a big contribution this time! Lesykes thought to himself secretly.

…

At the same time, among his fleet, a group of players from the Blackhole Edge stood in front of the porthole, whispering among themselves while enjoying the view of the Flickering World.

“We’re almost here. Hurry to the free competition zone. I’m almost dying of anxiety!”

“Look at what missions this mercenary group can do in the Flickering World.”

“Stupid, why would you even still follow this mercenary group? There are so many strong organizations in the Flickering World. What’s the point of remaining with this tiny organization?”

“Makes sense. When we arrive in the free competition zone, we can kick this mercenary group aside.”

Now that the many top-tier organizations were beginning to gather in the Flickering World, why would the players stick with the smaller groups? Only by switching to a stronger advanced faction could they then meet their increasing needs, especially their need for Class Knowledge.

Lesykes, who was full of hope, did not realize that he was being treated as a tool by the players.

The consequences of betraying a strong organization were serious, but for such a small organization like Lesykes’, the players did not give a hoot.

The top choice for the average player in the Blackhole Edge would be the three Universal Civilizations or any Beyond Grade A or advanced civilization in the Blackhole Edge, followed by the Black Star Army.

Players in other Star Fields naturally had no sense of belonging to the Black Star Army. Only the benefits and development prospects would move them. In this respect, the Black Star Army was just like a firefly in the night, extremely evident.

Throughout the many versions, the various benefits players of the army received had long been eye-catching for all the other countries. Now that they could finally cross Star Fields, the reputation and appeal of the army from several versions had accumulated to achieve the effect of allowing a large number of ordinary players to be inclined toward Han Xiao.

Among them, the ones that wanted to join the Black Star Army the most were the Mechanic players from the Blackhole Edge!

Due to the difference in planets in Version 1.0, the composition of Supers in each Star Field was also very vast. The most common Class in the Blackhole Edge was the Mage class, followed by Psychics. The overall focus there was more toward the arcane, and the mechanic department only accounted for about twelve percent of the total players in the Blackhole Edge.

In comparison, the Black Star Army was simply like a paradise for Mechanics, and with Han Xiao as the top mentor of the Mechanic Class, there was no need to worry about the lack of Class Knowledge.

In the eyes of these people, one sentence could summarize the meaning of Black Star to the mechanic players.

If the Heavens did not give birth to me, Black Star, then the Mechanics would essentially be fumbling in the dark!

As for the Mechanic Emperor… while it was rumored that he was extremely strong, the players were not too familiar with him. They instead gravitated toward Han Xiao. After all, the Chinese players had forged the route for them, so they knew that Han Xiao was a reliable person.

The group chatted around, and at the edge of this crowd, a player with the ID of Muay Thai as Warning appeared to be alone, looking out the window.

This hidden mission told me that the Lesykes mercenary group is actually an affiliated organization belonging to the Ursa Civilization. I heard from my friend that their Long Sky happened to grab some resources from the civilization and had a conflict, so our group is probably here to serve as reinforcements…

The friend he mentioned was actually a peripheral member of the Long Sky Guild. They had once gotten into a spate on the forums, but they had suddenly realized that the other party also made sense, so they apologized to each other and finally became friends.

With this in mind, a bold idea surfaced in the mind of Muay Thai as Warning, and the soul of the whistleblower started to burn brightly.

If one wishes to jump ship, then they definitely have to present a gift!

…

At the same time, somewhere in the Emerald Star Cluster, a small financial group’s exploration fleet docked at a temporary transit station that was constructed by an advanced civilization for a rest. The crew went for some leisure time, only leaving the logistics personnel behind to clean and repair the equipment.

Buzz!

Within the maintenance channel inside the spaceship, two ground crew members wearing protective gear were holding onto maintenance tools, working in front of a complex piece of machinery. Sparks constantly splashed around.

It took a while before they completed their job. Evans took off his hood and wiped his sweat.

He then opened the logistics task list on his wrist, glancing at it, before opening the communication channel to report to his superior.

“Ground Handling Group No. 005 has completed the task. The issue with engine group component T1018 has been eliminated. We will now proceed to sector C0080 for cleaning.”

“Received, continue your work. You still have three more tasks to complete.”

“Understood.”

After finishing his report, he left the communication channel before patting his companion’s shoulder. “Let’s go to the next area.”

His companion, however, waved his hands in frustration. “We just finished our task. What’s the hurry? Let’s rest for a while.”

Evans tried to persuade him. “We’re pressed for time today, so we should try to get them done before work ends. It’s best not to take a break during working hours, or else we will not be able to finish.”

“Then we’ll just postpone it till tomorrow. It’s not just a one-day stop here.” The companion sat down in dissatisfaction. “If you want, you can go on ahead. I’ll rest here.”

Evans frowned but shook his head and no longer tried to persuade him. He could not control anyone; he just needed to do a good job himself.

He went along the maintenance tunnel by himself, and the figure of his companion soon disappeared, leaving him alone.

The lighting in the maintenance tunnel was dim, with only one light source situated at a large distance away. After walking for a while, Evans suddenly found a red light flashing in front of him. He stopped walking.

“The lights have gone out? Did I see it wrongly?”

Evans found it a little weird. He observed the environment detector, but there was no change. He initially thought it was his eyes playing tricks and walked forward a few more steps.

Buzz!

At this moment, a burst of red lit up his vision. The light source appeared on his side, less than a meter away!

Evans quickly reacted in shock, jumping to the side and tumbling on the ground, holding the welding torch in his hands as he stood up to face the light source.

What greeted him was a bizarre scene of an unknown red light zipping around in the air, constantly moving and leaving a trail of red light behind it. There was a lot of beauty to this scene.

“What is this thing?” Evans showed a wary expression as he secretly took out his communicator, wanting to report this anomaly.

However, the next moment, his eyes blurred as the red light dashed over at an inhumane speed, piercing through his body.

Evans hurriedly looked down but found himself unscathed. Instead, he felt full of energy. His fatigue from working was swept away, and his physical strength was restored.

At this moment, the red light paused before frantically hovering around him.

Evans seemed to have felt an emotion of happiness from this bundle of light, causing him to freeze in shock.

Before he could recover, the light seemed to stop suddenly, and as if pulled by some invisible presence, it suddenly disappeared, leaving Evans standing there with a blank expression.

After a long pause, Evans slapped himself hard.

“Ouch it hurts, I’m not dreaming… It seems like I’ve finally gone crazy.”