The Legendary Mechanic

The Western Sword Guild's spaceship slowly flew through cosmic space. Inside the cabin, Depressed Prince and the other guild members stood around the 3D star map and analyzed the route.

"We're now here…"

Depressed Prince pointed on the star map and drew an illuminated path. It extended around a desolate universe belt at the edge of the Star Field in an arc, all the way to outside the Star Field. He then said, "In order to leave the Star Field, the only way is through the desolate universe belt. The encirclement the three Universal Civilizations had set up at the borders will definitely have flaws. Although we have their defense map and patrolling route, we still need some luck…"

Hearing the president explain the plan, the guild members nodded.

After accepting the anonymous hiring with a five million reward, Depressed Prince had thought of some plans in order to successfully transport the virus out. Among which, making use of the flaws in the encirclement of the three Universal Civilizations and smuggling it out was one of those more likely to succeed.

In order to not be located by the three Universal Civilizations, the Western Sword guild had already cut off their network and kept their spaceship in stealth mode.

Technically, they would not be able to receive any information from the outside world this way. However, Depressed Prince used the fact that he was a player, logged into the forums, and secretly hired other players to private message him on the forums to provide intelligence. This was how he obtained the defense map and patrol route of the three Universal Civilizations. Even though they had cut off their quantum network connection, they still had a source of information.

This way, not only could they avoid getting located by the three Universal Civilizations through the network, but they would also still be able to receive messages from the outside world. Compared to normal people, the players had a large advantage. No wonder the Kepel Financial Group specifically hired Immortals.

"President," a player said, "the closer we are to the border, the denser the surveillance buoys will be. If we fail and are discovered, our spaceship will definitely be seized. We only have one chance."

"That's why we have a plan B."

With a confident expression, Depressed Prince smiled and said, "Once we're discovered by the buoys or the patrolling guards, we'll carry out the infiltration tactic. We'll leave a few people on the spaceship while the rest of us log out together. When the spaceship is locked up at the warehouse, the people who did not log out can then notify us to come online in the carrier and sneak into the enemy base. This way, we can bring in the virus-infected communicator."

The others nodded. This also relied completely on the players' specialty. This tactic was extremely suitable for infiltration, ambush, and smuggling missions.

There was also a plan if they turned out to be exposed after that. They would give up the spaceship, battle to their death, and then revive in their stronghold revival point. They could still think of other ways to complete the mission, and they had a very large margin for error. The reward was a total of five million anyway; as long as they could complete the mission, buying another spaceship was nothing.

With so many advantages, the Western Sword guild members present were totally confident about completing the mission. They could almost see the five million Enas waving at them.

As for the possibility that they might become wanted criminals afterward, they did not care about it at all. They had always wandered in the gray area of the law, so they never even planned to become completely legit. In fact, turning into wanted criminals would even trigger a Milestone Mission, which gave them rewards as their bounty increased.

As for the damage that the virus leak would cause to ordinary people, they did not give a damn. Instead, they were even excited about the fact that they were playing a big part in the direction the world was going to take. Most players who currently supported the disaster's spread had the same thought.

Depressed Prince was confident. He smiled and said, "Alright, since no one has any objections, let's act according to this plan. As we can't use the stargates, we'll spend quite some time on the way there. The estimated time of arrival at the desolate universe belt is in seven days. Now…"

At this time, before he finished speaking, the spaceship alarm suddenly rang.

"Beep! Alert! Alert! The spacetime of this area has been stabilized. Hyperdrive is impossible. Exiting hyperdrive mode!"

The spaceship suddenly shook. The people inside had yet to react to it, so they all fell onto the ground, picking themselves up with shock.

"What's going on? There are spacetime stabilization anchors here? Whose trap did we fall into?"

Shocked, Depressed Prince hastily looked at the radar.

This time, light dots were appearing around them on the radar and surrounded his spaceship in the middle.

The people quickly came to the porthole and looked outside. Their expression changed drastically.

They were surrounded by dynasty battleships. All the barrels were aimed at their spaceship.

"The Crimson Dynasty? Are they here to capture us‽"

Depressed Prince and the other guild members panicked.

"Did our whereabouts get exposed? But we did not bump into any buoys on the way! And how did they know we were planning to smuggle the virus out‽"

After being stunned for a few seconds, Depressed Prince quickly regained focus and yelled hastily, "Stop daydreaming. Everyone, log out now. Don't get…"

Before he finished, a calm voice appeared behind them.

"Don't get what?"

Everyone's body became stiff. They turned their heads slowly and looked at the middle of the cabin.

A tall, black silhouette had appeared in the spaceship. His lightning-filled eyes were coldly scanning them.

This face was way too familiar to the players!

"Bl-Black Star!"

Depressed Prince was in despair.

Everyone there was completely horrified. They originally thought that even if someone were to come to capture them, it would just be regular fleets and regular Supers. No one ever expected that someone as powerful and important as Black Star would personally act!

While shocked, Depressed Prince felt flattered for some reason.

The next moment, the lightning in Han Xiao's eyes flashed, and an electric shockwave exploded from his body.

Boom!

The energy shockwave slammed everyone into the wall.

Han Xiao controlled the damage so this shockwave was not powerful. Its main purpose was to force the players into Combat Status so that they could not log off any time they liked.

"I won't give up!" Depressed Prince clenched his teeth, made up his mind, and drew a long silver alloy sword. He then stabbed toward Han Xiao's throat.

The players were not afraid of death, so they dared to fight anyone. No matter how strong the opponent was, they would never stop resisting. In fact, Depressed Prince would rather get killed by Black Star. He would be able to revive somewhere else then and would not be captured.

However, this mindset was transparent in front of Han Xiao, who knew how the players thought.

He casually pinched the sword with his fingers, easily splitting it in half. He then grabbed onto Depressed Prince's head and slammed it onto the ground, giving him a Stunned debuff.

Han Xiao carefully controlled his strength, worried he might accidentally kill him. Although the players were much stronger than before, they were still as fragile as paper in front of him.

Han Xiao did not let the others go either. There was no need to use any machinery; he could easily beat these players into a pulp with his fists and legs. He took out an electromagnetic restraining chain and tied them all up.

The dynasty spaceships then approached and seized the spaceship. The dynasty soldiers boarded and searched it.

A ton of mechanical items piled up like a mountain. Han Xiao checked through and found a few communicators infected with the virus. He looked at the truly depressed Depressed Prince and the others and slowly said, "You're suspected of smuggling the Virtual Mutiny Virus, risking the public's safety and the universe's laws. You're now under arrest. Anything you'd like to say?"

"No, I'm sinful. People like me don't deserve to live in this world. I plead for the death penalty!" Depressed Prince said with a righteous tone.

Han Xiao rolled his eyes secretly.

This time, he suddenly paused, smiled, and said, "Are you guys very curious about how the dynasty found out you accepted the hire and set up a trap here?"

The Western Sword guild's people finally realized something. This was a hire from the black market and should have been very secretive. How did it get leaked?

"You have always been monitoring our communications?" Depressed Prince asked carefully.

"Nope." Han Xiao shook his head.

"Then… someone betrayed us?"

"Not that."

"What then?" Depressed Prince wondered.

Han Xiao smiled and looked at them. "That's because… the dynasty is the entity that hired you."

Like a streak of lightning, Depressed Prince and the others shivered. Their chins almost fell onto the ground, and their eyes opened so wide they were going to pop out.

"What?" Depressed Prince almost jumped up. He could not believe it.

"Our anonymous employer is the three Universal Civilizations‽ Impossible! What reason do you have to do that‽"

Han Xiao chuckled and casually lied.

"What do you think? The three Universal Civilizations knew all long there'd be people who ignore the big picture and try to hide and smuggle the virus. Therefore, the three Universal Civilizations also sent people to put up missions in the black market so that capturing those who took the hire is much easier. Do you really think that in such a crucial time like this, the three Universal Civilizations would just let the black market be?"

Depressed Prince was stunned. Complicated emotions such as frustration from being toyed with, rage from being tricked, and regret from falling for it rushed into his head. At this point of time, he just wanted to roar.

This was a conspiracy all along!

Looking at how furious they were, Han Xiao smiled even more.

Of course, the employer of these players was not the three Universal Civilizations, but he deliberately said that so the players would get the wrong idea.

As long as these people made posts on the forums and spread it, the chaotic evil players would calm down. After all, no one could tell for sure whether the hire they received on the black market was real or the three Universal Civilizations' trap.

Capturing these people would set an example and make things much easier.

In fact, the Great Mechanic Han was not lying just for that. He really wanted to do something similar.

However, in order to do that, he first had to control the black market. Otherwise, in order to protect their own name, the black market would definitely not cooperate with this plan.

All kinds of thoughts flashed past. Han Xiao took out the Spacetime Amber and smiled kindly at them.

"Since the evidence is sufficient… you guys can now start serving your sentences."

Depressed Prince was instantly horrified and started struggling with everything he had.

"No, no, no… I beg you, please don't use the Spacetime Amber. I beg for the death penalty. Please let me die! D-don't!"

However, Depressed Prince's struggle was useless. Watched by the rest, his expression was fixed, and he was locked in the Spacetime Amber.

Using the same method, Han Xiao sealed all of the Western Sword guild members who were begging to die, wiping out the entire guild.

That'll do. More than enough to intimidate the other players.

He had already tested the effects of the Spacetime Amber on the players. Of course, the players' consciousness would still be able to log in and out, but their body would not disappear like usual. Instead, it would be sealed inside the Spacetime Amber. This meant that they could not change the location to log in to, and no matter how many times the players logged in and out, they would only ever return to their body that was sealed inside the Spacetime Amber.

This meant that as long as they were sealed by the Spacetime Amber, the players could not use their own specialties to escape by logging in and out. It would be like their accounts were frozen due to them using cheats; they would never be able to escape.

One reason these players were still confident despite knowing the consequences of being captured was that they could revive somewhere else after dying, so the chance of them getting captured was very low. The other reason was they all thought they would be lucky enough, till disaster really arrived.

Han Xiao was not surprised about this. Just like some people who still used cheats despite knowing their accounts would be banned, they basically asked for it.

He did not plan to release the Western Sword guild easily. This was how he wanted to intimidate the other players. He wanted to show the others that their account could effectively be banned, so he could ease the tilted mindset of the players on the forums. This was like applying insecticide to his leek field so that his good leeks would not be spoiled.

He was not worried about these players making posts on the forums. After all, what else could they do?

Furthermore, given the characteristics of the players, these people would most likely take revenge. As long as they believed what they said, the only way they could take revenge would be to expose the so-called conspiracy and mess with the three Universal Civilizations' plan.

The situation was all within his control.

Han Xiao shook his head and smiled. He summoned Phillip to hack into the artificial intelligence of this spaceship and flipped through all the communication records.

The true identity of this anonymous employer was also a target he was going to go after.

Phillip was very efficient. Through the quantum network, he quickly found a clue leading to the anonymous employer.

"Master, hum… I've found it. This hire was published under a broker organization as the intermediate guarantor. This broker organization is one of the black market's managers. It has both a good name and reputation. It's trusted by countless black market mercenaries and employers. Basically, it's the Mercenary Alliance of the black market. Therefore, they should have information on this employer. However, this broker organization has been the black market manager for many years. As a very old intermediate guarantor, they won't leak their employers' names, hum…"

Han Xiao nodded. He had also heard about the name of this broker organization. Many hires on the black market came from them. It could be said that although this kind of organization called themselves neutral, without their approval, those anonymous hires regarding the virus would never have appeared on the black market.

They were undoubtedly responsible for this.

Looks like I'll have to start with this black market manager…

Han Xiao's eyes sparkled. He turned and tapped on the captain's shoulders.

"Depart. Destination, the headquarters of this broker organization in the Ancient Star Desert."

…

As the dynasty fleet was heading toward the next destination, filled with rage, Depressed Prince, who was sealed inside the Spacetime Amber, logged on to the forums and started making a post.

Just as Han Xiao expected, with the tone of a victim and the intention of warning the others as well as taking revenge on the three Universal Civilizations, Depressed Prince exposed the three Universal Civilizations' 'conspiracy'…