The Legendary Mechanic

"There are a lot of souls of powerful individuals of the exploration era war stored in the Underworld dimension, not just the Primordial Ones, but also Supers of various races, mostly Calamity Grades. They're all antiques…"

Han Xiao's eyes sparkled brightly.

These people were not just combatants. They were also the people who witnessed the various times of the exploration era and reliable sources of first-hand information. They possessed a lot of ancient secrets.

"Aurora can only make bodies for these Hero Spirits and turn them into combatants when she's Beyond Grade A. Speaking of which, the Underworld dimension is kind of similar to the Indestructible Mechanic Empire… Although the Hero Spirits can't have bodies now, it shouldn't be a problem just communicating with them. I wonder how much Hila has repaired the Underworld."

Han Xiao still remembered that he had an Underworld dimension mission. Once the Underworld was fully recovered, he would receive a [Mark of The Underworld].

"I shall find a moment to ask Hila if what I'm thinking is right…"

Hila was now in the secondary dimensions, so it was not easy to contact her. However, she should return in the next Beyond Grade A plenary meeting. Han Xiao planned to ask her then.

It just so happened that the next plenary meeting of the development union was not far away, so he did not have to go to the secondary dimensions to find her.

He suspected that Soul Emperor faked his death and Oathkeeper was Soul Emperor, but he had yet to decide if he was going to test Oathkeeper the next time they met.

Beep beep!

This time, Harrison sent him a message saying Rody had settled in.

"Okay."

Han Xiao was very content.

My intuition was right. I did indeed get surprised when I returned to Planet Aquamarine this time. I discovered the secret of Destiny's Child, acquired a semi-transformed sub-body of it, and obtained some key information from Aesop.

However, Aesop's prophecy made him feel pressure too. Storms were secretly brewing.

The stronger he got, the more secrets he came to know, and the more he could sense the hidden chaos and instability under the peace and prosperity of the explored universe.

Han Xiao pondered.

"I've got to think of a way to ask about the Crimson Dynasty's study of the World Tree Civilization wormhole coordinates…"

…

After he spent a few days on Floating Dragon as a guest and visited Bennett, Han Xiao and his fleet departed again and headed to the Flickering World.

At the dock, Ames stood. The stream from the thruster of the spaceship made her black dress sway like a cluster of black fog. She had brought along the Floating Dragon officers and watched the Black Star fleet leave, disappearing from sight.

"He left again."

Ames exhaled slightly and looked down on the data storage device in her hands. This was a gift Han Xiao had given to her before he left. Inside was an Esper Ultimate Knowledge.

She turned around and saw Jenny's conflicted expression. She was squeezing tightly on a syringe in her hands. That was a gift from Han Xiao too.

"What's wrong? What did he give you?" Ames was curious.

"…Nothing!"

Jenny forced out a ferocious smile and hid the magical hair growth potion behind her back.

Aesop stroked his beard, smiled, and said, "Black Star gave me a gift too. I'm starting to like him more and more."

Beside him, eight fist-sized sphere-shaped weapons swiftly flew around.

This was a product personally built by Han Xiao. He named it 'Explorer—Multifunctional Life Guarding Formation'. It had a full set of functions, including combat, defense, enhancement, life-sustain, stealth, healing, hyperdrive, radiation block, and many more. It was perfect for solo explorers.

With this set of devices, it was equivalent to carrying around a guard team, logistics team, and a galactic carrier. Even an ordinary person would be able to survive for a very long time in Grade B dangerous environments. They would even last quite a while against Calamity Grades with a chance of retreating unharmed. It was expensive to build and very powerful. Just one set was enough to wipe out ordinary surface civilizations, and Han Xiao had given a total of ten sets to Aesop.

Ames blinked and suddenly said, "I heard that you privately asked Black Star to protect me."

Stunned, Aesop grabbed his beard and said, "Who told you?"

"Who else?" Ames' brows raised.

"Tsk, this Black Star, doesn't even know to keep it a secret for me…" Aesop had a slight headache. He nodded with resignation and said, "That did happen, yes. I foresaw that a drastic change is going to happen. My capability is limited. Only Black Star has the ability to…"

Before he finished, Ames interrupted him and said with a slightly heavy tone, "I'm a Beyond Grade A. I can protect myself. Next time, discuss it with me first before thinking for me. I don't like others making decisions on my behalf."

"Alright, alright, I've overstepped." Aesop raised two hands and expressed that he did not want to argue.

Seeing this, Ames nodded. She then smiled faintly and softly said, "… But still, thanks, I appreciate it."

She knew that Han Xiao had told her about it because he did not want Aesop's kind intentions to not get recognized.

Furthermore, Han Xiao was the only one who could mention this. Aesop was never going to tell Ames and ask to be appreciated; he was not that kind of person.

Aesop figured out Han Xiao's intentions too, and his tiny bit of unhappiness disappeared. He was a little touched and appreciative. His impression of Han Xiao was even better.

…

The fleet travelled for ten days and finally entered the Flickering World through the military stargates. On this day, the Beyond Grade A Association hosted another plenary meeting.

Due to the fact that the Mechanics had been dealing with the Intelligent Plague for quite some time, they had missed quite a number of meetings. This was the first meeting for Han Xiao and the others in a while.

In the development union's headquarters on Planet Finn, Han Xiao's remote projection landed outside the conference room in the army commander's gold-edged black cape, looking respectable.

There was still some time till the official start of the meeting, so not everyone had arrived yet. People gathered in small groups outside the conference room and chatted casually.

One of the purposes of the development union was to build a platform that was convenient for Beyond Grade As to communicate with each other. Other than official meetings, their private communications were just as important.

As soon as he appeared, the space outside the venue instantly turned quiet. Everyone looked over with various expressions on their faces. The atmosphere was a little odd.

This time, Milizaus and several dynasty allies approached.

"Yo, Black Star, you've finally returned," Milizaus said loudly.

Han Xiao turned and looked over with a smile. He then greeted Beyoni, Silver Shadow, and his other friends one after another.

After a round of greetings, Milizaus praised, "What you did in the Ancient Star Desert really made me see you in a new light. Sadly, I'm not a Mechanic and could not witness it with my own eyes."

"That's right. To think that we could not participate in such a historic moment, what a shame." Viru looked regretful.

"If I was there, you wouldn't have fought alone. I'd definitely have fought Manison with you," Beyoni said.

Lotus Swordsman was merciless. She said coldly, "Nonsense, if you were there, you'd be the first one to die. You're a burden just like Kohler."

Kohler frowned. Why bring me into it? I didn't say anything!

"Not a big deal. It's not worth mentioning, hehehe…" Hearing compliments from everyone, Han Xiao waved humbly.

One consequence of him destroying the virus core was that the allies saw that his position had increased again, and he was more trusted by the three Universal Civilizations, so they all came to give their compliments.

This time, Milizaus looked left and right, lowered his voice, and said, "Everyone thinks you're now totally opposed to Manison. The president and the vice president having different philosophies will definitely lead to arguments. The atmosphere in the association now is very sensitive."

"No wonder everyone was looking at me strangely earlier." Han Xiao smiled and was not surprised.

"Today is the first time you and Manison will attend the meeting together after the two of you confronted each other, so most people are now waiting to see what will happen."

Han Xiao shook his head and said, "Don't worry, the development union's purpose to the outside world is to solve conflicts between Beyond Grade As, so Manison will definitely not publicly disobey the rules. Otherwise, the foundation of the association will be damaged, and that's unacceptable for him. Therefore, he has to set an example. The most he'll do is cause trouble for me verbally. There's no way he'll use the association's powers to cause problems for me. As for me, I have even less of a need to provoke him…"

After all, I grabbed even Mechanic Emperor's trump card. I'm not the one who lost anything.

Han Xiao giggled in his mind but did not say the second half of the last sentence.

Milizaus said slowly, "Yes, that's for the best. Don't provoke him. Actually, after Manison expressed his goal, there aren't that many people supporting him in the association anymore.

"What he did this time was too risky. Many people don't agree with it. Had he succeeded, we would all have been dragged down by him too. Therefore, quite a number of them are unhappy with Manison now.

"On the other hand, there are a lot of members supporting you. Most people hope to use the development union to stick together in groups and obtain better safety assurance, as well as more benefits. But to completely oppose the three Universal Civilizations? That's too unrealistic; not many are willing to take the risk! Therefore, since you stopped Manison and also built a closer relationship with the three Universal Civilizations, many people are appreciative of you and recognize you for what you've done, and they stand on your side."

Hearing this, Han Xiao looked around, and in many eyes around the room, he saw friendliness.

"Hmm, as expected," Han Xiao responded. He had figured all this would happen long ago.

At this time, a raging voice suddenly sounded from beside.

"Black Star, you're such an *sshole!"

The people looked at the source of the voice, Secret Master was walking over to him with a blaming expression on his face.

"What did I do to you?" Han Xiao was confused.

"Still playing dumb!" Secret Master was furious. "You messed up my black market forces in the Ancient Star Desert during the Star Field lockdown!"

"I was just following orders to prevent the virus from leaking." Han Xiao blinked.

"Do you think I'd believe you‽" Secret Master said with rage.

Only after the three Universal Civilizations stopped the lockdown did he know that his forces in the Ancient Star Desert had become a mess because of Han Xiao. He almost vomited blood.

"You really have misunderstood me," Han Xiao explained slowly. "The three Universal Civilizations wanted me to control the black market to prevent the virus from leaking. Since it was an abnormal situation, I had to use an abnormal method, so I had no choice but to be aggressive. Furthermore, the Intelligent Plague has already been dealt with, and I've moved out of there. It's the three Universal Civilizations that are trying to continue to control the Ancient Star Desert's black market. I only took on this sinful job for the sake of the safety of the universe. Even if I didn't do it, someone else would have, right?"

Secret Master clenched his teeth. "… The thickest thing I've ever seen is your skin!"

He did not really want to blame Han Xiao. He knew that the three Universal Civilizations would not compromise even one bit in the face of such a large disaster. At this matter's roots, he could only blame himself for being so unlucky that the location of the virus outbreak happened to be the Ancient Star Desert.

Secret Master also realized that ever since he crossed paths with Black Star, he kept getting unlucky.

I'd better stay away from Black Star so that I won't get affected if he's struck by lightning one day!

As they were chattering, another remote projection arrived. It was Manison, who was at the center of the storm.

Buzz!

In an instant, the entire place became silent.

Everyone looked over at Manison and Han Xiao with eyes that had various emotions.

The only similarity these eyes had was that they were all looking forward to a show.

Manison turned around and calmly looked Han Xiao in the eye.

As if the fight between two of them never happened, Manison slowly greeted Han Xiao with a calm expression. "We meet again, Black Star."

"What a coincidence, Mechanic Emperor. I thought you'd be too ashamed to attend the meeting today." Han Xiao chuckled.

At this point in time, he felt he looked more like a villain than Manison.

On the side, Milizaus rubbed the dragon horn on his head with confusion.

… Didn't you agree not to provoke the Mechanic Emperor? Did you completely forget what I literally just said?