The Legendary Mechanic

In the conference room that now had triple the guards compared to before. The remaining two kings of Modo and the various upper echelons were hosting an emergency meeting. Everyone there was experienced. They quickly passed the shocked and panicked state to being filled with rage.

"Have we found out who did this?" The two kings of Modo were furious.

Every time they thought of what happened, they felt exceedingly uneasy—if the one who was giving the speech at that time was not their unlucky colleague, they might have been the one who died!

Daring to assassinate them, the leaders of the civilization, was an insult to the entire Modo Civilization. The two of them were overwhelmingly enraged.

"Not yet, but the intelligence department has submitted the analysis of the recording and found matches in the database…"

An intelligence official operated on the table with a solemn expression. The next moment, a green virtual screen rose up from the table in front of every official. On it was the same file.

"The weapon the culprit used is a golden spear. According to the data, the master of this weapon is a highly dangerous wanted criminal with the code name [Mystery]. The earliest record of this man was during the Kunde Race incident. This man committed multiple assassinations at that time and then disappeared for more than a decade. Recently, he started to act again in our territory, killing the heads of all kinds of industries…

"According to the analysis, [Mystery] has top notch Calamity Grade strength, possibility at the level of a Beyond Grade A seed. The golden spear weapon he uses is a powerful enchanted weapon. However, due to the little observation records we have, we were unable to obtain too much information. Nonetheless, from this assassination incident, we can speculate that [Mystery]'s weapon possesses an extremely strong ability to penetrate energy and also deals extra damage to strong targets. Also, [Mystery] might be acting with a group. The assassinations committed by many others seem to be related to him too. We suspect he might have formed an organization in the ten or so years he disappeared…"

The frequent assassinations targeted at the Modo Civilization lately were not all done by the Assassin's Society. There were also other active organizations. Advanced civilizations did not have a shortage of enemies. Seeing that Modo was in chaos, some enemies had added salt to their wounds. Some of these were assassination organizations from the black market, some were from the terrorist organizations outside Modo's territory, and there were also some racial extremists and criminals who disguised themselves as assassins to commit crimes. The society was extremely unstable, and the police forces were beleaguered.

The two kings of Modo finished reading the report. One of them yelled, "What I'm more concerned about is whose orders this killer follows? Whose organization does he belong to‽"

"[Mystery]'s appearance is clearly related to the Kunde Race incident. Back then, the main participants were the Crimson Dynasty and their allies. Although we don't know which organization this killer belongs to exactly, he certainly is related to the Crimson Dynasty. He might be a secret soldier of the dynasty, or he could be an officer of one of the dynasty's Beyond Grade A allies…"

"So, the Crimson Dynasty very likely approved this‽" the two kings of Modo asked.

"This… isn't certain." The intelligence official thought about it for a moment. "The situation now is not the same as before. More than ten years ago, the Beyond Grade A Association was not yet founded, and the dynasty still had enough control over their Beyond Grade A allies, so the assassinations back then were indeed related to the dynasty. However, the situation has changed now. We can't rule out the possibility that this incident was a private operation of one of their Beyond Grade A allies."

Hearing this, everyone's expression changed, and a name subconsciously appeared in their minds.

"Could it be… Black Star‽" The two kings of Modo were furious.

Although the Crimson Dynasty was scum, taking the risk of assassinating the leader of an advanced civilization had many more cons than pros for them. They basically had no reason to do this.

It seemed like only Black Star who had exceptional hatred toward them had motive.

"Black Star! He got the upper hand in the Flickering War and cost us a lot, but did that make him feel he can do whatever he wants‽ How dare he do this? This is outrageous! Modo will never forgive him!"

The two kings of Modo were burning with rage.

They now had another goal to participate in the Flickering War, not just for the future of the civilization but also to make Black Star pay with blood. The two of them believed that after this, the entire civilization could become united against an exterior enemy. There would no longer be any objecting faction.

However, at this time, an upper echelon hesitated for a moment before objecting. "But I don't feel that makes sense. What's Black Star's goal in doing this? Just to feel good? There's no reason! He's a man who prioritizes profit over everything. He's already gained the upper hand in the Flickering World… To be completely frank, he can slowly make us suffer and incur even more losses. There's no need to assassinate our leader at all. In fact, doing so would even bring him risks.

"If he gets exposed, the heroic image the three Universal Civilizations have built for him will be severely damaged. He'll lose the advantages he obtained. Black Star doesn't feel like someone who'd make such a reckless decision…"

After hearing this theory, the various upper echelons present also frowned in doubt.

"That does make sense. Black Star wouldn't do meaningless things. If the assassination was ordered by him, it's definitely to achieve some kind of goal…"

"And what goal would that be?"

The room went silent. The people present worked brainstormed as much as they could.

More than ten seconds later, an intelligence official's eyes suddenly gleamed. He stood up and said, "I think I figured out Black Star's plan!"

"Oh? Quickly tell us about it." Everyone's eyes focused on him.

This intelligence official said with a firm tone, "Black Star did this to prevent us from surrendering!"

"Huh?"

Everyone tilted their head. Big question marks appeared above their heads.

"Erm… explain." The two kings of Modo frowned.

"This is my speculation. Black Star knows Modo has no chance of turning the table, so he's worried we might give up the Flickering War and withdraw the expeditionary army. If that happens, he won't be able to continue damaging us. Therefore, in order to prevent us from backing out, he secretly ordered his assassin to do this, openly provoking and insulting the entire Modo Civilization. He predicted our reaction—whether the culprit is his man or not, we'll definitely suspect him.

"Then, due to our hostile relationship, he feels that we'll likely claim that he's the mastermind to damage his reputation, which will go exactly according to his plan. Once we claim Black Star is the mastermind, under the eyes of the entire universe, we'll have to show we're not going to let him off easily, so we won't be able to easily pull out the expeditionary army. Instead, we'll have to keep sending in more troops, or we'll be seen as a wimp to the outside world. As an advanced civilization whose leader has been assassinated, we must never compromise. This way, Black Star will have successfully maintained the situation and forced us to keep fighting. He will then continue eating up our troops."

The others trembled and hastily went through their own thoughts. When they realized that this was exactly what they were thinking of, they felt a chill running down their spine.

I knew it. Black Star has calculated even our responses… Luckily, we predicted his predictions.

The two kings of Modo shook their heads and said, "No, no, Black Star knows we'll accuse him. Why isn't he afraid of his reputation being damaged?"

"I think he really isn't afraid…" an official said. "If we don't catch the culprit, we'll have no solid evidence. With the heroic image Black Star already has, which side will the outside world believe? Even if there is evidence, Black Star can still refuse to admit it and accuse us of framing him. Plus, the heroic image he has now was built by the three Universal Civilizations. Although he's enjoyed the benefits of it, he's restrained by his reputation. If he can get rid of this restriction, it won't be all bad for him. In fact, the three Universal Civilizations might be more worried than him in that case…"

Many people nodded and felt this made sense.

The two kings of Modo suppressed their wrath and said, "If this is really Black Star's doing, are we not only going to hold him responsible for it but even cover it up for him? Absolutely impossible! Don't even think about it!"

The two of them admitted that this speculation made sense, but in order to not fall into Black Star's trap, how could they, an advanced civilization, not hold him responsible but instead cover it up for him?

This is ridiculous. Does he think we're shameless?

As a powerful Super Star Cluster civilization, how can we be intimidated by this kind of trick? We will not compromise in any form!

The intelligence official who made this speculation hesitated for a moment before speaking again. "Actually, there's another possibility."

"Go on!"

"Ahem, I just thought about it. If there's a third party that predicted Black Star's and our responses judging from our hatred of each other, what if they sent someone to disguise as or bribed [Mystery] to do this, purposely carrying out the assassination in public to start a storm all to frame Black Star and increase the hatred between us… Is that possible?"

Hearing this, the others were perplexed.

This kind of plot was not rare in history, so the theory was completely possible.

"Who would do that?"

"Who else? Our enemy or Black Star's enemy, of course. They might want to watch us fight each other in the dark…"

"If this is the case, should we still pull out the expeditionary army so that we won't fall into the enemy's trap?"

The two kings of Modo were lost in the layers of speculation.

They were not at fault for overthinking. Smart people would always make all kinds of speculations for things, guessing the reason behind it, deriving the matter to the fourth or fifth layer. Never would they guess how simple the truth actually was—it was nothing but the sole actions of a reckless man.

"Your Excellencies, we're just speculating. We can't confirm that Black Star is the culprit yet. Catching the assassin is our priority now!" an upper echelon reminded.

The two kings of Modo nodded heavily and shouted, "That's right! No matter what, we have to track the killer. We must catch him and find out the mastermind. Even if this is really Black Star's trap, Modo will never compromise!"

After saying that, the two of them were filled with frustration. They felt like no matter what choice they made, it would still be within Black Star's plan.

It's terrifying to have an enemy like this!

The people present exchanged looks. Many people wanted to say something, but no one did in the end.

If this was really Black Star's trap, the decision the two kings of Modo made would have fallen right into it. To some people, the two kings were losing their cool.

The objecting faction was being investigated, but there were still some with the same thoughts who did not expose themselves, and they were feeling even more shaken now.

Maybe Marco and the others were right. It's really time for new leaders.

In the corner, seeing that no one was paying attention to him anymore, the intelligence official who made the speculation sat down looking still unsatisfied. He only had one thought in his mind.

Get me a drink. I can still brainstorm!

…

If Modo was only suspecting Black Star, the Crimson Dynasty would be completely certain.

In the Ruler's office of the Crimson Dynasty, Urranrell held her chin with her hands and said, "… So, Black Star might have done this to prevent the Modo Civilization from backing away?"

Modo had forbidden the sharing of the recordings, so the process of the assassination could not be found through normal channels. Of course, the three Universal Civilizations had ways to get the recording, not through Virtual Technology but totally because they had accumulated enough information channels.

In this respect, the accumulation of advanced civilizations was far superior compared to Beyond Grade As. For example, Han Xiao's forces were limited in the Primeval Star River. Although his Virtual Technology could get him the recordings easily, it still required a process of going there from the Flickering World and activating Virtual Intrusion. Not doing anything personally but still getting the information belonged to the territory of having information sources.

Back during the Kunde Race incident, Black Star had worked with the dynasty on assassinations. Since she had seen it before, although she did not know who the user of the golden spear was, she was certain that this man was Black Star's subordinate. Hence, she immediately thought that assassinating the Modo Three Kings was Black Star's plan.

Looking at the report on the screen, Urranrell thought, Hehe, Black Star is more daring than I imagined, even assassinating a leader of an advanced civilization… Although that breaks the rules a little, it seems quite effective.

Not long after receiving the news, she had also figured out Black Star's 'goal'.

The three Universal Civilizations did not want the Modo Civilization to retreat this soon. Causing as much damage as possible to these Super Star Cluster civilizations was the three Universal Civilizations' goal. Black Star's 'actions' matched the interest of the three Universal Civilizations.

Wonderful, wonderful… Nonetheless, this does cross the line a bit. Urranrell wiped off the smile on her face.

A Beyond Grade A assassinating the leader of an advanced civilization was a very sensitive matter. It would alert all the advanced civilizations including the three Universal Civilizations.

Just thinking about what this meant would explain why the leaders of the advanced civilizations were so concerned about this.

Because this was the oldest profession of Beyond Grade As when they first appeared!

Using individuals who possessed strength above the limits for assassinations was much more valuable and effective than putting them in large battles. One could easily imagine how much destruction an expert Beyond Grade A assassin could bring.

Back during the exploration era, Beyond Grade A assassins who specifically targeted leaders of civilizations were nightmares of the civilizations that survived. The main reason the three Universal Civilizations built the Psionic Seal Rings around their mother planets was to guard against sudden attacks from other civilization but also to guard against assassination attempts from Beyond Grade A assassins.

This assassination incident reminded Urranrell of many tragic examples in the exploration era. Once someone opened this box, it might cause prolonged negative effects to advanced civilizations.

After pondering silently for quite some time, Urranrell sighed.

Times had changed. No matter what, Black Star was an important ally recognized by the dynasty, a National Pillar.

She had no choice but to help to clean up his mess. Be it because of morals or logic, there was no way she could 'betray her ally'.

"I don't know if Black Star's subordinate will be able to escape… I shall have our people in the Modo Civilization's territory provide some help secretly just in case…"