In the Black Star Army’s Emerald Star Cluster Division, hundreds of spaceships were docked in the silver-white airport terminal, with all colors and varied models. From within these spaceships stepped out a group of crew members who obviously did not belong to the army. Stepping down, they looked around curiously, lining up in loose lines under the command of the heavily armed army members as they chatted. “We’ve finally arrived. This is indeed the base of the Black Star Army. It’s truly well-defended.”

“Haha, my resume has undergone four rounds of screening and finally passed the review. We’ll be members of the Black Star Army in the future.”

“I hope that I can go to a position with good benefits…”

“Will we be able to see Black Star this time? According to the usual practice, every group of newcomers will have to enter the initiation ceremony where the Army Commander meets with us. Even his avatar will do!”

Everyone had some measure of excitement on their face. These people were all interstellar mercenaries who had applied to the Black Star Army.

Right now, the Black Star Army’s sphere of influence had spread across multiple Star Fields. With various businesses bringing ample capital flow to them, the army had been actively hiring new mercenaries. This was especially so after Han Xiao was hired as the Special Consultant for the three Universal Civilizations.

After so many years of operation by Han Xiao, the army already had an irreplaceable influence in the universe. According to market research, if all free Supers in the universe had to join a faction, then 41.3% of them listed the Black Star Army as their first choice, surpassing even the three Universal Civilizations.

The Black Star Army could be considered as something like the ‘Fortune 500’ companies back on Earth. Furthermore, its potential was still being realized, and its prospects were broad.

Just as everyone was excitedly discussing their success, an army spaceship sailed into the VIP dock of the airport, attracting the attention of everyone present. There were two emblems on the hull of the spaceship, one being that of the army, while the other was a crimson snake on a wine-red background, which was the personal emblem of Hila.

With a hiss, the hatch opened, and a group of armed female warriors wearing crimson light armor walked out neatly as they stood on both sides of the gangway. The emblem on their chests indicated that they were the elite guards of Hila, known as the ‘Tri-Headed Snake Rangers’.

As the Deputy Army Commander, Hila possessed a lot of authority, which allowed her to form her own personal guard like Han Xiao.

Ta, ta, ta!

The crisp sound of leather shoes striking the ground was heard as Hila walked out of the hatch.

She wore a pair of red sunglasses on the bridge of her nose, her ears decorated with serpentine silver earrings, and she had on a gorgeous red uniform that resembled a lady’s business suit. It had gold threads as trimming as well as a black and gold cloak wrapped around on her shoulders, complete with a red fluff on the collar of the cloak.

Everyone’s eyes immediately focused on her, admiration appearing on their faces. “She’s the second-in-command of the Army, the Goddess of Death, Hila. What a strong aura…”

Some of them revealed wistful expressions. “It would be great if I could work under her.”

“Only the elite of the army are eligible to be selected as part of the personal guards. Even people like us were all rejected. You’re still dreaming of it?”

At this moment, Hila walked with her guards to the front of the crowd, scanning everyone present. Her powerful aura suffused within the crowd, and the commotion gradually stopped. Everyone only felt a sense of oppression in their hearts, not daring to speak. Seeing this, Hila spoke in a cold tone. “The Army Commander is currently absent, so I will preside over your enrollment ceremony. My time is precious, so I’ll save the welcome steps and test your strength directly. The army speaks with strength, so this will be related to your position arrangement after joining the army. I hope you can last as long as possible.”

Finishing all she wanted to say in one breath, Hila was too lazy to explain more, directly letting out her pressure and sweeping across the whole field.

Many of them felt a crushing sense before they could react, the pressure penetrating their body and soul. Everyone trembled and looked as though they would fall to the ground any time.

Flop, flop!

Group after group could not bear the pressure Hila was exuding and fell down. The longest could only support themselves for about thirty seconds, their faces flushed and gasping as though they were drowning.

Seeing this, Hila withdrew her pressure, looking at her watch as she lightly said, “Those who are in the top ten percent will be the team leaders. As for the others, Phillip will automatically assign positions based on your performance just now. You are to report to your respective departments immediately. The ceremony is over.”

Finished, she turned around and entered the base with her guards, not sparing another glance at the crowd on the ground.

Generally speaking, the newcomers’ joining ceremony would introduce to them the history of the army so as to cultivate a sense of belonging. Hila, however, did not care for such things. From disembarkation to the completion of the test, the entire process took no more than three minutes.

On the way, Hila took out her communicator and summoned Phillip. She asked with furrowed brows, “By the way, can you contact Black Star yet?”

“Not at all, hum…” Phillip lowered his head, tapping his fingertips as he felt guilty.

“Where did this guy go? To actually be out of touch for several months!”

Hila’s expression was uncertain.

She knew that Han Xiao had run off to the secondary dimensions, and communication there was inconvenient. But even so, Han Xiao should not have been disconnected from Phillip.

Just a few months ago, Phillip had said that Han Xiao was completely disconnected and could not be reached by any means. Hila thus became vigilant and could not help but think of the Holy Accord Organization that he had encountered in the secondary dimension.

Could it be that the Army Commander had been attacked again?

Hmm… it did not seem to be surprising though.

In order to not cause any turmoil and suspicion to the outside world, she had asked Phillip to block off all news, maintaining the operation of the army on the surface while secretly investing resources to detect any traces of Black Star.

Han Xiao was the soul of the army. The moment he lost contact, the army would drop by a significant deal in the eyes of the Beyond Grade As. Hila could only temporarily carry this burden, halting her training and returning from the Underworld to helm the army.

No results were found even after several months, and Hila was getting worried.

She had decided that if there was still no information about him after three more months, she would call upon her teacher Ames to enter the secondary dimensions to search for Han Xiao. Suddenly, Hila paused, and a strange look appeared on her face.

“You guys are to be on standby. I have something to do.” Her figure vanished, leaving her Personal Guards on the spot looking at each other.

At the same time, Hila’s figure appeared in the Underworld, where Onicelu revealed herself.

“What is this about?”

“I discovered a group of weird creatures approaching the Underworld. They seem to be cosmic life forms that live in space storms. Monsters born within this environment are not easy to deal with, and I’m just afraid that they are species that feed on the secondary dimensions.” Onicelu expressed her concern.

Hila frowned slightly. Right now, she was bound to the Underworld, so protecting it was her responsibility. “I’ll make them retreat.”

She rose up, turning into a red meteor as she flew out of the space wall following Onicelu’s instructions. However, she did not proceed further, merely waiting at the spot for the enemy’s advancement. The dimensional energy of the Underworld formed a spherical light film around Hila, which provided her defense whilst preventing her from being swept away of the chaotic space stream.

Not long after, a whirlpool-like wormhole appeared in the space stream, and huge Space Lice rushed out in alarming numbers.

“So many!’ Hila subconsciously clenched her fists.

She had been in the secondary dimension for a while, thus knowing that there were some dangers that could even threaten the lives of the Beyond Grade As. While she had never encountered any Space Louse, she instinctively felt the threat, proving that this group of monsters could not be killed casually.

While Hila was not worried about her safety, there were just too many for herself to handle. She could not guarantee that she could protect the entire Underworld.

“If only Black Star was here…”

Faced with this situation, Hila could not help but miss Han Xiao’s mechanical army.

“Right now, I can only rely on myself…”

Hila revolved her Energy, preparing to make the pre-emptive strike.

But at this exact moment, a familiar voice rang out in her mechanical suit communication channel, freezing her movements.

“Hila?”

Among the Space Lice, Han Xiao, who was herding up these cuties, felt the fluctuations coming off from Hila and looked over. His eyes brightened immediately.

In a flash, he appeared before her, smiling. “I’ve not seen you for a while. Did you miss

me?”

“I miss…” Hila caught herself before she subconsciously spoke out and continued in surprise. “Why are you here? Where did you go this time?”

“I went over to the secondary dimensions to take a gander. The signal there is not good. Did you see the cuties yet? These were my war trophies. I intend to let them settle down around the Underworld to serve as a line of defense. Their combat power is pretty impressive…”

Han Xiao babbled on with the introduction, pretending that he did not see Hila’s hesitation.

After losing contact for several months, he knew that Hila would definitely worry, but he did not intend to disclose his experience of the trip for the time being. Thus, he decided to hide the truth and simply gloss over it.

After listening for a bit, Hila still could not resist interrupting Han Xiao’s words, “Do you know the impact your loss of contact has brought us? If it was not for me blocking the news, there would be a lot of people in the army that wavered…”

Han Xiao laughed. “You’re the Deputy Army Commander. There’s still you even if I’m not around. Nobody will be able to do anything. I have faith in you.”

Hearing this, Hila’s expression became a lot better.

She vaguely felt that Han Xiao was hiding something from her, but she did not want to ask more. The most important part was that he had returned.

Hila did not continue questioning him and turned her attention toward the weird looking Space Lice.

“When these groups of life forms join forces, can their battle strength truly reach the pinnacle Beyond Grade A level?”

“Their attack power won’t be as good, but their defenses can indeed reach such a stage. They feed on chaotic space streams, so not only will they not attack the secondary dimension but also provide protection. They like the environment around a secondary dimension, so they usually settle down and use it as a nest, hence attacking all outsiders.” Han Xiao nodded.

After catching a batch of Space Lice, he had split up with Kasuyi and headed home. Through the journey, he did research and discovered the habits of the Space Lice, which allowed them to coexist in harmony with the secondary dimensions. They were suitable for guarding homes and were simply natural bodyguards.

“Alright, as long as there’s no danger, I have no issue keeping them here.” Hila agreed after thinking. “My teacher came to look for you three times but was rejected by me. Remember to go see her.”

“Ok.” Han Xiao assented and asked, “Anything happen with the association while I was absent?”

“The same old. There has been no change, except for the lack of fighting between you and Manison. No one is moving for now. It’s basically a formality.”

“Those fence sitters only wish for me to get things done…” Han Xiao’s mouth contorted slightly.

In the eyes of ordinary people, the Beyond Grade As were people of high authority and prestige, but in his eyes, they were a group of boring people.

He then rejected Hila’s invitation to get abused before throwing the Space Lice at the Underworld and using the King to teleport himself back to the Army’s Base camp in the Emerald Star Cluster.

With a blur in his vision, Han Xiao returned to his office and found Sylvia sitting there with her legs propped up on the table.

Seeing that someone had suddenly appeared in the room, Sylvia was taken aback. But after recognizing Han Xiao, she calmed down, and instead of standing up, she purposely struck her feet on the table once, huffing as she angrily said, “Oh, isn’t this His Excellency Black Star? You still know your way back? I thought you had forgotten all about us.”

Han Xiao did not show offence, rather walking up to Sylvia and patting her head. Feeling her hair, he smiled.

“Seems like you have worked hard these few months. It’s been hard on you.”

“Scram.” Sylvia knocked his hand away before standing up and snorting. “I could not contact you, and there’s a large backlog of issues that you need to handle. Hurry and clear them. I’m still waiting.”

Having finished speaking, she turned to leave, but suddenly, she realized something just as she reached the door. She turned back, picking up the jacket she draped over the chair and the gold rimmed glasses on the table, rolling her eyes at Han Xiao again as she left.

“Tsk, what a huge grudge she has.”

Han Xiao pursed his lips. He naturally would not be so petty with this balding baby.

This trip had been a great harvest for him. He not only learned a lot of secrets of the universe but also greatly expanded his knowledge. For him, returning to his universe felt like he had come to another world. But in the eyes of his officers, it was only a few months that he had disappeared. Except for a few, no one was curious about where he had gone.

Han Xiao reconnected to Phillip, encrypting all the data he recorded on this trip.

This technological treasure was too rich, such that even a pinnacle Beyond Grade A like him would take around a decade to finish studying it. While Awakening Points and Experience could speed up the research progress, it would be a waste to use them that way. After all, before the next Version arrived, it would be difficult for him to supplement those. Since it was not long until the Version 4.0 update, he could take his time to slowly digest it then.

He summoned a housekeeping robot to spray some air freshener in the room to remove the remnants of Sylvia’s elegant perfume before sitting back in his chair to handle the backlog while logging onto the forums to check on the players.

After a few months, the fourth Pro League had entered the International League phase, and they were at the Quarter Finals. China had two teams qualifying this time, Dynasty with the most stable performance and Rivervale.

After three league matches, Rivervale was no longer a dark horse but rather a stable and powerful team.

The previous International League group stage that had just ended was the most dangerous one, with the crazy targeting of the Chinese clubs still ongoing. As a result, there was one less team that had qualified for Quarter Finals this time.

However, looking at it from another angle, even with the clubs of various countries trying to push them down, there were still two Chinese teams that had made it in. The results were gratifying

Now the hope of the country fell on Dynasty and Rivervale. So long as either of them won the championship, it would mean three consecutive victories for China. None of the other countries in the top eight wanted to see such a result, but they were unable to encircle and suppress the Chinese players as much as in the group stage.

“Now that it has reached the Quarter Finals, it’s not far from the end of the Pro League. There are at most two months left before Version 4.0 ends… I have to prepare.”