Harrison Moore, a famous interstellar freelance explorer, was keen on excavating relics and pursuing the unknown. Although his strength was low, he could always miraculously turn danger into safety. Over the years, he had discovered countless historical relics and left behind dozens of books. His spirit of not fearing difficulties and daring to explore (as long as he could not seek death, he would seek death) attracted a large group of followers in the universe, who regarded him as a spiritual leader and a life light.
During the World Tree War, Harrison was already old and weak, in a semi-retired state. The three Universal Civilizations were the ones who were discovered and were attacked by the World Tree Civilization. They were caught off guard from the start and suffered heavy losses. Because they did not know the origin of the enemy, all the civilizations in the explored universe could only take a beating in the early stages. They were completely on the defensive and could only passively resist the endless invaders. Planets were occupied by the World Tree one after another and used as nourishment.
The three Universal Civilizations tried their best to find clues about the World Tree Civilization, the most important of which was the location of the World Tree's main body.
The World Tree itself was a Universal Treasure, and the World Tree Civilization had already obtained it during the Fire Seed Era, so it formed a twisted civilization. All the development of the civilization revolved around the World Tree, and countless people tried to nourish and strengthen this Universal Treasure.
Due to the uniqueness of the World Tree, only by finding its main body could the problem be solved from the root. Otherwise, no matter how many invaders were killed, the World Tree could use the nutrients of countless planets to transform and nurture more troops.
The main body of the World Tree was rooted in the secondary dimension world, hidden very deeply, and like the Underworld Dimension, it was invisible and sealed. In that era, almost everyone in the explored universe was a soldier, and many volunteer explorers spontaneously organized to search the secondary dimensions. Harrison also returned and joined them.
Due to a series of coincidences, he was the first to discover the secondary dimension where the main body of the World Tree was. Before he sacrificed himself, he recorded the coordinates of the dimension and threw them into the space storm of the secondary dimension world.
This set of coordinates was like a bottle drifting in the vast ocean, floating and sinking. In the end, it luckily fell into the hands of the three Universal Civilizations, and Harrison's deeds were passed down. Only then did the world learn of his achievements.
These were the later versions of Harrison's image in his previous life.
In this day and age, Harrison was still a young and newbie explorer. His exuberant curiosity and desire for adventure made him give up the opportunity to inherit a financial group's billion-dollar fortune and resolutely step into this industry with no bright future.
As a newcomer in this archaeological exploration team, Harrison's intuition was obviously not very convincing. His teammates all had the spirit of not leaving empty-handed … ahem, they all ignored Harrison's warning.
Harrison had no choice. Furthermore, his curiosity had overtaken his vigilance. He could only suppress his vague worry and continue to follow the team.
A scavenger spaceship passed through the high altitude sandstorm and hovered a hundred meters above, dropping down a multi-purpose drilling vehicle. Its outer armor was full of wild and colorful graffiti. Clearly, it had received artistic embellishments from this group of scavengers with limited cultural standards.
Everyone boarded the drilling vehicle and followed the guidance of the radar. They broke through the ground and dived all the way down, quickly approaching the underground cavity on the map.
Because these kinds of underground ruins had existed for too long, the crustal changes had caused the structure to be extremely unstable. Generally, there was a risk of collapse, so scavengers would not directly drill into the passage from the side. Their first choice was to go through the front door.
Whoosh!
Very soon, the tip of the drilling vehicle finally penetrated the rock layer and entered a cavity. All the team members walked down, turned on the searchlights, and observed the surroundings.
This was an underground cave with traces of man-made excavation. It was about seven to eight meters tall, and at the end of the cave was a tightly shut metal door. It was suspected to be the entrance to this underground ruin.
The short detector jogged over, took out an instrument to scan the metal door, and muttered, "Well preserved, not much sign of rust. This is a high-strength alloy material. According to the rough detection results, the synthesis technology of this material is at least at the Star System level, but there is no record of a matching material in the database …"
Hearing this, everyone became more and more excited. The higher the level of the lost civilization, the more things that qualified to be sold on the black market in the ruins.
However, this also meant that there were more unknown risks.
"Is there any energy reaction inside?" the captain asked.
"Let me see … Hmm, there's nothing at all. The energy here is probably exhausted. Even if there are traps or defensive measures, they are all disabled."
"Then let's go in and take a look," the captain instructed. The captain instructed, "Everyone be careful later. Without my order, no one is allowed to remove the shield."
The group used a laser to cut open the door, tiptoed in, and groped their way forward. The routes inside were intricate, and the environment looked like a large underground military base.
Harrison walked to a sign, wiped off the dust on it, and let the translator read the text on it. The result was that it could not be recognized.
"There is no record of this text in the database. We can confirm that this is the ruin of a civilization that has not been discovered so far," Harrison said in the channel.
"Today is really a lucky day. No wonder Ah Xiang finally responded to my daily greetings for several months this morning." The short detector was in high spirits.
"What did she say?" Harrison was curious.
"She said yes."
Harrison: "… Good luck."
Everyone chatted as they explored. They were careful along the way but did not find any danger. Only then did they dare to search the rooms one by one. However, they only found living facilities. There was no special equipment, no text documents left behind. Even the energy source and network host were gone. There was not even a single defense mechanism. It looked like this base had long been abandoned, and everything had been taken away.
The flames of excitement in everyone's hearts seemed to have been extinguished by a basin of cold water.
"It can't be. We found an unknown ruin, but we didn't get anything valuable. Did we come here for nothing?" The short explorer wailed.
"It's not a wasted trip. At least we found a new language, an unknown civilization that once existed." Harrison waved the translator in his hand. He had already recorded all the words on the signs on the way.
"What's the use of this kind of archaeological results? Do they really think we are historians?" Someone could not help but complain. "If it weren't for the valuable things, who would want to come to this damn place?"
The scavengers did not have much integrity. Their patience was quickly running out, and they searched faster and faster. Soon, there was only one room left, at the core of the base.
Everyone cut open the door and walked in. Their breathing stopped in unison.
They saw a triangular object about three to four meters high embedded in the groove in the ground in the center of the room. It was completely black and as smooth as a mirror. It looked a little like obsidian, but the detector showed that it was a metal material. There was a bump on one side, and on top of it was a screen.
There was only this thing in the room, and nothing else. It was like an exclusive warehouse.
"Haha, we finally found something."
"What is this thing?"
Everyone surrounded it in surprise and touched it here and there. Although they did not know what this thing was, looking at its appearance, they did not have to worry about not being able to sell it on the black market as long as it was packaged.
The short detector came to the triangular screen and pressed a few times, but there was no response. He felt around for a while and suddenly found a movable board next to the screen. After opening it, there was a socket. It seemed to be used for charging.
"Hmm … This is the first time I've seen a socket like this, but it should be fine." The short detector pondered for a moment, took out his instrument, and got busy. Soon, he modified an energy transmission line that fit the socket.
He was about to charge the triangular device when Harrison, who had been frowning, subconsciously spoke up.
"Wait!"
Everyone turned to look at him.
"What's wrong with you?"
"I … I think it's better to be careful. No one knows what this device is for. What if it's a weapon that has run out of energy?"
Harrison looked hesitant. When he saw this triangular device, he felt an inexplicable palpitation, as if there was a voice in his heart warning him that this thing was dangerous. His innate intuition had never been so strong before.
"Don't worry, I just probed it. This is actually a precision one-time safe device. It'll be destroyed once it's opened. It's just that the innermost layer is made of material that blocks detection, so we don't know what's inside," the short detector said without looking back.
As he spoke, he directly inserted the plug into the socket and inputted a small amount of energy. The triangular device's display lit up, and a password input interface popped up.
The captain came over to take a look. "Can the password be cracked?"
The short detector took out another piece of equipment and fiddled with it for a while before saying with certainty, "The password of this safety device changes in real time. We have to connect to the quantum network and then use virtual technology to decipher it … The tools I have now are not enough, but as long as we use a deciphering device with higher computing power, we can definitely open it."
"I see …"
The captain hesitated for a while before saying, "Then why don't we not open it? You said it yourself, this thing is one-time use. If the things stored in it are not valuable, we'll lose out. Why don't we just put this safe in a black market auction and let someone else open the prize? This kind of method is very common in the black market anyway …"
"Can we discuss this kind of thing later?" Harrison was inexplicably restless. "Let's get out of here quickly. I have a bad feeling …"
"When has your intuition ever been good?"
The captain glared at him, but he did not refute his suggestion. He ordered everyone to move the device onto the rig.
This was the only valuable thing in this ruin. The group did not linger and left with the triangular device, all the way back to the spaceship.
Suddenly, one of the team members said thoughtfully, "This is very strange.
"This is really strange. Logically speaking, since there is a ruin left behind by an unknown civilization on this planet, there should be other traces. However, there is only one result. This doesn't make sense. Could it be that the civilization came to this planet and only dug up an underground facility?"
"That's right. I felt a little strange just now," another person agreed.
At this time, the short detector glanced at the radar image and exclaimed in surprise, "Captain, that ruin just now actually collapsed!"
Everyone hurried over to take a look. The underground cavity in the image had been filled and disappeared without a trace. They could not go back even if they wanted to.
"How strange …"
The captain mumbled, shook his head, and ordered, "Forget it. Let's not care about that for now. Mark this planet. We'll go to the nearest black market planet and estimate the value of our harvest today."
Hearing this, the group did not think too much. They moved and piloted the spaceship away from this planet.
Only Harrison stood in front of the porthole alone, looking at the planet that was getting smaller and smaller in his sight. Suddenly, a chill ran down his spine.
All these signs gave him a feeling that the mission of this strange ruin was to store this triangular device.
And the ruin collapsed immediately after they left, as if it had been silently waiting for outsiders to take it away …
Harrison could not help but look back.
In his sight, the triangular device lay quietly in the back cabin, like a Pandora's box waiting to be opened.
…
The opening ceremony of the Blackstar Cup was held perfectly, and the qualifiers were in full swing the next day. The army became extremely lively, and hundreds of millions of members were active on the field, driving the enthusiasm of the entire universe's audience.
Because there were many events, every media outlet provided live broadcast and video replay functions all day long. The audience could freely adjust the lens and choose to watch any event, field, or player. Countless viewers held their communicators and watched happily all day long.
The viewership of the Blackstar Cup in the entire universe was maintained at a very high level. Currently, the average viewership of the various regions was only second to the news broadcast of the three Universal Civilizations or the local civilizations.
The Black Star Cup Competition Organization Department, which had only been set up two months ago, had made some calculations. The events with the highest viewership ratings, other than the various battle competitions of Grade B, Grade A, and Immortals, were the entertainment competitions, especially the talent shows, singing, dancing, and talk shows. Countless galactic residents were happy to see the Supers, who were rarely seen on normal days, show their talents on the screen.
Many talented contestants even attracted a large number of admirers, and the audience on the internet was debating the pros and cons of the various contestants. This proved that no matter what era it was, talent shows were never lacking in topics of discussion.
As for the events with the lowest viewership, as Han Xiao expected, they were the technical competitions, such as the mechanical maintenance, mechanical modification, and blueprint drawing competitions that Reynold had applied for …
There were indeed very few people who were willing to watch the technical competitions.
However, Han Xiao did not mind. Those technical competitions were purely for selection, to help the army find potential stocks in various fields and replenish new blood.
The promotion channels in the army had always been clear. One's rank was linked to one's position, and it could be done by making contributions or gaining experience. The Black Star Cup provided another shortcut to promotion, allowing those of the same rank to rise. The reason why the army members were so enthusiastic was because this model allowed many people to see more opportunities, injecting new vitality into the army.
Although the players had their own groups, most of them were more interested in participating in the normal rank groups and playing happily with the NPCs.
As the Evolution Badge shone brightly in the low-level team competitions, more and more players began to purchase this item, and the sales skyrocketed in a short period of time.
Using the Evolution Badge in competitions below Grade B gave the players a huge advantage, but it did not mean that they would definitely win. The aberrations were strong in close combat, but their weaknesses were also very obvious. Their Magic and Psychic Resistance plummeted, and their arms were short, making them extremely easy to kite. At the same time, they would continuously lose health.
Against some Psychics and Mages, there would occasionally be aberrated players who would be pressed to the ground repeatedly.
However, in Grade B teams, the Evolution Badge was not that useful. Grade B Supers had the strength to fight against the aberrations head-on.
Compared to the liveliness of the army, the factions of the other players in the Flickering World were much quieter.
The players of the various countries were all biting their handkerchiefs, looking at the tens of millions of army players having fun with envy and jealousy.
Not to mention participating, we don't even have the right to place a bet!
'Following the crowd' meant five 'people'. Most people had this mentality, and this effect was even more obvious among the players who pursued excitement and fun.
Everyone is having so much fun, how can I not be included!
Compared to the faction war incident more than half a year ago, there were even more ordinary players from the various countries who were shaken by the Blackstar Cup. With this, there was a new hole in the corner of many factions.
Even the Limitless Financial Group had a large number of people dug out. However, Sorokin was very low-key and said that he was fine.
The ones who suffered the most were the foreign clubs of the other factions. They clearly did not do anything this time, but they had to watch the ordinary players leave again, and they could not even find a reason to retain them. They only felt like crying but had no tears.
What should we do? You can't do this!
Do you have to force us to join the party?
Black Star Corps! You're going too far!
Even a clay figurine has a temper. Force me again if you dare!
If you force me again, I'll really join you!
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