Back when he had first sought refuge with Star Dragon, it was to escape the Sprout pursuit and find temporary shelter, and to pick up advanced knowledge along the way. The mimic mask had always been his planned escape route.
Once the mask was finished, Sprout would have almost no chance of tracking him. No more worrying about them finding him. That meant he had the capital to operate alone. No need to stay holed up in one place for safety. Pissing off the leader on purpose? That would make Sprout focus on Star Dragon. Give them the wrong direction to chase. Absolutely not because he found it funny. Absolutely not.
Even if he wanted to use others to hit Sprout, he didn't need to stay under Star Dragon's thumb. Star Dragon had been decent to him on the surface, but they didn't fully trust him. There was a satellite tracker buried deep in his encrypted phone. He had spotted it ages ago. Now? Finally, time to ditch it.
With just over three months until open beta, he needed to grind levels fast. Build more capital. The whole planet was littered with quests. Each one is a treasure trove.
Working with Bureau 13 had built his early capital. No more playing nice. Time to go solo.
The whole world was open now.
His plans, each layer interlocking.
As a chaotic, goal-oriented flip-flopper, in Xiao Han's eyes, Star Dragon's faction favour meant nothing next to real power growth. And he knew: come Version 2.0, forget Star Dragon—the Six Nations, Sprout, all of them were doomed.
These big factions looked stable now. Solid structure. Playing their little games. But when a planetary-scale disaster swept the surface, they would learn. Their precious interests, their squabbles—all meaningless against the survival of an entire civilisation. Their current status? Bubbles in the sun. Pretty colours, but one pop and they were gone. A fleeting dream.
"The first version hasn't even started. Real-world time for 1.0 is seven months. In-game time, that's three and a half years. Add the patch transition—another in-game year. So until Version 2.0, the Mutagen Disaster, there's nearly five years."
"The Mutagen Disaster is exactly that—a disaster. Best to avoid the chaos at the start of 2.0. So in five years, I need to dig up everything useful on Blue Planet. And find a way off this rock, at least temporarily."
Xiao Han's eyes gleamed.
A new prompt appeared on his interface.
[[Destruction of Raven Valley], Completion: 100%, Contribution: 72%. You have earned 360,000 experience!]
[Quest concluded.]
Looked like the Hai Xia forces had wrapped up on their end.
Xiao Han was more than satisfied. Without his interception of Pan Kuang and the others, completion would have been barely forty or fifty per cent. All that effort paid off. He had infiltrated, gathered intel, and planted Lin Yao and Lambet as moles. He had known the enemy's every move. That's why his contribution was so high. Without all that legwork, the reward would have been slashed by two-thirds.
[Faction Quest [Raven Valley Operation] has concluded. Objectives completed: [Recon 1], [Recon 2], [Forest Killer], [Direct Confrontation], [Decapitation 2], [Decapitation 3], [Destruction of Raven Valley].]
[Calculating results... Calculation complete. Performance rating: Outstanding.]
[Star Dragon National Strategic Defence Bureau Favour increased by 1,120 points. Current relationship: Friendly (1,370/3,000).]
[Sprout Organisation Favour decreased by 500 points. Current relationship: Hatred (-1,500/-3,000).]
[You have received an Outstanding rating bonus: Additional 50% experience (180,000), 1x Random Reward. Randomising reward type...]
"A random reward? Lucky break." Xiao Han allowed himself a small smile. Large missions and series quests gave performance ratings when finished. Outstanding had a thirty per cent chance at a random reward. Not common. The random reward picked a type first—could be experience, items, skills, attributes, potential points, anything. Then it offered a few choices within that type.
[The reward type you have received is: [Talent Perk].]
[Randomising... Randomisation complete. Please choose one of the following three perks.]
[Sturdy Physique: HP +400, Anomaly Resistance +4%.]
[Quick Hands: Agility +6, Attack Speed +5%.]
[Fortified Mind: Mysticism +5, Mental Resistance +8%.]
Xiao Han tapped his chin, thinking.
These three perks were solid, nothing flashy. Sturdy Physique boosted HP, good for a tank. He mostly fought at range, and the magnetic armour gave him plenty of protection. HP wasn't urgent.
Quick Hands was tempting. Agility affected everything about ranged attacks—accuracy, crit rate, attack speed, and movement speed. This perk could boost his damage output by eight to ten per cent.
Fortified Mind? Magic or psychic builds only. Useless for him.
Xiao Han made his choice. "Quick Hands."
[You have acquired the perk [Quick Hands]!]
Xiao Han checked his interface. The twelve free attribute points from levelling were still unspent. He dumped them all into Intelligence. It hit eighty-eight—his highest stat now.
The A-rank quest [Seed in Dust] ticked up by 1.8 per cent. Looked small, but Xiao Han knew the truth. Wiping out Raven Valley meant destroying a key bridge for future players wanting to join Sprout. It would seriously choke Sprout's expansion. Potential effect? At least ten to fifteen per cent. Most casual and new players picked factions based on convenience.
The Sprout leader didn't grasp Raven Valley's importance. He was just pissed about losing a major base.
Xiao Han had fed intel to other factions, letting them hit Sprout. Indirect damage meant a lower contribution than doing it himself. But if he tried to personally wreck every Sprout operation, he'd spread himself too thin. Sprout would outpace him. The best move was flooding the zone with Sprout intel.
The quest required twenty per cent progress. Chasing perfection was a trap. Knowing when to stop? That was the real play.
Xiao Han's eyes narrowed. "Time to change how I feed them intel."
With the quest wrapped, real work began.
He contacted Lin Yao.
"Status?"
"Bro Xiao. Hai Xia's forces have secured all of Raven Valley's supplies. They took a few hundred Sprout members alive—Domon's among them. But Pan Kuang and Ji Jie got away. The two directors slipped through."
"Where are the Hai Xia lot now?"
"Cleaning up the battlefield. They'll probably pull back to the border tomorrow."
"Got it."
---
The Hai Xia forces finished their sweep and set up camp for the night. Withdrawal scheduled for tomorrow.
Lin Yao and Lambet rejoined the group. The Bureau 13 team crowded around, heaping praise on the two for their infiltration work.
"Young guns, eh? Young guns." That was Ma Qingyang.
"Little Linlin, your teammate did well." That was Di Susu.
"Solid work. Proper reliable." That was the nameless background extras, too lazy to come up with decent lines.
Lin Yao rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed. "It was all Bro Xiao's call."
So the Bureau 13 team switched targets for their praise. Qi Baijia stroked his chin, already planning to hype Xiao Han's contribution in the mission report. Then he noticed something. Xiao Han still wasn't back.
"Hey, where is he?"
"Maybe something came up."
The sky darkened, but Xiao Han still hadn't shown.
"Why isn't he back yet?" Li Yalin frowned, puzzled. She nudged Lin Yao, urging him to contact Xiao Han.
Lin Yao sighed. "I've messaged him over forty times. Bro Xiao hasn't answered once."
An entire night passed. By dawn, when the Hai Xia forces prepared to move out, Xiao Han still hadn't appeared. The unusual situation sent the Bureau 13 team's imagination spiralling through possibilities.
"Maybe Xiao Han headed back to the border ahead of us?" Zhang Wei speculated.
They thought about it. Xiao Han did tend to act on a whim. Maybe he didn't see the need to regroup. It wasn't impossible.
Worried, they followed the army back.
---
The Hai Xia soldiers looked relaxed, formation loose, alert nonexistent.
At the centre of the column, Kelte sat in his command vehicle, frowning over a serious problem.
He hadn't distinguished himself in this operation. Worse, his command decisions had caused unnecessary losses. That would hurt his standing with high command.
To expand his military merit, he needed to highlight his importance in this operation.
"If I could claim some of Bureau 13's credit..."
A thought sparked. Maybe he could write in his report that Xiao Han's team infiltrating the inner base for intel happened under his direction. That would emphasise his role as commander.
"It could work."
The operation was over. Bureau 13 would leave soon. They couldn't jump out to dispute his report. His report went to Hai Xia high command. No one else would know what he wrote.
Kelte's eyes lit up. This credit might just lay the foundation for his promotion to general.
Then—commotion outside. The column stopped.
"Colonel! Two bodies up ahead. Looks like Pan Kuang and Ji Jie!"
Kelte startled, scrambling out. There they were, lying side by side in an open space. The two heads of Raven Valley base.
Soldiers murmured in shock. They remembered Pan Kuang's terrifying display not long ago. Someone had killed him.
"Who did this?! Who left the bodies here?!"
Kelte's voice rang out. Soldiers exchanged glances. No one answered. They'd just found them.
The Bureau 13 team rushed over, equally stunned.
"It could only be Xiao Han."
"He actually did it!"
"Why leave the bodies on the road? That's military credit. Why give it to these Hai Xia bastards?"
Kelte was overjoyed. More bodies meant more battle credits. He waved a hand, ordering the bodies bagged and taken back.
A soldier bent to move them. A click—a landmine trigger, right under the corpses.
"Mines!"
Soldiers scattered, diving for cover.
Kelte flinched, barely managing to hit the dirt.
Seconds passed. No explosion. A bold soldier got up, carefully dug out the mine beneath the bodies, and weighed it in his hand. Light. Very light.
"It's a dummy! Empty!"
Realisation hit. They'd been played. Annoyance rippled through the ranks.
"Not funny!"
"Bloody childish!"
"I nearly pissed myself!"
The Bureau 13 team's expressions flickered. They didn't know whether to laugh.
Li Yalin muttered, "That's so Xiao Han..."
Kelte picked himself up. His crisp officer's uniform was a mess—dirt, grass, debris. Humiliating.
His face went purple. He knew Xiao Han was behind this. A prank to make him look ridiculous. "Pathetic tricks!"
"Bang!"
A distant gunshot.
A hole was punched through Kelte's temple. Blood sprayed from the exit wound.
His eyes went wide. He didn't understand what was happening. No preparation. His gaze held a flicker of life, of disbelief. Then the pupils dilated. His body swayed and crumpled.
Moments ago, he'd been dreaming of glory and promotion. To die now, on the road to victory, in the dark before dawn—he couldn't believe it.
In that instant, every expression froze. Bureau 13's awkward smiles. Hai Xia soldiers' indignation. All of it.
Then—horror.
---
On a distant cliff, Xiao Han lifted his head from the sniper scope. His face was calm.
"What goes around comes around."