Chapter 253: A Love Story
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
In the car, Han Xiao was smoking and repairing his suit when he decided to check out the forums and saw the post made by the Germinal players that he had just killed.
“Found mission target. Han Xiao’s location coordinates are...”
“Germinal has distributed new tailing missions. We are looking for two more members for this group mission. Leaving in twenty minutes.
Han Xiao chuckled when he saw this.
Germinal players were also trying to find him. As the mission only required the players to find his whereabouts, it would not lower their reputation points with him, and many players took on the mission for the reward.
As the old sayings went, there is no better way to show your love than through beatings.
Although Han Xiao had not given them any benefits, but following the players from the three other continents as examples, the Germinal players still loved him.
Once his identity was revealed, the players became very passionate about him and were eager to accept any missions that were related to him. However, it was not like they had much of a choice. Now that Germinal’s full attention was on catching Han Xiao, practically all the missions had something to do with him.
Logically, having to fight immortal players should have had been troublesome, but Han Xiao was actually glad that a lot of players were chasing him.
Aside from trying to find him directly, the Germinal forces were constantly trying to widen their search net to encircle Han Xiao. However, Han Xiao was always able to escape through a gap just before they could complete the encirclement.
This was not just a coincidence. The forum posts made by Germinal basically gave Han Xiao free information on the enemy troop movements.
Germinal was not aware of the existence of the forums while there was no way the players could have known that an NPC could see their posts.
Han Xiao’s group kept escaping through the openings between their forces, and Germinal had no idea how the information was being leaked.
Germinal could not have known that their own Inhumans were the ones dragging them down. All this did was further convince the Germinal leader of Han Xiao’s power to predict the future.
...
Han Xiao was not afraid of running out of posts to read. Due to the recent rise in his popularity among the players, posts about him basically dominated the Planet Aquamarine forums.
Revealing his own identity also gave his image a boost. Compared to Black Phantom’s uninspiring middle-aged uncle face, Han Xiao’s current look was basically prince-like, and he was able to capture the hearts of countless female players. There were a bunch of comments along the lines of “Well hello, handsome...” that started to appear in the forums.
A BOSS level character that manipulated the war behind the scenes actually looked so young and handsome. This change finally helped Han Xiao acquire female fans. One should know that back in his Black Phantom days, all those who chased after him were just a bunch of stinky, hairy, hot-blooded, gamer guys...
However, the players’ enthusiasm on this topic far exceeded Han Xiao’s expectations, and after the initial shock, the direction of the conversations on the forums started to go somewhere weird.
Many of the players had seen Han Xiao bringing a sister-duo along with him when he broke out of Germinal’s ambushes. Discussions about this suddenly exploded.
“Why would he bring two girls when running for his life? Is there any doubt? It must’ve been for love!”
Then, a player who had let his imagination break through the skies posted this story...
“I was once a test subject. I was tortured and went through endless unimaginable suffering in a hell-like place.
“She was my only source of light. Every time I saw her tall figure and ice-cold face, the pain I felt all over my body suddenly disappeared. Although I was only a test subject, and she never spared me so much as a smile, seeing the fury in her eyes taught me the warmth of spring.
“Maybe this is what it feels like when love finally arrives.
“So, I swore, when I one day escape this place, I will become stronger and rise to the top. When that day comes, I will stand in front of you and tell you with all my heart that I love you... ”
When he saw this post, Han Xiao coughed all the energy drink that was in his mouth onto Hila.
Which god damn pervert wrote this‽ Where did this idiot jump out from?
Don’t you ever let me see you! I will kill you all the way back to level one!
This was only one of the versions that the players came up with. Another person wrote about how Han Xiao fell in love at first sight with the older sister and decided to elope with her while bringing along the little girl!
Or how Han Xiao and the redhead were lovers to begin with, and the little girl was actually their secret child!
Some even claimed that the sisters were already Han Xiao’s women, but they were taken away by the evil Germinal leader. To take back what was his, Han Xiao had gone on the path of revenge, eventually causing this whole war for love.
Basically, the people’s imaginations were endless!
“Ohohoho, I never thought that you were like this, Black Phantom.”
“So, we’re all the same...”
“Oof, the little girl’s the best!”
“The older sister’s where it’s at!”
Just as Han Xiao was having a headache from all these stories, he found out that the players had given him two new nicknames.
Black Phantom: The Womanizer!
Technician Han: Your Knight in Shining Armor!
Han Xiao was conflicted.
Although it was not his original intention, his popularity still went up because of this. It was normal that characters with some ‘dirt’ on them were more likely to be talked about by the players.
Although my image among the players isn’t what I intended, at least I’m getting more and more famous.
Han Xiao could only stay optimistic. Most of these posts were not made seriously. These people must have come to cause trouble because of popular he was.
The reveal significantly boosted his popularity with the players, but his legend points on the interface were taking a while to be updated.
Suddenly, a new post caught Han Xiao’s attention.
“Everyone, look! I have received a new mission. It’s a large-scale encirclement operation this time! Request for group members to carry me...”
A Germinal player posted his mission details, and the photo of the map that he attached showed a massive force that stood on what was supposedly Han Xiao’s current route of escape. This group of Germinal forces was unlike anything that they had ever seen. It completely blocked off all the possible openings that Han Xiao could use.
Han Xiao’s expression grew heavy when he saw the post.
“This is bad.”
...
“The encirclement forces are in place. It will take another six hours before they make contact with Han Xiao.”
“How many men do we have?” the Germinal leader asked in a grave voice.
“Sir, we have mobilized a total of eighty high ranking executives, six hundred super soldiers, and several thousands of armored infantry troops. There are also over three hundred tanks and thirty attack helicopters. I’m sorry, sir, but this was all we could muster. The Six Nations are currently applying pressure on all fronts, and we are stretched thin.”
Boom!
The leader violently smacked the table and roared, “If it weren’t for those b*stards from the Six Nations, this encirclement would’ve already been complete. Zero must’ve made a deal with them. We have already locked onto him four times, yet all our missiles have been intercepted by the Six Nations!
“Humph! Now that our forces are in place, the Six Nations will have to drive their troops right into the middle of my territory if they want to stop us from catching Zero. Order the troops to start closing in on him. Even if he can predict the future, he will still be forced to go head to head with our troops!”
The Germinal leader spared no efforts in taking out Han Xiao. He had already learned his lesson from the numerous times that Han Xiao had broken out of his traps so far. Now, the new group of troops were placed right around his escape route, and he had finally trapped the traitorous b*stard!
The leader believed that even if Han Xiao was able to predict this all from happening, there was nothing that he could have done to stop the encirclement from being completed. He had sacrificed the previous squads who pursued Han Xiao to direct him to this path.
The encircling forces on the plains were to be the leader’s decisive move to end things once and for all with Han Xiao.
“Zero is very strong; only the older executives can finish the job. How many of them went with the troops?” the leader asked.
“Five in total. Here are their files,” the assistant quickly replied.
The leader took a glance and nodded. These old folks could be considered the organization’s strongest force. Even he would have to be careful against them in a fight. Their strength had already reached a certain level and would be enough to take on Han Xiao.
With five of them together, even the leader would take some time to come out on top.
This time, the leader was confident that Han Xiao would finally be taken care of, and he let out a vicious glint in his eyes.