Chapter 4046: Stars

Star Shine City, as the Royal City of the Empire, its land area could no longer be described as vast. There were a total of 40 space towers, crisscrossing orbital trains, and traffic routes extending in all directions.

In most worlds, space towers had nothing to do with civilian use; the high maintenance costs determined this.

King District, Space Tower No. 2 on the tree-lined avenue. The spatial fluctuations gradually subsided. A moment later, Deputy Minister Tuo Enta walked out from the main entrance. Vehicles with permission to enter the palace were ready, and the group got into the car.

There was no talk along the way. When this luxurious but uniquely styled vehicle drove to the side gate of the palace, the guards stationed there checked it layer by layer before letting it pass.

Inside the car, Deputy Minister Tuo Enta said with some apology: "Lord Bai Ye, there is usually no such strict monitoring. Recently, His Majesty the King has been unwell, and the people below are naturally nervous."

After speaking, Tuo Enta pointed to the towering space tower in the palace, indicating that in the past, when he came to the palace, he was directly teleported to this No. 0 space tower, and then took the orbital train in the palace to reach the Royal Hall. Yes, one needed to take an orbital train in the palace; the area here was comparable to a small city.

As the vehicle approached the Royal Hall, Su Xiao clearly sensed that whether it was the sentry or the patrolling guards, their aura was stronger. However, their "Divine Flesh" was generally on their arms. I don't know why this was; perhaps the "Alienation" probability of this "Divine Flesh" was the lowest?

A magnificent building with a strong sense of history appeared in front. Although this building was not magnificent, it had an indescribable sense of majesty. Getting off the car and walking into the Royal Hall from the red carpet at the main entrance, taking the elevator—this elevator had too much sense of age. As for why not use an elevator or an armored straight elevator, this old-fashioned elevator with multiple defensive spells seemed safer.

Going up to the fifth floor, they didn't go to the huge bedroom on the fifth floor. The old King hadn't lived in that luxurious bedroom for a day. In the old King's own words, sleeping in a place that was too open didn't feel secure.

Moreover, this famous King had a bad habit: he liked to eat late-night snacks, and only liked pastries. This also led to his physique not being very slim, especially after inheriting the throne in his 40s, with daily hard work and lack of exercise, his physique gradually developed horizontally.

If someone were to take out a photo of His Majesty the King from when he was 25 to 35 years old, they would definitely exclaim, "Holy crap, is this really the same person?" After all, when His Majesty was young, you couldn't just call him handsome; he was firmly in the top tier of the Empire's ruggedly handsome men. The most common thing his romantic rivals would say was: "If only he weren't so good-looking."

Sometimes, recognition from enemies was more authentic.

Now, His Majesty the King wasn't exactly obese, but he was approaching the edge of obesity. His personal cook was almost worried sick about this. You say, a King who had no bad habits but just liked to eat late-night pastries, not let him eat? Definitely not. Let him eat? The gradually horizontal physique was obviously not okay either. She wanted to resign, but couldn't let go of His Majesty the King. It could only be said that it was too difficult.

Deputy Minister Tuo Enta stopped in front of a bedroom door guarded by two personal guards. After carefully tidying up his appearance, he took a deep breath and knocked on the door. After a while, a voice came from inside, lacking in breath but with a sense of majesty:

"Tuo Enta?"

"It's me, Your Majesty."

"Come in. If Bai Ye is also here, let him in too."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Tuo Enta opened the door and signaled Su Xiao to go first.

Su Xiao walked into the room. This was a bedroom of more than 20 square meters. Inside, there was only a maid and an old man lying diagonally on the bed. The old man was wearing a white nightgown, his figure was so thin that it was skin and bones, his white hair was slightly messy, and his aura was like a candle in the wind. But those eyes were not turbid at all; they were very bright and full of spirit.

This was the King of the United Empire, Roald Saint Adez. Seeing him for the first time, Su Xiao's only perception was that this King was not long for this world. He might die the next moment, or it might be tomorrow or next week, but at most not more than a month. The other party's original life force was about to be exhausted.

"Hearing about you is not as good as seeing you, don't you think, Bai Ye."

A smile appeared on the old King's thin face. He raised his hand, and the loose skin hanging on his arm indicated that he should have been plump just a few days ago. But in just a few days, this King was almost exhausted.

"You came here, really because you heard that the 'Heart of the Stars' appeared?"

"No, I only knew when I arrived."

"Then why are you here?"

"To slaughter all the gods."

After Su Xiao finished speaking, he took out the "Origin Codex," which made the old King, who was lying on the pillow, sit up with the help of the maid.

"This, this is the Codex? Didn't it disappear in the First Era? Oh! Ancient Dragons, it was the Ancient Dragons who sealed it. That's right, it is said that you just left the Ancient Dragon Kingdom not long ago."

The old King raised his hand to touch the "Origin Codex," but stopped when he was about to touch it, and withdrew his hand:

"Don't let the gods discover that my causality is wrong. I'd better not touch this thing."

After the old King finished speaking, he fell into silence.

Why did Su Xiao state at the beginning that he was going to deal with the gods? The reason was that if the old King was a puppet of the gods, there would definitely not be this meeting. The other party invited him here, and there were only two possibilities.

1. A trap, the entire palace was a trap.

2. The old King was a force that did not belong to the Royal Family (Soul Bell Tower), the Mechanical God Church (the gods), or the Three Ministers (Rune family)—a force outside these three parties. And he clearly knew that under the overall situation where the Astral Realm was about to face an Abyss catastrophe.

Whether it was the Soul Bell Tower, the gods, or the Rune family, they would increase their demands on this world, making the Empire exhaust all possible resources in a short period of time and send them to the three major forces.

As for the final result of the Empire, even if this world collapsed, the three major forces didn't care, let alone the ending of the Empire.

And the old King, he didn't care about the final fate of the three major forces—the Soul Bell Tower, the gods, and the Rune family—whether they were destroyed or what. What he wanted to do was to protect the Empire and the billions of people who followed him when the three major forces gradually revealed their claws.

Obviously, Su Xiao and the old King were natural allies.

And, this old King had spent his life dealing with the three major forces, not only not being sidelined but also completely controlling the Royal City. This person's wisdom was definitely physical D, and his power strategy was SSS+++++++ level.

"I can't give you much support right now."

As the old King spoke, he signaled the maid serving him to bring the things prepared just now. The maid went to the table, picked up the tray on it. Inside the tray was a coat with black as the main tone, with bright red on the collar and lining. There was a unique emblem on it, similar to that of Deputy Minister Tuo Enta behind him, but the emblem was more complicated than his.

This was a position that had been vacant for more than ten years. After the old King's partner was murdered, the position had been vacant—the position of Minister of the Imperial Special Affairs Department.

The old King raised his hand with some effort, indicating that this position was already Su Xiao's.

"..."

After Su Xiao looked at the old King for more than ten seconds, he picked up the black coat and documents on the tray, got up, and walked out of the room. Tuo Enta followed closely behind, because from this moment on, this Law-Breaker was his immediate superior.

Watching Su Xiao walk out of the room, the smile on the old King's face faded. His eyes could no longer remain bright and visibly dimmed and turbid. He frowned and thought, suddenly, he felt uncomfortable in his chest, which forced him to cough repeatedly. He took the velvet towel hurriedly handed by the maid and covered his mouth.

"*Hoo~! Hoo~! Hoo~! *"

The old King gasped for breath. It ended nearly half a minute of dry coughing, and he was already pale as paper. Obviously, just now during the meeting, he was holding on. Facing this powerful "fierce beast" who came here, infamous and full of blood, the old King had to meet him in the best state he could achieve.

Handing the velvet towel stained with bright red blood to the maid, the maid looked worried, and the old King just smiled.

"Go down, let me rest for a while."

"Yes."

The maid exited the bedroom and closed the door. Just then, the wall clock on the wall suddenly stopped. The mechanical structure inside began to twist and dissolve. Finally, the wall clock turned into a blurry metal face.

"That Law-Breaker has been here."

The metal face spoke, its voice overlapping.

"Perhaps."

The old King leaned diagonally and closed his eyes for a nap.

"You should understand, Adez, as long as you compromise with me, no need to submit, no need to obey, just compromise, your life will be endless."

"You gods, powerful in strength, long in life, but your hearts..."

Old King Adez said this, sat up with effort, looked directly at the metal face, and said: "Your hearts are too small."

Hearing this, the metal face did not vibrate but snorted and disappeared. As it left, the wall clock on the wall gradually returned to its previous appearance.

Seeing this, the old King sighed. It wasn't that the plan failed; he was just regretting, regretting that he only attracted one. That old beast really didn't take the bait.

South City District, Gick Street. This was one of the wealthy areas of the Royal City. Originally, this was a planting area, the main production area for seasonal fruits and vegetables in the Royal City. But after the "Imperial Special Affairs Department" was set up here, accidents caused by "Alienation" in the entire South City District dropped by 90%, and the safety level was second only to the palace.

Wealthy merchants set their sights on this place first. Those dignitaries who were not qualified to live in the back area of the palace also gradually discovered the safety here. Over time, wealth attracted all walks of life. The South City District began to prosper at a speed visible to the naked eye. For the more expensive South City District, of course, the planting area had to be moved away appropriately.

Because it was established here from the beginning, the headquarters of the "Imperial Special Affairs Department" was very large. After the vehicle entered the main gate, there were large flower seas on both sides. Continuing to drive along the flat gravel road, passing through a forest road, the five-story headquarters of the "Imperial Special Affairs Department" came into view.

This building had been expanded more than once, as could be seen from the side wings and connecting corridors. Behind the headquarters were a dozen buildings of different heights and shapes. Most of these buildings had no windows, only a strictly guarded main entrance. Among them, three buildings were made entirely of frosted iron-gray metal.

The vehicle stopped. Su Xiao, who had changed into the Minister's attire, hadn't even gotten off the car when he saw quite a few civil servants or combat personnel waiting to welcome him in front of the main entrance downstairs. As he got off the car, the members of the "Imperial Special Affairs Department" welcomed him in a voice that was neither neat nor high-pitched:

"Welcome, Minister." ×38

"Welcome." ×1

"Hello, Minister." ×21

"Welcome home, my lord, please change your shoes!" ×1

Su Xiao looked at the one who said "Welcome." It was a girl about 1.5 meters tall, with short hair and full of energy. Very good, so energetic. I don't know if she will die if I focus on cultivating her, but at least her spirit won't collapse.

His gaze turned to the fool who welcomed the Minister home. Observing this person, he had the "appearance of a Phoenix Chick." The one beside him whose eyes had their own ideas must be the "Crouching Dragon." Later, he could consider sending the two of them to guard the entrance of the Abyss spreading zone.

Under Tuo Enta's guidance, Su Xiao went up to the third floor and arrived at the Minister's office. The decoration here was a bit old-fashioned. He didn't care about these. He sat down behind the large black wooden desk, on which were various documents about major events of the "Imperial Special Affairs Department" in recent years.

After flipping through them, Su Xiao put down a secret document and asked Deputy Minister Tuo Enta:

"I heard that the Special Affairs Department has two deputy ministers. Where is the other one?"

Hearing this, Tuo Enta looked embarrassed. He wanted to say that the other deputy minister was unwell and needed to rest for a few days, but his instinctive intuition told him that he absolutely could not lie to this Minister.

"She... is in a bad mood, so she went back first."

Tuo Enta looked at the early sun rising outside and felt bad. In the early morning, the new Minister came to take office. As a deputy minister, not coming out to welcome him could be said to be not fond of flattery. But skipping work early in the morning, and it was the first day of the new Minister's office, it was truly...

"Oh? In a bad mood?"

Su Xiao looked at Tuo Enta with a kind smile, which made Tuo Enta feel cold in his heart. In his 53-year life, which could be called magnificent, it was the first time he felt his heart fall into an ice cellar.

"Otherwise, I'll send someone to... no, I'll go find her and talk to her myself? My lord, this is our affairs department, ah no, it's the youngest supreme powerhouse in the entire Empire. Young people, after all, have some arrogance and unwillingness to accept. With your experience, you can understand. Please be more tolerant to these juniors. This is my immature humble opinion."

"..."

Su Xiao leaned back in the leather chair, as if closing his eyes for a nap. His hand on the top-secret document tapped his index finger one by one.

This made Tuo Enta, who was sitting opposite, feel uneasy. He knew that this person really made up his mind. Let alone one person, even when facing a force, he wouldn't blink when he said he would kill. Especially since the other party even dared to blow up the resource star of the Astral Realm Overlord, the Arcane Eternal Star, what else would he not dare to do?

Tuo Enta was really afraid that this new Minister would execute his colleague, the other deputy minister, Reshma, without saying a word.

Why was Reshma like this? The answer was that if Su Xiao didn't come, at most a few years later, the Minister's position would definitely be hers. This was also her goal with all her strength. And, the old Minister of the past was Reshma's father.

Tuo Enta was a subordinate of the old Minister, so of course, he would do his best to protect Reshma. Moreover, Tuo Enta also knew one thing: this Lord Bai Ye would not stay here forever. If there were no accidents, the future Minister would still be Reshma 99% of the time. Protecting the old Minister's daughter was also protecting the future of the "Imperial Special Affairs Department."

"Half an hour later, let her appear here."

"Yes, Lord Bai Ye."

Tuo Enta walked out of the office quickly. Only Su Xiao, Bubutney, and Baha were left in the office.

"Any news?"

Su Xiao spoke.

"*Woof. *"

Bubutney barked. Bubutney, who had been operating the terminal since coming in, indicated that there was still no news of the "Heart of the Stars" on the "Network Cluster." After all, this was an Astral Realm-level wonder. The three major forces were competing for it, even if they hadn't torn their faces yet, it must be extremely fierce.

Su Xiao was not surprised by this. He opened a series of prompts that appeared just now.

【Prompt: Settling all your actions within 24 hours after entering this world...】

【Settlement complete. You have triggered the highest difficulty/highest yield main quest.】

【Main Quest: Heart of the Stars.】

Difficulty Level: Lv. 99.

Quest Introduction: Obtain the "Heart of the Stars," and after successfully obtaining it, you can make the following two choices.

1. Hand it over to the Three Ministers faction. After this action, you will reach a neutral relationship with the Rune family and remain a mortal enemy with the gods and the Soul Bell Tower.

2. Use it yourself. After you use the "Heart of the Stars," you will be a mortal enemy with the Soul Bell Tower, a mortal enemy with the gods, and a mortal enemy with the Rune family.

Quest Deadline: 30 natural days.

Quest Reward: Samsara Badge × 1.

Quest Penalty: Forced execution.

Compared to the quest content, Su Xiao was more concerned about the quest reward. He wasn't sure before whether this thing, the 【Samsara Badge】, was only given when winning the Paradise Contest, or if there were other ways to obtain it.

Now it seemed that when the world tier was high enough and the main quest difficulty was high enough, there was a probability of it appearing in the main quest rewards, even if only one.

This made Su Xiao dare to spend the existing 22 【Samsara Badges】. In the past, he had always maintained restraint to avoid the Honor Store refreshing good things and having no 【Samsara Badges】 on hand. Now it seemed that keeping about 2 was enough.

After figuring out the 【Samsara Badge】, Su Xiao began to study the content of this main quest. At first glance, the main quest of this world had only one link, but having experienced the Ancient Dragon Kingdom, he knew that in a world of supreme level, the main quest had real stages, which was the ferocious appearance of the world.

For the "Heart of the Stars," Su Xiao was determined to win. This thing was an Astral Realm-level secret treasure. In one era, there might only be two or three.

What he didn't quite understand was that he was a mortal enemy with the gods. This could be understood. After all, holding the "Origin Codex," the secret that could make the gods truly perish was in this codex.

Su Xiao didn't need to know this secret. What he needed to do was slaughter enough gods, use the blood of the gods to rewrite this codex, and place it in the "Resting Place."

Having such a big feud with the Soul Bell Tower was quite surprising to Su Xiao. He took out the 【Soul Secret Treasure Box】 and estimated that 90% was the Soul Bell Tower, which had the means to sense this object. Or rather, this inheritance object was something the Soul Bell Tower had been looking for.

This was a secret treasure prepared by the Soul Bell Tower during its most glorious period in the First Era to cultivate the "Soul Bell Tower" as the next candidate for the Master of the Bell Tower, but it was ruined by Su Xiao, the Shadow of the Law-Breaker.

After the Soul Bell Tower of this world discovered this, could they not be angry? Not killing him directly was likely because they were currently playing a game with the other two major forces for the "Heart of the Stars."

On the contrary, the attitude of the Abyss descendant Rune family was quite surprising. This side was hostile, not a mortal enemy. It seemed that this beast race, although hostile to their past opponents, did not hate them. It must be a group of guys who loved fighting and killing.

After weighing it, Su Xiao found that the initial identity was very good. The problem was, what did the old King who gave him this identity intend? This was bound to be muddy water. Originally, he would definitely stir into this muddy water, but the old King's behavior made him passively stirred into this muddy water.

Su Xiao would definitely not refuse such an advantage, and naturally, he couldn't avoid the old King's open plot.

From the current point of view, the old King wanted him to help slaughter all the gods. After he took out the "Origin Codex," the old King obviously had plans for further cooperation. As far as it went, the old King was a friend. Whether he would be an enemy later depended on the development of the situation.

Besides, the current identity gave Su Xiao two conveniences. First, there were many capable people in the "Imperial Special Affairs Department." After all, it was a violent agency responsible for "Alienation" and Abyss aspects.

Secondly, Su Xiao's current identity, although he had no official position on the surface, had a seat at the same level as the Chancellor, the Three Ministers, the Grand Marshal, and the Mechanical Pope in the Royal Council, just below the King.

Besides these, Su Xiao also obtained a very interesting temporary permission. This permission was called "Imperial Squad." He opened the relevant prompt.

【Prompt (Void Tree): Detected that you have taken the position of Minister of the "Imperial Special Affairs Department." You have obtained the temporary permission of "Imperial Squad." This is unique to this world.】

【Imperial Squad: You can choose up to 20 members within the "Imperial Special Affairs Department" to form an "Imperial Squad" to crusade against factors that may threaten the safety of this world, such as Abyss areas, Imperial hostile forces, Alienated groups, etc.】

【Every time your "Imperial Squad" conducts a crusade and eliminates more than 65% of the enemy's leaders and main members, the crusade is judged successful. You will receive a settlement reward. This settlement reward will be determined based on the crusade degree of the "Imperial Squad" and your personal charm attribute, luck attribute, and personal fortune.】

First of all, this was a world notarized by the Void Tree. The first half of the prompt was fine. How to form an "Imperial Squad," Su Xiao had already started to conceive. But it turned out that every crusade settlement reward had to be determined based on his charm attribute, luck attribute, and personal fortune.

Of these three judgments, the one he was best at was the current 28 points of real luck attribute. The problem was, his charm attribute was -34 points... no, right, from entering this world and killing until now, it had slipped to -35 points.

Heaven knows, killing a large number of dark creatures and Abyss-type creatures actually caused the charm attribute to slip. I guess it was because he slashed hundreds of thousands with the sea of blood, so why did the charm attribute drop?

What made people frown even more was that the charm attribute dropped by one point, and not a single treasure chest dropped. However, "Hunter Coins" were not lacking, and "Abyss Quest" improvement was limited. There were many supreme Abyss-type creatures in these areas, but he hadn't seen many immortal Abyss-nourishing creatures.

The blow of charm attribute -35 to "crusade settlement reward" was already ruthless enough. If Su Xiao's fortune of -150,000 was added, if the "crusade settlement reward" could be negative, I guess every time "crusade settlement reward" came out, Su Xiao would not only have no harvest but would have to pay some resources to make up for the negative income. Of course, "crusade settlement reward" definitely wouldn't have a negative number.

After pondering for a few seconds, Su Xiao decided that with the complex environment of this world, if he didn't find Caesar, he would be sorry for this friend. A world with such a big force as the Empire was simply Caesar's favorite.

It could only be said that the treasure houses of the three major forces—the gods, the Soul Bell Tower, and the Rune family—were in danger.

Su Xiao took out the communicator to contact Caesar, only to find that the communicator was in a state of being directly dialable, rather than needing signal contact. This meant that Caesar was already in this world, and even, the other party came earlier than him.

Dialing Caesar's communication, after waiting for more than ten seconds, the other side answered:

"My dear friend, it seems we can join forces again."

Caesar's treacherous voice with a touch of greed came from the communicator.

"Where?"

"Royal City."

Hearing Caesar's words, Su Xiao hung up the communication, and a soul coin appeared in his hand.

*Ding~*

The soul coin was flicked away, fell halfway, and was caught by a hand.

"My dear friend, it seems you have an urgent matter for Caesar."

"..."

Su Xiao sent the information related to the "Imperial Squad" directly to Caesar. After Caesar finished reading, he shook his head with regret.

"For this matter, I am likely powerless. Even if I really do it, the cost is higher than the benefit."

In a world notarized by the Void Tree, performing such operations, in Caesar's dictionary, generally didn't mean it couldn't be done, but if the cost was greater than the benefit, in Caesar's view, it was impossible.

"Morei was tied up by me... was invited by me to this world."

"Oh? In that case, using her luck, charm, and fortune to replace your leading position in the 'Imperial Squad' is very feasible. And there is no causal cost between you two. However, my hard work fee..."

"5 ounces."

"What, my dear friend, how could Caesar's hard work be so cheap? At least 500,000 ounces of space-time power."

In the bargaining between Su Xiao and Caesar, finally, this matter was concluded at a price of 150 ounces.

As for where to find Morei, Su Xiao picked up the internal communication device on the table, and a cold voice came from inside: "My lord, please speak."

"Go and arrest three people..."

Su Xiao explained the general information of Morei and the other two, and let Bubutney upload their photos to the "Branch Network Cluster" of the "Imperial Special Affairs Department."

Speaking of which, Morei and the other two were indeed lucky to be able to buy the initial state friendly god, God Soul. After this kind of God Soul promoted to supreme, it basically reached the individual strength limit. It was not that it couldn't be improved at all, but the improvement method of the God system was almost impossible to achieve for contractors or combat angels of the Paradise faction.

But it was supreme after all, and the promotion probability was extremely high. As long as the initial God Soul and the user's fit was not lower than 75%, it was almost 99% successful promotion.

On the other hand, the heavily polluted supreme God Soul inherited for many generations was very dangerous to fuse, and the success rate was not high, but the death rate was very high. If it was the kind of God Soul inherited from the First Era to the present, the death rate of fusion could reach more than 90%.

This was why, to this day, the method of promoting to supreme with resources was still the mainstream. Although more resources had to be paid, the success rate and death rate were within an acceptable range, and the potential after promotion destined the mainstream promotion method to be used all along.

At this moment, located more than 800 kilometers west of the Royal City, Morei and the other two were sitting on the back of a low-flying White Moon Peacock. The wingspan of this White Moon Peacock was over 20 meters, and it was very easy to carry the three of them. From the relaxed aura of the White Moon Peacock, it could be seen that it was very willing to carry the three of them. After all, one of the three was its feeder, and the other two often shared delicious food with it.

"*La la la~, da da da! *"

Morei hummed a song, her mood could be said to be extremely good. Looking at the data on the detection device, deep underground here, there was a "Soul Glow Stone" vein. If this could be fully mined, more than half of the wealth the three had lost before could be recovered.

However, compared to wealth, thinking of "Soul Glow Stones" of different qualities, and the top-quality "Soul Glow Stones" that appeared with low probability, Morei was so excited that her scalp felt numb.

"Oh? Oh! Oh!!"

Hao Mei saw the detection results and immediately made a strange sound, while Moon Apostle clenched her little fists with excitement.

However, the happy Apocalypse sisters didn't know that at this moment, the strongest violent agency of the Empire had already regarded the three as the number one wanted target, and they must be captured alive without injury. This was the first task issued by the newly appointed Minister, which made 50% of the combat personnel of the "Imperial Special Affairs Department" spontaneously dispatched.

Like the Apocalypse sisters who had committed a heavenly crime, they didn't know what they were about to face next. ===== CHAPTER 4047 =====