The way Maple dealt with what came after the assault became the biggest scandal of that year, but with strong military power, they completed the reshaping of their country and built a nation with a completely different style. People were classified as a pyramid, except there were close to no ladders between classes. The citizens saw no hope in life; they were just waiting to die.

Those with power were not born with it. Under high pressure, a real reactionary group had formed, but it was not the cold weapon era anymore—the standard of weapons that the nation had was like a wall that could never be scaled. If there was no external interference, it was almost impossible for anyone to overturn and take over the government, and Maple regularly removed ‘people who posed threat to the nation’. Thus, the citizens had turned from being terrified to being numb.

The assaults were started by a few violent citizens venting their rage, and it ended in more citizens bearing with the consequences, which perfectly described the case of hitting a rock with an egg. It caused the society of Maple to be reconstructed. It became a dictatorship, and the ones on the top had complete control.

The root of a gentle government changing was war. The high pressure from the war caused the government to collapse under stress, and they had no choice but to direct the pressure to its citizens, which then got out of hand. This was just like how it was easy to go from being poor to being rich but difficult to go from being rich to being poor.[a][b]

Citizens were the cornerstone of a country. Just like the parts of a machine, when the national machine needed these parts to overload, they would wear out and break quicker than usual and sacrifice the best time of their lives. But as long as they changed the parts to new ones, the machine could still function. The broken parts were replaceable, and the parts that were thrown away became ‘vessels of an era’.

Han Xiao was interested. He quite liked the history and stories of civilizations. After Hannes finished, Han Xiao contemplated for a while and asked, “What does this have to do with the ‘secret’ you talked about?”

“What I wanted to say is that the war had changed a lot of things. I have been through that darkest and most chaotic age. Many were controlled by ideas, missions, and honor and turned into a tool for killing while still thinking they were doing an honorable thing. Only a few woke up from this, such as Bennett, he became a hero, but an era that needs a hero is never a good era. The end of the war was filled with dirty conspiracies that were buried as secrets, and we want these secrets to resurface.”

Han Xiao raised his eyebrows. “And what benefit does this bring you?”

“Nothing, but the people of this world have the right to know what they went through and not let these conspiracies stay hidden to become a secret that never gets unveiled. I don’t think the original construct of society would shatter within a night just because we got in touch with galactic civilizations, and I don’t believe a so-called internal conflict would cause wars. There has to be someone behind all of it.”

“Every country has its secrets. It’s nothing unusual,” Han Xiao said.

Hannes smiled and said, “Since we have come to the new era, the world should also look different, the rules are changing. Why follow the old logic? Also, I owed a favor to someone who has a very strong desire to gain knowledge. He suggested this mission, and I joined in.”

Hmm, from his tone, seems like they are anarchists. They died in my previous life. This mission seems rather complicated. Han Xiao stopped asking questions. He considered for a while and decided to join them. No matter what reason they were doing this for, this was a very rare hidden mission, so it would be a waste to reject it.

Hannes requested to meetup. They were both in the same city, so with Hannes leading the way, Han Xiao soon found their safehouse.

They met and started observing each other. Han Xiao looked past Hannes and Vernina, then stopped at Garian. He was most curious about this person.

As he was observing the trio, they were looking at him.

So, this was the legendary Black Phantom.

“You are pretty strong,” Vernina said with a calm tone.

“Although we just met today, I owe you a favor for coming to help,” Hannes said.

Plenty of people who owed me favors, welcome to the party.

“What do I need to do?” Han Xiao asked.

The three people looked at each other. Garian took out a deck of documents and said, “The evidence is within the intelligence of the past few years. I spent a long time finding a lead. It is very cumbersome, so we need to divide our labor.”

As Han Xiao browsed the documents, his expression finally changed.

_____________

[New Era—Origin]

This mission is a series of chain missions. You can complete the targets below.

Ending of the Survivor: In the Blade City of Raylen, find a guy called “Old Devin” and get the incomplete copy of [Sully No.485 Document].

The Key of Misplacement: In the capital ruins of the West Mountain nation within the Southern Continent (Coordinates——), find a misplaced important item [Attachment—Item Appearance]. this was the end result of West Mountain nation’s last research before they were destroyed.

Sealed Past: Control the warlord, Verna, of the Verna Colony on the Western Continent (Coordinates ——). His father was a high ranked military officer of a dead country. There are hidden clues—follow Verna and find the secret.

Mysterious Prisoner: Decades ago, an intelligence agent of Stardragon was imprisoned by a country. That country is already dead, but the intelligence agent was kept in a secret prison that had no guards. No one has found him. Find him or his relics (Coordinates of the ruin ——)

Same Type of Person: A loner who has secluded himself in the wilderness has some very important information. Intelligence shows that he appeared near the tribute valley in the Western Continent. Be careful, he is not a normal person. He was active on the battlefield of the old era. It is recommended you engage the contact with friendliness (Jiang Yuan).

This is the first round of the mission. As long as one of the missions are completed, the mission can be concluded. The amount and completion status of the missions will determine the mission requirements of the next round.

Reward(s) of the First Round: 350,000 Experience. Bonus rewards given as per evaluation of the missions.

_____________

Han Xiao raised his brows. The freedom of this kind of mission was very high, similar to the series missions of an organization, but this main storyline was clearly more cumbersome, and it was a chain mission. The completion status of the previous round would affect the mission requirements of the next round.

This mission is extremely open. Every round has different clues that will lead to different endings. Usually, the more targets are completed, the better it is, and the higher the evaluation will be. Han Xiao had completed this type of mission before, so he knew that there were many possibilities.

It was like walking a maze. In order to find the exit, one had to gain as much information as one could, and with the ending of Hannes and the others, this mission posed very high risks.

The rewards of the mission did not bring shame to main storylines. Just the basic reward of the first round was already 350,000 experience, and the bonus rewards were very likely to be items, abilities, or talents.

But the mission was too cumbersome. The location spanned across three continents, so it would cost him a huge amount of time. No wonder it was an A-grade mission. Han Xiao tightened his brows, feeling a little distressed.

“I will try it.” No matter what, he needed to accept it first.

Garian nodded. “I will count on you for these missions. The three of us have other missions.”

Hannes and the rest were all very strong characters from the old era, so their mission was definitely not simple. Han Xiao decided to let the Dark Net help keep an eye on it.

After getting the mission requirements, Han Xiao left the safehouse.

“So, is he trustworthy?” Vernina asked.

Hannes shook his head and then nodded. “We don’t know much about him. Let’s see what he will do for now.”

“The documents I gave him have real and fake information,” Garian said. “It was only one tenth of the clues I had, so it will be best if he can complete them. If he has other thoughts, we won’t lose anything. It is just some unconfirmed intelligence anyway.”

“He is a friend of Bennett, so he should be trustworthy.”

[a]Is this the right was round? I’d have said it’s easier to go from rich to poor than poor to rich XD

[b]Haha I would say so too, I think I was not clear in the translation, this was regrading the transition of lifestyle