“The intelligence you found has given us new clues. And several various investigations, we’ve found traces of the Germinal Organization’s origins from a dead country’s sealed confidential scroll…”

Just as he finished his sentence, the notification appeared on the interface.

_____________

[New Era – Origin] First Round Complete

You have received 350,000 EXP

Completion Grade: Good

You have received 280,000 EXP bonus.

You have received Lv.45 Rare Large Dungeon Crystal – [Gollum Protection Warfare] x 5.

Listen to Hannes

_____________

“In the old era, there was a small country called Gollum. Their government went through many changes and revolutions throughout history. In a year during the old era, a terrorist group targeting Gollum appeared, going by the name ‘Mimok’. They attacked the nation of Gollum many times and created terror in society. The government took action.

“However, it was as if the members of Mimok were everywhere. The repeated attacks destroyed the sense of safety of the people of Gollum. They demanded the government take stricter measures, and the government did. They came up with all sorts of strict laws. The regulations in the nation became tight, and the people of Gollum were under constant surveillance and management. They called it ‘protective measures’. After that, Mimok seemed to have disappeared in just a night. There were no more attacks. The measures seemed to have worked.

“However, Mimok was actually an organization that was created by Gollum’s government secretly to inflict violence upon their people. For safety, the people of Gollum willingly accepted the strict ‘protection’. The government took the rights back from the people one after another. All media sources and any platform that could give the people a voice were under the government’s strict control.”

Bennett nodded and said, “That is ruling through terror. You create an enemy for the people, and you will be on the side of the people. They will feel the danger themselves. And when there’s no guarantee of safety, terror will push most people to give up freedom in exchange for safety, accepting strict regulations.”

“That’s right.” Hannes nodded and continued. “There’s no way of knowing why the government back then chose this way of ruling the nation. Maybe they didn’t want to make the same mistake that was made in history. However, some people discovered the truth about Mimok. The tricks of the government were exposed—it became a scandal that could bring them down. The people of Gollum were furious. They paraded, protested, and created a civilian resistance organization. It led to one violent conflict after another, wanting to overthrow the government.

“When the internal conflict in Gollum was most heated, the galactic civilization came. They brought along knowledge that could change the world. At that time, chaos appeared everywhere around the world. Then war broke out, Gollum got invaded by their neighboring country. Gollum had focused too much on the internal conflict. With the threat from both inside and outside the nation, the government fell. The nation was invaded and taken over. Gollum died.”

“So, the Germinal Organization is Mimok.

“The current Germinal Organization leader was a citizen of Gollum. He was once a member of the Gollum Civilian Resistance Organization.”

“Oh? The Gollum Civilian Resistance Organization should be an enemy of Mimok,” Han Xiao said in surprise. “What’s his actual identity? What’s his name?”

Hannes shook his head and said, “That era was too long ago; the detailed identity can’t be found anymore. What we know for sure is that the leader of the Germinal Organization was once just a nobody. Gollum died, but Mimok survived. After getting out of government control, the leader of the Mimok was ambitious. He turned the organization into a starving wolf looking for an opportunity in the war.

“They were once active before the Old Era war. However, one day, Mimok suddenly disappeared. Then only appearing again after a few years. And when they reappeared, they were called the Germinal Organization. Their power expanded dozens of times; they became a shark from a shrimp. The original Mimok leader was nowhere to be found. This is all the intel I could find.”

It got quiet, and they stared at each other.

“Seems like the leader took Mimok away,” Han Xiao said in a low voice.

Bennett was more concerned about another problem. “What happened to the other people of Gollum?”

“Some were killed by the nation that invaded Gollum, some changed their nationality, and the rest became wanderers.” Hannes paused before saying, “Also… the nation that invaded Gollum is now called Raylen.”

“So that’s what happened. Now we know the motive of the Germinal Organization leader being hostile toward the Six Nations—revenge.” Han Xiao nodded.

Everyone had hope in their life. Hope would become a wish, and that wish would become a belief. Different beliefs led to different paths that would clash with each other, resulting in conflicts and possibly even war, the ultimate form of conflict.

The Germinal Organization was created from the Old Era. They had been at the front lines of the conflict, yet not only did they still exist, they had even become stronger and stronger. The leader’s past sounded legendary. From an ordinary person that no one had heard of, he became the leader of the organization that could fight against the Six Nations. He sure did match up as one of the main characters on Planet Aquamarine.

However, only the leader himself knew his actual thoughts and experiences.

At this time, the second round of missions of [New Era – Origin] appeared on the interface. It was the same type of mission as the first round, consisting of many small missions to find clues around the world. There was a total of nine missions. Han Xiao decided to use his old method, splitting them up and giving to the players.

This hidden storyline is about digging through the history that was buried. The introduction says it will have unknown impacts on Planet Aquamarine. Will something so astonishing appear and change people’s knowledge of the entire world? Han Xiao guessed.

The basic reward of the second round was 800,000 EXP, and the grade reward was still unknown. The first round of the mission had given the reward of five Dungeon Crystals of a large twenty-man dungeon, the type that had save points and could go on for days. Large guilds would definitely be interested; Han Xiao felt he could make a fortune from this.

After some chit chat, they went back to the convoy.

Han Xiao sat at the side and ate some dry food. Suddenly, he smelled a fragrance.

Hila came beside him, then said with a serious face, “We have already escaped. When are we going to fetch my younger sister? I’m very worried about her.”

Han Xiao ate the last piece of biscuit, wiped his mouth, and said, “We have to go back there in order to fetch your sister. These people of Six Nations definitely won’t agree to us taking the risk.”

“Then we can go ourselves,” Hila said without hesitation.

Han Xiao shook his head. “If I go back, the leader might fight back again, and there will be more trouble.”

Like Han Xiao had said at the start, fetching Aurora was very troublesome. However, splitting up was a must—bringing Aurora along would have meant taking care of her and not being able to fight all out. There would have been many restrictions, and Aurora might have faced danger, leaving openings for the enemy. If the enemy had realized that the two of them were protecting Aurora and decided to focus their attacks on Aurora, the two of them would have shown more flaws in the fight. They might not even have made it out if they had brought her along.

Hila scowled at Han Xiao but did not say anything. They had been through life and death situations together, so she believed that Han Xiao would not go back on his word.

Hila and Han Xiao could be considered comrades.

The Hila now was younger and more sentimental compared to the goddess of death in his memory, who was ice cold and unpredictable. Han Xiao felt very joyful seeing the sentimental side of the person that would become one of the strongest in the future.

Friends made during hard times would definitely be closer than those made after being successful.

He stood up, tapped Hila on her shoulder, and smiled. “Don’t worry, I have someone better to do the job.”

Hila frowned. Honestly, she did not want an outsider to fetch her sister, but Han Xiao definitely had his reasons for saying that. “Is that person trustworthy?”

Han Xiao touched his chin and nodded. “We are in a trading relationship; he has no reasons to be my enemy, and his abilities are most suited for this task.”

Hila nodded. She chose to trust Han Xiao and stood to the side. Han Xiao took out his laptop and dialed into a communication channel. After a few seconds, a voice came out of the laptop.

“Black Phantom?”

“It’s me.” Han Xiao smiled and said, “How are you, Dion?”

“I didn’t think you would find me at this moment. Aren’t you on the battlefield? News about you is all over the place.” Dion was surprised. Han Xiao now had an astonishing level of influence, so his tone was also a little gentler.

“Then you need to wait for the latest news,” Han Xiao said. “How’s business recently?”

“Quite good, many big customers are willing to spend at times of war.”

“I wanted to buy something from you,” Han Xiao said. “The Bonfire Reaction Furnace, PE0 Nanotechnology Fiber, and so on. I want to buy a few more units of these; money is not a problem. I will give you a list later.”

Viper was done for, and Han Xiao wanted to build a new one. His skills had improved, so he wanted to make an even stronger version.

As a Mechanic, he just had to build another one if the previous one was destroyed—that was how life was.

“Sure,” Dion agreed immediately. “I’m in Andrea, too. As you know, war is a business opportunity. You decide on a location, and I will send the things. It’s best not to be anywhere near Ordina.”

“You’re in Andrea? In that case, I have a small favor to ask of you.”

“What?”

“Help me fetch someone.”