The Black Index’s Planet Strange Gold subdivision controlled half of the Galactic Black Market’s hires and funds in the Ancient Star Desert. Controlling this place meant that half of the black market’s movements were being monitored.

In the main control room, the Third Indexer ordered the operators to open up the firewall and let Han Xiao inject his data needle, planting a ton of surveillance programs while looking at the documents behind recent anonymous hires in the black market.

The Black Index’s internal database had records of the true identities of some employers, most obtained through investigation. As the intermediate guarantor, the reward of the hire would go through the Black Index before going to the mercenary. Therefore, following the source of the funds, it was not difficult to find the identities of the anonymous employers.

Han Xiao quickly copied the tons of documents the Black Index had accumulated in the quantum network. He glanced at the wary Third Indexer beside him and joked, “You guys aren’t as reliable as you say you are. Tsk, you’ve been secretly investigating the identities of those anonymous employers. These documents are all their weaknesses. Don’t tell me you guys collected these for fun.”

The Third Indexer wiped away the sweat on his forehead and said, “It’s just to audit the reliability of the trade and assess the employer’s integrity. We only collected this information but never shared it with anyone. As for weaknesses… ahem, well, we’re in the black market industry, so we must have some leverage.”

“Got it, got it. It’s the black market. After all, no one is clean.” Han Xiao chuckled. The Third Indexer had no choice but to laugh together with Han Xiao, bowing and showing a lot of respect.

The dynasty fleet was right on this planet. The only thing he could do was to be obedient.

Han Xiao caressed his chin and said, “Speaking of which, that reminds me, I brought the dynasty fleet here, and you came to welcome me. There are a lot of people on this planet, so this news will get out sooner or later. There’ll definitely be rumors saying you’re being threatened by the three Universal Civilizations, which will lead to the mercenaries and employers lying low for a while, and the three Universal Civilizations’ plan to lure out the uncertainties will end up being less effective.”

“I-I suppose.” The Third Indexer did not know how to respond.

“I think you should feel good about that.” Han Xiao smiled. “You might even send people to spread the news on the black market, saying the Black Index is being forced to do this, warning the other black market members not to use the platform for hires. This way, the damage done to your organization’s brand will be reduced.”

The Third Indexer felt bitter. He did indeed think of that. Although he was forced to obey, he still wanted to control the damage.

“Don’t worry, I won’t stop you from doing

that.”

Hearing this, the Third Indexer was confused and asked, “Didn’t you control us to secretly monitor the black market and lure out the uncertainties? If the news of us not being reliable gets spread on the black market and people stop using our platform, what’s the point of you taking over?”.

“Sigh, looks like you’re very adept to identity changes and have entered the position of a partner very soon. You’ve even started to think for us.” Han Xiao laughed and clapped.

The Third Indexer’s expression became stiff. He was angry but did not dare to express it.

Han Xiao raised his brows, summoned the dynasty officer, and said with a smile, “Later on, split up the dynasty fleet to head to any gray transit station in the Ancient Star Desert where a black market organization is stationed. Remember to do it as openly as possible and let everyone see you.” Hearing this, the Third Indexer roughly figured out Black Star’s plans.

“You’re deliberately letting the black market know that the Black Index has been compromised. You’ll then negotiate with every black market organization to create an illusion of the three Universal Civilizations having full control of the entire Ancient Star Desert black market so that most people will become suspicious and cautious, right?”

This way, even if the other black market organizations did not fall into Black Star’s hands, with the Black Index as an example, those employers looking for confidentiality and safety would definitely no longer take the risk, fearing being exposed. Black Star could certainly force all the black market organizations in the Ancient Star Desert to compromise, but he chose to take another path. From the way the Third Indexer looked at it, this was Black Star giving himself a way out. This method was not as aggressive and would not lead to Black Star offending all the black market organizations, so the three Universal Civilizations would not end up easily taking over the fruits of victory.

Some black market organizations might even think of it as Black Star holding back on them.

“I got it.” The Third Indexer hesitated. “This method is indeed less aggressive, but there are both pros and cons…”

Han Xiao did not respond. He knew what he meant.

Aggressively taking over all the black market organizations was the best way to lure those uncertainties out. He would be able to capture a ton of people who were trying to cause trouble. Comparatively, although this method required much less effort, it would cause most people to be alarmed and not make a move.

However, from the way he looked at it, there was no way to capture all the uncertainties. No fish could survive in an absolutely clean pond.

As the saying went, for a high enough reward, there would always be someone willing to take the risk. If those black market mercenaries were not completely discouraged, someone would definitely be willing to risk it for the huge profits, which would lead to the Ancient Star Desert becoming a mess. In the end, the three Universal Civilizations would have no choice but to put a lot of effort into chasing after them. This was the con of the more aggressive method.

Furthermore, when more of these people were captured, the fact that the three Universal Civilizations had controlled the black market would still be exposed. Therefore, he might as well make it public in the first place to not give anyone the thought that they might be lucky enough to pull off a fluke, making them afraid of the consequences. This way, the plan would turn from luring out those who would cause a problem to preventing those people from appearing in the first place, reducing the number of people willing to take the risk from the roots.

Indeed, luring them out would be effective, but it would also produce more uncertainties. As the rulers, a more righteous method was more suitable for the three Universal Civilizations. Using dirty tricks like this might be okay once in a while, but it was not suitable in the long run.

Han Xiao put those thoughts aside, glanced at the Third Indexer who was looking very obedient, and said, “You’re not bad. I thought you’d only compromise after a slaughter. I didn’t think you’d be so understanding as to not even give me a chance to do that.”

“… As long as you’re satisfied,” the Third Indexer replied with resignation.

“However, I do like you more when you are defiant. Come, show me again,” Han Xiao joked.

When was I ever defiant?

The Third Indexer complained about Han Xiao’s humor in his mind but still straightened his back as he was told on the surface.

This time, Phillip had completed filtering the documents and identified a ton of employers requesting to transport the virus. “Report this list to the three Universal Civilizations. Have their troops cooperate with the operation to destroy these organizations.”

Han Xiao glanced through it.

The data was very detailed. The employers were from all kinds of industries. For these people, he did not plan to hold back. While making them examples for the others, he could farm the Mission Rating of [Intelligent Plague] at the same time.

He searched through for a while and found an organization that hired Immortals multiple times. This was a black market arms dealer named the Kepel Financial Group. They had hired Depressed Prince too.

“I shall deal with this organization personally. Remember to publicize the execution process on the net.”

On the dock of one of the Kepel Financial Group’s Ancient Star Desert bases, cargo boxes were being loaded onto the ships. Kepel the Fifth was patrolling with his subordinates.

“How long before we can take off?”.

“About two hours.”

“Speed up as much as possible.” Kepel the Fifth’s tone was a little impatient.

About seven days ago, the dynasty fleet had visited the Black Index. This message was only spread out yesterday. All the anonymous employers who were giving out missions to transport the virus were appalled and instantly tried to save themselves.

Kepel the Fifth felt uneasy, too. Therefore, he decided to abandon this base and transfer his assets.

Currently, he was making his men empty the base.

While he was anxiously waiting, an observation officer sent him an urgent message.

“Alert, the exterior fleet has discovered a small Crimson Dynasty fleet approaching. We’ve sent a communication request but received no response.”

“The three Universal Civilizations’ men have come?” Kepel the Fifth was startled. Together with a group of officers, he hastily walked to the window and looked out into cosmic space. A few scattered dynasty spaceships appeared in their vision.

“There don’t seem to be a lot of people?”

“They don’t look like they’re here to fight.”

Seeing this, Kepel the Fifth was slightly relieved.

Since there were so few spaceships, he felt like they were more there to ask questions or negotiate. Having thought of that, Kepel the Fifth adjusted his clothes to look more formal. He then ordered with a deep voice, “Frigates, standby. Send a communication request in my name. I’ll speak with them and see their intentions.”

However, as soon as he said that, the dynasty spaceships stopped a distance away. “Hmm? Why did they stop?” Kepel the Fifth was confused.

However, the next moment, countless machines appeared out of thin air afar, quickly assembling into an enormous human-shaped machine that was wearing a cape and holding a longsword in its hand. It was so enormous that even the entire base was smaller.

“That’s…”

Before Kepel the Fifth and the others recovered from their shock, this enormous machine suddenly hurled the long sword forward, which easily sliced through all the frigates in its path like a hot knife cutting through butter, heading right toward the base. At this instant, including Kepel the Fifth, all the people on the dock stopped what they were doing and stared blankly at the gigantic mountain-sized blade that was fast approaching

Their minds had all gone blank.

Swoosh!

The Celestial Punishment Edge easily penetrated the Kepel base. The blue psionic storm on its blade turned the base wreckage into dust. It was like a firework.

As if it had met no resistance at all, the blade continued to penetrate into the desolate planet below the base, through the ground, and came out the other side of the planet. It had given this planet a hole that extended from one side to another.

The enormous amount of psionic energy left by the Celestial Punishment Edge caused irreversible chain reactions inside the planet. Lava rushed up, and red cracks started appearing on the surface.

The next moment, a blinding white light erupted. The entire desolate planet expanded from within and shattered instantly. The shockwave from the explosion expanded, but the Mechanical Deity raised its Emperor’s Cape and blocked the shockwave completely.

At the same time, it raised its hand. The Celestial Punishment Edge moved through the energy storm of the planet’s explosion in an arc and returned to its hand. “This thing is quite powerful.” Han Xiao somewhat understood why the Tyracles were so passionate about building equipment for the Mechanical Deity. There was no other reason except for it being so damn cool.

After playing with the Celestial Punishment Edge for a bit, the Great Mechanic Han reluctantly deactivated the Mechanical Deity and returned to the ship.

“Run a scan to see if there’s still anyone alive.”

What’s the point?

The powerful light of the planet’s explosion reflected on the dynasty soldiers’ pale faces. The cabin was dead silent, as if they could hear each other gulping in fear. “Phillip, did you record that?”

“Yes, hum…”

“Upload it to the net, to intimidate those with ulterior motives and show them the consequences of what they might want to do.”

Han Xiao waved his hand casually.

He did not plan to even speak with this organization. There was more than sufficient evidence. There was no point speaking, so he directly wiped them out with a slash to express his firm attitude.

After dealing with this small matter, Han Xiao waved at Harrison and the others, who were shivering by the side, signaling them to come over.

Harrison had just witnessed Han Xiao casually shattering a planet with his own eyes. The impact of it completely shattered his mental preparations for it before it happened. Even though he clearly knew Black Star was one of the strongest in the universe, he was still astonished.

Harrison’s teeth were shaking. He cautiously approached Han Xiao and stuttered, “Y-Y-Y-Your Excellency Black Star, what can I do for you?”

“Why are you so nervous? I won’t bite.” Harrison chuckled and patted Harrison’s shoulder. “Discouraging illegal dealings is about done, so looking for the virus core needs to be brought forward. I want to ask you, where do you think the virus core is hiding?”

“H-how would I know?”

“Don’t be so nervous. Just make a random guess. Where do you think it’s hiding?”

Harrison calmed himself down, regained focus, and cautiously said, “Previously, you said that the virus core is just a pre-designed program used to monitor the overall infection progress of the virus. This means that it is definitely exchanging information with the other viruses, so to hide itself, it can’t possibly be the terminal of that information exchange, or it would have been found long ago. Therefore, I think that through recording all the routes the viruses are sending data through and finding the overlapping spots among them, that’s where the virus core might…”

Han Xiao interrupted him and said, “The three Universal Civilizations thought of this long ago and have been doing exactly that. Each virus sends out a large amount of fake data every now and then. The routes are extremely complicated, and there are too many overlapping points. Therefore, there’s no way but to filter them. However, not only is the location of the virus core very difficult to find, it seems to be changing randomly. This is why the three Universal Civilizations have not been able to find it.”

“T-then I don’t have any ideas and, unfortunately, won’t be able to help you.”

“No, I don’t need your ideas.” Han Xiao smirked. “Next time the three Universal Civilizations come up with the new set of overlapping points, I need you to choose some of them. What if you’re lucky enough to find it right away?”

“Stop joking with me…” Harrison was anxious.

“I’m not joking. Think about it, you dug up an antique randomly, and it just so happened to be the source of such a dangerous disaster. From a certain viewpoint, your luck is through the roof.”

Harrison scratched his head and realized that did make some sense.

Indeed, I always seem to have been quite lucky. No matter what I asked my family’s financial group to invest in, it always ended up making money. If not because making money is too easy, I wouldn’t have come out looking for excitement by doing archaeology… Han Xiao did not know what he was thinking. Seeing that he was daydreaming, he gave him a few words of encouragement and started pondering in his mind.

He had a lot of faith in the Advanced Luck Glow. Even if it failed the first time, if he let Harrison try a few more times, the chances of succeeding were still much higher than others.

Furthermore, Han Xiao even planned to make a request to the three Universal Civilizations to contact the outside world, so he could look for Floating Dragon’s old man Aesop to read some feng shui for him.

No matter how well the virus core hid, everyone was equal in front of luck and prophecy.

Since science did not cut it, he planned to make it up with superstition!

…

Galaxy Calendar Year 731 March 9th, Black Star visited the Black Index organization, which controlled the black market, as a Crimson Dynasty emissary.

The two sides carried out a friendly and peaceful meeting regarding the three Universal Civilizations’ control of the disaster, successfully exchanging information. In the end, they happily came to an agreement. The Black Index’s Ancient Star Desert person in charge, the Third Indexer, expressed that be it a black or white faction, every powerful civilian organization had a responsibility to protect the universe. Preventing the Intelligent Plague from spreading was a duty every galactic resident should carry out. Hence, the Black Index was willing to fully support the three Universal Civilizations’ operations.

March 17th, Black Star announced that the Kepel Financial Group had hidden the virus. He wiped Kepel out with one attack, shocking the other organizations.

With this incident as the signal, the three Universal Civilizations worked together and wiped out tons of private organizations that were suspected to have hidden the virus over the next month.

In April, the Crimson Dynasty fleet visited all the black market organizations in the Ancient Star Desert, seemingly gaining control of all the black market connections in the Ancient Star Desert.

Black Star upheld the rules of no negotiations and no compromises. He led his fleet on frequent attacks, reducing the number of smugglers by a large amount.

June 25th, the research group led by Manison created the first version of the special anti-virus and scanning tool, which was widely used.

In July, the Intelligent Plague was briefly under control. The three Universal Civilizations started to search for the virus’ core.