Jupiter originally thought he would be heavily punished this time but was stunned. Suddenly, his memories since Version 1.0 resurfaced. He was both relieved about not having to be punished and touched by Han Xiao’s words. As a professional guild leader on a salary, what he had in mind had always been how to operate the guild better. Although he also had some emotional attachment to the Black Star Army after so many years, he did not see the army as his own faction like the normal players. The interests of the guild were his priority.

However, at this time, he still felt great warmth in his heart. He felt a sense of nostalgia in Han Xiao’s words.

However, though touched, Jupiter still could not help but ask, “Is this really ok? We caused bad influences after all…”

Han Xiao waved. “I understand the situation. If you people attacked a colonial planet out of nowhere, the army would strictly follow the rules and deal with you. However, your target was an enemy who kept disrupting your mission, and your mission in that area could not be carried out if you didn’t kill him. Since I told you guys to take over the black market, I gave you some freedom. Although I’m not very satisfied with how you guys overdid it… since the Feeney Civilization chose to protect your enemy, they’re an obstacle to our progress of taking over the black market, and they have to deal with the consequences of it. I can’t let them bully my men.”

“But the public opinion…”

Han Xiao interrupted him and casually said, “Although you guys were the fuse, the main conflict is still between us and the three Universal Civilizations. Even without this incident, they would find something else to shift the public opinion against us. I’m not going to punish the army’s members because of my opponent’s method of fighting us. Therefore, you guys don’t have to pay for the pressure from the outside world this time.”

Jupiter coughed and softly said, “But you became a target of the public too. Aren’t you worried about your reputation…”

Han Xiao shook his head and said, “I hope you guys can reflect on your mistake this time. It’s perfectly fine to eliminate enemies. If you come across enemies who disrupt the army’s mission again, do what you need to, but be mindful of the impact it might cause and make sure to do it cleanly. Unless left with no choice, don’t drag civilians into it. Request the army’s assistance if you need to, but don’t act alone again like this time and cause a large impact.”

Then, Han Xiao looked around at everyone’s pleasantly surprised faces and nodded in his mind. He believed these b*stards all understood his hint.

Ever since the start, he never wanted to completely forbid things like this but allowed it. He only wanted to guide them and make sure they did things cleanly, which he could not say out loud directly.

From the way he looked at it, what had happened had already happened. No matter what explanation he gave the outside world, it was not going to end up well. Therefore, he might as well ignore the public opinion guided by the three Universal Civilizations and let the army members do what they wanted to do, increasing the threat of the ‘Cancer of the Universe’ while removing the positive image the army had. Before he opposed the three Universal Civilizations, the three Universal Civilizations had always been promoting him and increasing his reputation, making the galactic residents give him all kinds of titles and auras. They did these things both to praise him and restrain him; it was a double-edged sword.

With reputation, the actions of the army were restricted. If they did something that violated the rules, they would suffer for it. This was the rope the three Universal Civilizations tried to put on the army.

Han Xiao knew very well that as the form of conflict became more complex, remaining in the rules set by the opponent would only make things more difficult. Therefore, although the players caused a big mess this time, it could be a chance to adjust his strategy.

Wanted criminals like EsGod did tons of extremely evil things, but most people were only afraid of them and did not dare say anything. This was because they knew they were evil villains and did not dare mess with them. One of the important reasons the outside world dared to condemn and scold the Black Star Army was that, in their hearts, the Black Star Army was once ‘good’, and ‘good’ entities could be messed with.

After being ‘good’ for too long, others fear him less and less… Those many civilizations who responded to the call of the three Universal Civilizations and obstructed the association from uniting the black market more or less had this attitude. They felt that they had the Peace Treaty ‘amulet’, so they thought the Black Star Army would not dare violate the rules and do anything to them.

Clearly, this mindset was part of the reason the Feeney Civilization used its colonial planet to protect Dafis. If they really cared about the casualties of their citizens, they would not have done that.

If the other civilizations learned from them and improved on it, the association’s work would only get tougher as time went on.

If the threat of the Cancer of the Universe increased through the Planet Burger incident and the outside world could see that there were a group of violent brutes in the army who were not afraid of violating the rules, some civilizations and Calamity Grade organizations would think twice before deciding to stand against the association…

Play and mess around all you like, but don’t take the Cancer of the Universe lightly!

As long as things like this happened several times and they became afraid and intimidated, a lot of trouble could be avoided, which was beneficial to speeding up the takeover of the black market.

However, these things could not be said out loud. Therefore, the army was not going to admit to any accusations and would insist they were false. As for the truth, the outsiders would have to guess.

As for the public opinion… the three Universal Civilizations controlled the most powerful promotion tool, so his reputation would be damaged sooner or later. Han Xiao was already prepared for it. There was definitely a price to pay for standing against the three Universal Civilizations. Plus, his reputation and image were unreal.

Armed organizations were not civilizations, after all. The things they cared about were different. In the current situation, public opinion did not matter at all. No matter how bad it got, when it came to what mattered, the three Universal Civilizations would not dare make a move.

When he was working with the three Universal Civilizations, a positive reputation was beneficial for the army to obtain more partners and create a profit network. Now that the three Universal Civilizations had made a law that prohibited any civilization and consortium from working with the association, reputation no longer played a part. The image of being ‘good’ was useless; instead, being ‘bad’ worked better.

Because of exactly this, Han Xiao did not mind switching the army’s reputation. To him, they were just different paths. As long as it could help him reach his goal, he would use whichever was better.

When the World Tree war broke out, the negative image would be meaningless. No one would care about such trivial matters then.

Of course, even though he decided to take the ‘bad’ path, there was still a limit to things. Therefore, he still had to restrain the players’ actions to a certain extent. Hence, he personally criticized Jupiter and the others to subtly express his attitude. Causing small scale accidental casualties when fighting bosses was fine, but doing it deliberately was not allowed.

With what had happened, if the players crossed the line again in the future and he ‘followed the rules’ to punish them, most players would accept it.

Since he was going to insist that the army was not involved to the outside world and not stop the other players from imitating it, plus the Guild of Gods made the symbolic first kill which received much more attention among the players and acted within the limits, there was no need to give them any punishment today. Of course, he was not going to reward them either. The guild had to pay for the cost of fighting a boss.

Although this somewhat went against the ‘punish all mistakes’ rule, there was no right or wrong to most decisions made in complicated situations, only what was suitable or not. The rules had to be adjusted often.

Another reason for this was that Han Xiao knew very clearly who the teammates worth earning currently were—the players were the foundation of his rapid growth. His level 360 Promotion was extremely crucial and had to be done as soon as possible. Therefore, knowing his priorities, there was no need to hesitate.

As the enemy started it, unless the players retaliated too strongly, Han Xiao was neither going to stop them nor punish them. Otherwise, he would give them a feeling that they could only get beaten and not fight back, which would impact their sense of belonging to the faction severely, making them frustrated and possibly leave the faction.

Back in Version 4.0, the Black Star Army fought with multiple small factions. The small factions chose to restrain them and blame the players, while the Black Star Army protected its members and poached their players. Han Xiao was an expert in harvesting leeks; he was not going to make such a rookie mistake.

After all, players could not be easily restrained by simple management methods. Them challenging Calamity Grades was something that was bound to happen. Han Xiao knew the players’ mindset very well.

Since we can’t fight bosses properly here, we can just leave this faction. No way are we not going to fight bosses.

Han Xiao knew that not everyone had a strong sense of belonging to the faction.

As players grew stronger, their need for the faction would gradually decrease. Strength was what mattered most. With strength, they had the right to negotiate their prices and could be treated well anywhere. Plus, Han Xiao never doubted the players’ interest in creating their own factions. At this stage, the importance of profit had decreased among the factors that attracted the players to remain in the army. Instead, sense of belonging and habits proportionally increased. His long-term investments in the past netted more and more returns.

Therefore, Han Xiao spoke with the Guild of Gods personally to promote his ’emotional attachment’ to the forums.

He already controlled the spaceship artificial intelligence, so the players could only use their interfaces to record. Therefore, this video would only circulate between the players. No one else would be able to see it.

“I understand. We’ll definitely report to the army in the future for operations like this,” Jupiter answered.

“Hmm, good.” Han Xiao nodded. “Work hard and control the black market of this area soon.”

After saying a few more words, Han Xiao ended the communication, and his remote projection disappeared.

The Guild of Gods exchanged looks and were all smiling with relief.

This feeling of being protected is amazing!

“Poseidon, I recorded the conversation. Should I put it on the forums?” Poseidon asked.

“Yes!” Overjoyed, Jupiter waved and said, “This is Black Star’s personal stand, which means we have new information that’s beneficial to everyone. Post it on the guild’s behalf!”