Volume 5, Chapter 8-1 – Void Projection(Part 1)

In the empire’s core regions, it would have been absolutely impossible for a place like Okelia to exist, where evil was laid completely bare for all to see.

Even on the prison planets the empire used to confine criminals, places known as gathering grounds of evil, that evil was still locked away beneath deep waters.

But places like Okelia had slipped entirely beyond the local governor’s ability to control. After years of development without effective oversight, they had become concentrations of crime and vice.

Here, whoever had the biggest fists had the final say. Everywhere else, the biggest fist belonged to the Elimeria Empire’s government.

That was why Harrison appearing here was perfectly normal.

Even if their identities were exposed, they did not need to worry about officials showing up and shouting about bringing them to justice. Nor were there likely to be any bored passersby foolish enough to provoke them.

The level 46 and level 47 men did not spare Anran a second glance.

They walked straight up to the quest board, their towering bodies blocking most of it from view. Someone tried to step forward and complain, only to be sent flying by a single slap from 46.

This was what it meant to be completely unreasonable.

Anran was currently level 34, but all her attributes were far ahead of the norm. With the boosts from some of her mechanical equipment, she could easily rival NPCs above level 40. Even so, she was still quite a bit weaker than these two.

In the end, her equipment was simply too poor. Her blueprints were starting to lag behind the current version.

“We’ve been keeping too low a profile lately. It’s time to pull off something big.”

“Let’s keep steady for now. We’ll wait and see how things turn out between Night Owl and the Ninth expeditionary army. If we rush, we might lose our chance to profit.”

“Then let’s just do a few random quests in the meantime.”

“We’ll stock up on some supplies and make that fat pig Fitch suffer when the time comes.”

“There are so many people who want Fitch dead that ten Okelias wouldn’t be enough to hold them all. If we don’t move quickly, someone else might beat us to it. Hahaha.”

They openly discussed killing the governor as though no one else were present, yet even so, no one paid them much attention.

Just as they had said, there were far too many people in Sea Blue Forest who wanted Fitch dead. Plenty merely talked big, but more than one or two had genuinely made attempts on his life.

“We’ll take these two quests.” 47 pointed at two quests on the screen.

One of them was the very quest Anran had just seen, the mission to pioneer Frost Island.

But did they really care about twenty million Bilu?

“This company is pretty famous. Taking it down sounds like a good idea.”

46 nodded in complete agreement.

“…”

I…

Being strong really did mean you could do whatever you wanted.

As expected, they did not care about twenty million Bilu.

But Anran did.

Forget twenty million. She would take two million.

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Right.

Anran suddenly remembered the location of that quest. Wasn’t Frost Island near Ruilanduo Star?

And speaking of Ruilanduo Star, wasn’t that where Harrison had caused trouble last time?

Excellent.

Anran applauded her own idea.

Not long afterward, 47 and 46 turned toward one of the Star Hunter Guild’s service windows. They seemed to have posted a quest to collect something, though Anran did not know the details.

She did not dare move closer, either.

There was pretty much nothing else left for her to do.

Anran stood and prepared to return to the spaceship.

The analysis of the AI-Assisted Mask had already been completed, and she was now smelting ore to make more coilguns.

The small civilian spaceship had not originally carried any heavy weapons, and even the space reserved for modifications was limited. Still, making extra coilguns would not go to waste.

Each one granted 198,000 EXP, and selling it afterward could bring in nearly a million Bilu. If they were not so slow to produce, with only one completed every seven or eight days, Anran would not even need to go out and kill monsters to level up. She could simply stay aboard the spaceship making coilguns every day and grow rich.

“We’re going to Ruilanduo Star!”

Anran announced to Aila after returning to the spaceship.

“Anran, Anran, why are we going to Ruilanduo Star? Aren’t you afraid that painted-face woman will find you?”

The painted-face woman she meant was Tan Lu.

“We’re not going to Sarina City. We’re going somewhere else that has a Star Hunter Guild branch.”

That place was Nakan City.

By the time Anran stepped out of the spaceship again, she had a new coilgun and a brand-new AI-Assisted Mask.

Seven days had passed.

Anran first went to the Hunter Guild to check the quest. It was still open, which meant the Faraway Lands Development Company had not set out yet. In other words, her chance to make money was still there!

She put on face-altering makeup, then headed to the imperial government offices to report Harrison.

The following bounties had been issued for Harrison:

“Bounty for capturing Harrison alive: 900 million Bilu.”

“Bounty for killing Harrison: 800 million Bilu.”

“Bounty for providing accurate information on Harrison’s whereabouts: five million to fifty million Bilu.”

Hehehehe.

Inside the relevant department of the Nakan City government, the staff NPC responsible for such matters shot to his feet in astonishment and shouted with an excitement he had never shown under normal circumstances, “Is what you’re saying true?”

“It’s true, it’s true.” Anran nodded repeatedly. “I was lucky enough to overhear the information.”

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“This information is too important. Far too important…” In his panic, the staff member even knocked over his cup.

“What happened?” His colleague looked over.

“Someone has reported Harrison’s whereabouts!”

“Holy crap, seriously?” The colleague was shocked as well.

Was Harrison’s trail really that easy to find?

“I think you’d be better off waiting until Harrison reaches Frost Island before making your move. That way, it’ll be harder for him to escape.”

Looking at the stunned pair, Anran offered them another suggestion.

“Can you explain in more detail?”

Anran then altered the story slightly and described every physical feature of 46 and 47 that she had seen.

She also included a portrait of 47.

Aila had drawn the portrait. With Anran’s skill, she would have produced nothing but a monstrosity.

Aila really was incredibly versatile.

She was tough, adorable, and packed with functions. She was the perfect support companion.

“We’ll give your suggestion serious consideration. Information this important must be reported to our superiors immediately, and we need to verify it as quickly as possible. Take over here for me. I’m going to make the report right now!” With that, the staff member who had first received Anran ran off.

After submitting her personal information, Anran left the relevant department.

No matter what happened, she stood to gain.

Even if Harrison failed to appear for some reason, she would lose nothing. As long as no accident occurred, even if the government tried to be stingy, she would still receive five million Bilu.

They would not dare cheat her out of this bounty. Doing so would be a slap in the face to the empire’s entire bounty system.

Five million.

Wonderful.

…

The Nakan City government sprang into action the moment it received the report.

Since Harrison was involved, they had to verify the report’s authenticity no matter what.

In truth, they did not need to do very much.

Step one: forward the intelligence to the Sarina City government.

Step two: forward the intelligence to their superior authority, the Ruilanduo Star government.

After receiving the information, the Sarina City government quietly approached Faraway Lands to verify it.

Fortunately, Anran had hurried. Otherwise, Faraway Lands’ new team would already have departed.

A 68.23 percent similarity.

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That was the conclusion they reached after verification.

It was not enough to inspire certainty, but it was more than enough to justify action.

This time, the government also adopted Anran’s proposed method. They would let Harrison reach Frost Island before striking. That was indeed much safer.

No matter how formidable Harrison was, he could not cross outer space with his bare body.

Their greatest concern was that he might slip away again. But as long as they trapped him on Frost Island, they would have plenty of ways to deal with him.

The people from Faraway Lands were reluctant, but they had no choice but to cooperate obediently.

The operation did not alert anyone on the team. Even when their spaceship entered hyperspace, they had no idea that more than a dozen government spaceships were following behind them.

…

“Three million. Add the more than four million I had left, and with a little more effort, I’ll be a rich woman with ten million in savings.”

After returning to the Star Hunter Guild and selling some finished metal products, Anran could now count herself as modestly wealthy.

Without hesitation, she posted a new quest at the Hunter Guild. She wanted to purchase blueprints for anti-gravity technology or miniature force-field technology. The reward was four million Bilu, 340,000 EXP, and one AI-Assisted Mask. It was also a [Chain Quest].

Speaking of quest EXP, this point was worth revisiting. With the game version’s update and Anran’s advancement to Intermediate Mechanic, her quest system had undergone quite a few changes.

She could still post three additional quests for every level she gained. That meant Anran could now post a maximum of 102 quests per day.

The quest rewards, however, had kept pace with the times.

First came item rewards. They had originally been restricted to green and ordinary-grade items, but the limit had now risen to purple and high-quality items.

As for EXP rewards, the amount had increased to an additional 10,000 EXP per level gained.

When posting a specific quest, the game would calculate a reward range according to the quest’s type, difficulty, and complexity. Anran could decide how much to offer within that range.

If she could not provide the minimum required reward, the quest could not be issued.

As a “quest” NPC, Anran had not had the relevant functions stripped away by the game.

But the game had not given her any loopholes to exploit, either.

The quest she posted at the Hunter Guild was aimed specifically at players.

A reward of four million Bilu and an AI-Assisted Mask was not very attractive to an NPC capable of providing an anti-gravity technology blueprint, because they could not receive the other rewards: the EXP and the follow-up quests.

That was why this quest was specifically for players.

There were countless players. Among so many people, surely someone might obtain an anti-gravity technology blueprint as a quest drop.

Money, EXP, and follow-up quests. That should be tempting enough for players, shouldn’t it?

What kind of relationship should she establish with the players?

This was a question Anran had been considering for a long time.

Obviously, setting herself against the players was an extremely stupid idea.

Although the game would use some method to force her into opposition with a portion of the players, at least before the game made its move, she could win some players over and gain their favorability.

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At this stage, rooting herself among the players and drawing nourishment from them to sustain herself was also a good strategy.

Beyond that, she needed to shape her image in the players’ eyes.

“Shaping her image” was the core strategy Anran had arrived at after careful thought.

The BOSS of Version 2.0?

Suppose that before then, she shaped herself into a charismatic NPC in the eyes of most players. Faced with overwhelming public sentiment, the game might even have to replace its BOSS when the time came.

Even if it did not, she could pull a mass of players into her faction and crush the players on the opposing side. Who said an NPC could not usher in a new era?

What was the promotional slogan of [Night of the Stars]?

Players could create legends of their own in the game?

The great BOSS Anran leading countless players to crush a bunch of self-proclaimed righteous fools and propel the story of [Night of the Stars] into a new era sounded like a pretty good story, too.

That was why she had to shape her image!

When the time came to be a lone hero, she would be one. But sometimes, she also needed to gather a crowd of players to sing her praises.

Other NPCs could not recognize this, but she could!

As Anran reached the entrance of the guild, she noticed a sudden commotion outside. The crowd instinctively parted, revealing an extremely mismatched group walking through the middle.

At the center was a fierce-looking young woman dressed in a distinctly cyberpunk style. Her purple hair was tied into two buns, each pierced by a metal rod resembling an antenna.

Yellow goggles covered her eyes. One side of the goggles extended to her ear, where something resembling an earpiece was attached.

White bandages were wrapped around her neck, while her body was clad in close-fitting mechanical armor dominated by black and green. It was impossible to tell whether her entire left arm had been replaced with a mechanical prosthetic.

Her abdomen was exposed and looked taut at a glance. The split in her outer clothing ran up to beneath her chest, where a tight black undershirt hugged her body and lifted a pronounced curve.

Beside her stood men and women dressed just as strangely, along with a towering robot that walked with its body hunched.

It was the kind of giant robot with no decorative casing, rough and utilitarian at first glance. It stood over three meters tall and would reach four meters if it straightened fully. Its scarlet eyes swept across the passersby.

“The Rampage Gang!”

Before Anran could even ask, she learned what these people were called from the surrounding crowd.

They were an organization famous throughout Sea Blue Forest.

The young woman leading them was named Maggie. She was said to be Governor Fitch’s youngest daughter.

Level 41.

Her profession was impossible to determine.

The “Rampage Gang” was a strange crew formed by a group of rebellious people. Their main impression on others was that they were rich and extremely hot-tempered.

They often flew their spaceships all over Sea Blue Forest, wandering without purpose, exploring wherever their whims took them, and looking for amusement whenever they were in a bad mood.

In short, their reputation was not very good.