The Legendary Mechanic

"Our mission this time is to investigate the abnormal signal area outside the border defense circle. There's a high chance that we will encounter a battle with the World Tree fleet. Everyone needs to be prepared to sacrifice themselves."

In the cabin, the light blue projection of the commander floated on the tactical command platform, explaining the details of the mission to the players in the room. If it was a normal person, he would not mention 'sacrifice', but it did not matter to the Immortals. All the people participating in this mission were players.

Most of the time, this kind of scouting mission was a mistake and would not yield any results. If there was no players' suicide squad, the command center might not even send people to investigate.

Most of the people were listening attentively, but Black Tea was distracted. He stayed behind the crowd and opened the forum to flirt with the female players.

As an old player who had been scammed in Version 1.0, Black Tea had seen everything and was now more interested in female players. These combat missions were more or less the same—charge, die, pay, and complete.

Anyway, no matter what the commander said, when the actual mission was carried out, they still had to adapt to the situation. Black Tea was already familiar with the process and had his own way of doing things. In his opinion, there was no need to listen to the details at all. It was better to spend this time flirting with a few girls.

Not long after, the hyperdrive lights covering the ships dissipated, and the reconnaissance team had already arrived at their destination. In the universe outside the window, there was a World Tree team that seemed to be searching for something in the area. The number of battleships was less than half of the reconnaissance team, and as soon as they saw the three Universal Civilizations' reconnaissance team, they immediately turned around, as if they were trying to escape together.

"World Tree fleet detected, attack!"

The commander did not hesitate and immediately gave the order. This reconnaissance team fired at the World Tree exploration team without hesitation. The intercepting ship accelerated and chased after them with a group of players. Very soon, they caught a few World Tree exploration ships that could not escape in time.

Bang! Bang! Bang! The intercepting ships shot out charge cabins one after another, biting the bodies of the enemy ships, penetrating the exterior armor, and embedding themselves in. The players inside boarded the ships noisily, planning to control the spaceships.

High-temperature flames spewed out, and lasers shot out in all directions. The group of players immediately started a massacre in the exploration ships, fighting with the members of the World Tree. It could be said that they were unstoppable. The World Tree warriors were either burnt to ashes, beaten into meat pies, or shot into sieves. The ground was filled with tattered corpses.

Black Tea tilted his body slightly and avoided a laser beam. He pointed his sword with a backhand stance, and a stream of white Pugilist energy shot out. It was sharp and cold, like a qi sword, and penetrated the chests of three World Tree warriors, instantly killing them.

"How is it, pretty cool huh?"

"Brother, you're so strong. Can you bring me to dungeons in the future?" The female player in the video acted cutely.

"It depends on your performance."

Black Tea had a smug smile on his face as he spoke in the private chat. Even on the battlefield, he was flirting with girls. He turned on the video call to let the girl see his heroic side.

In the past few months, he had already completed the level 180 Promotion Mission, successfully advanced, and entered the Calamity Grade. He was undoubtedly the leader among the current players. This kind of boarding battle was not a problem for him at all, and he could easily pick up girls while fighting.

He chose the Pugilist class naturally because it was the most flashy of the five classes. Whether he was strong or not was a matter of one version, but whether he looked cool or not was a matter of life.

While Black Tea was chatting, his teammates were already ploughing through the World Tree soldiers and getting further away.

After watching the group of people leave happily, Black Tea did not follow them. He smiled and shook his head, showing the demeanor of a gentleman. He said, "You can't get too excited when you're doing missions. Look at these people. They're classic negative examples. They've finally gotten the chance to be unparalleled, and they're already so reckless. You have to use your brain when doing missions. Learn a little."

After putting on a show, Black Tea did not follow the rest of the team. Instead, he turned around and walked into the corridor alone. He casually broke the walls and floors of the cabin and went straight into the belly of the ship.

Very soon, he arrived at a gate without any obstructions. On the gate were the words 'Analysis Room' and 'Research Area' written in the language of the World Tree Civilization. Due to the invasion of the spaceship, all the guards had gone to protect the energy core, engine, control center, bridge, and other key areas. There was no one there, only some simple defense facilities that were dismantled by Black Tea.

"Brother, what are you doing here alone?" The female player blinked and asked in confusion.

"Hehe, I told you to use your brain. Think about it. Our mission is to investigate the abnormal situation in this area, and the World Tree fleet is one step ahead of us, but they're still here, seemingly looking for something. This proves that they've already discovered something. The World Tree exploration ship has a simple analysis lab, so there might be clues here. This is the main goal of our mission. If we can snatch the World Tree's exploration results, we won't have to risk staying here to investigate. We might even be able to complete this without dying."

After taking care of all the defense facilities, Black Tea walked into the room and spoke.

"Wow, you're so experienced!" The female player was full of admiration.

"It's alright, mainly because I've seen too much."

Black Tea was secretly overjoyed.

Although he was indeed experienced, his words were just to show off. He wanted to show off his wisdom and that he was different from those pigs. As for whether he would gain anything here, it did not matter.

However, at this moment, Black Tea suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked up at one of the transparent experiment chambers. There was a ball of light floating inside. When he looked over, the interface suddenly jumped, and a notification popped up.

You have triggered the hidden mission [Source of Change].

Mission Introduction: You have discovered an important clue that can change the war. It has an immeasurable value. If you bring it back, it will greatly affect the direction of the war.

Mission Requirements: Use a container to store this clue and bring it back to the three Universal Civilizations to report.

Reward: Depends on the rating.

Black Tea was stunned.

No way, I was just bragging. It was really true ‽

"See, I told you, there must be some clues here!"

Black Tea immediately became excited and shared the mission interface with the girl. Then, he immediately went to the experiment chamber, searched for a while, found the storage button, and pressed it.

Tiny electric arcs flashed in the experiment chamber, guiding the light into a palm-sized tube container. The two ends of the container automatically turned and closed, and intricate mechanical parts with strong magnetic force joined tightly.

Then, this tube slid along the transparent pipe, and half of it popped out from one of the holes in the operating table, meaning that it could be taken away.

With a click, Black Tea opened the chest area of his mechanical suit and stuffed this round tube container into a storage groove. Then, he closed the armor and protected it. Without another word, he went back the way he came and reported the situation.

This battle did not last long. The reconnaissance team had defeated the World Tree exploration team, and the other party could only escape with their remaining troops. As this place was closer to the World Tree camp, the reconnaissance team did not want to chase after them.

Originally, they did not care about sacrificing themselves and planned to stay here for a while to investigate the abnormal situation. However, after obtaining the intelligence from Black Tea, the team changed their plan and directly retreated to avoid being chased by the World Tree's follow-up troops.

As soon as the reconnaissance team left, the reinforcements from the World Tree arrived. They gave chase symbolically and gave up when they approached the border defense circle. They watched as the reconnaissance team—that had obtained the encrypted particles—returned to the three Universal Civilizations.

Not long after, at the research center of the frontline base, the container brought back by Black Tea was transported. Under the research of a group of scientists, it gradually revealed its true appearance.

"This… this is…"

The research team leader looked at the deciphered content and widened his eyes in shock. He took a few steps back in disbelief.

"Team leader, what did you find?" The officer who was waiting for the results felt his heart skip a beat and hurried forward.

The research team leader came back to his senses and pounced in front of him. He grabbed the officer's shoulder and said anxiously,

"Bad news! Quickly inform the three leaders and His Excellency Black Star! Our territorial star maps have been leaked!"

As soon as he said that, the expressions of all the officers and researchers changed.

...

On the other side, in the Tree King's palace.

"Your Excellency Tree King, according to your orders, we have already handed a portion of the encrypted particles to the enemy. They will firmly believe that this information was intercepted by them."

"Well done."

The Ancestral Tree King narrowed his eyes and nodded.

At such a close distance, the frontline troops had long discovered the uniqueness of the encrypted particles, so how could such negligence appear? All of this was naturally intentional. It was only when the three Universal Civilizations' reconnaissance troops repelled the World Tree exploration team that their reinforcements arrived and acted as though they could not catch up, but it was all fake.

Their true goal was to allow the three Universal Civilizations to obtain a set of encrypted particles in a less suspicious way.

"This is not a bad move. When they see the leaked information, they will most likely suspect that there is a spy. Things will become chaotic." Fortitude Tree King nodded.

"A powerful fortress can be broken through from the inside. Suspicion is the best weapon," the Ancestral Tree King said calmly.

No matter who leaked this information to him, in his opinion, it was most likely that they did not want to be discovered by the three Universal Civilizations.

The Ancestral Tree King did not mind being used, but he would not make the manipulator too happy. Since they wanted to use him, they had to bear the corresponding risk.

On the other hand, even if the manipulator did not care, the Ancestral Tree King wanted to use this method to make the three Universal Civilizations suspicious and even split up.

"That's right. After all, not all civilizations can be as united as us. Everyone is connected to the mental network, and the mother tree will be in charge. There are no secrets," the Fortitude Tree King agreed with a smile.

The Ancestral Tree King narrowed his eyes and glanced at him. He did not know if this was sincere or if there was a deeper meaning behind his words.

...

In the head office of the three Universal Civilizations, Marbruce, Louis, and the Pope received an urgent report on the coding particle at the frontline and immediately held a meeting.

Looking at the countless pieces of intel that had been deciphered, the three of them were furious.

"How bold, someone actually colluded with the enemy!"

The Pope slammed the table angrily.

"No matter who it is, we have to find them!"

Anger burned in Marbruce's eyes.

Originally, the situation was very good. Relying on the border defense circle and Han Xiao, it was enough to resist the World Tree for many years. However, not long after they had gained the advantage, a traitor appeared in their family and leaked countless intelligence!

With these coordinates, the World Tree would be able to jump through space, avoid the border defense circle, and directly invade. Countless battlefronts would be opened, and the stalemate would be broken.

They had worked hard for so many years just to ensure that their territory would not be violated. Now, all their hard work had been wasted. The three of them were already beyond furious. They wanted nothing more than to tear the traitor to pieces!

At this time, Han Xiao received the invitation and appeared in the room. He frowned and went straight to the point.

"You said that the intelligence of the galactic society was leaked? What's the exact situation?"

"See for yourself."

Marbruce separated a section of the virtual screen and sent it to Han Xiao.

Han Xiao quickly understood the situation.

His first reaction was that the World Tree was trying to sow discord, using some kind of method to obtain information and then arousing suspicion within them… However, this information was so detailed that it was impossible to gather unless one had been in the explored universe for a long time. Therefore, it was more believable that someone leaked the information.

"It's either a traitor colluding with the enemy or a third party taking advantage of the situation," Han Xiao said.

"We think so too," Marbruce said grimly. "But in comparison, the possibility of a traitor is higher!"

Han Xiao stroked his chin and said, "If it's a traitor, their goal definitely isn't survival. Based on the current situation, the entire galactic society believes that we can resist the World Tree, so the traitor has other goals, such as taking revenge on you or taking advantage of the situation…"

"We know that."

Louis' eyes flickered with a cold light. Before this, they had already discussed the suspects. Among them, the most suspicious ones were the Super Star Cluster Alliance and the lower level Star Cluster Civilizations. Even the Beyond Grade A Association was somewhat suspicious, so the three of them were wary of Han Xiao.

Although the current favorable situation was the work of Black Star, the position that the three of them were in made them suspect Han Xiao. Even though Black Star had made so many contributions, there was still a motive…

This time, Han Xiao's eyes suddenly flashed.

"The World Tree might have leaked this information on purpose to cause internal strife…"

However, halfway through, Han Xiao stopped and shook his head helplessly.

Even if the World Tree did it on purpose, the information leak was real. Even if they guessed that this was the World Tree's plan, they could not let go of their suspicions. This was an open conspiracy.

If the information was leaked by a third party, it might have been calculated in advance. Not only did they help the World Tree, but they also used the World Tree to raise suspicion in the galactic society.

Han Xiao paused for a moment, put away these speculations, changed the topic, and said, "No matter what, the battle situation has changed. Make preparations as soon as possible to deal with the World Tree's full invasion. This is the most important task."

The three of them nodded.

Although the three Universal Civilizations were prepared for war in the various Star Fields, compared to the border of the Flickering World, the defense of the other areas was naturally much weaker. There were still countless planets scattered around, allowing the enemy to enter their familiar battle rhythm of 'sustaining war with war'.

"We have to find the traitor. Since they've done such a thing, they will definitely do something that benefits them at some point. Sooner or later, they will be exposed," the Pope said coldly.

"The earlier we confirm the target, the better. I will immediately order a specialized team to investigate this matter," Louis said.

Han Xiao thought about it and said, "I need to study these encrypted particles personally. Maybe I can find some clues."

Hearing this, the three of them exchanged looks and finally nodded.

"We can give you a portion of the encrypted particles for research. I hope you find a clue soon."

"Sure."

Looking at the three of them, Han Xiao knew that he was one of their suspects. He could not help but shake his head. At this time, he did not care. If he was in their position, he would not have trusted anyone either.

'I didn't expect the name of the version to come true so quickly. Who is the one behind this… It can't be them, right?'

Han Xiao thought to himself. The stealthy Super Star Cluster Alliance flashed past his mind, and the figures of the Avengers appeared.