Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 192: “106. Bizarre Small Countries”

Chapter 192: “106. Bizarre Small Countries”

Mr. Leoz’s video had gone viral worldwide in a way that was both laughable and tear-jerking. Many people initially intended to criticize it, with a sense of justice, upon receiving the yellow-black sharing link from their friends. However, when they clicked on it, they found Li Aozi’s handsome face on the screen.

——It seemed acceptable somehow.

Even though Frost Plated strictly guarded against it, sharing through a small video, tricking people into watching Li Aozi’s speech, exposing the truth about Frost Plated and Mingji Humanity experiments, was really hard to prevent.

In the end, Li Aozi found his video gradually becoming popular in an abstract way. Various internet users began using his link to trick others into watching it, and it even started evolving towards meme or trend status.

"It doesn’t matter, I will become famous."

Li Aozi focused on the practical effect. Since the goal was achieved, it didn’t matter if Azure Star’s netizens made ghost videos out of it. After all, most of those Mingji Humanity people had been killed by him. At this point, the Frost Plated officials had no choice but to block the news and persist in hunting him down. A large number of Bounty Hunters kept coming to Triangle Town to take him down.

Did the lord care? Not at all.

Li Aozi didn’t mind either. With a flick of his finger, the Lord of Oakland had a large batch of miners. The lord not only didn’t care but had to thank him.

The Frost Plated People wouldn’t get angry over such a small matter. On the contrary, Sky Ring, which had always coveted Frost Plated’s territory, was already itching to take this opportunity.

Just two days later, a low-key convoy arrived in Triangle Town. The Lord of Oakland received these people, had a brief conversation, and then sent a message to Li Aozi:

"People from Sky Ring have arrived."

Li Aozi put down his work on the biological pool and changed into his scavenger outfit. This was his persona for the outside world, and it was good to further solidify this image.

Even Sky Ring had to be cautious when dealing with one of the three major organizations of the Outer World.

Walking through the hall, Li Aozi arrived at Oakland family’s reception room. Two stern-faced guards with swords stood at the door. Sky Ring’s bloodline was very mixed, and due to absorbing a large number of Outer World refugees, it was impossible to distinguish them by appearance or skin color.

The lord’s guards, holding rifles, stared angrily at the people from Sky Ring. They only stood up straight and saluted when noticing Li Aozi:

"Mr. Leoz, you’re here."

"Hmm, the Lord of Oakland asked for me." Li Aozi nodded, and the guards immediately opened the door for him to enter.

Sitting on the sofa in the reception room were two men in suits. One had a cold face with a prominent scar, clearly someone who had fought through many battles. The other had a friendly appearance, with a constant gentle smile that made him look kind.

Seeing Li Aozi arrive, the Lord of Oakland immediately jumped off his chair and enthusiastically welcomed him with a hug:

"Oh, Aozi, I’m sorry to bother you at such a time."

"It’s okay."

Li Aozi noticed the Lord of Oakland intentionally called him "Aozi" and gave him a big hug, even patting his back. Such affectionate gestures were undoubtedly for the outsiders to see.

[He’s probably trying to show that he has a close relationship with me in Triangle Town and plans to form strategic ties. No, it should be more about maintaining a strong front in front of Sky Ring.]

Li Aozi didn’t mind. He glanced at the visitors and asked:

"These two are..."

"Let me introduce you."

Oakland pointed to the nearby official:

"This gentleman is quite impressive, Liu Deming from Sky Ring Country’s SCIA intelligence department, the Deputy Director of the Intelligence Room, and the gentleman next to him is Jin Xiuming, a retainer of the Cang Ye Family."

Liu Deming smiled warmly, stood up, approached Li Aozi, and extended his hand:

"The lord praises me too much. I am just a regular administrator. Please take care."

The samurai next to him slightly nodded, still with his arms crossed. Li Aozi didn’t bother to engage — Sky Ring’s samurai class was more arrogant than the bureaucrats. They only served their family groups and had a habit of not saluting outsiders.

With an intelligence officer and a samurai accompanying him, it was clear that Sky Ring was determined to deal with Frost Plated.

Although both were Four Nations, Sky Ring and Frost Plated were a bit too close. Even though a three-thousand-kilometer stretch of ancient seabed separated them, Triangle Town’s existence showcased the hidden value of this seabed stretch.

The forward cities of the two nations continued to dig forward in search of resources. As such, the two nations would inevitably meet. Sky Ring and Frost Plated almost constantly threw mud at each other in the GTB over the forward city routes, making neither side look good.

Despite the Lord of Oakland being concerned about Sky Ring’s invasion, Sky Ring was also an important import and export country for Triangle Town. For the information in Li Aozi’s possession that could threaten Frost Plated, Sky Ring’s two representatives had offered lucrative tax-free conditions directly to him.

Over the years, the friction between Sky Ring and Frost Plated had never ceased. The Lord of Oakland expected war to be a matter of time. If Sky Ring attacked Frost Plated, Triangle Town would become a crucial hub, potentially getting directly taken over.

Therefore, the Lord of Oakland tightly clung to Li Aozi, hoping to gain protection through his identity and the information he held.

This little scheme wasn’t a big deal. Li Aozi was happy to keep Triangle Town neutral. After all, it was his future stronghold. Neutrality would not provoke Sky Ring or Frost Plated, and it allowed his business to continue flowing between the two nations.

"Nice to meet you." Li Aozi shook hands with Liu Deming: "Director Liu, I am straightforward by nature. I know why you are here."

"Hey, Mr. Li, you’re mistaken." Director Liu chuckled: "We came with the friendship of the Sky Ring people. Li Sang, you might not know this yet, but you are currently a national icon in Sky Ring."

Li Aozi chuckled uncomfortably, not commenting.

He knew well that the people of Sky Ring, regardless of their origin, turned into hypocrites once they integrated into Sky Ring Country. They particularly enjoyed flattering someone to chaos, making them believe they were invincible, only to suddenly undercut them and knock them off their pedestal.

This despicable behavior was common at the lower levels of Sky Ring, but the higher echelons were masters of manipulating emotions, and one had to be cautious.

Seeing that Li Aozi was uninterested, Liu Deming was not embarrassed. He asked his secretary to open the briefcase and take out a high-capacity storage device:

"This is a small token of our meeting. Please accept it."

Li Aozi took the storage device, and a notification immediately popped up on the system:

[Item Name]: "Arcane Refinement Theory"

[Type]: Information Carrier/Professional Extraordinary Knowledge

[Quality]: Ordinary and Durable

[Attributes]: A USB drive recording specialized knowledge.

Precondition: Limited to the [Mutant] occupation

[Introduction]: The carrier itself is not important. What matters is the detailed steps recorded inside for extracting energy from cells and genes and how to convert and release it.

Learning this knowledge allows an Arcane User to gain greater power and further explore the potential of Arcane Energy.

Effect ①——By continuously releasing Arcane Energy, you can now increase the development level of Arcane Energy faster.

Effect ②——Your Core Arcane Development Level +1

Effect ③——Part of Arcane Energy can evolve into new application branches.

——————————————

This was no ordinary knowledge.

According to the classification of Starry Abyss, knowledge levels range from low to high: Basic, Advanced, Professional, Superior, Theoretical, Fantasy, Fictional, Ultimate, Supreme, plus the unique forbidden knowledge of narrative-level civilizations and societies, totaling ten levels.

What did professional knowledge mean on Azure Star?

It was akin to fertilizer for agriculture, essential to production.

Li Aozi had to admit that the Sky Ring people were thorough in their work. They had deeply researched his background and probably spent a lot of money to gather intelligence from Frost Plated.

This could indeed move him, and frankly, since it was gifted, he couldn’t lose with any move he made now.

"It’s nothing." Li Aozi said with interest: "I can see your country is determined to get the information on Mingji Humanity."

"No, no, no, compared to Frost Plated, what we truly desire is you, Mr. Li."

Director Liu’s words were ambiguous but direct in their implication:

——Sky Ring wanted to leverage Li Aozi’s current status to continue operating in Frost Plated.

Originally a fugitive constantly pursued by Bounty Hunters, Li Aozi was already accustomed to living with this status. It was more fitting for him to operate in the black zones, helping Sky Ring deal with some thorny targets.

Li Aozi’s impressive achievements and skills were highly valued by Sky Ring Country.

In Sky Ring, waging wars with money and making money through wars were common practices, and they had a knack for making the hiring of mercenaries sound respectable. Li Aozi didn’t even know how to comment.

Sky Ring people had always excelled in being unscrupulous.

"Giving you the information is not an issue, but killing people still costs extra — I’m curious, though, Sky Ring has countless samurais and Security Groups. What target requires my intervention?"

Li Aozi asked curiously.

"Mr. Li, do you know the Grante Duchy?" Director Liu didn’t answer immediately but asked instead.

"Yes, a vassal state of Frost Plated. Due to its rich geothermal energy, its tourism industry thrives. It’s also a crucial planting and grain-producing nation for Frost Plated."

Drawing on the higher education knowledge from Agent Yawen’s documents, Li Aozi knew a bit about these small countries.

The Grante Duchy had historically been a colony of Frost Plated. Even in the old era, it was a famous scenic attraction. Blessed with fertile land backed by volcanoes and vast forests, even after Azure Star was enveloped in Ersha, it still possessed enviable geothermal energy, always considered a naturally wealthy nation.

Due to its excellent geographical environment and agricultural resources, the Frost Plated People never gave up their control and colonization of the Grante Duchy, exploitatively draining its resources to the utmost.

However, what surprised Li Aozi was that the Grante Duchy was tens of thousands of miles away from Sky Ring. If Sky Ring wanted to target a colony, shouldn’t they focus on someone like Modesha or Bai Shuijing United States, who were already inclined towards Sky Ring and had a popular base?

"Yes, that Grante Duchy."

Noticing Li Aozi’s confusion, Liu Deming smiled and explained:

"We want to ask for your help in facilitating the independence of the colony."