Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 508 - 144. Prelude

Chapter 508: 144. Prelude

Li Aozi stood with his hands in his pockets, appearing indifferent. This was within Joham’s expectations. On one hand, this player with the ID "Truly" was just a rookie. On the other hand, his background as a retired soldier was sure to make him somewhat favorable to the Empire.

But while he knew little about Li Aozi, Li Aozi knew his actions inside and out.

After pondering for a moment, Li Aozi had a devious idea.

[Joham is an experimental electronic immigrant with both player and NPC templates. Unlike other electronic immigrants, he can’t issue NPC tasks and has significant resurrection restrictions.]

In "Starry Abyss," there was no access to private servers or GM (game master) privileges. To become strong, you had to rely on your own skills. Even spending money on the game could only improve the experience to a limited extent.

As a heavy criminal experimenter, Joham did not qualify for re-enrollment, and the cycle lasted a year. As long as he was killed three times, he would be completely finished.

[The best solution was to find a way to figure out his respawn point, camp it, kill him three times in a row, and be done with it for good.]

The last resort was to find an opportunity to kill him first and talk later—but this would only treat the symptoms, not the cause. Three years later, when his resurrection opportunities reset, killing him would have been in vain.

But Li Aozi had his own thoughts.

"...Regarding your ideology, I’m afraid I can’t agree with it for now."

Li Aozi said, deliberately showing a helpless expression,

"But the price you’re offering is also hard to refuse."

Joham gave a slight smile,

"No need to rush. You’ll understand eventually."

He said, taking a bullpup rifle out of his backpack and tossing it to Li Aozi,

"Isaac, hold onto this."

Li Aozi’s expression remained indifferent. He took the rifle, checked the magazine. It contained 45 rounds of 5.45*39 caliber polymer-coated bullets, tungsten carbide-cobalt alloy heads, with a small amount of chemical energy powder inside. It had strong penetration against armored targets. After piercing the enemy’s armor, it would trigger a secondary explosion, causing fragments to move uncontrollably within the enemy’s body, piercing through it.

This type of bullet was notorious in the early days of Azure Star, known as the "Level 3 Armor Piercer," a top-tier bullet for both armor penetration and stopping power, at the cost of being extremely expensive.

[This is also military-grade equipment. It seems there are traitors within the Red Arrow’s military.]

Li Aozi remained silent, reloaded, pulled the safety back, and looked at Joham,

"Who are we going to hit now?"

"I like straightforward people like you," Joham said appreciatively, "Don’t worry, we won’t target civilians."

In the shadows, several electric off-road vehicles slowly approached. Using the quiet drive of their electric motors, they made themselves into covert lurkers.

Joham led a few people to board the convoy as the vehicles gradually drove out of Erga City’s range, heading towards the Outer World.

As they donned Kevlar vests and ceramic-steel armors, they listened to Joham explain the battle plan,

"Forty years ago, due to the Red Arrow Empire’s savage expansion and conquest, countless Frost Plated refugees were left homeless and poured into the Outer World. However, with their knowledge, technology, and population advantages, they quickly wiped out the native Outer World refugees, becoming a warlord force controlling one side."

Joham projected a slide show, listing some character information and historical data,

"Valley of Flowers, Northwind Town, New Erga—these are three Outer World cities built by Frost Plated refugees. Ten years ago, they established a unified country: Melva."

"The Third Rule once supported them, allowing them to possess small amounts of nuclear weapons and a barrier generator. However, due to the long distance and time, Frost Plated’s influence here has been waning."

"The younger generation increasingly identified with the Red Arrow Empire, influenced by Red Arrow culture. Coupled with the continuous malignant incidents in Frost Plated, they revered the powerful Empire, emotionally closer to Red Arrow."

"The conflict between conservatives and reformists has reached an extreme. The older generation and a small number of young people are more aligned with David Lyn’s dominion of the New Frost Plating Federation, whereas the middle-aged and younger people aspire to the Red Arrow Empire. These two forces have long-standing grievances and constant conflict. Those allied with Frost Plated," called "Frost Fang Faction," controlled Melva’s education and healthcare industries. The pro-Red faction, known as "Sharp Arrow Camp," had ample industrial and personnel resources."

Li Aozi frowned. Then he heard Joham continue,

"David Lyn has already visited the Red Arrow Empire. Next, Frost Plated and Red Arrow will surely reconcile and return to friendly relations."

"Our job is simple, to divide them, drive Melva into civil war, and turn it into a powder keg that destroys the relationship between Red Arrow and Frost Plated. Force the two world’s most powerful countries to intervene and become enemies."

A simple yet brutal overt scheme, leveraging ethnic conflicts to broaden local disputes. The next step was to trigger a world war. When the whole world was devastated and in ruins, Lord Entropy would take over Azure Star effortlessly.

While Li Aozi listened, he quietly used his authority at the White Obelisk to set up a [Police Center] facility and issued an oracle to Kadan Foliqi, the former farm owner who was actually the "Chief Priest" of the White Obelisk.

"Since I can’t deal with Joham in the short term, I’ll begrudgingly allow you to make the ultimate sacrifice for me."