Chapter 535 - - 476 Duge Awakens Harem Skill_2

—————✧✧✧✧—————

But Duge’s heart was also suffering, a low-profile keyword made it impossible for him to openly recruit people under the banner of the Duge name, leaving him no choice but to hope that he would soon run into someone from Qiyuan Star.

Unexpectedly, after approaching five people in a row, he had not encountered anyone from Qiyuan Star, and his luck seemed to have deserted him.

Duge even wondered whether he had been deliberately targeted by Pan-Universe Entertainment, just like he was assigned a low-profile keyword. It was as if during the transmigration, Pan-Universe Entertainment had placed people from Qiyuan Star as far away from him as possible.

Just like the last time on the Alien Battlefield.

He had traversed half the world before he finally met Feng Zhong and others in the Demon Realm.

As the number one warrior on the Combat Net, Kill One Every Ten Steps, without revealing Duge’s identity, naturally no one from Qiyuan Star would actively contact him.

…

Ying Fei, Xin Tianyang, and Fan Lie each logged into the Combat Net to gather their compatriots.

“Lin Hong, why do you always emphasize that you are from Green Star?” Nalan Li asked, looking at the several people putting on their helmets.

Without the immense energy and recovery ability of an Alien Warrior, she had barely rested since last night. Now, her eyes were bloodshot, and her whole being looked on the verge of collapse, but she forced herself to stay alert, “No Green Star person would ever claim to be indigenous; that kind of conversation makes you seem a bit foolish, the kind that is conspicuously trying to cover up something.”

“Nalan, that’s not the point,” Duge smiled and asked, “Can you still hold on?”

“I’m okay,” Nalan Li took out a bottle of medicine and popped a pill into her mouth, “The officials have energy-boosting drugs for the ace Mecha pilots to perform better on the battlefield. The side effects are minimal, and taking one when tired works wonders. My energy was fine, but you carried me around, and I felt like my entire body was about to fall apart, which is why I’m feeling exhausted. Don’t worry about me; I just want to know what we do next. Can you really keep them all in line by recruiting from two planets at once? Do you really not need to find people from Qiyuan Star?”

“Not for the time being,” Duge shook his head and asked, “What’s the situation with those few who are on their own now?”

“General Feng should have been secured by the Third Army Group,” Nalan Li replied. “Luo Yan is sharing information with them. My guess is that your gamers’ information has already been circulated amongst the various factions. By tomorrow, or the day after at the latest, the Combat Net will open its portals for the factions to inquire.”

“Which means we don’t have much time left,” Duge smiled.

“No more time,” Nalan Li looked at Duge and shook her head. “Nearly all the gamers who appeared near the Imperial Capital have been accounted for. Some were taken by Luo Yan, and Quality Question is in Flower Boat City. It would take us a day to get there by airship, and that’s the territory of the Sixth Army Group. Once the Combat Net inquiry opens up, they’ll probably snatch him away as quickly as possible.”

She paused, “Green Star has five continents, and you only have a little over a thousand gamers in total. Divided across each continent, that’s at most two to three hundred people per continent, minus those who don’t wish to show themselves. Once the forces divvy them up, if Ying Fei and Fan Lie can each gather five people, that would be quite impressive.”

“So, did you intentionally leak the news?” Duge asked. “Realizing that the masked hero was beyond control, did you deliberately allow the factions to each take a share of the thousand or so gamers, so that the more dispersed they were, the easier to control?”

After a moment of silence, Nalan Li said, “Maybe the President had that in mind. My orders are to cooperate with you—whatever you ask me to do, I’ll do. The fact that the President gave such orders probably means he’s still banking on you for the most part.”

Duge chuckled and gestured with his chin towards Ying Fei, “With her around, try not to talk about betting or gambling in the future, or you never know when you might get hit.”

“Okay.” Nalan Li nodded. “What do we do next?”

“If we can’t recruit anyone else, what else can we do? We’ll head back to the Imperial Capital and let bullets fly a bit longer,” Duge grinned. “Gambling, mirroring, fusion; with these three guys around, the power of the Shadow Department is about even. I also promised the Science Academy I’d help them study the spacecraft from the Hil Civilization; I can’t keep avoiding it forever!”

…

The information from the National Strategic Defense Bureau was spreading.

Xu Wan was using code words to gather people.

Ying Fei and Fan Lie were also using code words to gather people from their own planet.

More and more Alien Warriors realized that the so-called Combat Net maintenance might be a trap, so those who wanted to hide were even less likely to show themselves, while the more boastful types accelerated their growth.

Their keywords often included manipulation, public opinion, chaos, instigation, and the like.

These individuals were stirring up trouble on the Combat Net, causing rumors to fly everywhere for a time.

Kill One Every Ten Steps was the most reputed of them all.

Therefore,

the search for “Kill One Every Ten Steps” continued, and compared to “I am Poseidon” and the like, the youngsters were actually more interested in the genius youngster who improved the mechas.

Gu Qingyan and Shen Yuning, as candidate seeds, were annoyed; whether walking or eating, they encountered suitors, not just from within the school, but from outside as well, which severely disrupted their normal routines.

Fed up, the pair turned to school principal Tang Houming for help.

Tang Houming was well aware of Lin Hong’s identity and, since the matter involved the person in question, he dared not make decisions on his own. After consulting the President, he provided Duge’s small training ground to Gu Qingyan and Shen Yuning.

✦ ✧ ✦ ✧ ✦