Lily was quite clear about the power of the flag.
She was still hoping to get something out of Shino; if Shino died without her getting anything, wouldn_t she have wasted her time getting close to Shino?
Just as she was considering whether to persuade Shino not to get involved in the muddy waters of attacking the Truth Society base, Shino suddenly spoke.
"Alright, let's not talk about these things. You came to me for the power armor, right? I already finished it this afternoon. Where's Anya? Call her over, and we'll test it now."
Seeing that Shino didn't want to continue talking about her own matters, Lily didn't press further. If she lowered Shino's favorability, she would get even fewer tasks.
"I'll go call Anya over."
Ten minutes later, the three of them arrived at the testing ground.
A power armor, about 1.6 meters tall, stood quietly in the corner. This power armor was entirely silver-gray, with large areas of alloy armor installed on its chest, back, shoulders, wrists, and arm bends. It wasn't particularly handsome, but its sleek appearance constantly exuded a terrifying suppressive force.
"For the power skeleton part, I used the best performing T23 model at this price point, and the materials used for each armor component are also the latest Type III alloy. You can rest assured about its strength. Even Captain Si's power armor doesn't compare in overall performance to the one you customized for Anya."
Shino pressed the power armor, and it immediately unfolded. She motioned for Anya to step inside and try it on.
Lily casually threw a Psionic Vision at it, and the power armor's data panel popped up.
It could be said that this was the longest equipment description she had ever seen. At first glance, the panel had nearly thirty lines, each detailing the power armor's modules and the functions accompanying each module.
She only picked out a few key points to read.
[T23 · Modified Power Armor]
[Quality]: Blue
[Skeleton]: T23 model, Durability 300 / 300, Loadable Modules (8 / 14)
[Energy]: MF Fusion Core, Energy 500 / 500, Energy sufficient, No replacement needed
[Attributes]: Strength 27, Agility 16
The durability of each part of the power armor was calculated separately.
The remaining descriptions mainly introduced the modules attached to the skeleton, such as the detection module installed on the head, the weapon module installed on the hands, and the buffer module installed on the feet.
Anya was only 1.3 meters tall. The reason this fully form-fitting power armor was 1.6 meters tall was mainly due to the addition of the foot buffer module.
"27 points of strength, this strength attribute is almost catching up to Inoue before he activates Blood Rage, it's just that the agility is a bit low."
Lily was very satisfied with the power armor's attributes.
She didn't need this power armor to be fast. Her positioning for Anya was that of a fixed turret. For this, she spent a lot of money to have Shino install heavy machine guns and miniature artillery on the power armor.
Fixed turrets had one drawback: they were easily targeted and hit. Although this power armor had high durability and defense, it could still be scrapped if hit too many times.
But it didn't matter, Lily had already thought of a solution.
During the days leading up to the official start of the operation, she spent all her free time making Prayer Cards. Even though the success rate was very low, she still managed to produce quite a few Prayer Cards by grinding away, specifically 5 [Universal Card · Psionic Shield] and 3 [Custom Card · Combat Etiquette].
Among them, the one she valued most was the [Universal Card · Psionic Shield].
[Universal Card · Psionic Shield]: After use, generates a full-body shield with 390 shield value, lasting 5 minutes.
With this card, Anya and her mecha would be able to sustain themselves longer.
Considering that the destination of this operation was far from Lynn, Lily decided to keep Anya by her side. She was afraid Anya might encounter an accident when she wasn't around. Keeping Anya with her would not only allow Anya to provide support but also enable her to quickly escape with Anya if things went south.
As she was thinking, Anya, wearing the power armor, had already begun testing.
Movement, running, jumping, shooting—all test results were qualified.
Lily believed that if the current Anya were thrown into a group of players, she could easily slaughter dozens or hundreds of them. This was the power of money!
"Is there anything else you want to change? If so, I'll help you change it now," Shino asked.
Lily shook her head repeatedly: "No need, this is enough."
Besides the power armor, she also purchased many weapons from Shino. Everything was to gain as many benefits as possible in the upcoming operation. Going with the Gene Primordial to deal with the Truth Society—such a good opportunity to farm rewards, who knew when she would encounter it again.
…
The next day, before the official departure, Four Directions held another meeting.
At the meeting, Director Madeleine introduced the objectives of this operation and the tasks that Four Directions would undertake during the operation.
"Two weeks ago, agents from Third Division intercepted a secret report from the Truth Society during an operation. The report mentioned that the Truth Society had secretly built a Bagaros Base in the Bajalos Shelter, located between the Gene Primordial and the Old Republic."
"At that time, the higher-ups formulated a plan to raid the Bagaros Base, but due to Inoue's covert obstruction, the plan was forced to be postponed. After Inoue's arrest, we examined all communication records between Inoue and the Truth Society and found no information related to the Bagaros Base."
"Now we cannot confirm whether this secret report was intentionally leaked by the Truth Society. Even if it wasn't, since two weeks have passed, we also cannot know whether the Bagaros Base has already strengthened its defenses."
"It can be said that this operation is full of variables, but the higher-ups have already decided that even if the Bagaros Base is a trap set by the Truth Society, this trap must be destroyed, so you understand…"
Director Madeleine spread his hands helplessly.
"Our mission is to lead the charge for the military, with collecting intelligence on the Bagaros Base as our top priority, and to carry out a beheading operation on the person in charge of the Bagaros Base when necessary."
The meeting attendees nodded silently, offering no opinions.
They had known this intelligence days ago; today was just a review.
As the meeting was about to conclude, Director Madeleine reorganized the special agent teams participating in this special operation.
Si's team originally had five people, but during the process of eradicating the Wanderer Camp, two team members were severely wounded and are still unable to get out of bed, so now there are only three people left.
After consulting Lily, Director Madeleine agreed for Lily to join Si's team as an external aid.
"All those you recommended will be under your direct command, but let's agree beforehand: this operation is different from before. You must discuss with us before making any decisions. Otherwise, once a problem arises, it will be easy for me to talk, but it will be different with the military representatives. They will shoot the people you recommended without hesitation. I don't want things to escalate to that point."
Lily agreed casually.
At this moment, her attention was entirely on the game prompt that had just sounded.
[You have triggered a Faction Conflict Mission [Bagaros]]
Faction Conflict Missions and Faction Missions both carried the word "faction," but their natures were completely different.
Faction Conflict Missions are only triggered when two factions clash. A Faction Conflict Mission usually has multiple objectives. Achieving each objective grants corresponding rewards, and achieving multiple objectives also provides a chance to obtain hidden rewards.
Lily carefully reviewed the mission objectives for [Bagaros].
[Mission Objectives:
Ascertain the Truth - Explore the internal situation of the BagarosBase; rewards determined by contribution. Ruthless Slaughter - Gain 1000 experience points for each Truth Societymember killed. Decapitation Strike - Kill the person in charge of the BagarosBase; rewards determined by contribution. Team Power - Command your squad to complete the operation; rewards determined by your squad's contribution. Eliminate the BagarosBase - Rewards determined by contribution.]
The five objectives progressed in layers, and what attracted Lily's attention the most was the fourth mission objective.
The game judged her as the squad commander, but she could only actually command players and Anya. Did this mean that if players made contributions in this Faction Conflict Mission, she would also receive a certain amount of rewards?
It seemed necessary to test it.
If that were truly the case, then players could not be treated as disposable cannon fodder. She would need to tailor suitable tactics for players to earn better rewards.
After the meeting, Lily first communicated with Si, then together with Si, informed the players of the operation time.
The players, upon receiving the accurate news, cheered and ran to the community to show off.
[This moment has finally arrived. Last time at the Abandoned Cooling Plant, Patrick Star had a great showing. This time, I will definitely not fall behind!]
[Lily is leading the mission, you idiots, just be envious and jealous, hahaha!]
[This is my first time receiving a mission with such rich rewards, it's awesome!]
[If it weren't for Lily, Four Directions wouldn't pay attention to us at all. Lotus Sect!]
The players who couldn't participate in the mission were green with envy.
[Damn, I'm going to vomit blood! I won't arrive in Lynn until tomorrow, but Lily is leaving today!]
[Feels like I lost a hundred million.]
[I curse you all to be killed by the Truth Society as soon as you show your heads, and then forced to revive in Lynn.]
[Damn, the upstairs is really vicious, but I like it.]
Amidst a flurry of curses, the time came to afternoon.
At that time, at Lynn Station, agents from Four Directions and players gathered together.
More than twenty vehicles loaded with various weapons lined up, making the surrounding players itch with anticipation.
"Is that a rocket launcher?"
"Oh my god, it's power armor. I wish I could have one too."
Director Madeleine scanned his surroundings and shouted: "Count the numbers, and depart immediately once confirmed!"
The army dispatched by the Gene Primordial had already departed ahead of time; they now needed to catch up as quickly as possible.
Lily drove her own car. She had Anya, wearing the power armor, sit in the back, leaving the passenger seat empty. After looking around for a moment, she called Excavation Princess over.
"You, get in the car. I'll give you a ride; I just happen to have an empty seat here."
Excavation Princess got into the car with a look of pleasant surprise.
This sudden change stunned the other players nearby. So, if you raised Lily's favorability, you could get this kind of treatment?
Lily calling Excavation Princess over was certainly not a random decision.
Excavation Princess's combat power was very weak, but she could definitely be considered a top war correspondent. Her publicity ability was first-rate, and Lily just happened to need Excavation Princess's publicity ability for this operation.
Lily bringing players to attack the Bagaros Base was not a spur-of-the-moment decision; she had three layers of intentions.
Using players as meat shields was the first layer. Having players help her complete some dangerous tasks was the second layer. Using these players as exemplary publicity, telling all players that following her would bring benefits, was the third layer.
After Four Directions finished counting the numbers, Lily stepped on the accelerator and sped out of Lynn.
From Lynn to Bagaros was several hundred kilometers. At a normal car speed, it would take about half a day to arrive, but because many areas along the way were heavily polluted and infested with infected life, the convoy actually took two days to reach its destination.
That was near a small settlement 30 li from the Bajalos Shelter, where the Gene Primordial military had already sent people to meet them.
After getting out of the car, Si specifically ran over to warn the players: "Don't run around until you receive Lily's action order."
The players nodded repeatedly, indicating they wouldn't mess around.
But soon after Si left, the members of the Iron Rain Guild began to act.
Sword Qi Soaring to the Sky realized this was their only chance. Once they missed this opportunity, it would be impossible for them to notify the Truth Society once Four Directions started its operation.
"Charge, charge, charge! Success or failure depends on this one move!"
After much effort, Sword Qi Soaring to the Sky, Old Dog, and others finally managed to successfully avoid all of Four Directions's watchful eyes and left the settlement.
They ran freely on the road to Bagaros.
"It worked, haha, it worked!"
At this moment, their mood was as exhilarating as winning five million.
No, winning five million wasn't as exhilarating. They could monopolize an entire faction's missions, including but not limited to faction missions and that faction's main storyline missions.
The game setting of Beyond the Stars was that each novice planet had more than one main storyline. Players could freely choose one main storyline to pursue, and when different main storylines clashed, the side that gained the upper hand would determine the final direction of that planet's plot. There was no concept of justice always prevailing.
This was also one of the reasons why Sword Qi Soaring to the Sky dared to bet on the Truth Society.
However, at this moment, Sword Qi Soaring to the Sky never imagined that Inoue had sent the footage of them arrogantly cursing the Truth Society to the Truth Society headquarters that day, in order to boost Lily's favorability.
Bagaros Base.
Gedo, an elite assassin who had recently arrived here, was looking through Lily's information. As he flipped through it, he came across the information from Inoue's second assassination attempt on Lily.
"These people are quite powerful, and they are willing to sacrifice their lives for Lily, not fearing the Truth Society at all. I'm afraid they are not ordinary people."
Gedo frowned slightly.
But soon, his brows relaxed again.
In that day's operation, the assassins Inoue sent out killed several such lunatics, and the remaining ones, no matter how crazy, wouldn't be able to stir up much trouble.
Just then, Gedo suddenly heard a commotion outside.
"What's wrong?"
A passing Truth Society member quickly said: "Lord Gedo, a few people came from outside saying they want to join us. They also brought intelligence about the Gene Primordial."
"Oh, interesting."
Gedo decided to go take a look.
------------------------
I've posted 70+ chapters in advance on Patreon.
Webnovel updates will still be daily, as usual.
It might not seem tempting right now but who knows what the future holds?
[email protected]/SolyuraMT
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"