Somewhere on the outskirts of the Mach system, the tranquil starry sky is as deep as ever, as if the eternal river of time encompasses all things.

"If it were just the three of us, I wouldn't have come to this place of the in Machto."

Inside the Sun Knight battlecruiser, Strawberry Juice sits in the driver's seat, teasing around the outer reaches of the Maheto system.

Behind her, two of her companions were glued to the ship's radar and fire system control screens, keeping an eye out for movement on the display.

Hearing the strawberry juice complaint, the two players chimed in.

"Strawberry juice is right, it's good that other players are involved in this quest." The female player who speaks is called "Cat Strip Flavor Cat Litter".

Another female player named "Cat Litter Flavored Cat Strip" said:

"I just don't know which guild the player who also received this hidden quest is. If only they had an internal response in the Machsoto system, our task would be much easier. ”

About half an hour ago, the two sisters, Strawberry Juice and Cat Tiao, and Cat Litter, received a hidden mission from the Metal Creation Group branch.

Before they set off, the NPC who posted the quest told them that in order to ensure that the quest went smoothly, the branch had invited several other teams of players to help.

The location where the three of Strawberry Juice are at this time is the gathering place of the players.

Once everyone is here, they will go deep into the Maherto system together to search for the whereabouts of the synth engineer.

The three of them set off early and came the earliest.

They waited in place for about five minutes before three silver-gray ships arrived in a jump.

The ship piloted by Strawberry Juice is the Sun Knight battlecruiser, which has a boomerang-like appearance with a silvery-white surface.

The three silver-gray ships looked like iron gears and had a heavy aura.

It was a vehicle for senior pilots in the Metal Creation Group, called the Coasting Gear battleship.

Strawberry Juice recognized the origin of this spaceship at a glance, and then whispered to his companions:

"It seems that the helper that the NPC has hired is a player who specializes in the Metal Creation Group's faction quests. Only players who specialize in increasing the prestige of the Metal Creation Group will be able to fly the Gliding Gear battleship. ”

As soon as Strawberry Juice finished speaking, a battleship with the Gliding Gear sent a communication signal to Strawberry Juice's spaceship.

Strawberry Juice presses the answer button on the screen to start communication.

The communication screen shows a scene on the opposing ship, and the captain of the ship, a player wearing the uniform of a senior pilot of the Metal Creation Group, is in charge of communication.

The man glanced at the scene in the strawberry juice cabin, and saw that it was three female players who were participating in the mission, so he said with an elegant and polite smile:

"Hello, we are players who specialize in group missions, and the team name is 'Metal Walker'. I'm the captain, the Great Walker. Next to me are two vice-captains, the second and third walkers, and behind me are the fourth and fifth walkers..."

The number of people on the communication screen generally introduces their own team members.

After he finished speaking, Strawberry Juice introduced the three of them, and then added friends to each other.

Another five minutes passed, and three more teams of players arrived.

The ships piloted by these three teams of players have different appearances and are not standard for the Metal Creation Group's senior pilots.

Strawberry Juice is friends with their captain as usual, and they are in touch at any time.

Once everyone has arrived, the mission screen refreshes, changing from the state of assembling the party to starting the action.

Intelligence provided by the Metal Creation Group surfaced on the mission screen, highlighting the dangers of the mission.

According to reliable sources, about half a year ago, a cruising observation satellite of the Metal Creation Group lost contact while passing near the Makhsoto system.

The Metal Creation Group immediately dispatched a team of synth engineers to repair it.

Contact was lost less than a month after the maintenance team departed.

In the following time, the group successively sent three synthet search teams, all of which disappeared without any news coming back.

Suspecting that it was a star thief in Maher's system, the group stole the cruise observation satellite and killed the Synth Engineer.

Therefore, the group specially invited the undead who are not afraid of death to go deep into the Machsoto system to inquire about the news of the satellite.

As long as you find out the whereabouts of satellites or synth engineers, players will be able to make a difference.

If you can bring back the satellite or the synthesizer's main control chip, the mission reward will be at least doubled.

It's been a month since the last synth search team went missing.

Judging from the speed of the flow of items in the galaxy entrusted by Mach, high-end goods such as the synthesizer's main control chip may have already been installed in the electronic brain of a certain star thief boss.

If that's the case, players can't pry open the skull of the Star Thief Boss and dig out the main control chip from it...

In the face of the information provided on the mission interface, players have a difficult and very difficult mood in their hearts.

However, considering the generous rewards for the missions, players plan to give it a try.

"Guys, I have a suggestion."

A player named Daxinger said in the crowd's chat channel:

"We broke into the Machsoto system like this, and it is estimated that it will be difficult to find satellites and main control chips. So, let's think differently. For example, we disguised ourselves as synths, lured the star thieves in Maher's system into doing something to us, and then followed them into the lair. ”

This suggestion resonated.

Another player said:

"That's a good idea. The star thieves have dealt with three batches of synth search teams, and they should have formed a fixed pattern of sharing the spoils. Whoever has the main control chip of the synthesizer and who takes the bionic neural bundle of the synthesizer, there are fixed rules. When we are sure that the main control chips of the previous three synthesizer search teams have been taken by those star thieves, then we can directly find the door and make a deal with the other party, or simply rob it. Anyway, the people in this galaxy are all star thieves, and they are not protected by the Unification Bureau. ”

"And who's going to play the synth search team?" Another asked.

The crowd looked at the Great Walker.

Among the players on the scene, only the team of the Great Walkers has the exclusive car of the Metal Creation Group, and they are the only ones who are most suitable to play the role of the synth search team.

The Great Walker says:

"I'm willing to free up a gliding gear for someone who plays the synth search team. As for who will play the role of the synth searcher, my suggestion is to let players who don't have part-time "Star Marine", "Telekinesis" and other combat classes do it. Because the synthetics of the group generally command small drone operations and will not go to the battlefield in person. Their physique is more shapely, and can even be said to be skinny, compared to players in the combat class. ”

Everyone nodded when they heard this.

The Great Walker is worthy of being a high-level pilot of the Metal Creation Group, and the other party's attribute level for the synthesizers of the group is definitely the highest among the people.

Following his advice, the big guy began to screen suitable candidates.

The three female players of Strawberry Juice, Cat Strips, and Cat Litter were directly selected, because they were slim and had no excess fat, which was very similar to synths.

In addition to them, there are three other players who only work part-time in the production profession.

A six-member synth search team aboard a taxiing gear.

In order to play the synth well, they must learn the tone and style of the synth.

In "reality", these habits that take years to form can take a lot of time.

But this is the game world, and players can use the brainplug chip to speed up.

Using his authority within the group, Daxinger downloaded the thinking and behavior paradigm files of the synthesizer engineers, encapsulated them into a brain plug chip, and handed them over to Strawberry Juice and others for use.

After about an hour, everyone was ready.

Strawberry Juice and the others mastered the synth's style and began to pilot the ship deep into the Maherto system.

The rest of the people are all scattered, hiding in various places on the edge of the galaxy to avoid startling snakes.

When they receive the signal from Strawberry Juice and the others, they will launch a jump and go to support.

"Take a deep breath, take a deep breath, and when we see the strange looks of the star thieves, we must not laugh, we must tense our faces."

Strawberry juice puffed out his chest, took a few deep breaths, and encouraged each other with his companions.

The Mahesuto system is located on the edge of the Silver Star Domain, and is the most marginal Xiong Xi in the territory of the Unification Bureau.

The Maheto system is a paradise for star thieves, a hotbed of chaos and evil, and an enemy of civilization and order.

Purebred humans are sparse and mundane here, making up only about 35% of the system's population.

The remaining 65% is full of hybrids between humans and machines, hybrids between humans and space creatures, stitches between humans and space monsters, and hybrids between humans and plants.

All unimaginable, unacceptable forms of life can be found in the Mahesoto system.

For example, the strange species called the "Horse Snake Grass Man" is a chaotic creature with a mixture of four genes: centaur, human head snake, autologous grass and purebred human, and is born with the limbs of a horse, the scales of a snake, the blades of grass and the facial features of a human.

There are many, many more strange species like this in the Mahesuto system, so don't be surprised by their strange appearance.

As a result, Strawberry Juice has repeatedly warned its companions to pay attention to expression management. Always remember that you are a synthesizer with no feelings, not a human being.

What Strawberry Juice didn't know was that at the same time that the group was heading towards the Maherto system, the team led by the Great Walker quietly left their posts and flew into the dangerous deep space on the outskirts of the Maherto system.

The two Planing Gear spacecraft turned on silent cruising mode, and the optical camouflage and coating to hide the radar signal were fully activated, demonstrating a stealth capability far beyond that of ordinary battleships.

On the spaceship, Da Xing and his teammates gathered around him said:

"Go get the NPCs out of the cabin."

A young player gets the order and turns and runs into the hallway.

After a short while, a black-robed figure with a withered and emaciated figure followed the young player's steps into the cab.

The NPC lifted its hood, revealing a pale skull and hollow black eye sockets, a skeleton with a bone surface that made up for the arcane lines.

The Great Walker carefully considered his tone and said with a slightly respectful expression:

"Dear Lord Dry Bones, I have arranged for several groups of undead to attract the attention of the Star Thieves for us. Now you can confidently and boldly guide us to the location of the vacuum bubble safe. ”

The Great Walker's team actually has another mission on this trip, which is related to the skeleton in front of them called the Dry Bone Lord.

Why did Metal Creation Group arrange for a cruising observation satellite to pass through the Mahesoto system?

That's right, it was this Dry Bone Lord who hired the Metal Creation Group to do this, and he was the owner behind the scenes.

According to him, about a year ago, he hired a group to help him observe the vacuum bubble transmission signal near the Machsoto system.

As soon as the signal appears, the group will mobilize satellites to take away the vacuum bubble safe that has transmitted to the area and hand it over to the dry bones.

But now, the satellite is missing, and I don't know if the vacuum bubble transmission signal has appeared, let alone a vacuum bubble safe.

The anxious Lord Dry Bone had no choice but to go out in person, find the senior pilot of the group, and give them a hiring order.

This command works on the players, and it naturally becomes a hidden mission.

The Great Walker had an idea, and simply secretly carried out the hidden mission of the Dry Bone Lord under the pretext of helping the group search for satellites and synths.

Wouldn't it be nice to do two tasks at the same time and earn double the task rewards~~

The wishful thinking of the Great Walker crackled, and Li Nuo heard it in the other star fields.

In fact, as early as the Great Walker's spaceship approached Strawberry Juice, Leno noticed the skeleton hidden in the ship.

That's right, this Dry Bone Lord is a member of the Tomb King.

The aura of death on its body was rich and restrained, and although it was contracted in its body with great efforts, it was still accurately captured by Li Nuo.

"Okay, well, I knew that paying attention to the strawberry juice girl would definitely be rewarding. I didn't expect the people of the Tomb King to appear here. ”

Li Nuo stared at the dry bone master on the magic screen, observed deeply, and secretly calculated.

The vacuum bubble safe mentioned by the Great Walker should be the one that was launched into the alien sky by the vacuum bubble launcher under the Convergence City.

Dry Bones and the Great Walker must not have been able to find this thing, because it was not launched near the Mahesoto system at all, but was launched by the Assassination Angel to a place close to the wasteland.

Unsurprisingly, over the next two hours or so, Grand Walker and Dry Bones fished in troubled waters with the chaos players had created in the galaxy.

They turned on the high-power deep space scanner and scanned the inside and outside of the Mach system several times, but they couldn't find the space signal from the vacuum bubble safe.

The vacuum pack safe is not an ordinary shipping container, and its space signal is absolutely impossible to hide by any anti-detection device.

If you can't find the space signal of the safe here in the Machsoto system, it can only mean one thing:

This safe has long been transferred by the star thieves, and I don't know where it went!

"Damn star thieves!"

After the taciturn Lord Dry Bones came to a conclusion, it was very rare for him to speak, scolding the star thief, and it seemed that he had calculated the account on the star thief's head.

He turned his head, stared at the Great Walker with his black hole holes, and said in a suppressed tone:

"All of you get out of the wheelhouse, I'm going to use your ship computer to get in touch with the Metal Creation Group."

"Yes, sir." The Grand Walker gave the players around him a few colors and strode out of the cab with them.

When the hatch was closed, only dry bones remained in the cab.

The skeleton snapped off its right index finger, pulled the nail cover from the index finger, and inserted it into the slot of the ship's computer like a chip.

Three or five seconds later, the holographic screen pops out.

Instead of changing to a human appearance, the on-screen image spreads around like a tidal wave, quickly filling the entire cab.

Countless numbers and lines swayed and shimmered in the air, creating a vast sea of virtual images around the dry bones.

The lines created by the holographic screen are manipulated by invisible forces, condensing a door in front of the dry bones.

The door opened, revealing an illusory white figure.

Above the figure's head, a line of words floated like the player's character nickname:

Headquarters, Receptionist No. 7143. (End of chapter)