by <unknown>
"If that's the case, why don't I aggravate the situation further?" Han Xiao stroked his chin.
After waiting for a moment, the bell went off, and the students left their classrooms. Han Xiao then openly called out.
"Karlot."
Upon hearing someone call his name, Karlot turned around. Upon seeing Han Xiao in the same clothes as the previous day, he recognized Han Xiao's identity and was startled. "Black… Black Star. It's you again."
His voice was not loud, but it seemed to have a magical force. The students in the surroundings all stopped and looked at Han Xiao with burning gazes.
"You seem to be very nervous?" Han Xiao ignored the crowd and smiled at Karlot. Although others were unable to see his true appearance, he could still display emotions.
"My father asked me to thank you, but he doesn't wish for me to interact with you too much," Karlot said with a nervous look.
Han Xiao was not too bothered by the response. Raising his finger, Karlot's communicator flew into his hands. After fiddling with it casually, he handed it back to Karlot.
"It's alright. I left my number for you. You can contact me if you change your mind."
Karlot was overwhelmed with favor and said without confidence, "I… truly do not understand why you think so highly of me."
"I am only interested in developing more talents."
He then patted Karlot's head and felt the changes in the gazes of those around. A profound smile could then be seen on his face.
Heh, I helped you strengthen your protagonist interface. You don't need to thank me.
Han Xiao then looked at Karlot deeply before disappearing from everyone's sight.
The next moment, Han Xiao's figure appeared outside the atmosphere. He did not remain on the planet and left in his spaceship.
During the following period, Han Xiao remained in the territory of the dynasty. The upper echelons of the dynasty paid close attention to Han Xiao's actions and observed that he paid visits to many different people. Some of them were middle-rank members within the dynasty, and others were ordinary individuals.
The upper echelons of the dynasty understood Han Xiao's intentions. Black Star was planning for the future and considering what kind of talents he should invest in for his authority in the dynasty to increase.
However, the choices that Han Xiao had made were truly strange. Han Xiao did not pick the current high-ranking individuals but went to find some strange people. Just what kind of logic was that?
The dynasty had investigated everyone that Han Xiao visited. Some of them truly had great potential, but the majority of them did not seem special at all.
The upper echelons of the dynasty were puzzled. They could not understand the basis behind Black Star's choices. His choices truly seemed far too random.
On Han Xiao's side, he paid visits to many NPCs that would be famous in the future.
The majority of them rejected joining the Black Star Army just like Karlot. There were some who had accepted Han Xiao's invitation, and he managed to bring some talents over to his side. Of course, Han Xiao did not rope over any talents who would have authority in the dynasty in future.
On the Shattered Star Ring's side, Sylvia acted according to Han Xiao's instructions and took the relevant measures. She contacted many of the organizations working together with the army to withstand the pressure from the Limitless Financial Group together.
This idea achieved a certain effect, and a portion of the organizations accepted the suggestion to form a loose alliance to increase the difficulty of the Limitless Financial Group acquiring these organizations.
However, this was a method that did not resolve the root cause of the problem.
The army was not a real financial group after all, and their foundation was not as robust as the Limitless Financial Group. These organizations only cooperated with the army and were not properties of the army.
The most important thing would be for these organizations to hang in there by themselves. As for the rest, the army could only look at convincing some of their partner civilizations to provide some political leeway to these organizations to aid their businesses.
The only way to resolve the root cause of the problem would be for the dynasty to open up the rights to sell the totem to everyone. However, this was not something that Han Xiao could decide alone. Since competition was unavoidable, Han Xiao did not think too much about it and focused on training his energy. As long as his energy reached the requirement for the Promotion Mission, he would go and cause trouble for the Tyrant.
He would not be able to solve the problem this way but could create a lose-lose situation for both of them.
He would only be able to use strength to target Heber, but it was useless for him to suggest sparring with Sorokin. The other party was the leader of a financial group and was using normal business means to compete with him. If Han Xiao used strength to deal with Sorokin, the citizens of the universe would only think that the Black Star Army was too tyrannical. Furthermore, Sorokin did not need prestige, and Han Xiao was able to think of over a hundred different reasons for Sorokin to admit defeat immediately.
Heber was different. As an ally of the dynasty, Heber helped the enemy backstab him, and Han Xiao would have no qualms with beating Heber up. Heber placed much importance on his prestige and would never run from a spar. This was also a good opportunity for Han Xiao to take revenge about the time Heber bullied him when he had just become a Beyond Grade A.
As the owner of the Evolution Cube, many large organizations paid close attention to all of Han Xiao's actions. Even if he was only having a holiday in the dynasty's territory, many organizations still paid attention to him. Everyone knew that he was hiding from the storm, and no one wanted to disturb him.
However, there were some who had other thoughts.
…
Planet Ladbu was the colonial planet of a Star System Vassal Civilization in the Crimson Dynasty's territory. Because of the interference from the Universal Civilizations, all the Vassal Civilizations in the Central Galaxy made use of more lax and backward political systems. This civilization was like that. This colonial planet was managed by a local feudal lord. Apart from in emergency situations, the feudal lord would not be appointed by the central power but elected from the region. It was a semi-independent system.
Such a backward ruling method was not advantageous to the authority of the civilization.
The position of feudal lord on Planet Ladbu had always been held in the hands of a few prestigious families.
Although an election would be held according to an ancient agreement, the election was only for show, and the family that took up the position of feudal lord had already been decided beforehand.
This year was the election year for Planet Ladbu, but it was different from the other years. An individual called Iapetus, who was born in a business family, returned to participate in the election. Originally, someone like him would have been suppressed by the other families, and it would have been impossible for him to emerge victorious.
But this time, the citizens of Planet Ladbu seemed to be tired of the various large families playing politics and wanted a new face. As such, they gave their votes to the outsider, and Iapetus became the most popular candidate. First, he was a local, and second, he was from a pretty famous business family on Planet Ladbu. According to the current votes, he was the most likely candidate for the position of feudal lord.
"We hope that you will back out from the election."
In one of the most luxurious apartments of the planet, the emissaries of the various families placed a communicator with a bank transfer page on the screen in front of Iapetus.
"What is the meaning of this?" Iapetus frowned.
"Name a price."
"I do not lack money."
"Do you really want to block our way?"
Iapetus replied with a deep voice, "I am only playing according to the rules. This is what an election means."
The emiss
aries then looked at each other and stood up to leave. One of them then looked at Iapetus coldly and said, "You've made the wrong choice."
After the emissaries left the room, Iapetus let out a long sigh. His back was already covered with sweat, and he let out a bitter laugh.
At this moment, a lady wearing a secretary uniform walked in and stood in front of Iapetus. She said with worry on her face, "They will not let go of you so easily."
"I know." Iapetus waved his arms and muttered under his breath, "Now that negotiating with me has failed, they will employ more violent means. If they are kind, they will kidnap me and use various methods to frame me. If they aren't, I will not be able to survive until the end of the election."
"I have already hired more galactic mercenaries as your bodyguards. They will protect you for sure."
"Mercenaries… People who can be bought over with money cannot be trusted."
"… Brother, why not you give up on the election? Your life is more important than anything."
This female secretary was not an ordinary employee but Iapetus' kin.
"No. There are some things that an individual has to do." Iapetus shook his head.
The female secretary had a complicated look in her eyes and a tinge of admiration. She had always admired Iapetus, not just because of his methods but also because of his courage.
Both of them then fell silent for a while, and Iapetus' eyes lit up as though he thought about something.
"Right, I heard that the bigshot Black Star is currently touring the dynasty. His last seen location isn't too far from Planet Ladbu, right?"
"Er, I think so."
Upon hearing that, a bright glow lit up in Iapetus' eyes.
"I have a bold idea. Perhaps… we can make use of Black Star!"
Chapter 934. You Are Truly Bold |
In the dark energy gathering chamber of Black Star's spaceship.
A black metal sphere that was ten meters in diameter floated in the middle of the room. The surface of the sphere had many beehive-like holes lined up neatly along the surface with most of the holes being connected to a high efficiency energy transmitter cable that stretched to the wall.
The spaceship had many of these dark energy gathering chambers that were used to collect the dark energy when travelling in the universe. This black sphere was the dark energy converter. Under normal circumstances, the dark energy reactor was enough to sustain the spaceship for ordinary flight. Using such an energy collector was akin to harvesting solar energy for backup and for letting the energy reactor rest once in a while. It was also able to provide additional energy if required.
The room was filled with abundant dark energy. Han Xiao floated in front of the collecting device, and strands of dark red energy flowed around his body. The cells of his entire body absorbed the dark energy being given out, and he used an energy conversion manual to increase his own energy.
Whoosh!
After a while, the red light in Han Xiao's eyes receded, and he spat out a mouthful of hot air. He looked at the notification on his interface. The number of refinements for his [Dark Energy Refinement Manual] had increased by one again.
Among the Energy Training Techniques that he had purchased, this was one of the best. He could absorb dark energy and convert it to his own energy with an upper limit of 240 refinements. Every refinement would give him 10 energy, and he would be able to obtain a total of 2,400 energy points at most.
After triggering the Promotion mission, Han Xiao had been training his energy every day, and his energy points had already gone up by a few thousand points.
Landing on the ground, Han Xiao gestured with his finger, and the cable lines that he unplugged were plugged back into the energy collection device. He then walked out of the room, and his consciousness entered the quantum network. With two fingers, he grabbed Phillip and brought Phillip in front of him.
"Has anything happened recently?"
"Let me see, hum…"
Phillip then took out a holographic book and pretended to flip through it. An animated lightbulb then lit up above Phillip's head.
"A few dozen dynasty organizations issued an invitation to you. They wish to get to know you, master, hum…"
"They're here again," Han Xiao said helplessly.
It was no secret that he was touring the dynasty's territory. Most of them knew not to disturb him, but a small portion of them wanted to cling onto his thighs, and there were already a few hundred organizations that had invited him. They were all rejected by Han Xiao without exception.
"Reject them all if there are no invitations worth paying attention to." Han Xiao waved his hand.
"I looked through all the invitations, and there is a pretty interesting invitation that I think you may be interested in, hum…"
As he said that, the invitation was displayed before Han Xiao.
"Your Excellency Black Star,
"I am the founder of the Iapetus Financial Group, and I have always admired the Black Star Army. I wish to work together with the Black Star Army and build a subdivision on Planet Ladbu. Having heard that you are in the area, I wish to invite you to take a look at Planet Ladbu.
"Planet Ladbu feudal lord, Iapetus."
Han Xiao looked through the invitation and could not understand what was special about it.
"What's so special about this? Isn't this an ordinary invitation? Just send someone to build the subdivision. Why is there a need for me to go personally?"
"The problem is, his signature is wrong. When I checked his identity, he isn't the feudal lord of that planet but only one of the individuals participating in the election. I looked through the database, and it is very likely that he is in a precarious situation and thus chose to issue this invitation."
Han Xiao did not have any impression of Iapetus and went online to check on his background. Iapetus' current situation was no secret to a Virtual Mechanic like Han Xiao.
After looking through the information, Han Xiao could guess Iapetus' thoughts, and a look of interest could be seen on his face.
He wants to make use of me? And he doesn't even bother hiding it?
A teasing look could be seen in Han Xiao's eyes.
Their statuses were worlds apart. A small little financial group leader actually wanted to make use of a dynasty bigshot like him?
Without mentioning the rest, he was at least bold enough.
"Master, should I reply to him?" Phillip asked.
Han Xiao thought for a while and smiled.
"Agree to him and change course to Planet Ladbu. Let's take a look at this fellow who has the guts to make use of me."
…
In the room, Iapetus was currently pacing around with a frown. His female secretary was dealing with the administrative work for the election and glanced at Iapetus with concern from time to time.
"Beep beep!"
Right at this moment, the communicator rang, and Iapetus picked it up immediately.
"Brother, are you alright?" Upon seeing the sudden change in his expression, the female secretary could not help but ask that with concern.
"I'm extremely good! Black Star has replied to me and agreed to my invitation. He will be arriving at Planet Ladbu very soon!" Iapetus was truly overjoyed.
"He really agreed‽" The female secretary had a look of disbelief on her face.
She actually did not think that Iapetus' plan would work. In her eyes, a bigshot like Black Star would never bother about insignificant people like them.
"See for yourself."
Iapetus handed the communicator over to his secretary. This was just a bold attempt of his, and he had known that it was unlikely to succeed. Even if Black Star could not see through his intentions, it would be difficult to tempt the other party with such a small amount of benefits. But since Black Star had agreed to their invitation, it meant that their cooperation had begun.
"Make immediate arrangements," Iapetus instructed. "I want to personally welcome Black Star."
&nbs
p; "I understand." The secretary stood up immediately and suddenly said with hesitation, "Those few families are already taking action. Should we release news now and get them to…"
"No!" Iapetus rejected without any hesitation. "This information cannot be revealed before Black Star arrives. If it is, I will be in danger. Cancel all my plans during this period. We must not give the enemy any chances!"
…
The representatives of the various wealthy families were gathered together. There was a pale looking man seated on the couch with a box in his hands. His hand had never left the surface of the box.
"What is Iapetus doing? He's cancelled all his plans, hiding at home. We will not have any chances to take action," one of the representatives said.
Another representative then looked at the pale man and said, "Do you have an idea to get rid of him?"
This pale looking man was an assassin that the various families had been grooming. He was a Grade B Cannon Master. He shook his head upon hearing the question.
"I had been observing the security of Iapetus' house. He's hired many bodyguards with a few Grade B Supers. His defenses are extremely tight. Unless he comes out in the open, it will be impossible for me to break into his house."
"I have already come into contact with those Grade B mercenaries," one of the representatives said. "They took my money but told me that they can only pretend to be careless. They cannot betray their employer in the open, otherwise it will affect their credibility. We'd better wait for Iapetus to leave his house."
"If those Grade B bodyguards are on our side, I am confident that I will be able to kill him." The pale looking man smiled coldly.
"Alright, be ready for your orders," one of the representatives said with a dark expression. "Planet Ladbu is our territory, and we will never allow it to be managed by outsiders."
…
A couple of days later, Iapetus finally left the house and took a bulletproof flying device to one of the harbors. His motive was unknown.
