by <unknown>
“You guys can set up bets yourselves, but the army’s pot doesn’t accept bets from the outside.” Sylvia waved her hand.
“And why is that? If you guys open up the bet, the commission you can earn from it will be countless times greater.” Someone questioned.
“This is the highest order from the Army Commander.”
Sylvia did not explain it to them. Actually, when she came to know that Han Xiao had made this decision, she was confused too. This was an opportunity to make a lot of money, and from what she knew about Han Xiao, he would not let this opportunity slip past. However, to her surprise, it was like her teacher’s personality changed on this matter.
Afterward, Han Xiao explained it to her. He said that although the army was quite wealthy, the bets from the outside world were still way too large. There were risks to opening the betting to the outside world, and some fool—Sorokin—might cause problems in the dark. Comparatively, if the bets were only open to the internal members, it was basically equivalent to cycling the funds within the army. No matter who won or lost, the money was still in the hands of the army’s members.
On the other hand, the people participating in the competition were their own army members, and if the army opened the bets to the outside world, the army members might have some disgruntled guesses about why it was the case. This was not beneficial to building their mindsets. If the bets were only limited to within the army, the image it gave would be much better. It would feel like a family betting with each other within the family.
Simply put…
We ain’t gonna earn this dirty money!
After retrieving all the price quotes, Iapetus brought his business team along and came in for negotiations, while Sylvia left the conference room and headed for the next meeting.
Other than the selling of broadcasting rights, the army also planned to find a lot of sponsors for the Black Star Cup. The partners of the army would provide some form of sponsorship, be it for the sake of profit or face, and all of that added together was quite a large amount of money.
Sorokin had approached Han Xiao for this purpose, too.
…
“You want to sponsor the Black Star Cup?”
Han Xiao sized up Sorokin’s remote projection.
“That’s right. You’re a shareholder of the Limitless Financial Group. Of course, I have to show my support for your projects.” Sorokin had his signature fake smile on his face.
“How much do you plan to sponsor?”
Sorokin gave a number, smiled, and said, “This number represents my sincerity.”
Han Xiao’s heart skipped a beat. This amount was quite outrageous.
Your sincerity is overflowing…
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, the Black Star Cup has a lot of potential. I have very high hopes in this investment.” Sorokin smiled and slowly said, “Plus, we’re partners now. Due to some reasons in the past, some cracks were made in our relationship, so I’m hoping to fix our relationship…”
Han Xiao understood.
Right, so you’re here to give me ‘protection fees’, hoping to compensate for the loss you’ve caused me before.
He had essentially threatened Sorokin to obtain the position of shareholder, which could not be changed. Sorokin had already accepted that, so he mainly wanted to fix their relationship. He had to say, this guy really knew when to compromise and take a step back.
Han Xiao suddenly thought of something.
This guy probably was not only there to make up for what he had done but also for Traveler.
Dark Lord had caught Traveler, and the dynasty had already announced that he would be openly executed. Han Xiao had gone to the secondary dimensions some time ago, so Sorokin might think that he had found something out. Thus, he had come to test Han Xiao.
After all, Sorokin meddled in the attack on Hila, and Traveler was one of the very few people who knew about it, so it was natural that he was worried.
“Alright then. About before, I shall hold you less responsible.” Han Xiao smiled, dragged his words, and said, “About Heber…”
Sorokin’s eyelid trembled. “This…”
Before he answered, Han Xiao laughed and said, “Don’t worry, I’m kidding. How can I let you void your agreement with him, use the methods you used on me on him, and take away all the developments you’ve helped him make? He and I are so very close.”
As if I’d believe you…
Sorokin adjusted his emotions and tested Han Xiao by saying, “I heard you went to the secondary dimensions recently. How was it?”
“Not bad. I went to quite a few places…”
Han Xiao chattered about everything but what he knew Sorokin really wanted to know about.
After patiently listening for a while, Sorokin realized that Han Xiao was deliberately avoiding the topic, so he had no choice but to cough and say, “I heard that Dark Lord caught Traveler in the secondary dimensions. Did you meet him?’
“Yes.” Han Xiao nodded.
Sorokin was glad. Just as he was about to listen to what Han Xiao was going to say next, he suddenly realized that Han Xiao had stopped and did not seem like he was going to continue at all.
“…”
The two of them looked at each other in silence for close to half a minute.
Finally, Sorokin could not take it anymore and asked with resignation, “What happened?”
“Back then, Dark Da… ahem, Traveler almost escaped from Dark Lord, but he ran into me, so I captured him.” Han Xiao tutted. “Speaking of which, that guy hardly had a backbone. I only tortured him a little bit, and he gave up the identity of who was behind all this.”
Sorokin’s heart tightened. “Who?”
Han Xiao glanced at him and slowly said, “He said he isn’t really a neutral mercenary but a secret direct member of a Super Star Cluster civilization. He was ordered by his superiors to disrupt me when Hila was attacked.”
“Direct member?” Sorokin was curious. “Of whom?”
Han Xiao said with a grave ton, “None of us expected him to actually be a member of the Modo Civilization.”
“Modo…”
Sorokin pondered.
Suddenly, realizing something, he became alarmed.
Wait a minute. There’s no way Traveler would have covered the truth for me. He’d definitely expose the fact that I was the reason the Star Cluster sent him on this mission.
This meant that the dynasty knew he was involved.
“Then you…” Sorokin stared at Han Xiao but did not know what to say.
“What do you want to say?” Han Xiao raised his brows.
“What else did Traveler say?”
“Are you asking whether Traveler ratted you out?” Han Xiao said with a smile.
Sorokin’s expression tightened. Since Black Star had said that, he was sure he was exposed.
This time, Han Xiao stopped smiling and coldly said, “What you’ve done behind my back isn’t very nice.”
He had planned to hide this, but when Sorokin came to find him, he understood that his initial plan of staying in the dark was not so realistic.
The dynasty was going to publicly execute Traveler, so Sorokin definitely had no room to daydream. He knew that there was a very high chance Traveler would throw the blame to him, nor did Traveler have any reason to cover up for him. Therefore, the dynasty most likely would know about what he did, and Black Star certainly was notified about him plotting against the Black Star Army.
This way, even if Han Xiao acted like he did not know it, Sorokin would only be more alarmed. Therefore, he might as well make it clear. According to what he knew about Sorokin, this guy definitely would not want to make things ugly but would instead try to compensate for it.
After all, even if Sorokin gave him compensation, it did not mean that he would stop targeting him.
Sorokin paused, sighed, and said, “Alright, got it. The motive behind what I did was just to maintain balance; it’s not pers
onal. Nonetheless, I owe you for this incident. Since we’re now partners, I’ll give you an appropriate answer.”
Han Xiao carefully observed his expression and narrowed his eyes.
As he expected, given how thick-skinned Sorokin was, him panicking after being exposed was not likely. He would have instead confessed and apologized on the spot, then looked for compensation measures.
Furthermore, Sorokin was very cheeky and actually prepared for this—he deliberately told Traveler about ‘how he really felt’ and gave his actions the excuse of maintaining unity and disrupting the Beyond Grade A shared battlefront. This way, it would not seem personal.
With this mindset as the reason, even if he was exposed, he would not be targeted too much. This was because the stand he had displayed on this matter was actually the same as the three Universal Civilizations’ stand.
The only difference was the methods he used. Even so, he had hardly offended the dynasty. After all, his method was just indirect disruption, not direct interference.
In the current complex universe structure, the three Universal Civilizations had conflicts of interest with the development union. As a member of the association that also had the same mindset as the three Universal Civilizations, Sorokin might become one of the people they might want to draw to their side.
Although having his stance exposed would lead to those Beyond Grade As who supported the shared battlefront such as Mechanic Emperor and Black Star distancing themselves from him, this also became an opportunity for him to get closer to the three Universal Civilizations. This way, his losses would be minimized.
Han Xiao could only praise Sorokin’s intelligence. Relying on his resources, this guy could always deal with the negative side effects very well.
The biggest problem was that he had worked with the Super Star Cluster Alliance on this, so the three Universal Civilizations would definitely not be happy about it. Sorokin had no way of washing that off, so he had to pay a price.
The second problem was Han Xiao’s attitude on this. Black Star was insulted, and no one could shake his position in the association now. Sorokin had no choice but to prepare for Han Xiao to make an outrageous demand.
Many thoughts flashed through Han Xiao’s mind. He blinked and said coldly, “Let me hear how you’re planning to express your apology to me.”
Chapter 1092. Opening |
“I’ll give the Black Star Army more support. For all the services and resources you purchase from the Limitless Financial Group in the future, you will only be charged the cost. At the same time, I’ll bring in a lot of discounted business projects and partner up with the Germinal Financial Group under you, helping it grow. Also, I’m willing to invest and build factories in the Black Star Army’s territory without any cost or profit in mind. Through investing and helping your business to grow in various industries on your territory…”
Sorokin mentioned a lot of things. In conclusion, other than monetary compensation, he was also going to use the Limitless Financial Group’s businesses and funds to help the Black Star Army grow and develop.
Han Xiao made some calculations in his head. If these terms were all to be carried out, despite how wealthy the Limitless Financial Group was, it would not be a small expenditure at all. To the army’s territories, the construction would be sped up tremendously.
This guy really seemed serious about fixing the relationship.
In the past, Sorokin used a similar method to help the Bloodshed Land grow. Now, the Bloodshed Land had mostly completed their business transformation and become a strong competitor of the army in the Shattered Star Ring. Sorokin was now offering the same treatment to the Black Star Army, with even better terms.
As for the support he had been providing to Heber, even though Black Star did not mention it, Sorokin was going to stop it for the time being.
“Hmm…” Han Xiao neither agreed nor disagreed. He then brought up a new term. “Although the construction in the Flickering World territories is important, the army has a larger goal. I’m planning to develop the army in the other Star Fields too. Your Limitless Financial Group has influence and businesses in various Star Fields too. I suppose you can share some of that too.”
“…Okay.” Sorokin was smiling on the surface but actually clenching his teeth in his mind.
He knew that this request meant that Black Star was not satisfied with just resources but had his eyes on the Limitless Financial Group’s channels and connections across the Star Fields. Black Star wanted to suck the Limitless Financial Group’s blood and take its businesses to nurture the army’s businesses in the other Star Fields. It was quite an outrageous demand.
Although Sorokin was mentally prepared for it, he was still quite hurt.
One reason he was willing to give so much compensation was to fix his relationship with Black Star. It was worth investing in him despite the fact that the chance of Black Star no longer targeting him was only fifty percent. Another reason was to display his stance to the dynasty.
Although the Black Star Army might become a parasite to the Limitless Financial Group, leeching on its meat to grow, the most urgent matter now was to deal with the dynasty. Suffering from losses was inevitable, or Sorokin would not have compromised like this. The Black Star Army was strong indeed, but he was not afraid of Han Xiao in the field of business. It was the dynasty behind Han Xiao that concerned him.
After getting by this incident, the profit he lost could be slowly earned back in the future, and the agreements made now could be ignored in various ways too. Therefore, Sorokin decided to agree with it for the time being.
“Also, I like Universal Treasures. Be it complete products or blueprints, I like to collect them all. The Limitless Financial Group should have some ways to get them—share them with me,” Han Xiao said.
“I’ll do my best to collect them after I get back.” Sorokin agreed without hesitation. He was already agreeing to pay a lot of debts; agreeing to more did not really make a difference.
“That’s it then. Carry out these terms as soon as possible.” Han Xiao waved his hand. “I have some things to attend to later, so let’s end our chat here today.”
“Okay, I won’t disturb you any longer.”
Sorokin stood up, nodded slightly, and hung up the communication. His remote projection disappeared.
Han Xiao leaned back and pondered.
“Traveler is dead loyal to the Star Arc Civilization, and only I know about it for now. I wonder if the dynasty can get that from him in the interrogation. No matter what, as of now, Traveler is firm about Sorokin being the one behind it on the dynasty’s side. The dynasty will definitely send someone to question Sorokin’s motive.
“At that time, Sorokin will surely blame it on the Super Star Cluster Alliance. I told him Modo is the true mastermind, so he will most likely say the same to the dynasty. If the dynasty continues to ask, he’ll probably say I told him. The dynasty knows that I have beef with Modo, so they’ll know my motive. Although they clearly know this is a lie and framing, they might be happy to go along with it. In the future, they might use this as an excuse to cause trouble for the Modo Civilization and other Super Star Cluster civilizations.
“As for Sorokin, he might not believe what I said, but even if he doesn’t believe Traveler belongs to the Modo Civilization, he’ll definitely investigate it…”
Han Xiao shook his head and smiled.
This way, the one who suffered the most damage from this entire incident would be the Modo Civilization. It basically all fell onto their head out of nowhere.
In the three Universal Civilizations’ future operations to deal with the Super Star Cluster Alliance, the Modo Civilization would probably receive the most ‘love’.
“This way, the second requirement of that Grade S mission [Kunde Race Leader’s Last Wish] should be about complete…”
Han Xiao’s eyes slightly sparkled, and he rubbed his hands.
He had been tempted by the reward of this m
ission for a very long time. [Proof of Leadership], [The Enemy], and [Kunde Rage], a total of three excellent abilities. Currently, the Modo Civilization was protected by the Super Star Cluster Alliance and was keeping a low profile, so he could not target them directly. The only thing he could do was wait for the certain conflict in the future.
…
News about the Black Star Cup quickly spread. The entire army showed an extremely high passion for it; countless members registered.
Most people joined for entertainment purposes, but a few ambitious army warriors saw this as an opportunity to display their strength.
The Black Star Cup had also received a lot of attention among the army players. The forums were filled with posts about it once again.
Heaven Is Below Me: “What’s going on? Wasn’t Black Star just going to enter the show business not long ago, and now the army is going to enter the sports industry?”
Itchy Head: “That’s how large factions are.”
Never Starve Even Dead: “This feels more interesting than the Pro League.”
Tiny And Weak: “The scale of this tournament is the biggest I’ve ever seen. It has a lot of events and a lot of participants. All participants are allowed to even join as many as five events. How many competitions are there going to be? There are card games and even bets too‽”
Two White Rabbits: “Not just card games, there are even singing and dancing contests. I even saw people request stand-up comedy competitions, and it was even approved!”
Dragon Emperor Licker: “Honestly, I want to see Black Star dance…”
Sky High Professional Account Boosting Studio: “The rewards for these competitions are quite rich, and the items with the greatest rewards are still related to combat. The top 300,000 will all be rewarded, and our weapons are not even limited. This means that if we participate in group battles, use our explosion backpacks and evolution badges, and utilize similar dirty tactics, will we take all of the top positions?”
Feidin Supporters Group President: “Let me take a look. Whose wallets are getting thick again? (Black Star’s Smile.jpg)”
