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."
"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.
The various large families received news and immediately sprang into action. They arranged for the pale looking man to follow behind them and waited for their opportunity.
Very quickly, Iapetus arrived at the harbor, and his flying device landed under the protection of his bodyguards.
The pale looking man followed behind and arrived at a storeroom under the arrangement of the families. There were no windows in the storeroom, but a Cannon Master had the ability to lock onto his target. He was definitely able to aim accurately without the need to see his target. This would allow his assassination to be better concealed.
He opened up the box beside him. The parts of a sniper rifle were stored within it. He rapidly assembled it, and it transformed into an electromagnetic sniper rifle. He then aimed the sniper rifle at Iapetus.
The bodyguards intentionally left a gap that was a huge flaw in the eyes of the pale looking man. He then pressed on the microphone in his ear.
"I am in position. I can open fire anytime."
"Very good." The voice of the representatives entered his ear.
In the city, the representatives monitored Iapetus' movements through the various satellites. After controlling the planet for so many years, they had plenty of resources available to them.
Looking at Iapetus through the satellite, all the representatives could not help but be puzzled.
"Is he waiting for someone?"
"Strange, who would come to meet him?"
"He has a financial group after all. Perhaps he hired some new bodyguards."
"But there isn't a need for him to personally welcome bodyguards, right?"
Since they could not understand his intentions, they decided to just not think about it. Regardless of what he planned to do, they just had to kill him, and the problem would be solved.
One of the representatives then issued the kill order.
"You can…"
But before he could finish, an emergency call was made from the defensive troops outside the atmosphere.
This representative immediately picked up the call.
"What's going on?"
"This is the observation station outside the atmosphere. An unknown fleet suddenly appeared outside the planet's atmosphere. A group of battleships just broke through the planet's detection net and is landing rapidly. Their target should be the harbor near the capital of the planet."
Upon hearing the location, everyone was stunned.
Iapetus was waiting for this fleet?
Was this a show of force?
"Humph, what's the point of calling people? You're dead for sure!"
Everyone's face darkened.
Just when they wanted to give the kill order, a gasp could be heard over the communicator.
"Wait a moment! I recognize it now. This is the Black Star Army's fleet! Although there isn't an insignia on the spaceships, they passed by here recently, and the number and models of the ships are identical!"
The expressions of all the representatives changed greatly.
At the same time, a gushing sound could be heard at the harbor, and everyone looked up. A group of spaceships was descending at high speed and becoming bigger by the second. The spaceships then landed accurately in front of Iapetus' group and messed up their hair.
Whoosh!
The spaceship's hatch opened, and a tall figure walked out from the spaceship. He then took off his disguise and revealed his true appearance.
"Black Star‽"
All the representatives were dumbfounded, and some of them even collapsed on the ground.
Black Star was a bigshot that belonged to a completely different world from them.
Yet, the person whom Iapetus wanted to receive was Black Star‽
How was that possible‽
What was the relationship between them? Why would Black Star make a trip to such a small planet?
Not just the representatives of the families, even the bodyguards beside Iapetus were shocked.
They could feel an immense pressure from just seeing Black Star's figure, and they felt that even breathing had become difficult.
Right at this moment, the representatives seemed to have been shaken awake from their dreams and roared into the microphone.
"Quickly leave! Stop all your operations!"
All of them were frightened by the sudden visit of Black Star. Before understanding the relationship between Iapetus and Black Star, they would not dare make a rash move.
The pale looking man gulped and swiftly disassembled his rifle before running away at top speed.
Han Xiao looked in the direction the assassin had escaped before glancing at the leader of the group with interest.
"You are Iapetus?"
Iapetus suppressed the nervousness in his heart and said, "Yes, I welcome you, Your Excellency Black Star, on the behalf of Planet Ladbu. Your arrival is our honor."
Although his plan had succeeded and he had already planned what he should say to Han Xiao, his mind completely blanked out when he saw Han Xiao.
His mental state was immediately shaken.
Just what kind of a character did I summon this time?
Han Xiao then sized him up and smiled.
"You are truly bold."
Iapetus' body trembled slightly, and he did not dare reply.
This time, even a deity would not be able to save him.