Chapter 1 The Darkstar Contingent

This spaceship was a Darkstar task force in disguise, made up to look like ordinary travelers. The group walked down the gangplank and onto the docks of Longtan. Immediately, the eyes of thugs, like starving wolves, locked onto these seemingly ordinary travelers.

The Darkstar personnel entered the city inconspicuously, turning into several alleys. After passing through a narrow passage between two buildings, a group of strong and sturdy interstellar pirates suddenly appeared in front of them. Looking back, they saw a group of thugs appearing behind them, cutting off their retreat.

"Ordinary people shouldn't come to this kind of place. This advice comes at a price..." The burly pirate leader, with a ferocious expression, raised his gun and aimed it at the forehead of the group's leader.

The other pirates smiled grimly. After waiting for a while, the leader did not continue. They were all puzzled. One of his subordinates pushed the leader's shoulder. Suddenly, the pirate leader's body "collapsed"!

The clothes fell to the ground, and black powder spilled out.

The pirates' ferocity instantly turned into horror. They immediately turned and ran, but before they could run a few steps, all the pirates turned into black powder. Only piles of clothes remained on the ground.

The Darkstar members glanced at it, unmoved, and continued on their way. They were used to this kind of scene. This was the ability of their captain, [Ashes]. He could manipulate carbon atoms to a certain extent and was the nemesis of carbon-based organisms. As long as there was carbon in a creature's body, he could cause extremely terrifying true damage. Even a superpower user protected by qi energy would be severely injured. This was the origin of Ashes' codename. His Esper Potential Rating reached A+!

Ashes was a new generation of ace combatants that Darkstar was preparing to cultivate vigorously. The item inside the cipher bead was a product that the organization bought at a high price from a research organization in another star system. Darkstar had been secretly cooperating with the other party for many years. To maintain secrecy, each time the other party would send different races to the Shattered Star Ring "coincidentally" to secretly exchange the goods, like underground work.

This time, the Silver Spirit Race was transporting the goods, but an accident occurred. The transporter was captured, and the target of this task force was to recover the cipher bead.

Ashes took his men to find a place to settle down. He set up anti-detection equipment in the room, and then his subordinates went out to inquire about information. Before long, everyone returned to the room to discuss important matters.

"We found out that the Silver Spirit Race member is being held in a local slave market, right here on the map. We need to find a way to contact the transporter."

"What's the plan? Rob the slave market and rescue the transporter?"

"If we only rob one Silver Spirit Race member, it will easily arouse suspicion. If we're going to do it, we should rescue everyone."

Only after all his subordinates finished discussing did Ashes slowly open his mouth and say faintly, "Don't use force yet. After all, this is Dragon Throne's territory. I'll go to the slave market to negotiate and buy back the Silver Spirit Race member."

...

Next to a large drilling rig on Longtan Floating Island, Han Xiao was repairing it with his tools, while a group of workers craned their necks to watch.

Tightening the last screw, the drilling rig returned to normal. The workers continued to work. Han Xiao picked up his toolbox, turned and walked away, opening his panel to take a look.

"Most of the machinery on Longtan Floating Island are large devices, and the technology is relatively advanced. My knowledge isn't enough to reverse-engineer the blueprints yet, but I have managed to deduce the Dragon Guards' aircraft..." Han Xiao thought to himself.

After working in logistics for a few days, he secretly learned the blueprints for the combat aircraft through the panel. The official name was ["Dragonfly" Reconnaissance Aircraft]. It used anti-gravity levitation for atmospheric flight, was fast, maneuverable, and of medium size. Each aircraft could carry 6-10 people. This was a blueprint developed by Hela herself, and Han Xiao had learned it.

Mechanic Han had always had the idea of building a multi-person vehicle, and with the technology from the new blueprints, he could overcome some technical difficulties and greatly improve its performance. When there was no maintenance work, logistics personnel could move freely. He used his free time to build a prototype vehicle.

Returning to his private workshop assigned to him in the logistics department, a huge spherical mechanical structure stood in the center, suspended in mid-air by a mechanical arm. His manufacturing speed was now much faster than before. He had previously obtained [Second-Level Disassembly and Reassembly] from the Silver Spirit Race, and the effect of this knowledge was to greatly speed up disassembly and assembly. He spent 10 potential points to upgrade it to max level.

The biggest benefit of logistics was having access to the mountain of warehouse materials, so building vehicles did not require any cost, saving him a lot of money on materials. However, some very precious materials could only be used by Supervisor Hela, such as Void Dragon bones.

Han Xiao was very envious. The toughness of the Void Dragon bones was incredible, stronger than all the alloy types he could currently manufacture. The core material of a high-level mechanical armor blueprint was Void Dragon bones. That was another series of single-soldier combat suits, and its performance was stronger than his current Viper. Moreover, it came with the special ability of the dragon bones. In terms of actual combat power, it was almost two or three times stronger than the Viper!

That mechanical armor blueprint was not technically profound, it only required advanced knowledge. The difficulty was only the materials. Void Dragon bones were very rare and could be regarded as a limited mineral vein. Longtan Floating Island was one of the very few places in the entire Shattered Star Ring that produced dragon bones. If he could obtain enough dragon bones, he could build a new generation of mechanical armor, no longer a "Viper" model.

The body of the Void Dragon race was a treasure, and the extracted bone marrow fluid was also useful. Unfortunately, they were all controlled by Hela, but it also showed the profitability of Longtan. Even if Ames did not deliberately manage her forces, the warehouse still had a lot of good things.

"Now that I have integrated into the group and gained a firm foothold, it's time to go to Holad and talk about the Silver Spirit Race issue. My current identity is actually beneficial, making it easier to have open and honest negotiations," Han Xiao thought to himself. Since he couldn't count on the three major mercenary groups, he could only rely on himself.

Han Xiao came to the slave market again. Times were different now. Just as he was about to walk into the gate openly, someone behind him suddenly called out to him in a hurried voice.

"Black, Black Star, wait a minute!" Si'en chased after him, panting.

"Oh, it's you." Han Xiao glanced at him.

At this time, Si'en's face was bruised and swollen, covered in gauze, as if someone had given him several rounds of eye corrections. Behind him was a group of subordinates, looking just as disheveled.

Si'en looked terrified and stammered, "Can you please tell your subordinates to stop bullying us..."

"What are you talking about? We're colleagues. In order to improve the quality of the guards and better protect the stability of Longtan, my members are kindly conducting practical training for you. How can you call that bullying?" Han Xiao said earnestly.

"I was wrong, I was really wrong. I'll apologize however you want!" Si'en said with a mournful face. Where was the arrogance he had a few days ago?

Si'en's arrogance came from his identity as a guard, which allowed him to look down on all outsiders. However, Han Xiao and the others had transformed into his colleagues, and he was immediately dumbfounded. His bitter days had arrived.

Han Xiao was too lazy to waste time teaching him a lesson personally. He just threw a task to the players. Coincidentally, they were also in the guards. They gave him a small beating every three hours and a big beating every five hours, making Si'en wish he were dead. He went to the chief captain to complain, but Weysand turned a blind eye and didn't care at all.

Si'en couldn't bear the beatings any longer, but he didn't have the courage to quit the guards. Without this identity, how could he continue to bully others? Even his life would be in danger. He was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot. These past few days, he had been waiting near the slave market, longing for Mechanic Han to appear, and finally, this scene occurred.

Han Xiao smiled and said, "Oh, why do you need to apologize? You were just following your duties. You didn't do anything wrong."

"How can you let me go?" Si'en looked like he was about to cry. The tables had turned, and he never expected this day to come. If he had known earlier, he would have been more restrained.

"People often say that health is priceless. How much do you think your health is worth?" Han Xiao smiled evilly.

Si'en shuddered and took out his communicator, gritting his teeth, "One thousand..."

Mechanic Han was surprised, "You actually think you're so cheap?"

"Then one thousand five..."

Han Xiao shook his head and clicked his tongue. "It seems my friends need to help you establish the correct values."

"Two thousand! That's all the money I have in my account. It's my savings for several years. Please, I really only have this much money..."

"Well, I'll just give you a discount. Who told me to be such a warm-hearted person?" Han Xiao was noncommittal. He casually took out his communicator, pulled up the payment page, glanced at Si'en's subordinates, and smiled. "What about you guys?"

His smile was like a devil in everyone's eyes. They transferred the money tremblingly. As the notification sound of the successful transaction rang, Si'en felt like his entire body was drained. His mouth was full of bitterness. Not only did he lose the reward Holad privately hired him to carry out, but even most of his savings were extorted by Han Xiao.

With 34,000 Enas in hand, his wallet was once again full. Han Xiao smiled contentedly, waved his hand, and turned to walk into the slave market.

Si'en's team taking Holad's money was the biggest reason why they failed. Han Xiao wouldn't let it go without taking a huge chunk out of him. He would make Si'en spit out everything he had eaten, with interest.

Entering the slave market, he was led by a staff member. This time, Han Xiao met Holad in the office.

Holad put on a smile and greeted him warmly, "Please, have a seat. Would you like something to drink?"

"No need to bother. I'll just get straight to the point. I want to take away the Silver Spirit Race members. Name your price." Han Xiao got straight to the point. Holad knew that he was the mercenary from before and also knew that he had become a colleague, which was why he was so enthusiastic.

However, Holad belonged to the Great Butler's subordinates. He couldn't just let Holad give in easily, let alone use force. Han Xiao's trip was for negotiations.

Holad forced a smile and said, "The matter at that time was a misunderstanding. If it caused you any inconvenience, I'm very sorry. However, the matter has been settled. The Silver Spirit Race members are already goods. A big client has already placed a deposit, so I'm in a difficult position."

Han Xiao raised an eyebrow and suddenly smelled a familiar scent. "No need to beat around the bush. You already have a plan, don't you?"

Holad chuckled, "I heard that your employers care a lot about their own kind. I believe they would be willing to pay. How about this? You help me convince them, and I can give you 10% of the transaction amount."

"...How much money are you planning to ask for?" Han Xiao asked.

"Two hundred thousand...per person!" Holad held up a finger, his face full of sinister smiles. This price was a complete rip-off, several times higher than the market price. The Silver Spirit Race's employers were the real suckers Holad was after.