Chapter 175 Establishing Dominance

Han Xiao thought it was acceptable. He didn’t care much about appearance when practicality was involved. Being handsome was a lifelong pursuit, but he chose to be strong.

Besides the belt and accessories, the clothes could also hold quite a few compressed orbs.

In his daily state, this was how he looked. Once he entered battle, he would summon the mechanical combat suit. He had added a storage and release ejection channel for compressed orbs to the combat suit’s structure. As long as the mecha was equipped, the special magnetic link would attract the compressed orbs he carried, like loading bullets, entering different parts of the pipeline, and could be ejected at any time, making it more convenient to deploy the machinery.

Hundreds of compressed orbs, a portion of which were spare machines.

After sorting out the results, Han Xiao pushed open the door and walked out of the mechanical modification room. Melos was waiting at the door. Seeing him come out, he stepped forward and said, “Leader, Reldon and the others arrived at the Jubely Hub two days ago and are waiting to see you.”

“Lead the way.”

Han Xiao straightened his clothes.

The two left the base, boarded a floating vehicle in the hub hall, and merged into the large army shuttling through the air. After a while, they landed on the middle floor of a building on the edge of the hall. This floor was full of temporary lounges, including the Sunil mercenaries' rented temporary stronghold. The location was remote and the space was narrow. It was the cheapest lounge, and they were saving money as always.

"Ding-dong."

The silver-white alloy door slid open after the doorbell was rung, and the two walked in. More than fifty people were squeezed into the narrow room, which was very cramped and crowded. This was half of the total, and the other half were waiting in the next lounge, having come upon hearing the news. Seeing that it was too crowded, Han Xiao invited everyone to speak on the public rooftop outside. The public rooftop also served as a parking place for flying vehicles, like a miniature port, with the urban-like hub hall in the background. Tall buildings stood, and flying vehicles came and went in the sky, taking off and landing on various floors, the wind blowing across the rooftop, messing up hair, bringing a trace of heat… the wind from the vehicles was hot.

“Black Star.” “Leader.”

The Sunil mercenaries nodded and greeted him. Reldon was chosen as the representative to express his gratitude.

Han Xiao looked at this group of people. Most of the Sunil mercenaries were disabled and had replaced their limbs with mechanical prosthetics. He had seen the mercenaries’ resumes before. More than half were Grade C espers, and a small portion were Grade D. In theory, Grade D was not suitable for being a mercenary, as it was too dangerous, but the Sunil were in a difficult situation. Every little bit helped, so they could only let the slightly stronger mercenaries lead the weaker members.

“In this way, I will select missions that are suitable for you, and then you will decide whether to accept them. Since you have joined me, you must obey my commands. To put it bluntly, you can raise objections to my assignments, and we can discuss them, but if you secretly disobey orders, I will immediately terminate the cooperation. Of course, I don’t want such a situation to happen. I also understand your difficult situation. After all, I once carried out the Sunil disaster commission. You don’t have to worry that I will force you to carry out tasks that cannot be completed…”

What one sits on determines how one thinks. Since he was the leader of the faction, he still had to ensure his absolute leadership. Although the Sunil mercenaries were talented in his eyes, Han Xiao would not completely accommodate them because of this.

The Sunil mercenaries nodded, with no objections. In their opinion, Han Xiao was willing to let them share his influence, which was already a great help.

Han Xiao brought up the mercenary interface, selected a few missions, and let everyone choose for themselves. These employment missions were not public employments issued to everyone by the alliance, but private cooperation requests from other partners, with generous treatment. The difference was that ordinary mercenaries applied for missions to beg for work and were the ones being screened, while these private employments he received were others who specially came to him and asked him to act together. The nature of the two was different. This was the benefit of the Black Star Mercenary Group becoming famous. The partners were all large mercenary groups, who might not need assistance, but they were willing to share the benefits, actually to build a good relationship, mainly because of his Longtan identity.

Most Sunil mercenaries were lone wolves. They risked their lives, often only receiving meager rewards. When had they ever seen such rich and safe missions? They were overjoyed. Although there were only a few choices, they were still caught in a dilemma, and after discussing for a long time, they chose to accept the cooperation application from the Celestial Ring Allied Forces to escort a resource exploration team to develop an uninhabited planet in the North Gardon Star System.

While everyone was choosing, Han Xiao didn’t say a word, leaning against the transparent glass railing of the rooftop, looking down and playing with a compressed orb. After they finished choosing, he opened his mouth and said, “Although this mission is quite simple, just in case, I need to test your combat effectiveness first. Let’s go, to the combat simulation room.”

The Sunil mercenaries were helpless, feeling that it was unnecessary, but they could only follow the leader’s wishes and do as he said. The group set off and came to the combat simulation room.

Han Xiao rented a large room. After walking in, he stood opposite everyone, forming an opposing stance.

The Sunil mercenaries looked at each other. Reldon coughed and took a step forward, asking, “Then I’ll be the first to test.”

“No need, you all come together, save time.”

Han Xiao beckoned.

Everyone was immediately stunned. There were hundreds of people on their side. He wanted them all to come together? Even a Grade B esper was too arrogant.

A surge of anger rose from the bottom of their hearts. Everyone felt looked down upon… Although we are here to join you, if you look down on us, you will regret it!

The Sunil mercenaries had anger on their faces, and they dispersed, drawing their weapons and preparing to fight.

The team of hundreds of people slightly bent over, making a posture ready to charge, and the condensed momentum was like a lion about to pounce, while there was only Han Xiao alone on the opposite side.

Only by being valued can one get better treatment. Everyone decided to go all out and show their full strength—since you want to be ganged up on yourself, then let you have a good time!

Melos started the simulation room, and the white room transformed into a flat gray rocky surface, which was very vast. He looked at the solemn and ready-to-fight fellow tribesmen and shook his head.

These days, Han Xiao occasionally called him over to test the power of his weapons, and he had a deep understanding of Han Xiao’s combat effectiveness. At this time, he only hoped that this group of fellow tribesmen would not be beaten too badly.

Han Xiao moved his shoulders and touched the compressed orbs in his belt. At this moment, he suddenly had a feeling of time and space being reversed, as if he had returned to the past, when he first shone with his mechanical abilities, and he beat all kinds of children in the arena (fish pond). From that time on, he embarked on the path of being a high-level player on behalf of others and never looked back.

At this time, he was not only testing the Sunil mercenaries, but also testing his actual combat effectiveness, and at the same time establishing his prestige.

The Sunil mercenaries joined for his influence, and in their hearts, they actually did not think much of his strength. Nowadays, most mercenaries looked at the Black Star Mercenary Group this way, and many people were sour, feeling that Black Star was purely lucky to have hooked up with the Dragon Seat, otherwise he would be a third-rate team, and they could do the same.

This was the downside of rapid fame, making people doubt one’s strength. Han Xiao had long been aware of this, but with the trade-offs, it was definitely more profitable to “borrow the power of a tiger”. It was normal to have some side effects. Mercenaries had always been in awe of the strong, and what he was doing at this time was to subdue this group of people and establish his prestige.

He curled the corner of his mouth, revealing a touch of fighting spirit.

“Come on.”

Bang bang bang!

As soon as he finished speaking, the Sunil mercenaries immediately started, charging forward, and the long-range warriors shot artillery shells and lasers, rapidly approaching.

Han Xiao stood still, a flash of lightning flashed on his body, and the two compressed orbs acting as earrings flew into the air, quickly transforming into two floating shuttles, forming two blue-purple shields, blocking above his head and in front of his body. All the long-range attacks exploded on the thin energy shield, and the mirror-like shield rippled with energy.

Zzzzzz——

The sound of electricity continued to ring, and then, one compressed orb after another flew out of his belt, floating around his body.

Lightning-like magnetic force was directly activated, and these compressed orbs were scattered by the magnetic force, with a speed like bullets, dragging long lightning traces, hitting the ground with a “clang” sound, and directly unfolded!

This scene was like a celestial maiden scattering flowers, turning beans into soldiers!

Instant deployment!

In the next second, twenty-two ground-based turrets and fourteen floating turrets appeared on the field, all aiming at the hundreds of enemies and firing.

Tu tu tu tu tu!!

The muzzle flames were more than a meter long, some of which were large-caliber gunpowder turrets using special ammunition, and some were electromagnetic kinetic energy turrets. The firepower coverage of the thirty-six turrets had no blind spots. The formation of the Sunil mercenaries was immediately disrupted, their speed slowed down, and they struggled to dodge under the barrage of bullets.

The turrets were located beside or behind Han Xiao, while the surrounding hundred-meter area was covered with mechanical trap obstacles, restricting movement and preventing enemies from breaking through. Each trap was one or two meters in size, and the trigger range was larger than the volume, flashing with dangerous electric light and sparks, making people not want to try to step on it.

In the blink of an eye, a position unfolded beside him!

The Sunil mercenaries suddenly found it difficult to move and were in danger, falling into a passive position.

Han Xiao, however, stood still, with his hands in his pockets, without moving, with a calm expression, as if the extremely violent covering bombing at the moment had nothing to do with him.