Chapter 1 Han Xiao

Han Xiao held the phone a little further from his ear, stretched out his little finger to clean his ear, and said with dissatisfaction, "Keep it down."

Bennet said angrily, "Why didn't you discuss it with me? You can represent the Dark Net's position, but by rashly participating in the war, we lose our neutrality. The implications of this..."

Han Xiao covered the receiver and scanned the mercenaries in the cabin, all of whom were craning their necks to eavesdrop. The transport plane had face-to-face seating, and this glance took everyone in. His eyes flashed with warning, leaving everyone stunned, wondering how they had offended this big shot.

Qin Yuan was the first to react, immediately taking out earplugs and shoving them into his ears. The others suddenly realized and hurriedly followed suit.

Only then did Han Xiao release the receiver. Bennet's nonsense finally came to an end. He hadn't heard a large part of it, pretended nothing had happened, and casually hmm-ed to indicate he had been listening all along.

"...So, don't get involved in this matter. Germination is bound to fail. No matter what grudges you have with them, there's no need to do it yourself," Bennet said.

"This is a private matter."

"Nonsense, what would it be if it was official business?!" Bennet said angrily.

Han Xiao clicked his tongue. "Anyway, Germination can't even take care of itself. It's great to beat a dog when it's down. At this juncture, it doesn't matter whether we're neutral or not. So, relax."

"...So you didn't listen to my analysis just now at all, did you!" Bennet was shocked.

Tsk, caught. Han Xiao shook his phone violently, held it further away, and shouted, "Hello, hello... I'm on the plane, bad signal..."

"Don't pretend with me..."

*Beep*, Han Xiao hung up the phone.

By doing this, Bennet would definitely be unhappy. Han Xiao felt a little apologetic.

But he wouldn't not do it just because Bennet was unhappy. External factors were not the criteria for deciding his actions. He only followed his own ideas.

Moreover, Han Xiao was very clear that it was already meaningless whether the Dark Net maintained its neutrality or not. If Germination was destroyed, the Dark Net would be the next target on the list.

The Dark Net's power was deeply entrenched, and it had always behaved harmlessly, but no one could be sure whether it would remain harmless in the future. A large tree attracts the wind, and to possess a treasure is to invite disaster. How could anyone allow others to snore beside their bed?

In his previous life, at the end of Version 1.0, the Six Nations showed a tendency to suppress the Dark Net. But now, Germination was facing a fatal disaster two years earlier, and the Six Nations weren't as badly damaged as in his previous life. So whether to suppress it in advance was up to them.

At this moment, a Star Dragon officer walked into the cabin, waved the tablet in his hand, and said, "We'll arrive at Andea in eight hours. The destination is Hou Niaogang (Migratory Bird Harbor) in the south. Here's the basic situation of the southern battlefield and some mercenary missions. Take a look."

After he finished speaking, everyone looked up at him, their faces blank.

The officer was a little confused. What was with this reaction? Shouldn't someone come forward to take the tablet at this time? It was awkward for him to hold the tablet with no one paying attention.

Qin Yuan reacted and hurriedly told everyone to take out their earplugs, saying awkwardly, "Um, can you say that again?"

Ten minutes later, everyone had a computer and was checking the information.

Han Xiao suddenly said, "Give me a complete map of Germination's battlefield and their basic deployment."

The officer agreed.

A complete map and enemy deployment weren't classified information. His superiors had instructed him to value Black Phantom, and reasonable requests should be met.

Star Dragon was so forthcoming because of Han Xiao's identity. To explain it in game terms, his Faction Relationship and Legend Level were high enough.

Information was also the reason Han Xiao wanted to go through official channels. The combat zone wasn't easy to pass through. If he was completely ignorant of the enemy's deployment and rashly charged in, he would most likely end up in a sorry state. The Six Nations' intelligence was comprehensive, making it convenient for him to consider his plan of action.

"A large number of troops are stationed near the headquarters, with many strongholds, and a dual ground and air blockade..."

Germination's headquarters was a group of bases, covering a large area. The real core was hidden in the central underground blast-proof fortifications, which was Han Xiao's target.

Han Xiao noticed that there were many small gaps in Germination's deployment, and there seemed to be an opportunity to go straight to the headquarters. The gaps weren't obvious, but they weren't too hidden either.

"Something feels strange." Han Xiao rubbed his chin, his eyes flashing.

…

The transport plane landed on the Andea continent. The cabin door opened, and what rushed towards them was the smell of gunpowder smoke and the tense and serious atmosphere of war. Countless warships were parked on the sea in the distance, and the roar of helicopters passing by in the air could be heard from time to time. This port still had the scorch marks of artillery fire from the landing battle everywhere, and rows of Star Dragon soldiers were busy passing through.

Han Xiao walked off the plane with the others, followed by various official procedures. By the time everything was completed, it was already two hours later. The mercenaries finally passed through the barbed wire fence, got on troop carriers, and entered the battlefield area along the road. The troop carriers were heading to a front-line position, which was fighting a small Germination unit in a ruined city.

From the moment he got off the plane, Han Xiao hadn't stopped. He felt the urgent atmosphere of the battlefield. When passing through the battlefield, he could occasionally see ragged refugees walking unsteadily, being guided by soldiers to evacuate. These people were wanderers from the Andea continent. Their lives were already difficult enough, and the war made their situation even worse.

The effects of the old era wars still permeated Andea. Pollution and radiation were serious. Plants and animals were sparse here, and most of the refugees had black and yellow scabs on their exposed skin. Some even had tumors.

After getting out of the car at their destination, Qin Yuan approached Han Xiao before the officers of the position could arrive.

"Lord Black Phantom, we hope you will command us."

Mercenaries respected the strong. Han Xiao's status was beyond doubt. It was safest to stick together on the battlefield, and leaning towards the strong was instinct.

Han Xiao waved his hand, shouldered his equipment bag, turned around, and left.

Qin Yuan was stunned and hurriedly called out, "Where are you going? That's leaving the position. Our mission is..."

Han Xiao's voice floated back from afar, "I'm not interested in that mission. I'm used to acting alone."

Everyone looked at each other, their faces helpless.

Well, they had offered a warm face to a cold backside. He didn't even look up to them sticking together and went to play on his own.

…

A few days later.

The scorching sun baked the earth. Mijia Town, originally a gathering place for wanderers, had become a small-scale battlefield. The short buildings were riddled with holes, the ground was covered with bullet casings and craters, black scorch marks were everywhere on the ground and walls, and unburned embers were smoldering with black smoke.

"Huff, huff..."

The sound of panting came from behind a half-collapsed building. Several ability users wearing Star Dragon insignia combat uniforms were hiding behind the wall, carefully observing their surroundings. They were martial arts-type ability users trained by the military. With the civilization level of Aquamarine Star, the martial arts system was the easiest ability system to popularize on a large scale.

"Captain, our situation is very bad. Germination outnumbers us. They have a small unit of two hundred people, seven ability users, and fifteen super soldiers. We only have eleven ability users left, and they're scattered."

Fang Yun said in a deep voice, "I've already requested support. The agents from the Thirteenth Bureau at the stronghold will lead troops to support us soon, as long as we can hold on for an hour."

"One hour... The enemy also has a group of damned Awakened ones (异人), they're too difficult to deal with."

At this moment, the sound of machine guns firing at the building came from a distance, followed by screams that suddenly stopped.

There were still a group of refugees in this battlefield who hadn't had time to evacuate, cowering in fear. The Germination troops were worried that these Star Dragon people would disguise themselves as refugees, so they didn't let any of them go, killing them all.

"With this group of refugees stalling for time, we won't be discovered so quickly."

A trace of intolerance flashed in Fang Yun's eyes, then he nodded heavily. At this juncture, they had to use all means to protect themselves. There was no room for mercy on the battlefield, and no time to care about the lives of a group of refugees.

There was no justice in war, and everyone's life and death were determined by fate.

At the same time, on the second floor of a building, Han Xiao, who had changed his face, wore a tattered robe on the outside, disguised as a refugee, stood by the window, leaning against the wall, carefully observing the outside situation.

This battlefield was the target he had identified after searching for several days. His plan was to assassinate a member of Germination here, steal their identity, change his face, and infiltrate. He had used this trick in Dark Crow Valley, and this time he was preparing to use this method again. The chaotic battlefield had natural advantages, and finding him was like searching for a needle in a haystack.

When he observed the battlefield deployment earlier, Han Xiao discovered the gap in Germination's defenses, but he felt that since he could discover this flaw, the Six Nations and Germination could probably discover it too. It looked like a trap, so he decided to use his own method.

If he wanted to enter the headquarters, charging in head-on was too risky, and the place Han Xiao wanted to go was the underground headquarters, which made it geometrically more difficult to enter. By constantly changing his identity with the Intelligent Optical Mask, and "infiltrating" through legitimate means, it would be more hidden and safe. Even if he was exposed, the other party wouldn't know who he was, and he could continue to change faces and conceal his tracks.

At this moment, a loud bang of the door being kicked open came from downstairs, and a group of people rushed in to search.