Chapter 1 Overwhelmed

News spread in layers, the further away from the center of the war a faction was, the longer it took to receive the intelligence. Warlord forces with limited intelligence channels were among the last to know, and the Overmar family was one of them.

As Tilius’s partner, the Overmar family did not directly participate in the war but was responsible for maintaining stability in the Northern Continent. This was also an opportunity for Overmar to develop. The sanctuary plan of the Dark Net organization inspired many warlords, and some warlord forces began to try to establish similar things. Naturally, the original intention was not to shelter living beings like Bennett but to benefit from it and obtain more labor.

Now the Overmar family was led by Xiao Pai. Xiao Jin seized the opportunity of Black Phantom's visit, turning his hand to make clouds and covering his hand to make rain. Xiao Hai admired his father's methods very much. Although sometimes the thought of Black Phantom becoming his godfather made him feel as if he had swallowed a load of dung, Black Phantom had not appeared for a long time, which made Xiao Hai feel much more comfortable.

In the study of the mansion, Xiao Hai finished reporting recent matters. Seeing Xiao Jin frowning and thinking, he couldn't help but ask, "Father, you don't seem to be satisfied with the current situation?"

Xiao Jin glanced at him, "I haven't gained a firm foothold yet and am still controlled by others."

"You mean Black Phantom?" Xiao Hai asked in confusion, "Although your position is partly due to Black Phantom, the power belongs to us. He is not here and cannot exert too much influence on us."

"That's exactly my weakness. Black Phantom allowed me to obtain the position of family head, but his influence is ultimately limited and cannot control our internal decisions. Other factions nominally respect me, but in reality, they outwardly agree but inwardly oppose. Our position is not stable, and we can only mobilize the power of our Xiao faction. Other factions have been shirking their responsibilities and refusing to contribute, making it difficult to make decisions."

Xiao Jin also thought of Han Xiao's threat and added, "And Black Phantom is not a good person. I paid the price."

As he spoke, Xiao Jin stood up, took out a wine glass and precious Red Maple Golden Leaf Wine from the wine cabinet, poured two glasses, handed one to Xiao Hai, and took a sip of the other himself, slowly saying, "Forget about these things. Right now, there is still a thorn stuck in the throat of our Xiao faction. Your brother, Xiao Han, is a Germinal Organization wanted criminal. This matter hides hidden dangers. Tilius's people have come to collect relevant information more than once. Now the war is in full swing, and all forces are trying to wash away their connections with the Germinal Organization, but we have no way to escape the relationship unless we find him and hand him over to the Six Nations for disposal."

At the mention of his younger brother, Xiao Hai's face became unnatural. Ever since he learned that Xiao Han, whom he had framed, was still alive, he had been faintly worried.

"I heard that Zero and the Germinal Organization's current situation are inextricably linked…" Xiao Hai felt complicated. He was the last person who wanted to see Xiao Han succeed, fearing revenge. Although he claimed to have grown up with his brother and knew his weak personality very well, he couldn't resist the possibility that his brother's personality had changed drastically after suffering great changes.

What Zero did was obviously not something his cowardly brother could do. Thinking of this, Xiao Hai was very worried about being retaliated against, even though he didn't know what kind of person his brother had become.

"Knock, knock." The door was knocked, and the assistant poked his head in, carefully saying, "Leader, Surge is here to visit."

Surge was the leader of the Overmar Crimson Reef faction, who had always been dissatisfied with Xiao Jin as the family head.

"Please invite him in." Xiao Jin frowned, put down his wine glass, and slowly said, "He hasn't visited me since I was elected leader. Coming uninvited must be strange."

Xiao Hai nodded and stood aside to wait.

After waiting for a while, Surge walked in with big strides, his face filled with a hearty smile. As soon as he entered the door, he shouted loudly, "Leader."

Xiao Jin remained calm, nodded, and invited Surge to sit down. Xiao Hai secretly sized him up, seeing a hint of flattery on Surge's face, and couldn't help but feel strange. This natural and enthusiastic appearance didn't seem like someone who was at odds with his father.

Surge took out a plan, which was one of Xiao Jin's action plans that required the power of the Crimson Reef faction. Surge had been shirking his responsibilities, but now he took it out and said with a grin, "I've been thinking about it for a while. This plan is very useful. I'm willing to contribute my strength. I'm here to discuss the specific details. Don't worry, I will definitely contribute people and strength."

Xiao Hai was pleasantly surprised and thought, "The Crimson Reef faction has softened and formally recognized our Xiao faction's position!"

Xiao Jin was also a little surprised, nodded slowly, and discussed with Surge.

Not more than a few minutes passed when the assistant suddenly opened the door again and said, "Leader, Mr. Todd is also here to visit."

Todd was the current leader of the Main Family faction, and he was even less likely to buy Xiao Jin's account, yet he and Surge came to visit one after the other.

Xiao Jin suppressed his surprise and asked the assistant to invite Todd in.

"Hehe, Leader Xiao, this time I want to discuss the previous plan…" As soon as he entered the door, Todd saw Surge, pretended to be nonchalant, took out the plan, and his intention was exactly the same as Surge's. He was also here to surrender.

The two largest factions softened, and the Xiao faction could formally control Overmar. Happiness came too suddenly, and Xiao Jin was a little dazed, while Xiao Hai next to him was extremely excited.

Before he could speak, the assistant said again that someone was coming to visit. This seemed to be a beginning. Before long, a dozen high-level cadres from various factions gathered together, all here to surrender.

Xiao Jin was completely confused. How did his position become stable for no reason? What was going on?!

Seeing Xiao Jin's puzzled expression, Todd smiled, "It seems that Leader Xiao hasn't received the news yet. Take a look at this document…" As he spoke, he pushed a document from the table toward Xiao Jin, which was Han Xiao's real identity information. As a member of the Main Family faction, he had better intelligence channels and obtained first-hand information, which he actively spread to other factions, thus creating the current scene.

Black Phantom's real identity was actually Xiao Jin's second son, Xiao Han. When Todd got the information, he was so frightened that he fell under the table. He immediately felt that he understood everything.

No wonder Black Phantom came to visit Overmar and spoke for the Xiao faction at a critical moment. He was completely protecting his own!

With the added advantage of Zero and Black Phantom's dual identities, and the fact that he was now playing an important role in the war, it was foreseeable that his influence would be amazing after the war ended, and such a legendary figure came from their warlord force and was a member of the Xiao faction.

Connecting Black Phantom's behavior of protecting his own, the various factions of Overmar couldn't sit still and dared not give the Xiao faction the cold shoulder again. Not for the monk's sake, but for the Buddha's. They couldn't afford to offend the Xiao faction's biggest backer, so they all came to surrender. Instead, Xiao Jin became the last person to be kept in the dark.

"What?!" Xiao Jin froze in place. Xiao Hai felt like a hammer had shattered his worldview, and his head was buzzing.

"He's actually my brother?!" Xiao Hai felt dizzy and unsteady on his feet.

Xiao Hai couldn't imagine that his unsuccessful brother had become such a great figure, influencing the direction of the world. In contrast, his vision had always been limited to a small warlord force, which was completely incomparable. Thinking that he had always been the most outstanding of his siblings since he was a child, and Xiao Han could only look up to him, but now the situation had been reversed, this sense of contrast made Xiao Hai feel an inexplicable jealousy, gritting his teeth and his eyes turning red.

And the thought of Black Phantom inexplicably becoming his godfather made Xiao Hai's lungs explode with anger, his nails digging into his flesh.

His brother became his godfather, what the hell was that?!

"He didn't refuse back then just to see me make a fool of myself!" Xiao Hai was so angry that he felt dizzy.

Xiao Jin's face was livid, but he couldn't explode. It was his decision to win over Black Phantom. Who knew that the Xiao Han he had been searching for was right in front of him. Thinking of how wonderful Han Xiao's expression must have been behind the mask when he made this deal, Xiao Jin felt like he was sitting on pins and needles, and an indescribable embarrassment made him feel uncomfortable all over.

Surge, Todd, and the others secretly mocked him. His son inexplicably became his peer, all because of Xiao Jin's attempts to win him over, which was full of drama and simply a joke. However, no matter how much they despised Xiao Jin, they couldn't ignore Han Xiao's influence. So, while they laughed in private, the various factions of Overmar still came to surrender, extinguishing their desire to fight.

With Han Xiao around, the Xiao faction's position was secure. Even if the two were shocked and annoyed, they couldn't deny that they had their current position because of Han Xiao.

After Xiao Hai's anger passed, he was filled with a sense of powerlessness.

He found that no matter how angry he was, he couldn't change the fact that he couldn't even see Han Xiao's back now.

Just because of Han Xiao's name, the factional struggles that had plagued them were so easily resolved, and the various factions took the initiative to soften. This influence was terrifying and had made him an undisputed big figure on this planet.

Xiao Hai's expression suddenly froze, and a great fear suddenly surged into his heart.

His brother now seemed like a different person and had become a very difficult person to deal with… Would he seek revenge on him?