Chapter 301 The Hand Behind the Scenes

Hardaway grabbed a Calamity Grade thug by the neck as easily as if he were pinching a chick. The enemy was covered in wounds and unable to break free, attacking frantically in terror. All the blows landed on Hardaway's unprotected pectorals, tearing his uniform, but they could not leave any marks on his skin.

"Useless, useless, useless—" Hardaway's body remained unmoved under the furious attacks, instead, he comfortably narrowed his eyes.

The next moment, a fierce light flashed in his eyes. He suddenly exerted force with his hand, crushing the enemy's neck and throat bones.

Crack!

The thug's head drooped instantly, his spine fractured, and his nerves disordered. Such injuries were not fatal to a Calamity Grade. The thug hurriedly forced the tired cells in his body to squeeze out fresh energy to repair the nerves.

Hardaway would not give him a chance to recover. He punched him to the ground, and the surrounding guard companions swarmed up, tearing the enemy into a pile of bloody flesh.

Hardaway liked to fight powerful enemies one-on-one, to give himself pressure. But facing this group of ordinary Calamity Grades who played tricks, he had no interest in bullying children in a one-on-one fight, directly resorting to righteous group beatings to quickly resolve the battle.

The Black Star's guards were all elite Calamity Grades carefully selected from the legion. Hardaway, as a Super A Grade seed, had an overwhelming advantage over ordinary Calamity Grades. He was famous for his defense in the Shattered Star Ring, and these younger brothers could not even break his skin.

The moment the Black Star Army intervened, the fate of this group of thugs was already sealed. Of the four Calamity Grade enemies, only one survived, a living one that Hardaway deliberately left behind.

Seeing that the enemy had been dealt with, the two guards relaxed, ignoring their injuries, and hurriedly removed the protective shield from the grandson of Ludweier to see if he was injured.

After confirming that he was fine, the two came to Hardaway and expressed their gratitude:

"On behalf of His Excellency Ludweier, I thank you for your help. We will report your contributions to him truthfully."

"Ludweier, who is that?" Hardaway asked in confusion.

Unlike Fording, he did not understand the structure of Imperial officials and only had the pure goal of becoming a Super A Grade in his heart. He had no interest in other things.

"A high-ranking financial official of the Crimson Empire..." The guard introduced Ludweier's long list of titles and then pointed to the young man beside him, saying, "And this is a relative and descendant of His Excellency Ludweier. Our duty is to protect him. If it weren't for you, the consequences would have been unimaginable."

"Oh, so we saved the child of a high-ranking Imperial official?" Hardaway glared and muttered, "Hey, you're really lucky to run into His Excellency Black Star here on vacation… or rather, this group of enemies is unlucky. Anyway, it's just a small matter for us. As an ally of the Empire, we can't just stand by and watch others make trouble in the Empire."

"That's how it is, but we won't forget this kindness." After the guard with the broken arm finished speaking, he turned to look at the only survivor and said coldly, "I have another request. I hope we can conduct the interrogation together later. I need to see who is targeting His Excellency Ludweier."

"We'll talk about it later. My companions are still fighting over there. I'll go over and help first."

Although Hardaway was straightforward, he also knew not to easily agree to such requests. He waved his hand, took his men into the air, and headed for the main battlefield.

Seeing this, the two guards had no choice but to protect Ludweier's grandson and follow behind to avoid another attack, and to report what had happened here.

...

"This year, the Empire's economic situation is not ideal, and trade has been greatly affected…"

In a huge conference room, all the high-ranking officials in charge of finance were gathered together for a routine meeting. Ludweier was also among them.

Many of the officials in the finance department were politically neutral, and Ludweier was one of the leading figures in the neutral faction, wielding considerable power in finance.

In the middle of the meeting, Ludweier's communicator vibrated. He glanced at the content and put the communicator aside, continuing the meeting without changing his expression.

After carefully finishing the meeting, Ludweier returned to his office.

As soon as the door closed, he slammed his palm on the table.

Bang!!

The metal tabletop dented downward. Although Ludweier was well-off, he was not without combat power. Most Imperial officials were not weak scholars.

"Find out for me! Who exactly is targeting my people!"

Ludweier's face was livid. He dialed an internal line and roared, the anger he had been holding back for so long surging up.

When he saw the message, he was shocked, but he suppressed it during the meeting and did not explode until now, releasing his thunderous rage, determined to use the power in his hands to investigate thoroughly.

Fortunately, there was no danger. Ludweier was also relieved in addition to his anger, but he was still a little frightened.

—Fortunately, we ran into the Black Star Army, otherwise…

Just thinking about this possibility made him shudder.

After pacing back and forth in the room for a while, Ludweier gradually calmed down, sat down heavily, leaned against the back of his chair, tapped his fingers on the table, and muttered to himself in a low voice:

"Black Star, I owe you one this time…"

He was not interested in Black Star. After all, he was an Imperial ally, so he could not be said to be hostile, but there were certain conflicts in the Empire's interests.

Business was business, but this time, he owed someone a favor, and his personal perception of Black Star could not help but improve a lot, and he felt grateful in his heart.

Although personal feelings would not be brought into work, he kept this favor in mind.

...

With the addition of Hardaway and others to the battle, the chaos was immediately suppressed. Those who wanted to escape when they saw that the situation was not good did not get away. Those who died were dead, those who were injured were injured, and all were subdued.

The garrison cleaned up the messy battlefield and put all the survivors into imprisonment devices.

The group of criminals were all slumped on the side, looking like some kind of anti-gang and evil-elimination scene.

"Lock them all up and interrogate them carefully." Gabra strode around, shouting loudly to direct his subordinates to work. He came to the Punisher Alliance, glanced at them, and said lightly, "You guys are not bad. I'll have someone give you a reward later. Thank you for your help."

Although he said thank you, his tone was quite indifferent, a little perfunctory. The main reason was that the Punisher Alliance's level was too low, and they did not help much. They could only deal with some minions in his eyes. However, the other party had helped him righteously, and he had to express his attitude toward this group of superheroes.

Raymond and the others nodded. They did not expect the Super A Grade boss's cadre to be grateful to them. It was good enough to have this attitude. Anyway, they could still get money, which could supplement the guild's funds. This kind of Calamity Grade boss guarding one side would definitely not be stingy.

However, Gabra did not leave immediately. Instead, he looked at Aurora with a smile on his face and said, "Are you interested in working under me?"

Raymond frowned and ignored the other party's identity, standing in front of her and saying in a deep voice, "What do you mean by this?"

"Your healing ability seems to be good. If you join our Super A Grade force, you will have a brighter future." Gabra said calmly.

During the battle just now, Aurora's healing ability caught his attention, so he wanted to poach her.

Hearing this, the Punisher Alliance members all looked at Aurora, their eyes revealing nervousness. They did not want such a good partner to be poached away, but they could not answer for her.

Aurora shook her head, "No, I'm a hero for fun."

Gabra frowned, wanting to try harder. At this time, a series of footsteps came from behind him, and Hardaway walked over with the guard squad.

Gabra immediately abandoned the Punisher Alliance, turned around to face Hardaway and the others, his face full of smiles, and laughed heartily:

"Hahaha, brothers of the Black Star Army, thank you for your support. You have helped me a lot!"

Faced with the guards, Gabra's attitude had a 180-degree turn. He held his posture in front of the Punisher Alliance, but he seemed extremely enthusiastic in front of the guards.

Although he was also a subordinate of the Super A Grade, Gabra's boss was only an ordinary Pillar of the Empire, while the extraordinarily potential Black Star had a high probability of replacing Dark Emperor and others in the future and becoming the Empire's strongest ally, so his tone was still carrying a hidden flattery.

"We are all allies of the Empire. Helping each other is what we should do." Hardaway said politely, then said, "His Excellency Black Star has ordered that he wants to interrogate this group of criminals together. Is that convenient for you?"

"Convenient, convenient, of course it's convenient." Gabra laughed.

"Hmm." Hardaway nodded, glanced at Aurora out of the corner of his eye, his eyes flashing. He stared at Gabra and said with interest, "You are very capable. Are you interested in joining the Black Star Army? A guard position is certain."

As soon as these words came out, everyone present had strange expressions on their faces, especially the Punisher Alliance members, who smiled secretly in their hearts.

You just wanted to poach our people, and now you're being poached. Big fish eat small fish, small fish eat shrimp. It's really a turn of the wheel.

Hearing this, Gabra's face froze, and he coughed to cover up his embarrassment.

"This… it's not appropriate. I don't have any plans to leave my current force for the time being."

"Okay, then remember to let us know if you change your mind in the future."

Hardaway smiled lightly and secretly threw a smug look at Aurora.

The corners of Aurora's mouth twitched.

You're really vengeful.

At this moment, a mechanical soldier returned with the stolen Evolutionary Totem. Gabra hurriedly ran over to take a look, overjoyed.

Well, the last problem has been solved. I don't have to have a headache.

Black Star is really a good person!

With this interlude, Gabra had no intention of poaching anyone. After saying a few words, he turned to direct his subordinates to clean up the battlefield.

Hardaway glanced at the Punisher members, showed a strange smile, and led his men away.

The Punisher Alliance members relaxed. They couldn't help but feel a little nervous being surrounded by a large group of Calamity Grades just now.

After calming down, everyone's eyes toward Fording and Aurora became more enthusiastic.

This new partner actually refused the poaching of a Super A Grade force and stayed here with them!

Thinking about Fording and the two fighting side by side just now, at this moment, including Serie, all the Punisher members present acknowledged these two new partners in their hearts.

Seeing this, Fording smiled lightly.

...

At the same time, in another unaffected district, two people were quietly moving in a sparsely populated place. It was the Faceless and his companion.

When they discovered that the Black Star Army had intervened, the two knew that the plan had failed. It was impossible not to be angry that so many resources had been invested in vain.

But being angry was useless. Could they go and fight a Super A Grade? They could only silently endure this bad breath, quietly leave the observation point, and hide.

"Sigh, the plan failed." One person shook his head helplessly.

"This time it was an unexpected factor. Who knew the Black Star Army was hiding their identity on this planet. The leader shouldn't blame us."

"The leader won't do anything, but so many resources have been lost. The hidden lines buried on this planet will definitely be thoroughly investigated and cleaned up. According to the rules, we will be punished and demoted."

"If we can take this opportunity to leave this plan and be transferred to a safe place, it might be a blessing in disguise. Those forces are hired by the black market, and we didn't directly intervene, so it's difficult to find us."

"Is that so?"

"Yes... hmm?"

The two suddenly stopped, their expressions horrified—this sentence was not what they said at all.

Looking up suddenly, they saw a ghostly black figure floating above their heads, overlooking them. They did not know how long they had been followed, and the two did not notice it at all.

Seeing this figure, the two were terrified and froze in place, motionless, their minds blank, with only one thought in their minds:

How did Black Star find us?

Those people clearly didn't know that they were the masterminds, and even if they helped that group of Calamity Grade wanted criminals to monitor the target, it was the Faceless who went!

Han Xiao landed slowly, and seeing the ghostly expressions on their faces, he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows, "I can find you... what's so surprising? You don't really think you can escape from me, do you?"

When he interrogated the group of thieves just now, he found that the group of thieves was also hired on the black market. The target given to them by the employer was to steal the Evolutionary Totem. From this, Han Xiao knew that this group of thieves and the Blood Hammer Church gang were probably being used.

Connecting it with the situation of the Imperial high-ranking official's descendant reported by Fording, he roughly guessed the whole picture of this conspiracy.

These forces that came to cause chaos were all hired from the black market. They were all pawns, unaware of the overall plan, and only responsible for their part of the work. The real target of the force controlling these pawns was to kill the descendant of the Imperial high-ranking official.

Although Ainiya Hub was not a planet directly affiliated with the Empire, the security checks were not loose. This group of people could smuggle contraband in, which must have relied on the power of the local snakes. It was likely that the channels of the mastermind force were used.

There were very few forces that could lay out a plan within the Empire, and the most suspected were the Radiant Federation and the Arcane Church. They had the most motivation.

Because recently, there have been many robbery cases in the Empire caused by the Evolutionary Totem, basically hired from the black market. The employers were not the Radiant Federation and the Arcane Church, they must have borrowed the shells of other forces, and the real target of these chaos was not really for the Evolutionary Totem, but more like deliberately causing security problems within the Empire.

There may be many considerations, both to cause trouble for the Empire, and to let the Empire know that such things will happen if the right to purchase is not made public, and perhaps also to take the opportunity to express the attitude of other civilizations, etc. In short, there were other plans, and it should be the tip of the iceberg of a huge plan.

Since he guessed that there was a mastermind, Han Xiao had no reason to let them go. He had no choice but to bother himself and directly use his treasure, Phillip, to stab into the main intelligence of Ainiya Hub, open a back door, and dig out all the data from it.

Searching for all the people related to this chaos, he discovered the existence of the Faceless through satellite monitoring, and then compared hundreds of millions of entry and exit records with facial recognition, checking every face that should not have existed on this planet at each point in time, so as to lock down every location where the Faceless appeared, connect the trajectories... After a tedious data filtering, he finally found the current location of the two.

If he were not a Virtual Mechanic, these two guys who were suspected of being the masterminds would have really run away today.

What a pity...

Han Xiao shook his head.

Meeting me, your life is not good.

————

(I'm participating in Qidian's event abroad, going to Malaysia and Singapore. I have to be on the plane for a long time. I can't go home until the 25th. The updates will be unstable during this time. I'll try not to ask for leave.)

ps: Brothers, does anyone know what to do if my phone has no signal abroad? I need a verification code to log in to the author's backstage on my computer, but I can't receive the text message because there's no signal. I can only use the backstage on my phone. I'm worried that one day I'll have to log in to my account on my phone again and enter the verification code. At that time, I won't even be able to send a single chapter. That would be terrible (〒﹏〒;)