The Legendary Mechanic

After travelling for a period, the fleet finally returned to the Shattered Star Ring. Han Xiao returned to the headquarters immediately, gathering his officers to review the work over this period.

Generally speaking, there were still the same old problems, but the slightly better news was that the Germinal Financial Group was developing smoothly.

As the subsidiary financial group under the Black Star Army, they had manpower, money, influence, and even the support of armed forces, which was the same as them being born with a golden spoon in the Shattered Star Ring. It quickly gathered a large number of the affiliated business partners of the army and negotiated long-term cooperation deals, which made the structure of the army much simpler.

What was worth nothing was that Iapetus, whom Han Xiao had taken from the dynasty, had shown excellent business skills. The performance of the team he led was always at the forefront, and they signed up with one cooperation treaty after another for the financial group. Apart from gathering the subsidiary businesses, they even tried to open new channels.

In her comments, Sylvia mentioned that Iapetus had excellent business negotiation skills, strategic vision, leadership abilities, persuasive eloquence, calm judgment, and so on. He was a high-quality management talent and should be placed on the shortlist for an executive position.

The Black Star Army was full of talents. Because of its huge size, there were many officers in all kinds of positions. Phillip would evaluate the army members and select the talents to form a candidate list, which would all be potential officers.

Han Xiao used his free time to review the backlog of documents, and after finishing all official matters, the rest of the officers also relaxed.

"By the way, how is the learning progress of Nero?" Han Xiao asked.

"Good, he is very talented," Reynold simply replied.

"Ok, when the meeting ends, I'll go take a look." Han Xiao stroked his chin. "I have a question for you."

"Please."

"If there ever comes a day where I'll have to kill your sister, what will you do?"

Reynold froze his shock, his expression hesitant. "This…"

"No need to be scared, just say your true feelings."

"… Why would you want to kill her?"

"For example, she commits a severe crime or undermines the benefits of our army."

Reynold breathed out slowly before saying expressionlessly, "If that's the case, then I will not hold any grudges against you. She must be responsible for her own actions. However, I will not continue working for you at that time as well. I hope you can understand."

The atmosphere suddenly grew tense, and everyone held their breath.

They knew that Han Xiao did not say things without a reason. Could it be that Rossellin, who had left the army, had really done something?

Han Xiao also stared at him for a while before he laughed and nodded. The atmosphere lightened considerably.

"Who can tell what will happen in the future? Don't mind me. There's nothing wrong with your answer."

Reynold silently nodded but retreated to a corner, deep in thought.

Glancing at his face, Han Xiao secretly shook his head.

When the original three founders of the Silver Revolutionary Army came over to the Black Star Army to poach Rossellin, he had planted an [Observer's Mark] on Edmund. Not too long ago, he had seen the official establishment of the Silver Revolutionary Army through the [Observer's Mark]. The movements of Edmond and company could not even escape his eyes.

Based on his original plans, he wanted to sit and watch the growth of the Silver Revolutionary Army. One reason was that he was growing leeks; only when the three Universal Civilizations started to pay attention to the Silver Revolutionary Army would he then be able to render a great merit. Secondly, he wanted to have someone that he knew clearly trigger the contradictions between the civilizations. Only then would he know how to deal with it. Lastly, he wanted to sit behind the scenes and watch as he felt that there might be a chance to utilize the Silver Revolutionary Army in the future.

However, Han Xiao's thoughts had never been set in stone. He had always adjusted his plans flexibly according to the situation. Now that his position in the dynasty had been consolidated, this achievement might not be needed.

As for the threat with the World Tree Civilization, that was supposed to be an issue in the future, but it had turned into a randomly triggered explosive. With external threats looming, it was unknown whether he should allow the Silver Revolutionary Army to wreak havoc.

The conflict between the three universal civilizations and the Super Star Cluster civilizations was something inevitable. The latter was bound to one day rebel against the dominant civilizations due to their contradictions. The Silver Revolutionary Army was just the fuse.

Han Xiao knew that killing off the Silver Revolutionary Army in advance would not help to resolve any conflicts, but there was a chance it would postpone the outbreak.

But no matter what he chose, the upper echelons of the Silver Revolutionary Army would have to be killed. In many cases, ideology was even more frightening than weapons. Reformers typically did not meet a good end, so Han Xiao was also concerned about Reynold's thoughts and wished to give him a heads up. However, for someone like Reynold, once he made up his mind, no one could change his thoughts.

Sylvia looked around before coughing, breaking the silence. "By the way, I have an interesting proposal here. Please take a look."

She raised her communicator and showed a virtual screen with a document within.

Han Xiao swept across and raised an eyebrow. "… Super Education Plan?"

"That's right. We opened training camps on many planets to train reserve members, but it was too militarized, and only those who signed a contract to be reserve army members would receive grooming. This proposal is for the Black Star Army to provide funding and open a private Super college in the Shattered Star Ring, where any civilian can pay for school and need not be a reserve…"

"Wait." Han Xiao raised his hand up. "Such schools are everywhere, and every galactic civilization has their own official Super college. There's no need for me to also have another."

"No, this is different." Sylvia shook her head. "You're the strongest in the Star Field. This identity has appeal and can attract the maximum number of students. The school that we will run is different."

Han Xiao stroked his chin, browsing the proposal, and casually asked, "What about the benefits?"

"Opening such a school will allow you to effectively expand your influence, and you can also use this as a form of social responsibility," Sylvia said. "Many business partners of the army are too distant from your average galactic resident; the establishment of a college will allow the galactic residents to turn their admiration for you into actual support, allowing your influence to penetrate deep into the masses. Also, this will allow the idle army members to have something to do."

"Sounds like a good plan." Han Xiao nodded.

This sort of idea was also good to help him cultivate more leeks. In the past, this was not done, mainly because his influence and funds were not large enough. Now, the Black Star Army really had the qualifications to diversify into the education sector.

No matter how strong a Beyond Grade A was, or how great their reputation was, to the ordinary galactic residents, they were just like movie stars. Apart from being a teatime topic and a focus of public opinion, the actual impact on their daily lives was not great. Opening a school was a great way to capitalize on one's influence as the process of providing welfare to the people would result in them increasingly supporting the various businesses of the Black Star Army in their daily lives. The benefits were long term and multi-faceted.

Moreover, with the size of the Black Star Army skyrocketing, there were many idle soldiers around.

There was a limit to the number of employment tasks. Compared to the past, the security of Shattered Star Ring had improved a lot, and the name of Black Star Army had become a taboo among the galactic pirates, which gave them boundless fear every time they saw the emblem of the Black Star Army.

"Ok, let's follow your plan. We'll first do a pilot test in the Colton Star Cluster. For the hundreds of other schools, we can talk about it later."

"Then, this fund…"

"Granted."

Han Xiao waved his hand. Since his money was also idling there, it would be good to take it out to do something. To think that it could be frustrating to have too much money.

"Since you're using my name, I'll be the honorary principal. As for the actual principal…"

Gazing at Sylvia's hairline, which seemed to have receded a little, Han Xiao coughed a little embarrassedly before changing his gaze.

By the side, Lagi, who had lots of hair, happened to walk in front of Han Xiao at this time. The Great Mechanic Han immediately caught his breath.

"It's you, Lagi. You go and be the principal!"

Lagi returned to his senses and put on a bitter expression.

"Wasting my life in a meaningless position, this is the destiny of all beings. I didn't expect that, despite doing my best, I would still be unable to escape in this reincarnation…"

Hearing this, the corners of everyone's mouth twitched.

To think you could paint such a beautiful excuse even for skiving. You're really a f*cking genius!

After sending off the downcast Garbage [1. Lagi's name sounds like the words for Garbage in Chinese.] and the other officers, Han Xiao took out his communicator, calling Lothaire to inquire about the current situation.

Lothaire's position was different from the Black Star Guards. He was a Shadow Guard, and rather than sticking to Black Star's side, the Shadow Guards were responsible for the secret ops such as assassination and espionage. Currently, Han Xiao's only Shadow Guard was Lothaire.

After the incident with the Blood Gold Organization, Han Xiao had instructed Lothaire to lurk within the black market organizations, collecting information and assassinating the middle-level officers of the Blood Gold Organization. After a long period of investigation, Han Xiao had decided to instruct Lothaire to be like his previous life, establishing an Assassin's Society to serve as a subsidiary force under the Black Star Army.

Lothaire himself was extremely strong, and his character was decisive. He was a silent yet reliable character, suitable for solo missions. Han Xiao was quite confident in him and not afraid that he might accidentally expose himself.

After talking for a while, he hung up, and Han Xiao then walked over to the logistics department to see Nero.

Nero had shot up once again. After his hell-like learning, he had begun to familiarize himself with the techniques. Seeing Han Xiao approaching, Nero seemed very happy, rushing up and pestering Han Xiao for gifts.

Thinking about it, Han Xiao took out a learning enhancement device related to cognitive technology and gave it to Nero, which successfully earned him a roll of Nero's eyes.

After teasing Nero as usual, Han Xiao checked the interface and discovered that Nero was still stuck at [High Grade Mechanical Sense].

As he stroked Nero's head, Han Xiao sighed before saying, "After a while, I want you to return to Planet Aquamarine to see your father. You should continue your studies there."

Hearing this, Nero's eyes misted up, and he put on a wronged expression. "Are you chasing me away? Where have I done wrong?"

Han Xiao laughed. "You're mistaken. I thought about it, and just making you stick your head into books all day without communicating with others is not good. Our army is about to open a civilian college, and Planet Aquamarine will definitely be one of the first pilot regions. You can just go to school on Planet Aquamarine, accompany Bennett more, and take some time off to learn from Reynold. Just take it as a reward for working so hard up till now."

Nero was shocked.

Did my godfather change sex‽

To think that he actually gave me a holiday!

"… What sort of expression is that? Why do you look like you saw a ghost?"

"I… I was just happy." Nero swallowed hard, secretly sizing Han Xiao up, as though he was afraid that he was simply being pranked by an imposter.

Han Xiao actually wished for Nero to achieve [Perfect Mechanical Sense] in one shot, but seeing Nero's current growth spurt, he felt that he should not push him too hard. In another few years, Nero's childhood years would be gone, and it would be good to allow him to relax for a period of time, which might help him grow.

After solving all those matters, Han Xiao entered the machinery modification room and shut himself in, beginning to update all his mechanical army. In the process, he also began to create another defining feature of the Divine Throne Mechanic—the Divine Mechanical Throne.