Chapter 140 Blackmail

Hundreds of supply boxes were neatly stacked in the warehouse, piled up into a small mountain, filled with countless parts and materials that Han Xiao had hoarded.

This was a secret base located under the Third Sanctuary. When the sanctuary was built, Han Xiao quietly expanded the base. Now it was his hidden stronghold. All roads were set up with permission recognition and equipped with defensive machine gun arrays. In addition to fixed-point camera monitoring of all entrances, there were countless detection spiders lurking in the shadows, making it extremely secure.

Han Xiao had a total of three warehouses. One was for raw materials and parts, the second was a warehouse for stockpiled mechanical equipment, all of which he had made to practice and earn manufacturing experience, which he then sold to players. The last one was an important warehouse, where he kept the equipment he used, and the new mech, Teng Snake, was also stored there.

The things in these warehouses were all preparations for his trip to the interstellar space.

The recent dungeon function had also earned him a lot of money, which kept rolling in. He didn't know how much wealth he would accumulate when he went to the interstellar space, but the excellent situation did not make Han Xiao too excited. He saw some problems.

He was earning the players' money, but where did the players' money come from?

Naturally, from doing missions for other NPCs.

In essence, players played the role of human porters, gathering the scattered wealth of NPCs from all over the place, and then sending it to Han Xiao through consumption, forming a torrent of money. The money became active, forming a transmission line, and he was barely the end point of the money circulation, where the money landed safely in his pocket. So, if players wanted to make money, they had to work for other NPCs. If he wanted to increase the players' consumption level, he had to pour fresh water in from the source, increasing the NPCs in the sanctuary.

There was another problem: players would not stay in the main city forever. They would definitely go to other places to do quests and experience the storyline. If he wanted to make the players come home like tired birds, in addition to the various activities he was perfecting, he also had to facilitate the traffic in the main city.

Han Xiao planned to build a new transportation network for the sanctuary, building railway tracks and regular flights. This was a large budget, and Dark Net could not afford it for the time being. Bennet was developing a new sanctuary and didn't have any spare money on hand.

And these two problems had the same solution:

Find a sucker who was willing to pay and provide manpower.

The phone rang, and after answering, Huang Yu's voice came, "The Overmaira family's visiting team has arrived at the sanctuary entrance. Should we let them in?"

Playing with a bullet casing, Han Xiao revealed a meaningful smile.

"Yes, of course they have to come in."

...

A convoy was parked at the entrance of the sanctuary. Xiao Jin personally led his men to pay a visit. The visiting team this time was mainly composed of members of the Xiao faction, led by Xiao Jin, and a group of nephews and nieces. In addition to the Xiao faction, the Main Family Faction and the Chiyu Faction also had envoys following them, mainly to show their attitude.

The group was left at the door for a long time, but Xiao Jin didn't show the slightest impatience. He knew very well that he was now the weaker party and had come to ask for help.

They waited a long time before they were allowed to pass. He observed the sanctuary's facilities along the way, nodding frequently. He followed Huang Yu to the reception hall, and when he looked up, he saw Han Xiao sitting in the main seat, looking at their group with a playful look in his eyes.

Without the mask, this face was the long-lost Xiao Han in the eyes of the Xiao faction, but they couldn't see through Han Xiao at this time, as if he had become a different person, looking at them as if they were a group of strangers. Xiao Jin didn't dare to rashly call him his son, so he cleared his throat and said in a deep voice, "Black Phantom."

Han Xiao glanced at the crowd, expressionless, and did not answer. Like a mountain king, he leaned against the chair with his legs crossed, casually playing with the golden bullets, just staring straight at the crowd.

Xiao Jin understood and looked at Xiao Hai and the group of nephews and nieces behind him, tilting his head to signal. This group of Xiao faction juniors made a commotion, looking hesitant. After a few seconds of procrastination, they reluctantly greeted him.

"Godfather."

"Oh, you're here." Han Xiao said lightly, seeing through their act. Before coming, Xiao Jin must have anticipated this awkward relationship of seniority. This group of Xiao faction juniors must have been mentally prepared, and this hesitant expression was made specifically for him to see, subtly reminding him that this title was inappropriate. It was time to recognize each other and let him return to the role of "Xiao Jin's son" to solidify the relationship between the two sides. But it was useless to him. He wasn't the real "Xiao Han."

Han Xiao remained unmoved and said, "What do you want to do by visiting me?"

Seeing this, Xiao Jin coughed and said, "I can explain the past, and your brother wants to apologize to you in person."

Xiao Hai took a deep breath and put on a look of apology, quickly going through his prepared speech in his mind. He had already thought about how to apologize on the way.

He had to cry bitterly, he had to be humble, and show regret for the fraternal strife, so he would have a great chance to get Han Xiao's forgiveness.

As long as they restored their relationship, Overmaira would be firmly on this thigh. Even if Xiao Hai was unwilling in his heart, he could grit his teeth and play this role of repentance well.

Taking a step forward, Xiao Hai was about to speak.

Bang!

Everyone was startled and looked in the direction of the sound. A smoking bullet hole was right at Xiao Hai's feet. If he had taken another step forward, he would have been hit in the face.

Xiao Hai couldn't take that step and froze in place.

The empty bullet casing fell to the ground. Han Xiao's ghostly blue mechanical force wrapped around his finger, and a wisp of black smoke was coming out of his fingernail. He used his finger as a firing pin, detonating the primer and firing a bullet with his bare hands. This was so cool that he thought he was handsome himself.

The power was limited, but it was enough to scare people.

"I don't need an apology. Let's get down to business," Han Xiao said lightly.

Xiao Jin's face changed slightly, and he secretly thought it was bad. This meant that it was over, no talk of emotion, only talk of business, just like when he contacted him as Black Phantom last time. This disrupted his little plan, and he had no choice but to let Xiao Hai retreat.

Xiao Hai gritted his teeth. He had prepared to apologize, but he wasn't even given a chance to read his script. Han Xiao didn't even look at him, and a strong sense of frustration welled up in his heart.

Xiao Jin calmed himself down and said in a deep voice, "Germination has been destroyed. In the future, the six nations will be the only powers. Due to the deteriorating climate, many wanderers will choose to leave their settlements and join the six nations. When the six nations have rested, they will sooner or later liquidate our scattered warlord forces, even if we were once partners of the six nations..."

"Unless, you find a patron who can protect you," Han Xiao rubbed his chin.

Xiao Jin nodded, everything was self-evident. He wanted to plan ahead and lean towards Han Xiao and Dark Net.

Han Xiao changed the subject: "Debts must be repaid. How did you get to this position? Don't you have any idea?"

Xiao Jin looked helpless. He originally wanted to talk about feelings, but Han Xiao only talked about interests, just like when he contacted him as Black Phantom last time.

"...What do you want?"

"Money, manpower, and you also have to move people near the sanctuary and turn it into a satellite city. It's not easy to collect debts from far away."

The faces of the Overmaira people changed slightly.

This request was for them to give up their former foundation. The people looked at Xiao Jin, waiting for him to make a decision.

Xiao Jin was silent for a moment, then resolutely compromised, "Okay."

He focused on the future. War brought chaos, but it also brought order. There would be fewer and fewer wanderers. Once the six nations freed up their hands, the warlord settlement model would be broken by force. Instead of waiting until the cunning rabbit died and the hunting dog was cooked, it was better to seek a way out early and change the family's business model.

Dark Net's sanctuary was also considered a settlement, but it was different from their warlord nature. The six nations allowed the existence of sanctuaries. After thinking about it, Xiao Jin felt that this was an opportunity. There was a give and take, so he agreed.

After dismissing the others, only Han Xiao and Xiao Jin were left. The two discussed the specific details of the transaction. Xiao Jin was humble and constantly compromised. The final result was that Overmaira funded the construction of transportation lines and slowly transferred the manpower from various strongholds to the sanctuary, including the refugees and wanderers under their rule, which could enrich the sanctuary's population.

Overmaira was the sucker Han Xiao was looking for. Han Xiao had no intention of inheriting the original body's relationship at all, but this could be used to exploit Overmaira. Anyway, this group of people was not good.

"I heard that your Southern Continent branch is still looking for trouble with Lu Cheng... He is my friend."

"I know what to do." Xiao Jin sighed.

In addition to Overmaira, Han Xiao also planned to bring Lu Cheng over, so that Overmaira would not be the only one to dominate. The sanctuary already had warlord forces as competitors, and Dark Net would support his actions.

Speaking of which, he still hadn't gotten the blueprints from the old man Lu.