Chapter 1 After Returning to the Army

After sailing for a while, the fleet finally returned to the Shattered Star Ring. Han Xiao returned to headquarters as soon as possible, summoning many officers to summarize their work during this time and gain a more detailed understanding.

In general, the problems were still the same old ones, but the slightly better news was that the Sprout Financial Group was developing smoothly.

As an affiliated financial organization under the Black Star Army, with people, money, status, and even armed support from the army, it was like having a free pass in the Shattered Star Ring. It quickly consolidated a large number of the army's affiliated businesses, negotiated long-term cooperation with countless commercial organizations, and streamlined the army's structure a lot.

It is worth mentioning that Interpess, whom Han Xiao had poached from the empire, showed excellent business acumen. The team he led consistently ranked at the top in performance, signing one lucrative cooperation agreement after another for the financial group. In addition to consolidating affiliated businesses, he also tried to open up new channels.

In Sylvia's evaluation of him, she believed that Interpess possessed excellent business negotiation skills, strategic vision, leadership ability, persuasive eloquence, calm judgment, and other qualities. He was a high-quality management talent who, after some training, could be placed on the candidate list for senior management positions.

Nowadays, the Black Star Army was full of talented people. Because of its large scale, there were many positions for officers at all levels. Philip assessed the members of the army, screened out different talents, and formed an extremely long candidate list. The people on the list were all candidate officers of the army.

Han Xiao approved some backlog of documents. After talking about official business, the many officers relaxed.

"By the way, how is Nero learning now?" Han Xiao turned his head and asked.

"Not bad, he's very talented," Reynold said concisely.

"Well, I'll go take a look after the meeting." Han Xiao stroked his chin and suddenly said, "I have a question I want to ask you."

"Please speak."

"If one day in the future, I have to kill your sister, what would you do?"

Reynold was stunned, his face hesitant. "This..."

"Don't be afraid, just tell the truth."

"...Why would you kill her?"

"Well, suppose she did something wrong that harmed the interests of the army."

Reynold breathed a sigh of relief, his face expressionless. "If that's the case, I won't resent you. She needs to bear the consequences of her actions, but at that time, I won't be able to continue serving you either. Please understand."

The atmosphere became tense, and everyone present had different expressions.

They knew that Han Xiao would not speak aimlessly. Could it be that Lothairen, who had left the army, had really done something?

Han Xiao looked at him for a while, then suddenly laughed, dispelling the tension.

"Who can say for sure what will happen in the future? Don't mind it, there's nothing wrong with your answer."

Reynold nodded silently and retreated to the side, lost in thought.

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

As early as when the three founders of the Silver Revolutionary Army came to the army to poach people, he had planted an observation mark on Edmund. Not long ago, he saw the scene of the Silver Revolutionary Army's official establishment from the observation mark. The actions of Edmund and others could not escape his eyes at all.

According to his original idea, he was prepared to sit back and watch the Silver Revolutionary Army grow. First, to cultivate leeks, so that he could take credit when the three major civilizations paid attention to the Silver Revolution; second, to let people he knew well trigger the conflict between the three major civilizations and the Super Star Cluster civilizations, which would make it easier for him to deal with; and third, to secretly set up a plan, feeling that there might be an opportunity to use the Silver Revolution in the future.

However, Han Xiao's ideas never remained the same. He always flexibly adjusted his plans according to the situation. Now that his position in the empire had been consolidated, he might not need this achievement.

Moreover, the problem of the World Tree was encountered later and had now become an unstable bomb. With the external threat advanced, whether to continue to let the Silver Revolutionary Army go was a problem.

The conflict between the three major civilizations and the Super Star Cluster civilizations was the trend of the times. Sooner or later, these advanced civilizations would revolt against their ruling status, and the conflict would inevitably break out and could not be avoided. The Silver Revolutionary Army was a fuse that happened to be there.

Han Xiao knew that killing the Silver Revolutionary Army in advance would not resolve the conflict, but it would have the opportunity to postpone the time of the outbreak.

Regardless of the choice, the upper echelons of the Silver Revolutionary Army had to be dealt with. Many times, ideas were more intimidating than guns. Reformers rarely had a good ending. Therefore, Han Xiao cared about Reynold's thoughts, thinking about giving him a vaccination in advance, but once Reynold recognized something, he would hardly change his mind.

Sylvia looked around, coughed, and broke the silence. "By the way, I have an interesting proposal here, please take a look."

With that, she pressed the communicator, and a virtual screen appeared, displaying a document.

Han Xiao glanced at it, raising his eyebrows. "...Superpower Education Program?"

"Yes, we have opened training camps on many planets to train reserve members, but the management is too militarized. Only by signing a contract to become a reserve army warrior can one receive training. The meaning of this proposal is that the Black Star Army will fund and send people to open private superpower schools on a large scale in the Shattered Star Ring. Any civilian can pay to go to school and no longer needs to become an army reserve..."

"Wait a minute." Han Xiao raised his palm. "These kinds of superpower schools are everywhere. Every interstellar civilization has its own official superpower school. There seems to be no need for me to do this."

"No, it's still a little different." Sylvia shook her head. "You are now the strongest in the star field, and this title has appeal, which can attract students to the greatest extent. The significance of the private schools we open is different."

Han Xiao touched his chin, browsing the proposal, and casually asked, "Then what about the benefits?"

"Opening superpower schools on a large scale with your name can effectively expand your influence. You can think of it as a public welfare behavior." Sylvia spoke eloquently, calmly and unhurriedly. "Many of the army's current businesses are too far removed from the living standards of interstellar citizens. Opening schools can transform interstellar citizens' admiration for you into actual support and let your influence penetrate into the masses. By the way, many idle army warriors will also have something to do."

"Sounds good." Han Xiao nodded.

This method would also help cultivate leeks. The main reason for not doing this before was that the influence was not large enough and the funds were not enough. Now the Black Star Army was indeed qualified to run education.

No matter how strong and famous a Beyond Grade A was, to ordinary interstellar citizens, they were like celebrities. In addition to being topics of conversation after dinner and hot topics in public opinion, they had little actual impact on their daily lives. Opening schools, however, was a way to cash in on influence, providing benefits to the people. Then, in their daily lives, the people would increasingly support the various businesses of the Black Star Army. The benefits would be long-term and multifaceted.

Moreover, the Black Star Army had expanded so many times in scale that many warriors had indeed become idle.

No matter how many mercenary missions there were, there was a limit. Compared to before, the security of the Shattered Star Ring had improved a lot. The Black Star Army's pirate happy huts had long become a taboo name, frightening countless pirates and scavengers. As soon as they saw the Black Star Army's emblem, they would immediately pull up their pants and run away.

"Alright, just do as you say. Let's start with a pilot project in the Colton Star Cluster and open a few hundred schools first."

"Then the funds..."

"Approved."

Han Xiao waved his hand. Anyway, the money was idle there, so it was good to take it out and do something. Having money was also a worry.

"Since it's named after me, then I'm the honorary principal. As for the actual management..."

Glancing at Sylvia's hairline, which seemed to be receding a bit, Han Xiao coughed embarrassedly and shifted his gaze.

Laki, who was next to him with thick hair and lost in thought, jumped into his view, and the great technician Han felt a surge of anger.

"It's you, Laki, you go be the principal!"

Laki came back to his senses, his face bitter.

"Wasting life in a meaningless position, this is the fate of all beings. I didn't expect that I would try my best, but I still can't escape this cycle..."

Hearing this, everyone's mouths twitched, trying hard to suppress their laughter.

You can describe slacking off in such a fresh and refined way, you're really talented!

Watching the dejected Laki leave the room with the other officers, Han Xiao took out the communicator and contacted Rothere, asking about the recent situation.

Rothere's position was different from that of a bodyguard. He was a shadow walker. Bodyguards guarded Black Star, while shadow walkers secretly operated outside, performing a series of tasks such as assassination, espionage, infiltration, and sabotage. Currently, Rothere was the only shadow walker under Han Xiao's command.

After the Blood Gold Organization incident, Han Xiao ordered Rothere to infiltrate the black market organization, collecting intelligence and constantly assassinating middle-level cadres of the Blood Gold Organization. After a long period of investigation, Han Xiao had decided to instruct Rothere to establish the Assassin Co-Assistance Society, just like in his previous life, as a secret affiliated force of the army.

Rothere himself was very strong, and his personality was decisive and resolute. He was a silent and reliable adult man, enough to stand alone. Han Xiao was very relieved of him and was not afraid that he would ruin himself.

After chatting for a few words, Han Xiao hung up the phone and went to the logistics department to visit Nero.

Nero had grown taller. After undergoing hellish learning, he had gradually become skilled. He looked very happy when he saw Han Xiao and rushed up to pester Han Xiao for gifts.

Han Xiao thought for a while, took out a cognitive technology learning enhancement device, and put it in Nero's hand, successfully receiving a white-eye attack.

As usual, Han Xiao pricked Nero with a needle and looked at the panel. Nero was now at [Advanced Machanical Sense] and had not continued to evolve.

Casually touching Nero's head, Han Xiao pondered for a while and said, "In a while, you can go back to Aquamarine Star to visit Bennett and stay there to go to school."

Hearing this, Nero's eyes were immediately filled with tears, and he looked aggrieved. "Are you trying to drive me back? Did I do something wrong?"

Han Xiao laughed. "Haha, you misunderstood. I was thinking that it's not a good thing to always make you bury your head in studying and lack social interaction. Coincidentally, the army is preparing to open civilian schools recently, and Aquamarine Star will definitely be one of the first pilot areas. You can usually go to school on Aquamarine Star, spend more time with Bennett, and then take some time to study with Reynold, a combination of work and rest. Just consider it a reward for your hard work for so long."

Nero was shocked.

Godfather had changed his nature?!

He was actually going to give me a vacation!!

"...What kind of look is that? Why do you look like you've seen a ghost?"

"I, I'm happy." Nero swallowed and secretly sized up Han Xiao, afraid that this was someone else pretending to be him, deliberately teasing him.

Han Xiao did want Nero to learn [Perfect Machanical Sense] from Reynold in one go, but when he saw that Nero had grown half a head taller, he felt that he couldn't squeeze him so hard—in a few years, Nero's childhood would be over, and perhaps letting Nero relax for a while would help the subsequent improvement of his mechanical sense specialty.

After all, a philosopher said it well—all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

After resolving various matters, Han Xiao entered the mechanical modification room to seclude himself and began to update all the mechanical legions in stock. At the same time, he began to create another trait of the Legendary Mechanic—the Mechanical Throne.