Chapter 32 Sizzling

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Sizzle—

Just then, a virtual image appeared in the center of the hall, depicting a luxurious, lizard-like being. He glanced around the room, focused on Han Xiao, and asked with a puzzled tone,

"Our corporation's ship was subjected to a system intrusion. Black Star, was this your doing?"

"You're too slow to react; I've been waiting for you," Han Xiao replied, leaning back in his armchair, gazing up at the lizard-like figure. He temporarily put Sylvia's matter aside.

This ship belonged to an interstellar travel group. The lowest level of permissions was held by the corporation. Once a ship was seized by outsiders, the corporation would immediately detect it and could locate it remotely unless this connection was severed. However, doing so required not only hacking skills but also various interference and intrusion hardware to shield the underlying permissions. Han Xiao had seized the captain's permissions, so he had known all along that the actual owner of the ship would come looking for him.

Although the ship was under his control, he couldn't shield the owner's remote surveillance. With his skills, it would take several days to half a month to change the ship's basic settings and eliminate the operational rights of the underlying permissions. The protection of the underlying permissions was more stringent; the difference in difficulty was like the gap between hacking a small to medium-sized enterprise and hacking a government agency.

The lizard-like being had assumed that the ship had been stolen. However, based on the situation, it seemed there were other secrets. He suppressed his anger and asked the reason with confusion.

Han Xiao succinctly explained the process. Upon learning that the captain had been replaced and that someone intended to assassinate a passenger during the trip, the lizard-like being's expression drastically changed...although the humans present couldn't tell.

"I boarded your flight because I trusted your travel group, yet I encountered such danger. Your reputation is truly disappointing! If other customers find out, who would want to board an unsafe flight?!" Han Xiao clutched his chest, exaggerating his tone, and engaged in blatant blackmail: "Hiss...I'm still shaken up; I feel terrible. You must compensate me for twelve items, including emotional distress, lost wages, and post-incident medical examination fees."

The lizard-like being flicked his tail and said helplessly, "I apologize; this is a dereliction of duty on the part of our corporation. We will certainly handle it properly and provide you with appropriate compensation..." Assassination was difficult to prevent. His travel group had also suffered an undeserved disaster, but there was nothing he could do since the incident occurred on his ship.

There were many interstellar travel groups in the universe, and competition within the industry was fierce. If embellished stories spread, the reputation would definitely decline. Black Star was at least a mercenary group seeking wealth and had integrity. He was willing to pay to avoid trouble.

The travel group had dozens of ships under its command, earning thousands of Enas per day. Why not fleece the nouveau riche? Han Xiao directly quoted an astronomical price. After some haggling, they finally settled on 30,000 Enas, which the other party reluctantly agreed to, enduring this major loss.

With nearly 30,000 Enas in hand at once, his savings increased to about 840,000. Han Xiao secretly sighed, "Extortion is much faster than being a mercenary..." but it still couldn't compare to harvesting the players' wallets.

"Before you retrieve the ship, let me borrow it for a few days. Anyway, you have remote positioning; you know where the ship is going," Han Xiao said.

"This...very well."

After reaching an agreement, the sullen lizard-like being turned off the communication.

Han Xiao had no intention of stealing the ship; he wasn't a child who could just snatch anyone's candy. Stealing a ship that had a legitimate owner would lead to being wanted (unless there were no witnesses). Compared to the gains, this was a losing proposition and not as safe as extorting money. In his previous life, many players had already used their actions to prove the consequences of stealing ships. Whether successful or not, they would be wanted, pursued by mercenaries, bounty hunters, and patrol enforcement teams from various civilizations. Their initial goodwill with many orderly civilizations would plummet, and once discovered in cities or planets of the orderly factions, they would be surrounded by guards and thrown into jail, losing everything. They couldn't do whatever they wanted.

Han Xiao had no interest in repeating history. He wasn't in dire need of a ship and didn't need to cause trouble. Besides, he knew how to get a ship for free without any aftereffects, so he naturally lacked interest in robbery.

Having resolved this matter, Han Xiao turned his attention back to Sylvia.

The girl was now tied up in a turtle shell bind, slumped to the side. Her long eyelashes trembled constantly, giving her a pitiful, tearful appearance. However, it had no effect on the Great Technician Han. The only good enemy was a dead enemy; being soft-hearted was not an option...

"Wait...who tied her up like this?!"

Only then did Han Xiao notice the exquisite rope work on Sylvia's body.

Meat Bun immediately raised his hand, as eager as a top student raising his hand to answer a question in class, beaming, "I tied her up. Looks good, right?"

"You're really letting yourself go more and more."

Mad Knife's mouth twitched.

Nearby, Melos shook his head and asked, "Black Star, what do you plan to do with her?"

Han Xiao played with his gun and glanced at him. "Judging by your tone, you seem to have some insights? If you have any opinions, just say them; I'm not a dictator. You know about democracy, right?"

Melos paused, carefully choosing his words, and said slowly, "She said, 'You mercenaries are helping the tyrannical rulers suppress the suffering people.' I think she must be misunderstanding something. We all know what kind of scum Langley is, but she doesn't seem to understand. I think...it might be better to ask first?"

Saying that, Melos sighed, "After all, I understand the urge for revenge. Let alone a child like her, if I had a chance to assassinate the leader of DarkStar, I wouldn't hesitate."

"Oh, well aren't you just great."

Han Xiao's mouth twitched. He turned to look at the players behind him and asked, "What about you guys? Any thoughts?"

The players were stunned, seemingly not expecting to be called upon.

"Us? Whatever."

"Anything's fine."

"Anything works...but which one has more rewards?"

"This little girl is pretty; it's a shame to kill her."

The players answered sporadically. Most of them were male, liked to be straightforward and decisive, were tough-minded and fierce, while female players like Jiang Yu Luo and Maple Moon were gentler and advocated investigating the truth.

Sylvia pursed her lips, trying to look fierce, but her delicate body was still trembling. She couldn't resist and could only wait for her fate to be decided by others.

Han Xiao narrowed his eyes, staring at her, propping his chin with his thumb, tapping his jaw with his index finger, his expression thoughtful.

He had many ways to handle this. Killing her was the simplest. As long as he aimed at Sylvia, who was pretending to be fearless but trembling, and pulled the trigger, the future players would lose tens of thousands of doujinshi, ending her character's journey before it even began at his hands. And he would have a reason to do so—killing an enemy was justified; no one could find fault with it.

Having stained his hands with the blood of countless people, Han Xiao didn't care about one more well-known figure from the future.

However, he himself wasn't bloodthirsty. As a goal-oriented chaotic neutral, killing was just a means to him; profit was the goal.

The question he was considering now was whether he could extract more profit from Sylvia. Would killing her or keeping her alive be more profitable?

Whether Sylvia was good or evil in the future was irrelevant. The Great Technician Han only needed valuable people, just like that crazy woman Hela...no, he saved Aurora; she hadn't gone crazy yet. But in the previous life's storyline, the number of living beings who died at Hela's hands was calculated in terms of planets. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say she was extremely wicked. However, Han Xiao valued her power, not her personality or beauty, or any other random things like that.

Enemies were divided into several types: irreconcilable enemies, such as Germination and DarkStar, competitors who were both enemies and friends, and enemies caused by misunderstandings, etc. In his opinion, Sylvia was an enemy caused by a misunderstanding, and Han Xiao knew what kind of misunderstanding it was.

Langley himself was a rebellious scoundrel, but as a father, he must have hidden or even deceived his daughter, inevitably seeking excuses to embellish his actions. Therefore, Sylvia believed that her father Langley's actions were against tyrannical rulers, that he was a pioneer liberating the people, and so on.

According to his previous life's experiences, Sylvia was quite upright, but her eyes were blinded and her mind twisted by hatred and lies. If she knew what kind of scum her father was, she might give up revenge like she did in her previous life. Han Xiao already knew the truth and knew how to quickly subvert Sylvia's perception; it would be effortless for him...but that wasn't the key.

The point was, what benefits could he gain from it?

‘Hmm...it might trigger relevant quests, with a reward. So she still has some value. Then let's do that for now, spare her life temporarily, do the quest first, and then deal with her depending on the situation. If she's still hostile...bury her on the spot.’

Han Xiao thought.

As for letting her go? That was absolutely impossible.

From a merchant's perspective, Sylvia wasn't just a person but also a resource with value. His assets weren't so abundant that he could just throw money around on the street and waste resources.

With that in mind, Han Xiao stood up and said, "Everyone, pack up, prepare to leave. Knock her unconscious and lock her up."

Sylvia's face was full of astonishment. She looked up and asked, "Where are you taking me?"

Han Xiao said indifferently:

"To see your father."

Sylvia's eyes widened in disbelief.