Chapter 210: The Real Killer (5)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The Home faction was furious as they looked at Lagos’ corpse, but they did not dare provoke Han Xiao. After all, a real-life example of what would happen if they did was right in front of them.
This time, Todd walked out of the crowd and said, “This was all Lagos’ idea; he deserved it. On behalf of the entire Home Faction, we absolutely won’t hold a grudge for this.”
The Home Faction was surprised. They did not expect Todd to stand out at this time, and he even admitted their fear toward Han Xiao.
Words said under such circumstances had to be taken with a pinch of salt, and Han Xiao did not agree or disagree with his words but asked, “You are?”
“Todd, Darryl’s younger brother, Lagos’s uncle, I’m in charge of the Home Faction now.” Todd forced himself to be calm as he spoke.
The Home Faction gave him a weird look. They were amazed by Todd’s ability to grab the opportunity to take over the Home Faction as soon as Lagos died, but Todd did indeed speak their mind. Therefore, they all kept silent and accepted Todd’s position.
The people that they had hired who had such great strength had easily been killed; Han Xiao’s strength was overwhelming. Everyone knew that if they still wanted to spark conflict, it would be no different from suicide.
One thought appeared in all the factions.
Black Phantom could not be messed with!
“Find another room for me,” Han Xiao said as he looked at the ruins and put his machinery away.
“I’ll arrange it for you,” Xiao Ming immediately replied as an order from Xiao Jin.
The high ranked officials exchanged looks after Han Xiao left.
“Black Phantom has overwhelming strength and doesn’t care if he becomes our enemy, yet he still insists to claim he’s not the killer. Maybe he really didn’t carry out the assassination,” Se Qi said.
“But he killed Lagos—that’s a new grudge,” the head of the Northern Faction said.
Todd stopped him and said, “Lagos did this to himself, and he deserved it. Our Home Faction will neither seek revenge nor hold grudges.”
The others looked at him with despise while selectively choosing to forget that they were thinking the same.
“Then what do we do with Black Phantom?” someone asked.
To let an undefeatable monster stay in the headquarter would make them feel very insecure.
“He just wants to get rid of the suspicion,” Xiao Jin said coldly. “Once the truth surfaces, he will naturally leave, so don’t mess with him.”
...
Upon arriving at his new house, Han Xiao woke up the captive Invisible Demon. He had planted a locating device in Invisible Demon’s body and could know where he was without seeing him.
“What do you want?” Invisible Demon was horrified.
Han Xiao took off Viper, returned it to his bag, and said with an interested tone, “I heard your invisibility came from a laboratory experiment accident and your skin mutated. If I strip your skin off, it must be worth quite a fortune.”
Invisible Demon was terrified and started to sweat all over. “Don’t—don’t do that.”
“You’re my prisoner now. Do you think you’re in any position to object?”
Invisible Demon had nothing to reply to with. Han Xiao stopped teasing him and knocked him unconscious, then injected a strong anesthetic, tied him up, and threw him aside. There was a reward from the Dark Net for Invisible Demon, and Han Xiao planned to take on the mission then turn in Invisible Demon alive, completing the mission immediately and maximizing the profit.
Han Xiao had shown an overwhelming level of strength through this conflict, so Alumera did not dare do anything to him at all. Although he had the absolute upper hand in terms of strength, he still chose to stay, which reduced his suspicion with many factions.
Also, Han Xiao was in a position where Alumera could not do anything to him, as Alumera was not willing to start another conflict with him. This whole framing conspiracy was to spark conflict between Han Xiao and Alumera, which had already almost completely failed. At least, Alumera did not dare turn against Han Xiao to his face.
But this was not enough. The person responsible for the framing had yet to be found. Han Xiao guessed that there were two possibilities—one being that the person had given up and decided to continue hiding, the other being that person was still trying to save the plan or even attack Han Xiao. However, the possibility of the latter was not high since Han Xiao had already proven that he was not to be messed with.
The Home Faction kept a low profile since Lagos died. Todd did not have any hatred at all, and he was more concerned about what benefit he could get at the moment. Other than ordering people to investigate for clues of Darryl’s assassination, he also actively contacted the other factions to earn support for the election of a leader successor.
Darryl’s son had the highest chance of becoming the next leader after Darryl died, but Han Xiao had killed him, and now the successor’s position had become vacant. All the factions were ambitious and planned to seize power. Thus, a heavy storm was about to arrive.
Everyone seemed like they were focused on the truth of Darryl’s death, but they were secretly more concerned about the election of the next leader.
However, before the killer was discovered, the election would not take place.
Han Xiao was one of the main parties in this, but he was also an excluded outsider. However, he did not mind it at all. He stayed in the room and gathered information about Alumera through Dark Net’s intelligence network and the Bamboo Rain Guild.
A few days after, Xiao Jin came knocking on his door. He told Han Xiao that he had found an important clue.
“Through checking the guards’ verbal information and comparing it with the recording from the surveillance cameras, I have found some traces. On the night of the assassination, an assistant of one of the Northern Faction’s high ranked officials left his house and disappeared for 27 minutes.
“This high ranked official of the Northern Faction is called Su Dinghua—45 years of age, a Northern Continent local, always kept a low profile. Actually, I have been paying attention to him for a very long time. A spy I sent into the Northern Faction discovered that Su Dinghua has secret connections with Raylen, and his assistant only changed a few years ago, the same year that he started to contact Raylen.”
Many high ranked officials contacted other organizations discreetly, but all for their own benefits. However, Raylen had obviously turned Su Dinghua into a traitor.
Xiao Jin brought along quite a number of documents, which all clearly lead to Su Dinghua.
Han Xiao gave it careful thought. Alumera was Theseus’s partner, and weakening Alumera meant weakening Theseus. To create a strong opponent for Alumera and spark internal conflict, Raylen would benefit from it as a third party, which was indeed a logical motive for Raylen.
The Northern Faction was the most inconspicuous, so they would be the most suitable party for any conspiracy.
“Were the other factions able to get this information, too?” Han Xiao raised the documents in his hands.
“Not sure.” Xiao Jin shook his head. “I acquired the information of Su Dinghua secretly working with Raylen by accident, so the other factions probably don’t know about it.”
“Then why did you come to me?” Han Xiao asked.
“Raylen might have planted quite few strong people around Su Dinghua. I was hoping you could help us capture Su Dinghua and his co-conspirators, and this is a good opportunity for you to get rid of the suspicion as well. I was thinking you would want to do it yourself,” Xiao Jin said with a sincere tone. “Rewards will not be a problem if you want them.”
Han Xiao stared at Xiao Jin for quite some time and smiled suddenly. “I will help you this time, at market rate.”
“Okay.” Xiao Jin nodded.
...
At night, Han Xiao started to act. Since he already exposed Viper, he wore it this time as well, but without the Heavy Mechanical Arm—a stealth operation did not require such a rough weapon.
Su Dinghua’s mansion was located in a rural area. Han Xiao took out his laptop and hacked into the local network to freeze the surveillance cameras. Then he avoided the guards and jumped over the wall into the mansion.
Su Dinghua was a high ranked official who had a rather low position compared to others. His guarding power in the mansion was weak, and with Han Xiao’s level and strength, sneaking in was a piece of cake.
When he quietly entered the study, the light was on. Han Xiao stood against the wall and scanned the room with magnetic scanning; there was no one in the room.
Han Xiao entered the room without making a sound. He looked through the room and realized that the building was made of normal brick and wood—it did not have any special metal that could prevent any detection device, and the structure of the room was clear and simple.
“There’s a hidden safe behind the painting on the wall beside the table.” Han Xiao’s eyes twinkled. Just as he was going to flip open the painting to open the safe, he realized something and stopped.
He carefully looked around the room, then left the safe alone and came to the table instead. He tried opening the drawers, but they were all locked. However, that was not a problem for him. As a Mechanic who could build firearms and robots, it would be a shame if he could not even open a lock.
Furthermore, Han Xiao was already experienced in lock picking.
The drawers were filled with paper documents, mostly Alumera’s internal information. There were some reports too. He dug through for a while and realized that they were all irrelevant documents. However, he found a slip of paper with a string of numbers written on it, which seemed like the passcode for the safe, and a small metal key that also looked like it was for the safe.
“Way too obvious.” Han Xiao shook his head. He closed the drawer and did not use the key to open the safe.
Hiding a safe behind a painting was too common. The key and passcode left in the drawer felt like it was done purposely; it looked like a trap.
There was a very high chance that the safe was either bait or a trap, which would trigger some sort of alarm, as one would usually remember the passcode to the safe instead of writing it down.
It could have been an incorrect assumption, but Han Xiao was just there to capture Su Dinghua—the safe could be opened any time after he captured him.
Han Xiao walked toward the living room. He heard a few guards that were chatting with each other, and after a strategic scan and a vital sign comparison, he noticed that these people were all around LV 20, which meant that they were not normal guards. They could be superhumans, and if they were not, it meant that they were normal people but very elite.
Seems like it was right. Han Xiao nodded. Su Dinghua’s guards hid their true strength, so there was definitely something suspicious going on.
Han Xiao turned and went upstairs to the bedroom. Su Dinghua was resting, so Han Xiao went in straightaway and shot a paralyzing bullet at Su Dinghua, making him unconscious before he could scream, then tied him up with the blanket.
There were eight guards in the mansion along with Su Dinghua’s assistant; Han Xiao was not planning to let any of them escape.
Returning to the living room, Han Xiao did not hide anymore—he broke through the door and entered.
“Who?” The guards pulled out their guns immediately.
However, with the mechanical suit, these four unprepared guards were defeated within seconds.
The commotion attracted attention. The radar detected other guards were coming quickly. Han Xiao broke through the wall with a loud bang and knocked out those guards one after another.
Su Dinghua’s assistant was hiding the most; he was at around LV 40. However, he still could not last for more than ten seconds before Han Xiao broke his arms and legs and knocked him onto the ground. The difference in strength was too vast, an easy victory for Han Xiao.
Han Xiao’s destruction power was like a demolition—the whole mansion turned into ruins, and the loud noise could be heard from very far away.
Xiao Jin was on standby right outside the mansion. He broke in as soon as he saw that Han Xiao had succeeded. Su Dinghua and his guards were all in the yard, and no one escaped.
Han Xiao stayed and stood to the side.
Xiao Jin did not avoid Han Xiao and started the interrogation in the yard. He poured water on Su Dinghua and the others to wake them up.
Su Dinghua knew that he had been exposed when he woke up.
“How did you know?” Su Dinghua was shocked and confused.
“I’ve known you were in contact Raylen for a very long time,” Xiao Jin said coldly. “You have changed your guards over the last few years—they are all strangers and sent by Raylen. You thought this was an opportunity when Black Phantom visited out of the blue and carried out the assassination, thinking that you did it very discreetly and destroyed many traces. Still, some clues were left behind.”