Looking at Lagos's corpse, the Main Family Faction was furious, but they didn't dare to provoke Han Xiao now. The living example was lying right in front of them, and their expressions were a mix of emotions.
At this moment, Todd stepped forward and said in a deep voice, "This was all Lagos's own doing; he has only himself to blame. I can make the decision, Main Family Faction will not hold a grudge over this."
The Main Family Faction was taken aback; they hadn't expected Todd to step forward at this moment, and even to admit defeat so readily.
One can only believe a fraction of polite words, so Han Xiao remained noncommittal and asked, "Who are you?"
"Todd, Delo's brother, Lagos's uncle, I'm now in charge of the Main Family Faction." Todd forced himself to remain calm.
The members of the Main Family Faction looked at each other strangely. Todd's ability to seize the opportunity was astonishing. He immediately took over the reins after Lagos ' death, but what Todd said was exactly what they were thinking. They all remained silent, tacitly accepting Todd's position.
The powerful reinforcements they had brought in were easily killed. Han Xiao's power was overwhelming. Everyone knew that if they wanted to start a conflict now, it would be suicide.
The other factions, each with their own distinct expression, simultaneously harbored the same thought.
Don't mess with the Black Phantom!
"Get me a different room." Han Xiao retrieved the various machines and glanced at the ruins.
"I'll arrange it for you," Xiao Ming said hastily after receiving a signal from Xiao Jin.
After Han Xiao left, the high-ranking officials from various factions looked at each other in bewilderment.
"Black Phantom has overwhelming strength and doesn't care about being our enemy, yet he still insists he's not the murderer. The assassination might not have been done by him," Saqi said.
"But Lagos died at his hands, that's a new grudge..." said the leader of the Northern Faction.
Todd interrupted him, saying, "Lagos brought this upon itself; our Main Family Faction will not hold a grudge or seek Revenge."
The crowd cast disdainful glances at him, selectively forgetting that they felt the same way.
"What about the Black Phantom...?" someone asked.
Having an invincible monster and the book left at headquarters is like a thorn in my side; it makes me feel very insecure.
Xiao Jin said calmly, "He just wants to clear his name. Once the truth is out, he'll leave naturally, so don't provoke him."
Upon arriving at the new house, Han Xiao woke up the captured Hidden Demon. He implanted a locator inside the Hidden Demon, which could be located even though it was invisible to the naked eye.
"What do you want to do?" the Hidden Demon asked in terror.
Han Xiao took off his Viper Modified armor, put the equipment into his bag, and said with interest, "I heard that your invisibility ability came from an experimental accident, and your skin mutated. If I were to peel off your skin, it would definitely be very valuable."
The Hidden Demon broke out in a cold sweat, "Don't... don't do anything rash!"
"You are my prisoner now. Do you think you have the right to negotiate?"
Hidden Demon was speechless. Han Xiao stopped teasing him, knocked him unconscious, injected him with a powerful hypnotic drug, tied him up, and threw him aside. Han Xiao didn't kill Hidden Demon for the time being because there was a bounty on the Dark Net for Hidden Demon; he could be exchanged for money if he lived. He planned to accept a mission, hand Hidden Demon over, and complete the mission immediately to maximize his profits.
In this conflict, Han Xiao displayed overwhelming military power, and Overmela dared not offend him. Given his absolute advantage in strength, his continued presence lessened the suspicions of many factions.
Moreover, Han Xiao is currently in a hopeless situation. Now, Overmela is unwilling to have a conflict with him. This attempt to frame him and Instigate a conflict between Overmela has almost failed, at least Overmela doesn't dare to confront him directly.
But that wasn't enough. The scapegoat still hadn't been found. Han Xiao thought there were two possibilities: first, the scapegoat would give up and continue to hide; second, they would try to salvage the situation or even take action against him. However, the latter was unlikely, as he had already proven that he was not someone to be trifled with.
With Lagos dead, the Main Family Faction became very low-key. Todd held almost no hatred and was more focused on his immediate interests. In addition to organizing people to investigate clues about Delo's assassination, he was also secretly active in contacting various factions to win support for the selection of his successor.
With Delo dead, his son Lagos was originally the most likely successor to the top leadership, but he was killed by Han Xiao. Now the position of successor is completely uncertain, and various factions are harboring their own agendas and coveting the power of the leader. A storm is brewing.
While everyone outwardly focuses on the truth behind Delo's death, they are actually more concerned with the selection of his successor; such is the nature of things when someone leaves and the tea cools down.
Of course, the selection process will not begin until the assassin is identified.
Han Xiao was a key figure in this incident, but also an outsider who was ostracized. He didn't care about that. These days, he stayed in his room, using the Dark Net intelligence network and the Bamboo Rain Guild to gather information and search for information about Overmela.
Two days later, Xiao Jin came to the door, saying he had discovered an important clue.
"By reviewing the guards and surveillance footage from that night, and comparing statements and videos, I discovered some clues. An assistant to a high-ranking member of the Northern Faction went out that night and disappeared for twenty-seven minutes."
"This high-ranking member of the Northern Faction is named Su Dinghua, 45 years old, a local of the North Continent. He has always kept a low profile. I actually noticed him a long time ago. My mole in the Northern Faction discovered that Su Dinghua was secretly colluding with Raylen. His assistant was also replaced a few years ago, which happened to be the same year that Su Dinghua and Raylen started their contact."
Many high-ranking members of other forces have been secretly in contact with each other, but they are all doing so for their own benefit. However, Su Dinghua has clearly been turned by Raylen.
Xiao Jin brought a lot of information and evidence. Han Xiao reviewed it and found that the clues and evidence indeed pointed to Su Dinghua.
Han Xiao thought about it carefully. Overmela was a partner of Terilous. Weakening Overmela was equivalent to weakening Terilous. If Overmela were to provoke a powerful enemy and cause internal strife, Raylen, as a third party, could benefit. So, Ruilan did have the motivation to do so.
The Northern Faction may seem inconspicuous, but if they were to plot something, they would undoubtedly be the most secretive.
"Didn't other factions find this information?" Han Xiao waved the documents in his hand.
"I don't know." Xiao Jin shook his head. "I obtained the information about Su Dinghua's secret collusion with Raylen by chance; other factions might not know."
"So what do you want from me?" Han Xiao asked.
"Raylen may have planted many skilled individuals around Su Dinghua to protect him. I hope you can help us capture Su Dinghua and his cronies. This is also a good opportunity to clear our names. I think you would like to do it yourself." Xiao Jin said sincerely, "If you need payment, that's no problem either."
Han Xiao stared at Xiao Jin for a long time, then suddenly smiled, "I'll pay you the market price. I'll help you this time."
"Okay." Xiao Jin nodded.
As night fell, Han Xiao began his operation. Now that he had revealed the Viper Mod, he donned it as well, though he didn't equip it with the heavy-duty mechanical arm, as such a weapon wasn't necessary for the infiltration mission.
Su Dinghua's residence was relatively remote. Han Xiao took out his computer, hacked into the local network, froze the cameras in the area, then evaded the guards and climbed over the wall to enter the residence.
Su Dinghua is a relatively peripheral high-ranking official, and the defenses of his mansion are weak. Han Xiao is now of a high level and strong, so infiltrating him is very easy and without difficulty.
He quietly entered the study, where the lights were on. Han Xiao leaned against the corner of the wall and used an electromagnetic scan to see if anyone was in the room.
Han Xiao walked in silently and scanned his surroundings. The building was made of ordinary bricks, stones, and wood, without any special metal to block detection. The layout and structure of the room were completely visible.
"Hey, there's a hidden safe behind the painting next to the desk." Han Xiao's eyes flashed, and he was about to lift the painting to open the safe when he suddenly had a thought and stopped.
After carefully looking around, Han Xiao ignored the safe and went to the desk, trying to open the drawers, but they were all locked. However, this didn't stump him. As a mechanic who could even create guns and robots, it would be too embarrassing if he couldn't even open a lock.
Moreover, Han Xiao was already quite experienced in picking locks.
The drawer was full of paper documents, all of them Overmela's internal documents, along with many reports. After searching for a while, he found that most of them were unimportant files, but he did find a note with a string of numbers that looked like a safe combination, and a small metal key, which seemed to be used to open the safe.
"It's too obvious." Han Xiao shook his head, closed the drawer, and didn't reach for the key to open the safe.
Hiding a safe behind a painting is such a common tactic; the key and combination are deliberately left behind, leaving some obvious traces, like a carefully crafted lure.
There's a high chance the safe is a decoy or a trap that will trigger an alarm, since people usually remember their safe's combination.
Of course, he might be wrong, but Han Xiao is only here to arrest people. Once he's arrested, he can open the safe as he pleases.
Upon entering the living room, Han Xiao heard voices. Several guards were chatting idly. Using a tactical scan of the database to determine the life strength of these enemies, he found that they were around level 20. They were not ordinary guards; they were likely superhumans. If they were ordinary people, they would be extremely elite, with very high secondary profession levels.
"Looks like I was right." Han Xiao nodded. Su Dinghua's guards were hiding their strength; there was definitely something fishy going on.
Going upstairs to the bedroom, where Su Dinghua was resting, Han Xiao barged in and shot him unconscious with a tranquilizer dart before he could even scream. Then he tied Su Dinghua up with a sheet.
There were eight guards in the mansion, as well as Su Dinghua's assistant; Han Xiao had no intention of letting anyone escape.
Back in the living room, Han Xiao no longer concealed himself and burst through the door.
"Who's there!" The guard hurriedly drew his gun.
However, the powerful mechs overturned the four unsuspecting guards in just two or three seconds.
The commotion attracted attention, and radar detected other guards rapidly approaching. Han Xiao smashed through the wall with a loud bang, knocking down the guards one by one.
Su Dinghua's assistant, who was the most skilled, was only level 40-something, but he still couldn't last ten seconds before Han Xiao broke his arms and legs and knocked him unconscious. The difference in strength was too great; it was no challenge for Han Xiao at all.
Han Xiao's destructive power was like a demolition; the entire mansion was left in a mess, and the rumbling sound could be heard far and wide.
Xiao Jin had been waiting outside the mansion for a long time. Seeing that Han Xiao had succeeded, he immediately led his men in and found that Su Dinghua and his personal guards had been thrown into the courtyard, and no one had escaped.
Han Xiao stood to one side, not intending to leave.
Xiao Jin did not shy away from Han Xiao and conducted the interrogation directly in the courtyard, splashing water to wake up Su Dinghua and the others.
Su Dinghua knew they had been exposed as soon as he saw this formation.
"... How did you find out?" Su Dinghua, both astonished and dejected.
Xiao Jin said coldly, "I've known about your contact with Raylen for a long time. For the past few years, you've been changing your guards, all of them unfamiliar faces, all spies planted by Raylen. This time, when Black Phantom happened to visit, you thought it was an opportunity, so you carried out the assassination. You thought you did it very discreetly and eliminated many clues, but you still left some traces."