In Division 13’s headquarters, Director Gu Hui and the Intelligence Minister stared at the phone on the desk, while Feng Jun stood to the side with a clear look of nervousness.

“Can we trace the location?”

The technician replied hesitantly, “We can’t break the opponent’s anti tracking protocol. He is a highly skilled hacker.”

Gu Hui’s vein throbbed with anger. When did that guy become a hacker? How could I not know?

After some deliberation, Gu Hui picked up the phone and said in a grave voice, “Han Xiao, you left Division 13 without permission. You violated the code of secrecy. This behavior is abominable!”

Han Xiao chuckled and laid bare Gu Hui’s thoughts. “You want to ask me when I’m coming back, right?”

“You should know better yourself!” Gu Hui said.

“I am not going back.”

“Are you defecting?” Gu Hui’s eyes darkened, and his tone changed.

“You misunderstood,” Han Xiao slowly said. “I still want to continue to work with you guys, but the way we work needs to change.”

Gu Hui frowned. “What do you mean?”

The others in the room pricked up their ears to wait for Han Xiao’s reply.

With a click, Han Xiao hung up the phone.

The intelligence minister was expressionless, but the twitch at the corner of his eyes revealed the storm in his mind.

Gu Hui took a deep breath and thought to himself, I am the director; I cannot flip the table. I am the director; I cannot flip the table…

Ding!

The phone vibrated with a new message notification.

Gu Hui narrowed his eyes and opened the text message. A page of dense information was thrown into his view. He was struck dumb by the content of the message.

It was all intelligence on Germinal’s bases in Southern Continent. It was very detailed and complete!

Is this what he meant by changing the way we work? Gu Hui was uncertain. Nonetheless, his anger with Han Xiao dissipated.

This was the intelligence they had always wanted, and Han Xiao had actually given it to them so easily.

He’s so sincere!

Gu Hui was lost in thought. Han Xiao had demonstrated unexpected sincerity. The issue would be how he should deal with Han Xiao’s identity. If he were to say that he was a defector, his action would benefit the interests of Stardragon. But to say that Han Xiao would be returning to Division 13 would be untrue. Han Xiao had personally said that he would not go back.

After some thought, Gu Hui made a decision.

“Stop searching for Han Xiao. Keep his official secret agent identity, and move his files to the field agent files.”

Feng Jun was taken aback. The director’s decision would mean that Division 13 was reconciling with Han Xiao. They would acquiesce to Han Xiao’s solitary behavior and regard him as one of their own.

Division 13 was in charge of the formation of field agents. Field agents were employed under the department, but they could move freely. Only some meritorious agent or retired agents could get such preferential treatment.

Although Feng Jun did not have a long relationship with Han Xiao, they were on good terms. Feng Jun was a happy; at least they would not become enemies.

With the information he needed in hand, Gu Hui was in a good mood. He praised the intelligence minister lightly and was about to leave when the bespectacled secretary in the intelligence group stumbled in, panting for breath.

“Director! Minster! The intelligence departments from Hesla, Maple, Ordina, Theus, and Raylen have all sent us a request for communication!”

The look in Gu Hui’s face hardened.

Only with truly urgent incidents would the intelligence agencies of each country contact another country. It had been many years since they had a meeting between the different intelligence agencies from the Six Nations. What had happened‽

With a heavy heart, Gu Hui walked to the conference room. Five individuals appeared on the big screen. They were the heads of the intelligence agencies from the other five nations. They had the same rank in their respective agencies as Gu Hui.

“What happened?” Asked Gu Hui.

As soon as he spoke, he found the five heads of intelligence agencies stare at him with a very strange look, making him feel a little confused.

The representative from Ordina took the initiative and said, “Um… Division 13 Director, you… do you know Germinal’s top wanted man, Zero?”

Gu Hui stared dumbfounded. He had a bad feeling.

“What happened was, all five of us received intelligence from Zero, including maps of Germinal’s secret bases across the South, West, and North Continent. We have always been cautious about information from unknown sources, but he had added a line to his intelligence.

” Stardragon’s Division 13 can testify as to the credibility of my intelligence.

“So, we are here to clarify with you.”

Damn you! How could you even send the information to all the other nations and expect us to testify for you! Han Xiao, you just scammed us again!

Gu Hui almost fainted from the shock. He could almost see Han Xiao’s sniggering face in his mind.

…

His set of equipment—the incomplete Phantom Ghost Sniper, Electromagnetic Skateboard Shoes, facial simulator, and a full version of a Magnetically-Controlled Retractable Armor—would be able to fully support his variable sniping style of combat. This was a tactic that was very popular among the older Mechanics. Since the equipment he produced had properties way beyond what would normally be at his level, it was obvious that his combat capability would be way more effective.

With his enhanced equipment, his energy was about 1,100 ouna. He was considered upper-middle rank on Aquamarine. In addition, Han Xiao also had the NPC Molding Ability [Basic Strengthened Life]. He was definitely able to take some hits.

[Flaming Will] was upgraded to Lv5, and the lowest multiplier was increased to 138%. Although this did not sound like much, with sneak attacks and critical strikes on weaknesses, even with the lowest enhancement, he could boost his capability significantly.

As long as he avoided fighting someone crazily powerful like Bennett head on, Han Xiao should be able to cope with most face-offs with ease. So, the assassination mission from the Blood Pact Society would naturally not be too much of a worry for him.

Time flew past as Han Xiao completed more and more missions. He gained vast amounts of EXP and wealth, and he was growing stronger day by day. Mr. Black was also becoming feared by more and more underground forces. He had risen to the tenth position on the assassin leader board. He was finally gaining some fame.

Meanwhile, the underground world gave Han Xiao a new nickname—Black Phantom!

One could only take on a bad code name, not a bad nickname.

_____________

Planet Universal Reputation Legend (Aquamarine): Black Phantom (Dark Net Assassin List)

Legend has it that he comes from the darkness of the night with a thousand faces. No one knows when he will come. No one knows when he will leave.

When you see him turn away, the kiss of death has already been printed on your forehead, leaving fresh bullet holes in blood. He pays a bullet and takes away your life.

_____________

He sounds pretty cool…

In fact, when he learned that he had been given the nickname, Han Xiao did not know how he should feel about it.

Black Phantom… Why don’t you call me White Yaksha?

Han Xiao had been one of the most active members in the underground world lately, and he was getting on the good books of the Blood Pact Society. They were even featuring him to attract talents. According to statistics from the Blood Pact Society, their business had finally stopped falling even since Black Phantom came around. Their business was even slightly on the rise, attracting other assassins to them. They were leading in transaction volume.

However, two months later, the attention of the whole world was on another big event!

As the last civilized countries on Aquamarine, the Six Nations were so powerful that whatever they did would affect every single person in the world. Be it the underground, rogue warlords, or various organizational forces, everyone was always looking to the Six Nations to observe their actions, especially in terms of their military operations.

After the wars of the old times, there was a delicate balance of order and chaos on Planet Aquamarine. Wars continued to break out occasionally, openly or hidden, and it was not in the Six Nations’ interest to cover up and pretend it was all peaceful.

The delicate world situation tipped on this fateful day after two months. The Six Nations sent out troops almost simultaneously. The armies were sweeping across the three continents, wiping out Germinal bases one by one. It shook the whole world.

The war came without any warning!

The world fell into a turmoil. Many was starting to fear that the nightmare of a terrible war that happened decades ago would explode again. Their wounds from the war had not healed fully, and no one was too eager to be devoured by such a manmade disaster again.

Even within the Six Nations, thousands and thousands of people took to the streets to protest against the war, but the governments have turned a deaf ear. To them, Germinal was the root of a disaster. As a terrorist organization that had been created to subvert the Six Nations, the conflict between the Six Nations and Germinal could be traced back to the war of the old times. Germinal had been gathering outlaws and rebels who were determined to subjugate the Six Nations.

Until now, the two sides had been caught in a stalemate. It was such a good opportunity to crack down on the Germinal Organization; how could they possibly miss it?

For those who were more informed, they were not as surprised by the tough stance of the Six Nations as the intelligence they had gotten—why did the Six Nations act simultaneously, and how could they launch precise attacks on the hiding grounds of Germinal?

There was only one possibility—someone had provided a large amount of intelligence!

In another way, this mysterious person providing the intelligence was the real puppet master behind the war!

After many inquiries, the name of the man was leaked out from within the Six Nations.

Zero!

Germinal’s traitor!

The underground world was shocked.

Among the outlaws taken in by the Germinal Organization, some were idealistic fighters while others were hooligans who had committed petty crimes. There were traitors in the past, but they had all hidden like street mice, afraid of being hunted down. Zero was the only person that had strike back on Germinal so openly, generating such chatter.

How did Zero get so much intelligence? Was he a high-level officer in Germinal before he defected?

Many were scratching their head over this.

All this was a mystery. There was no way anyone could get an answer, but that did not prevent all the major powers from adding the name ‘Zero’ to the threat list.

…

“A war is coming…”

Bennett looked up at the hazy sky with furrowed brows, his mood was as gloomy as the sky.

Wang Yuan whispered to him from the side, “It seems like we need to get the shelter plan up ahead of schedule.”

“There are still a lot of things left unprepared…” Bennett shook his head. “I guess we can never be fully prepared. Let’s roll out the shelter plan. Contact some allies and get strong independent fighters to join us. We must rally all our forces.”