Chapter 936 - Dealing with Sorokin

“I am not joking with you. You will need to pay the price for my aid. Since you sought help from me, you will become a member of my Black Star Army and my subordinate as the price.”

“We never had such an agreement!” Iapetus stood up abruptly.

“Why do you think that I need to discuss terms with you?” Han Xiao raised his brows. “Since I am the one providing help, the conditions will naturally be decided by me. My condition is you. You are already one of my subordinates now.”

Iapetus’ face began to contort. He had never imagined that the other party actually wanted him!

All of a sudden, his heart was filled with a myriad of emotions. There was shock and frustration, and he even felt overwhelmed with favor.

Iapetus then replied in a deep voice, “I am sorry. I thank you for thinking highly of me, but I will not sell myself.”

“Why are you under the impression that you have a choice?”

Han Xiao could not help but laugh.

Compared to combat strength, management ability did not have a benchmark. One could only view an individual’s past records to make a judgement, and Han Xiao felt that Iapetus was a talent worthy of harvesting.

It wasn’t that Han Xiao thought extremely highly of Iapetus. There was no lack of management talents in the army, but having met a talent, he would just take Iapetus back with him since he was already there.

“I won’t be able to fight back if you want to force me, but will the famous Black Star do something like that?” Iapetus was completely helpless and could only attempt to persuade Han Xiao otherwise.

“Tsk, you seem to have gotten something wrong.”

Han Xiao then walked behind Iapetus and pressed down on his shoulder to get Iapetus to sit down.

“If this was an ordinary recruitment, I wouldn’t force anyone who rejects me. But the relationship between us is different. You wanted to make use of me and have already obtained benefits. Furthermore, you will still need the Black Star Army to help you stabilize your position. Thus, the initiative is in my hands. It can be said that I am your creditor.”

Han Xiao then retracted his smile and said calmly, “Since I am your creditor, I will decide how you should pay your debts and not how much money is in your wallet.”

Iapetus had nothing to say in response. This was obviously a forced transaction, but he had no way to reject a bigshot like Black Star.

Gritting his teeth, Iapetus said, “You should have mentioned beforehand that you wanted me to work for you. That way, I wouldn’t…”

Han Xiao interrupted Iapetus calmly. “Don’t forget that you were the one who took the initiative to seek help from me. You did not ask me for my conditions at all.”

Upon hearing that, Iapetus was completely speechless.

He had only hinted at Black Star about his intentions during the invitation. How could he openly ask the other party for his conditions? Should he have openly stated that he would not work for the other party? Would that not have been too shameless of him? How would he have known that Black Star would take a fancy to him‽

Now that things had developed to such a point, Iapetus had nowhere to go. Black Star already had the initiative, and if he insisted on rejecting Black Star, he was certain that the Black Star Army would work together with the other families. The situation was different from before. Before the election, he had nothing to lose, and the situation could not have become worse for him. Now that he had already obtained the position of feudal lord, Black Star’s attitude would determine the stability of his position. In fact, it even determined his life!

At this moment, Iapetus only had a single thought.

Just why do you think so highly of me? I will change!

Seeing Iapetus’ difficult expression, Han Xiao narrowed his eyes and intentionally lowered the tone of his voice.

“Do you really dislike the Black Star Army that much?”

Upon hearing that, Iapetus was taken aback. After thinking for a moment, he shook his head.

Iapetus had no choice but to admit that his future in the Black Star Army would definitely be brighter.

How could the feudal lord of an ordinary planet be compared to the personal recruitment of Black Star?

“I am not against the idea of joining the army. It is just that I didn’t only participate in the election for my future but also to do something for my mother planet,” Iapetus said with a sigh and briefly described his ambition.

He was born in an ordinary family and started everything from scratch. After he made his mark, he became dissatisfied with the corruption in his homeland and thus tried to use many ways to wipe out the corruption in his homeland.

“You can still continue to be your planet’s feudal lord while serving me,” Han Xiao then replied.

“Then, I really cannot leave with you. How can I leave after being elected?” Iapetus said with difficulty. “Can you give me a few years to iron out matters here?”

“You do not have the right to negotiate with me.” Han Xiao chuckled. “Even if you are not on Planet Ladbu, you can still manage it from afar. With my support, no one will be able to shake your position even if you aren’t present.”

Upon seeing that he still had something to say, Han Xiao did not bother bargaining with Iapetus and said while leaving the room, “I don’t care how you take care of it, but I will only give you three days. You will leave with me when the time is up.”

Looking at Han Xiao’s retreating back, Iapetus sat in silence, and his face was extremely bitter.

His worst nightmare had come true. It was truly easier to invite a wolf into his house than send it away. Before he even warmed the seat of feudal lord, he would have to leave and sell himself away.

I’m so tired. I truly regret it… I shouldn’t have provoked such a bigshot.

…

Three days later, Iapetus stood in front of the hatch with a complicated look on his face.

He then let out a sigh and looked at his secretary, who had a reluctant look on her face. “I will have to trouble you when I am not around.”

After three days of making arrangements, Iapetus decided to make his trusted secretary his spokesperson to help him manage Planet Ladbu. With the support of the Black Star Army, her personal safety was guaranteed.

Although he was not very willing, he had no choice.

His secretary stepped forward and gave Iapetus a hug. She could only watch as the situation turned out as such, and she had no strength to prevent Iapetus from being dragged away.

“You… be careful,” Iapetus’ secretary said with worry on her face.

Upon hearing that, Iapetus could not help but laugh bitterly. If he followed Black Star, not to mention other things, his safety definitely would not be an issue.

He then suppressed his emotions and headed toward the spaceship and his unknown future.

…

News of their new leader leaving was not kept a secret, and all the large families were extremely shocked.

Is he leaving the third day after the election? Just what is this‽

After a series of investigations, the various large families understood what had happened. They found out that Iapetus had become a member of the Black Star Army and was taken away. He had left his secretary behind to maintain his control over the planet.

Iapetus had the support of the Black Star Army, and none of them could fight back. However, Iapetus’ actions did not conform to the rules. The local leader of a colonial planet was not allowed to join another organization. This was to prevent the colonial planet from being controlled by other organizations.

All of them then made a plan and made use of their network to report this matter to the central government. They did not have any way to deal with Iapetus, but the civilization’s government could. They would be able to take away Iapetus’ title of feudal lord by using the reason of ‘sensitive identity’ and have an official take over the position.

In their eyes, although the Black Star Army was powerful, they did not have the right to interfere with the internal affairs of a civilization.

Since they could not provoke Black Star, they could only choose to employ such methods.

This civilization had stopped progressing many years ago, and many of their officials were corrupt and easy to deal with. These large families could not do anything to Iapetus, but they were still confident about roping in such an official. The situation definitely would not be worse than it was right now.

After the central government found out about this, they immediately fell into a dilemma.

Such an action had gone against their laws, but they could not afford to provoke Han Xiao. After some discussion, they could only force Iapetus to make a choice. He could choose to give up his identity as a member of the Black Star Army or give up the title of feudal lord.

Iapetus would want to return to his home planet, but he had no choice. However, he was not resigned to give up the title of feudal lord and could only report the matter to Han Xiao.

Since he had roped the other party into his army, Han Xiao did not mind increasing the loyalty of this newbie. As such, he immediately made a call to the Crimson Dynasty.

The effect of this call was obvious. A few days later, this Star System Civilization retracted their orders and pretended that nothing had happened.

This time, the several large families of Planet Ladbu were truly helpless. Black Star’s authority made all their plans useless, and they could only accept their fate obediently.

This Star System Civilization was a vassal of the Crimson Dynasty. With Han Xiao’s status in the dynasty, a single call was enough to resolve this problem.

However, Han Xiao was clear that this method would only work on the vassal civilizations of the dynasty. If it was a neutral Star System Civilization, his fame would be useless.

An outsider interfering with the internal affairs of a civilization was already taboo and touched the bottom line of a civilization. His status was indeed high up as an ally of the dynasty, and he was respected by the various Star System Civilizations. But respect was one thing, and no civilization would compromise on their principles.

However, the vassal civilizations of the Crimson Dynasty were different. Their political will was weak, and they adhered to the requests of the Crimson Dynasty.

The dynasty did not want to affect the relationship between the two because of such a small matter. This could also be considered one of Han Xiao’s special rights in the Crimson Dynasty.

…

Iapetus had already spent some time on the spaceship and adjusted his own emotions. Now that things had developed to such a state, he could only accept his fate. Since fighting back was useless, he chose to enjoy it and decided to do his best for the army.

Han Xiao finally summoned him that day. When he arrived at Han Xiao’s office, he immediately asked about his job.

“Your Excellency Black Star, what do you need me to do for the army?”

Han Xiao placed down the communicator in his hands and looked up at Iapetus. “You started out from scratch and have good management abilities. Your business foresight isn’t too bad either. I have some financial group related matters to hand over to you.”

“This is my specialty.” Iapetus heaved a sigh of relief.

“But before this, meet your future superior first.”

As he said that, Han Xiao pressed his communicator, and Sylvia’s projection appeared in the room.

“I am the Chief Administrative Official of the Black Star Army. Are you Iapetus?” Sylvia sized Iapetus up.

“Yes.”

“Hmm, I have already seen your resume. Your ability isn’t too bad.” Sylvia nodded.

Right at this moment, Han Xiao knocked on the table, and both of them turned around.

“Alright, let’s get straight to the point. I plan to set up a subsidiary financial group that is still in the preparation phase. I will be investing in a large number of talents in the future.”

The current Black Star Army was extremely large, and there was a need to modify its structure a little. After some consideration, Han Xiao decided to make the Black Star Army the core and develop a few organizations.

The first organization would be a pure financial organization. The financial group would be able to make use of the Black Star Army’s resources to gain business advantages.

A portion of this idea came from referencing the structure of the Limitless Financial Group, and the other reason was to deal with the Limitless Financial Group’s competition.

The methods of the Limitless Financial Group revealed the weakness of cooperation through benefits. As such, Han Xiao planned to develop a subsidiary financial group and reorganize all the army’s subsidiary operations. All the previous operations managed by organizations cooperating with them would be transformed into their own operations. This would limit the Limitless Financial Group’s acquisition tactic.

Sylvia nodded and looked at Iapetus.

“I am the temporary leader of the financial group. Although you are a newbie, you are a talent that the Army Commander has personally recruited. I will give you a chance. You do not need to work from the bottom and can lead a team to compete with the other teams. As long as you are able to produce results, I will give you the position of a manager. As for whether or not you can be promoted, that will depend on your performance.

The army had a large number of talents, and Iapetus was only a newbie. Han Xiao would not allow him to become a manager so quickly, and he could only slowly prove his ability to rise up the ranks.

“I understand. This is fair.” Iapetus nodded. He was pretty confident in doing business and was not afraid of competition.

Thinking about that, he could not help but ask, “What is the name of that subsidiary financial group?”

Upon hearing that, Han Xiao raised his brows, and a teasing look could be seen on his face.

“Let’s call it… the Germinal Financial Group.”