Chapter 395: Alexei Comes Knocking

The outside world's Storm is Brewing. Returning Star and the Star Glory Empire, besides using force head-on, launched their influence in all aspects.

The Star Glory Empire attempted to define Li Yu's appearance within the Amethyst Civilization's territory as interfering in other civilizations' internal affairs.

And Returning Star vigorously proved that the Star Glory Empire had long made a move in Amethyst, and those A-rank lifeforms were not to encircle and suppress Li Yu at all.

But none of this had much to do with Li Yu. Instead, he lived a few quiet days.

Berg didn't break his promise. After returning, he arranged the metal scrap issue. After these five days of hard work.

The [Death Star] progress finally reached 1%, this was a progress worthy of celebration.

Consuming over twenty billion tons of metal scrap, plus another hundred million tons of Military-Grade Alloy.

According to the materials provided by Berg, the household garbage produced by the entire Central Star System in a day was around eighty billion tons.

Among them, the garbage containing metal materials only accounted for about 5-7%.

However, putting those metal scraps onto the blueprint also cost a lot of manpower, which was all provided by Berg out of friendship.

"It would be great if this blueprint could be infinitely enlarged." Li Yu's greed was insatiable. In that case, he could just find a metal mining planet and swallow it whole directly.

Although those unpurified metal raw materials would probably have massive consumption during the conversion process, it should be slightly faster than this.

The Gene Chain Development Progress was also slowly increasing, currently reaching around 3%.

After a long period of adaptation, his combat power in his normal state had now stabilized at a million calories. This was the limit of a Second-Stage Evolutionist, the boundary of a Third-Stage Evolutionist.

But actually, it hadn't been long since he replaced his second Gene Chain. This was thanks to the Gene Optimization Device, the [Code of Life], and the strength of his own Gene Chains stacking up.

He planned to go find Peyton today, to see if there were any other ways to speed up the Gene Chain Development Progress.

However, an uninvited guest came to Li Yu's Base.

"Alexei..." Li Yu heard Claptrap's report, his eyes narrowing.

This Highness had previously colluded with the Salvation Ark, attempting to sell him to the Salvation Ark.

Li Yu had always remembered this matter. It was just that he temporarily couldn't do anything to Alexei, so he could only ignore him.

He didn't expect the other party to actually come knocking on his door actively.

"Let him in..." Since the other party came knocking actively, Li Yu wouldn't refuse to see him either.

In the reception room, Alexei still looked like he was fooling around, it was just that his face was slightly apologetic, saying: "I came this time to apologize to you. The last matter was my fault, eldest brother has already severely reprimanded me."

"You are my Returning Star's..."

Li Yu raised his hand to interrupt before he could finish speaking. There were some people he didn't mind playing along and having Insincere Dealings with, like Berg.

But some people he couldn't be bothered to treat this way, like Alexei in front of him. Li Yu sneered: "Your Highness, we don't need to act. We both Know full well what the situation is now."

"If there's a chance, I wouldn't mind cutting off Your Highness's head to play with."

Killing Alexei here outweighed the gains too much, and whether he could kill the other party still had a question mark.

Alexei withdrew his feigned expression, revealing a casual smile, sitting heavily on the soft sofa: "Why do I feel like you're very similar to my eldest brother, insisting on speaking so directly, it makes people quite uncomfortable."

Li Yu frowned slightly, looking at Alexei, a bizarre syllable suddenly popping out of his mouth.

A strange color flashed through Alexei's eyes, looking at Li Yu with an unfriendly expression: "What did you just do?"

He just felt an inexplicable Mental Fluctuation invading him, the mental volume not low.

This made him somewhat alarmed. Li Yu's attainments in Mental Power were actually not low either.

"Nothing..." Li Yu shook his head, feeling regretful. As expected, there was no way to control Alexei.

Although he guessed it, he still wanted to try, just in case he picked up a bargain.

"You just made a move on me, this has already violated Returning Star's laws." Alexei frowned.

"Where's the evidence?" Li Yu played dumb.

Alexei smiled helplessly. Li Yu wasn't someone he could just arrest with a single sentence now, there must be evidence. And the attack method just now didn't leave any traces.

Thinking of this, his mood was somewhat unpleasant: "I want Morgan, state a price."

This was Alexei's purpose. Morgan, as a senior field agent of the Salvation Ark, was not a pawn that could be casually discarded.

"Returning Star has a systematized ransom standard. Let the Salvation Ark bring the money, such a simple matter." Li Yu's tone was equally casual.

Alexei said as a matter of course: "I am a Prince of Returning Star. As my cooperation partner, if I have to spend money to ask for a person from Returning Star, then I'd lose too much face."

Li Yu couldn't help but laugh, grinning: "So you ran to me to ask for the person?"

"That's not it either..." Alexei shook his head, very honestly saying: "I went to find Prince Connor first, wanting him to directly give me the person, but His Highness the Prince said he must have your permission before he can release the person."

"Although I really didn't want to come, I could only come over."

The captured A-rank lifeforms were all Li Yu's spoils of war. Even if Returning Star wanted to, they couldn't casually let them go.

This was the same logic as ransoming people. Giving face to the person involved was one aspect, but it was more about giving face to other A-rank lifeforms.

Spoils of war obtained through untold hardships, and you release them just by bumping your lips? Who would truly risk their lives in the future.

"If you want face, exchange it with money..." Li Yu shook his head, continuing: "I want a trillion tons of Military-Grade Alloy materials."

"Damn, are you building an Interstellar Fortress!?" Alexei couldn't help but curse: "F*, a trillion tons of Military-Grade Alloy, let alone one Morgan, even ten is far from enough."

"Then no deal."

Alexei sighed: "You don't need to intentionally make things difficult for me."

He didn't believe Li Yu truly wanted a trillion tons of Alloy Materials, just intentionally making things difficult for him.

"I truly want Alloy Materials, to build an Interstellar Fortress." Li Yu was also very honest.

"Haha..." Alexei couldn't help but laugh out loud: "If an Interstellar Fortress could be built just relying on materials, that thing would have rotted the Universe long ago."

Li Yu shrugged, not continuing to speak.

Seeing him silent, Alexei simply spoke: "Although there are some conflicts between us, no one needs to go against benefits. You state a price... a reasonable price, let's discuss."

Li Yu stared at Alexei, his eyes flickering. He didn't answer this question, but instead changed the topic: "Is this the Salvation Ark's request? What did you make them do again?"

Alexei's heart suddenly jumped. How did this kid guess? He had indeed reached a certain cooperation with the Salvation Ark.

Handing Morgan over to them was just one of the additional conditions, so Alexei could only come find Li Yu.

However, he immediately relaxed. This matter was actually not hard to guess. Li Yu just simply guessed it was the Salvation Ark's request, but didn't know the reason for the request.

"State a price, stop guessing blindly..." Alexei shook his head.

Li Yu originally wanted to refuse, but on second thought, letting Returning Star negotiate with the Salvation Ark, the exchanged resources were just those few.

Perhaps he could get something different from Alexei here.

Immediately, he pondered for a moment, taking a certain item out of his Compressed Space and handing it in front of Alexei: "Recognize this?"

"Micro Hard Drive?" Alexei picked up this Micro Hard Drive, placing it in front of his eyes to observe carefully.

"Tell me the origin of this Micro Hard Drive, and we can trade." Li Yu added.

This sentence made Alexei's expression somewhat collapse:

"Huh?"

"Telling you the origin of this thing only wins me a chance to trade with you?"

Li Yu nodded: "Of course, there is enmity between us. Trading with you directly will make me very unhappy."

"Can I take a photo?" Alexei inquired.

"Of course..." Li Yu nodded. He didn't plan to hide it either. Although Lamon was released, Returning Star definitely knew about the existence of this Hard Drive, no need to hide it.

"Wait a moment..."

Alexei mobilized his subordinates, sitting quietly on the sofa, his fingers tapping irregularly on the armrest.

Not long after, news came.

"Aha, it's here..." Alexei was slightly jumping for joy. The fast speed of his subordinates seemed to give him a lot of face in front of Li Yu.

However, after he glanced at it, his expression changed somewhat.

"...Can't find the origin?" He frowned slightly, continuing to read on,

"In the past three months, this kind of Hard Drive has appeared in several Major Civilizations, the total number already exceeding fourteen..."

Li Yu looked at the materials sent over by Alexei. While the doubts in his heart deepened, a question was also resolved.

That is, the target of the people spreading the Hard Drives didn't seem to be him, because these Hard Drives widely appeared in Major Civilizations.

Returning Star, Star Glory Empire, Spirit User, Holivias...

If it was only targeting him, there was absolutely no need to spend so much effort.

Barton and the people behind the Hard Drive shouldn't be the same faction.

"Do you know what this thing is for?" This news seemed to arouse Alexei's curiosity.

"The intelligence organizations of several Major Civilizations seem to all be searching for this thing."

"That's another price..." Li Yu shook his head, not prepared to leak any other information.

Alexei was Speechless, and didn't continue to press the matter. He would turn around and let the Salvation Ark, or his subordinates go investigate. He didn't believe he couldn't find out.

"Then can we trade now?" Alexei returned to the main topic.

"At least you provided some information, sure..." Li Yu nodded, but then added: "However you didn't completely solve it, so I have to charge a premium."

You f*ing... Alexei already couldn't help but curse in his heart.

"One hundred billion tons of Military-Grade Alloy... or two hundred billion tons of non-Military-Grade Alloy." Li Yu made an Exorbitant Demand.

The trillion tons just now was completely nonsense, now was the formal trade. And this "price", Alexei couldn't accept.

"Where am I going to get so much alloy for you?" Alexei was already Speechless: "The production capacity of the entire civilization is fixed. I can take out ten billion tons of Military-Grade Alloy at most."

"And Morgan isn't worth that price either. How about I give you Star Coins."

"Star Coins still have to be exchanged, and acquiring too much alloy might lead to price increases, no..." Li Yu shook his head, expressing refusal.

Alexei's mentality was almost bursting: "What exactly do you need so much Alloy Materials for!?"

"Building an Interstellar Fortress..." Li Yu still had this answer.

Alexei took a deep breath, saying solemnly: "Thirty billion tons of Military-Grade Alloy, this is the final price. If we negotiate formally, Morgan isn't considered a strong expert among Third-Stage Evolutionists, the resources the Salvation Ark uses to trade will only be less."

Li Yu was Sitting Calmly On The Fishing Platform: "Fifty billion Military-Grade Alloy, the final price, anyway I'm not in a hurry."

"You..." Alexei was holding a belly full of fire, but could only forcefully endure it, giving his final quote: "Forty billion tons of alloy!"

Li Yu estimated that being able to get forty billion tons of Military-Grade Alloy was already very good.

Under normal circumstances, he could currently only unconditionally withdraw one hundred million tons of Military-Grade Alloy.

Forty billion Military-Grade Alloy could roughly advance the [Death Star]'s progress by 4%, reaching 5% overall.

According to his experiments, when Military-Grade Alloy integrated into the [Death Star], the quantity consumed for purification was the least, almost zero consumption.

"Deal, it's Military-Grade Alloy oh..." Li Yu reminded.

"I know!" Alexei left here in a very bad mood. He truly couldn't figure out what Li Yu needed so much Alloy Materials for.

Although this thing wasn't hard to get, but when the quantity was huge to a certain extent, then it was another story.

Could it be because of that Other-Dimensional Camp?

His footsteps suddenly paused. Recently, a trend had arisen among the Gui Xing High Command.

Saying that the Other-Dimensional Camp behind Li Yu truly existed.

This then led to a problem. If Li Yu's Status in Returning Star was too high, then was he working for the Other-Dimensional Camp, or for Returning Star?

Many High Echelons were secretly pondering, and Alexei knew even more, because this news was spread by his cute eldest brother––Titus.

Vimala could withstand Titus's frontal pressure, but it didn't prevent him from making moves in secret.

And this was only Titus's first step.

"It's going to be fun..."

Thinking of this, Alexei's footsteps suddenly became light. Titus's prestige wasn't for nothing, even he didn't dare to confront this eldest brother head-on now.

He wondered how Li Yu would cope.

.........

After he left, Li Yu pondered for a moment. The target of the faction spreading the Hard Drive wasn't him, this could be considered good news.

Suddenly, his Smart Terminal vibrated slightly. It was an order summoning him to participate in an emergency meeting of Returning Star. He glanced at the news brief, his pupils instantly contracting––

Horus seriously injured, the war situation in No Man's Land is critical!

(End of this chapter)