Chapter 209: Secret Negotiations

The days that followed were somewhat busy.

First, Li Boyong received the Lambda Driver-equipped units from the organization: one Hell Knight and two Hell Monarchs.

Various calibrations took quite some time; he had now switched his personal unit to the Hell Knight, which had a more stable Lambda Driver output, while the Xia sisters were responsible for piloting the two Hell Monarchs.

As an aside, it was worth noting that the successor units had a lower rank designation than the prototypes.

The Hell Knight was painted in the blue-and-white color scheme of a Dagger, per Li Boyong's preference. Both Shihe and Wang Liumei had remarked that the colors felt extremely out of place, but Li Boyong found the paint job easy on the eyes.

Between calibrating the units, he also had to endure Wang Liumei's occasional "framing" and flirtations.

The two seemed to have fallen into an extremely mysterious and slightly ambiguous state.

To say they were just playing around would be self-deception.

But to say they were "having an affair" would be an exaggeration.

They simply maintained this state by tacit agreement, quietly engaging in "framing" that involved slight physical contact whenever Shihe wasn't looking.

Beyond that, Li Boyong was contacted by Mithril.

Mithril's envoy was from the Intelligence Department, having used their vast connections through the conservatives of the Krugis Republic to get in touch with Li Boyong.

However, Li Boyong didn't trust the guys from Intelligence, so he specifically requested that an old acquaintance of his handle the negotiations.

Having no other choice if they wanted to retrieve the nuclear weapon, Mithril had to send the Special Response Team—which included Sousuke—along with Tessa to Ankra-stan to conduct the negotiations.

Ankra-stan, somewhere in the Mula Canyon.

After a series of intelligence exchanges, maneuvering, and haggling.

Li Boyong finally saw a familiar face once again; Sousuke's signature poker face was, no matter how you looked at it, quite amusing.

Of course, Tessa was as cute as ever.

"It's been a long time since we parted in Tokyo, Sousuke." Li Boyong hugged Sousuke openly and then began to gossip, "Is everything going well with Chidori? Have you kissed yet?"

"………………"

Faced with such an unexpectedly familiar greeting, Sousuke fell silent, unsure of how to respond.

In the M9 standing by nearby, Sousuke's superior, Melissa Mao, commented over the comms channel: "Even though I heard it from Sousuke already, it's really hard to believe that such a frivolous person is the famous Tiger of Ankra."

"Boss, you're wrong there. Only a man as interesting as that can accomplish great things."

Sousuke's colleague, the sniper Kurz, retorted.

"Indeed, this guy looks like the same type as you."

Melissa rolled her eyes.

"Tessa-chan, it's been a long time..."

After finishing his hug with Sousuke, Li Boyong tried to hug Tessa as well, but was stopped by Sousuke, while the several M9s nearby raised their weapons.

At the same time, the several AS units on Li Boyong's side also raised their machine guns.

For a moment, the atmosphere grew tense.

Li Boyong quickly signaled that it was fine, "Yufang-chan, Yulan-chan, it's okay, everyone put your guns down."

The Amalgam AS units obediently lowered their weapons, and Tessa also signaled her subordinates not to be nervous.

"I don't want to cause any unnecessary misunderstandings, so please don't make any rash moves, Teacher."

Sousuke warned him, then retreated behind Tessa.

However, his gaze was involuntarily drawn to the units behind Li Boyong. They were the same type of units as Jiulong's, and there were two of them. As expected, the Teacher belonged to the same organization as Jiulong.

At this moment, Tessa spoke up, "Long time no see, Mr. Li Boyong. I assume you know the purpose of our visit, so could we skip the unnecessary pleasantries and give us your answer?"

Tessa naturally saw the units behind Li Boyong as well, and the thought of using force to extract information from him had crossed her mind.

But this was the other party's territory, and there were two Lambda Driver-equipped units present. Considering the success rate and various other factors, Tessa ultimately couldn't bring herself to make that decision.

"I am aware of your purpose, and I am willing to return that thing." Li Boyong answered straightforwardly, "As long as you can pay the corresponding price, you can take it away right now."

"Please state your conditions. Our intelligence personnel have asked you many times, but you have always refused to answer, insisting on seeing us instead. Now that we are here, I hope you won't brush us off again."

Tessa said righteously.

"You really don't know how to play along." Li Boyong sighed. At this point, one should have briefly retorted, "Then what is the price?"

A life where no one can play along with your memes is truly lonely as snow. But complaints aside, the negotiation had to continue.

"The price is simple: Mithril will no longer interfere with my activities in the Middle East in the next phase." Li Boyong proposed his condition.

"I'm afraid I cannot agree to that." Tessa shook her head, "That description is too ambiguous, and we don't know what you intend to do next. If it involves crossing Mithril's bottom line, we cannot stand idly by."

"Don't worry, don't worry. I don't intend to do anything bad. In fact, if I succeed, Mithril won't have to run to these godforsaken places so often." Li Boyong explained.

But such an explanation naturally couldn't satisfy anyone, so Li Boyong continued: "Of course, if I do cross Mithril's bottom line, you are free to come find me. My requirement is that Mithril must not take action in this land during the next phase of the Middle East due to pressure from the great powers."

"This..."

"Although you have always promoted your neutral stance, I am very clear that within the organization, some things are always unavoidable." Li Boyong said, "I don't want to be playing the savior only to have Mithril take meaningless actions against me because they're jealous. After all, there is never a shortage of such people, countries, or organizations in this world that seem to think only they can represent justice."

These words were somewhat sarcastic, and Tessa frowned in dissatisfaction, but arguing about such issues at this stage was meaningless.

She replied calmly, "You can change your condition. As long as you have the sincerity to return that thing, we will maintain the utmost patience."

Since the success rate of using force is not high, Tessa hopes to complete the negotiations; if possible, this means she could even attempt to lure the other party into betraying that mysterious organization, provided Mithril is willing to pay a sufficient price.

"How about this, then."

Li Boyong lowered his voice and began to mouth the words.

Just as Li Boyong's secret negotiations with Mithril were underway, Wang Liumei participated in a secret consultation meeting of Middle Eastern countries regarding a formal agreement on oil resources. ===== CHAPTER 210 =====