Chapter 352: Negotiation

Li Ang's arrival made Lu Ke secretly exhale in relief; to be honest, the pressure from the other side had been overwhelming.

Since the start of receiving them, he had felt icy cold all over, as if some absolute apex predator in the food chain was staring at him.

Lu Ke was no fool—he naturally knew this was the effect caused by the vampire on the other side.

Fortunately, with Li Ang's appearance, this sensation was gradually fading.

In contrast to Lu Ke, Christine's current feelings were far from pleasant.

The blonde woman with voluminous curls saw the suddenly appearing Viceroy, and her smile subtly stiffened.

The vampire keenly sensed her own actively radiated life stance being suppressed—and even counter-suppressed.

This was an extremely terrifying thing to realize.

As a fourth-tier bloodline, aside from encountering higher beings within her clan, Christine had rarely faced such a situation before.

After all, reaching the fourth tier meant her bloodline was unquestionably potent, yet now—

This situation could only mean one thing: this Viceroy's life tier far surpassed hers.

'Tsk.'

'Another annoying interstellar lizard.'

Christine's mind flashed through the young man's dossier, and a flicker of irritation rose—but she quickly controlled her emotions.

The blonde woman's smile remained unchanged as she spoke in a sultry tone: "Viceroy Li Ang has finally agreed to see us."

"Lord Kaeus is the company's executive officer in the Bar System Cluster."

Hearing this, Li Ang understood—he had wondered why the name didn't match the Sovereign's, but now he realized this was merely the Blood Secret Company's stationed executive in the Bar System Cluster.

But even so, this executive was surely at least a fifth-tier practitioner.

The reason was simple: in Li Ang's perception, this old acquaintance of Danika's was already among the elite of fourth-tier beings; such a person's superior could hardly be weak.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but wonder how Danika had escaped them—but now wasn't the right time to ask, so he suppressed his curiosity for now.

"Enough talk," Li Ang cut straight to the point: "What do the Blood Secret Company's representatives want to discuss with me?"

"Of course, the acquisition of the Plant Union."

Christine wore a polished smile, her tone as if discussing something trivial.

No—for the Blood Secret Company, the Plant Union was indeed just a trivial matter.

Rather, the fact that they sent her to negotiate the acquisition already showed considerable attention to the Plant Union.

"Viceroy Li Ang, name your price. As long as it's not absurd, my company can meet it."

As she spoke, the blonde woman's face broke into a confident smile.

As the leading enterprise in this star region's beverage industry, the Blood Secret Company gave her ample confidence to say this.

Unfortunately, Li Ang would disappoint her.

He looked at Christine, who seemed certain of victory, and said calmly: "The Plant Union is not for sale. Please leave."

Li Ang was not haggling for a better price—the Plant Union was genuinely vital to him.

Yes, he could quickly accumulate funds by selling the Plant Union.

But then what?

In business, steady, long-term growth matters most; one-time deals never last.

Li Ang doesn't run a theme-park restaurant. No, wait—he might as well count it as a theme-park food enterprise.

If he were in a travel-world right now, he might agree—but the problem is he's in the main world, where continuing to develop the Plant Union would yield far greater benefits than selling it to the Blood Secret Company now.

Seeing Li Ang so decisively reject the acquisition offer, Christine slightly dimmed her smile.

After a brief silence, she sighed with feigned regret: "What a pity."

Though the blonde woman said this aloud, she didn't truly believe it.

The company had long prepared contingency plans for the Plant Union's refusal; she had merely tested the waters just now.

"Since Viceroy Li Ang refuses to sell the Plant Union, my company has another proposal you might consider." With a gesture to her subordinate, Christine received a document and pushed it before Li Ang: "This is the patent transfer proposal for the Qinglie series. Please review it, Viceroy Li Ang."

For the Blood Secret Company, the Plant Union itself was unimportant—only the functional beverage of the Qinglie series mattered.

As long as they obtained the patent rights to this functional beverage, acquiring the Plant Union was unnecessary.