Chapter 176: Mutual Satisfaction
Since Bai Mo used a telephone for communication instead of a nationwide broadcast, their conversation was currently known only to the high echelons of the U.S. government and military, leaving considerable room for maneuver.
"According to satellite data, the target is currently hovering twenty thousand meters above Orleans, Arizona."
"Mr. President, it's time to make a decision."
"Raul, what's your take?" Joseph initiated an emergency video conference with a group of advisors and several corporate leaders.
"I believe we can consider the trade, but we should first send people to assess the value of the information he's provided."
"He hasn't let this become known to the general public, and he specifically used the word 'trade' rather than 'demand.' I also believe this might not actually be a losing deal." Feller, the energy tycoon, agreed to a certain degree of initial communication.
"I don't believe he can offer anything useful."
"Not necessarily. The Xuanji Fruit was invented by this person. I think he could present something substantial." Ting En, the sponsor behind America's largest Bell Labs, retorted.
"The Xuanji Fruit, in reality, isn't that technically advanced. It's just that the Huaxians got lucky and happened to find a suitable mutated plant!" Kaunitz, the sponsor of Hoffman Lab, which specializes in biotechnology, spoke with a feeling of rivalry among peers.
"I agree to the trade. Just as he said, this is a brand-new field, and everyone might have their own insights. Given the Huaxians' enormous population base, it's only natural for them to have made some achievements."
"Let's first see the weight of the information in his hands. If it feels unfair, then we can consider turning hostile. After all, he's still a long way from destroying America. What he calls a 'threat' is more like a means to ensure the fair completion of the transaction."
"Contact our people sent to Huaxia and get a real-time update."
"Understood!"
"Frontline reports indicate that the first three defense lines of Ziliu Sea have already been breached. Their last line of defense is also about to fall!"
"Should we reconsider this trade?" Kaunitz, who had originally been against it, raised his objection once more. "Once the person we're backing takes power, we can obtain all of this under much better terms."
"The terms won't be significantly better. The other side is a superpower of comparable scale to us, not some small nation. Even if their leader comes to power with our help, they'd at most lean slightly in our favor. If they truly leaned heavily towards us, their position would immediately become unstable."
"Then why should we bother losing so many high-tier ability users to interfere in Huaxia's civil war?" Kaunitz was somewhat puzzled.
"Just look at the roster of participants, and you'll understand," Raul said expressionlessly.
"Hal, Saunders... many of them are restless youngsters. No wonder."
"Let's put this issue to rest. Since everyone still agrees to an exploratory trade, please transmit the data from your respective corporations."
"Agreed."
"I'm quite curious what this young man will bring us. I'm heading to Mobius now."
"My car's almost there, Feller, you're so slow."
"I'm old and useless now."
Ten minutes later, three figures completely enveloped in black robes flew from afar to the presidential palace. After a year of exposure, residents everywhere had grown accustomed to ability users; even the three flying in the sky didn't attract much attention.
"Send someone to investigate the house they initially emerged from."
"Understood!"
"Are you Mr. Bai's assistants?" the guards, who had already received notice, asked from outside the gate.
"Yes!"
"Please show your identification."
"Who else will be waiting at the presidential palace gates within the next twenty minutes?" the leading black-robed figure in the middle spoke with a strange, inhuman voice. "Is this the best your efficiency gets?"
"Please, come in."
"We haven't brought any weapons." As soon as he entered, the leading black-robed figure bent down, picked up a few small stones from the ground, and without a word, smashed several hidden detectors.
"Are we ready to begin?" Still the leading black-robed figure, he spoke to the President and the others present with an extremely strange voice, without any hesitation.
"Yes, seven computers are ready. How do you intend to proceed with the trade?" Joseph's secretary pointed to the computers lined up in a row.
"This is the catalog of information we are providing." The black-clad figure inserted a USB drive into one of the computers. He had just taken the USB drive from a family home he had infiltrated in the city. Bai Mo had used their computer to log into his internal account and copied a large amount of data.
"All in Huaxia script?"
"Would we store internal data in English? I trust you have people who can read Huaxia script."
"Information carriers transcending text – the manufacturing process of Thought Crystals, core development of universal Spirit Arts, conjectures on the essence of Spirit Qi, thoughts on entering the Unmelting Realm, preliminary exploration of Spirit Arrays, cultivation of mutated livestock..." The translator relayed each title to those around him, one by one, reciting for almost ten minutes.
"You copied the entire database?"
"This is roughly one-tenth of all entries."
"..."
"After all, it's a long-term cooperation. The material will naturally be released in installments."
"Many of these research projects overlap with those in our various labs. We can directly exchange experimental reports for reference." Ting En of Bell Labs quickly finalized this point.
"Agreed. Now it's your turn."
"Please." A staff member brought an external hard drive and connected it to one of the computers.
"Preliminary exploration of Spirit Energy Machinery, research into miniaturization of Spirit Energy Weapons, on the influence of Spirit Stones on the properties of steel materials..." Seeing these familiar names, Bai Mo recalled his past self from over a year ago, and his mentor, whom he hadn't seen in a long time.
Bai Mo selected dozens of documents from it as well, browsed through them to confirm they were all substantial, and then copied them to his USB drive.
"Is this all you need? The value of the information doesn't seem equivalent to what you gave us; you'll be taking a loss." After an American reviewer roughly assessed the value of both sides' information, Ting En asked.
"A good beginning ensures a continuous flow."
"You are an excellent partner. We at Bell Labs always welcome you to join us."
"Thank you, it was a pleasure working with you."
"A pleasure working with you."
What was originally thought to be a losing and humiliating deal actually resulted in a tangible advantage. Joseph's expression instantly shifted from cloudy to clear, and the dejection from being threatened was swept away.
Several relevant tycoons were also quite satisfied with this cooperation. What they could previously obtain were generally low-value data from the external database of Huaxia's Contribution Point system; obtaining such a large amount of internal database data was almost impossible.
"Nothing happened today, and we've never met, Mr. Bai," Raul said with a smile as he bid farewell before the avatar departed.
Comments