Chen Jinglong paused his steps, as they were walking under the shade of the trees, the wind whispering through the leaves. He turned to look at Li Ming, his eyes brewing with complex emotions.
Even he was at a loss for words at the moment, but what made him feel even more helpless was that everything Li Ming had said was right, there was absolutely no need for him to take risks.
"I’ll keep an eye on you, don’t worry, unless an A-level Life Form personally comes to kill you, there won’t be any risk," Chen Jinglong emphasized immediately.
"An A-level Life Form coming to kill me?" Li Ming took a pause and then frowned, "Although it’s unlikely, it’s not impossible."
Chen Jinglong almost burst out laughing, "Are you saying that the leader of Torch would personally come to kill you?"
"Don’t laugh, this is a reasonable analysis," Li Ming said with a serious face. "Look, I’m a bona fide Blue Star resident, trained systematically by the University of Science and Technology, and I might even go on to the Yitelan Civilization to access better resources and training."
"To Torch, I’m definitely going to be a major threat in the future. If I were the leader of Torch, I would decisively take action," he added.
Chen Jinglong, squinting his eyes at Li Ming’s serious demeanor, roughly figured out what the young man was getting at and said irritably, "What do you want? Aren’t the tens of millions worth of alloy materials enough for your hoarding?"
At the mention of this, Li Ming deftly changed his tune, "Mother Ore, I’ve become quite interested in Mother Ore recently."
Mother Ore? Chen Jinglong’s expression flickered slightly as he remembered what Xia Yuanlun had told him, that Li Ming really was extremely fond of mechanical and metallurgical sciences.
He had even reached the point of collecting Mother Ore.
"Alright, I can secure two pieces of Mother Ore for you," Chen Jinglong nodded.
Secure? Li Ming thought curiously about the use of that word and boldly asked for more, "Ten pieces!"
Chen Jinglong looked at him incredulously, "You’re asking for ten pieces just for stepping outside? And you think they’ll simply take the bait?"
Feeling somewhat guilty, Li Ming asked, "Aren’t you going to bargain?"
Chen Jinglong was utterly speechless; this guy was really sly.
"I’ll give you five at most, no more," Chen Jinglong said, clearly irritated.
"Five then, five it is. That’s not too few," Li Ming reassured himself, knowing when to quit while ahead.
"Yet you still look like you’ve been shortchanged," Chen Jinglong remarked pointedly, adding, "If we can’t lure them out, you’ll get a maximum of two pieces; if we do, we’ll make up the remaining three later."
Calling his bluff, Li Ming quickly added, "And what if I encounter danger?"
"Impossible," Chen Jinglong declared with finality.
"But what if, just if?" Li Ming grinned and said, "You see, there are no shortage of entities that would want me dead: Star Creation Company, Prince Bai Jiang, Sela Civilization, Torch Group, the Bian Family..."
"You’re even counting the Bian Family?" Chen Jinglong’s composure finally broke, he almost rolled up his sleeves in frustration; what on earth was Wu Yanqing teaching his students.
"My bait is perfect, enticing in every way. This first time casting the line, who knows what kind of behemoth I might hook," Li Ming said as he took two steps back, indicating the potential dangers, "And if I do encounter danger, as compensation, you’ll have to give me an additional five pieces of Mother Ore."
Likely not an illusion, Li Ming could almost hear the sound of Chen Jinglong grinding his teeth, his cheeks twitching.
"Smart boy," Chen Jinglong suddenly smiled. "Since that’s the case, let’s do it your way."
He agreed just like that? Without any further discussion?
Now Li Ming was the one puzzled. Did the old man have bigger fish to fry than just the Torch Group?
"There wouldn’t really be an A-level Life Form after me, would there?" he asked tentatively.
"It’s settled then, let’s make it tomorrow," Chen Jinglong, without offering a direct response or giving Li Ming a chance to speak further, disappeared without a trace.
"Fishing, huh..." Li Ming shook his head and went back.
In the afternoon, Zhang Huaiyuan hurried over.
In the reception room, Zhang Huaiyuan greeted Li Ming as he entered and stood up to welcome him.
"Sit," Li Ming invited him to take a seat. It was still the holiday season, and the place was relatively empty, so he poured two cups of water himself.
Zhang Huaiyuan quickly took the cup, looking a bit nervous, "Brother Li, did you call me here because there’s something you need to explain in person?"
The solemnity of the situation made him uneasy, as if something unfavorable to him might happen, which was why Li Ming was being so courteous.
Li Ming didn’t think much of it and casually sat down, "There’s another group of people yet to arrive, you’ll find out when they get here."
Zhang Huaiyuan held back his words and reluctantly sat down.
The two made small talk for over half an hour until a group of people rushed in, led by the regional director of Xunying Company—Huang Jianzhong.
He had a grave expression, which only lightened into a forced smile when he saw Li Ming. After a handshake, both men took their seats and his assistant, Deng Bo, ushered out any unnecessary bystanders.
"How did it go, Director Huang, did you clear things up?" Li Ming asked nonchalantly.
Huang Jianzhong didn’t respond immediately, while Deng Bo glanced at Zhang Huaiyuan uncertainly.
Seeing their hesitation, the clever Zhang Huaiyuan almost stood up to leave, but Li Ming gestured for him to stay, "It’s alright, he’s one of us, go on."
Zhang Huaiyuan swallowed hard and sat back down with a slightly reddening face.
Deng Bo hesitated, but Huang Jianzhong began, "According to the leads you provided, after our investigation these past days, we’re almost certain."
Fu Zongchen has indeed colluded with Star Creation Company to secretly traffic part of Blue Star’s arms and fabricate orders to pocket significant military funds."
As Zhang Huaiyuan’s heart raced with this revelation, the words hit him like a shock. He first went pale, then his legs shook uncontrollably.
Trafficking arms? Was this something he should be hearing?
Li Ming wasn’t surprised; during the past month, whenever he had the time, he would go over the paper documents he had filmed in Fu Zongchen’s safe.