The matter of arms trafficking was something he uncovered from those documents, which also involved the shares of Prince Bai Jiang.
"With the evidence you’ve gathered, challenging Star Creation Company shouldn’t be any trouble," Li Ming promptly said, "then what we discussed initially..."
"That’s true," Huang Jianzhong replied with a bitter smile, "but driving Star Creation Company away isn’t so simple; these past few days, we let our legal team thoroughly study the laws of Blue Star and the contracts they signed initially."
"Indeed, we can try to deprive Star Creation Company of their operating license by betraying the local civil interests."
"But this isn’t something that can be achieved in the short term."
"That’s your concern now," Li Ming said indifferently, "after you strip Star Creation Company of their operating license, I just want one mineral star."
Star Creation Company controls five or six mineral stars within Blue Star; once their license is revoked, these will be vacated and will surely be rebid.
Xunying Company is a strong contender.
"We can’t guarantee that," Huang Jianzhong said helplessly, "the bidding for mineral resources is handled by the Blue Star Asset Management Bureau."
Li Ming nodded, "I know, I just need your various certification."
"You want to use our shell?" Huang Jianzhong frowned, realizing that to obtain the mining rights for a large mineral star, one would need a plethora of qualifications and permits, like [Resource Exploration and Extraction Certificate], [Heavy Machinery Operation Permit], and many others.
"I will set up a company that will interface with yours," Li Ming suddenly pointed at Zhang Huaiyuan.
Zhang Huaiyuan hadn’t yet reacted, already feeling the urge to back out.
He was just about to refuse, but considering there were outsiders present, he swallowed his words and hesitated.
"No problem then?" Li Ming looked at Huang Jianzhong.
Huang Jianzhong hesitated, knowing that even if they rebid, they weren’t sure how many mineral stars they could secure, yet here they were, giving one to Li Ming.
Moreover, it seemed they would also have to supply resources for Li Ming to "train his troops."
"Or else..." Li Ming spoke leisurely, "let’s just forget it, we can end our cooperation here, and consider the clues I provided as compensation for that Mother Ore you gave me last time."
Huang Jianzhong clenched his teeth and said firmly, "Fine, no problem, even if we get just one, it will be yours."
"Pleasure working with you." Li Ming extended his hand, and Huang Jianzhong shook his head in resignation, feeling outmaneuvered by a young man and considering it simply an investment.
"Old Zhang, this is the card of Minister of Central Intelligence Qi Zhan and the Deputy Minister of the Resource Management Department—Wang Xing..."
Li Ming took out a series of business cards and handed them to Zhang Huaiyuan right in front of Huang Jianzhong, "Try to contact them when you have time; they’ll take care of you."
Essentially, they were officials who were trapped in the villa on the day of Fu Zongchen’s death, both high-ranking and low-ranking.
After Qi Zhan brought them over last time, they advanced further, even turning enemies into friends, and had even organized a few gatherings recently, which he also attended.
Huang Jianzhong’s eyes narrowed and then he gave a bitter smile, as Li Ming was making a point to him.
He might not be able to make Xunying Company earn much, but he could prevent Xunying Company from making a penny on Blue Star.
Zhang Huaiyuan was at a loss, these were the bigwigs of Blue Star, the kind his father couldn’t even meet on a regular day.
A heavy trust weighed down on Zhang Huaiyuan’s heart.
Being young, while studying the history of Blue Star, he had always found it hard to understand, those ancient emperors’ ministers and followers who pledged their lives to their rulers.
Just a few words, a pat on the shoulder, and they’d be ready to die for him?
But now he understood.
Huang Jianzhong didn’t stay long, leaving in a hurry to prepare an intensive plan to move against Star Creation Company—this wasn’t something that could be resolved quickly.
"Brother Li, rest assured, I will not let you down," Zhang Huaiyuan promised at the same time.
"Don’t put too much pressure on yourself, initially we will use the manpower of Xunying Company; you just need to supervise there, learn some experiences," Li Ming advised; a major mining and smelting team wasn’t something he or Zhang Huaiyuan could form quickly.
It’s better to directly use the manpower of Xunying Company.
"Understood," Zhang Huaiyuan said solemnly, contemplating whether to bring his old man over, considering that doing business on Silver Grey Star was insignificant.
After resolving that matter, Li Ming found Chen Yan, who had no place to go during vacation, still staying in the laboratory.
As usual, he brought her to his room. As soon as Li Ming spoke, it made Chen Yan dumbfounded.
"Can you ask Torch to send a few people over to kill me?"
"What?" It took her a long while to respond, her eyes filled with confusion, and she even stepped back twice, thinking Li Ming had gone mad again.
"Are you alright?" she asked hesitantly.
"Seriously," Li Ming didn’t say it was because he was too cunning and wanted to exploit Chen Jinglong. Instead, he rambled:
"It wouldn’t make sense for Torch not to kill me. Youke, such an important person, was killed just like that, and it seems I’m a bit more significant than Youke. There’s been absolutely no assassination attempt; that’s not reasonable at all."
"Today, some people even suspected that I might be a seed of Torch."
Chen Yan’s expression subtly changed: "Were those people here this morning to check this matter?"
"Partly," Li Ming continued to bluff: "Luckily, my records were flawless, but I still need to dispel their suspicions. Just let Torch send a few expendables, the type I can counter-kill would be fine."
Just any expendables? Chen Yan was at a loss for words—could these be just picked randomly?
"Can we ask the higher-ups of Torch to point out a few people, then tell them that you are just going for a suicide mission, so don’t resist at all?"
"Are you sure?" Chen Yan felt something strange about this: "You’re not a seed of Torch, so why are you afraid of being investigated?"
"But you are, and not having killed you back then will definitely be hard to explain now," Li Ming immediately said.
Chen Yan was left speechless, muttering quietly: "I’ll report it, but how to take action will still be decided by those above."
"Do you know how to report it?"
"I do!" Chen Yan said coldly: "I was extremely careful to learn this information. You know nothing."
Only then did Li Ming nod satisfactorily. In Torch’s view, he still didn’t know Chen Yan’s background, so there should be no slip-ups.
Early the next day, Li Ming received a prompt from Chen Jinglong.
"Afraid of backing out at the last moment?" Li Ming muttered, and then he found Chen Yan to ask. She had reported it, but what Torch’s reaction would be, she didn’t yet know.
As he was preparing to leave, he received a message from Zhang Huaiyuan, who seemed very excited. Seeing Li Ming, he couldn’t wait to say:
"Brother Li, I spent last night researching and comprehensively investigated the mineral stars controlled by Star Creation Company."
He pulled out a document, and Li Ming took it, signaling him to get into the car: "No rush, we’ll look at it on the road."
"Oh, okay..." Zhang Huaiyuan was on a roll, not even asking where they were going and simply got into the car.
Inside the car, Li Ming carefully looked over the document, which was overwhelmingly filled with data and made his head swim.
"Hmm... this final market research..." Li Ming pointed out.
Zhang Huaiyuan hastily explained: "Brother Li, Star Creation Company is a multi-civilizational conglomerate. They have broad sales channels and can sell to other civilizations."
"But within our civilization, we can’t absorb so much mineral resources. If we rely on Xunying Company’s channels, they would inevitably skim off the top. I am still thinking about this."
"Don’t worry about that," Li Ming shook his head, "When the time comes, send all the refined metals here to me. I want to build some things."
Sell? He had never thought about selling.
"What?" Zhang Huaiyuan was bewildered, but seeing Li Ming’s confident demeanor, he could only nod.
Taking the document back and calming himself, Zhang Huaiyuan looked out the window and then asked, "Where are we going?"
"Shopping," Li Ming’s answer made Zhang Huaiyuan stunned, struggling to say, "Aren’t we calling Yang Yu and the others?"
"No need," Li Ming shook his head, unsure of what form Torch’s intervention might take. It was too risky to involve Yang Yu.
Zhang Huaiyuan wanted to say more but hesitated, scratching his head, not knowing what else to say.