As old friends, what they offered couldn't possibly be less than what they'd offer an outsider, right?
Chu Guang had originally thought so, but when he saw the acquisition offer of one billion Cr, he still froze for a moment.
Buying it with money was one thing...
Did he look like the kind of man who could be bought with money?!
Inside the conference room of the Alliance building, Chu Guang and Yi Chuan sat opposite each other at a round conference table.
Assuming the Administrator thought the sum was too small, Yi Chuan gave a dry cough and lowered his voice.
"The price is still negotiable... Moreover, aside from the official amount, we can deposit a sum of money privately into your personal account."
Such arrangements were hardly rare in Yunjian Province. Many prominent figures in local settlements had purchased luxury villas in Ideal City overlooking the sea of clouds. Even outside Yunjian Province, far away in Boulder City—which was located in River Valley Province and was not even a partner of Enterprise—many powerful figures had previously sent their families there.
However, because the two regions were so far apart, those so-called aristocrats from the settlements usually couldn't produce much Cr, and in Ideal City, they could at best live a life comparable to ordinary citizens.
The Alliance was a key strategic partner of Enterprise, naturally incomparable to Boulder City.
The two sides had signed a currency swap agreement long ago, and its strategic significance far exceeded that of Enterprise's ordinary partners in Yunjian Province.
At least in Yi Chuan's eyes, this was by no means an unspeakable taboo. Yet upon hearing his hint, Chu Guang's expression turned stern.
"Mr. Yi, how long have we known each other?"
Yi Chuan blinked. "Over half a year... Why?"
Chu Guang spoke with deep, heartbroken conviction. "Do you think I'm that kind of person?"
Seeing his expression, Yi Chuan was utterly dumbfounded.
Before he could speak, Chu Guang continued, "Our Alliance is indeed still backward and cannot match your prosperity, but I am willing to stand together with my comrades.
"Please don't say anything that undermines unity ever again!"
Yi Chuan nodded, caught between laughter and tears. "My apologies... That was presumptuous of me. But this was merely one proposal we offered; no offense was intended."
Chu Guang sighed and went on, "I understand. Solving problems with money is the easiest way out—any problem that can be resolved with gold isn't really a problem. But what we are discussing now is something new that might determine the future of this very planet beneath our feet... Let me put it another way: would you sell an immature product to a customer?"
Yi Chuan shook his head reflexively. "Of course not."
Chu Guang looked at him with utmost sincerity. "It's the same for us.
"We have opened up a brand-new path in the research branch of the mutant slime mold. We have placed high hopes on it, hoping it will put an end to the wasteland, hoping it will bring us a better, more harmonious future... In the new world we envision, the mutant slime mold will no longer serve as a weapon, but as a medium that can help us understand ourselves and the universe.
"Precisely because we have pinned so many expectations on it, we do not wish to burn it out prematurely before it has been perfected."
Yi Chuan nodded in understanding, but couldn't help asking, "Yet... wouldn't bringing more scholars and experts on board be even more conducive to realizing your dream?"
Anticipating this response, Chu Guang let out a sigh. "Yes, but we know all too well how unreliable human nature is. We must remain vigilant against it being used for other purposes. Whether out of goodwill or malice, it could lead to unpredictable consequences... You should have seen what Jinchuan Province has turned into by now."
Yi Chuan stared at Chu Guang, momentarily at a loss for words. "Then... in what form do you hope our cooperation will unfold?"
"At the very least, not through an outright buyout," Chu Guang said, gently sliding the agreement back across the table. "I can tell you our bottom line."
Yi Chuan nodded earnestly. "Please, go ahead."
Chu Guang held up three fingers.
"First, the broodmother is not for transfer. Yu must remain in the Alliance, and must stay within our shelter. Only in this way can we guarantee that the broodmother remains absolutely controllable.
"Second, to prevent new mutations from occurring, we will not cultivate new conscious primary bodies, thereby avoiding any risk of the broodmothers spiraling out of control.
"Third, we will extend a helping hand to regions that need broodmothers eradicated, but the assistance plans must be guided primarily by our researchers' opinions, and our personnel must lead the entire implementation process.
"Aside from these three non-negotiable terms, everything else is open for discussion."
In simple terms, Yu was like the Alliance's 'giant panda.'
Except its significance went far beyond ornamental value; it could also unlock the 'mystery boxes' across the wasteland that had been sealed by mutant slime mold for over two centuries.
The ruins unlocked in the city center of Qingquan City were already enough to trigger a massive technological explosion for the Alliance, and there were plenty of ruins across the wasteland that were every bit as significant as those in Qingquan City.
Not just on the Mid-Continent, and not even just on land.
For the benefit of all humanity, the Alliance could share its research findings, but for the interests of the Alliance, Chu Guang had to keep Yu inside Shelter 404.
Through human radio communications, spiritual interference, and quantum computing technology, Yu could break free from a series of natural constraints such as 'self-limitation' and 'insufficient computing power,' establishing 'sub-bases' all across the planet.
And as long as Yu's main body remained inside the shelter, all those sub-bases spreading throughout the world would remain safe and controllable.
Listening to the conditions Chu Guang laid out, Yi Chuan parted his lips, completely unprepared for such far-reaching considerations. After all, Enterprise's understanding of Yu remained limited to the series of smoke screens put out by the Qingquan City Daily.
After a moment's hesitation, he couldn't help asking, "Then what about the agreement on mutant slime mold research data sharing we signed earlier...?"
Sensing the concern in Yi Chuan's eyes, Chu Guang smiled. "Of course it remains valid. We merely hope to take the lead in determining how this brand-new technical path moves forward before the technology matures."
Pausing briefly as he watched Yi Chuan breathe a sigh of relief, Chu Guang continued, "We might not represent the ultimate future, but for now, this is the most promising route we have explored to solve the immediate problem. I have faith in our scholars and technical personnel, and I will support them in seeing it through to the end without any interference."
Glancing at the shorthand notes on his holographic screen, Yi Chuan pinched the bridge of his nose with an index finger, letting out a sigh after a long pause.
"I will report your requirements to the Council... But frankly, I cannot think of an alternative better than one billion Cr. Perhaps you could give me a hint or suggestion."
The biggest difference between Enterprise and the two major powers—the Legion and the Academy—regarding the broodmother issue was that Enterprise did not possess vast territory; it had only a single prosperous Ideal City.
Yunjian Province did have broodmothers, but those were not on Enterprise's own territory.
Furthermore, based on the self-limiting nature of mutant slime mold expansion they had discovered, the meager population and wild mutants on the wasteland were simply insufficient to sustain the kind of rampant proliferation seen two centuries ago.
In other words, Enterprise was keenly interested in Qingquan City's mutant slime mold because it could unlock vast unexplored areas for them. However, when it came to eliminating the broodmothers in Yunjian Province, they felt no pressing urgency.
This was also why the Council was more inclined to negotiate a suitable price with the Alliance.
By contrast, the Legion, which had conquered vast swathes of land yet remained utterly helpless against the problems on its own territory, was far more desperate to acquire technology for controlling the slime mold.
The broodmothers entrenched in Wilante territory far outnumbered those in the Wandering Marsh, Yunjian Province, and River Valley Province combined...
Now both the Academy and Enterprise had come knocking one after the other. As news spread, representatives from the Legion would likely arrive in Dawn City before long.
Negotiating alone with those madmen would make it difficult to win any concessions—unless Enterprise and the Academy were brought along as well...
Chu Guang pondered for a moment, a sudden idea striking him, and blurted out, "We could establish a multilateral cross-regional cooperation committee dedicated to addressing mutant slime mold issues."
Yi Chuan hesitated before asking, "Something like the Post-War Reconstruction Committee?"
Chu Guang shook his head. "No. This committee would have no administrative binding authority, nor would it involve other fields; it would focus solely on matters related to mutant slime mold. All parties could present their demands at meetings, discuss them openly with other members, and seek common ground while shelving differences."
If consensus could be reached on mutant slime mold agendas, cooperation in other fields could also unfold upon that foundation.
At the very least, it would establish a groundwork of trust.
Yi Chuan thought it over. Realizing the benefits of forming such a committee, his eyes brightened considerably, and he spoke up. "That sounds like a fine idea! I'll report your earlier demands along with this proposal to the Council!"
A smile spread across Chu Guang's face. Rising from the conference table along with Yi Chuan, he extended his right hand to the approaching envoy.
"May we have a pleasant cooperation!"
***
While Chu Guang, representing the Alliance, was discussing the finer details of the 'Symbiotic Slime Mold Research Committee' with the envoy from Enterprise, Sindisen, locked in a dark interrogation room, was undergoing questioning by the Guards Corps.
To the interrogation officers' surprise, before they could even begin questioning him, Sindisen, freshly seated in the chair, poured out everything in one breath.
Not just Sindisen.
The other six suspects did the exact same thing.
They were all traveling merchants dealing in raw materials for nutrient paste and chemical fertilizers. This year, they had originally planned to take advantage of the Tide's peak to procure a batch of fruiting body remains and sell them to the Free State, only for the Alliance authorities to suddenly issue a document stating that fruiting body remains would no longer be sold.
And not just this time—they wouldn't be sold in the future either.
Seeing a cooked duck about to fly away from their grasp, these merchants blew their tops. They had already lined up buyers, only for the Alliance to tell them the deal was off.
Thus, Sindisen hatched a scheme, orchestrating the Qingquan City Daily affair in hopes of stirring up public opinion in Dawn City to pressure the Alliance authorities.
Yet he had clearly underestimated the internal cohesion of Alliance society. That trick might have had a sliver of effect against the old Boulder City, but for the survivors of Dawn City, doing this was nothing more than dropping a boulder on their own feet.
Looking at the three full pages of interrogation transcripts, the two officers seated behind the interrogation table exchanged glances. One of them looked at Sindisen and couldn't help asking:
"...You did all this just for that?"
Trembling, Sindisen nodded, attempting to explain, "Th-this isn't a small matter! It's a deal worth over a billion!"
Over a billion buyuan was only about ten million dinars, which translated to barely a million silver coins in the Alliance.
The two interrogators were momentarily at a loss for words, exchanging glances and conversing with their eyes.
'Is it possible he's lying?'
'The confessions of all the suspects are pretty much consistent, and no other physical evidence was found in the room... The likelihood is very low.'
'Damn it... Just over this petty garbage? I thought this was some massive conspiracy.'
'#%@&!'
Seeing the interrogators' expressions darken further, panic welled up in Sindisen's chest. Finally unable to contain his fear, he asked timidly, "Big brothers... I-I'm really not a spy."
The interrogator on the right said with a dark face, "The current evidence indeed cannot prove you're a spy, but your actions nonetheless produced extremely severe negative consequences and indirectly caused massive losses to the property of Alliance citizens."
The other interrogator followed up, "Just last night, protesters burned down the warehouse of the Tujia Printing Factory. All newspapers across the city are out of stock today, with estimated losses easily exceeding a million silver coins. Even if you aren't a spy, you won't escape the charge of inciting sabotage."
Upon hearing that the protesters had actually torched the printing factory, cold sweat burst across Sindisen's forehead. This was completely different from the script he had envisioned.
He could hardly bear to imagine what would happen if he fell into the hands of those people. What terrified him even more was that by now, virtually everyone likely knew he had been taken away from the inn in Highway Town.
In other words, they already knew who he was...
"I'll pay damages! I'll pay!" Clenching his handcuffed fists, Sindisen pleaded, "I'm willing to pay double the compensation, as long as you let me leave here... I swear I'll never do anything like this again!"
The interrogator chuckled coldly, shooting him a contemptuous glance.
"Regretting it now? What were you doing earlier?"
The other interrogator spoke in a mocking tone, "Inciting sabotage is a public prosecution case; there's no settlement. Paying financial restitution might exempt you from hard labor, but a sentence of over ten years is unavoidable. If you ask me, if you really were a spy, it might have been better—maybe you could have bargained for leniency. But doing something this stupid just for a few million? Even if we wanted to find an opportunity for you to earn merit, there's nowhere to look."
Having busied themselves all night only to catch a puny mouse, both men were brimming with exasperation, taking out all their frustration on this fellow.
Seeing that begging was useless, Sindisen tore away his mask of servility and roared at the two men across the table, his bluster betraying his inner cowardice.
"I am a merchant from the Bugra Free State! I am not your citizen, and you have no right to arrest me! I—I want to see your Administrator!"
Watching his pathetic display, the two interrogators chuckled.
"The likes of you want to see the Administrator?"
"We don't care where you're from. Even if you were a relative of the Legion's Grand Marshal, break the law on our turf, and you'll face the law just the same."
Terror filled Sindisen's eyes, yet he still couldn't resist speaking in a threatening tone.
"Aren't you... afraid of sparking a diplomatic incident?"
Looking at this cornered clown, both interrogators burst out laughing.
"Diplomacy? What do we have to talk about with you lot?"
"If you don't like it, have your army come try us."
Hearing this, Sindisen slumped into his chair like a deflated balloon, his eyes clouded with gray despair.
The Free State's military would never mobilize for an insignificant figure like him. Even if his confidants outside could help hire mercenaries who worked for coin, those ragtag bands would never stand a chance against the Alliance Army.
Rumor had it that long ago, Legion informants in the Free State had bribed mercenaries there to attack the northern border of the Alliance, only to be smashed to pieces.
And reportedly, those mercenaries hadn't even run into the Alliance's regular forces.
The two sides were simply not on the same level.
It seemed doing hard time was an inescapable certainty for him...
***
Meanwhile, in the Great Rift Valley, Origin City.
The man seated in the reception lounge gazed quietly out the floor-to-ceiling window at the settlement below, a faint, mocking smirk playing at the corners of his mouth.
Decaying, desolate, oppressive, lifeless, like a drowsy twilight sun... Every negative description he could summon fit this settlement with unerring accuracy.
This settlement known as Origin City was once the earliest settlement on the wasteland, even older than Ideal City on the eastern coast.
Yet with the dissolution of the Post-War Reconstruction Committee, this settlement today showed none of its former glory, leaving behind only a faint, lingering afterglow stranded upon the barren yellow earth.
This settlement looked exceedingly like an old man with one foot in the grave, reeking from head to toe with a nauseating stench of death.
Yet upon seeing the chief secretary clad in a white robe step out of the room, the man still adopted a reverent, humble expression and bowed his head slightly.
The chief secretary watched him expressionlessly, like a priest, speaking in a solemn voice devoid of any emotion.
"Please follow me."
The man inclined his head again without uttering a word, following in the secretary's footsteps through the open doorway into a conference room dominated by a long obsidian table.
An elderly man with hair and beard as white as snow sat at the head of the conference table.
That old man was the master of the Great Rift Valley.
The man bowed slightly, speaking with refined politeness.
"Respected Chief, what instructions do you have for me?"
The old man addressed as the Chief did not speak immediately, replying instead in an amiable tone.
"Please, have a seat."
The man nodded in acknowledgment and pulled out a chair at the far end of the conference table to sit down.
His name was Audo, and he was the mayor of the Free State—a position equivalent to the lord of an ordinary survivor settlement.
The previous mayor had been impeached and removed from office after Bugra secretly backed the Legion's atrocities in Sunset Province. The newly appointed Audo was an uncompromising pro-Enterprise partisan—meaning he supported the Free State Council in pushing through reforms modeled after Enterprise's management system.
Although people continuously accused him of accepting dirty money from Sigma, the boss of Flint Group, in the eyes of many Free State citizens, he remained an approachable leader.
And the same held true for the Chief seated before the conference table.
Compared to the previous unruly mayor who had colluded with the Legion's eastern expansionists behind his back, the Chief preferred this humble young man.
He was young, capable, and bold, with clear eyes that burned like blazing torches.
The old man did not care for Enterprise, which had once betrayed the Reconstruction Committee, nor did he endorse the rebels' choices, but he acknowledged that those people had qualities worth learning from.
Looking at Audo, who sat upright at the conference table like a student eager to learn, the old man spoke slowly.
"I hear that the broodmother in Qingquan City has been eradicated by the Alliance. That appears to be a young faction established not long ago, led by the Administrator of Shelter 404."
Audo nodded with a respectful expression. "I have heard of this as well."
A satisfied smile appeared on the old man's face, and he continued in a measured tone.
"It seems you have not forgotten your mission; that pleases me. The mutant slime mold is one of the principal threats on this wasteland. Over the past years, we made many attempts, yet regrettably, right up until the Post-War Reconstruction Committee disbanded, we were never able to truly resolve it..."
Audo listened respectfully as the old man recounted past events, but a faint trace of indifference and scorn lingered in his heart.
In his eyes, that war two centuries ago had been utterly foolish in the first place—a crowd of people reducing two worlds to ruins over incomprehensible beliefs, forcing everyone to endure hardship together afterward.
For things to turn out like this today was hopelessly stupid.
A bunch of old relics already lying in their graves, unwilling to take their failures and shame with them to reflect in the earth, instead babbling on and pointing fingers at the younger generation.
To put it bluntly, he couldn't care less about any mutant slime mold, had no interest in fretting over that stuff on behalf of wastelanders out there, and couldn't understand why anyone should care whether they lived or died.
Wouldn't it be better to just let them perish?
Once they were all dead, there wouldn't be any wasteland left to worry about.
Yet seeing the old man's approving look, Audo went against his own feelings and chimed in for the sake of his supporters.
"...It is indeed a remarkable miracle. They have much that we can learn from."
The old man nodded slowly, his cloudy eyes resting upon the young child before him.
"I am glad you think so... To keep it brief, I worry that I might lose myself in thought again. My time is not worth you squandering your precious youth waiting."
Pausing, he continued in a gentle tone.
"I would like you to do something."
Audo sighed inward—here it came again—yet maintained his respectful expression and humble demeanor.
"Please instruct me, sir."
The old man continued at an unhurried pace.
"Both you and they are survivors of River Valley Province, yet I have noticed that you are not very close. That is unwise. I hope you can get along more harmoniously and develop broader cooperation on issues common to all humanity... Now, for instance, presents a fine opportunity."
Audo was caught off guard, offering a bitter smile. "We... are not opposed to cooperation, but whether they are willing is hard to say."
Just like before, this old man never took current realities into account when giving advice.
The Bugra Free State and the Alliance were regional rivals. Diplomatic relations between the two had never been harmonious from the start, fraught with friction.
Setting aside whether they could even establish friendly ties with the Alliance, the key issue was that on their diplomatic map, the Alliance was simply not an entity worth befriending.
In fact, its very existence had been a mistake from the beginning.
The Bone Chewers turmoil was supposed to wipe out everything from the central to southern regions of River Valley Province, like a prairie fire clearing the way for the Free State's southward expansion—an expansion they 'could not conveniently carry out themselves.'
The previous mayor had even planned to rendezvous with the Legion's eastern expansionists in Qingquan City.
Yet precisely because this Alliance had sprouted out of nowhere, sheltering displaced refugees and consecutively crushing the Bone Chewer tribe and the Legion's eastern expansionists, their grand scheme had gone up in smoke, with hundreds of millions in investments down the drain.
Although Audo was not of the pro-Legion faction—and was in fact a pro-Enterprise politician whose views directly contradicted the former mayor's—they shared one common trait: a burning desire for true freedom.
The survivors of Bugra were unwilling to remain puppets of a tomb.
Yet whether seeking assistance to the west or expanding to the east, the Alliance entrenched in southern River Valley Province was their greatest obstacle.
Audo wished the Alliance would explode like a firework tomorrow. How could he possibly build cooperation with those wastelanders on an issue he didn't care about in the slightest?
They would sooner reach out to the Church of the Torch in the south!
None of this could be said aloud, however, and saying it would be utterly meaningless anyway.
The old fossil was simply too old. He couldn't listen to anyone else's opinions, nor did he care about what others valued. Those cloudy eyes held only dying fantasies and unrealistic longings for the past.
His greatest sin was that he had lived too long.
A human being was never meant to live this long.
"One must always try, mustn't one?"
Unaware of the curses and profanities churning inside the young man before him, the old man smiled faintly, continuing in a mild tone.
"Give it a try; treat this as an assignment I have set for you. If you pass the test, I will increase your energy quota for the next five years by fifteen percent. Of course, if you fail to accomplish it, I will regrettably have to adjust your energy prices upward over the next three years... I hope you understand my using this method to guide you; it is a necessary spur."
Although the Bugra Free State possessed its own solar, wind, and geothermal power facilities, relying solely on renewable energy could never sustain the entire settlement's consumption.
The Great Rift Valley supplied over seventy percent of the Free State's energy needs, which was one of the reasons this city of sleepless nights could rise from the wasteland.
Separated by over a dozen generations, the old man did not understand how modern youths thought, nor did he know how to communicate with them, but using energy as leverage to make them listen had always been an effective approach.
A century and a half ago, those wretched souls needed energy to build fires against the cold; a century and a half later, their children needed energy to fuel luxurious lifestyles.
Regardless of how they utilized that energy, it was all the same in his eyes. Moderate rewards and punishments served to stimulate the children's initiative.
This method had never failed him.
These legacies belonged to them in the end anyway; he was merely guiding them along the way.
And just as the old man anticipated, the young fellow slowly lowered his head, speaking with utmost respect.
"I will keep your teachings in mind. We will give it a try."
A gratifying smile appeared on the old man's face.
Yet his cloudy pupils failed to notice that even as Audo lowered his head to utter those words, he could not help but clench his fists beneath the table...
This humiliation.
Sooner or later, he would repay it manifold!
Chapter 651