IRCDM Chapter 102

Chapter 102: Falling Out – Tonight, Liang Huan Can Forget About Walking Out of This Door

Negotiations have always been about timing, location, and harmony. Of course, in the face of absolute military advantage, this option basically doesn’t exist. Unfortunately, the Eastern Third District is at a disadvantage in all aspects compared to the military, so Liang Huan is still happy to sit down and “talk” with the other party.

The Technology Park of the Eastern Fifth District is some distance from the central Dawn Building but only across the street from the Wutong Apartments. This time, Liang Huan only brought Yue Hang and Pei Zhong, plus a transparent heteromorph lying on the roof, seemingly prepared to retreat at any time.

The Technology Park is a large group of buildings suspended in mid-air. The greenery coverage is the highest in the entire Eastern District base. From a distance, it looks like a suspended green island. Hundreds of meters high artificial waterfalls thunder down from all sides of the island, below which is a large artificial lake. The ground is a leisure park built by Dawn Group at a heavy cost, only open to internal employees of the group, and said to be very luxurious.

Yue Hang stared at the park and said, “So much water is wasted. Many people in the Eastern Fourth District don’t have enough water to drink. They should let them see this.”

“What’s the use of seeing it?” Pei Zhong said coldly, “They simply don’t care about ordinary people, let alone those in the Eastern Fourth District.”

Yue Hang frowned, retracted his gaze, and looked at Liang Huan.

“Our bottom line is control of the Eastern Third District, and we can only try our best for other conditions.” Liang Huan signaled him to calm down, “Everything can’t be achieved overnight.”

Yue Hang nodded, but was still worried: “I heard that Li Yao is coming to negotiate this time.”

Liang Huan had no intention of showing mercy: “Treat it as official business, no need to worry about him.”

Obviously, Li Yao had no intention of showing mercy either. He transferred ten mechas from the three mecha divisions, and brought not only Yi Heng Bai, but also Lu Lian and Ye Zhen, with the intention of taking strong action if the negotiations failed.

The two met again, separated by a cold and spacious negotiating table.

Liang Huan pulled out a chair and sat opposite Li Yao, smiling slightly: “Colonel Li, long time no see.”

Although the two had been intimately entangled on the same bed not long ago, they still had to put on a show on the surface. Li Yao looked at his polite and distant smile and snorted: “Deputy District Chief Liang, you are quite capable, truly surprising.”

He had expected Liang Huan to make a move, but he didn’t expect the move to be so big, rudely and decisively hijacking the central equipment of the control room. At that time, he was still being seduced and couldn’t find north, so it was false to say he wasn’t annoyed.

Liang Huan said: “There’s no need to reminisce about the past. Let’s talk about business.”

Li Yao clicked his tongue, unhappily: “Who’s reminiscing with you?”

Liang Huan: “…”

It was clearly just a polite remark, but this person was being somewhat unreasonable.

However, he soon saw what true unreasonableness was. Li Yao crossed his legs, raised his hand and knocked on the table: “Return all the control room equipment you hijacked from the Eastern Third District, and compensate our military for all the expenses of the temporary equipment during this period, we’ll give you a discount of 150 billion, and cede the Eastern Third District’s entry and exit rights plus another 50 billion, and we won’t consider sending you to the First Prison to eat prison food.”

Yi Heng Bai turned to look at him upon hearing this.

That was asking for a bit too much.

Yue Hang and Pei Zhong hadn’t gotten used to Li Yao becoming the enemy, but when they heard these outrageous demands, their expressions immediately changed.

“Sure,” Liang Huan’s smile deepened, “Why don’t I just give you the entire Eastern Third District?”

“…” Li Yao sneered, “Deputy District Chief Liang, I hope you can take this negotiation seriously.”

Liang Huan said lightly: “The protective shield and water and electricity control equipment can be returned, but we demand that the military cede the mining rights to the mine at the end of the Western Heteromorph Forest.”

Li Yao narrowed his eyes: “Impossible.”

“Commander Li, the military has never been able to conquer the Western Mine. Every year, hundreds of millions are invested in guarding it. We can buy it,” Yue Hang said.

Yi Heng Bai said: “There are a large number of rare minerals in the Western Mine. Many raw materials for the military’s development of 3S mechas came from its vicinity. Is the Eastern Third District planning to rebel?”

“Of course not, we are just fighting for the rights we deserve.” Pei Zhong crossed his hands on the table, “We return the military equipment, and you cede the mining rights to the Western Mine.”

Lu Lian, sitting opposite him, said expressionlessly: “The approval of mining rights requires many procedures. With your current capabilities, you can’t even get into the mountains. As long as you return the equipment, everything else is negotiable.”

Li Yao spread his hands, staring closely at Liang Huan’s eyes: “The military just doesn’t want to fight, but if you don’t cooperate, we can take military measures.”

“Before you attack the Eastern Third District, all the equipment will be destroyed immediately.” Liang Huan smiled, “Compared to the paralysis of the Eastern Third District and the protective shield and the entire district’s water and electricity, are you sure you want to pay such a big price?”

Li Yao twitched the corner of his mouth: “It seems that Deputy District Chief Liang has no intention of negotiating properly at all.”

The atmosphere at the negotiating table instantly dropped to freezing point. Neither side wanted to fight, and there was no need to fight, but the demands put forward by both sides could not reach a consensus. Now that the words had been said, neither Li Yao nor Liang Huan could easily speak, and the others heard the two people’s unwillingness to give in, knowing that whoever spoke first would be at a disadvantage.

Ye Zhen, who had not spoken, suddenly said: “Everyone is a department of the Eastern District base. Although the Eastern Third District belongs to the Administrative Court, no one can say for sure what will happen in the future. There will inevitably be times when we need to cooperate. Why don’t we each take a step back?”

He was Liang Huan’s “former” subordinate, and now the Mecha I Department was under Li Yao’s management, so it was clever of him to say this from both a sentimental and rational point of view.

Li Yao took the opportunity to step down: “Deputy Department Head Ye, what do you think we should do?”

Ye Zhen cautiously opened his mouth: “Why don’t the Eastern Third District return the equipment, and we won’t pursue the matter? As for the mining rights, if the Eastern Third District really wants to mine, why not pay to lease the entry and exit rights to the Western Mine? This is a fair deal for both of us.”

“Where is the fairness?” Yue Hang looked at this deputy department head he had met once and said coldly, “The equipment is given to you for free?”

Ye Zhen frowned: “Your theft of the equipment itself endangers public safety.”

“That’s because the protective shield of the Eastern Third District is severely aging, and our multiple repair requests have been rejected.” Liang Huan said unhurriedly, “And the military deliberately cut off the water and electricity supply to the Eastern Third District. If the military hadn’t gone to extremes first, how would we have been forced to this point?”

Ye Zhen opened his mouth, looked at Lu Lian, and signaled him to speak.

Liang Huan was his boss after all. Even if he wanted to refute, he couldn’t open his mouth.

Lu Lian: “…Then what exactly do you want?”

Liang Huan’s eyebrows twitched slightly, and he looked at Li Yao. Li Yao raised his hand: “Please speak.”

“We retain the control rights to the protective shield and water and electricity supply of the Eastern Third District, and return the rest of the equipment to the military.” Liang Huan said, “If the military is unwilling to cede the right to use the Western Mine, we can pay a joint usage fee of 20 billion Condensed Coins. The channels opened up by our side can also be used by the military. Everyone wins.”

“Tsk.” Li Yao frowned, pondered for a moment, and said, “50 billion, and all mining points need to be reported.”

“Deal.” Liang Huan agreed very readily.

That was considered a deal. He stood up and extended his hand to Li Yao. Li Yao got up and shook it. The familiar temperature and touch made him raise his eyebrows. Liang Huan squeezed his hand imperceptibly, then let go.

Yi Heng Bai, who was next to him, tugged at his gloves and got up and left the negotiating room.

Follow-up handover matters still required both parties to negotiate, which led to intermittent talks.

Li Yao took the time to find Yi Heng Bai and handed him a cigarette. Yi Heng Bai took it, looked at it, and smiled: “Highly concentrated extract, doesn’t look like military stuff.”

“Dawn Group specialty.” Li Yao held a cigarette in his mouth.

“You don’t plan to attack Liang Huan.” Yi Heng Bai’s tone was very certain, “I need to know the reason.”

Li Yao took out the gene defect chip and handed it to him: “The people under you don’t work very well. This report has been tampered with.”

Yi Heng Bai stared at him: “Even if it’s been tampered with, Liang Huan has been a spy by your side for so long. With your ability, it should be easy to find out his gene defect.”

“Then you really overestimate me. My mental power is only D now. I can’t even pilot a mecha. My hands shake a little when I do fine work.” Li Yao raised his hand to show him, “It’s good enough that I can survive like this. The chips I make short-circuit at the slightest touch of metal reaction. Forget about doing high-precision work like checking other people’s gene defects.”

Yi Heng Bai stared at him silently: “You and Liang Huan—”

“Old flame hasn’t died out.” Li Yao pulled at the corner of his mouth, “After all, before I returned to the military, the two of us were almost ready to get married. I left suddenly, and he probably hates me to death now.”

He lowered his eyes and looked at his hand, his expression slightly desolate: “But brother, even if this gene defect report is real, I won’t attack Liang Huan. He saved my life, and I will never actively hurt him.”

Yi Heng Bai stared at him meaningfully: “Li Yao, you have always been too sentimental. That’s completely unnecessary in some situations.”

Li Yao raised his head and looked into his eyes: “Like now.”

Yi Heng Bai realized that he was talking about himself and said with a self-deprecating smile: “You can also completely regard me as a replica of Yi Heng Bai. After all, in every sense, Yi Heng Bai has already died.”

“I can’t do it.” Li Yao refused him and got up to walk towards the negotiating room.

“Is that really the only reason,” Yi Heng Bai’s voice sounded behind him, “and not because the signal receiver is on Liang Huan’s body?”

Li Yao paused slightly, turned his head, and looked at him expressionlessly: “I have my plan. It doesn’t matter who the receiver is on. What matters is who can get the new coordinates first.”

Yi Heng Bai looked at him thoughtfully: “You mean?”

Li Yao looked at the tightly closed negotiating room: “Tonight, Liang Huan can forget about walking out of this door.”