139. Negotiation Breakdown
As Li Aozi finished speaking, only the howling of frost and sand remained.
"…Are you fucking kidding us!?"
Mechanic Yin Xifeng roared, followed by a displeased driver Zhang Shengnan, who immediately aimed the machine gun at Li Aozi on the ground.
"What a pity—seems like a Frost-Plated man is just a Frost-Plated man, always taking advantage when given a little."
Captain Uzdar shrugged:
"Mr. Li Aozi, it seems you don't understand what 'alive or dead' means—it means you can be tortured to the brink of death, and no one will care."
"Really?"
Li Aozi chuckled, then changed his tone:
"Then it seems you don't want a live hostage."
His voice was magnetic, and his handsome face made it hard to look away. Every word was imprinted clearly in the crew members' minds.
With a practical benefit of up to 88.4, his extraordinary charisma was almost like a magical power or enchantment to ordinary people.
"—Hostage?"
The Wolverine crew exchanged glances.
"Du Zexin, a Beta-rank [Mechanic], an elite agent of Law III."
Li Aozi said calmly:
"Your intelligence should know I'm an Omega Energy user. I've already used my Omega Energy to create a blood clot in his brain. If I die, my Omega Energy will fail, and the clot will explode, killing him instantly."
This statement was half-true. Li Aozi remembered Du Zexin's injury symptoms, making lying easy.
These soldiers, though not as clever as Du Zexin or the professor, were much more cautious in serious matters than the Law IV agents.
"Of course, I'm willing to surrender and hand over the hostage. I don't expect to escape, just take me away from the outside world."
Li Aozi said:
"You've destroyed the tracks, I have no way to escape. Please take me away, I don't want to die in this desolate wilderness."
He didn't hope to deceive them off the mobile armor; he just wanted to buy more time.
Especially, it would be best if he could delay long enough to send away Meibi.
Meibi was seriously injured, and this was an opportunity to send him back—Li Aozi believed that with Du Zexin's intelligence, he could get by more easily than himself.
Moreover, he had already told Du Zexin part of the information about Elf Island. Li Aozi deliberately didn't reveal the exact location, forcing Du Zexin to act on his own, gather the organization, and collect intelligence. Eventually, discovering the truth about Elf Island would still require his help.
This not only paved the way for himself but also ensured that Davilin would immediately have a rudimentary team upon release.
Li Aozi remembered clearly that in the First Frost War, only with Davilin's calm deployment and command could Frost-Plated resist the Tianhuan warriors' onslaught. However, due to the domestic backlash from extreme feminist forces, Davilin was assassinated, leading to the full outbreak of the Frost-Plated civil war.
Completing the "White Frost-Plated Bones" mission was extremely difficult at this stage. Some tasks could only be accomplished by uniting the four nations and all the people of Azure Star, so Li Aozi needed to establish a deep network of connections.
Du Zexin had to return to Frost-Plated.
The Wolverine's crew believed Li Aozi's words.
"Damn it... those Law IV bastards hid the mission details again!"
Uzdar clicked her tongue. Although it was common knowledge that Law IV often concealed information to avoid scandals, hiding such a crucial detail about a hostage was particularly malicious.
Law IV was an internal intelligence and anti-terror enforcement agency, with a completely different mindset from the military. Some matters might involve scandals or weaknesses of bureaucratic groups and bigwigs—but soldiers didn't care about those things.
"That's why I hate politics the most."
Uzdar raised her hand to press the microphone, connecting to Nimotin:
"Hey, aren't you ready yet?"
Before she finished speaking, dozens of parachutes blossomed in the sky. Law IV agents cautiously opened their parachutes at the appropriate airspace and altitude, landing smoothly and forming combat formations. The highly cybernetically enhanced female agents quickly surrounded the locomotive. Nimotin sent a team to check the rear combat carriages and then turned to Li Aozi.
"Law IV agent team, Nimotin's unit, 40 should be present, 40 present."
She casually reported into the communicator, then turned to the man before her.
Li Aozi, though unarmed and looking older with a harmless smile, still made Nimotin cautious—she remembered how he had tricked her before, escaping and easily killing the pursuing forces.
And the Cannibal... a genuine Beta-rank [Biochemist], even if not combat-focused, was quite formidable.
Thinking of this, Nimotin stopped in her tracks, fearfully maintaining a distance of ten meters from Li Aozi.
"Are you seriously stepping back?"
The communication channel echoed with mocking soldiers, but Nimotin didn't care. Her life was her own, and risking it for a measly 10,000 Derby salary wasn't worth it.
"The target is highly dangerous, don't underestimate him." Nimotin casually dismissed. "I need to interrogate him here. With the mobile armor present, I can ensure he doesn't act out."
"Haha, with mobile armor here, not a Gamma-rank strongman, still trying to run?" The mechanic couldn't hold back, laughing out loud.
The mobile armor was built for war. Even a Beta-rank strongman wouldn't survive long against thousands of shells on the battlefield—was there anything more intimidating?
"I can't say." Nimotin retorted coldly.
"More importantly, go handle the hostage."
"No need for your reminder."
Nimotin signaled Yavanna to step forward, leading a team to retrieve the hostage from the locomotive.
The conflict between the military and the Law enforcement agents was not new. Both sides belonged to different systems, each vying for funding.
According to Frost-Plated's constitution, Law IV was the President's eyes and ears, answering only to the President, while Law III served the Parliament. The military, nominally commanded by the President, was actually managed by the Ministry of Defense.
Nimotin, though not very intelligent, understood that the Governor wanted her to risk her life for better cybernetics, requiring more pay.
Losing face was better than losing life—Nimotin thought, her gaze towards Li Aozi becoming more complex.
"I hope you've been well, Captain Nimotin?"
Li Aozi, looking relaxed as if chatting with an old friend about breakfast, still had his remarkable charisma. Even with his gentle smile, Nimotin found it terrifying like a demon.
She shook her head, forced composure, and sternly asked:
"You're in our hands now, so it's time to confess—who exactly are you? What's your connection with the Red Arrow Empire? Where are the confidential documents hidden…"
Li Aozi listened to her barrage of questions, calmly giving half-true answers, his attention on the car's movements. Du Zexin was carried out on a temporary stretcher by Law IV agents, eyes closed, feigning weakness.
Nice job, Meibi, his acting wasn't worse than mine.
Subway Brotherhood driver Zhou Liefeng also raised his hands in surrender but refused to disembark, arguing with lead agent Yavanna.
"I've reported to the central station, you will pay for this."
Zhou Liefeng, stripped of his exoskeleton armor, knelt on the ground, hands cuffed, face red with anger, glaring at the Law IV agents:
"Attacking the old era's train, destroying the old era's railway, do you know how serious a crime this is? The Frost-Plated people's ancestors built this undersea tunnel, even after the ocean congealed, it still brought hope to countless people. The subway line is a lifeline, you're digging your own graves, this is anti-human!"
Bang!
A female agent unceremoniously smashed Zhou Liefeng's spine with her gunstock, cursing:
"Shut up, you white-skinned pig, a mere man dares to criticize. The ones who start wars are you men."
"Stop, he's a neutral party." Yavanna frowned, immediately stopping her. "What you're doing violates the treaty."
"Treaty? The treaty protects people, the weak. What are men? It doesn't matter how many die."
The female agent sneered at Yavanna, coldly laughing:
"Hah—you, a woman, wearing an elite agent uniform, defending a male pig. Are you a man-pleaser?"
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