Chapter 263: Chapter 201: Capitalist: I Agree to Help
Capitalist’s very first words put Lin Qi on edge.
’As expected of Capitalist.’ He had guessed Lin Qi’s movements just from the act of being contacted.
Lin Qi didn’t deny Capitalist’s guess. "For certain reasons, I am in Alliance City, and I’ve run into some trouble."
Capitalist’s attitude was different from their usual meetings with the Highest-Level Mercenary Corps. He sounded more casual. "Let me guess. It’s about the Asia Political Zone Advanced Pharmaceutical Enterprise Summit, isn’t it?"
"Your organization is a pharmaceutical company in the Asian Administrative Region, and your position in it can’t be low. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have been able to obtain samples of the new Potion, let alone use them to trade with members of the Mercenary Corps. Are you an attendee?"
Capitalist speculated about Lin Qi’s identity without reservation, but overall, he didn’t seem malicious.
Lin Qi couldn’t elaborate. The more he said, the more he might reveal.
Many people were attending the Asia Political Zone Advanced Pharmaceutical Enterprise Summit, but there was still a definitive list.
And Capitalist also had the personnel list from the Red and Green. If he cross-referenced the two, the name "Lin Qi" would be impossible to hide.
Lin Qi continued, "My trip to Alliance City is partly because of the Asia Political Zone Advanced Pharmaceutical Enterprise Summit. But beyond that, I have a rather tricky problem."
This answer didn’t surprise Capitalist. ’If I were a Wizard,’ he thought, ’I’d also do everything I could to hide my identity.’
Out of Lin Qi’s sight, Capitalist had already started comparing the two lists, pinpointing three names: Si Ranran, Lin Qi, and Liu Xuan.
There were other, less important names as well, like Wu Gui (codename Green Hair), which also overlapped with the list from his time in Greenfield City, but the probability of any of them being the Wizard was extremely low.
’Liu Xuan?’
Compared to the other names, Capitalist thought Liu Xuan was a better match for the profile of a Wizard.
The name "Lin Qi" had originally been a strong match as well, but back in Greenfield City, Lin Qi had withstood a direct blast of Holy Light, which led Capitalist to rule him out.
Beneath his white suit, Capitalist was multitasking furiously, but in the pure-white conference room, he never paused his conversation with Lin Qi.
"A tricky problem? Is that the real reason you contacted me?"
"Tell me about it. If it’s not too big of a deal, I can take care of it for you. You’ll just owe me a favor."
"But I hope it’s not *too* small of a problem, either. The servers we’re using for this call are worth over ten million Credit Points. Consider it a friendly contribution on my part."
"Of course, if the problem is too big, then a simple favor won’t be enough to cover it."
Although Capitalist’s tone was more relaxed than during the Highest-Level Mercenary Corps meetings, his fundamental nature hadn’t changed.
Favors and interests—these were the principles Capitalist always abided by.
Providing help for free wasn’t beneficial for maintaining long-term relationships.
But an exchange of favors and interests was different. That was how you built a stable network of connections that could last for a decade.
Lin Qi had anticipated Capitalist’s attitude and launched into the speech he had prepared.
"The main problem originates from the European Administrative Region and their Witch Hunt. Their methods are growing more complex; they’re no longer limited to surgical strikes by mercenaries."
"They’ve extended their reach into the Permanent Council of the Asian Administrative Region’s Big Business Alliance. A Permanent Council member is working for the European Administrative Region. From what I understand, they’re acting as intermediaries through Si Pharmaceutical and Ninghang Technology."
"The Witch Hunt even has a hand in this Asia Political Zone Advanced Pharmaceutical Enterprise Summit. This is bad news for me and for my organization."
He ultimately steered the conversation toward the Asia Political Zone Advanced Pharmaceutical Enterprise Summit, while also pointing out that a member of the Permanent Council was colluding with the European Administrative Region.
This was Lin Qi’s opening gambit: using his perspective as a Wizard—an Extraordinary Profession—to lead directly to the Asia Political Zone Advanced Pharmaceutical Enterprise Summit.
This statement exceeded Capitalist’s expectations.
The issue wasn’t his angle of approach, but the information Lin Qi had revealed.
’A Permanent Council member of the Asian Political Zone’s Big Business Alliance is colluding with the European Administrative Region?’
This was a huge deal!
In the previous incident involving the Si Clan’s collusion with the European Administrative Region, the clan had paid a heavy price to make the problem go away.
And that was just a medium-sized corporation.
Now, the collusion not only involved Ninghang Technology—a company with the potential to become an Intercontinental Giant Corporation—but also a member of the Permanent Council.
Capitalist fell into deep thought. "I can’t confirm the accuracy of your intel. You claim this involves a member of the Permanent Council, but you haven’t even told me which one. That puts me in a difficult position."
Seeing Capitalist’s reaction, Lin Qi grew a little more confident.
’It seems the power behind Capitalist is likely a Neutral Director, or perhaps Capitalist himself comes from a neutral faction.’
’But the former is more likely,’ Lin Qi thought. ’After all, Capitalist often uses the Big Business Alliance’s channels to get things done. Whether it was for intelligence or for rescuing that new Mercenary Corps member, Jingang, he always went through the Alliance.’
Having said this much, it was time for Lin Qi to go a step further and drop an even bigger bombshell.
