Chapter 264: Chapter 201: Capitalist: I Agree to Help
"A Tier Four Blood Robe from the Assassin Alliance is already on his way to Alliance City."
Lin Qi didn’t mention the Eastern Alliance, nor did he bring up the relationship between the Blood Robe and the Eastern Alliance.
The Capitalist was surely aware of this, so there was no need for Lin Qi to state the obvious. Doing so would only make the Capitalist suspicious.
But the weight of this sentence was more than enough.
A Tier Four Blood Robe!
This represented the will of the Eastern Alliance.
The Eastern Alliance was extremely averse to Intercontinental Influences extending their reach into the Asian Administrative Region.
Before the last two corporate wars, the Eastern Alliance wasn’t this exclusionary toward Intercontinental Influences; they merely resented their internal corruption.
But since decentralization, a series of corporate wars had erupted, and the Eastern Alliance’s attitude had changed dramatically.
Although it hadn’t expanded itself, the Eastern Alliance essentially treated all the Cyber Cities and big businesses in the Asian Administrative Region as a buffer zone.
The Eastern Alliance had reached an agreement with the Big Business Alliance: the Asian Political Zone Big Business Alliance must guarantee its absolute independence and not participate in the struggles of Intercontinental Influences.
This was why the Eastern Alliance was willing to help the Big Business Alliance on certain levels.
It could be said that without the Eastern Alliance’s support, the Asian Political Zone Big Business Alliance would never have achieved its current level of influence.
A Tier Four Blood Robe heading to Alliance City meant that something the Eastern Alliance disliked had, in all likelihood, occurred there.
This corroborated the intelligence the Wizard had provided.
A permanent council member of the Asian Political Zone Big Business Alliance had colluded with the European Big Business Alliance.
The Capitalist fell silent for a few seconds, clearly processing the information Lin Qi had revealed.
In that instant, all the lists were overthrown in the Capitalist’s mind.
’To hell with the Red and Green!’
’To hell with the summit list!’
For the Wizard to obtain such highly classified intelligence from the Eastern Alliance, he must have a background connected to them.
Even if his public identity wasn’t registered in one of the Eastern Alliance’s Cyber Cities, that didn’t change his fundamental nature.
’The Wizard is one of the Eastern Alliance’s people!’
A sense of caution immediately rose in the Capitalist’s mind.
Regardless of whether the Wizard himself was on that list, he shouldn’t probe any further.
Otherwise, if he violated the Eastern Alliance’s rules, he would only bring unnecessary trouble upon himself.
"This intelligence is very valuable."
After a long moment, the Capitalist spoke.
He then looked up again, facing Lin Qi directly with his featureless face.
"What do you want me to do? You didn’t seek me out just to tell me this, did you?"
"Even if the European Political Zone Big Business Alliance is interfering behind the scenes, it won’t actually affect you in the short term."
"Your identity is hidden mysteriously enough. I have checked the lists of Wizard Professionals in all of the Asian Administrative Region’s intelligence systems and found no name that matches your profile."
"In other words, your identity is very well hidden by the Eastern Alliance."
This was both a question and a painless probe.
The Capitalist had uttered the two words "Eastern Alliance."
Seeing the Capitalist adopt such an attitude, Lin Qi thought to himself, ’It worked!’
Yes, it worked!
First, he had used the "Asia Political Zone Advanced Pharmaceutical Enterprise Summit" and his identity as a Wizard to get his foot in the door, leading the Capitalist to lock onto a general list of suspects.
Then, he played his trump card—the intelligence about the Eastern Alliance—to make the Capitalist tear up that list himself. This would hide the name "Lin Qi" even deeper and shroud it in more mysterious colors.
People tend to believe what they deduce themselves over what others tell them directly.
Lin Qi exploited this exact psychology to make the Capitalist preemptively remove the name "Lin Qi" from consideration.
Only then would Lin Qi "reveal" his true purpose.
"The European Administrative Region’s actions are a huge problem for me. They have affected many of my plans, and more importantly, the stable operation of my public identity and organization."
"I don’t want the Asia Political Zone Advanced Pharmaceutical Enterprise Summit to proceed according to the wishes of the Si Clan and a certain traitor. The pharmaceutical companies of the Asian Administrative Region should not be rapidly reshuffled before the new Potion is fully released."
Lin Qi made his first request: he hoped the Capitalist could exert his influence in the upper echelons of the Big Business Alliance to affect the proceedings of the Asia Political Zone Advanced Pharmaceutical Enterprise Summit.
The proceedings had not yet been finalized because the higher-ups were still maneuvering against each other.
But these "higher-ups" were definitely not the top figures of the Asian Political Zone Big Business Alliance; they were likely just the top figures of the major pharmaceutical companies in the Asian Administrative Region.
Judging by the Capitalist’s background and the power he had previously displayed, he was more than capable of influencing the summit’s proceedings.
The Capitalist didn’t speak immediately. He could tell that Lin Qi wasn’t finished yet; stopping the reshuffling of the Asian Administrative Region’s pharmaceutical companies was only one of his objectives.
While waiting for Lin Qi to continue, the Capitalist carefully analyzed the subtext revealed in his words.
’ "My public identity and organization"... Lin Qi’s words seemed to suggest that his public identity was hidden among the summit’s list of attendees.’
’But...’
’Heh! How is that possible?’
’With the methods of Eastern Alliance personnel, how could he leak his own identity so easily?’
’This might be misdirection.’
’Next, "stable operation." The Capitalist detected the strong flavor of the Eastern Alliance in this choice of words.’
The Eastern Alliance had mentioned in public on more than one occasion that it did not want the big corporations of the Asian Administrative Region to enter into endless reshuffling and wars, unlike other political zones.
The Eastern Alliance encouraged normal methods of competition and opposed ruthless suppression.
The Big Business Alliance Successor Bill was a deformed product born of such a background, essentially created to reduce the scale of corporate wars.
As for the new Potion Lin Qi mentioned, it seemed like irrelevant information, but the Capitalist had obtained a sample of it and knew exactly what terrifying value and profit this so-called new Potion represented.
The M-Class and L-Class versions weren’t that valuable.
But if an A-Class or even an S-Class version of this Potion appeared, it would be a completely different story. It would inevitably become a strategic-level asset.
It might even be tied to some extremely high-level scheme within the Eastern Alliance.
As a "Capitalist," the Capitalist was quite accustomed to extracting intelligence from every single word, and every piece of intelligence represented potential profit.
The Capitalist only pondered for a few seconds before Lin Qi continued to state his true purpose.
"Besides the Asia Political Zone Advanced Pharmaceutical Enterprise Summit, I hope Liu’s Heavy Industries can escape its doomed situation."
"It is a major corporation controlled by a family of the Wizard Profession, and it serves a symbolic role in the Asian Administrative Region."
"Once Liu’s Heavy Industries falls, it will mean that the European Administrative Region’s Witch Hunt has officially extended its hand into the Asian Administrative Region. This will greatly affect the survival environment for Wizard Professionals in the Asian Administrative Region."
"I’m just a minor figure. I’d rather not be in the middle of Meditation one day, only to have mercenaries from the Witch Hunt break down my door the next second."
Just as Lin Qi had thought, asking for the Capitalist’s help would, no matter what, eventually lead back to the Liu Clan.
Lin Qi needed Liu Xuan to get an opportunity to meet with a neutral permanent council member.
This was also Lin Qi’s previous concern: once he brought up helping the Liu Clan openly, how could he hide his own identity?
It was tantamount to pasting the words "I’m with the Liu Clan" onto his featureless face.
But thankfully, the preceding conversation had led the Capitalist to personally shatter the previous list, while also planting a seed in his mind—the seed that Lin Qi’s identity was connected to the Eastern Alliance.
But even so, when Lin Qi’s request for help precisely involved the Liu Clan, it would inevitably make the Capitalist recall that list.
The names Lin Qi, Liu Xuan, and Wu Gui (Brother Green Hair) would still surface in the Capitalist’s mind.
The Capitalist felt a headache coming on.
’This Wizard is cunning, after all!’
’He’s said so much, yet I still can’t pin down his true identity no matter what.’
’But fine. We’re both colleagues from a Highest-Level Mercenary Corps. There’s no need to drag the other’s true identity out into the open.’
The Capitalist gave his reply, "Alright. This is equal to the value of the intelligence you’ve given me. I can help."
