Chapter 282: Chapter 210: King Arthur’s Utter Sincerity (Part 2)
But at this rate, if I come to the Doomsday World tomorrow and meditate with the same intensity as today, I might be able to achieve my next breakthrough.
Time flew by as he meditated with his eyes closed.
It felt like no time at all before Lin Qi was back in the Cyber World.
March 20, 2089. 12:31 AM. Lin Qi opened his eyes in his room at the Alliance Mansion.
The moment he opened his eyes, Lin Qi sent an email to Guang Ling.
"I need the design schematics for a small spacecraft. It would be best if you could also provide a physical prototype or key components. What would something like that cost?"
When emailing Guang Ling, Lin Qi believed in getting straight to the point.
Lin Qi was all but certain that Guang Ling could spy on every single person in the Cyber World. In front of Guang Ling, there was no use in beating around the bush.
Guang Ling’s response was just as swift. The reply was almost instantaneous.
"I don’t know why you need a spacecraft, but regarding that sort of thing, you might want to ask King Arthur."
’Ask King Arthur?’
’King Arthur has that kind of background?’
After all, in the Cyber World, any company involved in aerospace was, at the very least, a top-tier corporation. Most were Intercontinental Giant Corporations.
The corporations capable of building Cyber Cities on the Moon and Mars, for instance, were all premier Intercontinental Giant Corporations.
But the Alliance Mansion was obviously not a good place to contact King Arthur.
Who knew if the rooms here were bugged with some kind of illicit surveillance equipment.
Lin Qi had no choice but to bite the bullet and ask Guang Ling for help. He sent another email.
"I need you to block the local network surveillance. I have to go out. I’ve got a lead on Director Aishwarya’s Extraordinary Profession, and I need to confirm it."
Instead of asking for help just to talk to King Arthur, Lin Qi used investigating Director Aishwarya as his excuse.
Guang Ling’s email arrived with the usual instantaneous speed.
"Fine. According to my intelligence, Aishwarya may be connected to the Mercenary Corps’ current mission. Therefore, this operation of yours can be considered within the scope of that mission. I will not charge you an additional fee. Of course, given your current financial situation, Wizard, you couldn’t afford it anyway."
Maybe it was because Lin Qi was so deep in debt to it, but Guang Ling couldn’t resist taking a jab at him while doing a good deed.
Lin Qi didn’t blush in the slightest.
’So what if I get insulted?’
’It doesn’t change the fact that Guang Ling is a great person!’
Guang Ling wasn’t wrong. Lin Qi’s Credit Point chip was about as clean as his face.
And Lin Qi was the type of person who liked to wash his face with clear water whenever he was deep in thought.
One could only imagine just how broke Lin Qi was right now!
There probably wasn’t a company director in the entire Cyber World poorer than Lin Qi.
"Shielding is complete. I am also sharing the personnel distribution within the Alliance Mansion. Move carefully. Don’t get spotted, or it’ll be a hassle for me to scrub the data."
Guang Ling’s email arrived, accompanied by an attachment.
It was a program with coordinates, marking the locations of most people in the Alliance Mansion, as well as their lines of sight and the coverage areas of their sensors.
These were things Guang Ling couldn’t block.
Guang Ling could block devices, but it couldn’t block human eyes.
Lin Qi’s Spiritual Vision could achieve a similar effect, but Guang Ling didn’t want any accidents. It specifically highlighted the effective ranges of various strange sensors equipped on certain Implanters in the Alliance Mansion.
Upon receiving the email, Lin Qi immediately got to work.
He quietly slipped out of his room, retrieving a wristband from the weapon compartment of his left-arm Exoskeleton.
While he was on the mission, he might as well "casually" contact King Arthur. That was perfectly reasonable, of course.
’And what if Guang Ling found out?’
’He had no intention of hiding it!’
First, Guang Ling had suggested he contact King Arthur. In response, Lin Qi had immediately said he was leaving to find clues about Director Aishwarya.
The whole point was to "save money."
Guang Ling doing this for free was a form of special treatment for him.
Lin Qi had plenty of time to communicate with King Arthur before leaving the Alliance Mansion.
It was nighttime, so there weren’t many "eyeball cameras" in the Alliance Mansion. Lin Qi could afford to move at a relatively leisurely pace.
He contacted King Arthur as he made his way downstairs.
"I need the design schematics for a small spacecraft. It would be best if you could also provide a physical prototype or key components. What would something like that cost?"
Lin Qi sent the exact same message to King Arthur.
Far away in the European Administrative Region, King Arthur had just finished an exhilarating battle, and their spiritual will was approaching its peak.
All that was left was to use an S-Class Potion to stimulate their advancement, and they would soon enter the ranks of Tier Four.
Advancing Extraordinary Levels in the Knight Profession wasn’t as complex as it was for Wizards, but it also wasn’t as simple. It couldn’t be achieved just by analyzing some Extraordinary Item.
King Arthur was a little puzzled upon receiving the message from Wizard.
’How does Wizard know I have connections for this sort of thing?’
’Did our previous transaction leak some information?’
But King Arthur didn’t dwell on it. Although she kept her identity a secret within the Highest-Level Mercenary Corps, she wasn’t overly concerned about it.
She had enough trouble in her real life as it was; a little more wouldn’t make a difference. It’s not like things could get any worse.
"What class of spacecraft do you need? Is a T2-class sufficient?"
Lin Qi fell silent for a moment after receiving the message.
’What’s a T2-class? The spacecraft industry has its own classification system?’
’This was a blind spot in my knowledge.’
Instead of answering King Arthur directly, Lin Qi stated his requirements.
Although he didn’t know the exact parameters of the ship or rocket that Ding Yang needed, Lin Qi had a rough idea.
The mutations came from the Blood Moon. A spacecraft would most likely be used to interact with it.
’So the spacecraft should at least be capable of a lunar landing, right?’
"The spacecraft needs to be capable of a lunar landing, at a minimum. It also needs to be highly automated and capable of stable operation in a network-jammed environment."
This last requirement was one Lin Qi added specifically because of the conditions in the Doomsday World.
One of the main reasons the Dragon Country Command Headquarters in the Doomsday World hadn’t launched a rocket themselves was the issue with signal transmission.
The technology in the Doomsday World wasn’t automated enough. After launch, rockets required a constant remote signal connection to adjust data and attitude.
Otherwise, long-distance travel would be nearly impossible.
The spacecraft Lin Qi needed would have to solve that problem.
King Arthur’s knowledge of spacecraft was clearly professional, seemingly on par with her expertise in Prosthetic Bodies.
"That would be a T2-class spacecraft. T2 isn’t a high class, and there are plenty of mature, miniaturized designs. I even have quite a few sample parts. However, complete spacecraft are strictly regulated in the European Administrative Region. I can’t get around the regulations for a trade unless we get Guang Ling’s help."
’King Arthur really has them!’
"I’d like to know the price for the design schematics of a T2-class spacecraft and some of its core components. I’m a bit short on Credit Points at the moment, but I urgently need a spacecraft. It’s related not only to the Mercenary Corps’ current mission but also to a Pharmacy experiment my organization is conducting."
Even while negotiating with King Arthur, Lin Qi was still trying to keep things under wraps.
He used the experiment as a cover.
King Arthur was stunned for a moment after reading Lin Qi’s message, then she chuckled.
"If you were asking about Prosthetic Bodies, I really couldn’t help without enough Credit Points. But when it comes to spacecraft, I have plenty in stock. You can owe me for now. We can settle the payment after this mission is over."
Compared to Lin Qi’s evasiveness, King Arthur’s reply was disarmingly sincere.
It was so sincere, in fact, that it revealed a great deal about her.
Lin Qi fell silent when he saw her reply.
’I feel so insidious and cunning, like a petty villain...’
But the guilt didn’t last long. In any case, he had no intention of prying into King Arthur’s identity.
Still, what King Arthur said did give Lin Qi a few ideas.
’She has plenty of spacecraft in stock...’
’With a background like that, the list of possibilities is limited. If I had a little more intel, I could probably put together a list of candidates, just like the Capitalist.’
