Chapter 291: Chapter 214: Highest Level Provisional Meeting (2)
Aishwarya had taken the bait. She would play a considerable role in this matter.
Lin Qi didn’t reply to Aishwarya again. For one, it wasn’t necessary. For another, he had used up all his dialogue attempts. Guang Ling looked completely drained, which truly limited Lin Qi’s room to maneuver.
But it was fine. The process had been a bit condensed, but the result was good.
Just as Lin Qi was in Meditation and his thoughts drifted to Guang Ling.
A new email arrived.
The email was from Guang Ling.
[I wish to convene an emergency meeting and postpone the regular meeting, originally scheduled for March 23, 2089, by another seven days to March 30, 2089. If you can attend this emergency meeting, please reply to this email, and I will send the meeting invitation.]
Lin Qi glanced at the time. It was already past three in the morning. An emergency meeting at this hour was rare.
But this was a meeting of the Highest-Level Mercenary Corps, and Lin Qi would naturally attend.
Lin Qi was able to gain a great deal of intelligence from every meeting.
[I can attend.]
Lin Qi sent an email to the Highest-Level Mercenary Corps, agreeing to attend the meeting.
Not long after, only about five minutes later, the meeting invitation was sent to Lin Qi’s inbox.
Lin Qi immediately confirmed and joined the meeting room.
...
The familiar meeting room environment was steeped in dark tones, making the Roman numeral "V" on the placard before him appear particularly bright.
Besides Guang Ling, Lin Qi was the first to enter the meeting room. King Arthur, number four, followed close behind, then came Capitalist, number three, and Jingang, number six.
"One moment. Master Ma will be here shortly."
’Master Ma seems a little busy?’
’Working this late... it must be tough on him.’
Lin Qi didn’t know what Master Ma was busy with, but Capitalist, her face hidden in the shadows, seemed lost in thought.
’Calculating the time, Master Ma should have arrived at Alliance City after 9 p.m.’
’Based on what I know, Master Ma shouldn’t have anything to be busy with in Alliance City.’
’The only thing that could keep Master Ma busy is, perhaps...’
Capitalist glanced at the person behind the "V" placard.
’If Wizard’s intelligence is accurate enough, then that person from the Assassin Alliance should have also reached Alliance City.’
’Master Ma hasn’t seen this person in a long time. Maybe...’
She glanced around. Unfortunately, she was the only one who knew Master Ma’s identity and his little quirks, and it wasn’t appropriate to share them in an internal meeting of the Highest-Level Mercenary Corps.
As a top figure in the Asian Political Zone Big Business Alliance, Capitalist was very tight-lipped.
She would never idly gossip about her colleagues in the Mercenary Corps.
’Master Ma definitely has legitimate business to attend to. He is absolutely not trapped in some themed business suite with stimulating... activities. Absolutely not!’
After waiting for about three minutes, Master Ma finally entered the meeting room.
"Apologies, I was held up by a small matter. I just arrived in Alliance City and ran into some trouble."
Master Ma’s voice sounded a bit strange, lacking its usual steady quality.
Although everyone in the meeting room—no, everyone except Jingang—used a voice modulator when speaking.
But based on his tone and rhythm, Lin Qi could tell that Master Ma seemed a little fatigued.
’Ran into trouble?’
Hearing that word, Lin Qi was instantly reminded of the time in Greenfield City. He and King Arthur had been on a joint operation, but Master Ma, who was holding down the fort, had also run into some trouble.
"Tier Four Extraordinary Professionals are indeed easy targets, not to mention the Tier Four Blood Robe who just arrived in Alliance City is an old acquaintance of Master Ma’s. Master Ma must have gotten tangled up with her again."
Lin Qi was making a reasonable guess, but he was also using this method to pass information about Baili Xueyuan to King Arthur.
King Arthur was not in Alliance City, so there was a lot of intelligence he wasn’t clear on.
Lin Qi felt a little guilty toward King Arthur and could only make it up to him in this small way.
Hearing Lin Qi’s words, King Arthur immediately spoke up. "Master Ma, you truly live up to your reputation as a veteran Tier Four Martial Artist. I’m about a day away from advancing to Tier Four Knight myself. When we get the chance, let’s exchange some pointers! To be able to tangle with a Tier Four Blood Robe using a Martial Artist’s strength and even escape—I really should learn a thing or two from you, Master Ma."
King Arthur genuinely admired Master Ma.
The Knight Profession and the Martial Artist profession were very similar in terms of their Ability leanings.
If he were being honest with himself, King Arthur felt that even after he advanced to Tier Four, he wouldn’t be able to easily escape the entanglement of a Tier Four Blood Robe.
In King Arthur’s mind, the difficulty of dealing with a Blood Robe Professional was second only to those of the Wizard Profession.
There weren’t many Extraordinary Professions in that category—three at most.
Before Master Ma had a chance to react to Wizard’s and King Arthur’s words, the expression on Capitalist’s face, hidden beneath the shadows, became exceedingly strange.
If she didn’t know the inside story, Capitalist would also have thought Master Ma was a real man, the kind with off-the-charts combat power.
But alas, Capitalist knew Master Ma’s true identity, she knew about the relationship between Master Ma and that Tier Four Blood Robe, and she even knew about certain little quirks of Master Ma’s that were practically an open secret in the circle of the Eastern Alliance’s High Tier Professionals.
Under these circumstances, the fact that she didn’t burst out laughing upon hearing Wizard and King Arthur’s words was a testament to Capitalist’s extraordinary self-control.
Capitalist couldn’t help but gaze at Lin Qi, the man behind the "V" placard.
She made a judgment in her heart: ’Wizard has ties to the Eastern Alliance, but he’s most likely not a true core member. Otherwise, after knowing Baili Xueyuan’s identity, then learning that Master Ma is a Tier Four Martial Artist, and then connecting that to the "entanglement" between Master Ma and Baili Xueyuan, he should theoretically be able to guess Master Ma’s identity.’
’Of course, I can’t rule out the possibility that this is a smokescreen Wizard has put up specifically for me.’
Capitalist’s urge to laugh was suppressed entirely by her curiosity about Lin Qi’s identity.
In the entire Highest-Level Mercenary Corps, besides Guang Ling, only Lin Qi’s mask was still welded firmly to his face, which made Capitalist feel somewhat "unable to eat or sleep in peace."
There was no malice in it; she was just purely curious.
Capitalist’s face was shrouded in shadow, so Lin Qi didn’t notice her subtle movements.
But Lin Qi did see Master Ma reach up and rub his chin.
This instantly caught Lin Qi’s attention.
’That reaction is not right!’
’It’s not the normal reaction to being praised. Instead, it seems... somewhat awkward?’
’Could it be that Master Ma’s so-called "trouble" is different from what I imagined?’
’Perhaps there’s some kind of relationship between Master Ma and Baili Xueyuan that I don’t know about.’
’Based on his past actions and choice of words, Master Ma resides long-term in the eastern part of the Asian Administrative Region.’
’In that case, could it be that Master Ma knows Baili Xueyuan? The circle of Tier Four Extraordinary Professionals must not be as large as I expected.’
The number of Tier Four Professionals in the Cyber World was likely not as high as he had imagined.
After making this connection, Lin Qi instantly became more vigilant and glanced at Capitalist’s position from his peripheral vision.
’With Capitalist’s intelligence network, she should know much more.’
’My words might have leaked some information about myself to Capitalist.’
’I have to be more careful about what I say in front of Capitalist from now on. She has too much intelligence. It’s very possible that a single casual remark from me could allow her to analyze a huge amount of information.’
While he was self-reflecting, Lin Qi made no movements, avoiding giving Capitalist any more information to capture.
Aside from Capitalist and Lin Qi, no one else in the meeting room had any idea that in that subtle moment, a brainstorm had just swept through the room.
The aftershocks of the storm did not affect the others.
After rubbing his chin, Master Ma said, "It’s easy to handle once you have enough experience. As for learning from me... that’s not necessary. These are some special techniques unique to the Martial Artist profession."
Master Ma’s voice seemed to have regained its composure, but Capitalist knew he was just putting it on.
’Inside, this seemingly composed Master Ma is most likely cursing up a storm.’
"Is that so?" King Arthur said. "No matter, just absorbing some of your experience would be great! After I break through to Tier Four tomorrow, I’ll head to the Asian Political Union City immediately. How could I miss out on a Mercenary Corps mission!"
