Gao Yi was already waiting in the reception room of the mansion.
Under Veil's arrangement, various factions had inspected the combat suits up close and observed their performance. Within two days, Gao Yi met with a large number of factions.
Almost all the factions had developed an interest in the CMC series combat suits.
Among them, the two trading targets Gao Yi was most interested in were the Imperial Navy and the Adeptus Mechanicus.
Criminal syndicates from the landing port also sent representatives, but Gao Yi temporarily turned them all down.
He actually wanted to sell to these fellows, but first, his current production capacity was limited, and his own troops also needed arming. The production workshops could house a maximum of four barracks; if he wanted to expand output further, he would have to dismantle some of the original structures inside the warship and build them elsewhere.
However, considering that Inquisition personnel would still be boarding the ship later, Gao Yi thought it best not to be too high-profile.
He would wait until returning to the capital world to carry out mass production on a large scale.
Second, if even the official imperial organizations did not possess this equipment yet criminals got their hands on it first, Gao Yi had no doubt they would come looking for trouble with him.
The navy proposed using throne cents for the transaction, but Gao Yi rejected it.
Currency was fine for ordinary trade, but at times like this, it was the most useless thing.
And what was the most valuable thing in the navy's possession?
In the expansion zone warships were not even enough for themselves, and trying to purchase them was difficult.
Aside from warships, the navy's greatest value lay in those skilled crewmen and naval soldiers.
Thanks to the dangers of the expansion zone, the threat of xenos, and the massive influx of explorers into the expansion zone seeking wealth, the number of naval soldiers far exceeded the number of warships.
A multitude of crewmen without ships gathered in the landing port and other worlds.
Some of them joined rogue traders, some joined expedition teams or the Adeptus Mechanicus's explorer fleet, and some even joined criminal organizations.
When Gao Yi proposed exchanging equipment for employment contracts of skilled soldiers within the Imperial Navy's roster, the navy's person in charge agreed without hesitation. Rather than letting these sailors sit idle or join criminal syndicates to work, it was better to have them join Gao Yi's ranks, which would also bring benefits to the navy.
Amidst intense debate and negotiation, the final agreement settled on employment contracts for 300 professionally trained soldiers in exchange for one set of CMC-400 Combat Suit.
Both sides felt they had profited; Gao Yi produced combat suits at an extremely low cost and conveniently gained ready-made combat power, while the navy traded 300 ordinary soldiers for a precious set of power armor.
The two sides preliminarily reached a transaction contract for 300 sets and established a subsequent long-term supply agreement.
The agreement even included a clause stating that if Gao Yi could continue to deliver with guaranteed quality and quantity, provided it did not violate imperial law, he could receive support from nearby Imperial Navy forces.
With the production capacity of four barracks, it wouldn't take long to gather the quantity required for the transaction.
However, when the navy wanted to purchase the Marauder Firebat, Gao Yi directly refused under the pretext that he didn't even have enough for himself.
Gao Yi had to reserve enough chips for possible subsequent transactions; he couldn't possibly hand over all the good things at once.
Meanwhile, the Adeptus Mechanicus directly dispatched a magos to handle the contact.
"Rogue Trader, I am Otis, Dominus Magos of the Explorer Fleet. Per the agreement—the supreme clause of knowledge is truth—I have been sent to complete the knowledge trade with you."
Gao Yi looked at the four mechanical legs in front of him and listened to the voice emitted through the other's processor, genuinely wondering how much flesh and blood the fellow actually had left.
Every interaction with these seemingly emotionless creatures made Gao Yi very uneasy. He was extremely glad that Pavian on the ship had not had his mind completely replaced by machinery.
His speech wasn't that cold and ruthless either; generally, the higher-ranking a member of the Mechanicus, the greater the degree of cybernetic augmentation.
"Magos Otis, I am very happy to trade with you, but trade is reciprocal. I need some other material things."
"Praise the Omnissiah, I am very glad that you are willing to share precious knowledge. This sentiment is extremely rare before one has embraced the sacred machine. Most people often do not know the importance of knowledge, and the explorer fleet is willing to pay a sufficient price for this knowledge."
"Magos Otis, I must explain something to you: what I am providing is not manufacturing technology, but a sample!"
"Rogue Trader, may I interpret this as you deceiving me? My information-receiving components have already received news that you have sold a lot of equipment to the navy. I can request it directly from the navy; why bother paying a price?"
"The only thing I sold to the navy was the most basic CMC Combat Suit, and I didn't even sell them the weapons. Moreover, the 400 model is merely the foundational one; the navy certainly does not have the 660 model and the other variants of combat suits."
"This is not enough to convince me. I believe the explorer fleet has the ability to reverse-engineer some technology from that basic model. We do not need to make it identical; as long as we can research the technology within it, isn't that enough?"
The Adeptus Mechanicus was not the navy. The navy lacked research capabilities, and after witnessing the combat suits' effectiveness, Gao Yi believed they would definitely come to make purchases later. Doing business with the navy was a long-term venture, and he didn't need to fleece them too harshly, whereas the Adeptus Mechanicus was different.
Gao Yi couldn't quite gauge these fellows' research capabilities either, but they shouldn't turn out too poorly.
When it all came down to it, it was the internal infighting within the Mechanicus and its forest of academic factions—their unwillingness to share their own research results and knowledge—that caused technological development to be so slow.
What the Adeptus Mechanicus needed was not the combat suit itself; what they required was the technology inside it.
Compared to mortal armies, the immediate combat power boost the combat suit provided to the Adeptus Mechanicus was much smaller.
Their protectorate army also possessed more compatible equipment, so selling finished products held little attraction for them.
Seeing that he couldn't persuade the magos before him...
Gao Yi intended to pull out something heavy-hitting.
"Since Magos Osti is not interested in the combat suit, I wonder if you might be interested in this item?"
With that, he summoned Veil to bring in a sealed, luxurious box, Gao Yi even intentionally embedding quite a bit of gold and gems on it to make it appear even more precious.
Seeing this scene, Osti felt a trace of disdain. Flesh and blood could ultimately never escape such superficial things and vanity; what good thing could possibly be packed inside?
Gao Yi opened the box, and what was packed inside turned out to be the medic's ray gun.
"A weapon?"
"This is not a weapon!"
Saying this, Gao Yi aimed it directly at Osti and pulled the trigger.
As the green ray shot toward Osti, Osti instantly erupted into action.
This directly dumbfounded Gao Yi. Just how many weapons did this fellow hide under his robes?
Melta, plasma, chainaxe, autocannon, flamer, power sword.
Good grief, no wonder they said a magos of the Adeptus Mechanicus wasn't an infantry unit, but a behemoth unit. This was a humanoid battery!
"Osti! Calm down! This is not a weapon!"
Gao Yi's loud shout, coupled with the fact that the ray truly caused no damage, caused Osti to calm down as well.
"No abnormal programs detected. No energy reaction detected... The Sacred Protocol detects no intrusion whatsoever. The Omnissiah be praised, what is happening to my body?"
Osti discovered that as this green ray continued to irradiate him...
Every single metal artifact on his body was actually slowly repairing itself?
Even though he was a magos-tier member of the Mechanicus, all the implants and modifications on his body were of the highest specifications and were high-intensity rare goods, any metal suffered from metal fatigue—it was merely a matter of time. Even with meticulous maintenance, there came a time of wear and tear.
Yet under the influence of this ray, his scarce flesh and all his metallic forms were actually slowly recovering.
Even the deepest cracks and damage within the metal began to repair themselves as good as new.
At this moment, Osti felt as though he had more vitality than at the exact moment he finished his complete augmentation.
Osti seemed to feel many nanites moving about inside his body, but after these nanites finished repairing his body, they completely vanished.
"What on earth is this, Rogue Trader!"
Osti felt a long-absent excitement!
"Its name is very simple: Nanite Healing Gun. It can repair metal and it can repair flesh, except that it has certain limitations—the individual cannot be too large. Magos Osti, how much do you think this thing is worth?"
"Rogue Trader, please forgive my previous offense. The explorer fleet desperately needs this item!"
"Then it depends on your sincerity. If it is too cheap, I suppose that would also be an offense to precious knowledge, wouldn't it?"
Before you continue