"Luo Xia, this was a mistake on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s part. But for the sake of all humanity on Earth, I hope you'll help us one more time. If there's anything you need, just say the word." Coulson spoke sincerely.
Luo Xia smiled. There was no need to keep playing at being the Godfather, so he got straight to the point. "First, I want S.H.I.E.L.D. to stop playing those games and reopen the deal to sell me nuclear waste."
Coulson nodded. He could agree to that on Nick Fury's behalf.
"Second, I want Adamantium and a large quantity of rare metals," Luo Xia continued, laying out his terms.
"How large a quantity?" Coulson knew Luo Xia would ask for a lot, so he was being cautious.
"Not a huge quantity. What I need is a wide variety. Give me samples of every special alloy S.H.I.E.L.D. has." Luo Xia said.
"This... shouldn't be a problem either."
If Luo Xia had wanted S.H.I.E.L.D.'s smelting formulas, Coulson might have needed to consult Nick Fury. But if all he wanted were finished products, Coulson didn't hesitate.
Reverse-engineering a formula from a finished product wasn't simple. Back when China was rebuilding from the ground up, it had taken countless years of effort just to develop high-quality steelmaking techniques on its own. At the time, even if China had been given a slab of aircraft-carrier-grade steel, it wouldn't have been able to make it.
Though Coulson knew Luo Xia must have some use for the metals, he didn't intend to dwell on the matter.
Of course, that was only because Coulson didn't know about the liquid-metal cell-cultivation process. If he knew Luo Xia had a technique that could absorb special alloys and merge their properties into metal, he would never hand over S.H.I.E.L.D.'s special alloys so easily.
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