The War Can Wait, but the Scale Balls Can't

Within the power network that Kal'tsit had specially prepared for him, Oute could, for a short time, essentially serve as a human stamp... I mean, a human emblem and tactical commander.

Oute's other functions lack irreplaceability.

However, those who frequently conquer the world know this.

Power may be granted from top to bottom in form, but in essence, it is formed from bottom to top.

There is no longer any real conflict between Oute and Kal'tsit. And this bizarre struggle, somewhere between political infighting and family feuding, has no chance of degenerating into an armed conflict where Elite Operator support different sides.

Kal'tsit may have set up layers of obstacles for Oute in terms of procedures and the superstructure. But having intercepted a portion of the compensation through illegal operations, Oute could now begin to "eat Doc Otter's food and wear Doc Otter's clothes," usurping power from the bottom up.

Furthermore, as a medical institution that seems to be overly militarized, the continuous victories in themselves are enough to garner divinity for Oute.

With Oute's endless stream of orders, and the hefty material and spiritual rewards for completing them, the other operators would be happy to obey.

It can only be said that Oute's wooden-like honesty when facing girls and his cunning when swimming in the cesspool of power and influence go hand in hand.

You act so wooden when you communicate with them, it's actually to build a harem, right?

This scoundrel's almost ingrained desire for control was so inflated that, regardless of whether Kal'tsit subjectively wanted to or would, he did not want Kal'tsit to actually have the ability to restrain him.

Are you some emperor from who-knows-where? When did your paranoia develop to this stage?

However, considering Kal'tsit's reason for controlling him—"What if he goes crazy again?"... So, she's using Rhodes Island as a sex toy, huh?

You two in-laws are really something else!

Knock knock.

"Please come in."

Specter is not with Oute at the moment; she is positioned next to Swire as Oute's "eye."

But Miss Swire was a bit stubborn and kept asking about Oute's private affairs... In a strange way, Swire basically didn't reveal any information to Oute.

The door was opened by the newcomer, and what first caught Oute's eye was a pair of Sarkaz horns...

Oute shifted his gaze upwards.

The visitor was none other than Meteorite.

"Doctor... you wanted to see me?"

Despite having seen it several times before, Meteorite hesitated for a moment before seeing Oute's true form.

Oute carefully pushed a stack of trembling documents and a sum of cash towards her, pointing to the cash and saying, "This is overtime pay and subsidies. Also, the ship will be docking in about twenty minutes; there's a shipment of goods that's been waiting at the port for half a day, and I need you to inspect it."

In principle, this kind of thing should be communicated in advance.

But that would mean we couldn't maximize... no, we couldn't fully develop Meteorite's ability to stand on its own.

"I've already taken care of things at the port," Oute said casually. "By the way, Rhodes Island has a batch of pipes that need replacing."

He pointed to the top of the pile of documents and said, slowly and deliberately, "Make sure this batch of pipe materials is delivered to the Engineering Department as soon as possible, no matter what."

Although it was inexplicable, the Meteorite nodded emphatically.

"Clear."

"No matter how profit-driven the Lungmen Commercial Union is, there are still some companies willing to deliver large quantities of goods." Oute sat back down and said casually, "The original written materials are all here. We'll hand them over to Kal'tsit once we arrive."

"... clear."

Oute's two emphasis on this made the Meteorite seem serious.

Seamless steel pipes, unlike Arts Unit, aren't exactly regulated items in Terra. But it's best not to shout through a megaphone, "I bought them to make gun barrels!"

"There's one more thing!"

Just as Meteorite was about to leave, Oute added, "On your way back, stop by and talk to the real estate company across from the office. Rent that plot of land too; we won't have enough space now in the future."

"But they didn't rent it before, so if we talk about it now..."

Although the current address of the office is the optimal solution in terms of location, we still negotiated with other landowners as a precaution.

The piece of land that Oute was talking about wasn't the best location, but if it wasn't captured now, it could certainly serve as a tactical foothold.

Conversely, now that this piece of land has been acquired, if that piece of land cannot be acquired in time during wartime, the office will be under certain threat.

The best way to secure a piece of land during wartime is to garrison it before the battle.

"The past is the past, and the present is the present. They should agree, probably." Oute wasn't so sure either.

After all, there are plenty of hotheads in the slums who dare to disrespect the Rat King...

The Meteorite waited for a while, making sure it wouldn't hear "there's one more thing" again, before slowly leaving.

After the Meteorite left, Oute switched the terminal screen back to the drone camera, just as Waai Fu and Jie finished their conversation.

This drone was originally intended to be a risky move, even if it seemed like a sure thing.

Chapter 100: The flames of war can wait, but the Scale Balls cannot.

Ott had originally hoped to subtly "glance" at Rat King Linge Rui through Jeh and gain some potential intelligence advantage. Admittedly, sending operators on such missions would indeed make Rat King Linge Rui realize that Rhodes Island was investigating them.

But in reality, the arrival of Jie already meant that Rat King, this "local tyrant," had tacitly approved Rhodes Island's armed defense of the slums.

Now that they have already made their statements, the probability that Oute can obtain any useful information through such spying is not very high. Furthermore, even if he continues to dig into Swire and Ziya and obtains some favorable information, it is unlikely that it will be able to be converted into profit in the long run.

Oute was determined to find something from the line "Jie → Uncle Dong → Rat King," but it was just the restless energy of this scoundrel who didn't even trust his own wife.

In reality, the arrival of Swire and Zi means that both the legitimate and criminal worlds have opened their arms to Rhodes Island. Under Wei Yenwu's conviction about the war, the Rhodes Island Lungmen Office will become a "private organization" that effectively manages the entire slum.

Oute even considered quickly seizing similar powers from any random country before becoming too tainted by Lungmen or Yan... He meant, contracting out the affairs of infected people in a particular region.

Good allies like Black Snake are hard to find, and Oute doesn't expect to gain the opportunity to project power onto ordinary people elsewhere.

Terra practices a literal form of superhuman politics, where personal military strength alone is enough to stir up trouble. Even in the relatively peaceful and somewhat wondrous Yan, a politician's military prowess is a top-tier bargaining chip to attract others to place their bets.

Whether Lee is willing or not, he is an extremely important link between the righteous and the wicked in the Lungmen. Now, both sides have placed their bets, while Lee, representing the gray side, has remained silent...

The saying goes, "If you have enough plans, changes will never keep up with them."

When Waai Fu and Jie parted ways, after a moment's hesitation, he immediately chose to spy on Lee — Oute chose Plan B.

After his chivalrous act, Waai Fu made some purchases before returning to the agency, and the layout of the Lee's Detective Agency gave Oute an opportunity: its windows were made of glass.

There's nothing strange about this in itself. These days, people who use paper windows are either extremely poor or extremely rich. Who doesn't use glass windows?

And this means...

As Waai Fu opened the door, the drone slowly landed on a building near the firm, while an invisible infrared laser beam shot from the drone toward the firm's glass window.

As it has done for years and decades since it was installed in this building, the glass windows continue to vibrate under the impact of indoor and outdoor sound sources.

But this time, the drone faithfully recorded the vibration of the glass window through laser reflection.

Although this drone is not a professional laser eavesdropping device and has some shortcomings in obtaining laser reflections, it is... barely sufficient for the task.

"Noise reduction in progress, please wait a moment, Doc Otter."

After a brief delay, Ms. PRTS, the helpful wife, reprocessed the laser feedback into sound.

"... Oh dear, how can this be the same as other people's intelligence..." The other end of the communication with Lee was clearly Wei Yenwu. "Isn't my level much higher than theirs?"

The sound of a door opening.

"Let's put the scales aside for now; we're discussing business," Lee said casually.

"No Scale Pills today, so Brother Jie's stall is closed. He's gone to Rhodes Island to take over cooking." Waai Fu's voice was muffled, probably because he was some distance away from that window.

To be precise, Jie was in charge of cooking at the Rhodes Island Lungmen Office.

"... You bastard, Wei Yenwu!"

Lee's voice suddenly became clearer, obviously because as the volume increased, the "vibration" of the glass window became much greater.

He argued back, "Still playing dumb, huh? You've ruined my beloved Rinmaru! And you're still pretending?"

If we really have to say who ruined Zizhi's scabbard stall... it must have been Uncle Dong.

The Rat King could have easily dispatched other personnel, and Lin Yuxia could have easily recommended others. But now, it's Jie who's setting an example, which is mostly because Uncle Dong is thinking about Jie's future and volunteered on his own initiative.

As an elder, Uncle Dong's thoughts were not hard to guess: since Rhodes Island was destined to dominate the slums in the future, the position in this company, although not a public office, was not much different in this small area of the slums.

In that case, this is a "public sector job"!

The difference is actually quite large, but for impoverished areas... the differences are generally irrelevant.

On the other end of the communication, Wei Yenwu must have agreed to something.

Lee's voice lowered again. He said, "You won't lose out, you won't be cheated! You definitely haven't seen a lot of the footage!"

It seems he intends to sell the Rhodes Island intelligence he just gathered to Wei Yenwu.

"How can you say that? The decision has already been made, but if we take a closer look, maybe..." Lee deliberately dragged out his words, feigning mystery, "You might be able to discover it sooner..."

"Uh... have we found some talent?"

After another round of back and forth, Lee ended the communication.

Judging from his words, Wei Yenwu seems to have bought the intelligence summarized by Lee.

A faint rustling sound.

"Tsk," Lee said, "I'm used to their cooking, this is totally not good enough."

"It has to work out, even if it's not feasible. Jie has already quit, do you really expect Uncle Dong to come back?"

"What do you think about me sending you guys to Rhodes Island? Isn't that kid in charge of cooking? You can bring me some Scale Balls when you eat there!"

"Just for Rinmaru?"

Lee evaded the question, saying, "Otherwise what?"

The governance structure has changed, with the dragon and rat each controlling the righteous and the wicked, the sick tiger remotely managing Commercial Union, and the Lee acting as a go-between.

Is this a power play?