"That's outrageous!"
Li Yalin looked furious. If Han Xiao's business fell through, she would lose her twenty percent discount.
Lin Yao said helplessly, "This was decided by the higher-ups. We're in no position to interfere."
Lambert wiped his throwing knives and said flatly, "Why don't we just take out the head of the Research and Development Department?"
Lin Yao was terrified. "Uncle, you can't just say things like that."
Li Yalin looked thoughtful. "It's not a bad idea..."
Lin Yao was nearly in tears. Sis, you two might not want to live, but I do!
Although Han Xiao had only joined a few days ago, after the operation against Black Spider, all three of them accepted him as their teammate and felt they needed to do something.
"Why don't we ask Han Xiao what he wants to do?" Lin Yao suggested.
"His address is classified, so I don't know where he lives. His phone's been off lately, too." Li Yalin was beside herself with frustration.
"Then what do we do? Just stand by and watch the Research and Development Department make things difficult for Han Xiao?"
Lambert was succinct. "Wait."
Just as they were at a loss, a discordant voice rang out.
"Well, well, Little Linlin, I hear your new teammate seems to be in trouble~"
A beautiful woman with short hair leaned against the conference room doorway with her arms folded, looking at the three of them with glee. Her skin was exceptionally fair, and her lips were painted a deep, rich crimson, like a rose on the verge of wilting. She wore a black studded choker and a purple, skintight one-piece uniform. Her ear-length hair should have looked sweet and cute, but on her it gave her a seductive air. Though she wasn't tall, her presence was far more commanding than Li Yalin's, and she would definitely turn more heads on the street, even though Li Yalin was prettier.
Li Yalin's face immediately darkened. "Scheming Susu, are you here to pick a fight?" she said through gritted teeth.
The short-haired beauty, Di Susu, took no offense. She grinned and said, "This is headquarters. Would you dare lay a hand on me?"
Di Susu and Li Yalin were famously at odds. They had known each other for over a decade, and their grievances went all the way back to childhood, when they had been apprentices at the same martial arts dojo. Di Susu had always taken first place in every assessment and sparring match, while Li Yalin's performance had been ordinary. In every dojo assessment, Di Susu had knocked her to the ground, reducing her to a human backdrop for Di Susu's talent.
Even now, Li Yalin could recall how Di Susu had been visibly pleased with herself, yet had deliberately acted modest and won the encouragement and approval of the dojo's teachers. Compared with the extensive guidance and encouragement the dojo masters had given Di Susu, her own conversations with them could usually be summed up in five lines:
"Hello, teacher."
"Hello." (Usually, the teacher would pause for a few seconds before saying this, then give her an apologetic smile.)
"I have a question I'd like to ask..."
"It's all in the book. If you still don't understand, you can ask Di Susu."
"G-goodbye, teacher."
Every time Li Yalin remembered it, she ground her teeth in anger. She felt like a puppy abandoned in the pouring rain, walking alone through the storm, gazing pitifully at the meaty bones in a butcher shop window, only to be kicked away by the impatient owner and forced to wander on through the wind and rain. The bitterness and envy she felt were not something she could share with outsiders.
I don't care. It's supposed to be this dramatic!
Later, both of them were specially recruited by the Thirteenth Bureau and assigned to different squads, and history repeated itself. Di Susu's squad consistently outshone Li Yalin's in its record and became one of the Secret Operations Department's ace squads. What Li Yalin hated most was that Di Susu often came around to flaunt herself and shamelessly called her "Little Linlin"!
The hell with you! Since when were we that close?
In Li Yalin's eyes, this was a calculated attempt by Di Susu to make herself look magnanimous, and it irritated her immensely.
Di Susu chuckled. "Hehe, I heard you recruited a new teammate, so I came especially to see him. Where is he? Don't tell me he's hiding because he's shy."
"He isn't here. Now get lost," Li Yalin said coldly.
"Looks like I came all this way for nothing. Still, I can understand. With those bureaucrats in the Research and Development Department targeting him, I expect your new teammate is already at his wits' end."
Li Yalin's face turned livid, and she bared her teeth in warning like a puppy. "Get lost. I don't want to see you."
"How heartless. We're childhood friends, after all." Di Susu pouted, flashed Lin Yao a dazzlingly flirtatious smile, and walked away with a sway of her pert hips.
Childhood friends, my ass! Act like a proper archrival!
Li Yalin was furious, but when she turned and saw Lin Yao staring after Di Susu in a daze, looking utterly entranced, fresh anger surged through her. She grabbed him and shouted in his ear, "A great beauty like me is standing right next to you, and instead of looking at me, you're staring at Scheming Susu?!"
Lin Yao trembled. "B-but she smiled at me..."
"Answer me properly. Who's prettier, me or Scheming Susu?" A dangerous light flickered in Li Yalin's eyes.
Lin Yao hesitated for a long time before saying guiltily, "I think Susu is gentler than you..."
"Hehe, Little Yaozi, looks like your sense of beauty needs some violent correction. Hya! Avalanche-Style Bridge-Breaking Backflip Throw!"
Lambert steadied the shaking glass of water and calmly called the Medical Department. "Send a doctor over. An orthopedic specialist."
Han Xiao's refusal to hand over the blueprints was within the Research and Development Department head's expectations, so he put out word that he was buying Folding War Blades at a high price.
For a mechanic, handing over blueprints meant letting someone else control their lifeline and losing their technological advantage. Once a major power obtained the blueprints and began mass production, the original owner would be left with nothing to do.
After all, Han Xiao's orders only served a niche market: he could only supply members of the Secret Operations Department, and his production capacity was limited.
Once the Research and Development Department obtained the blueprints, it would send them to a military factory for mass production and distribute the equipment for free. The Secret Operations Department, the Field Operations Department, the Police Department, and the military would all benefit. That was the source of the department's confidence-they could count on enormous support.
Although the Research and Development Department's personnel hadn't produced anything new in a long time, they still had a professional eye. In their view, the Folding War Blade had the potential to replace bayonets, daggers, and tonfas as the melee weapon in the next generation of standard tactical kits.
Han Xiao's interests were outside the Research and Development Department's consideration. Leaving aside the interests of the department itself and the country, the hardliners disliked him and didn't care what he thought. Cooperating with an intelligence informant was far too soft an approach. In their view, they should take him into custody and force all his intelligence out of him.
The conservatives thought quite differently. They were unwilling to sour their relationship with Han Xiao over the blueprints for an ordinary melee weapon. They firmly believed he was worth cultivating as an ally, and they scorned the hardliners' methods.
Take him into custody? What if that made him refuse to divulge any intelligence at all?
Interrogate him under torture? What if he wasn't afraid?
Severe torture was bound to produce results? That made sense, but it depended on the person. They had captured so many Germinal members before, and only one in ten had told the truth. They had nearly led the Thirteenth Bureau into traps several times.
From their brief interactions, Han Xiao didn't seem like someone easy to deal with.
If you gave someone no hope and still expected them to cooperate, such reckless behavior could easily drive someone who should have been an ally into turning against you!
So the conservatives were furious. The two sides had been cooperating perfectly well, yet the hardliners insisted on doing things their way. What a bunch of old fossils. Did they think this was still the past? The good old days when they held power of life and death over their subordinates were gone. Countless elites from fallen nations were scattered abroad, and the Six Nations were all recruiting talent with promises of preferential treatment and relaxed requirements. It was almost no different from a commercial company hiring staff. In the conservatives' eyes, the hardliners' behavior was completely self-defeating.
Besides, there were other mechanics in the department. Stealing credit for someone else's work had a very bad impact.
The problem was that those mechanics had all been trained by the state and were very willing to hand over their blueprints. The bureau would compensate them, but Han Xiao had refused to hand his over. Some higher-ups therefore considered him utterly disloyal, and the hardliners disliked him even more.
But what era was this? Demanding loyalty would only scare away stateless talent living abroad. They weren't citizens of your country in the first place, so if you talked to them about patriotism and loyalty, they'd be more than kind not to turn their guns on you and shoot you first. Don't forget, the Six Nations were responsible for destroying the other countries. There was no washing that away.
But since responsibilities had been divided within the Thirteenth Bureau, no one could interfere with the Research and Development Department's exercise of its authority unless someone higher up intervened directly. And the higher-ups' attitude was very ambiguous, as though they were watching and waiting.
Anyone with eyes could see that handing over a Folding War Blade would offend Han Xiao. The secret agents who had bought the blades all considered whether it was worth it, and many of them privately despised the Research and Development Department for stealing credit from one of their own.
They were being a little too brazen about it.
These agents didn't know about Han Xiao's special identity, and they all felt it was going too far to pressure an ordinary mechanic like this.
Some externally hired agents, however, didn't care whom they offended. Profit came first.
Krat was an agent who had bought a Folding War Blade. He was the first to sell one to the Research and Development Department, asking thirty thousand—thirty times what he had paid. In the end, the department agreed.
Krat's thinking was simple: this extra money was there for the taking, and he'd be a fool not to earn it. He scoffed at his colleagues who hesitated over every consideration.
He was just a minor mechanic. Once the Research and Development Department started mass production, what use would that mechanic be? They could just kick him aside. There was no need to worry about offending him; they wouldn't need him anymore anyway.
In the Research and Development Department, the department head's secretary and Luo Xuan looked at the Folding War Blade in front of them.
"Luo Xuan, are you confident you can work out the blueprints?"