278: Negotiation failure

Looking down from the sky, the vast, empty space was now covered by fully armed personnel.

Behind them stood an innumerable array of weapons and infantry fighting vehicles.

Opposite this despair-inducing force stood another group, though their numbers were not quite as large.

Long Wu gazed solemnly at the dense, black mass of the Raven Army ahead.

It was an army composed of over a hundred thousand Ravens.

Additionally, in the rear, there were the remaining tens of thousands of Hammer Soldiers.

Compared to the over seven million personnel on the Xia Country side, this number was pitifully small.

Yet even with a massive numerical advantage, Long Wu didn't dare to be the least bit negligent.

Now that Hafke had made a move, no one knew when they would appear.

If they couldn't wipe out the Raven Army without taking any losses, then the best course of action was to seek peace.

If it really came down to a fight, it wasn't that they couldn't win.

But doing so would only lead to mutual destruction.

"Raven, Xia Country has never been your enemy!"

"Although I don't know why you're leading an army to attack us..."

"But as you can see, if we truly start a war, you might not necessarily win."

"Moreover, Hafke has already made a move. If we go to war now, it will only benefit Hafke in the end!"

"No one will have a good ending!"

Thanks to a loudspeaker, Long Wu's voice carried clearly across the vast battlefield to the ears of Raven and Kim Jae-wook.

Despite the massive disparity in numbers, there wasn't a trace of fear on Raven's face.

"King, you can't use this. You can tell me what you want to say, and I'll say it for you."

Kim Jae-wook held the loudspeaker and spoke in a low voice while standing beside Raven.

Raven nodded.

"Tell them that as long as they hand over Liu Yan, I will leave Xia Country."

After Raven finished speaking, Kim Jae-wook used the loudspeaker to relay the words exactly as they were to Long Wu's side.

"Hand over Liu Yan?"

Long Wu frowned in surprise and looked at Zhang Ning and the others beside him in confusion.

"Does Liu Yan have some sort of grievance with him?"

After thinking for a moment, they all shook their heads.

"As far as I know, there are no grievances between them."

"But knowing Liu Yan's personality, during the two years he was away from Xia Country, I expect..."

Hearing this answer, Long Wu felt his vision go dark.

From the moment the other party mentioned Liu Yan, Long Wu had a bad premonition.

He had originally thought that Raven intended to attack of his own volition.

But looking at it now, the other party was clearly here for revenge.

"Officer Long! We can't hand over Brother Yan!"

Zhao Chuang suddenly shouted anxiously from the side.

Long Wu glanced at him, then waved his hand, signaling Zhao Chuang not to worry.

"How could we?"

"Even though this might be considered Liu Yan's personal grudge..."

"I believe that Liu Yan's original intention must have been to strive for a result beneficial to us."

Long Wu sighed.

At this point, seeking peace was already impossible.

Let alone joining forces to fight Hafke.

With Xia Country's combat power, they weren't afraid of going to war with Raven.

The reason they sought peace was to preserve their strength for Hafke's upcoming offensive.

But if they had to sell out Liu Yan to get Raven to leave, that would be putting the cart before the horse.

"Can you tell me what the grievance between you and Liu Yan is?"

"If it's about resources, we can compensate you, even with the heart of africa."

Even though he knew the outcome was irreversible, Long Wu still wanted to try as much as possible.

Hearing the words heart of africa, Kim Jae-wook's eyes instantly lit up.

Facing Xia Country's combat power, Kim Jae-wook knew they couldn't win no matter what.

If they could extort some heart of africa without wasting Raven's derivative bodies, it would be the best choice.

Moreover, if they used these heart of africa on Raven, they could still find a way to kill Liu Yan later.

"King! We can agree to this!"

"With the heart of africa, we can use it to both enhance your strength and locate Liu Yan!"

"It's even possible that we could use some of your derivative bodies as a price to teleport Liu Yan right in front of us!"

"Or we could teleport to Liu Yan."

"This way, even without going to war with Xia Country, we can still achieve our goal."

"King, what do you think..."

Kim Jae-wook spoke excitedly, but as he turned his head, he saw that Raven's face had turned extremely cold.

"Trading lives for resources again..."

"Hafke once mined resources on Asara's land, causing war."

"In the end, they used so-called technology and resources to appease the asara people."

"Now, Liu Yan has killed my people."

"And they."

Raven raised his revolver and pointed it toward Long Wu in the distance.

"Want to use those so-called items to pay for my people's lives again?!"

Kim Jae-wook was stunned; he silently put away the radio in his arms.

At the same time, he took the K416 assault rifle off his back.

Clack—!

The crisp sound of the K416 being chambered rang out.

If it were anyone else, Kim Jae-wook would have cursed them out with a shibal.

Getting the heart of africa first and then using it to avenge the people...

This was the optimal solution.

But in Raven's eyes, if he did that...

Then he would be no different from stepping on the corpses of his people to increase his power.

Take Liu Yan as an example.

If his mother were killed by someone right in front of him...

And at that time, the person who killed his mother was shielded by his family...

And they told him they could give him money and people—anything except the person who killed his mother.

After accepting, with money and people, he could still use them to avenge his mother.

It seemed like the best choice.

But that was a rational choice.

And humans are always emotional.

The main reason Kim Jae-wook could consider it from a rational perspective was that those people weren't important to him.

His entire perspective prioritized Raven.

On the other side.

Long Wu took it all in using his military binoculars.

Then, Shen Cangsheng's voice came through everyone's earpieces.

"Officer Long, it looks like they don't intend to talk anymore."

"Should I fire now?"

On a high tower ten thousand meters away, Shen Cangsheng lay prone on the roof, watching everything through his scope.

Long Wu put down his military binoculars and sighed helplessly.

"Wait a moment."

After speaking, Long Wu entered Cai Fuji's name into the military radio.

"Fuji, how much longer until the aircraft fleet from the training base arrives?"

Soon, Fuji's voice came back from the other end.

"The fastest group will be here in two minutes."

Long Wu looked up at the Raven Army; they were already starting to stir.

Two minutes was just enough time to catch the Raven Army off guard during the engagement.

"Good, thanks for your hard work."

After receiving Fuji's reply, Long Wu turned off the military radio.

"All units, attack."