160: Borrow a chicken to lay an egg

The luminous float on the lake surface swayed with the gentle breeze, occasionally being nudged by passing fish.

Raindrops tapped against the fishing rod, and Li Xiao's mood rose and fell rhythmically with them.

Suddenly, the float vanished from the water's surface. Li Xiao instinctively yanked the rod, and a powerful tug immediately came from it.

A fish had taken the bait!

He braced the rod, reeling in and letting out line as the fish struggled underwater. After a standoff of several minutes, a four or five-pound grass carp was dragged onto the shore.

As Li Xiao picked up the fat fish from the landing net, wondering how to eat it, a half-inch-long river shrimp suddenly hopped out of the fish's mouth.

The river shrimp was actually still alive; after a few hops on the ground, it fell back into the lake. Seeing this, a flash of inspiration suddenly struck Li Xiao.

Got it!

Excited, Li Xiao tossed the grass carp straight back into the water and rushed to his off-road vehicle.

Quick! Li Le, return to the base immediately and contact Nangong Yan!

Previously, Li Xiao had been thinking about securing a controllable port and then finding a way to intercept Black Hawk Empire transport ships at sea.

But this method was, firstly, difficult to find a path for, and secondly, dangerous and unstable.

However, the big fish eating the shrimp just now gave him a great idea for 'borrowing a chicken to lay eggs.'

The reason the Black Hawk Empire refused to open up ink crystal was that they had previously mastered ink crystal application technology and wanted to exclusively control the production, manufacturing, and sale of ink crystal weapons, preventing global weapons companies from developing ink crystal weapons and thereby affecting their fundamental interests.

But now that the Black Hawk Empire's technology had been snatched away by Li Xiao, they no longer possessed the capability to produce ink crystal weapons, so guarding the ink crystal mines was pointless.

This gave Li Xiao an opportunity to exploit the weakness.

Taking a commuter helicopter to Yun City, Nangong Yan invited Li Xiao to have breakfast at the villa where she lived.

Caviar and bacon sandwiches, fresh-squeezed milk, and pan-fried ham and eggs—Li Xiao ate his fill.

Brother Li Xiao, I heard you won a great victory in Weixing City, defeating the elite troops of the Black Hawk Empire. You are truly impressive!

Nangong Yan ate more than three times as much as Li Xiao and was currently still enjoying her bowl of century egg and lean pork congee.

Li Xiao shook his head and sighed, 'Losing over a million troops—what kind of great victory is that? It was just piled up with human lives.'

'That's something that can't be helped. When equipment is backward, you can only rely on the soldiers.'

'If you were willing to sell me main battle tanks, perhaps I wouldn't be so passive.'

'Here we go again...' Nangong Yan put down her porridge bowl and said with a pitiful expression, 'You are trying to bring total ruin upon me, brother.'

Li Xiao pouted, 'Alright, enough. I came here this time because I have something important to discuss with you!'

'Oh? Is it about the soldier vitality enhancement technology?'

Li Xiao was surprised, 'You know about this too?'

Nangong Yan smiled, 'That matter of yours has spread like wildfire in the mercenary world. How could I not know? You must have made a fortune on this one.'

'That is true, but what I want to talk about can directly affect whether Nangong Technology can dominate the arms market on Hanhai Star!'

'Dominate the arms market?!'

Nangong Yan instantly became serious and shot a glance to the side, 'You all go out first.'

After chasing away all the surrounding guards and servants, Nangong Yan stood up and said to Li Xiao, 'Come, let's talk upstairs.'

Nangong Yan brought Li Xiao to a very secluded secret room. This room was specially equipped with soundproof walls, and the interior environment was even more luxurious than the presidential suite of a high-end club.

The two sat opposite each other, and Nangong Yan then whispered, 'Brother Li Xiao, tell me, what kind of matter could possibly allow Nangong Technology to sit on the throne of the arms industry leader?'

'You know about ink crystal, right?' Li Xiao asked, getting straight to the point.

'Of course!'

Hearing the term ink crystal, Nangong Yan became even more serious; clearly, she also knew the importance of ink crystal.

'I heard long ago that a weapons expert named Mavis discovered a huge ink crystal deposit in the Arctic. After publishing a related paper on ink crystal energy, he was controlled by the Black Hawk Empire.'

'I heard that this Mavis had already successfully developed weapon ammunition powered by ink crystal and equipped a portion of the Empire's elite troops with it. It's just that, some time ago, it was said that this Mavis was abducted, all the technical data was taken away, and the production line was burned to the ground.'

'Yes, your information is quite well-informed. So, can you get this ink crystal?'

Nangong Yan shook her head, 'It's difficult. The Black Hawk Empire worries that we arms dealers will develop ink crystal weapons, thereby controlling the high-end technology weapons market and affecting their strategic development, so they strictly prohibit the export of raw ink crystal ore to global weapons and equipment companies.'

'Even now, with Mavis missing, the Black Hawk Empire still insists on developing ink crystal technology independently and has no intention of letting us get involved.'

As expected!

Li Xiao thought to himself.

Nangong Yan's words proved that his previous guesses were all correct; the Black Hawk Empire indeed wanted to use ink crystal weapon technology to further crush global rebel forces.

'Then, what if you told the Black Hawk Empire that you had mastered ink crystal technology and hoped to cooperate with them? Would they open up the ink crystal mines to you?'

'I have mastered ink crystal technology... wouldn't that make the Black Hawk Empire suspect that I was the one who abducted Mavis... Wait! Could it be that you...'

Nangong Yan hadn't finished speaking when she suddenly reacted, looking at Li Xiao with a shocked expression.

'Talking to smart people is simple. That's right, I was the one who rescued Mavis, and he has already started working for me.'

'What!' Nangong Yan said in disbelief, 'You are too bold! You dared to abduct the technological talent that the Black Hawk Empire regards as its lifeblood. Aren't you afraid that the Black Hawk Empire will find out your information and send a few army groups to crush you?'

'That doesn't matter. Having said that, ink crystal weapon ammunition has already been put to use in this battle, and the effect is very significant! A single ink crystal anti-tank missile can instantly disable a full-health main battle tank!'

Hiss...

'ink crystal ammunition is actually this terrifying!' Nangong Yan gasped.

'So, I am now in a hurry to develop ink crystal technology and expand production, but the source of ink crystal raw materials has become the biggest problem.'

'But what does this have to do with me?'

Li Xiao smiled slightly, 'I want you to come forward and negotiate with the Black Hawk Empire. As one of the top five global arms companies, the Black Hawk Empire will surely give you some face.'

'At that time, just say that you have mastered ink crystal weapon technology and get the Black Hawk Empire to open up the ink crystal mines to you, and that the weapons and equipment you produce will be supplied to them first.'

Nangong Yan rubbed her temples, headache-stricken, 'I'm just afraid that the Black Hawk Empire will think I was the one who abducted Mavis and then impose sanctions on us!'

'My friend, the Black Hawk Empire is already wary of you mastering ink crystal technology. If they dare to target you, just show your cards and tell them that you can open up ink crystal technology to global arms companies and even rebel forces everywhere at any time.'

'At that time, they'll be afraid that the whole world will be using ink crystal weapons, while the Black Hawk Empire will be left empty-handed.'