60: Chapter 60 Agreement Reached

Inside the room, Chen Mu continued for over three minutes this time, intentionally leaving silent gaps in between and furrowing his brows slightly, as if arguing forcefully with someone who wasn't present.

He knew that President Trump across from him and the four faces on the screen were all staring at his lips, trying to decipher something from those meaningless syllables.

But he didn't care, because the Guga language was entirely his own fabrication; he didn't even know what he was saying himself.

Soon, Chen Mu lowered his fingers. "I have reported to the Commander that the Blue Star Civilization is using self-destruction to blackmail the fleet. The Commander has now given me full authority over these negotiations."

The President subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief, and the expressions of the four faces on the screen also underwent subtle changes.

Chen Mu captured these expressions, which convinced him of one thing: these five probably never intended to press that button.

"Ambassador Chen Mu." The President sat up straight again. "I wonder if your previous three proposals still stand?"

Chen Mu nodded. "What I have said, of course, still stands."

"Good." The President pulled a folded piece of paper from his inner suit pocket, spread it on the table, and ran his finger down the writing to ensure nothing was missed.

"After our joint discussion, we basically agree to the conditions you proposed, Ambassador Chen Mu, but we would like to make some minor changes in the details."

"Changes?" Chen Mu propped his chin on the back of his hand and thought for a moment. "Fine. Considering you had the courage to self-destruct your civilization, I will allow you to propose terms once."

"But let me say this beforehand: if you dare to be too greedy, then all three agreements will be voided, and I will no longer concern myself with any matters regarding Blue Star."

"Please rest assured." The President spread his palm over the paper. "They really are just some small changes."

He held up one finger. "First, regarding Guga Planet joining the Blue Star United Nations and becoming a permanent member of the Security Council, there is no problem at all."

"The UN Charter Revision Group has already drafted an amendment overnight. Guga Planet will have the same voting and veto rights as the current Permanent Five."

"Several of our representatives even suggested that Guga Planet could serve as the Permanent Chair of the Security Council, but we felt it might be a bit rude to propose that first, so we wanted to see what you think."

"Second." The President held up a second finger and pushed the paper forward half an inch. "Regarding Blue Star ceding Mars, we would like to change it to a lease. Blue Star will lease Mars to Guga Planet for ninety-nine years, with the option to renew upon expiration. What do you think?"

Chen Mu didn't answer immediately. In truth, he had no substantive need for Mars; to him, the difference between a lease and a cession was no different than the gap between a rental contract and a piece of wallpaper.

He simply wanted Blue Star to believe they were stationing troops on Mars while further deterring them.

Chen Mu looked at the President and asked, "Is there any point to this? We can still keep renewing the lease when it expires; you people of Blue Star have no right to refuse."

The President added with a bitter smile, "To be honest, we don't know what the point of this change is either. But perhaps, for the future of Blue Star, it has meaning."

"No problem," Chen Mu said.

The Leader of Mao Xiong moved on the screen. "Ambassador Chen Mu, regarding the matter of rent, we would like to ask you to pay with a piece of Guga Planet's technology."

"Of course, it doesn't need to be any high-end technology. Anything will do, even something as simple as how to eat."

The air in the meeting room seemed to freeze. Chen Mu looked expressionlessly at the Leader of Mao Xiong on the screen, then at the President behind the Resolute Desk, and finally scanned the faces from the Eastern Great Power, France, and John.

Everyone was waiting—waiting to see if Chen Mu would fly into a rage, reject them with contempt, or brush off the request with words like 'you are not worthy.'

Chen Mu also knew why they were proposing this. It was both rent and a final test.

They needed to confirm whether he actually had the real deal, whether this alien sitting before them was the agent of a real civilization or just a con artist playing with visual effects.

However, this actually aligned with Chen Mu's next plan. After all, he would continue to cause trouble on Blue Star; if the human side was too weak, the emotional curve of the fear value would fluctuate wildly or even become completely numb.

He pulled up the system mall.

[Current fear value: 220 million]

The Sun Turning Off incident had provided him with over a hundred million fear value; he could now be described as extremely wealthy.

He scrolled down. The pages for the multi-million level were densely packed with various items: Space Thrusters, Shield Generators, Planetary Probes, Stellar Spectrometers...

He skipped over the cheap goods that looked impressive but had no practical value, and also skipped those space weapon technologies that cost hundreds of millions at every turn.

Although they had asked for just anything, the item he gave would be taken for testing. He didn't know how great the testing capabilities of these Permanent Five nations were, but he knew that giving something too shabby might ruin the credibility of his deterrence.

He wanted something that was just enough to make humanity believe it was the real thing, but not so much that it would push their tech tree high enough to shatter his illusions.

His finger stopped on an entry.

[B-Rank Individual Power Armor Manufacturing Technology]

[3 million fear value]

[Function: Contains the complete set of technology for B-Rank Power Armor]

Chen Mu clicked purchase. In the next second, he extended his palm, and a chip appeared out of thin air, lying quietly in the center of his hand.

Across from him, five pairs of eyes widened simultaneously. Watching Chen Mu's magic-like method, they were momentarily stunned.

Chen Mu pinched the chip between his fingers and held it up to the laptop's camera. "I cannot give you any technology regarding space scales. This is a mecha manufacturing blueprint from a thousand years ago on Guga Planet. As for what you can research from it, that depends on yourselves."

He tossed the chip to the President. "It has already been translated for you. I think this should be enough to pay the rent for Mars."

The President caught it with both hands, cradling the chip in his palms like a newly hatched chick. "It's enough, it's completely enough."

One of the Permanent Five cleared his throat. "Mr. Ambassador, regarding the third point—the one about not developing long-range space weapons—we need to define where the boundary is."

He raised his hand from the table and pointed at the faintly visible silver-white speck of light in the night sky outside the window. "To be honest with you, we on Blue Star already have the technology to build bases on the Moon; we just haven't started large-scale colonization yet."

"So we intend to primarily develop toward the Moon in the future, and we hope the Guga Civilization will not interfere."

Chen Mu looked at the full moon slowly rising outside the window, then turned back to look at the four faces on the screen.

Regarding the Moon issue, he hadn't thought about it initially because the Moon was much closer to Blue Star than Mars, and humanity's detection methods on it were more complete. If he forcibly occupied the Moon, he might be discovered at some point, and then the whole game would be lost.

"That's easy to discuss." He nodded toward the screen. "Since you can already reach the Moon, then the Moon belongs to Blue Star."

"However, from now on, Blue Star's technological development can only be within the Earth-Moon System. Once you step outside the Earth-Moon System, don't blame our fleet for warning Blue Star again."

The voice of the Leader of France patched in from Paris: "Mr. Ambassador, next Monday, we will convene the United Nations General Assembly again to vote on these proposals."

Chen Mu stood up. "Very well."

He looked down and adjusted his cuffs. "But I don't want a situation like last time to happen again, understood?"

The Leader of John pushed up the frames on the bridge of his nose. "Mr. Ambassador, please rest assured. This time, it certainly won't happen."

Chen Mu nodded, turned, and pushed open the door of the room.

The moment the door closed, the President looked at the other four faces on the screen with a smile. "Alright, guys, it's time for us to discuss the internal issues of our Blue Star."