As for Qu Jianlei’s attitude, Li Ang wasn’t surprised at all.

If the other side didn’t have a Supreme, talking like this would be called arrogant. If they do have a Supreme, and the Combat Power is off the charts, then this is called having a real personality.

So he lightly cleared his throat. "We mean no harm. We just want to deepen our cooperation a bit further."

"No need for now." Qu Jianlei continued rejecting him cleanly, his tone downright rude.

The subtext was obvious: not every random cat or dog is qualified to talk about deepening cooperation with us.

Then he stated it clearly again, "Once I finish my patrol, we should also settle the outcome of the last battle, right?"

"The outcome... is still being tallied." Li Ang hesitated before replying. "Aren’t you curious which Supreme you killed last time?" 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Qu Jianlei replied lazily, "He’s already dead, why should I care who he was? You’re not trying to shift the blame onto us, are you?"

The tone wasn’t nice, but if you think about how Qinghu talked to Qu Jianlei back then, you’d realize this isn’t a tone problem.

It’s still a question of confidence. If your strength is big enough, you don’t need to fuss over all that superficial crap.

Hearing this, Li Ang could only respond with a wry smile. "We already agreed to shoulder the grudge for you."

He knew very well that this time the enemy was a bit troublesome, but Wanmi Mining was not the kind to dodge responsibility.

So he just asked directly, "Headquarters wants to know if you have any interest in settling the problem once and for all?"

"No need to guilt-trip me," Qu Jianlei answered even more bluntly. "We’re just doing things according to the agreement."

"So let’s first talk about the disposition and profits from last time. That’s the proper business. Let’s keep each matter in its own lane."

Li Ang was stunned. "You guys really aren’t worried at all?"

Qu Jianlei chuckled without answering. When you’re deep in debt, you stop worrying; when you have too many lice, they stop itching. You think I care about this little bit?

But staying silent forever wouldn’t be very friendly either. Thinking of Qinghu’s tone, he imitated it once.

"Let them come then. My family’s Supreme just happens to be short on pocket money."

"Pocket money..." Li Ang was utterly defeated. Just how ridiculously rich does a force have to be to treat Supremes as pocket money?

But thinking again about how "Rhodiola rosea" usually operated, he had to admit they really did have the right to say that!

So he gave up on trying to argue. "Okay, then let’s discuss the last incident. Do you have the authority to decide?"

When you’re discussing matters that affect the bigger picture, the decision-making power of the person in charge is obviously important.

Qu Jianlei shot back with a question, "If I didn’t have that authority, do you think I’d have wasted this much breath talking to you?"

The words were still harsh, but if you compare it with Qinghu’s way of talking, you can see one truth.

What stings is never the content, but who is saying it.

As long as the identity is high enough, no matter what you say, the other side will try their best to understand.

Li Ang was in charge of such a huge Mine. The yearly cash flow he handled was easily over a billion; his status was far from low.

Yet with the other side talking like this, he only became even less daring to snap back. "Then once you’re done with your business, let’s meet and talk about the relevant matters."

The results of the previous battle really were still being tallied, but the losses on Qu Jianlei’s side were easy to calculate.

The expenditure was Energy Blocks and ammunition, plus the Energy Blocks they’d lent out, and the battle damage to the Attack Ships.

As for the three Storage Talismans, Li Ang didn’t bring them up, and of course Qu Jianlei wasn’t going to mention them either—those were already his spoils of war.

But he wasn’t greedy. The Attack Ships that got blown up went without saying, and the damaged merchant ships should still have some residual value, yet he didn’t bring them up.

The focus of their discussion was still the fee for taking down that Supreme.

Facing an A-level Water Attribute Awakened, Li Ang still dared to speak some truths. He frankly stated that the Mine would only consider paying fifty million.

If they’d heavily injured that Supreme and captured him alive, Wanmi Mining could also offer up to fifty million.

But that would be different. With a Supreme in their hands, Wanmi could put a lot more conditions on the table, and the potential gains would be much higher.

By killing the Supreme, they had actually escalated the conflict. The returns wouldn’t go up; they might even have to pay a hefty price.

Hearing this, Qu Jianlei felt a bit put out. So I helped you guys kill a Supreme and somehow that’s... wrong?

But thinking it over, although those words were a bit heartless, they were brutally objective. Wanmi Mining certainly put profits first.

For a moment, he couldn’t help but sigh. Big powers really did operate differently from ordinary people.

To him, once someone becomes an enemy, the only good Supreme is a dead Supreme.

But big powers think differently. If they can squeeze enough benefit out of it, they don’t mind letting the enemy’s Supreme walk away alive.

To put it bluntly, it’s still because they have enough backing—they’re not afraid of one or two Supremes stirring up trouble.

Of course, it also has to do with the size of both sides. If both are behemoths, and the fighting gets too intense, both sides will suffer heavy losses.

Even so, Qu Jianlei still didn’t really agree with this way of doing things.

"I heard you said at the time that if we could kill that Supreme, we could name whatever conditions we wanted."

"That’s right." Li Ang actually nodded very straightforwardly.

Then he said, "What I said just now was the calculation from a profit standpoint, just laying things bare and putting the facts on the table first."

"Besides, the credit for killing this Supreme is really a huge morale boost for us. There will definitely be rewards for that..."

So the Sail Consortium wasn’t denying what he’d done, but in terms of material rewards, fifty million was the ceiling.

They were businessmen, after all; everything came down to profit.

They couldn’t just hand him a few hundred million, that would break the rules; the value of a Supreme wasn’t calculated like that.

Qu Jianlei thought it over and found it reasonable—back when Hertman hired him to kill Kushnier, the total payout had been just over thirty million.

And the Asteroid Belt was hugely profitable, with Supremes playing a very prominent role; even with a premium, how much could they realistically give?

Li Ang finally said, "That’s it for cash. Your side can提出 other conditions—as long as they’re not too excessive, it’s fine."

Qu Jianlei probed, "What if I want a stake in this Mine?"

"Of course that’s fine," Li Ang answered without hesitation. "But the specific terms have to be decided by a Supreme."

Qu Jianlei thought for a bit, then shook his head. "Forget it, I was just speaking hypothetically."

Only getting fifty million was bound to sting a little, so he wanted to see how sincere the other side really was.

If they were even willing to give up Mine profits, it showed that Wanmi Mining did recognize his achievements.

But taking equity in the Mine... to be honest, Qu Jianlei was a bit tempted. Who would refuse a hen that lays golden eggs?

Unfortunately, it simply wasn’t realistic, for a simple reason: if you enjoyed the profits, you inevitably had to shoulder corresponding responsibilities.

For example, when Wanmi Mining needed it, a shareholder might have to dispatch a Supreme to cooperate.

He wasn’t someone who liked being constrained. Although Supremes were relatively free, the problem was... he was a one-man "organization."

If he kept cooperating like that, sooner or later he’d slip up.

Li Ang had of course thought of this as well. Seeing his refusal, he actually looked a bit disappointed.

"Don’t be in such a rush to decide. I suggest you go back and discuss it; you might end up with a different view."

"No need," Qu Jianlei shook his head, all interest gone. "You put too much emphasis on profit in everything you do. We don’t like that."

Li Ang was startled for a moment, then nodded thoughtfully. "So that’s how it is."

He could understand this answer; he’d dealt with Awakened like that—acting on impulse backed by their Cultivation Level, unwilling to swallow grievances.

In his eyes, people like that weren’t very mature, but that was a matter of personal philosophy; you couldn’t force them.

Birds of a feather flock together; with that in mind, it also explained why Rhodiola rosea had insisted on killing the enemy Supreme.

Realizing the other side turned out to be that kind of faction, he suddenly felt a headache coming on.

When dealing with people who only cared about settling grudges with swift satisfaction, his side would have to be extra mindful of their needs.

"Then why don’t you lay out your conditions. I can’t make the final call, but I can report them up the chain."

After thinking for a moment, Qu Jianlei tentatively said, "Could you help our Armed Merchant Ship get a transit pass?"

Li Ang was a bit dazed when he heard that. Such a small thing?

A transit pass for an Armed Merchant Ship was hard to get for ordinary people, but where were they now? In the Asteroid Belt.

Never mind the big powers—even small factions didn’t find it all that hard to secure a pass.

After staring blankly for a bit, he probed, "Your... distinguished organization can’t get one themselves?"

Qu Jianlei gave him a strange look. "We’re asking you to handle it. Whether we can get it ourselves—what’s that got to do with anything?"

We’re hiring you to do the job, not inviting you to snoop around.

Faced with that somewhat unreasonable retort, Li Ang really had no good comeback; his earlier question had indeed overstepped.

After a brief pause, he replied, "Getting a transit pass isn’t difficult. Any other requests?"

"Yes," Qu Jianlei nodded. He’d pushed back so sharply just now because it hadn’t even occurred to him how low his demand actually was.

Now that he’d realized it, of course he needed to raise the stakes. "It has to be an ’exempt from inspection’ pass."

"Exempt from inspection..." Li Ang sucked air between his teeth. That was a genuinely tricky ask—no wonder the other side had named this condition.

He thought for a bit and said, "That’s not very convenient. If anything goes wrong, the person who handles it would bear joint liability."

Expressionless, Qu Jianlei asked, "Doesn’t the Sail Consortium have a lot of influence?"

A power strong enough could ignore the rules. He’d killed a Supreme for them; surely that was worth an ’exempt from inspection’?

Li Ang could understand his logic, but this really wasn’t something he could decide on his own.

"If your Starship were registered under Wanmi Mining’s name, this would become much easier."

Qu Jianlei gave him a strange look. "You’re not eyeing our Combat Power, are you?"

Li Ang gave a dry laugh and didn’t answer. He certainly remembered how elite their Warriors were.

Qu Jianlei shook his head and went on, "If we’re going to park under your name, we might as well just buy some shares in the Mine."

Li Ang shook his head. "There are many ways to ’park under’ us; you can choose a highly independent arrangement."

"But this isn’t my call. A Supreme from the Consortium will be here in a couple of days; you can talk to them."

(Updated to here. Calling for monthly tickets, subscriptions, and recommendation tickets.)