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Chapter 294: Playing Cat and Mouse

This was the first time Xia Fei had witnessed what it meant to have the highest level of security. Xia Fei had already forgotten just how many checkpoints he had to get through on his journey to the naval headquarters. All he remembered was that the ever present guards on both sides at every gentry along with the hidden bunkers in the mountain cols, the armored vehicles in the dense forest, and the different warships constantly flying overhead.

Just the hover vehicle used to escort Xia Fei, for example, looked quite boring, with its standard military green appearance, which any fashionable young man would find repulsive, looking so ordinary that it exuded not a hint of elegance and could even be seen as unwieldy.

Only the people sitting in the car could understand that the armor on this vehicle was actually thicker than an A-13 Army APC. It had two BL-54 engines, which gave it a massive propulsion, and had over a dozen green communicators, each connected to a different encryption channel of the army.

Xia Fei could vaguely feel his heart beating. After all, it was not every day that anyone could gain entry to the most important military fortress in the Alliance and face its highest level of military security systems in place. Any average person would feel shocked just experiencing it all.

Fortunately, Xia Fei was able to maintain quite a steely temperament. Phantom was convinced that even if Xia Fei were to face the president of the whole Pan-Human Alliance, the young man would be able to chat freely and would not be frightened just from the other person’s reputation.

A good while later, Xia Fei was wedged between the protective escort of four military guards as they came to Admiral Layton’s office. Before this, he went through a complete body check, where his spatial ring, microcomputer, and everything else he had on him had all been confiscated by the guards at the security office.

“Reporting to the chief; I’ve brought Xia Fei as requested,” reported the officer with the rank of major when he pushed open the door and saluted.

Layton responded, “Quickly bring him in. You guys are so slow.”

The guard beside Xia Fei gave him a shove, and Xia Fei absorbed the inertia from the push and stepped into the office. The guard behind him immediately shut the door behind him, not making a sound throughout.

“Actually, they’re fairly efficient. It’s just that we wasted a bit of time by the security office.” Xia Fei chuckled as he quipped.

Layton had the air of an admiral about him. He glared coldly at Xia Fei, while Williams acted a lot friendlier, cracking a smile at Xia Fei as he gestured for him to sit on the couch opposite of him.

“This is the Navy headquarters, after all, so it’s only natural for them to be stringent with the security work. Actually, Admiral Layton already gave the word to forgo the first two security checks, or else you would’ve taken more than two hours to get here.” Williams corrected him.

Xia Fei sat on the couch that Williams had indicated, and the slightly soft cushions caused him to sink slightly when he rested his weight down, making him appear a bit shorter.

Layton said gravely, “Let’s get straight to the point. This isn’t an official inquiry from the military, so you don’t have to be too nervous. General Williams and I here have some questions we wish to ask you and hope that you’ll answer them truthfully.”

Xia Fei did not comment. Though they had said that this was not an official inquiry, the fact remained that he did not have a choice to reject this now that he was here in the Navy headquarters. Everything they had said was simply useless pleasantries and courtesy.

“We are very happy about your performance in that warship event today, but just how did your warship withstand so many salvos of missiles like that? Aside from your use of the proton bomb, I’m afraid you also made modifications to other systems. Do you mind elaborating on what are some of these changes you made to the defensive systems or what special equipment you installed?” Williams asked.

Xia Fei was quite taken aback. The biggest reason for his participation in the tournament was nothing more than to promote his energy-shield booster by letting the whole Alliance know. The military of course had the most warships, and they were precisely the largest client that Xia Fei was trying to acquire. Now that a five-star general and a five-star admiral, Williams and Layton respectively, were expressing interest in his defensive configuration, he was of course more than happy to oblige.

A thought quickly came to Xia Fei and he said, “According to the rules of the tournament, I don’t have the right to reveal the details of my modifications and the equipment I used, so I’m very sorry about that.”

“You can rest assured telling us. We can guarantee that we won’t reveal what you share here with us,” Layton said.

Xia Fei flashed him a smile. “You are both important figures in the Alliance, of course I believe what you’re both saying, but I am bound under the agreement and will risk disqualification once I divulge this.”

Williams chewed on an apple and smiled. “Your warship’s already heavily damaged. According to the rules, though you won this last round, you already lost the qualifications to participate in the tournament finals. I think that being disqualified should not be your ultimate reason.”

Layton followed up closely with a nod. “That’s right. There are two more rounds to the Golden Finger Cup. You’re already so many points behind and continued participation is meaningless to you. Are you worried about something else?”

Xia Fei sternly answered, “Distinguished general and admiral, though I am well versed in machinery, I am also a warrior and a businessman. Since I’ve already signed an agreement and essentially given my word not to reveal the information to my ship on my own, I will have to keep it. If I were someone who couldn’t even keep my word, how would my comrades trust me? Or if I were to be a businessman who’s untrustworthy and couldn’t keep to an agreement, why would my business partners want to collaborate with me?

“A man has no leg to stand on if he can’t be trusted, so I hope the esteemed general and admiral can understand the difficulties I face regarding your request. Even if you force me at gunpoint, my answer will still be the same. I’m helpless since I’m bound by the agreement.”

Xia Fei said this calmly, which promptly surprised Williams and Layton greatly.

They were surprised to learn that an insignificant person like Xia Fei would actually value integrity so much. Had it been anyone else, they would have most likely spilled the beans already; even a fool would know what it meant to establish a good relationship with these two among the military triumvirate, so a few simple words would be enough to do a favor for these two army bigshots, which meant that it would be that much easier to get their help if something were to crop up in the future.

This was a transaction that was akin to being given a free lunch, yet Xia Fei had actually rejected it.

Layton could feel frustration accumulating inside him, yet there was no way for him to release it. After all, Xia Fei was not doing anything wrong by keeping to his agreement.

Next to him sat Williams, who was now laughing happily. He got up and said, “The young man is trustworthy and honest, not wanting to lose sight of his true colors as a warrior. That’s very much commendable. Since that’s the case, we shan’t press you. I’ve still got one thing that I want to be certain of before you leave, though. Did you really accidentally crash into that escape pod?”

...

Admit that he had killed Baldy? Xia Fei was not going to do such a foolish thing. He categorically denied it, emphasizing on the fact that he had already lost control of his warship by that point, and while he tried all he could to change the trajectory of the ship, he was helpless to prevent the accident from occurring.

Williams was of course not about to press for answers on an incident where there was no evidence pertaining to the circumstances surrounding the death. He called for guards to send Xia Fei back and did not continue his line of inquiry.

“Xia Fei, are you insane? Those two are five-star generals. You’ve always wanted to sell your energy-shield boosters to the military, so why did you start talking about integrity at such a crucial moment? It’s not like you can eat that,” Phantom complained, somewhat annoyed.

Xia Fei asked, “What, do I not have integrity?”

Phantom pouted. “All I know is that you’re unreasonable a lot of the time and not at all a man with integrity.”

Xia Fei chuckled. “While I don’t care about integrity per se, I’m very interested in the business opportunity that integrity provides. Thuram already warned me that it’s no simple task to try and sell something to the historically demanding military, so what I need are such hooks.”

“So you’re telling me that you purposely didn’t tell him about your energy-shield boosters?” Phantom asked.

Xia Fei nodded. “Precisely. Given the power those two men in the room possess, all they need to do is dig a little and find out about my relationship with Quantum Holdings, and then they’ll very easily learn about the existence of the energy-shield boosters in that manner. Right now, it’s as if they’ve stumbled upon a puzzle, and from how they called me out here to conduct this inquiry secretly, it isn’t hard to tell that they’re very interested in getting to the bottom of the riddle.

“For example, if you were to encounter a problem, which has been troubling you for some time, that you’re very interested in, would you hope for someone else to solve it for you or would do it yourself?”

Phantom pondered for a moment. “Of course, it’d only be satisfying to solve it myself. I might very well forget it if someone were to tell me the answer... I see now; you’re intentionally creating this mystery in order to arouse their interest even greater. By the time they discover the energy-shield boosters, they’ll have studied it even more carefully.

“If you tell them right away about the features of the energy-shield booster, they will just listen and not bother investigating it as eagerly as they’re now. Once they witness the effects of the energy-shield boosters for themselves, there’s no way that they’ll ever forget it again.”

Xia Fei nodded. “That’s exactly it. One will hardly have a deep impression of anything someone tries to drill into their head, but things that one uncovers and finds by themselves will forever be lodged into their mind; besides, the impression I gave them of me being an honest man who holds up my end of any agreement will also help in building the foundation of future cooperation. Those people aren’t the common folks, not the sort who will buy whatever they’re being advertised. They’re very clever men, so there’s no way to impress them without putting slightly more effort in it.”

Phantom nodded his head repeatedly in agreement. “Isn’t this one of the thirty-six strategems, ‘cat and mouse’? I was actually thinking that you’d gone mad just then. Something good just might come out of this; if the military does indeed decide on utilizing the energy-shield boosters, even Avril’s father or grandfather won’t underestimate you again, especially after you get rich.”

Xia Fei did not say a word to it. He had already done all he could with this situation. He should not really care how the final outcome would come to be.

...

The fact that Xia Fei survived while Baldy died made Li Mo extremely displeased. Furthermore, Xia Fei had managed to pull off the miraculous nine consecutive kills and this feat was being spread like wildfire, dominating the limelight all by himself. Even though he could no longer aspire to gain the Golden Finger Cup, his achievements were not about to be forgotten. A double max score and achieving nine consecutive kills—such a result was enough to ensure that the masses would be talking about him for a very long time.

The mustached man received a severe scolding from Li Mo, the former leaving the room afterward with his head hanging low as the latter remained in his room and drank his sorrows away all by himself.

“Young master.” The mustached man had made a soundless return to Li Mo’s room sometime afterward; his head was still lowered when he spoke up.

“Didn’t I ask you to scram? Why are you back?!” Li Mo snapped.

The mustached man answered in a serious tone, “The master’s looking for you.”

“Oh? Where’s father? I’ll head over right away.”

The mustached man hesitated before saying in a small voice, “He’s at the altar.”