This is not mechanical ascension...

Chapter 617 Negotiation Torture
But the situation now is different from the past, so Li Ming naturally would not be willing. Fifty billion star coins would only be equivalent to six or seven hundred million metal energies, which is too little.

"That's not how it works." Costat shook his head. "If you kill him, it will be worthless."

"We should not only consider his value to us, but also his value to you."

Negotiations are all about pulling each other. Costat is very experienced, but Qinglong doesn't play by the rules. He said directly:
"I don't want to chat with you either. How about this? Give me a sincere price. 50 billion is definitely not enough."

The three people's faces changed slightly, and Costat swallowed back what he wanted to say.

Zhang Hengyu hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "Your Excellency Qinglong is really straightforward. In that case, I won't hide anything. Sixty-five billion star coins."

“This is the bottom line we can get.”

"You're not honest." Li Ming stared at him and said abruptly, "I used to admire you a little bit."

Zhang Hengyu's face changed slightly, and he said helplessly: "Sir...we can't do anything. These X-level life forms are very important, but star coins can't be transformed."

Star coins contain energy and are special minerals. They are anchors in themselves, not internal currencies of civilizations. You can print as many as you want.

"One price, three hundred billion each." Li Mingshi's request was very high, more than double the price.

The three of them all turned green in the face, knowing that Qinglong would not give them the money according to the market price, but directly increasing it to 300 billion was a bit too much.

"Everything has a price. If the price exceeds too much, we can't agree to it even if we want to." Costat said in a deep voice.

"If you don't agree, forget it." Li Ming shrugged. "Although it will cost a little to transform them into mechanical bodies, it's not impossible."

Costat's eyebrows jumped, and he wished he could bite this guy to death.

They had already agreed to the other party's request and had invested a certain amount of money, but the talks broke down after just a few words. So why should they satisfy Qinglong before that?

If the sunk costs are invested and the negotiation fails, it means loss.

Zhang Hengyu said quickly: "It doesn't have to be that bad. Three hundred billion is too much. How about... we both take a step back and try one hundred billion?"

This is also their bottom line price. They also know that 50 billion is really a bargain. It is the tacit price at which both parties have captured prisoners.

Qinglong is a loner and has no tacit understanding with them.

"I've taken too many steps back." Li Ming sneered, "One hundred billion to buy an X-level life form is too cheap for you."

"Mr. Qinglong, this is not how you calculate the accounts." Zhang Hengyu smiled bitterly.

"Two hundred billion." Li Ming spit out another number, his face cold: "There is no room for retreat. If you retreat again, there will be no talk."

"How about 150 billion?" Zhang Hengyu said cautiously.

Snapped--
The screen was dark. Zhang Hengyu's heart skipped a beat and he hurriedly applied for communication again, but there was no response.

They quickly contacted Costat and the other two. The three of them looked very unhappy. While they were constantly trying to contact Qinglong, they were also communicating.

It took more than half an hour before the communication was connected.

"Two hundred billion..." Zhang Hengyu said directly, "According to your request, two hundred billion."

"It's too late. I want 250 billion now." Li Ming shook his head. Zhang Hengyu was stunned, and his cheeks turned red at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Costat's breathing was rapid, and even the veins on the smooth forehead of the "goddess" Dius bulged.

"How can you go back on your word?" Zhang Hengyu suppressed his emotions and said helplessly.

"Does what you just said count as a promise?" Li Ming asked, and then said, "If it counts, then you can think that I am going back on my word."

Zhang Hengyu was really helpless. The initiative was not in their hands, and they had almost no way to deal with Qinglong's threat.

"Then there's no need to talk." Costat said coldly.

Li Ming ended the call faster than him, and the three of them looked gloomy.

The next day, Li Ming received communication requests from three people as expected.

He still didn't answer the phone. After another hour, he slowly picked up the phone.

"Two hundred and fifty billion, as you wish!" Costat said in a deep voice, "This is the final price. If you raise the price again, it's up to you."

"Then let's go with 250 billion." Li Ming nodded in agreement. This was five times the original market price.

The three of them did not show any joy at all.

They had been scolded a lot yesterday, but there was nothing they could do. They had no advantage to begin with and could only be manipulated by Qinglong at will.

Costat immediately added: "When redeeming the captives, we will conduct a full range of tests, including development potential."

"I know that you have an extremely advanced biochemical virus that can destroy the development potential of higher life forms and even cause the life level to further degenerate. If the development potential and data do not match, we will refuse the transaction."

Li Ming frowned when he heard this, and suddenly sighed, "Okay."

Why are you sighing? Costat almost couldn't help sighing.

"However, since you have made a request, it wouldn't be too much for me to make one too," said Li Ming.

"Qinglong!" Costat was angry: "What kind of request are we making? This is the basic guarantee for exchanging prisoners!"

"That's not what I meant." Li Ming shook his head. "It's not a request in your case, but it is a request in my case."

"Don't worry." Li Mingxu pressed his left hand, "My request is not excessive. I just want to change the settlement method. I don't need star coins. I hope you can directly trade with refined high-end alloys, calculated at 50% of the market price."

After hearing the first half of the speech, no one reacted. But after hearing the last part, Costat's eyes almost popped out. "5%?"

"What's the difference between this and doubling the redemption price?"

"When I buy, the premium is basically removed. If you give me the market price, I will lose money." Li Ming shook his head.

"How can the premium be as high as 50%!" Costat said bitterly, "High-end alloys have extremely high technical costs and are already very expensive. Those who would buy them know the inside story. It's impossible for the premium to be that high."

"Then how much do you think the premium is?" Li Ming was displeased.

"At most 30%!" Costat said coldly. As soon as he finished speaking, he reacted and heard Qinglong immediately say: "Then 30%!"

Costat's face turned from red to blue, and then to purple. Li Ming was afraid that he would be so angry that he would die.

Zhang Hengyu sighed deeply, just wanting to end this torture quickly, "Sir Qinglong, next is the redemption price of those ordinary soldiers and related warships..."

There wasn't much room for maneuver this time. These three people had also learned to be cunning, and the big bosses had already discussed it.

Qinglong has also paid the sunk cost and will not simply refuse to talk about it.

Therefore, the negotiations with ordinary soldiers took even longer, and it took a full three days to finalize the deal.

The overall price is not low, even reaching half of that of a level X life form.

Dius took over the conversation: "The total price is 11.5 trillion star coins, which will be converted into metal materials for settlement. We need more time to raise them, so this redemption will be divided into five batches, to be delivered over three years."

Their stocks of cutting-edge metal materials had long been almost completely sucked up by Heckler, and had even been plundered once by Qinglong.

The remaining low- and medium-grade alloys are not needed by Qinglong. It takes time to collect them. It's not a lie. "You are not a whole. You are obviously collecting them separately. Why does it take so much time? Divide them into three batches and finish them within a year." Li Ming shook his head.

"We can only try our best." Dius frowned.

Li Ming did not give them a chance to delay: "Just one year, one more day, I will kill one person, don't worry, I won't ask you to pay for the person I kill."

Faced with Qinglong's aggressive pressure, the three of them were almost numb and exhausted.

"Also, the redemption ratio is calculated based on today's alloy price." Li Ming added, "To prevent you from joining forces with other civilizations to deliberately drive up the alloy price and reduce redemption after you return."

The three of them were startled. They had not expected that there would be such a way to exploit the loophole.

Looking down, Qinglong had already printed out a list of real-time alloy prices and sent it to him, which listed 99% of the high-end alloy materials.

It was so foolproof that the three of them had no choice but to agree.

The negotiations with Qinglong over the past few days have really tortured them.

Zhang Hengyu's hair is the most obvious, with a few more white hairs. It is not ruled out that he dyed it himself.

After finalizing the matter, both parties signed a contract. Although it was just a formality, it was somewhat binding.

Finally, Costat emphasized, "Although this contract is just a piece of paper, I hope you can strictly abide by it. We will be together in the interstellar space for a long time."

He was also afraid that Qinglong might cause trouble again and tear up the agreement, so there was a hint of lack of confidence in his tone of threat.

"Whoever breaks the agreement, don't blame me for being rude." Li Ming responded calmly.

After it was completely over, Li Ming breathed a sigh of relief, but his mind was quite exhausted. It was because he took the initiative that he was able to gain so many advantages.

He estimated that in the end, he could get about 120 billion to 40 billion metal energies.

It was more than his original maximum estimate, and it was definitely a huge number, which made him unable to help but rub his fingers.

"However, how did the three major civilizations know about the "biological virus"? " Li Ming thought of another thing.

Only when he first came to the Chaos Star Gap and sought a foothold, did he use this ability to shock the Holy Mother Church.

Since then, he has rarely shown this ability to the outside world.

All those whose genetic material he absorbed died, either actively or passively. It is possible that no one fell into the hands of the three major civilizations.

Our Lady Church... Li Ming frowned, could it be that they jumped out again?
Perhaps it was spread from the Virgin Mary Church and then known to the three major civilizations.

However, not being able to absorb the gene source this time was not a big deal for him. He didn't need it for the time being. When he needed it, he could just capture a few X-level enemies.

He shook his head, thinking that he could only put aside the matter temporarily since he couldn't figure it out.

However, he thought of his last request again, and a strange smile appeared on his face, "The price of metal materials... hehe..."

Then he took out his smart terminal and sent a message to Mikhail.

So, ten days after the meeting of the United Organization of Higher Life Forms ended.

In the name of the three great master craftsmen, Mikhail summoned all the forge-star mechanics to remotely descend upon his base.

This gathering was also later than all the mechanics expected.

In Mikhail's base, in the hall open to the public, virtual projections gradually appear.

Most of the Forging-star-level mechanics, whose appearance was mainly mechanically modified, were chatting with each other in a lively atmosphere. There were no less than two hundred of them.

The classification of Forge-star mechanics is very broad, and there are some guys who control X-level mechanical bodies.

But it was basically all cobbled together and could not have been done without the funding from these two guys, Reynolds and Mikhail.

"...Kutsk, the last time we met, I was worried about the future of the Mechanic Association, thinking that it would sooner or later become a bubble in interstellar history under the erosion of various civilizations."

"I didn't expect that the Azure Dragon Master Craftsman is so powerful that he can turn the situation around all by himself."

"Yes, it's only been a few years since I was put under supervision, and my business has already shrunk by one third. If it goes on for a few more years, I'm afraid I'll be gone."

“…When the Hammer Forger was here, he didn’t have this kind of power.”

"..."

Many Casting-star mechanics were very excited, and one of them couldn't help asking, "They must have some new development plans for calling us together this time."

"We have been very frustrated recently, and we must take back the market this time."

"Hmm... Lord Qinglong has never been in charge of the Mechanic Association before. I heard that his student, the Mechanical Royal Court, is already preparing to open branches in various civilizations."

There was a pause and the atmosphere suddenly became subtle. This was equivalent to snatching their cake, but then they laughed it off.

Everyone present knew very well that it was they who needed Qinglong, not Qinglong who needed them.

If this big boss really wants to take away some business, there is nothing they can do.

"Everyone..."

Amid the noise, a clear voice was heard, drowning out the quarrels of everyone else.

"Mikhail?"

Someone immediately called out, and Mikhail's real body walked in from the door.

More than two-thirds of the Casting-Star mechanics present gradually calmed down, and some of the remaining people even glared at him, saying:
"Why is it you? Where is Lord Qinglong?"

Mikhail has a very bad reputation within the Mechanics Association. This is not something that happened overnight, but is the result of years of accumulation.

But the one who dared to directly rebuke was not an ordinary person, it must be Reynolds.

"Lord Qinglong will be here soon." Mikhail was used to this.

It’s not that he is not among them, but he had already given orders that at this time, no one should stand up for him.

Then, another shadow appeared. It was Reynolds. He laughed loudly with a deep voice, "Long time no see, everyone."

The attitude of many Casting Star-level mechanics towards him became much better, and many of them greeted him with polite attitudes.

But there was still a small number of people with calm expressions. It was unclear whether they were Mikhail's men or they had a conflict with Reynolds.

It is difficult for someone to gain the respect of everyone.

"...It's not that simple..." Reynolds suddenly laughed out loud, "I didn't just call you here to talk casually today. There's something important going on. It's something very important. It's something that concerns the interstellar situation."

Hearing him say this, many mechanics present were curious and asked questions one after another.

Reynolds kept it a secret and said mysteriously, "This matter needs to be revealed by Lord Qinglong."

(End of this chapter)