It's the cyber age now, and you're still playing traditional villains?

"If you really need a guard, we have other candidates besides Knight Commander Qin."

She said calmly, "As for the dispute between you and Knight Luo Yu... it doesn't seem necessary to get to the point of bloodshed, right? How about asking him to apologize to you?"

"Then there's nothing to talk about."

Xu Shi shrugged, "After all, I am a petty person... To be honest, this is already my biggest concession."

"Why not ask your Pope? Perhaps he will have a different opinion?"

As he spoke, he looked at the half-open door.

"…The words of the Saint are mine. The Holy See cannot use the life of a Templar Knight in exchange for the opportunity to cooperate with you."

Soon, an old voice came from behind the door, "But you should also consider that it is not a good thing for you to completely break off ties with the Holy See."

His voice was somewhat similar to Wen Shengkui's previous voice. Although it sounded old, it was still sonorous and powerful in everyone's ears.

"His Majesty the Pope!"

Luo Yu was overjoyed. After all, these two authorities were speaking for him, which made him feel a lot more at ease.

"Isn't this a threat to me?"

Xu Shi was unfazed by this, and even sneered a few times, "Wouldn't it be better to just kill us here and avoid any future troubles forever?"

"Do you dare?"

At this moment, his attitude was not at all inferior.

"..."

After these words were spoken, everyone in the Vatican fell silent, even Luo Yu kept silent.

After all, no one would really attack him here. He said that he lacked guards, but that couldn't really be the case - not to mention the people around him, is there anyone in the royal family who is secretly protecting him?

Don't forget that when the two parties first started cooperating, Cheng Gujian had already sent his close experts to accompany them.

"That's right, who doesn't know how to shout verbally?"

Xu Shi laughed, "It's ridiculous to talk about cooperation when you can't even meet such a simple request."

"As for whether breaking up is a good thing...we weren't really close friends to begin with, were we?"

"Who's afraid?"

I’m only a little over a hundred monthly tickets away from breaking 1k... I’ll just have to be thick-skinned and ask for more. Balls to everyone.

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 264: Auntie, you still say you can’t act?!

2023-09-14

"So you never thought about cooperating with the Vatican, right?"

After walking out of the gate of the Vatican, Xie Qingyan didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

If she still can't see that this bad man is just playing tricks on her, then she has lived in vain all these years... Anyway, I know you dare not touch a hair on my head, so what can you do if I shit and piss on your head?

Just ride, just ride.

Of course, even when the situation is going well, one cannot act recklessly. If Xu Shi really said, "Let your saints be my fluff balls," you will see whether others can withstand the pressure and beat you... The Holy See would react strongly if you were asked a name, not to mention this kind of request which would be considered disrespectful in their ears.

But if Luo Yu was killed and Qin Yiyan was made a maid, it wouldn't seem so excessive - mainly because of Xu Shi's personality. If he said it, no one would think there was anything wrong.

As for the result, naturally Xu Shi and his party left the Vatican in a swagger.

"uh-huh."

Xu Shi did not comment on the question about his fiancée. He grabbed Pan Ling who was hiding behind him in a good mood and said, "Don't be invisible in the back. I'll give you a pop test."

"Ok?"

"If they really agree to my request, what should we do next?"

"Ah this..."

The silly disciple didn't know what he was thinking, but he reacted quickly when he heard it.

"If the Holy See really agrees to such an excessive request just because of a word from an outsider like Master, then it proves that they are too unscrupulous in their actions."

Miss Xiaoling frowned and analyzed, "It won't be good to cooperate with such people. Even our own people can be sold at will, let alone partners?"

"continue."

Xu Shi's face showed joy. He hadn't taken care of her recently, but it was obvious that her level had improved a lot. It seemed that the silly apprentice had learned a lot and grown a lot from the matter of the Poseidon Stone.

"But since the other party has made a gesture, if we reject it on the spot, we will be the only ones who suffer."

Pan Ling nodded and continued, "If it were me, I would choose to reach a temporary cooperation, release some benefits within the control range, and then choose the right time to break away."

"This is the disciple you taught."

Xie Qingyan complained, "The more I look at you, the more I feel like you two are cast from the same mold..."

Not really. It seemed that Xu Shi himself was only relieved, but she was more shocked - to be honest, if it were the bitch herself, the answer she could give would probably be similar.

But don't forget, it has only been a few months since Pan Ling became Xu Shi's apprentice.

This period of time is not long, and to have such great progress, or change, is itself a remarkable thing.

When I first met her, she was just like a little white flower, but now you have completely trained her to be a sinister person...

You did a great job, Xu. (Great reading)

"Thank you for the compliment, Master."

The silly apprentice remained calm and accepted the complaint. It can be seen that she was quite satisfied with it.

So, "birds of a feather flock together", I guess this is what it means, right?

"It would be better if your tone is a little more exaggerated."

Xu Shi also smiled, and flicked his apprentice's forehead with two fingers, as if jokingly saying, "It's hard for you to praise Master Xie, so don't discourage her enthusiasm."

"… Stop it, Master."

Pan Ling rubbed her forehead, her tone a little more aggrieved, "I have another question for you."

Some little fools finally realized that their master is more childish than they thought. How come they never see you behave properly? And can you please stop tapping your forehead? It will make you stupid...

"Just ask."

"What I want to ask is your attitude towards cooperating with the Holy See, Master."

Miss Xiaoling said seriously, "Because in my opinion, no matter what, cooperating with both the Holy See and the royal family is a better option."

"Why do you think so?"

Xu Shi raised his eyebrows and asked with interest.

"Because this would maximize our interests, wouldn't it?"

Pan Ling explained, "Cooperating with both the Vatican and the royal family at the same time means that we can better check and balance these two parties in the future."

"For example, if we give one party the cold shoulder, then if they want to keep up with the others, they will definitely lower their bottom line, and we can also gain more benefits from this, right?"

"On the contrary, if we only choose one party, there will be no competition between partners... It may even cause the party that failed to cooperate to completely break up with us. Is this a good thing for us?"

"But you didn't do that, Master... Are you worried that the Church is just pretending to be submissive? But since the other party has already lowered their stance, it actually means that they are willing to make concessions. You shouldn't have any more concerns about this."

This was what she found most strange. Now was clearly the best time, but Xu Shi did not make the best choice. In her opinion, it would not be an exaggeration to say that it was the worst choice.

Didn't he think about it? Pan Ling didn't think so. How could the master not notice something that she could figure out?

In her opinion, the only possible explanation was that it was really the same as Xu Shi said, that he would rather give up his own interests for the sake of momentary pleasure because of his narrow-mindedness...but this was completely different from his master's character.

Even though she had only been in contact with Xu Shi for the shortest time, she could clearly feel that Xu Shi was not someone who would be swayed by personal feelings. Even if he really wanted to take over the Vatican, he would not do so... The so-called lack of integrity was actually just a protective color. Anyone who really believed this was a fool.

That's why she felt strange and couldn't understand it no matter how hard she tried... This was probably the reason why he had been silent just now.

"Is that what you think?"

Xu Shi's smile became brighter and brighter. "It seems that you have really learned a lot. It's worth it for me to train you for so long."

"But you still don't think about it, otherwise you wouldn't ask such a question."

"Hey?"

Pan Ling was confused. The mature image she had worked so hard to create was shattered by this sentence, and she became silly and cute again.

"Let me ask you, regardless of whether the Holy See takes action or not, what was our original plan for the next step?"

"It is through the royal family that a new sect is established..."

Pan Ling answered without thinking, but suddenly came to her senses and said, "Ah..."

Xu Shi’s meaning is self-evident.

No matter how humble the Vatican is, it is impossible to agree to such a thing because this is a bottom line issue.

To give a very similar example, if the royal family and the Vatican are compared to two people who are eating, then what he probably has to do now is to pour the food on the Vatican's plate into his own bowl, and then smash the other person's plate, intending to starve him to death.

There is no way the Vatican can accept this.

This is no longer a case of gaining benefits through micro-manipulation, and certainly this kind of thinking cannot be applied to it.

"Understand?"

Xu Shi rubbed her head. "Since it is impossible for me to cooperate with them, why bother with all those twists and turns? Just play them for a while."

You still need to practice, silly disciple.

Of course, in his opinion, his apprentice has made great progress by considering this.

Moreover, it should be said that her considerations were hardly influenced by personal emotions. They were completely based on rational analysis and considerations to gain more benefits for her side. Obviously, the former Brother Luo Yu could no longer influence her thinking.

Although Xu Shi no longer thought that she would have any cruel feelings towards Luo Yu, and would never jokingly say something as arrogant as "Are you really afraid that I will kill him?", the reaction of his obedient disciple still made him happy.

This is the difference between active and passive.

"Oh……"

Pan Ling nodded thoughtfully, "Master is right, I will teach you...not right."

She suddenly noticed a very basic question, "Even if you say so, Master, before we completely break off relations with the Church, we can still get this value, right?"

Just like the Poseidon Stone transaction controlled by the master before, the bubble was blown first and then popped.

So, it seems that there is no difference in treating the Holy See in the same way?

This problem seemed to become more and more complicated. As the silly disciple thought about it, his eyes began to spin in circles.

"Well... there are two reasons."

Xu Shi was not reluctant to answer, "First, the Vatican's reliance on us is not as strong as the royal family's. The royal family needs our help to reduce losses, but the Vatican's own losses in the Poseidon Stone incident were not that great. I remember that you counted this yourself."

This is absolutely true, because the Vatican's approach to the Poseidon Stone is different from that of the other two parties. As mentioned before, as long as it is linked to the word "Lord God", there will be a lot of people willing to pay for it even if it is garbage.

In this case, it would be far-fetched to say that they also suffered losses. Maybe they even made a lot of money... Even if it was the Poseidon Stones that they had hoarded before, they had a way to digest them. They just needed to change the packaging and start over, right? They didn't even need to change the tricks.

Not to mention that they are not of one mind internally, or like the royal family, the attitudes of Cheng Gujian and the little queen, or even Cheng Gujian alone, can represent everything. The purpose of discussing cooperation is the same as mentioned before, which is more to check and balance the royal family.

There is a high probability that there will be no follow-up after people discuss conditions with you. By then, they will be the ones who are dragged down. No matter how long the cooperation period is, the benefits they can obtain will be much less than on paper, and a lot of unnecessary trouble will arise.

He is too lazy to waste his time on thankless tasks.

"Then... the second point?"

Pan Ling thought about it and it really made sense, so she continued to ask.

"Think for yourself."

Xu Shi kept the audience in suspense and ended the topic after saying this.

"...Master, can we not always be like this?"

The silly disciple wanted to cry but had no tears. She could only say that although she had not experienced the physical aspect yet, she had no idea how many times she had experienced the spiritual aspect...

Even if it is for training yourself, you can't use this trick every time!

I don’t want to think, I just want to listen!

"No, no."

Xu Shi shook his head shamelessly, but still gave her a little hope, "If you really can't think of it, go ask your junior sister, she should know."