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墨書 Inktalez
Although it felt strange, Lin Yuan agreed to the video call request. He was soon informed that due to the immense energy required for this superluminal interstellar video call, he would need to pay 100 Mechanical Coins per minute.
Before Lin Yuan could express his frustration, a virtual image, indistinguishable from a Gatekeeper, suddenly appeared with a whoosh. The image stretched and bounced around as if just waking up. Finally, with a puff, a massive Virtual Screen measuring ten meters high and five meters wide materialized before him.
The screen was filled with static for several seconds, and then it seemed as if a curtain had been drawn back. To Lin Yuan's astonishment, a gigantic creature stepped out from the Virtual Screen.
To be precise, it resembled a Slime—a disgustingly soft creature. Although Lin Yuan had anticipated this, he couldn't help but be startled, nearly raising his Laser Sniper Rifle in response.
The Slime smuggler appeared oblivious to Lin Yuan's presence, glancing around with evident dissatisfaction as it muttered, "Remote star system, ignorant civilization, detestable mutated monkeys. I hate them!"
"Are you the smuggler?" Lin Yuan asked directly. He had no time for pleasantries given the cost of 100 Mechanical Coins per minute.
"Nah, please refer to me as Sir JK. Oh, poor creature, you're still using such a ridiculous means of communication. I must be dizzy; how could there be any business opportunities in such a simple and impoverished place? Farewell, my friend!"
The Slime turned to leave. At that moment, Lin Yuan noticed that while the Slime appeared incredibly lifelike, it was merely a projection. He remained still and made no attempt to stop it; he wasn't naive. These Merchants of Annihilation were not known for their generosity—especially with the Gatekeeper involved. They must have been aware of his current situation, which explained the sudden price hike. It was clearly a tactic to gain an advantage in the upcoming negotiation.
However, the more the Slime delayed its departure, the less anxious Lin Yuan felt. Although he wasn't entirely familiar with the rules and unspoken regulations of Mechanical City, he understood that since the Slime had shown up, it was unlikely it would leave without attempting some sort of business deal. It was probably just putting on a show.
Sure enough, as the Slime hesitated halfway back into the Virtual Screen, it suddenly stopped and turned to face Lin Yuan.
"I am a compassionate person with a sense of charity and goodwill. I wouldn't mind offering you some assistance, dear Esteemed Executive. What do you need?"
"An engine!" Lin Yuan replied decisively. He was now speculating about what the Gatekeeper had been doing in Mechanical City—was it colluding with this Slime to swindle him? It seemed highly likely. Thus, there was at least a ninety-nine percent chance that this Slime was either a fraud or an exceptionally low-grade dealer.
With that confidence in mind, he resolved that these two scoundrels would pay for their audacity in trying to deceive him.
The Slime clearly knew that Lin Yuan was looking to buy a second-hand engine, but this rascal was quite the actor, pretending to be nonchalant.
"Ah, so it's an important material banned for sale in Mechanical City. Tsk tsk, this is quite troublesome. It's not just a matter of Mechanical Coins; you need to have the qualifications. Esteemed Executive, I'm afraid I can't help you."
The Slime lamented, wriggling its body like a fat maggot as it turned to leave, shaking its head and sighing. However, Lin Yuan ignored it completely, watching as it fumbled about. Sure enough, the rascal turned back helplessly when it reached the edge of the screen.
"Alright then, as a good-hearted person and a law-abiding Third-Class Citizen of Mechanical City, I am willing to offer some assistance to Esteemed Executive. May I ask what kind of engine you need? Our trading company is among the top one hundred five-star trading firms in Mechanical City. We have everything from Starship engines and battleship engines to Energy Engines for Mechanical Warriors and weapon engines—anything you could possibly want!"
"I need to see the data and specific parameters before I can determine which engine I require," Lin Yuan replied calmly. Inside, however, he was extremely excited. One of his reasons for purchasing a second-hand engine was to sneak a look at those parameter data. With his current level of repair and assembly skills, just a glance at those parameters would surely provide him with great insights and benefits.
"Uh—" The Slime was momentarily stunned because it wasn't actually a smuggler but rather a con artist sent by the Gatekeeper to partner up in swindling Lin Yuan's Mechanical Coins. After all, they planned to give Lin Yuan a pile of junk that would suffice to deceive him. In the Gatekeeper's eyes, Lin Yuan didn't understand anything; if he wanted to find smuggling channels, he only needed to spend some Mechanical Coins on that information network to purchase daily information. Among all those advertisements plastered everywhere, there were bound to be contact details for smugglers.
But since Lin Yuan was completely clueless, he believed in the so-called smuggling account and password.
However, being ignorant didn't mean Lin Yuan was easy to fool when it came time for transactions. So when he requested to see various engine parameters, both the Slime and the secretly observing Gatekeeper were left dumbfounded. They had no idea what engine parameters were and had made no preparations at all; they had originally intended to deceive a fool but hadn't expected this fool to be so clever.
Fortunately, the Slime was quick-witted. It forced a profound smile and said slowly, "That’s impossible, Esteemed Executive. You must understand that Energy Engines are important materials banned for sale by the Mechanical City Federation; how could such parameters be casually leaked? Moreover, as smugglers, we are not allowed to sell brand new engines. So we only have old engines that have been eliminated by the military—yes, that's right! If you wish to purchase one, you'll need to pay a 0% deposit first before we can send the engine through the information material transmission platform. Of course, you'll also need to cover the shipping costs."
Upon hearing this, Lin Yuan became even more convinced that this rascal had issues because even the most unscrupulous merchant would at least have some understanding of their goods; at most they would provide a rough description. But this Slime seemed completely clueless!
After thinking for a moment, Lin Yuan sneered inwardly and decided not to discuss any formal parameters with this Slime anymore. Since these two rascals dared to deceive him, he wouldn't hesitate to turn the tables on them.
"Very well! A 0% deposit is fine; however, one thing—I want to see the actual item. I need an aircraft engine. Do you have any in stock?"
"Uh—hahaha! Of course! An Aircraft Engine? No problem! Let me think... Ah! It seems we do have one in the warehouse—at least 95% new! Executive, you are truly lucky; this is an engine from the latest Falcon Fighter eliminated by the Mechanical City military! You must have heard of the Falcon Fighter Series; it's essential equipment for D-Class Mechanical Warriors in combat form! Oh, umm... In short, it's very impressive! So the price won't be very favorable; considering how adorable you are, I'll give you a special price—how about One Hundred Thousand Mechanical Coins? Free shipping!"
The Slime finally entered the state, and Lin Yuan managed to catch a useful piece of information from the scoundrel's words: the combat form. However, he couldn't figure out how the Falcon Fighter could possibly transform into the Mechanical Warrior's combat form.
"Haha! Great, what a generous offer! I'll take you as a friend. I want that engine, but the condition is that I need to see the physical engine before I make any payment, understand? Goodbye!"
With that, Lin Yuan directly closed the video call. As expected, the Gatekeeper suddenly appeared, shocked and asking, "Esteemed Executive, the price for an engine can't possibly be one hundred fifty thousand. You need to negotiate! I think a fair price would be one hundred forty-five thousand Mechanical Coins. But do you have that many Mechanical Coins?"
"I don't have them, but my credit limit is still sufficient." Lin Yuan had long prepared this response. After all, he was still a Secondary Citizen of Mechanical City with a high credit limit. Although he was currently in debt by ten thousand, he still had two hundred thousand Mechanical Coins available before bankruptcy.
Lin Yuan estimated that the Gatekeeper was cooperating with the Slime to swindle him for the two hundred thousand Mechanical Coins in his credit limit. Otherwise, with just his one hundred thousand Mechanical Coins in hand, these two scoundrels wouldn't dare to mess with him like this.
Now, he wanted to see what tricks these two greedy fellows would play next. In any case, he wouldn't make any payments without seeing the actual item.
As for seeing the actual item, he still wouldn't pay because the Slime was not a smuggler at all; thus, it was destined not to have any significant backing. In other words, all actions could be done without restraint!
Although Lin Yuan had never engaged in black market dealings, he figured it wouldn't be a problem.
Now, it was up to these two greedy guys to see if they truly dared to go through with it!
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