Chapter 394 - 273: Secret Channels

After the gift-giving phase, no matter how things were earlier, the atmosphere in the private room became much more relaxed.

Hong Chenle was also a very talkative person, chatting with everyone about recent amusing events, and between the chuckles, the mood became lively; later, he straightforwardly started drinking with everyone.

Those who have made it to become Mercenary Corps Leaders are certainly no strangers to socializing, and they all have good drinking capacity. Only Su Mo was drinking more cautiously.

Shangguan Li quietly reminded Su Mo halfway through: "Drink less, the intermediary said you’re not good at handling your drink. Don’t embarrass yourself by drinking too much later."

Su Mo expressed his annoyance.

After a few rounds of drinks, Abraham, the nominal organizer, finally spoke up, clapped his hands and laughed: "Everyone, seeing the Crow’s Nest rekindle goodwill with you all truly makes me very relieved. I wonder if it’s convenient for me to make an unreasonable request?"

Xuan Hui, fiddling with his prayer beads, smiled kindly: "Go ahead."

Abraham let out a sigh, speaking weightily: "Everyone, you might not know, but the border has been especially chaotic recently."

"Originally, based on past years’ experience, we should be entering a peace phase after the King selection result is out."

"But this year, some groups are not playing by the rules. Even though major groups have publicly expressed their inclinations, those people still defy the Ashen Gang."

"You see, even the Crow’s Nest respects the majority’s will and has no objection to the result, so I don’t understand what those people are challenging... Anyway, they’ve been causing quite a stir lately, turning things upside down."

Su Mo smiled slightly: "You don’t need to beat around the bush, it’s clearly Wolf Assault, right?"

Abraham: "Correct, it’s Wolf Assault. They don’t recognize the King selection result and have continuously attacked the Crow’s Nest and the Ashen Gang, already sparking several bloody conflicts."

Shangguan Li shot him a glance: "What do the internal conflicts of your border groups have to do with us?"

Abraham’s gaze turned profound, like a plotting old fox, he slowly said: "Inviting you here today, there are some matters I wish for your cooperation on, the price can be discussed."

Lucifer sneered: "I just knew it, huh? Inviting us for a meal, giving gifts for no reason, how can it be so simple? Trying to hook us one step at a time, right?"

Abraham covered his heart, smiling tranquilly: "I’m a businessman, I value business etiquette, no intention to set you up."

Park Sang-woo leaned back in his chair thoughtfully, hands behind his head: "Wolf Assault is indeed a tough bone to chew..."

"As for the others, even someone like ’Red Wolf’ Hibell, with some careful planning, might be manageable... but we can’t afford to provoke the ’Wolf King’."

Park Sung-wook: "Brother is right!"

Lucifer also unusually became serious, squinting: "Without the Wolf King, Wolf Assault is nothing, but the huge issue lies in having the Wolf King."

"My dad once said, according to our company’s intelligence department assessment, the Wolf King can pierce through a rust wall with sheer physical force. Her ’Azure Wolf Blood Code’ is at least ’mid-superlimit tier’, possibly ’high-superlimit tier’."

"The Blood Code system is inherently one where the strength increases exponentially at higher tiers; being at least a major tier above us, fearing even the New Moon Seven Stars combined aren’t enough to take on the Wolf King alone."

Chiyoda Shinnai pondered for a moment: "Doesn’t your company have a way? Can’t you send some experts to assassinate the Wolf King?"

Lucifer responded helplessly: "In this New Moon City branch, there aren’t many experts with Blood Codes at ’superlimit tier’, sending them out doesn’t guarantee a safe kill of the Wolf King, might end up losing more in the process."

Chiyoda Shinnai: "Why not request personnel from headquarters?"

Lucifer scoffed, dissatisfied: "The management can’t swallow their pride. Requesting manpower from headquarters means admitting to higher-ups—I’m incapable of handling issues in my jurisdiction."

"Those old foxes would never do something so humiliating. Unless the Wolf King directly threatens the management’s interests, they won’t invest heavily to take action."

Chiyoda Shinnai criticized: "Deceiving those above, keeping things from those below, racing for quick success, utilitarianism is deadly indeed."

Shangguan Li sidelong glanced at Abraham, summarizing everyone’s words: "Put simply, we can’t afford to provoke Wolf Assault. The Ashen Gang turning to us means they’ve found the wrong people."

Abraham revealed a meaningful smile: "Everyone misunderstood, I wasn’t asking you to deal with Wolf Assault."

Shangguan Li: "Then exactly why are you bringing this up?"

Abraham, smilingly, explained: "We’ve already sought out others to handle Wolf Assault. The border will be quite chaotic in the upcoming period, we don’t want the situation to grow more turbulent, so..."

"Starting today, hope you can keep a distance from the border, avoid getting involved amid the chaos."

Lucifer, incensed, slammed the table cursing: "*Civilization Crescent*! Each of you talks like farting, Hong earlier said to reconcile, now you’re just telling us to stay away! Are you playing with us or what? Do you believe we’ll kill you right now?"

Seeing everyone’s expression turn grim, Abraham displayed a benevolent look, hands raised to calm: "It’s a misunderstanding, genuinely. Not trying to prevent you from enjoying the border’s bounty. I’m aligned with Boss Hong in hoping Mercenaries will return to the borders."

"Merely saying, in this upcoming period, requesting Mercenaries to temporarily avoid. Don’t ask for any favors, just don’t get involved, particularly don’t aid Wolf Assault. That’s all."

"Once we eliminate Wolf Assault, Boss Hong and I will invite you again for a meal. Then, the Crow’s Nest and Ashen Gang will jointly welcome our Mercenary friends back, with generous gifts in hand, what do you think?"

At this, the Mercenary Corps Leaders present fell into deep thought.

Those who became the New Moon Seven Stars aren’t fools; they could see today’s meal was the border powers’ soft approach to buying time.