A transaction with Mobius and the Flame-Chasers.
---o---
"Name?"
"Chen Li."
"Gender."
"...Female."
"For real?" The person opposite him was stunned, thinking this might be some unique trait of an outlander.
"Of course not. Do you really need me to state my own gender?" Chen Li complained.
"It's all for the sake of rigor. Yes, rigor. Just cooperate, little brother," the burly man sitting across the table from Chen Li said, scratching his head in embarrassment.
"You have to understand, the fact that a newcomer who just joined the Flame-Chasers went off to subjugate the Herrscher of the Void is sensational enough. Then, after the subjugation, she brings back a self-proclaimed traveler from another world. This whole affair has really shaken up the higher-ups at the Flame-Chasers. Oh, right, let me introduce myself. My name is Hen," Hen said.
As a head of the operations department, Hen was clearly out of his element when it came to interrogation. But who else could do it, when he was the first person Elysia brought Chen Li to see?
Hen glanced to his left, trying to get his teammate to take the lead in the questioning, but Elysia, sitting to his left, completely ignored his plea for help.
"Captain, I'm just a rookie, you know," Elysia reminded him.
"What kind of rookie are you?! Forget it. Chen Li, tell us, why did you come to this world?" Hen sighed and asked.
"To collect forging materials. It might sound a bit harsh, but the Honkai Beasts of your world are a local specialty. The materials they drop are naturally specialty materials as well," Chen Li explained.
"A specialty? So you come from a world without Honkai Beasts? I'm so envious. I can't even imagine how wonderful a world like that must be," Hen sighed.
"If you think a world that gets invaded by other worlds every year or every few years, where various Evil Gods and devils run rampant, and where you constantly have to be on guard against powerful Profession-holders going insane and causing chaos after using Relics is 'wonderful,' then I have nothing more to say." Chen Li spread his hands and leaned back in a tactical gesture.
"Err... that sounds pretty rough," Hen said, momentarily unable to compare which world was worse off.
But in any case, they both sounded miserable.
"It's alright. Every world that dares to mess with ours gets counter-invaded, and then the world itself distributes the spoils to us natives as a form of welfare. So, life manages to be orderly amidst the chaos," Chen Li said nonchalantly.
"Ahem, we're getting off-topic. May I ask how you came to this world? Is the method replicable? Can we establish communication with your world?" Hen asked a series of questions after glancing at some notes on his communicator.
These were a few questions urgently provided by a professional, who was still on their way.
"It's not replicable. And communication between worlds is even more impossible," Chen Li said, shaking his head.
"Is that so... Let me ask a different question, then. What can you provide for the Flame-Chasers? Don't look at me like that, it's not my question."
"You can trade sufficient materials for something from me," Chen Li said.
"Like the remains of the Herrscher of the Void?" Hen hadn't forgotten that Elysia mentioned the body was still in Chen Li's spatial inventory.
"Since that thing was hunted in your world and holds great significance for you, I'll consider it half-sold, half-gifted. Just give me some Soulium," Chen Li said.
"Soulium?! How do you know about that?" Hen shot up from his seat, staring intently at Chen Li.
"As a forger, when I arrive in a world brimming with forging materials, I can naturally discern which materials are worth obtaining. What, is Soulium very precious?" Chen Li asked casually.
He wasn't the least bit flustered.
Thanks to the miracle of defeating the Herrscher of the Void, Chen Li had already earned the right to establish a Miracle Beacon in this Encounter world.
A Miracle Beacon was the crucial credential for him to return to an Encounter world. Without it, returning to this specific world would be purely a matter of luck.
In other words, he could leave at any moment and come back later.
Mentioning Soulium was a deliberate move.
If the Flame-Chasers had Soulium now, he would get some. If they didn't, he would give them some design concepts for it, have them produce it quickly, and then get his share.
"That stuff... is very precious. Its production is extremely scarce," Hen said with hesitation.
Soulium was a metal specifically designed to counter Honkai energy, developed by the Flame-Chasers based on preliminary research of the ruins excavated on the moon.
Because the research had just begun, the current output was minimal.
"As long as you have it. So, can I get some?" Chen Li rubbed his hands together.
"This..."
"You can." The door to the interrogation room, which was a temporarily converted conference room, was pushed open, and a green-haired woman in a lab coat walked in.
After she entered, Chen Li clearly saw Elysia's eyes light up.
"Dr. Mobius, what are you doing here? Where's the professional?" Hen was taken aback by the visitor.
"Oh, I am the professional."
"..." Hen clearly didn't believe her for a second.
"After I 'took care of' the professional, I became the professional," Mobius stated with certainty.
"Huh?"
"Hurry up and take that professional to the infirmary. It wouldn't be good for him to catch a cold lying on the floor. And don't bother coming back; I'm taking over here. Your daughter is in the lab, crying for you. Something about wanting to play ride the horsey," Mobius said with a wave of her hand, shooing Hen away.
"Fine." Hen's scalp tingled, but this was classic Mobius.
"Oh, right, who is she?" Mobius asked, gesturing towards Elysia sitting next to Hen.
"A new recruit. She's the one who brought this outlander back to the Flame-Chasers," Hen said.
"Is she assigned to the moon mission? Or staying on the surface?"
"Staying on the surface. Should I take her with me?" Hen asked.
"No need. She's a party to this matter, after all," Mobius shook her head.
"Um, maybe I should stay a little longer? I can give Elysia a tour of the Flame-Chasers after the interrogation is over," Hen tried to find an excuse to stay.
"Not necessary. I'll do it," Mobius said impatiently.
"It's a deal." Hen instantly vanished.
"...He did that on purpose, didn't he?" Mobius said, annoyed.
Always pushing troublesome matters onto others, running away faster than anyone, and he even stole my most prized assistant!
Tsk, whatever. Better to focus on the outlander in front of me.
---o---
"So, if the Flame-Chasers want the remains and core of the Second Herrscher, they have to provide you with three portions of Soulium?" Mobius asked, her chin resting on her hand.
"Mhm."
"Deal," Mobius nodded.
"Hey, you agreed that easily?" Elysia, who was sitting on the side, was surprised.
On the way back, Chen Li had told her that he really only needed enough Soulium to forge a single weapon, but that he would make an exorbitant demand first.
Ask for the best to get the middle; ask for the middle to get the worst.
It was the wisdom of his ancestors.
"It's not like I'm the one providing the Soulium," Mobius waved her hand dismissively.
But the Second Herrscher's remains were indeed for her research.
Why should she care if other departments got a headache?
"Can you really make that call?" Chen Li was a little worried.
"If the Flame-Chasers don't deliver, just go and chop down all their higher-ups. I won't stop you," Mobius said nonchalantly.
"..."
Chen Li was beginning to understand why Mobius of the Previous Era wasn't well-liked by the higher-ups, or even by the Flame-Chasers as a whole.
She knocked out her colleague, the professional negotiator, and then sold out the entire Flame-Chaser leadership without a second thought.
It would be a miracle if anyone liked her!
Still, after a moment's consideration, Chen Li took the Herrscher of the Void's remains out of his inventory and placed them on the floor nearby.
He had other trump cards, so he wasn't worried about them going back on their word.
"Is there anything else to trade besides this?" Mobius asked with a frown after glancing at Hen's meeting notes.
His handwriting is atrocious.
"Yes. A Longevity Pill. It can extend one's life by a century." This was Chen Li's trump card.
"Can it surpass the physiological limits of the human body? Interesting!" Mobius's eyes instantly lit up.
"No, it only grants longevity. The principle is different," Chen Li shook his head.
"Not interested," Mobius's enthusiasm vanished in a flash.
"I'm interested! Mobius, don't talk nonsense! Someone! Get in here, drag her out of the conference room! Get someone who can actually negotiate!" a shrill voice blared from the room's intercom.
"Tch, all those higher-ups ever think about is immortality," Mobius grumbled.
"Whatever. Before those people get here, let's make some other deals. For example... can I study you?" Mobius asked with great interest.
She was very curious about how he could travel between worlds.
"Not really an option," Chen Li shook his head, politely refusing.
"Then do you have any monster flesh or similar specialty products from your world?"
"I do, but I didn't bring any this time."
"Then I'll place a pre-order. For one portion of Soulium."
"Dr. Mobius, are you authorized to make that deal?"
"Don't worry about whether I'm authorized. You just agree to it. At worst, if the Flame-Chasers don't honor the deal, you can just refuse to sell the Longevity Pill to the higher-ups, right? They'll agree," Mobius said.
Since ancient times, there has never been a leader who didn't desire a long life.
"In that case, I can also forge a scalpel for you. A scalpel with miraculous powers. The effects can be customized," Chen Li said immediately, understanding Mobius's plan.
"Good, it's a deal. One portion of Soulium."
"Alright, but you have to provide the materials yourself."
"No problem," Mobius nodded.
And just like that, Chen Li and Mobius, now partners in crime, arranged several deals before the Flame-Chaser higher-ups could rush into the conference room.
Of course, these deals weren't excessive; in fact, they were quite reasonable.
After all, they couldn't treat the Flame-Chaser leadership like fools.
The Flame-Chasers had many departments, and each had its own reasonable demands for Chen Li. But which department got to fulfill their demands first would depend on who could act the fastest.
"Hey, wait, Dr. Mobius, you promised to give me a tour of the Flame-Chasers!" Elysia stood up and chased after Mobius as she was being ushered out of the room.
She couldn't let a beautiful girl like Mobius get away.
"Hold on, as a party involved, please cooperate with us," a Flame-Chaser executive said politely.
After all, in Chen Li's own words, this was the warrior who could thrash the Herrscher of the Void.
The Flame-Chasers needed such high-level talent; being polite was only natural.
And this was precisely why Chen Li had given half the credit for defeating the Second Herrscher to Elysia and had vigorously hyped up her combat abilities.
Praise was free, after all.
Besides, he and Elysia had fought shoulder to shoulder. At least, their shoulders had literally been next to each other.
"Let her go. It's not like you care where I'm from. You only care whether I truly have a Longevity Pill," Chen Li said, taking out a pill that emitted a faint fragrance.
"Or were you planning to give Elysia a share?" Chen Li asked in return.
"Alright, you may leave for now. Mr. Chen Li and I have important matters to discuss," the executive politely dismissed Elysia.
"Now then, let's talk about the business of longevity," Chen Li said, tossing the pill in his hand.
In the past, to ensure his survival after "transmigrating," Chen Li had resorted to all sorts of extreme measures, including using an "Undying Slough" to create a good number of Longevity Pills.
Gold, silver, pepper, and fine salt were used to bribe commoners, while the Longevity Pills were for bribing the rich and powerful.
As for why he didn't use them to acquire more things that "belonged" to him in his original world?
Because in his world, lifespan was also locked by one's system panel.
And why didn't Chen Li just eat one himself after arriving in another world?
That was because only he knew what he had actually put into those pills.
Furthermore, this type of "Undying Slough" seemed to be related to the concept of time, making it truly useless to him.