Rat-tat-tat-tat...

The Gust assault rifle roared, and bullets flew from its muzzle, flying towards the target 1,000 metres away. The poor target was shredded in the blink of an eye. What shocked people the most was not the power and range of the Gust assault rifle, but the fact that the body of the gun was very apparently stable because the recoil was practically zero! 

*

Xia Lei emptied a magazine and tossed the Gust assault rifle casually into the box. He dusted his hands and turned to leave. As he walked off, he said, “I’ve finished my demonstration. I’m guessing you guys should now the capabilities of the products of Thunder Horse Group now, huh? That’s all, then. Goodbye, everyone.” 

He was leaving just like that? 

He was not even taking the weapons and personnel of Lockheed Martin seriously! 

The big group of spectators and French Foreign Legion watched Xia Lei leaving in silence. 

The person who found this the hardest pill to swallow was Beryl. She had come here representing Lockheed Martin, and her aim was to have the capabilities of the Thunder Horse Group’s weapons tested to let the French see how bad the Chinese products were. She had not expected that Xia Lei would wow everyone present in one move, and win over everyone present to his side! 

What made her angrier was that Xia Lei had dusted his hands off and left even before Lockheed Martin had started on firing their own weapons. This attitude of his… it was scorn. An offense to her! 

Xia Lei did not even look back.  

“Please hold on, Mr Xia,” said Hattori Masao in English. He walked towards Xia Lei as he spoke. 

Xia Lei stopped in his tracks. “What do you want?” 

Hattori Masai put a smile on his face. “May I ask for a bit of your time, Mr Xia? Let’s have a talk in private.”

“I still have to return to take care of official matters. Please be quick if you have anything to say.” Xia Lei had no amiable feelings about Hattori Masao either because of Beryl. 

There was a saying — like father like daughter. Beryl was an arrogant, self-important woman, so how much better could Hattori Masao be? Besides, he was also the captain of the Japanese land-based Self Defence Force. This status of his made Xia Lei uncomfortable too. 

“Mr Xia, I will not take up too much of your time. I’d like to talk with you about a matter which will also be of benefit to you.” Hattori Masao was not giving up. 

Xia Lei hesitated. “All right, then.” 

“Please come with me.” Hattori Masao walked towards an area which had no one else around. 

Xia Lei followed him, trying to guess at what this man wanted to talk to him about. He was actually willing to talk to this man not because of some ‘benefit’, but because he wanted to know what Hattori Masao was here for. As for the benefits, he was not going to exchange anything with the Japanese, no matter what benefits they offered him. 

Hattori Masao came to a stop when he felt like he had walked enough of a distance. He turned to face Xia Lei and gave him a friendly smile. “Mr Xia, you are the greatest genius I’ve ever seen. I respect you a lot. Let’s be friends.” 

Virtually no one would refuse the initiation of friendship from a captain of the Japanese land forces Self Defence Force… but Xia Lei was not particularly interested, and his attitude showed it. “You called me over here just to say this? No thanks to being friends. Let’s just talk if you want to talk.” 

Embarrassment flashed across Hattori Masao’s face and he was unsettled, but he did not show his anger. He kept the friendly smile on his face. “Mr Xia, is this because of my daughter? She is a clueless girl. I apologise on her behalf.” 

“She did not do anything wrong; there’s no need to apologise to me.” Xia Lei lost his patience. “Hey, Mr Hattori, if you really don’t have anything to say to me, then I’ll be going now.” 

Hattori Masao was silent for a bit before he said seriously, “I’d like to buy your weapons. All your weapons — the XL2500, Gust assault rifle and Hellhound One-soldier Cannon. If you’re willing to transfer your technology, we will be sure to compensate you handsomely.” 

Xia Lei paused, then couldn’t help a laugh. “Mr Hattori, you’d like to buy my Thunder Horse Group’s weapons? Are you for real?” 

Hattori Masao looked very serious. “Mr Xia, do I look like I’m joking? You just have to give the nod, and we will pay above market price for your weapons. It’s all arms dealing. You sell to France, to the UAE and Saudi Arabia — why not to us? We’re willing to pay 20% higher than the market prices. You’re a businessman. You should want to pursue this avenue of profit maximisation.”

“I do want to make money, and profit maximisation IS what a businessman should go for…” Xia Lei’s voice wavered. “But…” 

“But what?” 

“I’d like to buy Japan’s electronics technology. Name a price,” said Xia Lei. 

“This is…” Hattori Masao wrinkled his brow. 

American was the leading country in the sciences, but she was still behind Japan in electronics technology. Japan was the world leader in this, and her SLR was the top in the world. This was a clear example of her strength. In truth, China also imported a lot of electric components from Japan, in industries ranging from industrial production to National Defence.

Xia Lei smiled. “What, you’re not happy? I guarantee a good price so long as you’re willing to sell.” 

Hattori Masao’s expression turned ugly immediately. He’d thought that Xia Lei was considering his proposal earlier, but he was just throwing his previous words back in his face again. How could he treat him like this when he was of this status! 

“You’re not willing to sell? You got unhappy from me wanting to buy your Japanese electronics technology? So, you come to me wanting to buy my stuff and I have to agree because of that bti of money you’re offering to me? What is this logic? The logic of the Japanese?” 

“Mr Xia!” Anger glinted in Hattori Masao’s eyes. “Even if you’re not selling to us, we can still procure your weapons from somewhere else. Your company is a privately-owned one. Don’t you think it foolish to not make money where you can?” 

Xia Lei scoffed. “If you buy my weapons just anywhere, then good for you. I don’t care. But. If you want to buy it from me, then there is no discussion. I have no need to want any of your stinking money.” 

“Hah!” Their talk ended just like that. Hattori Masao let out a snort and turned to leave. 

“Mr Hattori, let me give you a warning. There is no empire in this world that will keep standing forever,” said Xia Lei. 

Hattori Masao looked back at Xia Lei. “What do you mean by that?” 

Xia Lei kept his tone neutral. “I’m not talking about Japan because it has never been an empire. I’m talking about America. The ancient empires, Persian, Roman, Tang, Yuan, Ming, have all disappeared… so there’s no need to build new bonfires of hatred or those flames will consume you all one day.” 

Hattori Masao spoke coldly, “If we were in Japan right now, I’d have sent you to prison for saying that.” 

“If we were in China right now, I won’t have you sent to prison. I’ll beat you up,” said Xia Lei. 

“You…” Hattori Masao’s face turned purple with anger. How dare a Chinese punk talk to him, a Captain, in this way! 

However, this was France. **

Xia Lei turned and walked away. 

Whoosh! 

The employees of Lockheed Martin fired their anti-tank missile. The missile shot out of the launcher and whoosed towards the scrap-tank, trailing fire. 

The biggest drawback of the Javelin was that the launching of the missile revealed the location of the launcher. The person launching it would also need to keep the infrared ray locked-on and could not move. A line-guided missile usually took close to 10 seconds, and if one were discovered and a tank shot at the location, it was bye-bye. 

The anti-tank missile hit the tank seconds later. A violent explosion boomed, and the tank was destroyed. Flames shot skywards. Based on power alone, the anti-tank missile was more powerful than the Hellhound, but the time taken by the Hellhound to launch the missile and hit the target was much quicker than the anti-tank missile. 

Both objectives were to destroy the tank. If a soldier were to choose, he would surely choose the Hellhound and not the Javelin. 

Sure enough, the French did not clap or cheer after the Javelin destroyed the target tank. They did not even look surprised. Most of them only glanced at it, and turned their gazes to the Hellhound which Xia Lei had left behind, then to him.

Based on the reaction of these Frenchmen, they seemed lukewarm towards Lockheed Martin’s Javelin, but very interested in the Hellhound One-soldier Cannon. 

Xia Lei took note of all of this, and he could not help the smile on his face. ‘Those Frenchmen are probably going to draft up an agreement and sign it with me very soon.’ 

Jacqueline Eva walked over to his just as this thought popped into his head. 

“Are you really leaving, Xia?” she asked.

“Yeah. I know what their weapons can do, and I don’t care. There’s no meaning in me staying either, so I’d like to go back,” said Xia Lei. 

“Let’s go together.” Jacqueline Eva lowered her voice. “They’ve finished their discussion. Deal. They will hand me the agreement in an hour, and I will sign it with you then.” 

“No problem, but… I’d like to know how I’ll be receiving the things I wanted.” 

“This is not the place to discuss something like this. Let’s talk back in the hotel.” 

Xia Lei nodded. His gaze went to Beryl as he left, and she was looking at him too. Her eyes were as cold as ice, and they glinted with hatred. 

“Enough. Stop looking. You already made her so mad that there’s no game for you to play there,” said Jacqueline Eva. 

Xia Lei suddenly remembered something. “Oh, right, I have a condition.” 

“Another condition?” Jacqueline Eva grew nervous. “I’ve already had things settled with those guys. You can’t just add in another condition like this.” 

“I am definitely adding this condition,” said Xia Lei. “My technology cannot be given to Japan, and the weapons France produces cannot be sold to Japan either. If you do this in secret, I will not provide you with the core component of the intelligent lathe when I find out about it.” 

Jacqueline Eva shrugged, then smiled. “So that’s it? Do you think France is a charitable organisation or something? Why would we share this with the Japanese when we paid so much for it? Don’t worry, this won’t ever happen.” 

“I want this condition written into the agreement,” said Xia Lei. 

Jacqueline Eva was speechless. 

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