The Almighty Ring

“A price?” Jiang Fei was startled.

Jiang Fei had been pouring his heart and soul into finding fragments of Braveheart. Not to mention the time invested. Throughout his search, there were some that had been found by others and were kept safely and guarded. It was hardly odd at all since the ship had crashed on Earth for more than 7,000 years ago.

Jiang Fei had been searching for those that had not been touched by any human. Those that had been found were left until the day he could find a way to nab them. Even though Jiang Fei had obtained powers that he could never dream of, it was still a long road ahead until he could face the forces that were keeping the alien artifact for themselves.

Now that Welton had offered up a blank cheque for Jiang Fei to write a number on, he would not waste such an opportunity on other materialistic items. Liu Taizhen was representing the entire martial artist community to give up on continuing the war. As for the Androids, they were from the military and could not do anything much when it came to a Level 5 Metahuman. Hence, the only person that could demand a payment was Jiang Fei!

“I am interested in those alien artifacts,” said Jiang Fei, bluntly.

“Hm? What would you do with an Godblade? Ask for something else,” Welton said, thrown aback. When Jiang Fei mentioned about alien artifact, the first thing that came to his mind was the all-powerful Godblade. The thought of the alien artifact itself did not pop up since he knew Jiang Fei was just a martial artist. He would not be interested in something of such advanced technology.

“I didn’t say anything about Godblade. I just want those alien artifacts,” said Jiang Fei, gesturing that he was not at all interested in Godblade. To be fair, he had lost all interest in weapons of mass destruction since he had 0541 and the Zhanlu Sword.

“Oh? Is that what you want,” Welton questioned, scoffing as if he had overestimated Jiang Fei for being a man of potential. He had genuinely thought that Jiang Fei might someday become a Level 5 and would want to have a Godblade in hand to prepare himself. However, when Jiang Fei expressed his interest in those alien artifacts, he had lost all his interest in Jiang Fei and even thought that the boy would never become something greater than he already was.

“That’s right. I’ve always thought that those things were interesting,” said Jiang Fei, smiling.

“In that case, there’s no problem about it. Lincoln, come here,” said Welton, calling for Lincoln. The man was happy and satisfied since Jiang Fei was not interested in Godblade. He did not even demand anything else and stopped at just the alien artifacts.

“Sir? Did you call for me?” said Lincoln, hanging his head low, afraid to look at the Level 5 Mutant directly.

“Do you know anything about alien artifact?” Welton asked. He did not know where they were since he had never indulged himself in matters of the outside world.

“Well…” Lincoln staggered. It was an important secret but when a Level 5 Metahuman was questioning him, Lincoln dared not lie.

Unlike Welton that had closed himself to the world, Lincoln was part of the Mutant Brotherhood that had allied themselves with the government, working towards the same goals and interests. It was peril that they needed to rely on alien technology since they had been utterly trashed by China in every way. If they were to let those gold mines go, they would be losing their only way to rebuild the road to glory. However, since the man was the vice-president of the Mutant Brotherhood, there were things that only the president and he knows about, which includes the whereabouts of an alien artifact.

“Sir, we have found an alien artifact in the Kīlauea Volcano in Winter Islands.”

Instead of revealing the ones that they had already possessed, Lincoln decided to reveal the one that they had found but could never retrieve.

That artifact had been lying in the depths of molten lava for several years. Because of that, the Mutants could not retrieve it and left it untouched for more than ten years. Even with the greatest heat-resistant technology that they had, it was still impossible for them to dive into the volcano and retrieve it. The worst part of it, they only knew there was an artifact there but not its size or its properties. Hence, Lincoln thought it could be a safe bet. Even if it could be something that was worth investing the entire world’s finance to retrieve it, it was an impossible task to do hence, he was willing to throw it out there to let Jiang Fei take it, if he could. From Lincoln’s point of view, Jiang Fei, as a martial artist, could do nothing but only know about it.

“I see. Well, Jiang Fei, I will give you that alien artifact as well as Winter Island. Are you satisfied with that?” said Welton. As soon as he said that, Lincoln could not hide his extreme disappointment.

‘Sir! You’re not in any position to just give away an entire state to the enemy! The Winter Island is not just an island but an archipelago of several islands! That’s more than 16,000 square kilometer of land! It’s 30 times more than what the Chinese had destroyed!’

That was what Lincoln was thinking but dared not voice out. The person that was giving away the island was a Level 5 Metahuman. Unless he had some ways to stop the man, there was no way for him to stop Welton from giving away the entire archipelago to Jiang Fei. Not even Xavier would dare to say anything about it.

Because Level 5 super beings were never interested in anything besides Godblade, Welton and Liu Taizhen did not ask for demand for any compensation. Welton was even bold enough to put out a state of America for Jiang Fei. Lincoln, the only person that had authority there, could not say anything but hold down his incredible urge.

To be fair, the Winter Islands was far away from any other American land. Now that American Naval fleets were retreating back to the mainland and consolidating their assets, they would not be able to do anything if, by any chance, China wanted to dominate the island. Hence, Welton’s offer was nothing much of a waste. Not even the Mutant Brotherhood or the American government could do anything but follow Welton’s orders.

The Winter Islands was situated right at the center point of the entire Pacific Ocean. It was one of the main intercept points of both aerial and nautical transport. That place was a precious point of defense and since the American was figuratively bleeding out, they could not afford to make any effort to defend the land.

“Thank you,” said Jiang Fei with a 90 degree bow. Even though he was not a Level 5 Metahuman, he held no interest in those islands as well. Sure, the island are nice and warm, with beautiful scenery and untainted water, but what would he do with it? Spend his days as the King of Winter Islands? He would rather spend his time and effort searching for the other fragments of Braveheart. If the ship was restored, he could easily fly out of Earth! What would he do with a few islands on Earth? He was familiar with the name Winter Islands but he had never been there nor would he ever be unless it was for the alien artifact. The only thing that he was interested in was the volcano, the one with a name he could not remember.

Jiang Fei had flown across the Pacifc Ocean more than once and had to make a detour to avoid being detected by the American military installations there. Now that the island belonged to him, he could easily fly in to retrieve his alien artifact boldly, without the fear of being detected.

Now that Jiang Fei had his demands met, the curtain for the war in Japan was closed due to the involvement of Level 5 Metahumans. Americans were returning to their homes and beginning to consolidate whatever assets they had left. China, on the other hand, did the same thing and focused on defense. They had spent too much power in running the alien submarine, aircraft carrier and the Antimatter Cannon.

The message that was sent to the world was that China was a country that loved peace and prosperity. Any nation that dared to attack and disturb the peace would be met with fire and fury. One thing is for sure, China would never invade other country and land for any stupid reasons.

Before the war, if that message was laid out, the world would only think that China was merely bragging. However, after being bombarded with nuclear ICBMs and refraining to retaliate via the same way, everyone believed China was capable of doing more damage but chose not to. Now that the world had seen what they were capable of, they should be choosing China as a role model! A peace loving nation that chose not to attack but would if disturbed.