The Almighty Ring

After settling down in the hotel, Liona brought Jiang Fei to meet Shroder.

Besides Shroder, Jiang Fei trusted no one else to go through with the transaction. There were other Mutants sent in by the Mutant Brotherhood and one of them sent Jiang Fei’s blood boiling the moment he stepped through the door. That man was the Vice-President of the Mutant Brotherhood, Lincoln.

The feeling was mutual. Lincoln shared the same infuriating hatred that Jiang Fei had towards him. His two sons were both killed by Jiang Fei. Technically speaking, Walker’s death was not directly linked to Jiang Fei. Nonetheless, Lincoln put the blame on him.

Unfortunately, even if Lincoln would like to see Jiang Fei’s head being detached from his body, he had to control his anger and accept the fact that all that had happened were all water under the bridge. There was a good reason for that. First of all, he knew very well that Jiang Fei was too strong for him. Even though the two of them were at the same Pinnacle stage of Level 4, the physical capabilities of a martial artist made them superior than the Mutants.

Jiang Fei only knew later Lincoln was no longer the Vice-President of the Mutant Brotherhood as a result of his failures in Japan. He was now replaced with Shroder. Stripped of all authority, if there was anything he wanted to do, he would have to ask for permission from the higher ups.

“My man! Jiang Fei! We meet again! It’s always so nice to see your face,” Shroder greeted Jiang Fei with genuine pleasure. It went without saying that Shroder saw Jiang Fei as his one true benefactor. Jiang Fei had saved him twice in Japan. If not for that, he would not be standing there talking to him, holding the position of the Vice-President of the Mutant Brotherhood.

“Nice to see you too!” said Jiang Fei before thrusting out a welcoming embrace.

After a few exchanges of words and pleasantries, Jiang Fei and Shroder went into the hotel lobby, found a place to sit down and started to address the real matter at hand. Jiang Fei was in dire need of energy and the only immediate source he could rely on was the Mutant Brotherhood. It was a good bartering system since Jiang Fei had something the Mutants wanted.

“There’s no need for us to beat around the bush, let’s just be frank, name your price!” said Shroder, sipping cold water without any worry. He had no intention of letting the Mutant Brotherhood earn anything. If it made any difference, Shroder would let Jiang Fei get what he wanted. He had even set down an unspoken rule about making business with Jiang Fei.

“A bottle for a thousand tonnes,” said Jiang Fei, quiet yet straightforwardly.

“Oof… That’s too little…” Shroder hissed. A bottle of Power Potion for one tonne of Uranium was just unfeasible. With all the Uranium they have in hand, they could barely trade a handful of Power Potions from Jiang Fei.

“I’m sorry. I cannot change the terms,” said Jiang Fei, this time a little louder to establish dominance. To be fair, Jiang Fei had already set the price so low that no one else could get the same. Jiang Fei thought of bleeding them dry but it was all for the hopes to strengthen the Mutants, to help them to stand against the European Church. What could they do with so much Uranium, to begin with?

“Sigh… Very well. Please wait for a moment while I discuss with the others,” said Shroder before he excused himself from the table.

“Dear, what do you expect from them?” Isabella whispered.

“I’m hoping that they could get at least seven bottles,” Jiang Fei replied.

“Isn’t that too little?” Ariel interjected.

“I can’t say for certain. I don’t know how much Uranium they have,” Jiang Fei explained.

Half an hour later, after going through another cup of water, Shroder came back.

“So, how much Uranium are we talking about here?” Shroder asked.

“My question exactly. How much do you have? Then again, I can close an eye on the exact quantities. Since it’s you…” Jiang Fei winked as he finished his sentence.

There was a tense atmosphere when Shroder asked for the amount of Uranium Jiang Fei wanted. He wanted to know how many bottles Jiang Fei could put on the table. On the other hand, Jiang Fei knew exactly how to conduct himself. He was crucial to never reveal one’s property.

“Heh. Well then, before I ask, could you be lenient if say… we order a large stock?”

“How much are we talking about here?” said Jiang Fei. His eyes glinted with excitement. The more Uranium he could offer, the better it would be for Jiang Fei!

“I’m willing to put out 15,000 tonnes of Uranium,” said Shroder calmly. Jiang Fei, on the other hand, skipped a beat. 15,000 tonnes of Uranium was an amount that would take humans a year to excavate the entire Earth.

Jiang Fei was too ignorant to read newspapers to keep up with world events. Unbeknownst to him, there was a clear reason why the Mutants were able to get their hands on so much Uranium. Ever since nuclear fission could be stopped by Fission Suppressors, nuclear-based bombs became obsolete. In the modern world, besides being generally used in nuclear power-plants and weaponry, there was no other purpose of using Uranium. Although they could still be used as fuel for power-energy generation, their value dropped significantly after nuclear-based weaponry was no longer the most powerful and feared weapon. America no longer had the need to stockpile Uranium.

“That’s a good amount, I must say. However, my price remains the same. However, if you can put more on the table for me, I will personally give you a few bottles as a personal gift!” said Jiang Fei happily. Jiang Fei could offer more bottles than he predicted since Ariel had gone out of her way to slice more tentacles than he needed.

“Sold!” Shroder cried happily. Even though Jiang Fei was being vague in how many bottles he could gift, Shroder believed wholeheartedly that he would not be overly stingy. Even if he did not, the Mutant Brotherhood had agreed with the transaction. There was no loss, only bonus awaited.

“Now, tell me the truth, how much can you provide me with,” said Jiang Fei.

“Hehe. Exactly, we were hoping to adjust the quantity of Uranium depending on how many bottles of potion you have. Anyway, we have over 20,000 tonnes of Uranium to trade,” said Shroder with a serious tone. The man had opened the Mutant Brotherhood’s book of secrets to Jiang Fei. Even though they were practically exhausting the entire stockpile to Jiang Fei, they could easily replenish them in a matter of months.

“Deal! Alright, I will personally give you three extra bottles of potions!” cried Jiang Fei. The three extra bottles might be redundant to Shroder but what he did with them would be up to him. It was a gesture that Jiang Fei felt was compulsory.

While Shroder was eternally grateful to Jiang Fei, Jiang Fei felt the same way since Ariel was only alive because of Jenny. Without her, there would not be Phoenix and incidentally, Ariel would not be alive. It was a debt that Jiang Fei might not be able to repay.

After the deal was struck, Shroder bid adieu and left to make preparations for transporting 20,000 tonnes of Uranium. Be it storage or transportation, the radioactive radiation was not something that could be left unchecked.

Jiang Fei could not deliver the potions before he received the Uranium. He told Shroder that he had only very few potions in hand and could need to make another round trip to his master to get more. He requested the Uranium to be delivered first as he needed them to present it to his master. Shroder did not mind since it was the legendary rumored Level 6 master.

Jiang Fei spent an extra day in America and after Shroder delivered the Uranium, Jiang Fei secretly absorbed all of them into the ring with Isabella’s help. With sufficient energy in hand, 0542’s functions were restored although it was still unable to complete another large-scaled project.