147: Three states allies

“You and I both know that Hanhai Star has a strict system for evaluating human strength, calculating Life Points based on a person's overall power and physique.

These Life Points determine how many bullets your body can withstand, but if I could use a special method to strengthen your body and allow you to take more damage, wouldn't that mean your combat effectiveness would significantly increase?”

“Is such technology really possible? It's simply incredible. To be able to quickly increase vitality without side effects and in such a short time... Brother Li Xiao, I find myself understanding you less and less.”

Wang Si felt as if his worldview was about to be overturned by Li Xiao. As a veteran mercenary who had experienced countless battles, Wang Si certainly knew what this meant.

He asked eagerly, “Then how do you charge for this?”

“One-to-one. One Star Coin for one Life Point! Buying life with money—‘cost-effective’ doesn't even begin to cover it; it's an absolute steal!” Li Xiao considered the economic strength of the mercenary groups; if he charged too much, they probably wouldn't be able to afford it.

“It really is an absolute steal. This could significantly lower the casualty rate on the battlefield. The problem is, we can't afford it. One hundred thousand Star Coins would only increase the survivability of a thousand people by one hundred points—that's not even enough to stop a single heavy machine gun bullet.”

Wang Si sighed; his wallet was just too disappointing. However, he quickly thought of another possibility: “Brother Li Xiao, could you add the vitality to just one or a few soldiers instead? That way, we could form an elite squad to act as meat shields in critical moments.”

Li Xiao thought to himself, As expected. Any battlefield veteran would think of this, but he had already prepared for it.

“It's possible, but each soldier can receive a maximum addition of one thousand points!”

One thousand points was the maximum value Li Xiao could accept. Any more, and he would worry that encountering them on the battlefield later would add unnecessary trouble for himself, even though he had to form an alliance with the other party to perform the Life Point addition.

However, they could tear up the alliance agreement at any time. Just like Durability, this was a double-edged sword that hadn't yet been unsheathed.

“One thousand points... that works too!” Wang Si decided, “Then I'll support your business first. Give me five hundred thousand points' worth.”

“Not bad, Old Wang. You're throwing around hundreds of thousands of Star Coins now. It really is easy to make money when you're working with an arms company.”

“Hehe, just so-so.”

Wang Si had extensive connections, and he believed there would definitely be a market for this.

However, he wouldn't put all his eggs in one basket. He also needed to contact Chang Zhan to try and sell off these twenty-plus million Life Points as soon as possible.

In fact, for him, the greater benefit of this business was the ability to form alliances with more factions. That way, whenever those factions were in battle, they would continuously inject fresh blood into his Life Pool.

Subsequently, Li Xiao found Chang Zhan. When the latter learned about such a thing, he was immediately overjoyed.

Currently, the Tianyu Defense Force of the Tianyu Republic had been scattered across various regions, with each unit fighting independently and locked in a struggle with the Black Hawk Empire.

They had money; after all, before the invasion by the Black Hawk Empire, Tian Yu had been the second-largest economy on Hanhai Star.

But now, their main problem was a lack of manpower. Their effective strength was constantly being depleted in the battles against the Black Hawk Empire, yet the number of new recruits replenishing their ranks was far less than the number of casualties.

Therefore, the upper echelons of Tian Yu were extremely anxious. This ‘technology’ of Li Xiao's was like providing fuel in snowy weather; it would undoubtedly allow their limited troops to gain greater combat effectiveness.

However, Chang Zhan was very dissatisfied with the idea of only adding one thousand Life Points per person. According to this newly promoted battalion commander, “It's not money I'm lacking; it's people. If you only control one thousand Life Points per person, how much combat effectiveness can I really gain?”

Considering this situation, and the fact that he and the Tianyu Defense Force already shared intelligence, he had no choice but to make an exception and allow the increase to one thousand five hundred points per soldier!

This was already the Life Points of an average Lieutenant Colonel.

Chang Zhan quickly submitted the transaction plan to the high command of the Tianyu Defense Force, and to his surprise, the plan was approved in less than half a day.

Consequently, Chang Zhan began contacting the commanding officers of the Tianyu Defense Force from the three major provinces: Yun City, Wu Province, and the northern Xi Feng Province, asking them to come to Xi City.

These high-ranking officers gathered in Xi City the next day. Li Xiao invited them to the conference hall of the largest hotel in Xi City and began signing alliance agreements with them one by one.

This was the first step of the transaction; only after the alliance agreement was signed could the next step proceed.

Looking at the hundred or so Tian Yu officers of various ranks in the conference hall, Li Xiao suddenly realized that it wasn't that the Tianyu Republic lacked people; it was just that the military power of the Black Hawk Empire was too terrifying for any single nation on Hanhai Star to contend with.

Li Xiao's hand went numb from signing the electronic agreements required by the system before he finally got everything done.

After seeing off these big shots, Chang Zhan stayed behind and instructed, “Captain Li, I will coordinate your travel to various locations to strengthen the soldiers' vitality.”

Li Xiao nodded. Once today was over, it meant that the Tian Yu Forces of these three major provinces had all become his allies.

He didn't know how much money he would make from these allies for the time being, but he would definitely be able to gain more Life Points and Durability from them!

Over the next two days, Li Xiao used the helicopter provided by Nangong Yan to fly to various places in the three provinces to conduct transactions, cumulatively adding Life Points to sixteen thousand people.

Although the number of people seemed small, the advantage they brought on the battlefield was definitely very obvious.

And because of this, Li Xiao made a fortune. His backpack was filled with dozens of black and gold cards, and the Star Coins he had obtained exceeded twenty-four million!

Some might wonder, wouldn't the Tianyu Defense Force have been better off using those twenty-four million to buy one hundred and twenty infantry fighting vehicles?

But the reality was that the Tianyu Defense Force's own military factories had been basically destroyed, making production impossible and procurement out of the question.

Furthermore, international arms dealers were under the thumb of the Black Hawk Empire; they might turn a blind eye to selling to outsiders, but selling to the local military would be directly opposing the Black Hawk Empire.

No arms company dared to challenge the bottom line of the Black Hawk Empire, so it was very difficult for them to purchase any.

Secondly, if the one hundred and twenty infantry fighting vehicles were scattered, their suppressing power would be very weak. To put it bluntly, one or two of the Empire's armed helicopters could destroy a company of infantry fighting vehicles.

But if combined, one hundred and twenty infantry fighting vehicles would constitute an armored regiment. The Empire would not allow such an obvious target any room to operate.

Therefore, what they needed were soldiers who were relatively more flexible and possessed greater vitality. Think about it: wouldn't it be more cost-effective to have elite soldiers carrying man-portable anti-tank missiles take out an infantry fighting vehicle with two shots?

As Wang Si spread the word about Li Xiao's ‘technology’ in the mercenary circles, the response was very enthusiastic.

However, Li Xiao was not as lenient with the mercenary groups. First of all, they had to be more neutral partners; any group with a background in Tianma Technology was completely ruled out.

Of course, Li Xiao had enough money now, and he didn't have that much Life Points left, so this would have to be done slowly.