445: Chapter 445 Negotiating Prices: Both Sides Remain Reluctant to Yield

The countdown on the light screen was still ticking: 71:58:23.

An invisible tension hung in the air, like a drawn bowstring waiting for a fuse.

Chen Wuwang didn't move; his fingers rested on the edge of the alloy tabletop, his knuckles turning slightly white. He didn't look at Aelia; his gaze fell on the trial terms that had just appeared, as if waiting for a wind to rise.

Aelia didn't speak either.

She sat opposite him, her wings folded against her back, the hem of her feather robe hanging still, but her left hand unconsciously rubbed the end of the crystal pen—

That pen hadn't been put away yet; it hung in mid-air, the tip only an inch from the tabletop.

"Now," she finally spoke, her voice a notch lower than before, "tell me the delivery time."

Only then did Chen Wuwang look up, his Mechanical Prosthetic Eye narrowing slightly as he called up the internal timer: "Within seventy-two hours after the successful maiden flight."

"Too slow." Aelia shook her head. "I want something immediately usable. Not a promise, not a preview, but a System that can be installed into a mecha and go into battle right away."

"Do you think this is buying vegetables on the street?" Chen Wuwang sneered. "A set of navigation cores, from core engraving to psionic adaptation, requires a minimum forty-eight-hour preparation period. You want to just plug and play? Keep dreaming."

"I can expedite resources." Aelia leaned forward, her wings spreading slightly. "Three groups of Angel Workshops on standby, working twenty-four-hour shifts.

As long as you're willing to start the production process early, I can transfer the first batch of advance payment right now."

Chen Wuwang stared at her for two seconds, then suddenly laughed: "You're anxious."

"I'm not anxious," she immediately retorted, but the tips of her ears turned slightly red.

"You're anxious," he repeated, his tone certain. "You're not afraid of missing the deal; you're afraid someone else will get it first.

The insect tide in the North has been quite active lately, and Mo Yuan's people have already shown up on the western front. Three of your Angel Race outposts were wiped out without even sending an alert. You're not here to talk business—you're here to save lives."

Aelia's pupils constricted.

Chen Wuwang tapped the tabletop with his right hand—once, twice—the rhythm was the same as before, but this time it was faster and harsher.

"So," he leaned back into his chair, his Mechanical Prosthetic Eye projecting a new data stream, "I'm doubling the price."

The light screen refreshed:

[Star Domain Transit Rights: Three years → Five years]

[source crystal Quantity: 30,000 → 60,000]

[Technical Interface: Level 1 Maintenance → Level 2 Debugging Permissions]

Aelia stood up abruptly, her wings snapping open, nearly touching the induction lights on the ceiling.

"You're crazy!"

"I'm not crazy." Chen Wuwang sat still, looking up at her. "It's you who are too greedy. You want the horse to run, but you don't want it to eat grass, and you even want it to bear foals. Where in the world do you find such a good deal?"

"Sixty thousand source crystals is half a year's output for you!" She grit her teeth. "Do you know what that means? It means I have to use the Family's reserve funds, it means I'll be targeted by the audit team, and it means I might never have the chance to lead another project!"

"Then sit down," Chen Wuwang said indifferently, "or leave. The door isn't locked."

Aelia stood still, her chest heaving.

After a few breaths, she slowly sat down, her wings retracting, her movements a beat slower than before.

"Fifty thousand," she said. "Paid in installments. The first batch of twenty thousand will be credited before the maiden flight; the second batch of thirty thousand will be paid after the trial period ends and the inspection is passed."

"No." Chen Wuwang shook his head. "Fifty thousand is fine, but it must be fully locked in. I can compress the delivery time to forty-eight hours after the maiden flight."

"Still too late." Aelia's fingertips tapped the table. "I want delivery during flight."

"Impossible." Chen Wuwang refused flatly. "The System cannot leave the warehouse before activation, otherwise the risk of data contamination is extremely high. Do you understand what 'underlying protocol handshake failure' means? If something goes wrong, the entire mecha will turn into scrap metal."

"Then we'll compromise." Aelia quickly followed up. "You send a technician along to complete the final calibration and loading during flight. I will provide a secure cabin and independent power supply, with no interference in operations throughout."

Chen Wuwang narrowed his eyes: "You trust my people?"

"I don't trust you." Aelia looked him straight in the eye. "But I trust interests. You won't send your person to their death, because that would be equivalent to destroying your own future financial path."

Chen Wuwang was silent for a moment, then suddenly reached out and swiped twice on the light screen.

A new clause popped up:

[Allow one Chen Family technical personnel to board the ship to perform System loading tasks; said personnel enjoys diplomatic immunity and shall not have their freedom of movement restricted or be subjected to mental probes during the mission.]

Aelia stared at that line for three seconds and nodded: "Fine. But this person must be someone you trust most, with the highest technical level."

"I'll send Chen Qiaoshou," Chen Wuwang said. "He made the core personally."

"Deal." Aelia took out the crystal pen, about to write.

"Wait." Chen Wuwang raised his hand. "One more thing."

She stopped.

"The ten-day trial period remains unchanged," he said. "But if the System shows a performance gain of more than thirty percent over the test indicators in actual combat, you must add an extra ten thousand source crystals as a bonus."

Aelia frowned: "That's not fair. There are too many variables on the battlefield. How do you define 'exceeding'?"

"Let the black box data speak." Chen Wuwang called up an encrypted record. "Every second of response delay, the number of path corrections, and the accuracy of friend-or-foe identification—it's all recorded. Your people can monitor it in real-time and verify it on the spot."

Aelia thought for a moment and nodded: "Fine. But the premise is that the data collection module must be jointly certified by both parties."

"No problem." The corner of Chen Wuwang's mouth curled slightly. "Also, the duration of the Star Domain transit rights cannot be less than four years."

"Three and a half years," she bargained.

"Four years." He didn't back down.

"Four... four years." She finally relented. "But only for the three routes on the eastern front; no entry into the Southern Border restricted zone."

"Agreed." Chen Wuwang nodded. "However, if we open new routes in the future, you must give priority to opening docking permissions."

"Verbal promises are invalid," Aelia said coldly. "Put it in the additional clauses."

Chen Wuwang swiped his finger, adding a new one:

[For any new Star Domain routes opened by the Chen Family in the future, Aelia's merchant fleet shall enjoy priority docking rights for the maiden voyage, with specific details to be negotiated separately.]

The light screen flickered, and the contract framework began to integrate automatically.

Aelia took a deep breath, raised the crystal pen, and slowly inscribed the first rune in the confirmation area.

The moment the pen tip touched, a ring of blue light lit up on the tabletop array, and the credit voucher numbers jumped: an allotment of twenty thousand source crystals had been frozen.

The countdown updated simultaneously: "71:49:11"

There were seventy-one hours, forty-nine minutes, and eleven seconds left until the maiden flight.

She put down the pen and looked up at Chen Wuwang: "Now, tell me—when can that person named Chen Qiaoshou board the ship?"

Chen Wuwang didn't answer immediately.

He looked down at his hand, then slowly raised it and pressed it against the tabletop.

A miniature light screen popped out from his palm, displaying a line of text:

[heavenly secret instruction · Third Entry Today: Three quarters later, the Artifact Refining Workshop will produce a high-purity psionic resonance plate, which can be used to improve the stability of the navigation core.]

He withdrew his hand and looked up, his eyes as clear as a blade.

"Tomorrow at noon," he said. "He will set out with the first batch of components."}],