Ian was walking alone through the streets of the City of Ashes, the clouds were overcast and the air was damp and heavy. The conversation with William kept echoing in his mind. "The Free Chamber of Commerce is most profit-seeking, and the only thing they will always pursue is profit. Without sufficiently enticing conditions, they will never risk cooperation."
However, at this time, Ian did not have enough chips in his hand to impress the Free Chamber of Commerce, "I'm afraid I can only try with the special mission I'm taking now, listening to William, if I fail, the three major forces will all be destroyed. "
Not long after, Ian stood in front of the magnificent building of the Freedom Chamber of Commerce, took a deep breath, and pushed open the heavy door.
The interior of the Freedom Chamber of Commerce was brightly lit, the decoration was lavish and grand, and a strong smell of copper filled the air. Several chamber members dressed in exquisite clothes shuttled back and forth, and when they saw Ian enter, they cast puzzled and wary gazes.
"May I ask who you are looking for?" A butler-like man greeted him with a respectful but detached smile.
"I want to see your president, my name is Ian, I'm sure he knows who I am. I've come to talk about a big business deal." Ian's tone was calm, and his gaze contained an irresistible majesty.
The butler was slightly stunned and quickly came back to his senses, "You wait for a moment." With that, he turned around and walked into the depths of the Chamber of Commerce.
Not long after, the butler returned to lead Ian to the office of the president of the Freedom Chamber of Commerce, opening the door, a middle-aged man was sitting in front of the desk, he was wearing an elaborate black suit, with a confident and cunning smile hanging at the corner of his mouth. This man was none other than the president of the Free Chamber of Commerce - Adrian.
"So it's Mr. Ian, I heard that you won the Brotherhood of Steel trial, I've heard a lot about you." Adrian said softly, but his eyes were scrutinizing and probing, "I wonder what I can do for you today?"
Ian looked straight at Adrian and said straight to the point, "President Adrian, I'm here to negotiate a business deal with you, and the bargaining chip is the lives of all three of your powers!"
Adrian raised an eyebrow as he smiled faintly, "Oh? Interesting, let's hear it. "
"William has already told me about the upper world, I will represent the City of Ashes to a certain major power to participate in the exploration of the relics, if I refuse to participate, all three of your major powers will be wiped out, my conditions are very simple, the Free Chamber of Commerce will join forces with the other two powers to guard the City of Ashes, the Enlightenment Alliance and the Brotherhood of Steel have already agreed to the union, now it's just you guys."
Adrian smiled contemptuously, "Mr. Ian, is this what you call leverage? To tell you the truth, I'm not interested in your offer at all, you should know that our Chamber of Commerce never participates in any deal that doesn't have an absolute benefit."
Ian's eyes became even more stern, "How can you still pursue benefits if the City of Ashes is overthrown, and aren't you afraid of the punishment from those big powers?"
Adrian was unmoved and gently shook his head, "Mr. Ian, this world is much wider than you think. The City of Ashes is just a very small place, even if this place is completely destroyed, I can still take enough wealth and resources and head to other places to redevelop. William can't afford to give up his power and territory , I can, the only thing I care about is wealth."
"Those big powers wouldn't go through all the trouble of hunting down a small person like me just because of such a small thing, so your threats are useless to me, Mr. Ian. We, the Free Chamber of Commerce, have been in this world for a long time, what kind of storms have we not seen before? We have always believed only in money and strength, and with your current conditions, it is clear that you have neither."
Ian was silent for a moment, his voice slow and cold, "I admit that you can refuse without any qualms right now, but President Adrian, I hope you remember that what you're refusing today is not only me, but also the future of the entire City of Ashes. If I really don't make it back from the secret realm, you'll realize what a fatal mistake you've made today."
Adrian was still full of contemptuous smiles and said without a care in the world, "I'll wait and see then. Mr. Ian, you should know that what we businessmen are best at, is placing bets. We never bet all our chips in one place, let alone betting on whether or not a young man like you can survive."
Adrian watched as Ian's back gradually disappeared outside the door, the smile on his face gradually faded away, replaced by gravity and complexity.
The butler at the side inquired in a low voice, "President, do we really not need to worry about Ian? If he really dies in the relics, will those big powers pursue us?"
Adrian sighed softly, his expression becoming unprecedentedly somber: "As things stand, we have no choice. If he survives, we will naturally have a way to remedy the situation. But if he dies in the secret realm, we will have no choice but to take all our wealth and go far away."
Ian walked out of the Free Chamber of Commerce headquarters and looked up at the cloudy sky with an unusually heavy heart. "To convince the Free Chamber of Commerce that this method won't work, it seems that I have to think of another way."
[Time-limited mission release: find out the reason why the mutants attacked the City of Ashes, time-limited for three days]
[Mission Reward: Random Ability X1] [Failure Penalty: Randomly eliminate one of the existing abilities]
[Daily mission release: Have a drink (in the post-apocalyptic environment, how can you not have a drink to relax)]
[Mission Reward: Talent Enhancement Points X1] [Failure Penalty: None]
Listening to the system prompts that came from the brain, Ian Ian, listening to the system alert tone in his head, Ian immediately surged a sense of powerlessness, the free chamber of commerce thing has not yet been resolved, and then come to a new task, and limited to three days to complete, in addition, this daily task is also too hasty, a drink is also counted as a task? Ian silently spat in his heart, but since it was released, let's complete it by the way, talent enhancement points are a good thing.
On the way to the bar, Ian asked the system in his mind, "What are the rules of the daily mission, why wasn't there one the other day?"
[Daily tasks are daily tasks for this system to help the host grow quickly, if the host's ability is not enough to complete other tasks, they can slowly improve their strength by completing the daily tasks, the reason there were none the other day is because, this system forgot about it.]
Ian: "..... This is also considered a reason, this system of mine can't be an inferior product. "
[Detecting the host's denigration of this system, the punishment mechanism is now activated.]
"OH SHIT!"Ian's whole body seemed to be hit by high voltage electricity, instantly stiffened and fell straight to the side of the road, it's no exaggeration to say that at this point, Ian can already be used as a weapon. Ian collapsed on the side of the road and did not move, passing passers-by wanted to approach to help him up, but was bounced off by a wave of energy.
Ian lay on the ground silently thinking, "I can't afford to mess with this system, this system is more vindictive than I thought. "