The room was filled with silence once again as everyone stared at Mark, who was thinking deeply.
In the end, he let out a fake deep sigh and said, "Fine, I'll tell you the horrific truth that none can bear to hear."
The last Mark said in such a way, he revealed the details of the firearms that almost made them lose motivation to proceed with their plans of the war.
Now, there's more to hear?
Even a supreme realm expert like Song Tai couldn't help but stare at Mark without blinking his eyes.
"If you want to win the war, you have to face not one but two supreme beings. One is a demon and the other is a beast emperor.
Jinlong used to be the guardian of the Wuji sect. After the sect disbandment, he followed us by his own will.
Atleast, that's what we thought until recently we realized that he and Feng Wu appeared to have some sort of history and now Jinlong is gone to support his old friend.
But, before he left, he informed us that Feng Wu had contracted with some powerful demon.
And that demon should be the one who attacked the imperial palace cuz Jinlong was with us, at the Eastern Sun kingdom, when it happened.
The most Wu Weibao can do is to keep one of them busy. Even for that and also to make sure to save the citizens from not getting caught up in the middle of their fight, what you were offering might not be enough.
If the target is that gold dragon, it can be done. After all, Jinlong cares about the lives of people.
But, if the target is the demon, the job is extremely difficult as it loves to cause destruction and wouldn't even care to explode if that's what it takes to bring down its opponent.
You might have to throw in another high-quality semi-divine grade for the job. And lend him divine-grade equipment to face the enemy. This is what it takes me to involve in your headache and solve the situation."
After a while;
Mark was boarding his new vehicle for the air travel and the Emperor personally escorted him to the vehicle to bid goodbye to his guest. The princes were forced to tag along and the crown prince looked quite displeased.
Surprisingly, he wasn't the only one who wasn't pleased. Even Mark was in the same state as he entered the vehicle without turning his head to look at his biological family.
"Allen, let's go."
Soon, the vehicle rose into the air like a spaceship and flew toward its destination.
As it disappeared from his sight, the Emperor turned around to walk away and said in a low tone, "Song Tai, you follow me to the treasury. I will lend you something that will help you take down the dragon. Shang Wei, you also follow me. We need to talk."
"Understood, Your Majesty." The ancestor of the Song clan and the third prince bowed and followed him. The remaining people went on their ways.
Meanwhile, inside the flying divine throne, Mark clenched his fist and muttered, "Dammit."
Allen understood what his master was feeling after reading his memories. He commented, "I guess this is also not a bad thing."
Mark raised his head and looked at the android, "How it isn't a bad thing? None of our plans succeeded except for intimidating them. I guess we went too far that they didn't speak a word against me.
I wanted them to be non-cooperative by purposely acting like a big shot in front of the Emperor. They ignored it.
I even tried to humiliate the crown prince to get them angry and make a wrong move. But, it didn't materialize either.
I revealed that their main enemy is the one I let slip away from my control. But, no one blamed me.
To force them to accept Feng Wu's terms, I put two great obstacles in the form of supreme beings but instead, they asked for my service.
I raised my fees so high that anyone with a brain would reject it. But, they accepted it.
Even if they believed that the enemies have two supreme beings, I thought they would let Lan Ju handle the dragon and we could just put up a drama in front of everyone while Bael kills the rest.
Instead, Shang Wei somehow convinced the Emperor to accept all of my absurd demands just to lend them Lan Ju for a day so that he will handle the demon none of them had ever seen.
If Lan Ju handles the demon, it is going to be a problem. Jinlong is a noble dragon and wasn't loyal to me completely. He wouldn't kill others even if I order him.
I don't understand why Shang Wei seemed so obsessed with reclaiming the Western Yan, which wasn't theirs in the first place.
I thought he is a wise person and will choose peace instead of war, although it will accomplish nothing because I planned to make Bael kill the ministers, one after another to trigger them.
Still, I sensed that Shang Wei was more eager for the war than the rest. The madness was clear in his eyes."
Allen analyzed all the conversations that happened in the meeting and said, "Big Bro, I think there's a high chance that the Western Yan is harboring a deep secret, which was only known to Shang Wei. It could be rare materials or a secret treasure buried somewhere.
As for the mission to help them out, you will still get free credits in millions whether the promised divine-grade item is an unbound one or a bound one. Big Bro doesn't need to go back on his words.
If the Emperor hears that Lan Ju died under the hands of demon king Bael, you get to have free credits and the war can still be won by letting Bael go on a killing spree."
"Nah, it isn't that easy to fool the Emperor." Mark shook his head, not being completely convinced by Allen's idea. He pointed out the main problem, "Lan Jingyi is a demigod and we never know when she will stop acting weak. I can be seen as a killer but not a liar. It hurts the reputation of the store too."
"Then, Bael will first capture her," Allen made a suggestion to his master that they will first target the latter's biological mom and then proceed with the plan.
However, Mark wasn't confident of the idea. "Killing would be easier than capturing a demigod. Even Bael cannot detain her for very long. Not to mention, he will disappear after 6 hours. What will be then? The zheng will be forced to come out in the open to tackle her and it will be proved that I deceived the imperial palace for a divine-grade item. It's not worth the risk."
"Hmm…" Allen started looking for the solution through his analytical abilities. About ten seconds later, he asked, "What if the zheng abducts Shang Jiao and threatens Queen Consort Lan to stay out of this war? Technically, Queen consort Lan is still a being from another planet, an alien.
If the zheng says that a demigod of another world like them shouldn't interfere in the business of the internal powers of this planet, then, we will have a logical reason to keep Shang Jiao as a prisoner.
Shang Jiao is her biological daughter and also the Emperor's favorite child. The little girl could even make the Emperor withdraw his plans for the war but I know that you won't like it. So, at the moment, we can only use her to put pressure on Queen Consort Lan."
"Hmm, you are right but…" Mark hesitated to take the decision as a wave of memories hit him. He doesn't want to admit it but she was almost a family at Genesis Weapon Store.
Does he want to stoop so low to abduct his own sister and use her as a bargaining chip to accomplish his goal? Mark was slightly conflicted about this.
Understanding Mark's feelings, Allen went on to say, "Big Bro, when the time comes, who she will choose? Will she choose her estranged brother who was hell-bent on destroying her father's empire or will she choose her imperial family that raised her?
And when she stands in your path, what will you do? You won't kill her on account of a biological relationship but you might have to imprison her, right? Or will you forget revenge altogether as you are too afraid to give her the pain?"
Perhaps, this is what people call A.I. controlling humans. Under Allen's persuasion, Mark eventually took the decision of the dark path.
With a look of seriousness, he firmly said, "We'll abduct her tonight."
