After hearing Fang Senyan’s analysis, Brother Black, who was more proficient in warfare, frowned: “But logically speaking, on Pandora, human firepower has an absolute advantage, and the casualty rate is almost zero. Shouldn't the cost of such a war be compressed to a very low level?” Fang Senyan smiled and shook his finger: “You've only made one mistake, my dear friend: this place is a full five light-years from Earth!

The cost of transporting a single missile is likely ten, or even a hundred times, the cost of manufacturing it! RD is a commercial company, not an arms dealer; the expense of launching a war would be far greater than we imagine, and the pressure from the environmental organizations on Earth onto RD is also terrifyingly intense.” “Even if those two conditions are met, you'd probably still have to smooth things over with Parker on a personal level...

The facts have proven that even with the intervention of the Gold Mine, Parker remains a greedy fellow who is extremely, extremely, extremely difficult to persuade. So, having RD move against the Mosak tribe isn't impossible, but the difficulty...

is absolutely no less than getting all the Contractors to unite!” At this moment, Mogensha suddenly inquired: “Boss, how is the matter of obtaining the Protagonist's blood coming along?” Fang Senyan replied: “It's going perfectly.” Mogensha frowned: “Strictly speaking, the blood of the protagonist in the Avatar world should be collected from that Marine whose legs were withered. If you collect blood from his not-yet-fully-developed Avatar body, the Space might not recognize it.” Fang Senyan chuckled darkly: “I had the same worry as you, so I immediately verified it after the sampling—it proved my conjecture correct, and the remaining blood has, of course, been stored.” Seeing that neither of his capable assistants had any issues, Fang Senyan nodded silently and prepared to return to RD's Hell’s Gate base.

It now seemed that the objective of this trip had basically been achieved. Alcohol served as an excellent gift for communication with the Na’vi, but the output from the endless supply of Vodka was slightly insufficient for exchange.

It would be more appropriate to procure some more liquor from the base to present as gifts. Furthermore, after cross-referencing the intelligence gained from RD with what was learned from the Na’vi, there was no guarantee that some ambiguities or contradictory points wouldn't arise.

Fang Senyan’s style of operation had always been to be as rigorous and detail-oriented as possible. These points absolutely needed to be verified, and even if the information ended up being unused, anything that could be done had to be executed to the extreme.

Because Sutei was drunk, only two Na’vi riders escorted them. With them accompanying the group, naturally, no trouble was encountered.

The Na’vi were unwilling to see the forest destroyed, so they parted ways at the outskirts of the Hell’s Gate base. Less than a hundred meters further, Jiao Shi suddenly stopped dead.

The three immediately formed a standard combat formation! It was that time between dawn and deep night, the surroundings still shrouded in pitch blackness.

The bioluminescent flora of the Pandora forest seemed to sense the approaching dawn, appearing listless, their light dim. The indistinct outlines of the distant jungle branches in the darkness carried an indescribable sense of eerie danger.

Mogensha suddenly knelt, pressing his cheek against the butt of his rifle, narrowing one eye, aiming, and then pulling the trigger without hesitation. The rapid da-da-da of gunfire tore through the night’s serenity, but in the next second, Mogensha’s eyes widened instantly.

The stream of bullets he had just fired, which should have produced continuous impacts and explosions, vanished without a sound, like stones sinking into the sea—completely annihilated! Out of the darkness, a figure slowly emerged.

Its face was entirely obscured; one could only sense darkness and some powerful, unknown force mingled together, tamely enveloping the figure, possessing a black-hole-like mystery. The figure’s build was unusually tall, and its gait seemed to involve walking on the balls of its feet—lightness mixed with elegance, like a dancer traversing a balance beam.

Most astonishing were its eyes, filled with a majesty that towered over all creation. Within them appeared strange, golden, vertical pupils; anyone meeting their gaze experienced a fleeting illusion of suffocation or injury.

“Tsi?” Jiao Shi, who had dealt with her the most, couldn't help but ask tentatively. But the woman made no sound, walking step by step until she stopped about eight meters away from Fang Senyan and his companions, gazing over coldly.

Suddenly, Tsi raised both arms, and it became visible that she seemed to be clutching something in the palms of her hands. An instantaneous hiss sound filled the air, as if red-hot steel had been plunged into cold water.

In an instant, Fang Senyan felt a blinding flash of light before his eyes, almost searing them. When his vision slightly recovered, he clearly saw that Tsi's hands now held two slender, gleaming light-swords!

The design of these light-swords resembled the rapiers used for duels among 17th-century European royalty! Yet, one emitted a flame-like red glow, while the other radiated an ice-cold, bone-chilling flame.

Merely the light reflecting between the two swords gave one the illusion that they were perpetually locked in combat. This was Tsi’s final combat form!

Her trump card had shifted from a spellcasting Contractor to a melee-focused one. However, thinking back carefully, the Force in the Star Wars universe was inherently a powerful ability possessed by Jedi Knights!!!

Yet, at this moment, she inexplicably revealed her ultimate trump card. Tsi, wielding the twin swords, spread her arms like a bird spreading its wings, crossing them in front of her chest, emitting a soft peng sound!

Only then did she speak to the trio: “What mission are you on right now?” Jiao Shi hesitated, but Brother Black chewed his gum and chuckled: “The Golden Side Quest.” Tsi snorted through her nostrils: “I don’t have the time or the mood to joke with you. Speak plainly!

I am currently short on manpower. Since the three of you have withdrawn from the final side quest, you have no conflict of interest with me.

Name your price, and I will hire you to help me complete it!” Hearing this, Jiao Shi and Mogensha immediately recalled Fang Senyan’s earlier analysis. That ‘Retrieve the Branch of the World Tree’ final side quest was indeed monstrously difficult, and they instinctively wanted to refuse.

After all, those familiar with surviving in the Space knew that while profit was important, without life, nothing else mattered. Fang Senyan suddenly spoke up: “What price can you offer?

The reason we abandoned that final side quest was precisely because of its extreme difficulty! The profit gained is what truly matters.” Tsi said coolly: “The greatest difficulty of this mission actually lies with us Contractors.

The meager three slots for final completion will inevitably lead to internal sabotage. But now, there are no more interference or competitors.” As she spoke, the five figures of Yaomeng, Akaphil, Sebel, and the Death Soul Mord silently materialized behind Tsi.

Jiao Shi exclaimed in shock: “Could it be the others?” Yaomeng spoke coldly: “No one can stop our progress! Anyone who dares to block our path will inevitably be eliminated!” Mogensha suddenly interjected: “Clearly, that sniping expert capable of completely suppressing Prince Linstar provided assistance.

Otherwise, no matter how strong Tsi is, your results could never have been so decisive. However, that person definitely isn't from your Illumination Society.” Yaomeng responded coldly: “Why couldn't it be from our Illumination Society?” “You couldn't keep him,” Mogensha’s statement was piercingly accurate.

“If I’m not mistaken, that small-probability occurrence, the dark-gold accessory, should be the commission the Illumination Society paid him to work for them.” Hearing Mogensha’s tentatively speculative remark, Fang Senyan noticed that the expressions of both Sebel and Death Soul Mord simultaneously became somewhat unnatural. This reaction immediately confirmed Mogensha’s guess.

At this point, Tsi stepped forward and declared loudly: “Yes, so what?” Mogensha smiled faintly: “So I doubt you can offer the price we desire.” Tsi replied serenely: “You mean you want an advance payment? That’s clearly impossible, but to show our sincerity, why don't you tell us about the mission you are currently undertaking?

As long as Jiao Shi agrees, we can complete your current hidden mission first—isn't that sincere?” As Tsi finished, she actually smiled, raising her eyebrows slightly, which added a touch of allure. This maneuver of retreating to advance was indeed formidable.

In fact, Fang Senyan’s three-man team had already attracted a lot of attention. Even within the Illumination Society, there was a consensus that Jiao Shi’s new team embodied the essence of being ‘steady,’ ‘accurate,’ and ‘ruthless.’ For Jiao Shi’s team to reach the cusp of the final side quest and then choose to abandon it seemed utterly absurd.

The collective analysis within the Illumination Society was: Only the appearance of a better, larger interest could cause someone to abandon a cake that was already within reach. It was highly likely that this so-called Ace small team had stumbled upon a hidden mission with enormous rewards!!

Fang Senyan was not the only intelligent person around. If he could perceive the risk in the final side quest, Tsi and the others could too.

Therefore, the suggestion Tsi just made served as a powerful probe: We proactively help you complete your current mission, and you surely won’t reveal zero information about it! Once they obtained even the slightest clue related to this mission, how formidable the Illumination Society was, it wouldn't be difficult for them to deduce the whole story and potentially usurp the main role.

Facing Tsi’s overwhelmingly dominant probing, Fang Senyan seemed to have only two choices: agree or refuse. Agreeing meant falling straight into the trap, walking right into their snare.

Refusing, however, would solidify the speculation that they were engaged in a more valuable mission! Thus, it seemed no matter how he answered, he would fall into their calculations!!!