"Already sold?" Newton froze at those words, his smile stiffening.
In this dilapidated ruin, besides their two groups, there was no third party in sight.
The buyer wasn't here.
"Your buyer isn't even here. He might have a stomachache or got held up... but that doesn't matter. What matters is I got here first."
"Right now I'm standing in front of you with the funds to make this deal. I think you should choose the better customer."
Newton spoke eloquently, his gaze sweeping between the container holding the secondary Kaiju brain and Hannibal Chau.
He had to complete this transaction.
No time to worry about the risks of dealing with underworld figures. Right now he just wanted to Drift with that secondary brain.
Damn... she was tempting.
"You...?"
"Kid, before you say all that, tell me how you found me?" Chau kept his hands in his pockets, slowly approaching Newton. He looked the young man up and down, asking from above.
He was a black market dealer with plenty of connections, sure, but his whereabouts weren't known to just anyone.
Someone had leaked his location to this young man. He needed to know who, then permanently blacklist them.
One of a black market dealer's survival tactics.
"That's not important."
"Right now we just need to exchange money for goods, right?" Newton spread his hands, frowning at Chau. His scientific courage surged in this moment.
The intel came from Marshal Stacker, but he knew he couldn't say that now.
Hearing this, Chau's face immediately turned cold.
The two men in black jackets beside him pulled pistols from their pockets, stepping forward to flank Newton on both sides.
The guns didn't immediately press against Newton's forehead. Instead they gripped them with both hands crossed naturally in front—a posture that somehow amplified the violent intimidation.
"I suggest you figure out who you're talking to." Chau said in a low voice, slowly raising his right hand. The two men beside him raised their pistols in sync.
If he wanted, Newton's head would explode instantly.
"Calm down... hey, calm down!" Hermann saw this and immediately stepped between them with his cane, voice tense.
"We're just here to make a deal. No need for this."
"We want to buy these things from you because we want to save the world." His brain raced, searching for words to ease the atmosphere.
Both scientists had dumped all their points into intelligence—they were clueless about social interaction.
But when he said this, Chau frowned and signaled his bodyguards to back off.
He rubbed the stubble on his chin, staring at the two men, saying thoughtfully: "I know who sent you..."
The only people constantly thinking about saving the world were that troublesome Stacker Pentecost and his crew.
After the Jaeger forces transitioned from official organization to private, Marshal Stacker had transferred processing rights for massive amounts of Kaiju corpses to Chau, obtaining financial support in return. Their cooperation was quite close.
"Didn't you already close the Breach?"
"Where are all these villains for you to play hero against now?" Chau asked, confused.
By all logic, Stacker's group should be resting. The crucial Breach was already closed—what were they up to now?
"How do you know... fine. I can only tell you things are far more complicated than you imagine." Newton froze first, then seemed to accept reality, offering a simple explanation.
"Our enemy hasn't completely disappeared."
"We need to use this to gather enemy intel." Newton pointed at the secondary Kaiju brain.
Now it was Chau's turn to freeze.
"Use it to gather enemy intel?"
"How?"
"Has your technology advanced enough to extract memories from Kaiju brains?"
He wondered how their tech could have progressed so fast.
There was only one way to obtain intel from a Kaiju brain...
"Wait..." Chau suddenly thought of something. He yanked off his round sunglasses, staring at Newton, frowning. "You're planning to Drift with a Kaiju!?"
He stepped forward. As the distance closed, he noticed the abnormality in Newton's eyes.
What should have been brown irises now carried hints of red, and the white sclera was crawling with blood vessels.
"Fuck! You've already done it once!?" Seeing these obvious Drift aftereffects, Chau immediately realized the man had already Drifted with a Kaiju.
"Wha... what?" Newton was startled by Chau's sudden reaction.
Why was this black market dealer suddenly freaking out?
"Don't you know?" Chau shot back. "The Drift is mutual. When you get intel from the Kaiju's brain, the Kaiju gets intel from yours."
"Everything in your head has already been exposed to your enemy!" Just thinking about it made Chau furious.
He'd studied Kaiju physiology—he knew how it worked.
Young scientists like Newton—Chau could tell at a glance the guy had an impulsive personality. He'd definitely rushed into Drifting with a Kaiju without any preparation.
Completely counterproductive!
However, Newton's response after nodding left him stunned again.
"Yeah, I know. So what?" Newton frowned, still not understanding.
After Drifting with the Kaiju, Albert had told him about the downsides but said not to worry about it.
They weren't afraid of exchanging intel with the enemy.
"You know?"
"And you still want to Drift with a Kaiju again?" Chau was losing confidence now. "Wait... how did you maintain zero casualties while exchanging intel with the enemy?"
He suddenly realized—if these guys had already Drifted with a Kaiju, how had their previous operation succeeded?
"Because even after getting our intel, they still can't beat us. Simple as that." Newton wore an expression that said 'isn't this logic obvious?', completely baffling Chau.
"Shit... what kind of black tech has Stacker gotten his hands on..." Chau put his sunglasses back on, hiding his bewildered gaze.
"So, are you selling us this batch or not?" Newton pressed immediately.
Chau looked helplessly at the goods beside him.
Somewhat hesitant.
He knew Stacker's crew did things he couldn't understand, but honorable enough.
But his current buyer, Zachary Leiman—he couldn't afford to cross him either.
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