Chapter 4
On Thursday, a light drizzle fell in the capital city.
The diplomatic building rises tall amidst the gloomy rain. Its glass exterior walls, made of special materials, absorb all the rain, maintaining the eternal grandeur and solemnity of this huge building.
Jiang Yun strode out of the elevator, dressed in a suit and shirt, his back straight, forming an almost cold line: "A few more minutes."
A group of diplomats dressed similarly to Jiang Yun followed him, their faces all wearing the same serious expressions. The one closest to Jiang Yun was his first assistant, a female Omega named Zhong Man.
"The Olin Foreign Affairs delegation's car entered Central Avenue a minute ago and will arrive at the Diplomatic Building in five minutes." Zhong Man spoke quickly but methodically. "Also, Mr. Jiang, Lieutenant Colonel Morris, who is in charge of security for this meeting, is waiting for you in the lobby."
Jiang Yun came to the lobby on the first floor and saw Morris who had been waiting for a long time.
A total of twenty people came from the military headquarters. Morris had the highest rank and was the commander-in-chief of this mission.
Morris stood in front of the team, looking at the sharp and cold figure walking towards him, his shoulder muscles tensed to the extreme.
Jiang Yun paused briefly in front of him, his expression as indifferent as ever, as if the conversation in the cafe had never happened: "It's hard work."
Morris opened his mouth, but swallowed back what he was about to say. He took a step closer to Jiang Yun and whispered, "Red-haired Ian is an extremely dangerous person. Jiang Yun, you have to be careful."
Jiang Yun nodded, walked around him and continued forward. An impulse surged in Morris's heart, and he blurted out: "I'll have someone deal with the scandal, don't worry."
Jiang Yun paused, his cold gaze fixed on Alpha's face, his voice tinged with mockery: "It's work time now, Lieutenant Colonel."
Morris froze suddenly, his face pale with shame: "Sorry."
Jiang Yun and a group of diplomats stood at the entrance of the diplomatic building. A few minutes later, several cars with the flags of the Olin Empire appeared in their sight.
The invited reporters began filming, their equipment emitting a series of flashing light trails. Cars gradually stopped at the entrance of the diplomatic building, and the middle one happened to be parked directly in front of Jiang Yun's field of vision.
The car door slowly opened, and an Alpha with a low red ponytail and wearing the Olin Royal's iconic tuxedo walked down.
Compared to words like handsome and cool, beautiful and feminine is more suitable to describe this Alpha's appearance. His eyes are very narrow and long, and his pupils are the same color as his long hair, as if burning with a ball of eerie flame.
Jiang Yun raised the corners of his lips like a textbook of etiquette, and extended his hand to the Alpha: "Welcome, Mr. Ian."
"Ah, we meet again, beautiful Mr. Diplomat." Ian warmly shook Jiang Yun's hand in front of everyone, his smile looking very sincere. "I've left messages on your social media account several times. Why haven't you replied to me once?"
Jiang Yun pulled his hand out and said with a smile: "What do you think?"
"Is it because of the last roundtable meeting? I forgot to use the pheromone blocker, causing you, sitting next to me, so much trouble?" Yin En's eyes were sincere, and he said in a voice that only he and Jiang Yun could hear, "I'm so sorry, I really didn't mean it. You know, my memory has always been bad, especially after seeing a beauty like you, I panicked for a moment..."
"Please stop this meaningless conversation," Jiang Yun said, looking forward as the door to the conference room slowly opened.
The Alliance and the Olin Empire are "neighbors" in the same star system. Due to the ever-changing motion of celestial bodies, the two countries have always had territorial disputes. This time, the dispute is over an asteroid provisionally named K2-19b.
The environment on K2-19b is harsh and lacks the necessary conditions for the survival of intelligent life. It has become the focus of competition between the two sides because three months ago, the Alliance's interstellar patrol fleet accidentally discovered a large number of prokaryotic nuclei in K2-19b's crust.
Protons, the core energy source of the Starfleet, are essential for spacecraft jumps. Protons are non-renewable, and with the rapid expansion of the Starfleet, the supply of protons on the Alliance's sixteen planets is dwindling.
The order Jiang Yun received was that they had to obtain at least 65% of the mining rights to K2-19b.
In the conference hall, Alliance and Empire foreign affairs officials sat at opposite ends of a long table. From the moment they sat down, courtesy and etiquette became hypocritical tools to conceal their ambitions.
"K2-19b's orbit spends two-thirds of its cycle closer to us, so the Empire should be in charge of the entire mining process."
"First, if we hadn't discovered the pronuclear, even if K2-19b were your exclusive satellite, you probably wouldn't have even bothered to take a look. Second, I recall your country's pronuclear mining technology is long outdated, and you're the one who's in charge... Ha, are you trying to take us back to the old, outdated technology of the last century?"
"Energy can be shared, and technology can certainly be shared as well. His Majesty the Great Emperor has issued an order to us. If the Alliance is willing to share the latest proto-nuclear mining technology, the Empire is willing to generously grant the Alliance 50% of the mining rights."
…
Jiang Yun sat at the front of the long table and remained silent since the meeting began.
This seemingly intense negotiation wasn't the first. Since the discovery of the prokaryote, similar negotiations have occurred dozens of times, yet the two sides have never reached a consensus.
Today's negotiations were initiated by Ian. Instead of inviting Jiang Yun to his territory, he proposed to come to the alliance capital in person.
The other party went to such great lengths to arrange this negotiation, they must have a new card up their sleeve.
Jiang Yun was waiting for that trump card.
Time passed by minute by minute, and neither side made the slightest concession.
Ian sat across from Jiang Yun across the long table. Like Jiang Yun, he did not join the heated discussion with others. Instead, he kept looking at Jiang Yun with his red eyes, with a smile on his lips, as if he had discovered something very interesting.
This look was really uncomfortable. Zhong Man, who was also an Omega and sitting next to Jiang Yun, frowned. However, Jiang Yun seemed to feel nothing and listened to every member's speech calmly and attentively.
The negotiations lasted nearly half an hour before Yin En finally spoke. "Isn't it getting late?" the red-haired Alpha said in a self-proclaimed, cheerful tone. "I'm a little hungry. How about you, great diplomat?"
Jiang Yun smiled and said, "I'm hungry too."
Ian laughed heartily: "Then let's quickly end this boring negotiation and have dinner together!"
The middle-aged man sitting next to Ian said, "But sir, we haven't reached a conclusion yet."
Ian disagreed: "I'm afraid you won't reach a conclusion even if we discuss it for another day." Alpha tapped his forehead with a hand, pretending to be thoughtful: "How about this, great diplomat, let's discuss the distribution of nuclear power mining rights on K2-19b later. Let's talk about the interesting things that happened on another planet first."
The alliance's diplomatic officials looked at each other silently. Everyone present knew very well that no matter what the Olin Empire wanted to discuss with them, the ultimate goal must still be K2-19b itself.
Jiang Yun asked politely: "What do you mean?"
Ian's mouth curled up slowly: "Ice Wasteland Star γ."
"Ice Wasteland γ belongs to the Olin Empire. The planet's surface is covered with a large layer of ice, the thickness of which roughly reaches at least the depth of the ocean." Zhong Man recited fluently, "Ice Wasteland γ has no signs of life, and no scientific expedition team has stopped there at the moment."
Another Alliance diplomat asked, "Ice Wasteland γ is just a primitive wasteland. Why did you suddenly mention it?"
"Because..." Ian stared at Jiang Yun's almost pure black eyes and spoke in a dramatic tone, "That's where Colonel Lu died in the line of duty."
This sentence was like thunder, and everyone was stunned. Morris, who was standing behind Jiang Yun, suddenly changed his expression and subconsciously looked at Jiang Yun.
The discussion started from nowhere and quickly escalated, finally the whole audience was in an uproar.
"Colonel Lu? Colonel Lu Huai, the only one to have received the highest honor in the alliance?"
"Colonel Lu doesn't even know where the spacecraft disintegrated. How did the Olin Empire know his remains were on Ice Desolate Planet γ?"
Jiang Yun was the only one in the room who remained unexpectedly calm. His face was solemn and elegant, his eyes still maintaining an extremely calm and clear mind.
Ian couldn't find any flaws on Jiang Yun's face, and continued, "Beautiful diplomat, don't you want to take Colonel Lu home? Don't the citizens of your alliance want their most glorious hero to return home? Even if all that remains of him may be a few broken pieces."
Everyone's eyes were focused on Jiang Yun.
Jiang Yun coldly said two words: "Evidence."
Zhong Man sternly demanded, "Back then, Colonel Lu, for the safety of all Alliance citizens, used himself as bait to successfully lure the interstellar aliens away from the Alliance area. Before his spaceship completely disintegrated, he performed an irregular jump. Even we don't know where he ended up. Yet, you claim that Colonel Lu Huai's remains are on Ice Desolate Planet γ. May I ask, what evidence do you have?"
Ian raised the corner of his mouth confidently. He took out a photo made of scraps of paper from the pocket of his tuxedo, pressed it under his fingertips, and pushed it towards Jiang Yun, saying frivolously, "Great diplomat, I didn't expect you to be so cute before."
In the photo, Jiang Yun, seventeen years ago, was wearing a pure white T-shirt and a dark green military uniform that was too large for him. He was standing at the kitchen counter and seemed to hear someone calling him.
Jiang Yun subconsciously turned to the camera, his eyes clear and innocent, with a small piece of bread bitten in his red mouth.
Behind the photo, a line of old handwriting flows like water, smooth and natural.
——The wife who steals bread.
For human society that has entered the interstellar age, photographs are already rare.
But electronic information will eventually disappear with the damage of the carrier, and only paper can float into the vast and unknown universe along with the remains of its owner.
Just like the regrets that humans can never eradicate, they will continue to exist and never disappear.
Morris looked down at Jiang Yun who was sitting upright.
From his perspective, he could vaguely see a small piece of porcelain-like skin on the back of Jiang Yun's neck, and an almost invisible bite mark covering it.
Morris suddenly wanted to ask Jiang Yun.
You always say two months is too short.
You said you are not deeply in love, and you are not loyal until death.
But do you also feel sorry for losing him, Jiang Yun?
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