Chapter 1223: Negotiation

What the heck. What does this mean? You’re building your own fortress in front of our house?

Silver Frost was very confused. Suddenly, he remembered the two winning conditions for the Group Battle.

First, the most common way to win was to deplete the opponent’s reinforcement points. The second way, although it had not been accomplished in the past few years, was to kill the opponent camp’s leader.

The situation was obvious now. They did not stand a great chance to return to their base camp. However, since they could not do that, should they just stand and watch Hong Dali murder their leader?

“What should I do? What should I do?” Silver Frost was sweating profusely. He was a decisive person, so he immediately gave the orders to retreat. “Everyone, retreat. Let’s go for Hong Dali’s leader instead! If we can kill their leader, we still have a chance to win!”

They did have a chance. However, time was not on their side.

Yet, there was nothing else they could do. Should they just sit here and wait for their loss?

They rushed toward the opponent base camp. Silver Frost’s troops raced at top speeds and arrived at the first fortress Hong Dali built. Nobody was there! Good. Continue! After the fortress, they had a smooth journey without seeing anybody. In the end, when they reached Hong Dali’s main base camp, Silver Frost was completely in despair…

What the heck. Hong Dali built another fortress here! It seemed like at least 1,000 people were on defense!

“It’s over. We lost.” Silver Frost smiled wryly and shook his head. “I’m utterly convinced. This Hong Dali is too good. There’s no hope in defeating him.”

No hope in fighting against Hong Dali. Indeed, they had no chances of winning.

He could control the entire situation within a few moves. Everything was under his calculations. Nobody could surprise him.

As expected, just then, a loud horn sound was heard. Then, an emotionless voice could be heard across the entire venue. “Demon troops killed the human camp’s leader, Fire Dragon King, Anubreta. The battle is over.”

It’s over. I lost another round.

Silver Frost looked in Hong Dali’s direction. He was utterly convinced this time. “Hong Dali. You’re good!”

…

In the stands, Lieutenant General Lei Zhe stared in bewilderment and disbelief. “Vic… victory just like that?! They won the battle so easily?! There is a difference of over 80,000 reinforcement points! 80,000! They actually won by killing the opponent camp’s leader?!”

No wonder he was surprised. The original purpose of the Group Battle was to discover the tactical geniuses of the young generation. Unfortunately, it had been almost a century since the last impressive talent appeared.

“The last tactical genius who could kill the opponent’s leader was Marshal Rommel, right?” Dick was so excited while looking at Hong Dali that his fists started trembling. “Finally. Another genius! Lieutenant General, this Hong Dali is not bad, right?”

“Not bad. Hahahaha, not bad at all!” Lei Zhe laughed. “This Hong Dali, we’ll take him for sure! No matter what demands he raises, satisfy all of them! Hahahaha! As long as he leaves with us! Aiya, I’m so happy today. So happy! We discovered such talent. Not bad, not bad at all!”

Since Lieutenant General Lei Zhe said that, everything else would naturally fall into place.

…

To everyone’s surprise, Hong Dali disappeared without a trace after this victory. There were no Award Ceremonies either. The Dean of the Shenglong Astral Divine College, Dean Fergos, also had a mysterious expression. He did not mention Hong Dali’s location at all.

Within an instant, everyone speculated about what exactly happened. However, nobody knew the truth.

In the Hong Family estate. After the Group Battle victory, Hong Dali was summoned back to the estate immediately. He was not informed of any details.

“Great-grandfather, great-grandmother, I’m back!” Hong Dali and his lackeys rushed in mightily through the estate gates and headed straight for the large conference room. “What’s the rush?”

“Aiyo, our sweetheart is back?” Hua Yueling smiled brightly as she saw Hong Dali. “Hurry, come this way. I’ll bring you to meet two great leaders. Hehe, they are real dignitaries. Our sweetheart is about to soar high in the future!”

“Ah? Great leaders?” Hong Dali stared with his eyes wide open. “What leaders can be higher-ranking than great-grandmother and great-grandfather?”

Hong Xingyu was the leader of the entire Shenglong Astral Royal Family. Who could be more impressive than that? Could they be people from the Astral Alliance?

“Lieutenant General Lei Zhe, our Dali has returned.” Hong Xingyu took Hong Dali’s hand and introduced him to Lei Zhe. “This is our Dali. Dali, this is Lieutenant General Lei Zhe, leader of the Pengyun Astral Alliance Dimensional Warfare Department. Hurry and greet him.”

What the heck. Lieutenant General of the Dimensional War Department. Doesn’t he hold unlimited power? Hong Dali hurriedly smiled and greeted him. “Greetings, Uncle Lei Zhe, hehe.”

This guy did not care about the Lieutenant General position. He first called him uncle so that they could build a good relationship.

“Haha, you’re Hong Dali, right?” Lei Zhe looked at Hong Dali and sat down. “I watched your previous battle. Aiya, you’re a genius. It’s been a few centuries since someone was able to kill the opponent camp’s leader to secure a victory. You accomplished that rare feat. I plan to bring you back to our headquarters at the Astral Alliance for further training. Do you have any requests?”

Damn… must I really go for further training? I knew it. I said that I didn’t want to win. I knew that I shouldn’t have exposed my own plans. Otherwise, that idiot Silver Frost will probably be the one going now—oh, oh, oh, I can’t say he’s that stupid. He’s one of my lackeys now. Hm, I can’t scold one of my own…

“Uncle Lei Zhe.” Hong Dali put on an innocent expression. “Can I choose not to go? I want to stay here as a happy prodigal. I don’t want to be a commander…”

“Cough, cough, cough—” Sir Dick looked at Hong Dali like he just saw a ghost. “You don’t want to go?! Heading to our headquarters at the Astral Alliance for further training is the dream of countless people! Do you know that after your training, you can be promoted to a General if you perform well? How much power will you hold? We have six Generals in our entire Pengyun Astral Alliance. Each general can unconditionally mobilize troops from 500 Astrals! Yet, you say that you don’t want to go?!”

There were 6,000 Astrals in the Pengyun Astral Alliance. As a General, he would be able to mobilize troops from 500 Astrals!

By then, he could beat up and attack whoever he wanted! What an amazing and domineering position! Yet, this guy was not interested at all?!

“I want to be a prodigal…” Hong Dali was not happy at all as he mumbled. “I can’t squander there. Where’s the fun in that? Training is so boring…”

“Squander…” Lei Zhe was speechless. “You want to be a prodigal?”

“I’m already a prodigal,” Hong Dali replied with a serious face. “I want to become to biggest prodigal in the entire universe!”

Speaking of which, if I become a General, can I squander all those Astrals? That must feel exciting…

“This…” Lei Zhe and Dick shared a glance. Then, he clenched his teeth ferociously. “Fine. You want to squander. I’ll settle that for you there. I’ll grant you 500 billion Astral Dollars. You can squander however you want!”

What the heck, so generous?

Hong Dali’s eyes instantly widened. “Seriously?”

“No shit. I’m the Lieutenant General of the Dimensional Warfare Department. Will I lie about that?” Lei Zhe risked it all for this genius, Hong Dali. “Speak. What other demands do you have? Raise them all!”

Since the squandering matter was settled, Hong Dali did not act polite anymore. He knew that they wanted him for sure. Hence, he went big. “I’m a prodigal, so I must bring my lackeys out with me. It’s just that I have quite a few lackeys…”

“How many?” Hm, it made sense for him to bring along some subordinates. “Give me a number.”

“Around, let me calculate…” Hong Dali added up the numbers. Hm, with all my previous lackeys, Loca and the rest of the forty members, together with Silver Frost, You Muming, and those sixty-two new Chosen One lackeys, that’s a total of… Hong Dali counted with his fingers and lost track. Gu Feifei understood him well. “150. That number should be enough.”

“200!” Hong Dali was worried that would not be enough, so he decisively added on another fifty. “200 lackeys, any problems?”

“Lackey, are you asking for death?!” Lei Zhe almost died from his anger. “You’re going there for training. Training. Do you understand?! We’re not asking you to go for a holiday! You want to bring 200 lackeys along?!”

It’s not a resort! Why do you want to bring so many lackeys?!

“200!” Hong Dali instantly pouted. “I won’t go if a single one is missing. I didn’t want to go, anyways. How am I supposed to live without my lackeys…”

“Asshole…” Lei Zhe gritted his teeth in anger. “Fine, 200! Anything else?!”

“Yes!” Hong Dali looked at Lei Zhe’s green face and raised his final request. “I can only go after a while. My great-grandfather still has an upcoming duel against the head of the Zhu Family. I can’t relax until after that duel.”

The duel between the Zhu Family and Hong Family always worried Hong Dali. Everyone knew about that. This guy was very protective of his own people. He would never leave this place before the victory was decided.

“This is simple!” This was a non-issue in Lieutenant General Lei Zhe’s eyes. “Dick, settle this matter here. If they dare to resist, remove their entire family! I’ll bring this guy back to the headquarters first. We’re facing great pressure on the Teyi Astral front. I’ll bring him back for some practice first.”

“Understood!” Dick immediately bowed and started gathering his people.