Chapter 309: Making Arrangements
Inside the Tang's Arms Company office, Major General Gene Franklin signed the Acceptance Certificate with an 18K gold Parker Fountain Pen. As Yuri reached out to take the copy of the Acceptance Certificate, Gene suddenly grabbed Yuri's outstretched hand.
Seeing Major General Gene Franklin's excited look, Yuri felt a chill and thought the guy had peculiar habits. He quickly pulled his hand back, discreetly wiped his hand on his clothes behind his back.
Major General Gene Franklin also realized he had been overly excited. He quickly patted his chest and said to Yuri:
"Mr. Yuri, for military hardware of the same specifications and technical standards in the future, for as long as I am in the Department of Defense, I will prioritize procurement from Tang's Arms Company!"
Yuri scrutinized Major General Gene Franklin and smiled, "What are the conditions then? As friends, what can we do for you, Major General Gene Franklin?"
Major General Gene Franklin took a deep breath, staring intently at Yuri, and said, "Mr. Yuri, I want that Electromagnetic Cannon. Include it on this procurement list!"
Yuri's gaze narrowed, and a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "General Gene Franklin, for this procurement, are you representing the Department of Defense, or...?"
"Myself! And the Franklin Family behind me! If your Tang Group helps me this time, you will gain the friendship of the Franklin Family!"
Major General Gene Franklin looked at Yuri solemnly, "In this contract, representing the Department of Defense, I will procure twenty Railguns at a price of one hundred million US dollars each to deal with the Wormhole Monsters invasion. Your Tang Group will include twenty experimental Exoskeleton Armors as a bonus for battlefield testing!"
Hearing Major General Gene Franklin's words, Yuri's eyes widened, and a cold light flashed in his pupils.
He gave a cold laugh, "General Gene Franklin, if I understand correctly, you want to procure twenty Behemoth God Armors and twenty Electromagnetic Cannons for two billion US dollars? That wasn't in the transaction contract we drafted with the Department of Defense beforehand!"
Major General Gene Franklin looked at Yuri, took a deep breath, and said:
"Give me six months. I know that in this deal, your Tang Group is taking a loss, but in future arms procurement, I will try my best to compensate you!"
Yuri stared sternly at Major General Gene Franklin, as if trying to read his mind.
Major General Gene Franklin stared back at Yuri, unwilling to show weakness. Whether or not there's compensation was just something he said offhand; the most important thing now was to overcome the current difficulty.
Changing the contract to procurement, and the procurement orders to twenty Electromagnetic Cannons, meant the twenty leased, much-criticized Exoskeleton Armors would become a trivial extra.
Major General Gene Franklin deeply admired his quick thinking, but the current problem was whether the Tang Group would sell these Electromagnetic Cannons.
On this point, Major General Gene Franklin wasn't worried. As a crucial part of the Department of Defense's procurement process, the importance of the acceptance stage was self-evident.
No Arms Company or Protection Company would dare offend him, the client.
However, this time Major General Gene Franklin underestimated Tang's Arms Company and overestimated himself.
Yuri had a smile on his face, but his words kept him at a distance: "I'm sorry, General Gene Franklin, our Electromagnetic Cannons are not on the sale list this time!"
Major General Gene Franklin's face immediately turned cold. "If they're not for sale, add them!"
Taking a deep breath, Major General Gene Franklin stared intently at Yuri and said word by word: "Mr. Yuri, I consider you and Mr. Tang behind you friends. In our previous collaborations, I helped you quite a bit. Now it's time for you to return the favor. I and the Franklin Family behind me will not forget your help. Of course, if your Tang Group doesn't want to be my friend, you will gain an enemy!"
"Franklin, Mr. Gene Franklin is threatening me," Yuri interlaced his thumbs and pressed them together. The friendly smile of a businessman was gone from his face. Instead, the corner of his mouth curled up in a sneer. "What does Franklin have now, General Gene Franklin? Is it your former congressman father who is now in full-body paralysis, half in a vegetative state? Or is it you, a Major General in the Federal Department of Defense Logistics Department?"
His mouth twitched, and Major General Gene Franklin's eyes turned completely red. He hissed, "How did you know?"
His elderly father, after a serious illness, had been recuperating in a high-end sanatorium. Not long ago, he suddenly suffered a stroke. After being rescued by over a dozen experts, he was saved, but his mouth and eyes were askew, and he was completely paralyzed in bed, only able to squeeze out words one by one.
After his elderly father became paralyzed, the first thing Major General Gene Franklin did was block the information. After all, the political influence a healthy old Franklin could maintain was completely different from that of an old Franklin paralyzed in bed, unable to manage his bodily functions.
With a flick of his finger, Yuri skillfully pulled out a bottle of vodka from a hidden compartment under the armrest of the nearby sofa. He opened it and took two large gulps of the strong liquor.
Letting out a satisfied burp, Yuri gave a cold laugh, "General Gene Franklin, why did the Department of Defense only send you alone for this procurement acceptance mission? Don't you have a clue?"
Clenching his fist tightly, Major General Gene Franklin asked in a hoarse throat, "Are you saying those people in the Department of Defense also know this information?"
Yuri smiled slightly and retorted, "Do you think secrets can really be kept in The Pentagon? Do you know how many people are watching this job of federal military hardware acceptance?"
After a moment of silence, Major General Gene Franklin sat back on the sofa. He looked at Yuri and said in a deep voice, "Mr. Yuri, if your Tang Group can help me keep my position as Major General in the Logistics Department this time, I'll repeat what I said: for military hardware of the same specifications and technical standards, for as long as I am in the Department of Defense, I will prioritize procurement from Tang's Arms Company!"
Saying the same words again, Major General Gene Franklin no longer had the condescending, charitable tone he had before.
Yuri was very satisfied with Major General Gene Franklin's attitude at this moment. He cleared his throat and said to Major General Gene Franklin gently with a smile, "I've always believed in one saying: Harmony brings wealth. Making money together is true wealth. Our Tang Group is also willing to be friends with General Gene Franklin. However, the Electromagnetic Cannons are indeed not on the sale list this time. The requirement you've raised involves our group's core assets, and I still need to request instructions from the President/CEO and the Big Boss..."
Under Major General Gene Franklin's eyes, which were like those of a begging puppy, Yuri reached out and opened another hidden compartment on the sofa armrest, placing the copy of the Acceptance Certificate he had signed inside.
"Things are done. I'll see you out!" Yuri closed the hidden compartment, stood up, and made a gesture of seeing a guest out.
Major General Gene Franklin sat on the sofa, his expression somewhat stiff. After a moment of silence, Major General Gene Franklin grabbed the bottle, poured himself a drink, and quickly downed it.
"I'll wait for your information!" "Don't worry, General Gene Franklin. After requesting instructions from the Big Boss, I will definitely reply to you as soon as possible!"
Yuri watched Major General Gene Franklin leave the Tang's Arms Company building. Several black cars were waiting outside the company. A group of elite active-duty soldiers surrounded Major General Gene Franklin as he got into a car.
Watching Major General Gene Franklin's convoy drive away, Yuri turned away from the window and opened a hidden compartment in the office wall. Inside was a silver private elevator.
As Yuri pressed his palm onto it, the elevator slowly opened.
Below the Tang's Arms Company Underground Weapon Experiment Base, about thirty meters below the lowest level of architecture,
A huge space, similar in size to the Underground Weapon Experiment Base, had been hollowed out with powerful strength.
On the massive dome, virtual projection displayed everything from the outside world.
The entire space had dozens of ventilation shafts, and every level of every building was equipped with central air conditioning. The windows of these rooms also had virtual images projected in real-time, simulating environments with wind, rain, light, and snow, allowing the staff working here to enjoy a comfortable working environment just like the outside.
On the dome, hundreds of iron soldiers were slowly flying in a predetermined pattern, their feet spraying blue thrust flames, patrolling this hidden space.
On the ground, countless Big Men with tall builds, wearing black suits, and abnormally thick hair on their exposed arms, were orderly patrolling in formation, carrying heavy machine guns, rocket launchers, and other firearms.
These Ghost Wolf Soldiers occasionally sniffed the air, detecting any suspicious scents.
In this space, there were even more of the slender black drones.
They skillfully circled back and forth in the sky, their red electronic eyes monitoring everything around them.
On the ground, the Behemoth God Armors, which Yuri had quoted to the Department of Defense at hundreds of millions of US dollars each, stood every ten meters. Fully armed Behemoth God Armors, covered in thick artillery barrels, were armed to the teeth, openly displaying their powerful combat strength and terrifying destruction force. Yuri followed the encrypted private elevator down to the center of the space, into the pyramid-shaped architecture that barely reached the highest point of the dome.
As soon as he entered the massive room at the highest point, he saw Kane sitting on the sofa, wiping an old-fashioned revolver.
The M500 Revolver, known as the most powerful handgun in the world,
Produced by Smith & Wesson,
The M500 Revolver is very famous in the world of handguns. Its fame comes from its large caliber. This gun has a 0.50-inch caliber, which is 12.7 millimeters, and fires the .50 Magnum high-power handgun bullet. Because the bullet is too large, a normal revolver launcher can hold six bullets, but this one can only hold five! There's a rumor about this gun that one shot from the M500 can blow the head off an elephant, so it's also called a handheld artillery or elephant gun.
Only fifty of this limited edition M500 were produced by Smith & Wesson at the time. With the passage of time, there are no more than three guns of this model circulating in the entire collection world.
The one in Kane's hand was a collection piece that Yuri had gone to great lengths to obtain from The Collector.
Yuri greeted Kane cheerfully, "Boss Kane, long time no see, you're finally back from the Underworld. Hmm, how does this gun feel? I went through a lot of trouble to get it. Oh, where's Ivan? I don't see him?"
Kane, as steady as a mountain, ejected the bullets from the M500 launcher and wiped them one by one. A happy smile appeared on his usually stern face:
"Yuri, this gun is good. Two bullets can penetrate an alien's back armor, although they need to hit the same position. Still, I like this gun!"
"Hmm, you asked about Ivan? I brought a batch of good hands over. Boss wants me to test the combat capability of these Yellow Turban Warriors. I need a batch of Behemoth God Armors. The current batch needs slight modification!"
Upon hearing Kane's words, Yuri was a little curious: "Boss Kane, what mission did Boss assign?"
A heavy killing intent appeared on Kane's face: "Boss sent back information that this wormhole incident, like the previous Chitauri invasion, is backed by the same influence. I'm just going to use them to test this batch of the latest Behemoth God Mark III Armors!"
Yuri nodded and sat directly on the sofa opposite Kane, picking up a bottle of vodka from the table and opening it for himself.
"Boss Kane, just now the Major General from the Department of Defense's procurement department said he wanted to procure..."
Kane listened to Yuri explain the whole story while wiping his gun. By the time Yuri finished, he had also finished wiping the gun. He breathed onto the launcher and reloaded the golden bullets one by one into the launcher. Click, click!
With the launcher back in place, Kane aimed vaguely at the ground. "I'm not very interested in these matters. Lane usually handles these political interactions! You said that Major General has some background?"
Yuri poured himself a glass of vodka and drank it while explaining to Kane, "The Franklin Family is considered a significant political family in the Federation. The family has produced several Senators and Governors throughout history. While not deeply entrenched, they do have some connections. It's just that old Franklin is critically ill this time, and this young Franklin can't utilize this political resource well!"
Kane put away his handgun and shook his head, "With our current influence, a normal political family is insignificant. It's just a small matter, and you don't need to ask Lane. You handle it yourself!"
At this moment, the door opened, and Ivan Vanko walked in. He casually tossed aside his greasy white gloves and plopped down on the sofa next to Kane. "Boss Kane, the mechs have been re-tuned. The modified mechs are four and a half meters tall, enough to accommodate your subordinates. What's the background of these subordinates? The Hive's latest product?"
Ivan Vanko thought of the batch of Hulking Men he had just seen – bald-headed, barefoot, wearing black suits.
These Big Men's faces were like granite, without any emotional fluctuation. Their eyes were as gray as those of dead people. Anyone who looked into their eyes would instinctively feel that these Big Men were actually dead.
Hulking Men over two meters in height, when they walked, their tall and sturdy bodies felt light and airy, like they were made of paper. They walked without a sound, like snowflakes falling into viscous grease, making no sound at all.
If not seen with the naked eye, most people would even ignore their existence. After these Big Men transformed, their height was over three meters. The strange thing was, with his current strength, he actually felt a threat of death from these Big Men.
(end of chapter)