The man was certainly surprised when he saw Yao Tang.
Up until then, he had been convinced that the other party would either be a reclusive scholar or a middle-aged collector.
He wasn’t expecting to meet a young person tonight.
By principle, the organization issued only one USB drive per family, and they were usually under the charge of the family head or some other elder.
So to find that a youngster was able to gain access to this exclusive stronghold…
The man could infer two things.
First, the power behind this kid was not something he could trifle with.
Second, this young man was likely the heir of his family. Otherwise, his elders wouldn’t have handed him such a valuable instrument.
With these possibilities running amok inside his head, the man quickly adopted a respectful mien. He stood and gave the young one a small bow before saying, “Please take a seat.”
“Let’s get straight to business. What is it that you want in exchange for the artifact?”
Yao Tang was using a voice-changing device that turned her voice a few octaves lower. No one could have known who she was, not even her friends.
This confirmed the man’s presumption that he was dealing with a prominent young master.
His initial plan was to make small talk and try to get some information about his trade partner, but the latter had immediately shut him down.
Perhaps this was one of the young master’s ways to assert his position. He was the successor to his family, after all.
The likes of him were known to be arrogant, as they were used to always getting their way.
The man nodded and complied. “Then I shall be blunt. Judging by your capabilities, you must have a number of experts in your family, right? I am only guessing, of course, but there must be someone among your relatives who are proficient in weaponry design.”
Yao Tang’s lips twitched at the words “family” and “experts”.
It appeared that this man had gravely misunderstood a thing or two.
Not that it was a bad thing. This way, it would be easier for her to hide her real identity, and the man’s presumptions might even give her an advantage in their transaction.
She ignored his question and asked directly, “Is it a weapon you want, or a blueprint?”
The man visibly relaxed after hearing this. It was just as he had thought—this young man did have connections in the weapon industry.
And based on the youth’s information and activity on the website, he had also deduced that there must be an expert hacker who was closely monitoring the account.
In that case, he was more than willing to proceed with the deal.
This family clearly had an impressive assembly of networks and resources at their disposal.
It could prove detrimental to his future interests if he wasted this opportunity to establish a connection.
The man didn’t tell her what he wanted. Instead, he took out a small safe box and placed it on the table.
“I brought the artifact with me in order to show my sincerity. Feel free to check it at your leisure.”
As he said this, he keyed in the password and opened the box, revealing a material that looked very similar to the parchment Yao Tanghad been looking for.
But after a quick glance, she realized that it was slightly different from the one in her possession.
This one looked very old, and it was blank.
Yao Tang couldn’t glean anything from it.
She looked up and met the man’s eager gaze. Now that he had shown his hand, it was her turn to express her sincerity.
Yao Tang’s eyes turned cold behind her glasses.
This man didn’t want money; he wanted weapons, or worse yet—blueprints to make even more weapons.
“There’s only half of the parchment here,” she commented.
“That’s right,” the man nodded calmly.
He had already considered the problems that might arise when he decided to take out the parchment.
“But I don’t recall you mentioning that you will only trade half of the artifact.”
The man was instantly apologetic. “I am sorry, I must have forgotten. I shall send the other half to you once our deal is done.”
Yao Tang’s eyes narrowed. “So the other half is with you as well?”
The man’s eyes flashed dangerously. “It currently isn’t,” he said pointedly. “But if you need it, then I can send it over immediately. Take this first half as a deposit, so to speak.”
He closed the box and pushed it toward Yao Tang.
“Are you saying that you will be stealing the second half, wherever it is?”
The man chuckled softly. “Heh, nothing like that. Let’s say that we entrusted it to someone. We can retrieve it whenever we want, and they have no choice but to return it.”