Chapter 328 - 12: Encrypted Data (Part 3)

Chapter 328: Chapter 12: Encrypted Data (Part 3)

"Then what’s to stop us from just capturing you now?" As he spoke, Lin Yu waved his hand, and several vines snaked up Vincent’s legs, swaying near his head.

Vincent’s face paled for a moment, but he quickly composed himself. "So what if you capture me? You can’t stop me from killing myself, can you? I have a special device in my heart. The moment it stops, this base will initiate its self-destruct sequence."

"..."

The technology of this world was very advanced, so Lin Yu believed such a simple device could exist. However, he didn’t believe Vincent would actually go through with it.

"Alright, no more games." Lin Yu released the vines wrapped around Vincent. "I may not believe you have the guts to kill yourself, but there’s no need for me to call your bluff."

"How about this? If I help you fend off the police, you give me your translation reference and decryption key. What do you say?"

"No deal!" Vincent let out a sigh of relief, then surprisingly rejected Lin Yu’s offer, looking as if he valued his technology more than his own life.

"Alright, then let me add one more condition: I won’t actively leak your technology to the Governor’s Mansion. How about that?"

Vincent was tempted, but that alone wasn’t enough to sway him. He added, "We sign a ’Divine Witness Pact.’ You must not, in any form, leak this Artificial Spirit Crystal technology that I decrypted to any other human."

"Deal!" Seeing how resolute Vincent was, Lin Yu didn’t haggle further. In any case, he had no plans to trade the technology away for the time being.

Time was tight, so the two took out a blank sheet of paper. Following the format for a "Divine Witness Pact," they wrote down all the special honorifics, respectful phrases, requests, and obligations for each party before finally signing their names.

The pact turned to ash and scattered. Vincent then produced two USB drives. One contained the technical data for the Artificial Spirit Crystal, compiled in the common language; the other held the decryption key for the raw data.

Lin Yu, in turn, unleashed his Spiritual Energy, continuously pouring it into the vines at his feet. Nourished by the Spiritual Energy, the vines grew rapidly, and in a few moments, the entire mine tunnel was transformed.

The once-hard walls of the mine tunnel were now completely covered in green vines. The passage was sealed shut, with layer after layer of vines blocking it so tightly not a single gap remained. Many other local plants had also sprung up within the tunnel.

The entire mine tunnel now looked like a sealed, abandoned, dead-end branch.

All traces of the fight were now hidden by the vines. The only things left on the ground were the captured Extraordinary Team and the bodies of the dead Lizard-men.

Just then, something occurred to Li Hua. She grabbed Lin Yu’s arm. "I think you’ve been had!"

"What do you mean? As long as I don’t sell the technical data, it’s fine, right?"

"But you can’t research the data yourself, can you? You’ll have to give the materials to the researchers in your territory. When you do, won’t you be violating the clause about ’leaking the technology for Artificial Spiritual Energy to other humans’?"

Hearing Li Hua’s explanation, it dawned on Lin Yu. The pact didn’t just forbid him from trading the data to other factions—it also included the people of his own territory.

He glanced at Vincent, who was standing off to the side with a smug look on his face, walked over, and slapped him on the back. "You cunning Lizard-man! You tricked me again?"

"Heh heh, takes one to know one. You were the one taking advantage of my crisis!" Seeing that Lin Yu had finally figured it out, Vincent broke into a grin. He swaggered triumphantly over to the members of the Extraordinary Team, stripped them of their camera equipment, and destroyed the storage components.

Lin Yu turned his head away in a show of anger, but then a sly smile crept onto his face.

’This Lizard-man is certainly cunning. Any other Human Lord would have been screwed by that pact, but it’s not a problem for me. After all, besides myself, none of the people in my territory belong to the Human Race.’