Chapter Sixty: The Chancellor's Heart Holds a Ship

But looking at the situation now, they were only attacking a single city, leaving the other two fortresses completely unattended. This was something Chu Xiao had not anticipated at all.

Number One understood this logic as well. If the Underworld King’s army had dispersed, it would have been easier to defeat them one by one. But now that all their forces were concentrated in one place, sooner or later, there would be a gaping hole torn in Pearl City.

With this thought, Number One couldn’t help but sigh.

“Sigh!”

“It’s alright! When soldiers come, we send generals; when floods come, we build dams! We, the illustrious Jiuzhou, have the Thirty-Six Stratagems of Sun Tzu—are those not enough to deal with him? What a joke!” Chu Xiao’s temperament was slowly changing.

He used to always appear anxious and under immense pressure. But now, his sole focus was to defeat the Underworld King and defend Jiuzhou; this newfound vigor was a marked transformation.

Chu Xiao himself did not notice this change, but Number One could sense it, Ji Kaicheng could sense it, and even the soldiers around them could feel it too.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

“Come in!” Number One’s deep, resonant voice sounded.

Ji Kaicheng pushed open the door. “Reporting, Commander! The American envoy, Oden, requests an audience!”

Chu Xiao’s pupils contracted slightly. Oden? That name he remembered very clearly!

This man was one of the founders of the Underworld King’s organization, and the only American back then who had believed his words.

“Please, let him in at once!” Chu Xiao spoke up before Number One could respond.

Ji Kaicheng paused for a second and glanced at Number One.

Number One gave a slight nod, and Ji Kaicheng continued, “As you command!”

A moment later, Oden entered the room.

“Mr. Oden!” Chu Xiao greeted him first.

“Hello, Mr. Chu! I am Oden!” Oden’s Mandarin was somewhat awkward, but still fairly fluent.

Oden quickly added, “Commander Number One, greetings!”

Number One gave a slight nod.

“Come, please sit inside!” Chu Xiao pulled out a chair for Oden.

Oden was taken aback; he had assumed he would be met with cold indifference, especially given Chu Xiao’s attitude toward Louis last time.

“Mr. Chu, you are too kind!”

Oden sat down without further pleasantries and got straight to the point.

“Mr. Chu, I won’t waste time on formalities! I believe you already know my purpose here!”

Chu Xiao nodded; he could more or less guess what this was about.

“I have some idea. Last time, I was merely teaching Mukos a lesson. That man is simply too arrogant and self-important.”

“Of course, I hope you won’t take offense at my words! Now that Mukos has sent you to build ties with Jiuzhou and form an anti-Underworld King alliance, do you have anything else to add?” Chu Xiao didn’t mince words and directly addressed the issue of terms. Since Mukos was so eager to make a deal, they might as well lay it all out at once.

Oden looked at the young man before him—barely in his twenties—and for some reason, felt an urge to pay him respect. The sensation was almost unsettling.

“Hmm! The main decision-maker is absent, so I am here to negotiate in his stead. As for terms, you may state your demands; we will do what we can to accommodate them.”

“But I hope, as fellow humans on this planet, that your terms are within the bounds of what we can bear!” Oden was no fool; he made clear what he could and could not promise.

Chu Xiao’s slender, phoenix-like eyes fixed intently on Oden, betraying no emotion.

For a long moment, Chu Xiao finally spoke slowly, “Very well. We ask for nothing.”

“If you didn’t catch that, I’ll say it again—we ask for nothing!”

Chu Xiao’s words left Oden utterly stunned.

He had expected Chu Xiao to propose some difficult terms, especially given how America had once treated him. Yet at this moment, Chu Xiao had offered no such demands.

Oden felt a burning shame at his own pettiness.

Number One watched in silence from the side; after all, what Chu Xiao had just said was something they had already discussed in detail beforehand.

“It seems we Americans really have measured a gentleman’s heart with a petty mind!” Oden’s face showed genuine remorse.

“It’s nothing. There’s an old saying in Jiuzhou: ‘A prime minister’s mind is broad enough to sail a ship’—it’s a compliment for those who are magnanimous,” Chu Xiao replied with a smile.

Oden stood up in gratitude. “Thank you, Mr. Chu!”

“No need! Now is the perfect time for us to discuss the relevant details. Of course, you may record this conversation, so your leader may hear it for himself,” Chu Xiao said, just as Oden’s face flushed red with embarrassment.

On the other end, Mukos nearly threw his listening device in frustration.

Was Chu Xiao truly clairvoyant?

At 5:32 pm, Jiuzhou and America formally signed an agreement, establishing the Anti-Underworld King Alliance.

Everyone was amazed by the news.

The proud and aloof America was actually willing to ally with Jiuzhou! It was almost unbelievable!

News headlines everywhere reported the same story.

“America Voluntarily Enters Alliance with Jiuzhou, Establishes Anti-Underworld King Coalition.”

Within just one hour, the news had spread across the globe!

The Underworld King, upon hearing this, let out a chilling, sinister laugh. “Heh! Two pieces of trash joining forces are still just trash!”

Louis hastened to chime in, “Yes, yes! The Underworld King is absolutely right!”

“America is nothing but garbage! Their fighting power is pathetic! One casual assault and the whole country would fall! And that leader, Mukos—I say he should’ve been shot in the head long ago! It’s a waste for him to be alive!”

“Without him, America might even last a couple more days!”

“And as for Jiuzhou, they’re just relying on that one reincarnator. If you ask me, what’s the point of holding on? Sooner or later, the Underworld King’s army will wipe them out to the last man!”

Louis ranted on, smoothly cursing both America and Jiuzhou without a hitch.

The Underworld King looked at Louis with pure disdain.

If not for the fact that he still needed this scheming lackey, he would have sliced him down long ago—or better yet, electrocuted him from afar!

Thinking of this, the Underworld King felt his mood lighten.

Killing these mortals was as easy as crushing ants beneath his heel.

On one side, the Underworld King had already developed new weapons; on the other, the scientists of Jiuzhou and America had united to develop high-tech armaments together.

Chu Xiao was stationed in the armory day and night.

The Underworld King’s next weapon was likely to be a super-heavy turret!

Thus, laser cannons alone would be insufficient—they needed even more formidable weapons!

This new weapon needed to be far more powerful than the laser cannon, or at least an improved version, capable of firing from multiple angles, not just focusing on a single point.

However, if they did that, the power might be diminished and unable to penetrate the Underworld King’s machines.

The solution they now sought was to achieve multi-angle firing without sacrificing destructive power.