Chapter 245: a new ally

“You don’t need money? Then what do you need?” Clark asked exasperatedly.

He felt a little frustrated and irritated, the king of demolition that he envisioned and the one in reality deferred so much that he felt like life was playing tricks with him.

According to the king of demolition, his real name did not matter, that he should be called either Thunder or King, anyone that they found convenient.

Clark didn’t know how he did it, but when he heard King ask for him when Diana tried to start negotiations, he knew that they were already exposed.

Trying to beat around the bush would not solve the problem, it would only waste useful time, so he decided to bite the bullet and go there himself to meet him.

What he didn’t expect was that as soon as he got there, King would suddenly get up in shock. He thought that this was another trick, but the shock on the fellow’s face could not be faked, which left him perplexed.

King suddenly didn’t want to negotiate there again, he asked to be taken to a private location so that they could discuss properly. Clark had no objections, so he was brought to their settlement.

Getting to their settlement, King did not let him speak, he took over from him as the main negotiator which was another perplexing fact.

King kept on asking him some weird questions. Though he wanted to lie at some point, he decided to answer everything truthfully as his intuition told him that this was leading somewhere.

In the end, the last question that King asked almost made him choke on his saliva.

“Where did you get the tattoo on your butt?”

Hearing the question, he blushed fiercely as he suddenly wanted to pursue him away and stop the negotiation. His fists almost launched themselves subconsciously, but he held himself back.

Knowing that Diana and the others were secretly listening from another room, he felt his face burn.

Despite his extreme reaction, King insisted that he checked his butt to confirm what he just said.

Of course, Clark did not let a stranger check his butt, but he entered the restroom to check it himself. This was when he got the shock of his life, there was really a tattoo there, on the left cheek.

The tattoo depicted a roaring lion with fire raging around it.

He was completely shocked; he was not perverse enough to get a tattoo on his butt. If so, then how the hell did this get there?

Suppressing his raging emotions, he rushed back to ask King how it got there and how he knew that a tattoo was there.

To his frustration, after confirming that such a tattoo was there, King no longer answered him nor did he talk about it. He finally diverted the topic of attention to their negotiation.

Clark was angry but despite all the threats that he threw, the bastard refused to open up.

He could only suppress his anger and start the negotiation for real. He was once again shocked; the king of demolition knew far more than he expected.

According to him, he already noticed the change in the Everest since 2 months ago. He was perplexed after noticing it, but he decided to lie low and watch from the shadows to deduce what exactly was happening.

He said other squads of soldiers already came before them, but he didn’t meet them as he wanted to gather information first.

During the night, he sneaked into the resting camps of some of the squads unnoticed. That was how he got information about the discovered Aragan ruin and the mission.

Finding out that the King of demolition already knew everything about their mission took all hopes away from Clark, but he was surprised at this man’s decision again.

King said that their interests did not conflict so he would still help them. He said that he would not only help them but accompany them also, which was a surprise boon to their mission.

According to him, his target was not their main mission target nor the other minor targets. He wanted all the bomb samples and all the research information about bombs that they found there.

“Don’t worry, I won’t take advantage of you. My interest only lies in the bombs, you can take the rest”. He said with a smile.

“How do I confirm that you are not lying?” Clark asked doubtfully.

The latter spread his hands casually. “I don’t know. I announced my movement so that I could draw out the next squad that was looking for the ruin to work together”.

“If you don’t trust me, then you’re free to go. I’ll just look for another squad, I don’t believe that you’re the last. I’ll see you again in the evening to flesh out our plan, make your decision before then”.

After saying this, he stood up before walking in the direction of the door. Seeing him almost at the door, Clark hesitated but still spoke out at the end.

“Why are you so popular? I don’t believe that it’s because of that lame legend”.

King smirked. “I save mercenaries a lot, that’s why. This is a dangerous region, I’m extremely familiar with this region and I’ve saved thousands of lives here, so it's natural that I’m popular”.

“I’m the king of the Everest, that is one of my titles that is only known by few veterans here. I was born here, so what else did you expect?”

“I have to go greet the higher-ups of this shelter; I believe that they are already waiting for me. I’m used to them always using me as promotion for their business”. With that, he stepped outside and disappeared.

As soon as he left, it did not take long before Diana and the others arrived inside the room with different expressions on their faces.

“I think he is full of himself; his tone was always so smug and all-knowing. How can he say we should call him King? What an arrogant fool!” Diana spoke spitefully.

“He is used to controlling and he has the strength to back it up, I think that I like him already”. Dickson spoke casually as he plunged into the chair that King sat a moment ago.

“His proposal is nice; we just have to make sure that he is sincere. Without confirming that, I advise that we should keep a safe distance from him”. Benny held his chin in thought as he replied.

Seeing everyone turn to look at her, Anna sighed before commenting also. “You guys are the decision-makers; I’ll follow any decision that you make wholeheartedly. But I think his offer is acceptable”.

“For me, I don’t really believe him, but he’s our only shot at discovering the ruin in the shortest possible time”. She added.

“Let’s contemplate it more, we have all the time till evening. I don’t want us to appear desperate to him, he can easily take advantage of us that way”. Clark spoke again before waving them away.

As the others turned to leave, Dickson suddenly spoke again. “Ahem…, what tattoo was he talking about…”

“Get lost! Leave my room”. Clark quickly interrupted him and pushed them out of the room with a red face.

After everyone left, he sank back in his chair. A lot of things were currently going through his mind. He felt tense that he was getting closer to his mission target, but he was also perplexed by the king of demolition.

How did the latter know that there was a tattoo on his butt?

“Is this some kind of attack to get more bargaining power? No, he didn’t ask for money, so what the hell did that mean?” He felt like banging his head against the wall.

“Well, we’ll soon become allies. I don’t believe that I can’t pester him to reveal everything to me after a few days”.

Using that to comfort himself, he leaned to a more comfortable position on his chair before quickly falling asleep.

…

At 5:00 pm, the king of demolition finally contacted Clark again to schedule another meeting. They agreed to meet up at the same location as before in 30 minutes.

This time around, when he came, Clark and the others were better prepared so he experienced no hiccups nor did he let King take over control of the meeting.

After spending a whole day contemplating their decision, they finally found a delicate balance.

As soon as King sat down, Clark did not waste time as he went straight to the point. He first gave him his consent that they were ready to ally with him before showing him their plan.

Like usual, King asked for some alcohol to while his time away. After staying with him for an extended period, Clark finally confirmed that this guy was a drunkard, it was just that he could control himself better.

“I’m glad that we finally concluded, thanks for your understanding. I have no objections to the plans that you laid down, it’s feasible”. King commented as he downed another glass.

“At this juncture, don’t you think that I should see all my allies. At least, that way we can build our relationship faster”.

Hearing this, Clark felt a muscle on his face twitch but he maintained the poker look on his face as he gave an order. The others entered the room the next moment.

Silence reigned as both parties stared at each other with interest and curiosity. Clark did not interfere; he was fine with being the bystander.

“I don’t think you’re being sincere here, where’s the 3rd rank high-grade soldier?” King suddenly asked.

Clark was startled as his face quickly darkened. “You’ve been spying on us?”

“Didn’t you spy on me too? Stop bickering and tell him to come”. King spoke calmly in a casual tone.

Clark took a deep breath to calm himself down. “He’s not part of us, we found him on the way and he decided to follow us”.

“Hmm, I didn’t think that you could be so easily deceived”.

Clark ignored what he said. “Is there anything important that we have to know?”

“Yes of course. You have a lot to learn about this region”.

“For us to have a shot at discovering the ruin and getting our goals, this is the list of equipment that we need. Get them before tomorrow, they are not overly expensive”.

Clark glanced at the list and nodded. “Anything else?”

“No. I hope I’m not allying with incompetent teammates, let’s meet tomorrow”. King waved at Dickson and the others before turning to leave.

“Wait…, please what do you know about the animal kingdoms?” Clark suddenly asked, prompting the latter to stop.

“Hmm, it seems that you encountered one. You guys are lucky to have survived, that means you have some teeth”.

“I don’t have much to tell you about them. Just know that exobeasts that can rule a kingdom are always dangerous and extremely intelligent. They are all subordinates of the Legendary old monster…, Cold Kong”.

“In this region of the Everest, if you encounter an animal kingdom, run. That’s my only advice for you”.

Bam! The door was swiftly slammed shut. The king of demolition was gone.

Clark handed the list to Diana. “Buy everything that is listed here, I think our reserves can take it right?”

“Yes, Major”.

“Good”.

[Thank you for reading this chapter, I really appreciate it. Please, leave your power stones behind to support the book. Purchase privilege for The Conspiracy Of The Elites and read a varying amount of chapters ahead of regular readers.]