Chapter 67

"Nice to meet you both and hello to you too missy. You're so adorable." Al greeted Ajax and Erica before bending down to Lily's height patting her on the head and then holding onto her cheeks, praising her cuteness. Ajax could only smile at this and wished that he would be able to maintain Lily's innocent image after seeing her piloting her mech and mercilessly killing so many people. Why does this kid always call strangers "big brother" or "big sister" right after meeting them? It's not like they are related or have any sort of relationship.

After the pleasantries were over, Ajax decided to cut straight to the chase: "Alright man, there's no need to beat around the bush. I heard from Alana that you have what I need."

"Well, then you heard correctly. Follow me, what you want is just around the corner." Al nodded and led the way. Ajax frowned, confused by what Al had just said. He was looking for a place where they could learn to fly jets and hone their skills as mech pilots, not some construction site in the middle of nowhere.

But his thoughts started to shift the longer they followed Al. They gradually found that this was only a construction site on the surface. In the central area of the construction site is a villa with a spacious yard and three Knight-Level jets were randomly parked in the front yard.

But that wasn't all. Al led them straight into the tool room that was as big as a warehouse and inside were three Rakshasa-Level mechs with a large range of accessories by them. Ajax made a preliminary estimate of the market price of the accessories in the tool room and determined that they alone exceeded the value of five million eddies.

"Holy. Fucking. Shit. Are....Are these all yours?" Ajax couldn't help but stare in awe. He had thought he'd seen quite a bit of the world once he had left the border, but seeing all of these toys for men, he couldn't help but sigh. Damn it must be good to be rich. so many good things, I still can't help but sigh that it's good to be rich, this person is purely rich second generation.

"No, no, no, these, Mr. Ajax, are ours. If you're willing to stay here, you can have these babies and you just need to tell me if you're missing anything, I'll do my bets to provide you with it." Al said as he clapped his hands, causing the lights to turn on and brighten the tool room.

"Alright, so tell me, what do you need from me? You and I both know nothing's ever free." Ajax said bluntly. Free things always had something wrong with them. Either nobody wanted them or there were alterior motives for them. Free things usually turned our to be expensive. Ajax wanted to know what Al wanted from him before deciding his next move.

"How about we take a seat, come on over, sit Mr. Ajax." Al said as he walked to the coffee table, motioning for Ajax to sit down. "It's not that I need you to do something for me, but that you just happen to have something that I need."

"Stop dancing around the thing and just say what it is you want," Ajax said as he sat on the sofa. "What happens to be the thing that I have that you want?"

From his perspective, there is no way that a company as big as Qianling Heavy Industries would be acting this way because of the little bit of raw ore that was being sold to them. Erica and Lily also seemed to be interested in this place, as they walked around the place and admiring it.

"Well Mr. Ajax, I don't know if you know," Al smiled bitterly, "but Qianling Heavy Industries is a local company of Bedrichi. My parents founded it about thirty-five years ago, taking them over a decade to become one of the corporate giants of Bedrichi."

"However, 18 years ago, the Ashlin Group suddenly settled in and started competing with us, trying to take over the market and our customers. As long as we want something, they will want it as well. As long as we have something, they will have it as well."

"The Ashlin Group belings to a bigger group of foreign companies, they are also more known and more famous than us. That allowed them to have a steady stream of funds and to take over the market even faster, attempting their hardest to push us out."

"I was very young at the time, and I could often see my parents worrying about the Ashlin Group. It was all they talked about in private. 'Ashlin Group this, Ashlin Group that, did you see what the Ashlin Group is doing?' and yadi yada."

"As the years passed and the Ashlin Group managed to gain a foothold, their actions against us have intensified. If in the beginning we used to control 70% of the market and they controlled 20%, then now we only have 40% while they have the other 50%."

"Recently, they have snatched the resources of several mining areas from us by paying them a higher price, virtually achieving a monopoly. This has force our company to look elsewhere to purchase energy blocks. If this continues, then it will take about five years for Qianling Heavy Industries to go under and disappear from Bedrichi, allowing the Ashlin Group to fully monopolize Bedrichi."

"But what you, my friend, managed to pull off at the border gave us some relief and provided us with very important minerals. For that alone, I will always be grateful."

In reality, Al feared Ajax for his ruthlessness and the actions he took at the border, decisively eliminating all of his opposition and anyone who had any ties to them. He saw Ajax as a strateging and demon. But the Ashlin Group was able to almost force Qianling Heavy Industries to go under in just about a dozen years, pulling certain strings and relying on various secret means.

Therefore, he had determined that he needed Ajax's help. So his best approach was to start a friendship with Ajax and then use the organization behind him to fight against the Ashlin Group and help Qianling Heavy Industries return to its prime.

Ajax looked at Al and questioned him "Is that all?" to which Al just nodded. Ajax could tell that Al was not lying to him. "You know that I'm wanted, right? If you're discovered to be working with me, even worse, that you're shielding me, then there's a big possibility that you may just..." Ajax paused before making eye contact with Al, "disappear."

"I know about that, and don't you worry about me, I'm pretty sure that I can bear the consequences. Plus, this land herewas purchased with the purpose of future development for my company. It's quite remote so no one's around. You'll be free to train here, fly the jets all you want, pilot the mechs for as long as you desire. You can rest assured that you'll be safe here and that no one will find out about our partnership." Al smiled and sat back, looking relaxed.

He was one of the few that didn't want Ajax to be caught or worse, killed. If Ajax is gone, then the Ashlin Group will have the opportunity to cripple Qianling Heavy Industries.

Ajax thought for about 20 seconds before looking back at Al, "Alright then, I guess I'll stay." For him, this place is indeed a paradise that allowed him to use his time to its fullest without being interrupted.

"Good! Mr. Ajax, I've already arranged a place for you to stay the night." Al took out his flask, opened it and took a swig. He was happier than Ajax, since, as long as Ajax was willing to stay here, everything would be fine.

"Hey, if you're so rich then why did you only buy Rakshasa-Level mechs? You could've easily afforded Warlock-Level mechs? Why skimp out?" Erica, who hadn't said anything apart from her name suddenly came over and asked.

Ajax, upon hearing Erica's remark, was also a bit confused. A Warlock-Level mech ranged between three to five million eddies. They were not nearly as expensive all of the accessories here.

"Sure, if you want to I can order some fro you, but I'm just a pilot at the strong control level, so I can't pilot them for a long time. Last I remember, I drove for half an hour and fell into a coma for about a day..." Al said, a little embarrassed at his piloting proficiency. He then remembered to ask something, "Mr. Ajax, you should already be at the master level, correct?"

"Beats me, I have no fucking clue what my proficiency level is." Ajax said as he shook his head. He had never had the chance to participate in a pilot's examination.

"Then, would you like to know? I have a detector here, the same model as the official one and everything." Al said as he made his way over to a corner and patted a device. The tester, though not 100% accurate, can measure the general level of the pilot. The normal procedure is to use the tester to measure the pilot's level first and then complete the corresponding assessment.

"Sure, why not." Ajax nodded and made his way to Al. Though he acted as if he didn't care, he had always wanted to know what his proficiency level was. But with his current wanted status, there was no way he could be officially tested. It was quite convenient to be able to perform the test here.

After a quick test, it was determined that Ajax had not reached the Master Control level, but only the Strong Control level.