[Hunter] Lydia's Life Story I

Early the next morning, the three of us went out to the teahouse, the place of negotiation designated by the other party.

The environment in the eighth district is not bad, with the cool wind blowing on the face, there is a kind of freshness and moistness unique to the morning.The street is very quiet, and the shops on both sides of the road are moving back with our pace.

I pursed my lips, wanting to say something.From the corner of my eye, I took a look at Fei Tan who was walking on my left. His head was half down, his eyes were narrowed, and he looked like he was still asleep.Look at Kuroro walking on the right, his eyes are looking straight ahead, the corners of his mouth are naturally pursed, looking very relaxed and at ease.

I want to ask Kuroro if he has thought about what to say for a while, and I want to ask what kind of person they think the guy waiting in the teahouse will be, what will he say and do when he sees us, and what kind of way will he invite us? Joining... I even wanted to ask if there is anyone following us now, if there will be a fight later, what to do if the conversation collapses, whether to move or not... However, I also know that these questions are meaningless, so I can only swallow hard The saliva was held back.

Walking to the boundary between the general goods area and the special commodity area, Fei Tan stopped to bid us farewell - there was no need for all three of us to go, the result of our discussion was that Fei Tan stayed outside just in case.

"Come on, both of you." Fei Tan lazily stood on the corner of the street, waving at us, with a very flat tone, as if we were just going to the street to buy something, an ordinary trivial matter.

"Understood." While walking forward with Kuroro, I turned around and waved goodbye to Fei Tan, very reluctant to part.

Entering the special commodity area, the teahouse is already within sight.The Special Commodities District is the smallest of the three blocks in the Eighth District, with only two long streets intersecting into a crossroad.The tea house is located in the center of the special commodity area. Go down this street and the first shop at the corner opposite the intersection is a very eye-catching building.

Seeing the teahouse getting closer and closer, I couldn't hold back anymore, and asked Kuroro, "Following the story you told last time, you haven't been to the special commodity area since then, have you?"

Kuroro was obviously taken aback when he heard the words, and then replied: "Yes. It was four days ago." Then he turned his head and glanced at me, held my hand, and said, "Lydia, are you nervous? "

"A little bit." My fingers were cold, and I squeezed Kuroro's hand tightly, and his hand was also a little cold, "Kuroro, are you nervous too?"

"It's normal to be a little nervous." Kuroro didn't see that he was nervous at all, and he said calmly: "But there is nothing to worry about." He comforted me: "Don't worry, we haven't all discussed it. Yet?"

"But I can't help it..." I was about to cry, I looked at Kuroro bitterly and said, "I'm just so nervous..."

"Then why aren't you nervous in District [-]?" Kuroro said, pulling me to slow down and walk down the street.

I choked—after we came to District [-], the three of us never talked about District [-] again.I recalled it evasively, and murmured: "I don't know..." Maybe there is no way, being cornered, the only thing left is calmness, no matter how bad it is.

Kuroro turned his head and thought for a while, then said, "Do you know why I'm not afraid?"

"Why?" I asked curiously.

"Because you're here." Kuroro said flatly but with certainty.

"What?" I suspect I heard wrong.

"Because Lydia is here, the uncontrollable factors are minimized." Kuroro looked at me sideways, and said in a very rational and reliable tone: "So Lydia, don't be afraid," he passed He clenched my hand tightly, "You are our trump card."

"...Well." It seemed that I was really comforted, and I felt a lot more relaxed in my heart. I shook my hand and smiled at him.

Approaching the teahouse, the side facing the street is a floor-to-ceiling window with an excellent view, revealing the separate booths inside, which not only ensures the privacy of the conversation, but also guarantees a certain degree of openness and security—that is At the place where the bosses each brought a group of younger brothers for a "private meeting", only one of the booths was occupied at the moment. Outside the booth, a group of men dressed in different clothes surrounded the street through the glass. He stared intently at the situation in the floor-to-ceiling windows, and half the street was filled with a tense momentum.

Ku Luoluo and I went around them and walked towards the gate of the teahouse. I looked straight ahead, but when I passed the booth, I couldn't help but glanced at it from the corner of my eye. I only saw the side facing me. It was a very young and tall man with black hair and a black suit, who was taking a sip from his coffee cup, looking very elegant and imposing.

I took a casual glance and honestly looked away. Kuroro pushed open the closed glass door and walked into the teahouse. Immediately someone greeted him and asked whether he was looking for someone or making a reservation.

Kurolo said, "Look for Teoff."

The waiter who was not wearing uniform looked at the notepad hanging on his waist and said, "This way." He led us into the teahouse.

The tea house is a wooden building like other shops in the eighth district, but it is obviously decorated with a lot of care. Except for the booths that can be seen from the outside, the larger space inside is connected in series with zigzag corridors. The wooden door, that should be the box for negotiation.

Very professional, I was thinking randomly. Yesterday Kurolo said that the teahouse is a special place for Meteor Street people to negotiate. With the endorsement of the business alliance, it can basically guarantee the personal safety of the negotiating parties in the teahouse, so the business is doing very well. big.

We walked through the deep solid wood corridor and were led to a box door.The waiter knocked on the door and pushed it open, without looking inside, just nodded at us quietly, turned and left.

There is not much space in the box, just a square table with two armchairs on each side of the table, facing the door.There was someone sitting on one of the chairs at the moment, turning his head and smiling at us.

About 40 to [-] years old, he is a very ordinary-looking man, the kind you can't find in the crowd, with dark blond hair and black eyes.He smiled very kindly, but I felt that his smile and eyes were very subtle. There was a strange feeling, and I subconsciously felt that he was very difficult to deal with.

Maybe it's because of conflict and hostility?This is not good, not good, and it will be detrimental to negotiations.I quietly took a deep breath, put aside all my personal feelings, calmed my mind, and walked in behind Ku Luoluo - before entering the teahouse, he let go of my hand.But now I feel like I'm not nervous at all.

Kuroro and I opened the chair opposite the man and sat down. When we sat down, he nodded to us on the opposite side.He was smiling, and there were fine lines at the corners of his eyes, which added a bit of personal charm accumulated through experience to his humble face.

He introduced himself to us: "Teoff."

"Kurolo." Kurolo said calmly and politely.

"... Lydia." My voice was a little tight, the volume was not loud, and my articulation felt very rusty.I find that I am really not used to talking to strangers now.

On the opposite side, Teof maintained a kind and kind smile, like a middle-aged man who is easy to talk and patient.I felt that his gaze stayed on my face for a while longer, the fine lines at the corners of the eyes deepened, and there were many indescribable meanings in the black eyes, which made me feel cold.

He pointed to a folded menu card on the table and asked, "What do you want to drink?"

There is nothing superfluous in this room, and the square table is the same. There is only a wine list, and there are not even empty glasses.I glanced at the wine list, and there were various beverages printed on it. Although it was called a tea house, there were not many teas, and the most were various coffees and alcoholic products.

"Thank you, no need." Kuroro said.

Teof looked at me, and I shook my head.

Teof's tone was very kind, like a generous uncle entertaining the children next door: "You're welcome, I'm treating you."

"It's really unnecessary." Kuroro clasped his hands on the square table, sat up straight, and said in a very formal and rational tone: "Let's go straight to the topic. Finish the talk as soon as possible, maybe you would rather let us Treat yourself."

Kuroro is pointing at my words. After the two sides have put on a peace talks, the matter of chips and floppy disks is no longer the most important thing. My words are not only the handle and weakness for us to fall into passivity, but also the hang. The opponent's biggest bargaining chip.

Teoff smiled tolerantly, and didn't pick up the hook in Kurolo's words, but just changed the subject smoothly and said: "Then let's get down to business. I think you will accept my invitation, because you must have already had something for us. Understood. No matter you are from Eleven..." He paused intentionally, watching our expressions (this makes me very uncomfortable, hearing him casually mentioning the team members killed by us makes me a little sick...) Then said: "No matter how much you know about us, first let me introduce myself."

"We are a mercenary team, mainly active in the eighth and thirteenth districts. We have connections with many major forces on Meteor Street, and are responsible for doing tasks that are inconvenient for them, such as undercover agents and stealing information..." He had a lot of meaning He glanced at us cautiously and continued: "We have long-standing friendship with these organizations, but we have always maintained independence and only completed tasks in exchange for rewards. I have always been in charge of handing over tasks and liaising with employers. I am the captain and the external plenipotentiary representative. The entire team and other team members must obey my orders."

Kuroro nodded in understanding.

Teof then continued: "To be honest, I'm really glad that you can come, and I'm a little surprised. By the way, didn't the kid with great skills come?"

Kuroro said: "We can represent him with full authority." He paused, "Fei Tan has a bad temper, I hope you don't mind it."

"People who are capable have bad tempers. I can understand that." Teoff said, "My companions also have bad tempers. They caused you some trouble before, and I hope you don't mind." He said. He stopped and looked at Kuroro sincerely.

Kuroro looked back at him quietly, without saying anything.

Teoff sighed helplessly and tolerantly, and continued: "Of course, if you are willing to join us, I guarantee that they will not have any performance that is not conducive to unity. In fact, they also appreciate your abilities very much. "He took care of me with his gaze, and looked at us calmly: "We all welcome and look forward to your joining us. Are you willing to believe my sincerity?"

"That's why we are here." Kuroro remained unmoved, and said rationally: "Compared with sincerity, what we want to know is your conditions?"

Teoff looked at Kurolo, his expression adjusted slightly, it seemed that he had replaced the deceitful kindness with an equal, cold face full of interests and calculations.That is the face of a leader who can lead the team to struggle to survive on Meteor Street and stir up wind and rain.

He put aside all the useless efforts, and quickly offered the conditions: "Join us, become a member of the team, obey my orders, and act with us." His expression was still peaceful and even kind, but the words finally revealed Showing naked greed, domineering and ambition.

"This is impossible." Kuroro said immediately, stating our conditions: "Both parties maintain the status quo, establish a cooperative relationship, and we will provide the necessary assistance when needed."

"It's impossible." Teoff flatly refused.His gaze was fixed on Kuroro, as if he was facing him for the first time as an equal negotiating opponent. The corners of his eyes and mouth were easily bent, and even I, who was out of sight, could feel that he was exerting force with his eyes at this moment. The pressure on Kuroro.

Kuroro's side face was still as calm. He looked at Teoff without giving in an inch, and even casually let go of the hands that were placed on the table and spread them to both sides, indicating that he was powerless to make concessions. .Against Kuroro's childish face, he looked extraordinarily innocent, with a kind of silent arrogance.

The negotiation was at a stalemate for a while, and the atmosphere in the box was stagnant, full of tension that was about to explode.

I sat quietly next to Kuroro, stepping on the rail under the chair, reducing my presence to a minimum.It looked a lot like the conversation fell apart, and I was a little nervous, but not so nervous.

Last night, after the three of us made an agreement, Kuroro found a copy of "Negotiation Skills" before going to bed, only read the first two pages, flipped through the back, and threw the book aside.None of this makes sense, he told me. There are only two things that matter in a negotiation—strength and interest.Now that the two parties have made it clear that they each have their own reasons for cooperating, what remains to be done is to think about the conditions they set out at the beginning and the final acceptable bottom line, and then grind them bit by bit.

"No one wants to talk about Beng, so the attitude must be tough." Ku Luoluo said, "The other party has a big appetite, and our bottom line is also high. It depends on who will give in first."

"Then what if no one is willing to give in? Wouldn't the talks collapse?" I asked.

Kuroro shrugged nonchalantly, "Who is afraid of whom?... Let's make our conditions higher."

The silence on both sides of the square table lasted for about a few minutes, during which Teoff tried to use me as a breakthrough.He looked at me, and under the invisible pressure, I looked back innocently, blinking my eyes and pretending that I had gained the ability to see through, and looked beyond him to the wall behind him.

In the end, seeing Kuroro's resolute attitude and my little transparency, Teoff couldn't help it and gave up.

He adjusted his sitting posture, imitating Kuroro, putting his hands on the square table, leaning forward, and said seriously: "Join us, obey my orders, and you can move freely when there is no task."

Kuroro said: "The grocery store is open as usual. When you have a task, join you temporarily. After completing the task, you will be disbanded and restored to independence."

"Join us fully and become a member of the hired squad, that's the bottom line for me."

"Yes. There is no interference with the behavior of the grocery store when there are no tasks."

"You can move freely, but you must obey my orders completely."

"Complete obedience is impossible. You can assign tasks to us, but we must not interfere with personal freedom."

"Yes. Tell me what each of you is capable of."

"We will not deliberately hide it, you can see it for yourself. Reserve the right to withdraw."

"This is impossible!"

Kuroro looked up at him calmly.

Teoff looked down on Kurolo from the opposite side by taking advantage of his height, and the negotiations between the two fell into a stalemate again.

But the silence didn't last long this time. Teoff quickly looked away, rubbed the center of his brows, looked at Kurolo again and said, "I know what you are worried about, but to be honest, I have the same worry. Because before At the beginning of the cooperation, it was difficult for us to trust each other. The establishment of trust takes time, which I know very well.”

He looked at Kuroro, his facial muscles relaxed, and he re-revealed the tolerance and tolerance that adults had for children at the beginning, and he took the lead in expressing his sincerity: "I sincerely hope that you can join us. In order to establish our relationship as soon as possible With a basis of trust between them, we can sign a contract.”

"Contract?" Kuroro asked slightly.I can even imagine the slight twinkle in his dark eyes.

"Yes. Deed." Teoff said, took out two rolled up scrolls from the briefcase he had been keeping on the chair beside him before, and unfolded them on the table, revealing a blank, pale yellow pressed dark scroll. textured paper.

"The contract scroll of the Wishing House. And it's blank." Kuroro said in an inaudible tone.

"That's right." Teoff looked at Kurolo, the fine lines at the corners of his eyes deepened, and he said with a smug smile: "The contract in the wishing house is not cheap, and the blank contract is even more rare—I heard that just recently, the wishing The supply of the contract of the house has ceased, and the upper level of Meteor Street almost snapped their heads for the existing blank scrolls. I got these two by chance before."

Regardless of whether Teoff's careful explanation of the rareness of the scroll is to show his strength to put pressure on us or whatever, the appearance of these two blank contracts has indeed disrupted our plan to a certain extent.Of course he couldn't see it from our faces.

"So, what do you think the content of the contract should be?" Kuroro asked calmly.

"Two scrolls, one for the two of us to sign now, according to the conditions we negotiated before, the three of you will join my team and obey my orders. Of course, I promise not to interfere with your affairs outside of the task, but you You must also ensure that you will not betray each other. The remaining one, after you join, meet with all the team members, and everyone will sign the contract, promising not to hurt each other or betray each other-this can also make everyone feel at ease in the future cooperate."

It's a good idea.I looked at Kurolo.

Kuroro looked down at the scroll on the table, thought for a moment, quickly raised his head, and said to Teoff in an affirmative tone: "Yes, but the condition of the contract is that we join your organization, and we promise not to Betrayal, but obeying your orders cannot be written in a contract."

"Oh?" Teof's eyes narrowed slightly, and his expression suddenly became sharp.

Kuroro smiled back at him for the first time, and his tone was flat with a strong arrogance: "Join you, you can. But obey your orders, you have to speak with strength."

Teoff's smile completely disappeared, as if he had peeled off his gentle mask, and lifted a corner to reveal his cold inside, unexpectedly showing that his face was much older.He looked at Kuroro deeply, and didn't speak for a long time.

On the contrary, Kuroro maintained a relaxed smile, and looked at Teoff with some inscrutable and provocative eyes.

Just when I thought Teoff was really going to turn his back on him this time, he suddenly relaxed his body and leaned back on the chair behind him with a relaxed expression: "No problem." He gave Kurolo a smile back, with a smile on his face. Despite Qianfan's calm self-confidence, and the (very annoying) generous elder's tolerant approval for the arrogant junior, he said slowly: "If you can only rely on the contract to make you obey my orders, I, the captain It doesn't matter. Just do as you say."

"Deal." Kuroro said calmly.

Teoff nodded and took out a pen: "So, I drafted the contract?" He flattened the blank scroll on the table, then turned to look at me suddenly, and asked with a smile: "Didn't Lydia What do you want to say? Kuroro has been talking before, I don't know what you think. You know, I look forward to working with you so much, it's mainly because of you." The tone was gentle and coaxing .

When I was called on, I opened my eyes and looked back at him in surprise, but when I realized what he said, my blank eyes immediately turned cold.I looked straight into his eyes and whispered, "Kurolo's decision is the decision of Feitan and me."

Is this sowing discord?I belatedly thought.It's really... really...

Teof failed to provoke, but nodded without changing his face, as if he just asked a question on a whim, calmly picked up the pen and began to write on the blank scroll.

I turned my head and glanced at Kuroro while he was writing with his head down. Kuroro silently bent his eyes at me, and we exchanged a wink—although it was a little different from what was expected, the result was still within control.

Teoff wrote the scroll, signed his name at the end, and gestured to Kurolo.Kurolluo pulled over the scroll and looked carefully, picked up a pen and signed his name at the end.

Then I witnessed an unbelievable scene with my own eyes—a scroll disappeared the moment Kuroro stopped writing.Since I am not a person with the ability to read, it is a pity that I cannot see the light green light arrow in Kuroro's narration.

In short, the entry into force of the contract means that the cooperation is reached.

Teoff then stood up, and extended his hand to Kurolo in a graceful manner: "Krollo Rouxilu, welcome to join the hiring team. I hope we can have a happy cooperation."

Kuroro also stood up and shook hands with him lightly: "It's a pleasant cooperation."

I also stood up with them, but when Teoff smiled gently and stretched out his hand to me, I hid beside Kuroro in a very self-contained manner, and hid behind him-at this moment, I set the ability for my character Special autistic girl, um, very good, so there is no need to be too polite.

Teof tolerantly deepened the smile lines at the corners of his eyes, and naturally withdrew his hand.But I hate the way he looks at me, the dark eyes are cold and predatory, as if he wants to weigh me on a scale, ready to squeeze out all the use value.

Hehe, it's a beautiful idea.

"Do you have any plans for the future?" Teoff asked Kurolo, "If not, why don't you come with me to meet other team members and sign another scroll by the way. I can't wait to meet Li Dia's ability."

"Alright." Kuroro agreed happily.

Teof opened the door, and the three of us walked outside the teahouse.

Walking out of the teahouse, I walked in the same direction as the street. When I passed by the floor-to-ceiling windows of the teahouse, I glanced in casually. The people who were negotiating at the booth before were no longer there.

"Speaking of which, I still have a question that I haven't been able to figure out." Kuroro said abruptly.

"Oh?"

"When Feitan took back the sailboat model for the first time the day before yesterday, how did you find the grocery store from outside the eighth district in such a short period of time?"

"This..." Teoff smiled meaningfully, "Why don't I tell you the answer when we go back to the base and meet other people."

The author has something to say:

Let me tell you the unfortunate news. Since the author will be fully preparing for the postgraduate entrance examination, it will be updated once a week, and the update time will be before 12 o'clock every Sunday night.I really feel very, very sorry for the friends who have been following the article, thank you for your unwavering support, I love you!

I believe the author will never give up! ! !I swear by research and development that I will finish it with quality and quantity!Although looking at the outline, it is really long~

Let us work hard together!