Chapter 71: Going to Site-17
O5-2 does not know how many years he has lived. He has focused most of his life on work and sat on the highest authority in the Foundation. He looked at Zhang Jue with sharp eyes, and his gaze was solid. If it was another person was here, they might have been intimidated. But the person sitting the opposite of him was Zhang Jue. No one could overpower Zhang Jue in terms of aura, not even the O5 Council.
Zhang Jue snorted out a laugh instead of showing any fear after hearing him say that. He stood up and made a gesture that probably no one had ever dared to make before—patting O5-2 on the shoulder.
"Boss, one can't live forever through ages. If you're confused, hurry up and retire before you make some bad decision. Let the world follow you to your grave." He met O5-2's gaze and looked back, not afraid in the slightest.
"These words of yours are effective enough to scare children, but that won't work on me. Because I, for one, have never slain a dragon before." Zhang Jue bent down and whispered in O5-2's ear, "I'm not afraid to tell you that I, myself, am the evil dragon itself."
Zhang Jue laughed as he walked out the door, arrogant as hell. O5-2 looked at his back. His face was expressionless, unable to feel joy or anger. The guard stepped in through the door.
"My lord, shall I?" He made a gesture of slicing his neck.
O5-2 shook his head.
"Since it is a collective decision of the Council, as long as he does not do anything out of the ordinary, I will not touch him for the time being. This young man acts in a wild and unconventional way. Who knows what he will eventually become. We have to be always on guard." The guard nodded gently.
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Zhang Jue had actually been somewhat curious as to why exactly the Foundation had hired him as a Special Advisor. What had happened today was sort of a sideways confirmation of some of his suspicions. The world was facing a huge catastrophe, and it was likely to be a K-class scenario.
But what scenario had the Foundation never seen before? It's not like they've done a lot of restarting the world, so how could they trust a stranger like that?
He remembered what the Nobody person had said during the Site-14 Infiltration, that he was the chosen one. It seems that things are not as simple as he thought. There must be a hidden agenda that he does not know.
He wasn't worried that O5-2 would turn against him, at least at this stage. His relationship with SCP was in its honeymoon phase, and O5-2 wouldn't risk the wrath of his other colleagues to come after him. Most importantly, his strength isn't something to be underestimated, and anyone who dares to underestimate him will definitely meet an unfortunate result.
"Advisor Zhang, finished so soon?" Harvey had been waiting for Zhang Jue outside the private house, and when he saw him coming out of the house, he immediately stepped forward with a flattering face, "How was it? What did the boss say?"
"Nothing." Zhang Jue said without good humor, "He told me to tell you to look up at the sky more often when you have nothing to do."
"Look at the sky? Doing what?" Harvey, holding his deformed stomach while subconsciously looking up to the sky above.
Zhang Jue lifted his leg and gave him a kick on the butt, "You old geezer, you tricked me!"
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The negotiations with the Serpent's Hand and GOC lasted for a week. At that moment, Zhang Jue had made a lot of effort.
The Serpent's Hand did not kill the people in the GOC camp. They only moved them into a different place, which gave them a lot of leverage in the negotiations. But the Foundation playing as the middleman, naturally wanted to gain more benefits.
Under Zhang Jue's aggressive negotiation, the Serpent's Hand agreed to return all of the GOC's personnel in exchange for the fake Hunter. The GOC would have to provide a large amount of weaponry for the Foundation between the two.
Of course, the negotiations were done separately. How much Zhang Jue helped the Foundation to gain from it and how much of the cost was taken, no one knows for sure.
Why would The Foundation want to have the fake Hunter in their hands?
In a way, Harvey's suggestion to put Zhang Jue in charge of the negotiations was a wise one. Only a cheeky man can see who is more cheeky than himself. If this cheeky person were his own teammate, then it would have been no problem at all.
Initially, the reason Zhang Jue came to Europe was to go to Site-17 and see Shirley. Who knows what could've happened during this time? So many messy things happened and delayed a lot of time.
Hael said that Shirley's condition wasn't very good, and he didn't know how she was doing now.
Zhang Jue was a little worried.
When the negotiations ended, he immediately applied to go to Site-17 with Hael. O5-2 had left the town the day after talking with Zhang Jue. The only person left behind was Augustine, the very same guard from that day.
The purpose of her stay was to monitor the negotiations' progress and keep an eye on Zhang Jue. Now that the negotiations had ended, she had no reason to keep Zhang Jue here.
Zhang Jue, Hael, and other Site-17 staff took the last flight of the day to France, and Harvey needed to handle the follow-up of the negotiations, so he did not accompany them.
Before leaving, Harvey put his arm around Zhang Jue's shoulders and mysteriously said, "Advisor Zhang, we have been working together quite happily these past few days, and there is one thing that my brother has to say to you in advance."
After these days of getting along, the relationship between the two gradually got better. In non-critical moments, Harvey is generally quite reliable.
Zhang Jue grunted, "If you have something to say, just say it. If you have something you've been holding in, let it go. But I'll say this one time, if you trick me again, I'll throw you into the Danube River and feed it to the fishes."
"I swear, God is my witness. How could I trick you." Harvey snorted, "Brother, you are still young and honest. You have a brother like me to back you up. You're undefeatable and bound to have someone or something that would go in your way. I heard that the boss wasn't too happy about your conversation with him days earlier? Or was it not?"
In this world, I'm afraid there are not many people who are qualified to say that Zhang Jue is straight and Harvey is one. The two of them had only known each other for a few days in total, but he had dug many discrepancies within Zhang Jue. Zhang Jue hated his teeth and wanted to kick him in the butt again whenever he thought of these things.
"All right, all right." Zhang Jue knew that this time he was genuinely for his own good and waved his hand annoyingly, "We have a plane to catch, and my sister is waiting for me." Harvey patted him on the shoulder and shook his head, wondering how much he'd heard.
Zhang Jue and the others took an overnight flight and arrived in France the next morning. After they got off the plane, they bounced all the way around again and finally arrived at the gates of Site-17 that afternoon.
Hael got off the bus and went to do the formalities. Zhang Jue looked at the familiar architectural style and had an indefinable emotion in his heart.
Coming to the SCP world, the first person who made him have an emotional drive was Shirley. There seemed to be a different bond between the two.
Zhang Jue looked at the off-white building, and his eyes were flashing.
Shirley, your brother has come to visit you. I hope you're okay.