"This... this is!"
The other person immediately became engrossed, their eyes, reflecting the light from the screen, not blinking at all.
The strongest group of Raiders in the Desert, a warband with armored power, was actually beaten without any ability to fight back.
"I heard rumors that the Stormwind Gang suffered a defeat at Red Iron Town, and I didn't expect it to be true, let alone such a crushing defeat..."
"Oh no, no, those Raiders didn't just suffer a defeat."
Ye Xing clicked on another video, which recorded the process of Cangyuan completely wiping out the Stormwind Gang.
Seeing the second video, the light in the other person's pupils became even more dazzling. It was the excitement of a wish coming true, and surprise.
The Stormwind Gang, which had been entrenched in the western Desert for three hundred years, had become history...
The other party was willing to share this important information, so the intention of meeting was self-evident.
Caoyuan took back the pad and said, "We need to confirm your true stance without revealing our identities, so we had to pretend to be Apollo employees. Please understand! Oh, by the way, if I'm not mistaken, you should be the daughter of the industrialist Mr. Cheng Yun, right?"
"Yes, I'm Cheng Lei! It's a pleasure to meet you!"
The tense atmosphere was lifted, and she felt a sense of relief.
"It's alright, I can understand your actions, it's very necessary! My father heard from the caravan that you had helped and protected Red Iron Town, and after that, he had a very strong desire to get in touch with Cangyuan, and sent me to collect more information. Of course, you should already know about these things!"
"Ahem... strictly speaking, we didn't know," Caoyuan touched his nose through his power armor helmet.
"We previously obtained a log from Hart of the Stormwind Gang, which recorded his apprehension towards Mr. Cheng Yun. Then, the Executive Officer, who is our leader, after reading the log, deduced that Mr. Cheng should be someone who is outwardly polite to the City Lord and Apollo, but has greater ambitions in the dark, and may have already known about our existence and is willing to cooperate."
"So, the Executive Officer sent the two of us to confirm whether this intention truly exists, and preferably meet and have a chat."
"You can deduce so much just from a log? That's amazing..."
Although she hadn't seen this "Executive Officer" with her own eyes, Cheng Lei could be sure from Caoyuan's words that the other party must be a shrewd and experienced leader. An image of a hardened man in his forties or fifties with a weathered face and eyes like swords immediately appeared in her mind.
Well, maybe he's over sixty.
An old fox skilled in strategy!
"Then, was my performance just now satisfactory?"
Finally, she asked with some trepidation.
"Of course it was satisfactory!"
The mission was progressing smoothly, and Ye Xing was also happy.
Cheng Lei's intelligence, calmness, and sincerity towards Cangyuan just now left a good impression on him and Caoyuan.
Now, putting aside Mr. Cheng Yun's level for the time being, his daughter's intelligence and methods are at least reassuring.
"Then let's not just stand here and chat," Caoyuan said, "Is it convenient to meet your father?"
Cheng Lei looked troubled.
"Father... he's not home recently, so I'm afraid he won't be able to personally receive you two."
How could that be?
There was clearly someone sleeping in the master bedroom on the third floor.
Caoyuan was about to speak again when Ye Xing stopped him, while also giving him a look.
"Alright then, that's fine, we urgently need a safe house, do you think you can help us with that first?"
Cheng Lei: "Of course, follow me!"
Ye Xing: "Okay, thank you! By the way, are your friends reliable? Our actions require absolute secrecy."
Cheng Lei: "Reliable! They are all Father's capable subordinates!"
The two were settled in the guest room of the mansion by Cheng Lei. After explaining their true identities and intentions to the others, they were immediately treated like celebrities.
"Two big brothers! What weapons did you use to defeat the Stormwind Gang?"
"Is this the same model of power armor as Apollo's?"
"When will you make a move on the City Lord? What do you need us to do?"
Although these people were sensible and didn't inquire about the location of the Cangyuan camp, Cheng Lei still sent them away first.
"Alright, stop asking, let the guests rest. Today's matter must be kept absolutely secret, and the information cannot leave this house!"
"Understood! Don't worry!"
After the others left, Cheng Lei returned to Ye Xing and Caoyuan, still unable to suppress the excitement in her heart.
"Next, how can I assist you two?"
Now, she was not clear about the true purpose of Cangyuan's visit to cooperate.
But frankly, from the moment the Celestials landed on Li Star, the fate of Oasis City was no longer in her hands. If she wanted to make a move, she could only rely on external forces.
While showing a willingness to cooperate, she observed the operating philosophy of "Cangyuan Future Technology" and prayed that they were a company of Celestials with more conscience than Apollo.
"Conscience," how precious this thing was after the apocalypse...
Caoyuan: "Then I'll be direct, we need to investigate the scale of Apollo's garrison, especially the number and models of spacecraft, and the frequency of daily takeoffs and landings."
Previously, through the aerial photos taken by Ye Xing, he could estimate the strength of Oasis City's fortifications, which was roughly four to five times that of the Stormwind Gang's main camp.
However, Apollo's strength was not shown in the aerial photos.
"Mm!" Cheng Lei nodded vigorously, "I can help with this. Apollo's aircraft are our key focus, and we have detailed records and stolen photos. Please wait a moment, I'll go get them!"
According to the information she provided, Apollo arrived on Li Star a year ago. After that, they immediately "leased" a large plot of land in the city as a landing field for aircraft, and "hired" local construction teams to build many hangars.
They first arrived in a large armed transport aircraft. This transport aircraft was blocky, 100 meters long, with turrets on the back, belly, and sides of the fuselage. It was not very flexible, but had a very large cargo capacity.
Its frequency of appearance was very low, coming only once every one or two months, with a different fuselage number each time. It would transport more Apollo employees and supplies, and take away a large amount of cargo.
There was also an aircraft about 35 meters long, shaped like an elongated arrow, with highly integrated wings and fuselage, smooth and symmetrical, and a very fast appearance, with no obvious armament visible.
Then there was a fighter jet about 24 meters long. The reason it was definitely a fighter jet was mainly because a clear cannon opening could be seen on the nose, and its appearance was more in line with the natives' impression of an "airplane", having "wings".
According to the numbers on the fuselage, the "arrow-shaped aircraft" was very precious, with only one throughout. The "fighter jet" had recorded 7 different numbers, with a maximum of 4 appearing at the same time, and usually only 2 to 3 parked in the hangar.
Both of these planes had a very important detail: after taking off, they would not necessarily return on the same day, sometimes with a gap of more than a month between going and coming back.
Caoyuan immediately realized that they both had the ability to travel in space and were space fighters!
It was unlikely that the pilots could fly continuously for a month, they should stop and rest somewhere in space.
This meant that Apollo's activities were not limited to the surface of Li Star, and they had likely already built a space station!
This was not good news!
Apollo's last type of flying vehicle was the "hummingbird" reconnaissance aircraft.
It was Apollo's daily transportation aircraft, only capable of flying within the atmosphere. There were 8 parked in the hangar, and after taking off, they would definitely return within 24 hours.
A bit fierce... how do we fight this?
After updating the Apollo vehicle atlas, the expression on Caoyuan's face was not relaxed at all.
As a Celestial force, the other party's air power was unsurprisingly strong.
Moreover, were the flying vehicles that Cheng Lei saw definitely all of Apollo's flying vehicles?
Could the main force be hidden in the space station?
It's hard to say, so it's better to assume the enemy is stronger for now.
"Hmm... let's talk about Apollo's employees and security measures," Caoyuan hoped to further understand the enemy situation, "Where do they usually live? How many people are there in total?"
Cheng Lei: "They occupied the old police station in the city and usually live there. There are about 60 armed security personnel, all wearing power armor. They are very professional and also very cruel. When they first came here, they had a conflict with our security officers, and as a result, they directly smashed a patrol officer's head with their bare hands without saying a word. Since then, no one has dared to resist them."
What a Guo Li Cheng move... Ye Xing couldn't help but complain in his heart.
In short, the Executive Officer was not wrong.
Apollo's technology may not be much more advanced than Cangyuan's, but their scale is much larger. Currently, their combat power deployed on Li Star is at least ten times that of Cangyuan!
The reason why the other party hasn't made a move yet is purely because Cangyuan hasn't expanded further, and at the same time, they are worried that Cangyuan has recovered large-scale destructive weapons from the ruins of the previous civilization, such as nuclear bombs that don't actually exist, or even main cannons of cosmic battleships.
When your opponent suspects you have weapons of mass destruction, you better actually have them.
Otherwise, it won't be good.
How long can this fragile peace last?
"I have a general understanding," Caoyuan said, "Tomorrow I want to pretend to be a local and scout outside that landing field and the old police station."
Cheng Lei: "Okay, I'll be responsible for providing people and vehicles."
Ye Xing: "It would be best to inquire about information directly from Apollo employees. Where do those people go for entertainment after work?"
Cheng Lei: "They often go to bars."
Bars!
Ye Xing's mouth curled up, and a look of "this is settled" appeared on his face.
"That's great, I'll go have a few rounds with them tomorrow night!"