The doctor suffers from amnesia, but not complete amnesia.

He certainly knew who Qiao Yelan was and what role Babel Tower played in the establishment of the Business Federation.

But now, when they talk about abandoning the Business Federation, they do so with such decisiveness and casualness.

"...The Business Federation is no longer of any use to you, is it?"

His voice sounded a little hoarse.

"Although it might make you a little uncomfortable if I say it—it's useless to me, actually it's Casimir."

Qiao Yelan's voice remained steady, firm, and icy cold, devoid of any warmth.

In fact, Qiao Yelan only said half of what he meant. What was useless to him was the current Kazimierz—not the Kazimierz after the collapse of the Business Federation.

The historical significance of the Business Federation has been fulfilled—the prosperous industrial system and enormous wealth they built over decades, relying on the vast surrounding markets, have been divided up by Qiao Yelan, allowing the other obedient children to sit in a row and share the spoils.

The market around Kazimierz needs to be reserved for the Great Yan, which is promoting Lungmen Coin, in order to ensure the Great Yan's income.

The industrial system of Kazimierz needs to be handed over to Ursus, which is mired in difficulties, so that this impoverished empire can complete the reforms at the lowest possible cost.

The workers trained by Casimir need to be integrated into the self-sufficient fortified system of Trilintelme, so that the entrance to that subspace can be blocked directly in an emergency.

If you remove all of these, what's left of Casimir?

Oh, right, of course, these merchants also have a large sum of money—that's why Qiao Yelan is still willing to patiently come back and play with them a little longer.

After that, the Business Federation will be penniless—though it can still fetch a good price.

For example, the Supervisory Council and the Knights of Casimir would certainly be happy to do this business with Qiao Yelan.

After the collapse of the Commercial Federation, Kazimierz will revert to its original economic model of the Knights' Federation. At this point, Qiao Yelan, who still maintains a good relationship with the Kazimierz Knights, can return to Kazimierz without any trouble.

Don't misunderstand, he doesn't want to rebuild the Commercial Federation again—Qiao Yelan just genuinely wants to help the Knights improve their economy and logistics so that they can focus on maintaining the fighting power of their army.

After all, both Trinitylme and Ursus in the north will definitely need a lot of troops to fill the gaps in the future.

As a blood bag, it must always be squeezed dry until the last drop of blood is gone.

For pig farmers, the piglets that look dirty are actually a treasure from head to toe, because they can be used to the point that not even bones are left, so they always spare no effort to help the piglets grow up.

Qiao Yelan thought so too—

Therefore, he spared no effort in helping Kazimir grow.

Now, it's simply time for Kazimir to repay himself.

After a long silence, the voice on the receiver sounded increasingly muffled.

"I... I understand. May I ask how the Unarmored Alliance can help you?"

"Keep an eye on the directors of those business associations for me. Their intelligence, their private communications, their business plans... I need all the information. Can you do that?"

"...To do this, I need to kill some people—people within the Unarmored Alliance."

Clearly, the other party did not want him to take action, since he still needed to lead the team.

"Time, place, and the characters."

"I'll get it sorted out and send it to you soon."

“Very good—if I take action from here, it might be quite a commotion, so please keep things calm inside.”

Xuan Tie really wanted to ask how big of a commotion Qiao Yelan had made—but he didn't have the courage.

"I understand, I will be prepared."

He finally gave a dry reply.

"Those intelligence reports will be delivered at the usual price, cash on delivery. If you don't trust me, you can prepare your own escape route, I don't mind—after all, our cooperation is limited to the period before Babel leaves Kazimierz. If you don't want to go with us after that, please do so."

Qiao Yelan didn't care what Xuan Tie thought or did, after all, it was just a transaction—he had paid for it, and he was quite willing to spend the money.

"clear."

Click, Qiao Yelan hung up the phone.

Hearing the dial tone, Xuan Tie slowly hung up the phone.

"...As expected, it was a deal with the devil..."

He sighed softly.

The Unarmored Alliance was formed because they couldn't stand the knights' tyranny and extortion. So they secretly assassinated these rich and heartless fallen knights and made quite a name for themselves. Then they quickly fell into a joint attack by the knights.

After all, the reason the Unarmored Alliance is "unarmored" is not because they don't want to wear armor—but because they simply can't afford to.

They were almost powerless against the hordes of knights.

Later, someone contacted the Unarmored Alliance and asked them if they were willing to stand on the side of the merchants and force the knights to give up their oppression of the people.

The leader of the alliance at the time agreed.

This was indeed the Wuzhan Alliance's own choice, but with things changing and people moving on, wanting to withdraw from the Business Federation is also the Wuzhan Alliance's choice now.

Because the Unarmored Alliance, from beginning to end, has always been an organization of people who want to survive.

"Live."

Xuan Tie muttered to himself, his eyes growing increasingly resolute.

Live!

Chapter 181 Startling the Snake

"Is that person over there named Xuan Tie?"

Seeing that Qiao Yelan had put down the receiver, Kashiena asked.

"It's just a code name. He's not the only Xuan Tie. You should have heard of the Unarmored Alliance in Kazimir. Apart from leaving a few peripheral figures to show their faces, these guys hide themselves very well. Even the Business Federation doesn't know their names."

Qiao Yelan shrugged and said nonchalantly.

"Their intelligence capabilities are impressive? Otherwise, you wouldn't have made this deal with them—a bunch of assassins wanting to retire is really wishful thinking."

"In fact, they should be the only well-organized intelligence agency in the entire business federation. The others are either just filling quotas to get funding or are just the private agendas of various companies. As for the Tower of Babel, I'm just too lazy to invest that money."

It's just kids playing house, why would we actually spend money to play house with them?

Should I do it?

Kasena asked.

Just now, Qiao Yelan said that she would help the other party get rid of some people, and she was wondering if she would have to do it herself. After all, when it comes to killing without leaving a trace, Black Snake is the best master.

“We do need your help, but not to kill anyone—as I said, it will cause quite a stir.”

Qiao Yelan waved his hand.

"This is quite a commotion... You're going to use the Steam Knights? In the capital of Kazimir!"

Kasya was taken aback.

"Of course, it would be a waste not to use such a force we already have."

"But if we don't do it this way..."

Black Snake hesitated for a moment. She instinctively wanted to ask if such a high-profile approach would affect his original plan, but based on her understanding of Qiao Yelan... this should also be part of the plan.

"I understand. What do you need me to do?"

In the end, Kasyapa decided not to worry about things that weren't her concern and went straight to asking about her task.

"This time I want to see just how powerful the current Steam Knights are, so I need you to observe them in secret. Also, please help me clear out any spies around us—if this Mr. Xuan Tie tries anything funny, I'll have to use the backup plan."

"clear."

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Jacob stretched his body and couldn't help but let out a soft sigh.

It's been a long time since I've used steam armor so comfortably.

Before they met Qiao Yelan, all their armor parts supply had been cut off, a large number of logistics craftsmen had been transferred away, and the steam knights had to maintain their armor themselves after battles.

All parts are made as economical as possible, and even the steam pressure is not allowed to reach the rated power, but is kept at around 75%, because this can extend the service life of valves and pipes while preserving as much of the armor's power as possible.

But now... all of that is in the past.

The brand-new parts and skilled craftsmen resulted in a steam-powered armor that was almost fully functional, which reminded Jacob of himself ten years ago.

Looking back at his three subordinates, he saw that they were also unable to contain their excitement, stretching their limbs and bodies.

After all, it's just about killing a group of assassins who have been lured into a trap. Only four need to enter, while the others form a perimeter net to prevent anyone from slipping through.

"Have you memorized the mission details?"

Jacob's fluent Letanian, though hushed behind his helmet, sounded somewhat muffled.

"I've memorized it all." *3

The company commander nodded, raised his rifle, and their original equipment had been removed and replaced with indistinguishable weapons.

"Remember—no Victorian language allowed!"

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Kashiena looked somewhat sullen when she returned to Qiao Yelan's office.