When Jiang Chen went in, he noticed that at least ten pairs of eyes were focused on him. But he didn’t care and continued as if nothing had happened.

“Surprised?” Putin raised an eyebrow and gestured at him to sit with his empty hand.

“Indeed.” Jiang Chen shrugged and sat down across from him. Jiang Chen nodded to a waiter who handed some champagne to him then he looked at the leader of the fighters’ nation. “I heard the Minister of Foreign Affairs say that you were in the Crimean Peninsula inspecting the frontlines and wouldn’t return to Moscow for three days.”

Both of them spoke good English and didn’t need to communicate through translation.

Gently toasting with Jiang Chen, Putin drank the champagne in the cup and handed the goblet to the waiter.

“If you want to fool your enemies, you must first fool yourself.”

“Do you still need to be careful in Moscow?” Jiang Chen returned the goblet to the waiter as he joked.

“There’s no harm being careful. Russia’s territory is vast; it’s difficult to guarantee that no one will slip in.” Putin’s fingers crossed on his knees, his body leaned forward slightly, and his blue pupils looked straight at Jiang Chen. “So, time is tight. To not miss the party, let’s get straight to the topic.”

Putin eyed Nikolaev, who was standing behind Jiang Chen.

General Nikolaev immediately saluted, took a map from a bodyguard, and lay the map on the coffee table.

It was a topographic map covering the cities of Donetsk and Dnepropetrovsk, with contour lines depicting basins and mountains. In the middle of the two cities, there were also villages and towns. Three jagged black lines were drawn in the middle of the map. Three or four arrows pierced the hinterland of the Republic of Donetsk from the northwest like a sharp knife and divided the armed forces of Donetsk and Lugansk.

The map looked familiar to Jiang Chen. It wasn’t just European countries that were concerned about the civil war in Kane. However, the information disclosed on this map was slightly different from what Jiang Chen learned. Although he heard that the civilian armed forces were on the losing side in the end, he didn’t expect them to be in such terrible shape. The armed forces that had already been pushed to the Dnieper River were now forced back to their starting point.

Nikolaev’s next few words confirmed Jiang Chen’s speculations.

“Since last month, an illegal private armed force has entered Kane from Poland, and the situation has changed sharply. They claimed to be mercenaries and were employed by the President of Kane. The sources of funding were quite complex, including the National Foundation for Democracy which had a total of more than 20 North Americans, Europeans, and human rights institutions. Our intelligence personnel tried to investigate their behind-the-scenes shareholders, and eventually, all the clues point to an organization.”

“The Freemasonry?” Jiang Chen asked.

“You guessed it.” Nikolaev paused. “These aren’t regular mercenaries. They’re composed of retired veterans of NATO member states and refugees. They were trained in Finland. Their equipment isn’t limited to automatic weapons but also armored vehicles, tanks, and even helicopters…”

“Tanks? Helicopters? What’s the difference between this and an army?” Jiang Chen was stunned.

“This is an army, and the size is comparable to the 58th Army Group,” Nikolaev added.

The silence lasted for a long time.

Putin, who was silent, spoke up.

“So? Are you confident?”

“Confident?” Jiang Chen looked at him, and his expression was a bit strange.

Staring at Jiang Chen’s eyes, Putin continued: “This is about our cooperation, and we hope you will be their opponent.”

The room once again fell into silence.

But Jiang Chen broke the silence this time.

“We’re their opponents? We’re an enterprise; we can’t do anything that has no benefits.” Jiang Chen leaned on the sofa and smiled.

After hearing Jiang Chen’s words, Putin also smiled.

Although there was no immediate answer, since he didn’t directly reject it, it showed there was still room for discussion.

“Please rest assured. You’re an enterprise, and we don’t expect you will provide assistance free of charge. All the mercenary supplies will be converted into rubles and we will bear the burden. In addition, we will pay 100 billion rubles in fees in two settings.”

100 billion rubles, equivalent to 1.7 billion Nw Xin dollars. For Russia, which had a tight budget, it wasn’t a small number. However, 1.7 billion New Xin dollars didn’t meet Jiang Chen’s appetite. He was more interested in something.

“One hundred billion rubles, a military base.”

Putin and Nikolaev frowned at the same time upon hearing the demand. Although they eagerly hoped Celestial Trade could intervene in the Kane crisis and reverse the decline of pro-Russian civilian armed forces, this didn’t mean they were willing to sacrifice their interests for Donetsk.

Putin eyed Nikolaev, and his fingers tapped the arm of the sofa before he spoke one word at a time.

“Russia will not open military bases to any country or private institution. We can raise the fee as needed, but this condition is unacceptable.”

“You misunderstand.” Jiang Chen waved his hand and explained, “Our military base will certainly not be built in Russia. Since we’re fighting the Kane government, it will naturally be built there.”

Nikolaev breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Putin. That was certainly acceptable to them.

“If it’s Donetsk, there’s no problem. We will help you negotiate with them.” Putin nodded. “What else?”

“Nothing. Best of luck to both of us.” Jiang Chen smiled.

Without a legal document to sign, this contract naturally couldn’t appear on paper. The actual employer of Celestial Trade would be a local chocolate company in Donetsk. As for the source of funds, it would be from shell company registered in Russia or overseas.

A map of the world was spread out on the table. The bearded general pointed his finger along the map and pointed to the position of Vladivostok, a far east Russian city.

“You can land in Vladivostok. We will provide a railway route from Vladivostok through the Siberian region to the Russian-Ukrainian border. This line will serve as your supply line, and all costs will be borne by us. If the situation is positive, by mid-May, you should be able to deploy two brigades at the border…”

“No need.” Jiang Chen shook his head. “It’s too slow.”

“No need?” Nikolaev repeated.

Putin’s eyebrows rose slightly and displayed a look of intrigue.

“We go directly from here.” Jiang Chen’s finger tapped on the corner of the western Pacific Ocean, where the equator line crossed.

Following Jiang Chen’s finger, Nikolaev’s pupils suddenly shrank.

There were no markers there, but he was no stranger to the latitude and longitude of the position.

That was a space elevator, the man-made miracle of Celestial Trade.