"Oh my, child, didn't you insist on meeting me before? Why aren't you answering my questions now?" The guild president's wife smiled, "I'm asking you a question."

Her tone grew increasingly gentle, even playfully blinking her eyes twice.

Andrew began to sweat profusely!

For someone whose heart has, in a certain sense, already died, one absolutely cannot assess them by common sense.

The more amiable and gentle the other person appeared, the more creepy Andrew felt!

In this Flame Realm, Fire Mages are divided into the "Warm Fire" and "Earth Fire" factions. Though there's a large disparity between the two, generally speaking, as long as one is a Fire Mage, they have the advantage in attack power, explosive power, defense breaking, messaging, and area damage.

Andrew was not of the Fire Element, but of the Water Element.

As a Water Magic Lord, Andrew's strengths lay in perception, endurance, defense, and control power. To a large extent, this is due to elemental attributes, not entirely determined by Andrew's personal will.

In conclusion, what might be imperceptible to ordinary people, Andrew could subtly sense using his Water Magic Lord's advantage was—

the deepest part of the other person's dead and silent eyes was actually... madness.

"I am Andrew."

Andrew spoke, using an incredibly slow and deliberate tone, "Greetings, Madam." Meanwhile, he kept telling himself: Remain calm, stay calm!

In terms of power, the guild president's wife should not be as formidable as that female assassin, but rather a different kind of terrifying.

Facing such a guild president's wife, the mother of Barbara, Andrew on one hand struggled to keep calm; on the other hand, for the first time strongly wanted to know: what exactly happened during the incident that led to the death of the Commerce Association's eldest daughter?

By common reasoning, the eldest daughter accidentally died, but after all, there were still the second and third daughters.

As a mother, no matter how heartbroken the guild president's wife might be, she should strive to live well for the sake of her two remaining daughters, right?

It makes no sense for her psyche to be traumatized to this extent!

Was it because her relationship with her eldest daughter was particularly strong, making it difficult for her to move past the shadow?

Or is there another secret?

"That's better." After seeing Andrew finally greet her respectfully, the guild president's wife smiled and said, "I heard you saved Barbara, not just once, am I correct?"

Andrew nodded.

Speaking leisurely, she continued, "However, you wanted to kill my grandson just now. Yet, I spared your life and agreed to meet you, so your two rescues of Barbara are now considered even. I will not pursue your guilt further, and to me, you are no longer the benefactor who saved my youngest daughter. Do you have any objections to this?"

Saying this, she seriously watched Andrew.

Her tone was entirely courteous, as if sincerely soliciting opinions.

But the actual content of the words was absurd!

If Susan had said these words before, Andrew would have definitely shot back.

Yet, when said by the guild president's wife's red and beautiful lips, Andrew stayed silent and did not respond.

"By not speaking, I'll take it as your consent." The guild president's wife squinted her eyes in a smile, "Oh my, now I kind of understand why my husband cares about you even without having met you. For you, he surprisingly arranged for Peter to put pressure on me in advance."

Hearing this, Andrew thought, as expected!

Indeed, that earlier video call was the reason the other party changed their mind to meet him, rather than his previous deeds.

Suddenly the other person's tone turned aggrieved, a light sigh echoed in the hall, "My husband puts pressure on me because of you; as a woman, there's not much I can do, so I have to comply. Therefore, I will give you an opportunity!" The guild president's wife raised a long, white, and beautiful finger, "If Andrew can seize this opportunity, the business cooperation between your Wildfire Territory and our Commerce Association will be all good to discuss."

Andrew didn't immediately ask what the opportunity was, but instead asked, "What if I can't seize it?"

The other person pursed her lips and smiled slightly, "Well... then there's no way. After all, putting pressure on me can't just have benefits without cost..."

Andrew nodded, "Understood."

Thinking, so if he can't seize the opportunity, it's likely he won't be able to walk out of this hall alive today?

Honestly, the development of things to this point was something Andrew never expected.

But he didn't regret it.

He did not regret immediately seeking the opportunity to meet the guild president's wife upon waking up from his injuries.

The guild president's wife gently clapped her hands.

On one side of the hall, a side door opened by itself.

A bald, extremely muscular man, standing nearly two meters tall, walked in.

The man said nothing, first walking up to the guild president's wife to pay his respects.

Throughout, he did not meet eyes with her.

Subsequently, he slowly walked over to Andrew and, with a light wave, seemed to retrieve from some piece of portable space equipment a wooden long table, placing it between him and Andrew.

The bald, muscular man sat cross-legged on one side of the long table.

He lifted his large hand and made a "please" gesture towards Andrew.

At the same time, the voice of the chairman's wife was heard saying, "This is the chief review officer of the 'cooperation channel' of our commerce association."

The cooperation channel?

Andrew actually had some guesses, and when he heard the chairman's wife's words, he finally confirmed them.

In his mind, he recalled the conversation he had with Leia in the mansion room shortly before being attacked by that female assassin at the Shield of Flowing Fire, three days ago—

At that time, Leia told him that the Warm Fire Commerce Association had a secret plan called the "Firemaking Plan."

The purpose was to create the most mysterious "Eighth Fire" among the Eight Strange Fires.

The method of firemaking had a somewhat similar approach to his Fire Extinguishing Upgrade Method: by providing various goods to meet the market demand of the Flame Realm, improving people's lives, and in doing so collecting something akin to "Firemaking Value," aiming ultimately to create the "Eighth Fire."

Leia had mentioned to him that an important part of this Firemaking Plan was to collect various outstanding product ideas, product samples, and business concepts from outside.

Through this so-called "cooperation channel"!

In every city under the rule of the Warm Fire Commerce Association, including Warm Fire City, there is at least one site of the "cooperation channel."

Once a product idea passes the review of the official in charge of the "cooperation channel" and gains the approval of the commerce association's review officer, then cooperation with the commerce association can naturally begin.

"So, what the chairman's wife just said about 'giving me an opportunity' was to let me meet this chief review officer of the cooperation channel and let him judge: whether my product has the qualification to become a partner of the Warm Fire Commerce Association!"

Andrew understood, "If I can persuade this review officer, then naturally I have seized the opportunity. Conversely, if I don't gain approval, then it's considered a failure. Today or tomorrow may very well become my memorial day – that should be what it means!"

Simply put, it's about proving to the other party: that I and my Wildfire Territory can contribute to the Warm Fire Commerce Association's Firemaking Plan!

And it must be with great strength!

Once that's proven, everything else will follow smoothly.

"I see!"

At this moment, Andrew smiled instead.

Sitting cross-legged by the long table, he asked, "Does our Wildfire Territory's top-quality drinking water 'Farmer Spring' still need—"

The Farmer Spring that had been served in the Wildfire Territory to Falk, Leia, including that Havier and others, was undoubtedly related to the Firemaking Plan as well.

However, judging by the situation, the other party probably doesn't intend to include Farmer Spring in the upcoming review, do they?

Sure enough, the bald man across the long table spoke, calmly saying, "No need. Master Falk has already sent his complete evaluation report on the 'Farmer Spring' to me, and the chairman has also seen it, so no further review is needed."

"Oh, so now I need to present products other than Farmer Spring for your evaluation?"

Andrew looked at the other party.

"That's correct."

The bald man nodded.

The hall fell silent for a moment.

The chairman's wife sat down calmly, not looking anxious at all.

The bald man also looked at Andrew expressionlessly, equally unhurried.

On the surface, it was unclear whether this bald man was on the chairman's wife's side or the chairman's side.

Andrew then asked one more question, "May I ask your surname? And can I trust you to make a fair and just judgment on the products I'm about to present?"

Before the bald man could respond, the chairman's wife couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh, "Oh, there really are other products besides Farmer Spring?"

Andrew thought to himself, since he had already showcased Farmer Spring and still insisted on coming to Warm Fire City, naturally, he had other cooperation intentions.

He also secretly rejoiced, "Fortunately! Fortunately, I haven't been idle on the way here, and I've done a good market investigation, then took the opportunity at Shield of Flowing Fire to prepare the product samples."

Seeing the bald man pause upon hearing his question, he then showed a slight smile. Though his appearance was fierce, his smile was calm and harmonious, "There's no need to worry about this, I am a professional, and I will naturally make a judgment I believe to be correct and fair."

After a pause, he added, "You can call me Jin."

"Mr. Jin, right? Nice to meet you." Andrew nodded, not asking any more questions.

With a thought, he retrieved four boxes from the "Gate of Enlightenment" in his dantian and lined them up on the long table in front of him.

Clap.

Andrew snapped his fingers lightly.

The lids of the four boxes sprang open simultaneously.

In two of the boxes were the two product samples he had prepared in advance at Shield of Flowing Fire three days earlier.

The other two boxes, however, were empty.

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