Reboot: Mechanic

As Mary and Shi Tian continued to discuss the potential of the drone, their excitement was tempered by the realization that mass production might not be feasible due to the scarcity of the necessary materials. 

The drone's capabilities were impressive, but building more of them would require resources they simply didn't have at their disposal.

Mary sighed softly, her eyes reflecting a mix of enthusiasm and frustration. 

"We have such an amazing drone, but there's no way of producing more of them. This is why humanity is barely surviving." She ranted and complained. 

"Actually, that might not be the case." 

To their surprise, Vanessa suddenly intervened in the conversation and gave her input.

Mary subsequently turned on the auto-driving function temporarily as a result. 

She then turned around and stared at Vanessa, "What do you mean by that's not the case?" 

Vanessa shrugged her shoulders but smiled mysteriously. 

"The materials– won't be a problem for me," Vanessa revealed. 

That was all she had said, but it was enough for Shi Tian and Mary to understand her implied meaning.

The materials might be scarce and hard to find, but Vanessa basically announced it was not a problem for her. 

And here comes the tricky part, Vanessa might have the materials, but she doesn't know the blueprint or even the properties of the drone.

However, Shi Tian and Mary had the blueprint and understood the properties of the drone.

Now, it doesn't even take a genius to know where Vanessa was going with this revelation. She wanted a part of it as well, and she could provide the materials in exchange for the product.

"You've planned this all along, didn't you?" Mary narrowed her eyes and said. 

"The failure to leak information was a decoy. Your main intention was to check up on our process with drones and how far we had gotten with it." She added. 

Vanessa didn't say anything else, but her smile already gave Mary the answer she wanted.

"Hah, what a shrewd woman you are, Vanessa. If there was an acting award, then you would definitely win the award for best actress." Mary clicked her tongue and praised. Her acting had fooled everyone, including her. 

"Thank you for the praise, but I don't need some dumb trophy to prove my worth." Vanessa stuck her tongue out slightly and kindly rejected the suggestion. As if she would need some award to say that she was good. 

"Look at the bane you brought in, Nathan." Unable to rebuke her, Mary turned her focus to Shi Tian, blaming the matter on him.

"Can't argue further, so you turn the spearhead on Nathan? I didn't expect you to be that low, Mary." Vanessa shook her head and said somewhat disappointingly. 

Meanwhile, Shi Tian was being sandwiched by these two women once again. 

He just wanted to test the drone and continued on with their journey to the dense area.

So why did it suddenly turn into two women playing mind games against each other? 

"For the sake of me, can we not argue?" Shi Tian stepped in between them and asked exhaustedly. 

Vanessa and Mary suddenly paused, seemingly looking at Shi Tian and pondering whether or not to stop.

"Are you taking her side again, Nathan?" Vanessa glanced at her nails and asked softly. 

She might not have said it last time, but it was clear that she was still quite infuriated when Shi Tian kept taking Mary's side over her. 

Even if she was acting previously, her emotion was sometimes real and she was indeed not happy about him choosing Mary over her. 

Shi Tian smiled bitterly, knowing fairly well that despite the chaotic world, women still maintained their jealousy and pettiness. Just like how vicious men can maintain their horniness and still want to commit crimes such as rape, murder, and arson.

Though speaking of murder, he was under the same category too, albeit somewhat different. He only murdered when it was the other party that triggered it, and not him. He won't actively seek death so long as it doesn't concern him. 

"Mary, since we lack the materials and Vanessa can supply them, it's best that we work together. It's a win-win situation for both of us." Shi Tian turned to Mary and said solemnly. His intention was made clear that he agreed with Vanessa's suggestion despite her shrewd intention. 

Vanessa smiled proudly and nodded her head in approval.

Meanwhile, Mary twitched her brows, clearly stupefied by Shi Tian's rapid change of side.

'As expected, all men cannot be relied on when there are better profits.' Mary exclaimed inwardly, even though she knew Shi Tian was looking at the big picture. After all, she would agree to the suggestion nonetheless when it was indeed beneficial for both sides. 

Not to mention, the advantage still remained on them, given that they knew how to craft the drone, compared to Vanessa, who only had the advantage of offering the scarce materials to them.

"Fine, whatever." Mary threw a fit and pretended to agree simply because she was forced by Shi Tian.

Of course, Vanessa didn't bother exposing her and quickly retrieved a few papers.

"Great, then let's sign the contract to commence it." She said, seemingly prepared the entire time.

The contract wasn't something simple. It wasn't a contract that would have an effect in a court of law, given that there are no longer such things in this world. 

Instead, it was a contract paper imbued with magicule, making it even more effective than the past contract papers. 

In the past, people could renege on their contract papers by paying compensation or even attempting to go to court to deny the terms.

However, this contract paper imbued with magicule could prevent such an incident from ever occurring. 

The only way to dissolve it was if both the original parties agreed to end it. And if there was a situation where one of the original parties had died, then the inheritor of the said original party would be the new party. 

This was to ensure that the opposing party wouldn't think of killing the other parties to nullify the contract. 

"You've really come prepared, Vanessa." Mary clicked her tongue as her eyes laid upon the contract paper and its listed terms.