Chapter 1402: Chapter 1397 Increasing The Stakes

Almost there, it’s almost done, we can start, no, we can finally begin.

Less than ten minutes later, when Yang Yi sat down in their safe house, a strange call came in.

Yang Yi answered the call, and then heard a man with a very low voice say, “I am Ivan, I heard you’re looking for me.”

“Yes, I’m speaking with you on behalf of the CIA. I want to say that the attack on Big Ivan has nothing to do with us, absolutely nothing. In fact, I shouldn’t even have to explain to you, you should understand it doesn’t benefit us at all!”

Ivan coldly said, “Do you have anything else to say?”

Yang Yi calmly and steadily said, “Mr. Ivan, if you give me time, could I explain it to you in detail?”

“No, I don’t have time to listen to your nonsense!”

Yang Yi immediately sped up his speech, saying, “We are willing to do everything we can to help you find the real murderer of Big Ivan, and even help you deal with them. The only condition is, please don’t act impulsively, please believe that we are absolutely not involved in this matter.”

Ivan let out a breath and then faintly said, “Of course I will find out who killed my uncle, and then I will retaliate by all means necessary. You don’t have to worry that I’ll do something irrational out of impulse, but please believe me, if I do anything, it will definitely not be out of impulse.”

Yang Yi said urgently, “Can I keep in touch with you? May I call you? If we find any clues, I can update you at any time!”

“No need, I have my own channels. I don’t trust you, I don’t trust any of you, so there’s nothing to discuss.”

Yang Yi immediately said, “If you killed Big Ivan, we welcome it! If it wasn’t you, we’re outraged and willing to do everything we can to help you find the real killer! If you want to propose any conditions, we welcome them, and everything can be discussed with you, Mr. Ivan! Please keep in touch with me, it benefits everyone!”

Yang Yi cried out, speaking quickly, and Ivan coldly said after hearing him finish, “What did you say, that I killed my own uncle?”

Yang Yi caught his breath and said, “Mr. Ivan, uh, sorry, I was worried you’d hang up, but you have to admit that what I said makes sense. If you were eager to rise to power and killed Mr. Big Ivan, wouldn’t that be a reasonable thing to do? Let’s set aside morality and look at it from a benefit perspective, you have to admit there’s a high possibility, but what I want to say is if you want revenge, we only hope you clearly identify the target of your revenge, and not rush to direct your anger at the United States.”

Ivan coldly said, “I’m not a fool, I won’t commit suicide. If I want to drag you down with me, then it means I should do it. Listen, don’t think you can control me!”

Yang Yi said urgently, “No matter what, stay in communication with us! We are very sincere, and also, as long as the status quo is maintained, we welcome your succession, Mr. Ivan, to continue business, to continue enjoying life, isn’t that good? The only requirement is that we communicate promptly to avoid misjudgment, isn’t that the most beneficial approach for both parties?”

Ivan was silent for a moment, then he said in a deep voice, “If there is progress, I will notify you.”

The call ended, Yang Yi, who had been extremely excited just now, but maintained a calm face, let out a breath, and then he called Porter.

“Sir, I got in touch with Ivan.”

“Great! What did he say!”

Yang Yi didn’t answer but directly played the recording of the call just now.

Porter listened to the recording excitedly, then said urgently, “A bit risky, your approach is a bit risky, but it worked. At least we know Ivan doesn’t intend to immediately detonate a nuclear bomb, that’s good news. And you’re right, we are investigating who killed Big Ivan. If there’s progress, if there’s evidence, we will tell Ivan immediately.”

“Understood, sir.”

Porter said hurriedly, “Make sure to stabilize Ivan. I need to report to the President; we’ll get back in touch soon. Listen, you are the first and only person to contact Ivan, that’s great, you know what that means, we’ll talk later.”

The call ended, Yang Yi said to Anton, “Arrange the plane right away, we need to get to Djibouti quickly, where I will take the next step.”

Anton said in a deep voice, “Time to up the ante.”

Yang Yi shook his head and said, “No, not yet, we can’t escalate now. We just gave good news, we can’t immediately follow it with bad news. Wait an hour, wait until the CIA people think the situation is under control before raising the stakes.”

Since it’s about maneuvering between two sides, of course, he has to heat things up a bit more between them. With Big Ivan’s full cooperation, the situation could become tense at will, or relax at will, and Yang Yi could handle the tension or relaxation on his terms.

How to make the situation more tense? Of course, it is by exposing Cerberus’ identity.

And how does an arms dealer recognize Cerberus people?

Simple.

Uli Yangke called Yang Yi, just as Yang Yi was talking to Porter, so Yang Yi let Porter also hear Uli Yangke’s angry and frantic words.

“You’re lying! The CIA did this, Americans did it! Fuck! Are you out of your mind? Now it’s over, everything’s done for!”

Listening to Uli Yangke’s venting shouts, Yang Yi said urgently, “Calm down! Buddy, calm down, I assure you this has nothing to do with the CIA, nothing to do with the United States!”

Uli Yangke shouted, “The ones who killed Big Ivan were Americans, do you think we’re idiots? Fuck! In Ukraine, we let go a few people who attacked Big Ivan because we compromised and reached an agreement with you. But now! Why did the people who showed up in Ukraine come here, and it was them who killed Big Ivan? And it has nothing to do with the United States? Can you dare say it has nothing to do with the United States? Explain that to Ivan!”

After shouting out his vent, Uli Yangke said dejectedly, “It’s over, everything’s over. Are you crazy? Too many idiots, you all are crazy, now it’s over, everyone’s finished.”

It was discovered, and the explanation was unclear, Porter, listening in, immediately said tremblingly, “Oh no, it’s not like that, Sea God, tell him, it’s not like that, quick, let him tell Ivan it’s not like that!”

“Who’s speaking?”

Yang Yi sighed and said, “Buddy, don’t mind who is speaking, he’s definitely a high-ranking CIA officer, but that’s not important now. What’s important is we need to prevent the situation from worsening, trust me, we can provide evidence and benefits advantageous for everyone, listen to me, just give me time, we can solve this problem perfectly.”

Uli Yangke sighed, “Evidence, do you have it now? Right now, can you give it to me? If there’s no evidence, what am I supposed to use to stop Ivan?”

Yang Yi unhesitatingly said, “There is evidence! Let’s meet, you as Ivan’s representative, let’s meet. Trust me, I can persuade Ivan!”