Chapter 365

Chapter 365 Borrow Some Money!

Calling Feng Le a financial genius is no exaggeration at all. Over the past two years, his brilliant ideas had helped the Temple of the Sun navigate through one crisis after another. The Strategist had come to trust him almost unconditionally, and whenever large-scale financial operations were involved, he would hand over complete authority to Feng Le.

　　”Then I’ll go borrow the money.”

　　The Strategist said coldly, “In half an hour, one hundred billion dollars will be in place.”

　　”Good.” Feng Le replied, then turned and left. He didn’t bother asking the Strategist where he would get hold of such an astronomical sum. He didn’t care where the money came from — he cared about how to put it to good use.

　　This young, almost absurdly gifted financial prodigy was already rolling up his sleeves, ready to make his move!

　　Two people, a few words, and the tone for a financial earthquake had been set.

　　And all of this had started simply because Xu Wenjie had said a few blunt words to Bikang.

　　After Feng Le left, the Strategist paced back and forth across the hall. Raising one hundred billion dollars in a short period of time was no easy feat for anyone!

　　At that moment, a particular person came to mind.

　　Without a moment’s hesitation, the Strategist took out his phone and made a call.

　　But all he got was a busy tone — the other party was clearly already on a call.

　　…………

　　Tens of thousands of miles away in Huaxia, Su Rui had already finished his shower. Dressed in a bathrobe, he was lounging leisurely in a recliner on the balcony, phone in hand, chatting away with someone — he’d already been at it for a full half hour.

　　”I’m telling you, Caishen, you still can’t kick that chatterbox habit of yours. You’ve talked me dry.”

　　Su Rui had to crack open a bottle of mineral water to wet his throat. “Do you even know how much trouble I’m in right now? I came to you to help me put some pressure on Gao Qi, and here you are beating around the bush. That’s not what friends do, is it?”

　　”Apollo, you’ve got me all wrong. What do you mean beating around the bush? I haven’t had a chat this enjoyable in ages — can’t we keep talking a little longer?” The voice on the other end sounded genuinely pitiful, with a pleading tone.

　　”Every sentence I keep you company costs you one hundred million dollars.” Su Rui said with a grin.

　　”One hundred million dollars per sentence? That’s highway robbery!”

　　”Let me remind you, I’ve already kept you company for over a thousand sentences. Let’s call it a twenty percent discount — transfer eight hundred billion first and we’ll talk.” Su Rui had no shame whatsoever. The guy on the other end of the line might look like a chubby little teddy bear, but a single hair plucked from his head was worth more than gold.

　　”Why don’t you just go rob a bank?” The voice on the other end turned helpless again. “Fine, what can I say — we’re brothers, aren’t we? Sure, helping you out like this will cost me something, but am I really the kind of person who doesn’t stand by his friends?”

　　”That little loss is nothing but a drop in the bucket for someone like you, Caishen. Never mind the fact that you’re just moving money from one place to another — even if I asked you to hand over seven or eight hundred billion outright, a big-hearted person like you wouldn’t even bat an eye, right?”

　　”Of course, even if I gave it all to you, a big-hearted person like me wouldn’t even blink… wait a minute, Apollo, you’re setting me up!” The voice on the other end erupted. “That’s not just my money — it’s my family’s money too. Doing this would put me under enormous pressure.”

　　”It’s just moving it to a different place to keep it, is it really that much of a hassle?” Su Rui pursed his lips. He knew the guy on the other end was just making a fuss — all bark and no bite every single time, and in the end he’d always come around and help out.

　　”Apollo, honestly there’s nothing wrong with the transfer itself — it’s just one thing I don’t want you to overlook.” The roaring on Caishen’s end stopped abruptly, replaced by a suddenly grave tone.

　　”I know what you’re going to say.”

　　Su Rui said with a faint smile, “You’re going to say this would expose the connection between us, right?”

　　”Yes.” Caishen’s tone was heavy. “If news like that got out, it wouldn’t be good for either of us.”

　　”Caishen, do you think the dark world today is the same as it was a few years ago?” Su Rui said with a cold laugh. “Use that nose of yours — sharper than a dog’s — and take a sniff. See if you can smell gunpowder in the air!”

　　On the other end, Caishen actually gave a little sniff, then said, “The air smells pretty fresh.”

　　”Fresh my ass!” Su Rui was nearly shouting. “I strongly suspect there’s someone from the dark world standing behind that Xu Wenjie. This guy really knows how to play the game — when the shadows don’t work, go into the light; when force doesn’t work, try soft tactics. The ones with their eyes on Sancuoanlun aren’t just Hades alone, and the ones with their eyes on you, Caishen, are just as numerous. Even if our connection doesn’t get exposed this time, it’s only a matter of time!”

　　”Why are you making me break out in a cold sweat?” Across the ocean, a man who looked to weigh over three hundred pounds was sitting in a recliner on a beach. His rolls of fat were stacked so thick you could barely see his swim trunks.

　　He wore oversized sunglasses and had a cigar clamped between his lips, looking every bit like a slob who’d eaten way too much junk food.

　　The poor recliner beneath him was creaking under the weight of his massive frame, threatening to collapse at any moment.

　　Just from appearances, who would ever guess that this man — jiggling with fat from head to toe — was one of the Twelve Gods of the Western dark world, the God of Wealth, Stadtmeyer!

　　You really can’t judge a book by its cover — that saying never gets old.

　　Among the Twelve Gods, Stadtmeyer ranked dead last in combat ability, yet no one dared underestimate his financial power. Nobody quite knew how this man had accumulated so much wealth — calling him richer than a nation was no exaggeration at all.

　　”That’s not a cold sweat — that’s the sweat of a man too fat for his own good!” Su Rui said irritably. “Stop lying around on your private beach soaking up the sun all day. If you don’t get off your ass soon, the whole world outside might just turn upside down!”

　　”Am I really that important?” Caishen rubbed his chubby double chin. Su Rui’s words had given him quite a good feeling about himself.

　　”You’re way more important than that!” Su Rui said, and hung up.

　　Standing beside the pale, pudgy Caishen was a tall Black bodyguard. Since the earpiece volume had been fairly loud, he had heard every word Su Rui said.

　　”Sir, Apollo shows you absolutely no respect,” the bodyguard said with displeasure.

　　Caishen shot him a sideways glance and said, “The fact that Apollo talks to me like that means he treats me, Stadtmeyer, as a true friend. What would a meathead like you know about that?”

　　The bodyguard fell awkwardly silent.

　　”Don’t insult my friends. You’re in no position to question what’s between us.”

　　Caishen Stadtmeyer pointed out at the blue expanse of ocean and said, “Go. Get in there and swim for an hour. No backstroke. You don’t come ashore without my order. If I catch you slacking, there’s no dinner for you today.”

　　The bodyguard knew he’d said the wrong thing and could only trudge step by step toward the sea. At that moment, he wanted nothing more than to slap himself — why couldn’t he just keep his mouth shut?

　　The moment Stadtmeyer hung up, another number came through. Looking at it, a faint, amused smile crept onto the corner of his lips.

　　”Strategist, you’re not calling to borrow money, are you?” Stadtmeyer said the moment the call connected. “All my money is in fixed deposits. I’ve got nothing to lend you.”

　　”Old Sta, lend me one hundred billion dollars.” The Strategist was nothing if not direct.

　　”Are you out of your mind? One hundred billion dollars — how could I possibly come up with that all at once?” Stadtmeyer nearly burned his fingers on the cigar.

　　”I’ll give you an account number. Just wire it over in a bit.” The Strategist said coldly. “I won’t waste words on thanks — next time we meet, dinner’s on me. Once this is done, I’ll give you one billion as a fee.”

　　With that, the Strategist hung up.

　　This guy really had a personality all his own — borrowing money like he was pulling off a heist, opening his mouth for one hundred billion without leaving any room to negotiate.

　　Stadtmeyer tossed his phone aside and muttered with a sulky air, “What kind of freaks does the Temple of the Sun breed?”

　　With that, he stood up and headed toward the beachside villa.

　　The poor Black bodyguard was still out there bobbing up and down in the sea, swimming away with great dedication.

　　…………

　　Two hours later, just as the bodyguard — long forgotten by his employer — was nearly drowning from exhaustion in the ocean, the Gao Qi headquarters tower on Wall Street in New York had also been thrown into a state of panic.

　　Gao Qi CEO Smith was still sitting in his office drinking coffee, completely unaware of the chaos unfolding in other departments.

　　In truth, at his level, many of the finer details didn’t require his close attention — he only needed to keep a firm hand on the big picture.

　　At that moment, the doorbell rang.

　　”Come in.”

　　Smith looked up, saw a subordinate rushing in out of breath, then lowered his head again and asked, “What is it that has you in such a panic?”

　　”Well, just now, four partner companies called to say they want to fully divest Gao Qi Bank’s equity stakes from their holdings.”

　　Smith’s eyes remained fixed on his computer screen. “Oh, is that so,” he said mildly. “How much of a loss are we looking at?”

　　”This kind of divestiture won’t cause any significant losses in the short term — it’s more of an impact on future development.” The subordinate hadn’t expected Smith to be so calm, and was genuinely taken aback.

　　”An impact on future development — and it’s only four companies. Do you think the impact is really that significant?” Smith still didn’t look up.

　　”Well, not very…” After Smith put it that way, the subordinate suddenly felt like this really wasn’t much of anything. The CEO wasn’t even bothered — wasn’t he just worrying over nothing?

　　”And you came running to me out of breath to report this?”

　　The subordinate was speechless.

　　”Look into it thoroughly before you come back to report. In the future, when something like this comes up, you need to filter and assess it yourself.” Smith said with a hint of impatience.

　　The unspoken message was clear — don’t bother me with every little thing.

　　The subordinate stood there flustered, then turned and left.

　　Gao Qi had investments in countless companies around the world. While equity changes weren’t exactly rare, having four companies undergo asset divestiture simultaneously was a first. Novel as it was, Smith didn’t take it to heart. Matters like this were fully handled by regional directors — there was absolutely no need to escalate it to him.

　　His subordinates all knew the rules too. Unless something was critically important, a single email was enough to explain it — why bother with a face-to-face report? Thinking this over, Smith suddenly felt a cold sweat break out on his back.

　　He immediately jumped to his feet and shouted after the already-departing subordinate, “Get back here!”