novelraw Chapter 528: Want Me to Enter the Second Zone? Then Pay Me More!
Chapter 528: Want Me to Enter the Second Zone? Then Pay Me More!
"Of course you can."
As soon as Lu Ding's words fell, the representatives began calling their home countries.
After he sat back down, Chief Director Meng Shu beside him turned and asked: "Extremely precise. Did you prepare in advance?"
Lu Ding's pricing had practically scraped against these nations' barely-breathing bottom lines.
After this incident, they probably wouldn't dare cause trouble for many years.
Even if they wanted to regret it and stir up trouble later, they couldn't afford to—because they'd have no money.
"This preparation was done by my assistant investigator Yan Feifan. I just heard about it."
Lu Ding hadn't even considered this direction. It was our Brother Feifan who mentioned during casual conversation: 'How much will those countries have to pay in compensation this time? Probably so much I won't be able to count the zeros.'
Xiao Bai, grilling chicken wings nearby, chimed in: 'A hundred billion?'
Yan Feifan: "What currency unit?"Xiao Bai said while brushing on barbecue sauce: 'Dollars. Dollars are expensive.'
Yan Feifan thought for a moment: 'Substantial, but not high enough.'
Lu Ding, mixing his secret garlic sauce nearby: 'A trillion? I don't really have a concept of that.'
'That's too much. Since we're idle anyway, I'll look up some data and calculate.'
Just like that, the next day, Feifan brought the materials and discussed the data as conversation topics while drinking tea with everyone.
How much each country would need to pay to truly hurt them—not enough to starve them but enough to make life difficult, making them feel both the pain and the punishment.
Just like that, Lu Ding remembered it.
Coincidentally, today's pricing from these countries matched what Feifan calculated almost exactly, just needing to convert Han currency to dollars.
So Lu Ding conveniently changed the unit for them.
"Yan Feifan, huh..."
Chief Director Meng secretly noted this name.
Not unfamiliar—he'd heard of him. Lu Ding's assistant investigator, many deputy directors had praised him as talented.
But they'd never interacted.
However, after Lu Ding's comment today, Brother Feifan had entered the Chief Director's field of vision.
Before long, the representatives finished their calls and returned to their seats.
Andrew, acting as representative and intermediary, stood up and said: "We can agree to the Great Han and Grand Duke's demands, but we also have a small request."
This statement was quite attention-grabbing.
Rows of leaning Heavenly Perception members instantly sat up straight!!!
Lu Ding's performance was over;
now it was the Chief Director's turn to speak.
Meng Shu asked: "What 'request'?"
Andrew felt somewhat embarrassed but still thick-skinnedly stated their prepared words: "Grand Duke Lu's existence is too bullying. He's excessively powerful. Although his realm isn't high, his combat strength has severely disrupted the Third Circle's ecosystem."
Lu Ding: ????
What did this mean? Were they giving him an assist?
Just the day before, he'd been thinking about hoping to go to the Second Circle sooner, but the Great Han couldn't make exceptions.
Well now... a bunch of countries were actively asking the Great Han to make an exception.
He watched as Andrew pointed to the numerous countries behind him.
"Most of them can't produce the amount Grand Duke Lu demands in one payment—it's too much. But they choose to agree because Grand Duke Lu is too powerful;
they can't afford to provoke him."
"For the shortfall, they'll sign contracts, issue IOUs, and repay slowly."
"But they absolutely insist that Grand Duke Lu must be sent to the Second Circle. This is their unanimous strong demand. Otherwise, if Grand Duke Lu gets unhappy again and does something like this, they can't withstand it."
"What was originally off-the-table talk now has to be put on the table. They're scared, surrendering, admitting fault, apologizing. This time they acknowledge it, but please, please send Grand Duke Lu to the Second Circle."
Lu Ding had prepared for them to say something like "if you don't send us to the Second Circle, we won't pay"—a mutual destruction scenario.
But instead... they went soft instead of hard.
What was this?
Was sincerity the ultimate weapon?
Was this even proper negotiation rhetoric?
It shouldn't be.
But it must be said, once shameful off-the-table words broke through embarrassment and reached the table...
Well... it was indeed hard to refute.
It's like insulting someone as poor, short, ugly, worthless, garbage—these are facts they'd normally deny while counter-attacking you.
Today they don't deny it: "I am poor, I am short, I am ugly, I'm not as handsome as you. You're talented, genius, social elite. I beg you, please stop targeting me. If I was wrong before, I apologize."
"I'll do whatever you say."
This...
Instantly silenced the Great Han side.
Had Lu Ding beaten all their shame out of them?
Deputy Director Lü and Chief Director Meng even lost control of their expressions in confusion.
They turned to look at Lu Ding, their eyes conveying: 'What's your take?'
Lu Ding:......
After some thought—well, you handed me the spoon yourselves, don't blame me for digging deep.
"You want me to go to the Second Circle?"
The national representatives looked at him expectantly.
Lu Ding leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs, lifted his chin slightly, revealing an imposing aura: "Then you'll have to pay me more."
When the Wei Gao representative heard this, he immediately clasped his hands and begged fluently in Chinese: "We can't produce any more, really can't produce more. Grand Duke Lu, please have mercy, let us off, okay? We're begging you. We've been beaten, punished, compensated, ceded territory... even have to issue IOUs..."
When you can save the country money and reduce expenditures, who cares about face? It's not like this will leak anyway.
Lu Ding made a "tsk" sound.
"Personally speaking, even just a little scrap from between your country's teeth would work."
Comparing one person to a country, the amount would definitely be much smaller.
The Tai Island Heavenly Perception representative, bypassing Kagu Muto: "Grand Duke, I beg you too. We can't withstand your games anymore. After paying compensation, we'll all have to tighten our belts. It's not that we won't let scraps fall—there are no scraps to let fall."
"Besides, your needs aren't just 'a little scrap.' At the Heavenly Perception realm, if the quality of natural treasures isn't high enough, they can't even stimulate the realm threshold."
"Above Heavenly Perception, every usable natural treasure is expensive..."
Lu Ding's face darkened.
Why was everyone using this soft approach?
"Enough!! Stop wailing! This is my homeland! I'm the one being sent away!! I'm not even wailing yet!"
"Right now we're discussing my personal interests! I don't care if you let a lot fall or a little fall—you will let something fall!!!"
He was going to a higher-level environment now.
Strength was the ultimate truth. If he went up there dry like this...
Wouldn't that be acting out the classic novel trope of changing maps?
Where powerful experts are cheaper than dogs, and prodigies fill the streets?
Wasn't that creating hardship where none existed?
Novels wrote it that way to prevent power scaling from collapsing, to suppress the protagonist's combat strength.
But this was reality!!
He had to prioritize safety and security above all!!
Showing mercy to make others comfortable while making himself uncomfortable—what was the point?
For the beautiful reputation of a saint? "May the Lord bless you, God bless you"?
Ridiculous! The Great Han didn't believe in that stuff—it amounted to extraterritorial law enforcement.
Although in the Second Circle, Heavenly Perception still carried some weight, that weight really wasn't high.
Moreover, he still had to go up and fight demons in the new city, engage in bloody battles with powerful families, and confront the Dragon King of the Dragon Keeper Clan—could he afford to not be thoroughly prepared?!
Previously, conditions weren't sufficient—going up earlier meant bigger waves but more valuable opportunities. With his cultivation speed, his realm could increase quickly.
But now that conditions existed, who would still go fishing? Eat your fill, cultivate to the max, make the most of resources, then go up and start fighting!
Lu Ding's roar shook the hall three times.
Those national representatives who wanted to follow suit and beg instantly froze in place.
Each wore an expression like their mother had just died.
How much counted as a lot? How much counted as a little?...
But it must be said, once shameful off-the-table words broke through embarrassment and reached the table...
Sigh... they could only tighten their belts to the last notch.