"Bur…Burke what destroyer?"
Seeing the gold-rimmed hedgehog and Lin Hao holding it, both of them widened their eyes and mentioned the name of a destroyer. Master Fuli's eyes also widened slightly.
"The research vessel Ah Bai spoke of…is an armed destroyer?" Master Fuli exclaimed, clicking his tongue in amazement and commented sarcastically, "Trying to hijack a destroyer, you'd better prepare a socket wrench."
"Just unscrew their engine nuts; otherwise, how could a civilian ship tow it..."
Master Fuli's sarcasm left the gold-rimmed hedgehog with black lines across its forehead.
"Putting aside whether or not it can be towed, you go through all the trouble to drag a destroyer back from the high seas, and you can't even sell it as scrap iron..."
With a face full of speechlessness, the gold-rimmed hedgehog nodded a greeting to Lin Ying, then turned to Master Fuli and said, "It's one thing for Ah Bai to be foolish, but you're a business person, how can you join him in the mischief?"
"High seas?" A strange look appeared in Master Fuli's eyes as he said, "Since the destroyer was sailing on the high seas, why would the Security Bureau let them run to the high seas to salvage sonar detectors?"
What Grandma Hedgehog said and what Ah Bai said were about the same content, but the internal differences were significant.
Master Fuli thought it was someone else posing as a scientific operation, running to the Southern Sea Area to stir up trouble.
Upon hearing that the target was a destroyer, he had already planned to board and hijack it, stab their kidneys with a dagger, and have them swipe their credit, transferring all borrowed money to himself.
But then, there's no issue with the destroyer sailing on the high seas; their base is global, with fleets stationed in Japan and other countries.
"I don't care about disputes between countries, but guessing the Security Bureau's thoughts isn't hard." The gold-rimmed hedgehog lifted a hand and signaled, and a nearby little brother quickly came forward with a cigarette, helping Grandma light it.
"These countries shamelessly built right on our coastline, even opened the territorial sea, letting fleets and foreign research ships pass through..."
"And for security reasons, the Security Bureau salvages all sonar close to our coastline. Simply put, it's like saying, 'You're living too smoothly, and since I'm free, I'll make it a bit troublesome for you, poke you a bit.'"
What happened overseas didn't particularly catch Grandma Hedgehog's attention.
But she had heard some rumors about corporations sending out many research ships on missions, often encountering 'pirates' near the Southern Sea Area, hence hiring a destroyer to prevent 'pirate' hijacks.
They were likely searching for something on the seabed, but Grandma Hedgehog wasn't sure about the details here.
She only knew the exploration range was huge, involving the territorial waters of three countries.
"So that's it..."
Hearing the gold-rimmed hedgehog recount the incident, an odd color appeared on Master Fuli's face, and he vaguely had a suspicion: 'Could it be Old Li's game for Vimal and their interest community he mentioned earlier?'
The timing was perfect, just when he returned from the Da Xing'an Ridge Region.
Before, Old Li even asked about his schedule for the upcoming period.
When the tea competition was nearing, the research ships seemed to have found something, swarming out, seemingly approaching Xia Country's territorial edge, tossing out detectors.
Master Fuli had every reason to suspect the busy scene of research ships at sea now was Old Li and Old Lin's scheme, baiting Vimal and her interest community.
Old Lin inside, Old Li outside, wrapping them up like dumplings.
Just, what exactly did they toss into the sea to create such a spectacle?
They couldn't make a loss, right?
Master Fuli had some guesses in his heart but said nothing, maintaining a solemn face, nodding slightly:
"Grandma Hedgehog makes sense; towing a destroyer back is unreasonable, can't even sell it as scrap, dismantling an abandoned ship seems to require a dismantling fee."
"Ah Bai and I should have broken into the ship, used America's iai to bind them all. First, ask their base for ransom to ease Spirit Beast Gang's urgent needs, second, ask the crew for bank card transfer passwords, then use their ID for unsecured loans..."
"Hmm, An Sheng's plan is meticulous and rigorous——"
The gold-rimmed hedgehog rolled its eyes and couldn't help but comment, "Grabbing some sonar is enough, binding all the destroyer crew, won't the joint convention explode."
"What about it? Does America have the face to shout that its advanced fleet was mounted by Fox Fox, while Celestial Soldiers were tied up?"
"They dare to speak up, but someone has to believe it! How could Celestial Soldiers lose? Haha..." Master Fuli's face was full of confidence, waving at Grandma Hedgehog.
The gold-rimmed hedgehog's mouth twitched: "...Nonsense!", instinctively glancing at Lin Ying, as if saying, control your fox at home! Look at what nonsense it's saying.
"Master Fuli...need money?" Lin Ying looked at Master Fuli on her shoulder and said:
"If there's a shortage, I can lend to you personally; if not urgently, I can help bring in financing for Spirit Beast Gang, given its scale..."
"Shoo shoo, listen to Grandma Hedgehog's nonsense; Homeless House hasn't reached a deficit stage yet." Master Fuli waved his hand, indicating to Lin Ying that there's no need to worry too much.
Spirit Beast Gang indeed has a market, just currently, the business expands too wide, and the repayment return speed can't keep up.
Adjusting some business strategies will solve the problem.
...
After chatting briefly at the entrance, everyone entered the Homeless House villa, heading to the banquet hall and conference room that Ah Bai spent a lot of money on during renovations.
Time slowly passed by.
The spirit beasts arrived at the Homeless House either by flying, walking, or hitching rides on buses, even Feng Wenyu and Jin Wanlin from the Security Bureau showed up.
"Why still shaking the protein powder?" Seeing Uncle Jinlong brought by Jin Wanlin, who jumped from Jin Wanlin's shoulder upon arrival, grabbed a shaker, and shook it vigorously after pouring some water, Ansheng couldn't help but comment.
"He plans to bodybuild; if not dissuaded, he'd probably be considering using steroids by now..." Jin Wanlin responded to Master Fuli's comment with a touch of helplessness.
"The scene of being punched by Ah Qing last time hit Jinlong hard, though he's seen psychologists a few times, the effect isn't great, just rather depressed."
First losing to the Fungal Parasitic Beast, then Master Fuli, and being ambushed by cockroaches and tea trees, the whole lizard was kicked flying.
Not long ago, even lost to 'ordinary human' Ah Qing who accidentally injected the Spirit Particle Potion; for Uncle Jinlong, he had nothing left to lose, now at the bottom.
As the king of beasts in the research institute, ruling the internal order of spirit beasts, Uncle Jinlong was full of confidence in his strength, but leaving the institute, he gets beaten up...
"Hiss~"
An eight-meter-long King Cobra entered through the conference room door, head darting about as if searching, but quickly, it gazed upon Master Fuli standing on the banquet hall table.
The Cobra slithered over.
Yet.
While moving forward, the Cobra sharply noticed a stunned expression of surprise on Master Fuli and the woman's face beside him, and looked down at its path.
"Hiss?"
The Cobra slightly shifted, looking surprised at what it accidentally trampled upon — a lizard.
"Hey hey hey! You've seen him before, don't act on your hog instinct and swallow Brother Jinlong." Master Fuli facepalmed, sarcastically reminding the King Cobra to watch its step.
The King Cobra is almost the only venomous snake that primarily preys on other snakes.
Ansheng was truly worried this one might, in a moment of carelessness, "slurp" Uncle Jinlong away.
"Hiss~" The King Cobra shook its head, indicating it remembered Uncle Jinlong and wouldn't swallow it.