Chapter 494: Deep in Debt (3)
After a long while, Zhao Ming asked, "Is it...too late for me to pull out now?"
"Teacher, I know you don't lack money. You're quite rich. I'll definitely pay you back after making enough money."
"Xia Huyou is a black market dealer. Why don't you get him to pay for you?"
Su Yu said, "I still owe him 1,100 merit points. I might need him to buy some other stuff for me. I can't keep milking a single person, right?"
"..."
Zhao Ming was tired of speaking to Su Yu. He looked at Chen Yong, wondering if this was how everyone from the multiple character faction behaved.
Chen Yong avoided Zhao Ming's gaze. He had no money. It was up to Zhao Ming whether he wanted to lend the kid money.
Su Yu seriously said, "Teacher, I won't borrow money from any random person. I'm borrowing from you because I trust you. Please trust me as well. I can easily earn some money by selling what I have. I just can't be bothered to benefit some outsiders with my stuff."
"So you're borrowing money from me because you respect me?"
"What are you saying, Teacher? Of course I respect you."
Zhao Ming raised his brow and asked, "If I refuse, will I have nothing to do with the future research results of this research center?"
"Yeah."
Zhao Ming smiled, "Fine. You're truly crazy. How about Hu Qiusheng and Jiang Mu? Are they using their own money to buy the books you want as well?"
"Yeah. Put it all on my tab. I'll pay you guys when I get some money." Su Yu said, "Don't worry. I'm not one to renege on my debt. If I really end up failing to get money, I still have some treasures on me. I can just sell these treasures to you. You won't regret buying from me."
Xia Huyou hurriedly said, "If you have anything to sell, consider me first! I can pay good money for your stuff!"
Su Yu did not deign to give Xia Huyou a reply. While walking around the room, he said, "Our research center will focus on cultivation methods and characters. We won't need too much money. Based on my calculation, we won't need more than 5,000 merit points for everything."
All of them were rendered speechless. Was that his so-called not too much money? He was a mere Mental Tempering Stage student. Why was he speaking with such a tone?
"I'll be paying the library a visit to get the copies some books there. I've already reached an agreement with them. I only need to pay around 300 merit points. Those are all the books we'll be needing soon..."
Su Yu stopped and started scanning the room. Finally, his gaze landed on Wu Jia. She had a pitiful expression on her face. Why was he looking at her? She had no money! Out of everyone here, she was the only one who was truly broke!
Su Yu rubbed his chin and said, "After some consideration, I have reached the conclusion that our research center still lacks manpower. Wu Lan is an old friend of mine. As a good friend, I need to introduce her to this great research center of ours. I'll be sure to extend her an invitation as well. As for the books from the library, well, she'll have to pay for them first. That should be fine."
Since that was Wu Yuehua's grandniece, she was practically on his side! He was naturally obligated to pull her into such an incredible research center. She looked way too pitiful with her slow advancement. He couldn't let her be anymore.
The others were completely speechless.
Xia Huyou curled his lips and said, "In terms of money, the pillmaking faction is the richest. Second after that is the talisman faction. Both are rich. Oh, the weaponsmithing faction is quite rich as well. In fact, all these non-combat factions are pretty rich."
"Oh?"
Why was he unaware of that? After all, Zhao Li looked pretty poor to him.
Xia Huyou rolled his eyes, "Forget about Teacher Zhao Li. He is an outlier. That old man has an odd temper. He will only forge weapons when he's in a good mood. If he's not in the mood, he can stop working for half a year. How would he be so poor otherwise?"
Su Yu tossed that matter out of his mind. For now, he should focus on lending Wu Lan a helping hand. Life must be so hard for her. And her grandaunt was so rich.
Wu Yuehua might have a good relationship with Teacher Liu, but he still couldn't borrow money from her as he wished, right? It wouldn't be a bad idea for her to lend him some money, as it would ultimately benefit her.
After all, his next research topic was related to the acceleration of acupoint fusion. If he really managed to produce such a cultivation method, he would benefit all Great Strength and Infinite Strength cultivators.
Even Mountainsea cultivators would benefit from that!
"Oh, there's also Zhou Hao..."
Su Yu rubbed his chin, "The single character faction and the other factions are probably going to try sending some spies into our research center. We might as well take the initiative and invite Zhou Hao in. He's poor, but his teacher is rich!"
The Xia Family was definitely rich.
Zhao Ming nodded. Meanwhile, Chen Yong reminded, "Xia Yuwen might not necessarily be rich. Also, don't go too crazy. Our faction is currently in a lot of debt."
"What?"
Su Yu was surprised. They were short of money?
What happened to the money he gave his martial uncle previously?
Chen Yong stared at Su Yu for a long while before saying, "Before entering seclusion, Teacher told me that the multiple character faction is now yours. Wentan Research Center and all our debt are naturally yours as well now. Don't you know about that?"
"Debt?"
"Yeah." Chen Yong nonchalantly said, "Since your grandteacher has so much trust in you, I won't object. The debt isn't too big. After nearly destroying the Eighteenth Secondary School, all combatants owe the prefecture 1.2 million merit points. The debt is split three ways. The single character faction is required to pay 800,000 merit points, Xia Yuwen is required to pay 100,000 merit points, and we are required to pay 300,000 merit points. That's not much at all. Marquis Xia is already being very generous toward us. Don't you know about that debt?"
Su Yu was completely stunned. No! He had no idea!
Su Yu started stuttering, "Uhm...c-can the single character faction afford the fine?"
"Yes."
Chen Yong said, "The Nine Heavens Cultural Research Academy is paying 300,000, the Daoseeking Cultural Research Academy is paying 100,000, and Great Zhou is paying 300,000. As for the branch of the single character faction in our academy, they only need to pay 100,000.
"Our debt of 300,000 merit points actually includes the fines of many different individuals. But these people had put their lives on the line to fight for us. We can't make them pay these fines, right?
"For example, we have Elder He Ji, Elder Wu Yuehua, and Senior Zhao Mingyue...are we supposed to make them pay?"
"..."
Su Yu swallowed and laughed dryly before saying, "This must be a joke, right? Who can afford to pay that much money?"
"Joke?"
Chen Yong laughed. Zhao Ming also laughed.
Xia Huyou said, "Do you think the Xia Family will joke around? Do you think Marquis Xia will joke around? Su Yu, you need to pay this debt, or the Wentan Research Center will welcome a new owner before long."
Marquis Xia loved to joke around, but he would never joke about money.
Su Yu was completely speechless.
1.2 million merit points!
For the damage done to a small place like the Eighteenth Secondary School, all these people were fined 1.2 million merit points. Marquis Xia...Xia Xiao'er...was truly a shark.
"Do we really need to pay the fine?"
Su Yu was still in disbelief. Were they being serious?
Xia Huyou resisted the urge to laugh and said, "Of course. In fact, Great Zhou had already paid. And that's despite the death of Shan Tianhao. If they refuse to pay...they can't deny that the people from Great Zhou have damaged our place. We will simply send our Martial Dragon Guards over to rob their treasury and escalate the matter. Who's scared of them?"
Su Yu was dumbfounded.
"As for the Nine Heavens Cultural Research Academy, Principal Jin Yuhui has been busy selling off his stuff. He's probably going to sell off his pants one of these days. But he did manage to pay up as well."
Xia Huyou said, "Principal Jin can only blame himself for being so active during the conflict. He has no choice but to pay up for the amount of damage his academy did. Your grandteacher did a lot of damage as well. You should be thankful for a cheap fine of only 300,000 merit points."
"But the single character faction..."
Su Yu was really curious. Could the single character faction afford this?
Xia Huyou said, "Don't worry. They are broke, but their elders can still gather enough money by pooling their resources. They also have the alternative of asking for money from Great Zhou. Great Zhou is rich enough to shoulder the debt."
"..."
Su Yu was starting to suspect that the Xia Family was deliberately allowing Zhou Mingren to collude with Great Zhou and turn them into a money dispensing machine.
That way, they could squeeze some money from the single character faction every now and then.
"In that case, I'm now 300,000 merit points in debt?"
That was 300,000 merit points, not anping dollars.
Fuck!
He suddenly remembered something. No wonder his grandteacher had generously told him to pawn the Wentan Research Center if he needed money for his blood essence. So his grandteacher was only so generous because...they were already on the verge of losing the research center?
Perhaps at this point, the only thing they could do with the research center was to get some divine or devil blood essence? To squeeze some benefits before losing it?
Su Yu stared at Chen Yong in stupefaction. His martial uncle was the faction master, not him!
Chen Yong indifferently said, "We can afford the fine. The physical building of Wentan Research Center is not the truly valuable aspect of the place. Rather, it's our data. Of course, the devices and formations we have in the research center are quite valuable as well. Those things can actually be sold for hundreds of thousands of merit points. Teacher intends to let you decide. If the Xia Family starts pushing you for money, just sell the research center to settle the debt."
So they were on the verge of selling their research center.
Holy shit!
Why hadn't they done it themselves? Why made him do it?
They were trying to make him the scapegoat!
Only then did Su Yu realize that he was now laden with debts.
In fact, he was in an even worse situation than his Teacher Liu!
He now had a debt of 300,000 merit points!
His head was starting to ache. He asked, "So Xia Yuwen and the others are broke as well?"
"Pretty much."
Chen Yong said, "Of course, he still has enough money to support his student. You can still recruit Zhou Hao and use him as your test subject.
"But you still need to take note of your core secrets and not leak anything. I doubt Zhou Hao understands research well. Even if you let him read your reports, he probably won't understand anything."
Chen Yong might be speaking jokingly, but he was most likely right. Just how many languages did Zhou Hao even know? Most of the information kept in the research center would be in the form of original texts of the myriad races instead of translated versions.
Chen Yong said, "You also need a good large-scale defensive formation. You need this formation to prevent eavesdropping. It would be even better if you could get something that can block the prying of Sunmoons. But for something like this, you need tens of thousands of merit points."
"..."
Su Yu was getting tired of this. But such a formation was really necessary. In that case, he either needed to find himself a whale to scam or go dig up some buried treasure.
Without such a formation, Wan Tiansheng would probably be able to spy on them anytime he wanted. And they would not even be aware of it.
"Martial Uncle, I don't feel like starting my research center anymore..."
Chen Yong consoled him, "Just do it. We are probably going to lose Wentan Research Center soon. You will need to move out of it sooner or later. You might as well prepare yourself an alternative in advance."
Chen Yong was very supportive of establishing a new research center. At the very least, his teacher would not be homeless after coming out of seclusion if they ended up losing Wentan Research Center.
Su Yu could serve as a filial grandstudent and invite his grandteacher to his research center after his grandteacher left seclusion. After all, the books depository belonged to the academy, not Chen Yong. It would be improper for Chen Yong to house Hong Tan there.
Poor.
At that very moment, Su Yu felt extremely poor.
The multiple character faction was so poor that its members were on the verge of becoming homeless.
Just look at the other factions. They were so rich they could even afford to have an entire building just for meetings.
"Is Marquis Xia really going to take our research center?"
"It won't happen too fast..." Xia Huyou said, "Generally, Marquis Xia will give you some time before he collects. Since 300,000 merit points is not a small sum of money, he will probably give you half a year to gather money."
Xia Huyou felt the need to explain on behalf of his second grandpa. His second grandpa was definitely not someone who would not give others any chances.
He would give them enough time to gather money!
With a pseudo Sunmoon in the multiple character faction, if they spent every day hunting for powerful beasts, they would be able to gather enough money in half a year.
By killing a Mountainsea beast each day, they would be able to kill 180 beasts in half a year...scratch that. Even if they killed only 1 beast every 10 days, they would be able to kill 18 beasts in half a year. That would be almost enough to pay the debt. His second grandpa was truly kind!
Su Yu rolled his eyes.
Piss off!
He finally realized something. The Xia Family, or to be precise, Marquis Xia, was an unscrupulous business through and through.
Great Xia was the only party that had massively benefited from the previous conflict. Everyone else had suffered some losses.
These people would probably think twice before fighting in Great Xia again.
Nobody would enjoy shouldering a massive debt after a battle.
Xia Xiao'er, the unscrupulous businessman!
Su Yu started cursing inwardly. So what if that fellow is a Sunmoon? Not even a Sunmoon could sense anything if he wasn't scolding the Sunmoon right in front of the Sunmoon!