1285 Ten Billion Credits?
“If you didn’t have that token from the Rainbow Raiders, I would’ve shooed you away,” said the station commander in an annoyed tone. “If you want to repair a garbage s.h.i.+p like this, anything less than 10 billion credits won’t be enough.”
“Money won’t be a problem…” After hearing Tian Fang say those words, the station commander’s eyes lit up.
“But it will be impossible for us to get that money now. Although I really want to say that we could.” Tian Fang’s words afterwards made the station commander’s teeth hurt.
“Don’t worry. I have my reputation in the underworld. I will definitely give you the money.” Before entering the 23rd Division, Tian Fang was actually in the black ops corps of the Federation. There, he had disguised as a mercenary corp and cleaned some of the Federation’s dirty laundry. Thus, his group of soldiers still had some reputation in the underworld. Truth be told, although his account didn’t have 10 billion credits, he still had a few billion. However, Tian Fang didn’t dare to use it. He was afraid that someone was monitoring his account, and once he used it, they would know his whereabouts.
If he was by himself, it wouldn’t matter if they knew his whereabouts. But, his apprehension was mostly due to the recovering Lieutenant General Ling. Tian Fang and Luo Yang had already predicted that there was a strong organization hidden behind the higher ranks of the Federation’s military headquarters. These people wanted to plot against Lieutenant General Ling, especially after General Ling Xiao’s death, Lieutenant General Ling would definitely be in a bad situation if he were to return to the Federation.
As the loyal followers of General Ling Xiao, they, of course, wouldn’t let anything happen to his remaining bloodline, so they also had the same idea as Little Seven, they decided to bring Ling Lan away from the Federation to a neutral nation. There he would be able to acc.u.mulate strength and wait for an opportunity to return to the Federation.
“With a garbage s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p like yours, you won’t be able to pay 10 billion credits even if you were given decades.” After hearing the words of Tian Fang, the station commander had a look of disdain on his face. Such a high cost repair would usually be done to top tier mercenary teams. Although the 7th Bugle mercenary team had some reputation, they were still considered a mid to low tier mercenary team. Their team wasn’t considered to be anything special in the entire underworld. In reality, if Tian Fang didn’t show them the token from a top tier mercenary team, the Rainbow Raiders, the station commander wouldn’t have even come out to personally check the battered stars.h.i.+p.
Well actually, other than the external parts of the s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p, the rest of the stars.h.i.+p had their share of problems, especially the most important part of a stars.h.i.+p, the engines. Due to the constant overclocking of the engine, it had caused many problems in the stars.h.i.+p engines. If they wanted to repair it, they would have to put in a lot of work. Just repairing the engines would cost more than 5 billion credits.The station commander’s forehead twitched just looking at the state of the stars.h.i.+p. Even ten billion credits might not be enough.
“Can’t I write you an IOU? Don’t I also have the Rainbow Raiders’ token to use as collateral?” Seeing the station commander’s expression turning more annoyed, Tian Fang was also becoming unhappy. This leader tier token of the Rainbow Raiders represented that the leader of the Rainbow Raiders was a guarantor. In the underworld, Rainbow Raiders were considered one of the three strongest mercenary teams. Their regiment commanders were publicly known as kings in the underworld. No one dared to look down on them.
After hearing Tian Fang’s words, the station commander looked at the token in his hands with a firm expression. With this thing, even if Tian Fang didn’t pay the money he owed, he could take the token and ask the Rainbow Raiders for it. The Rainbow Raiders would definitely pay it without a fuss. Of course, if that day were to come, he still wouldn’t use the token to trade for money. Although it could be used for payment, it would still be a poor way of using it if he actually exchanged it for money. The real value of this token was actually the regiment commander of the Rainbow Raiders owing a favour to the owner of the token.
The station commander knew very well what it meant to ask a favor from one of the kings of the underworld. He definitely wouldn’t use it unless he was about to die.
Of course, all this would only happen if Tian Fang couldn’t pay the 10 billion credits in the future.
The station commander glanced at Tian Fang and asked plainly, “When are you planning on giving that money?” Although the token was a guarantee, he couldn’t just keep dragging out paying the money for decades or centuries.
“Uh, ten years?” Of course, Tian Fang knew the real value of the token from the Rainbow Raiders. When Ling Lan handed it to him, he was shocked. He didn’t know why Ling Lan had the token of a king of the underworld… Unfortunately, Ling Lan didn’t explain to him. He could only predict that General Ling Xiao had some sort of relations.h.i.+p with the regiment commander of the Rainbow Raiders… After all, the general was a legendary individual, so it was logical he would have come into contact with legends of the underworld.
“Ten years? You really are shameless.”
“Eight years?” Tian Fang gritted his teeth as he forced out a compromise. It should be known that they couldn’t use the Federation’s money to pay because they were in a neutral nation. They must start everything from the beginning. No, it was actually even more brutal than starting from zero since they started with a debt of 10 billion credits. Even he wasn’t sure whether he could gather 10 billion credits in eight years and feed his thousands of crew members at the same time.
“The most I can give is five years. After five years, I will take this token and ask the Rainbow Raiders for it,” said the station commander.
Seeing the firmness in the eyes of the station commander, Tian Fang knew he didn’t have any way of getting more time. He could only grit his teeth and relented, “Alright, five years.”
He wouldn’t have agreed if Lieutenant General Ling didn’t say that holding onto that token was meaningless and that was better to use it to exchange for stuff they needed now.
“However, I have a request. Other than the 10 billion repair costs, can you loan us 5 billion credits as well?” Tian Fang stared at the station commander as he spoke with a determined look in his eyes.
“No way…” The station commander didn’t even think and refused him.
“Don’t say that,” Tian Fang cut him off immediately. “You and I both know what the token from the Rainbow Raiders means and how much it’s worth. Asking to borrow 5 billion more isn’t considered going over the top.”
“I can only give you 3 billion,” said the station commander after he thought for a moment.
“That’s fine. Great doing business with you.” Tian Fang nodded happily.
The station commander instantly realized that Tian Fang had played him. If he didn’t want to give the money, Tian Fang couldn’t do anything to him anyway. The station commander suddenly felt blood rus.h.i.+ng up his chest. He wanted the token so badly that he lowered his guard against this scheming individual in front of him.
However, what was said was said. As the commander of the s.p.a.ce station, he definitely couldn’t go back on his word. They were business people so they must uphold their reputation. Otherwise, if their reputation disappeared, no one would dare come to his s.p.a.ce station to repair their s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps.
The station commander left with a frustrated expression on his face. He ordered his repair crew to repair the 7th Bugle Call. Tian Fang then returned inside the 7th Bugle Call with a smile on his face.
After reaching the commander’s room, he saw Luo Yang with a terrible expression on his face, while Ling Lan, who was originally resting in the room, was now actually sitting on the sofa waiting for him.
“What happened?” asked Tian Fang.
It was odd. Why did the atmosphere in the stars.h.i.+p commander room be so bad?
Luo Yang’s face was somewhat reddened and his breathing was hurried. It seemed he had gotten angry.
Tian Fang looked towards Ling Lan who was sitting on the sofa nonchalantly. He then looked at Li Lanfeng, who was indifferent to all of this and was only carefully brewing and pouring tea for Ling Lan. In the end, he rested his questioning gaze towards Luo Yang.