CHAPTER 339: CHAPTER 219: TURNING THEIR OWN TACTICS AGAINST THEM

Qu Jianlei’s words left Kest speechless.

Does it make sense? It kind of does, but if it weren’t for the fact that we can’t beat him... who the hell cares about his ranting?

One of the Ultimate Warriors from the Hedley Family couldn’t help it anymore, "Lord Jian Lei, we truly mean no disrespect!"

"We had no idea it was you who killed the entire Bunker family... hearing this now, we feel a bit wronged."

Qu Jianlei chuckled coldly, "Feeling wronged? Can it compare to how wronged Benjamin’s family feels?"

"What did they do wrong to deserve their family’s destruction?"

"You can rely on your strength to do whatever you please... but when it happens to you, you feel wronged?"

"To put it bluntly, what I did is much more reasonable than what you do!"

Qu Jianlei may not be good at communicating with people, but when it comes to tearing into others, he knows what he’s doing.

Whenever he explodes, others dare not say anything more; nobody wants to end up like Benjamin’s family.

After a while, Kest sighed, "Then tell us, how should we compensate?"

Qu Jianlei answered without hesitation, "A hundred times the original price... no haggling accepted."

Kest’s face changed completely at these words, "Is that... twenty million silver coins?"

The Thirty-Six Noble Families are not just empty promises; the Hedley Clan indeed has considerable assets.

Adding up the family’s total assets, two million or even two billion is no problem—but twenty billion might be a stretch.

But all these assets are the sum of all the family members’ properties, many of which are private assets, not public.

Even as a B-level warrior, Kest holds significant sway in the family, but... is it appropriate to take the clan members’ private assets?

As for public assets, spending two million would be severely detrimental, and would require time to liquidate some properties.

The real problem is, two million wouldn’t be enough to deal with the current crisis.

After thinking it over, Kest sighed, "For the Storage Talisman price... Lord Jian Lei, you decide."

Hearing this, some people’s faces showed expressions of indignation.

Qu Jianlei waved his hand, calmly stating, "I said you can name the price, but it must be sincere."

Kest pondered for a moment and slowly spoke, "The size of Storage Talismans vary greatly, affecting the price... How about ten million?"

He didn’t dare to ask how much space the other’s Storage Talisman had, as that was too sensitive a question.

Xiao Moshan snorted, "Give you ten million, and you get me a Storage Talisman."

Kest shook his head and gave a wry smile, "Our family doesn’t have that kind of connection."

"Exactly," Xiao Moshan replied righteously, "Buying a Storage Talisman costs money, but doesn’t the connection to purchase it also cost?"

His words clearly borrowed from Qu Jianlei’s logic.

Kest was quite dismissive, thinking who knows where Jian Lei picked up that Storage Talisman.

He made a decisive decision, "If there’s a connection, there is... Buying one means you can buy two; we truly have no such connections."

"Furthermore, I was talking about the price of a brand-new Storage Talisman... It has limited usability."

Xiao Moshan disagreed with his opinion: given the rarity of Storage Talismans, buying one doesn’t mean you can buy a second? Look at you, getting cocky.

However, arguing over this seemed pointless, so he decided to take a different approach.

"If it weren’t for Jianlei having some skill, your son-in-law would’ve nearly killed him... How much do you think Jianlei’s life is worth?"

Wasn’t he killed in retaliation? Kest thought this question was particularly absurd: at most, it’s just a life for a life.

He put on a flattering smile and replied, "Lord Jian Lei’s life is priceless; the entire Hedley Family wouldn’t be enough compensation."

A lot of back-and-forth ensued, until daylight broke, and the compensation amount was finalized: a total of forty million silver coins.

Qu Jianlei gave them ten days to raise the funds, insisting it must be in Energy Block Silver Notes, Gold, or Crystal.

The next issue was: what exactly happened in the Desert District?

Kest’s answer was: I also don’t know what happened, the ancestors left word not to mention it.

Otherwise, the Hedley Family would leave no survivors!

He seemed certain that if the other party wanted the forty million silver coins, they wouldn’t risk cutting off negotiations for this answer.

The Desert District issue is old news, having no connection to current people, and the other side might just be curious.

Realistically, if Jian Lei wanted to wipe out the Hedley Family, the wealth obtained wouldn’t surpass two million.

Real estate, honestly, is not something a fugitive can handle easily; Central City wouldn’t disregard it, even if pretending to turn a blind eye.

Xiao Moshan saw through his thoughts and sneered, "Do you really think forty million is a lot to us?"

Kest’s face darkened at his words, thinking how did I forget this detail? This group had just raided the Gorge warehouse!

Finally, he gritted his teeth and answered, "If you must ask, I can provide one word, have you heard of ’the base’?"

"The base..." Qu Jianlei and Xiao Moshan exchanged glances.

Xiao Moshan, after some thought, asked, "Is this matter related to the base?"

"So you really know!" Kest sighed inwardly and then nodded, "It’s said... that it’s the base’s operations."

"Well, let’s drop it then," Xiao Moshan waved his hand, speaking indifferently, "No need to ask about this issue."

But what exactly does "base" mean? Kest was full of confusion but had no choice but to leave with his people.

On the way back, a clan member angrily asked, "Elder, the other side wants so much money and is so arrogant... are we just going to concede?"

These people are the core strength of the family and are well aware of the pressure that forty million silver coins will bring to the family.

Kest looked at everyone and asked in a deep voice, "Do you think I’m too weak?"

Some said they didn’t dare, while others remarked, "But Wellington... let’s not talk about that bastard, Talik is dead too!"

The Earth Attribute Warrior couldn’t get treatment and bled to death right in front of everyone, who wouldn’t be angry?

"Fools don’t deserve to live," Kest replied coldly.

Using such words to describe family members was indeed a bit cold-hearted, but he understood that managing the family couldn’t solely rely on kinship.

When it’s time to be ruthless, one must be ruthless, especially at such a critical moment, tender feelings must be cast aside!

"The Douglas Family, in the end, couldn’t even find people to help them no matter how much they wanted to spend. Do you still think forty million is expensive?"

After the Hedley family left, Black Panther appeared, "If nothing else, I’ll be taking my leave now."

As for topics like the base, he pretended not to have heard and didn’t even dare to ask.

Qu Jianlei glanced at Xiao Moshan and found him staring blankly, not bothering to say anything more.

The events that followed were handled rather smoothly, with the Secret Pavilion providing many rare materials, some of which were truly absent in the Gorge.

On the tenth day, the Hedley Family gathered forty million silver notes, which were brought by Slig and handed over to Qu Jianlei.

Xiao Moshan unexpectedly asked, "Who took over the Douglas family’s properties?"

Slig looked at him with speechless eyes, "They were all taken away by those people, some were auctioned off, and some were left."

"Damn..." Xiao Moshan couldn’t help but grimace, "Those guys have really long arms."

Slig showed no facial expression but snorted in his heart: no matter how arrogant you are, don’t you still hide when you hear about the Gorge?

What he didn’t expect was that once the three received the money and left, they returned to the Celestial District and immediately called everyone to discuss.

Should they mess with the nutrition pods over at the base?

Among the five people involved in the discussion, aside from Qu Jianlei and Youyou, the other three were all disabled.

The result of the discussion was as expected, even Youyou expressed: To enhance the group’s combat strength, it’s worth taking a risk.

However, this time, Bentley couldn’t go. Aside from being disabled, he was also just a C-level.

So it still had to be the combination of Qu Jianlei, Xiao Moshan, and Youyou.

Last time, they punished three infamous people from the Gorge and could easily use their Gorge identities to go in and out.

Flower Scorpion suggested that since they couldn’t be sure if Wei Wushuang had purely good intentions, it was necessary to observe for some time first.

As for her own disability, she felt it was already like that, and it wouldn’t matter to delay it for another year or two.

But Qu Jianlei thought it wasn’t necessary to do so.

"Every time we act, we have to lie low for a while; it’s already a pattern... this time, it’s necessary to do the opposite!"

His suggestion was endorsed by everyone.

Then Youyou said: Since we’re planning to leave soon, there’s a small problem currently at the manor that needs to be resolved.

It turned out that just as they were leaving, a B-level Fire Attribute Warrior came to the door, requesting to see the manor’s owner.

He identified himself at the gate as Charles, a Guardian Warrior from the Celestial District, with urgent matters to discuss.

Central City has guardians in each Gathering Area; however, only the Celestial District has B-level Warriors, while others are C-level.

Zheng Weifang from Zone Zhou Character was purely an exception; after reaching B-level advancement, he was reluctant to leave.

Youyou didn’t look up to the Guardian’s identity, but the other party was a Fire Attribute, which just countered her Wood Attribute.

In the end, it was Flower Scorpion who went out in a wheelchair and didn’t let the other in, only releasing her attribute slightly.

She told the other, "The person in charge of the manor is not here!"

Charles, understanding the situation, didn’t persist and only asked to be informed once the person in charge returned.

Qu Jianlei frowned upon hearing this, "He didn’t say what it was about?"

"No," Youyou shook her head and nonchalantly said, "Anyhow, it’s probably just one of those few possibilities."

Though she was inconvenient to appear, as someone from the base, she didn’t think much of a mere B-level Warrior.

Even though the identity of a guardian, to some extent, represented the collective will of Central City.

Qu Jianlei pondered for a moment, frowned, and said, "Then I’ll meet him tonight."

Flower Scorpion suggested, "It’s best not to kill him."

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