God-Level All-rounder Expert
Chapter 504 -s 545-541, Collecting Debts

Chapter 504: Chapters 545-541, Collecting Debts

Dust settled.

Fang Yi wasn’t surprised at all. After all, people are greedy, and these veterans were ruthless. He couldn’t believe that they would not be tempted by such great interests.

Fang Yi had been well prepared. He took out a small vial and placed it on the table, saying, "Inside here are the Heart-shattering Pills I have concocted. Only I have the antidote. For the sake of future wealth for all of us and for safety, I think everyone understands what I mean."

Of course, they did, but none of them hesitated. They had just sworn an oath and made their stance clear. If anyone were to hesitate now, wouldn’t they be slapping their own face? Led by Yang Dingfeng, they swallowed the Heart-shattering Pills, with the other three following suit.

After the four men had taken the Heart-shattering Pills, Fang Yi sat down and said, "Alright, since everyone has demonstrated their sincerity, let’s discuss how to exploit that gold mine."

This discussion went on until late into the night.

The content of the negotiation was actually quite straightforward: they needed to find enough manpower to mine the gold without the use of machinery on a large scale, as they wanted to avoid drawing attention.

The most important point was that when Su Ge’er and the others were selecting their workforce, they had to find absolutely reliable people. But even that wasn’t safe enough, so Fang Yi told them to wait another week.

During that week, Fang Yi spent a considerable amount of herbs and time to concoct hundreds of Heart-shattering Pills. He then handed them over to the four leaders to be administered to those working in the gold mine, as a means of control.

Meng Wei, Yang Dingfeng, and Lin Mu had no objections. However, Su Ge’er’s eyes flashed with an unusual gleam when she saw the dozens of Heart-shattering Pills: "This Heart Shattering Pill requires an antidote at regular intervals, without which one dies, and afterwards no cause can be found. Alliance Hierarch, I am finding it increasingly difficult to see through you."

Indeed, Su Ge’er was finding it increasingly difficult to understand Fang Yi. Her original plan had been to draw Fang Yi to the Desire Sect’s side, even if it meant gifting her Vermilion Bird Alliance to him. The goal was to control Fang Yi, but as his power grew and he united the five alliances, Su Ge’er felt that she was losing her grip on him.

Now with the addition of the gold mine and the Heart-shattering Pills, Fang Yi had given Su Ge’er too many shocks, making her feel that Fang Yi was slipping further from her control.

As for Su Ge’er’s thoughts, Fang Yi naturally didn’t know, nor did he care to guess. Now, the most important thing was to excavate the gold mine—that was the crux of the matter. As for Su Ge’er and the others, with the Heart-shattering Pills controlling them, Fang Yi had no worries.

In the following days, Fang Yi began collecting funds. Shen Binan contributed fifty billion, but there was still a gap of thirty billion. Therefore, Fang Yi made a call to Lin Shang to inquire about his earnings.

The territory once belonging to Songcai was now controlled by Lin Shang. According to Fang Yi’s instructions, all the medicines had been sold abroad, with not a single one leaking into Xuan Cang.

Fang Yi wasn’t a saint; he hadn’t destroyed the drugs at that time, and he still wouldn’t. At the very least, he could ensure those drugs would not enter the domestic market. That was enough, as it was impossible to completely banish such commodities.

After calculating, Lin Shang told Fang Yi that he could contribute fifteen billion. That was the utmost he could do; any more would be impossible.

Fang Yi didn’t trouble Lin Shang further, asking him to transfer the fifteen billion. Then he called the old man.

Having not contacted the old man for a long time, Fang Yi, for some reason, felt a little nervous.

His feelings for the old man were complex. Firstly, he resented the old man for the relentless training in his past, but secondly, he was deeply grateful for the quiet care the old man had shown.

If he, who had almost been an orphan at that time, hadn’t met the old man, he might have died of starvation.

The grace of rebirth is never to be forgotten!

As Fang Yi’s thoughts wandered to the past, the call connected, and the old man’s voice, sounding as if he’d inhaled marijuana, came through: "Hey, kid, what’s up? If you want money, there’s none. If you want my life, I won’t give it either."

Fang Yi faintly felt he’d heard this before. On reflection, wasn’t that exactly what he had said?

"Hey, hey, hey, old man, you’re being totally unreasonable. I’ve stolen so much money abroad, and it’s all gone into your pocket. You’re holding onto it all instead of sharing a little bit. Isn’t your heart a little too black?"

"If I really had a black heart, back when I first saw you, I would have just turned around and left. Would there be a ’you’ today?"

Fang Yi fell silent.

He wasn’t angry because the old man was speaking the truth. If it hadn’t been for the old man back then, he probably wouldn’t be where he is today.

"Fine, if you won’t give it, forget it. I’ll ask someone else," Fang Yi said, ready to hang up the phone.

Suddenly, the old man on the other end of the line shouted, "Hold on!"

Fang Yi, growing impatient, asked, "What now?"

The old man on the phone scolded him, "You’re such a big man now; don’t you have a little patience? I was just talking. I’m not truly heartless... How much do you want?"

"Fifteen billion."

"Fifteen billion huh... Okay, give me three days. I’ll get it together and send it to you in three days." The old man didn’t wait for Fang Yi to say anything more and just hung up the phone.

Fang Yi held his cell phone, somewhat stunned, and suddenly felt that the old man was acting a bit strange. In the past, when he asked the old man for money, not a penny would be given; he was incredibly stingy. But why was he so easy to talk to today? Could it be that he had a pang of conscience?

Far away in a small county town, an elderly man stood up from the sofa and then walked into his room, which was as small as a dog kennel. He rummaged through his belongings, gathering a handful of notes, then proceeded to look at each one.

"Hmm, the Liu family from Tianjing owes me thirty million... Xia Family, fifty million... Oh Lord, the Nangong Family owes me a billion. All together, it should come to about fifteen billion."

Muttering to himself, the old man stuffed the notes into his pocket, walked out of the bedroom, and thought for a moment before taking down a wooden stick that was hanging on the wall.

The stick was dark purple in color, with some small pits—it looked worse than a fire poker. However, the old man carefully wrapped it in a cloth, tied it to his back, and with a great bunch of IOUs, left the simple house.

Once downstairs, the old man found an old fellow in a mahjong parlor and dragged him away from the mahjong table.

"Look here, Fang Qingtian, where do you want me to take you this time? If it’s far, I’m not going."

"Don’t worry, you won’t be shortchanged for the fare."

The old fellow was a taxi driver. His taxi was quite old, but he drove it smoothly and with surprising speed, weaving non-stop through the traffic.

As he drove, the old fellow asked, "Fang Qingtian, where are you actually going?"

"Tianjing," the old man uttered faintly.

"Holy shit, what are you doing in Tianjing? Visiting relatives?"

"Sort of..." The old man didn’t care that he was in the car and took out a roll of dry, yellow tobacco leaves. After rolling one up and placing it in his mouth, he added lightly, "And, while I’m there, I might as well collect some long-overdue debts."

The rolled tobacco leaf was lit, and the old man took a deep drag before exhaling, filling the cab with swirling smoke.

And within this swirling smoke, the old man’s eyes were clear and bright, sharp as a sword.