Ultimate Firepower
Chapter 585 - 561: Dodged It

Chapter 585: Chapter 561: Dodged It

Ginza is famous, known as one of the top three commercial districts in the world, but honestly, Gao Yi thinks it’s just okay.

The buildings aren’t particularly tall, skyscrapers are even more out of the question, but there are indeed many people, and plenty of bizarrely dressed young girls, giving Gao Yi quite the eye-opener.

The Youji Association teahouse, under the San You Trading Company, is nominally a teahouse, but in reality, it’s just a private club, and you need a membership to get in.

The membership fee isn’t cheap, two hundred thousand dollars a year.

Before entering this club, Gao Yi had only one thought in his mind, which was how luxurious this private club must be to justify a two hundred thousand dollar annual membership fee.

Naiwen Sect’s car, this is an espionage activity, so there’s no grand occasion, no luxury cars queued up scene, but in terms of specifications, let’s just say, what did San You Trading Company do to deserve three bigwigs visiting their club.

What kind of trouble did they get into that made the Emperor come to question them?

The club is in a building with only seven floors; from the outside, this building doesn’t look that big, nor can it be described as luxurious.

And the Youji Association doesn’t occupy the whole building; they only have one floor in it.

The elevator is decent; Gao Yi thought for a club with a two hundred thousand dollar membership fee, the elevator should at least be large and spacious. It doesn’t have to be splendid, but at least presentable, yet this elevator is just so.

It really is just that, only a dedicated elevator, utterly and completely unrelated to the word luxury.

"This elevator... really doesn’t do justice to their membership fee."

Gao Yi didn’t mind showing that he isn’t always professional, so after entering the elevator, he curiously asked, "Why do they dare to charge a two hundred thousand dollars membership fee?"

"This membership fee is indeed very expensive. The reason is simple: they need to use the expensive fee to differentiate whether those coming for transactions have the strength because intelligence, this type of commodity, has no tangible form. An extremely important piece of intelligence could merely be a sentence, so being able to enter this place for negotiations already indicates the economic strength of both parties,"

Nevan patiently explained, and after he finished, Kanter smiled aside and said, "This isn’t unique to this place; there are similar places elsewhere, like New York, Hong Kong Island. The higher the land prices, the more expensive these kinds of club fees get."

As they spoke, the elevator door opened, revealing a dimly lit entrance hall.

Facing the elevator is a screen, and on either side of the screen, there are two very short but broadly spread Arhat Pines.

Standing in front of the screen were four individuals, two middle-aged men in suits and two women in kimonos.

To describe this welcoming entourage—it could just be said there is none; as for sincerity, well, Gao Yi didn’t see it.

The leading middle-aged man bowed to Nevan, showing respect but speaking in a low voice, then the man next to him in the suit also bowed, saying, "Welcome to you all, our president has been waiting for you."

Gao Yi and his group numbered eight, and there were only four people greeting them, and the president wasn’t even at the elevator to greet them personally.

Hmm, bold move, really not giving Nevan any face.

Gao Yi looked at Nevan with a half-smile, since this negotiation was arranged by him.

Nevan didn’t show any anger either; he nodded, waved a hand without saying a word.

The two women in kimonos bowed and gestured to lead the way, while the two suited men stood on either side with solemn faces, waiting for Gao Yi’s group to move before silently following beside them.

They bypassed the screen, went through the passage between the Arhat Pines and the screen, and first saw a small wooden bridge without water.

It was a dry landscape garden with stones arranged like a riverbed, plus a small wooden bridge traversing it.

Renting a floor in such a costly commercial district to set up a garden, this approach—one could say the hosts were a bit misguided in their attempts to create luxury.

To be honest, Gao Yi thought this dry-style indoor garden looked nice, and it is indeed quite large. Let alone in a place like Ginza, even outside, this garden wouldn’t be considered small.

Just one problem, the ceiling height in this building isn’t very high, and with that kind of pure wooden structure house inside, it feels very oppressive.

The garden had pavilions and houses, just no floors.

Overall, it looks pretty harmonious, but Gao Yi still felt uncomfortably oppressed, and after passing through nearly half the floor, they finally arrived at the door of a wooden house.

At this point, Nevan spoke up.

"All the structures here were dismantled from outside and are genuine ancient buildings, and the cost would be extremely high,"

Nevan praised first, then turned and spoke with a puzzled expression, "Just don’t know what’s the point, it’s not my first time here, but every time I come, I feel this is quite foolish."

The people and the translator present listened but remained silent.

Standing outside the door of a likely not too big wooden house were two individuals, and seeing Gao Yi’s group approaching, the two of them together opened the sliding door.

Gao Yi didn’t understand gardens, nor renovations, but he just felt this place was stifling.

The sliding-door opened, and there was another entryway, with wooden clogs in the corridor and a few pairs of leather shoes on a shoe rack.

Six women in kimonos were kneeling on the floor in the entryway, poised to assist guests in removing their shoes.

Gao Yi frowned slightly, and seeing his expression, Nevan immediately said, "Have them come out; we don’t want to remove our shoes."

"No, no, it’s okay, let’s just take off our shoes and go in."

Gao Yi wasn’t wearing a suit, nor something outrageously sporty or tactical; he was in casual attire, with expensive casual leather shoes on his feet.

Lucy was in a dress, mid-heeled shoes, and black stockings.

The others wore suits and leather shoes.

Standing to remove his shoes, Gao Yi, accompanied by Nevan, entered the room, and he discovered that Dani, that fat guy, was wearing floral socks.

The sock legs were black, but the foot parts had a red and white checkered pattern.

Unable to help himself, he glanced at Dani, and accompanied by Nevan and Kanter, walked into a slightly oppressive teahouse.

The essential elements of Japanese interior design were all present: tatami mats, low tables, flower arrangements, game boards, kneeling kimono girls, four or five cold-faced suited men, and eight kimono women standing solemnly by.

Kneeling behind the low table was a man in a black kimono, who, upon seeing Gao Yi’s group enter, skillfully stood up, bowed slightly, then pointed to the low table with three cushions laid out and said, "Please."

A common Japanese trick, wearing kimonos, having guests meet according to their etiquettes.

Who gave him the courage, failing to recognize who is waiting to be fleeced here.

Nevan didn’t move, he looked at Gao Yi, and Kanter also smiled aside at Gao Yi and said, "If you’re uncomfortable, we can find another place."

No one took the host seriously; Gao Yi looked around and said, "The setup is kind of unique, let’s take a look around."

The man standing behind the low table seemed a bit dumbfounded.

Gao Yi, barefoot on the wooden floor, casually walked to the side of the room, admitting that though the flaw is the low height, the area isn’t small, surprisingly not giving off a cramped feeling.

Gao Yi strolled to the side, opened a sliding door by himself, and then he saw a suit of armor, bright red and looking quite festive, but intimidating, and upon closer inspection, it was armor made of bamboo strips and leather.

Upon looking further aside, lo and behold, several sword racks, some twenty katanas of various lengths, were placed there.

By this time, the host of the place finally came over; he walked to Gao Yi’s side, not clear who he was speaking to, but he spoke in English.

"These are my collection of swords and armor."

A dry sentence, without any follow-up.

Somehow, Gao Yi had an urge to take out a hammer and smash all the armor and swords here.

It was a pity he didn’t bring a hammer.

Gao Yi just cast a quick glance, then lightly sighed and said to the sole man in kimono, "No small talk, one billion dollars, pay up, and we’ll leave."

The man in the kimono looked at Gao Yi in astonishment.

You want to play this game? Well, I refuse to play along.

If Gao Yi weren’t genuinely curious and genuinely wanted to see what it’s like in here, he would have left right at the door.

This behavior and these words, although can be seen as disjointed and not exactly a serious humiliation, essentially meant not taking anyone here seriously.

"I am Ieda Kunio, the president of Youji Association."

The head of a private espionage organization, a department manager at San You Trading Company, where did he get the nerve to say that?

Nevan turned to Ieda Kunio and said, "You heard him, bring the money."

Kanter gave Nevan a meaningful look, seemingly saying, why is your arrangement so lacking in dignity?

Nevan neither got angry nor anxious, simply responding lightly, "You have ten minutes."

Ieda Kunio finally couldn’t endure it any longer; he swung his broad sleeve and snorted coldly, "Hmph, this is Japan!"

Oh, standing firm, huh.

This time, even Gao Yi couldn’t help but look at Nevan.

Nevan displayed a face full of surprise, extremely amazed, inspecting Ieda Kunio from top to bottom.

Ieda Kunio flicked his sleeve again, then extended his hand forward, saying coldly, "Account! Within 24 hours, the amount should be received."

Gao Yi almost staggered, and Nevan too couldn’t control his facial expression, he widened his eyes, blankly looking at Ieda Kunio.

No wonder, no wonder he was so rude; turns out, they are willing to pay.

No need for negotiation, just hand over the money, give as much as needed.

Why give as much as needed, Gao Yi’s demand was just one billion dollars, didn’t say San You Trading Company needs to apologize, or that some people from Youji Association should die to vent anger, so why should they be humble, just pay up.

As per the norm, give the money to settle it; Ieda Kunio’s approach isn’t wrong.

It’s just that they caught Gao Yi and the others off guard, coming to make troubles with animosity, but it turns out the host was firmly lying down, so next, it’s hard to turn against them.

What to do, truly worrisome.