Deal Reached
Benqi's words made Liliath frown slightly. Just as she was about to say something, Annie, who was next to Benqi, spoke up.
"Let's talk on the ship, just Benqi and me." Annie patted Benqi, signaling him not to continue the discussion in public. "Anyway, there's nothing we can do on your Golden Eagle ship, so you can rest assured."
The Golden Eagle spaceship is made of special materials, and only those with Combat Strength of Twelfth Order or above can damage it, making it a good place for negotiations.
"Brothers, you go back and wait for news. Annie and I will definitely bring the boss back safely." Benqi shouted to the men around him, "Carry those who haven't woken up yet back to heal their wounds."
Although the group was somewhat unwilling, they still chose to leave.
Benqi's gaze dimmed slightly as he watched the members of the Marauder Pirate Crew leave dejectedly. This was their second defeat recently, and this time even their leader had been taken hostage. It was a more complete defeat, so it was no wonder everyone reacted this way.
After watching the other members leave the port, Benqi and Annie followed Gu Ding and his group onto the spaceship.
"Benqi is the first mate, and I'm the team's financial planner. My name is Annie," Annie introduced herself, appearing much more rational than during the battle.
"I already gave you a price when I was outside." Liliath then shifted her gaze from Benqi to Annie.
"We don't have that much money." Annie didn't seem to be lying. "After being robbed by Koude Bulade, our team had some financial problems. That's why we targeted your Golden Eagle. We don't want your Golden Eagle to buy ourselves a new ship; we want to sell it for money."
"She wasn't lying," Sea Emperor easily determined that what she was saying was true by observing the movement of the bioelectric currents within her body.
Hearing the Sea Emperor's assessment, Liliath frowned slightly. If the other party truly had no money, then this deal was destined to be a loss. "If you have no money, then there's nothing to discuss. Although we won't sell him to the Federal Government, we should be able to sell him to other Pirate Crew. Perhaps someone will be willing to pay a high price."
Benqi knew his team had made many enemies. If the Gu Ding Team really wanted to sell Yalo, other teams might actually want him. Yalo would likely be locked up with Star Core Collar and subjected to all sorts of humiliation, something he didn't want to see. "We really don't have 800 million. Even if we sold all our spaceships and other valuables, we might not be able to raise that much. If you lower your price a bit, there might be a chance. We'll try our best to find a way."
"How much money do you have?" Gu Ding asked curiously.
"The team's savings are currently less than 150 million. If we add everyone's personal savings, it would probably be over 200 million. But it definitely won't exceed 250 million," Annie replied calmly.
At this moment, the Sea Emperor's voice came again, "I've checked their bank accounts, and the situation is similar to what she said."
"Isn't there anything else of value?" Liliath was still not satisfied.
"The spaceship is worth about 300 million, but we can't sell it. We also had a dagger from Ancient Civilization Ruins, which, even if it wasn't a demigod artifact, was worth at least a billion. But it's already been stolen by Koude Bulade." Although Annie was reluctant to admit it, judging from the team's current financial situation, she was not a qualified financial planner.
"Ask them if they found anything else in the Ancient Civilization Ruins?" Sea Emperor reminded them.
"Didn't you obtain any other items in that Ancient Civilization Ruins?" In fact, the Sea Emperor had asked him to ask the very question that had been bothering him.
"Yes, but none of them were valuable and not very useful to us." Annie didn't hide anything. "So, we sold them all at the Auction House. We made a total of 1.1 billion Universe Coin, and Koude Bulade took 1 billion of them."
"Isn't all this money in your account? Did he force you to transfer it?" Liliath was reluctant to believe Annie.
"They had a very skilled hacker who could find our bank account information through our communicator code, then crack the password and transfer the money. The whole process took less than half an hour, and they transferred a full one billion Universe Coin from our account. We only found out about this after the battle was over." Annie said this with a gritted teeth.
"So, when Gu Ding bought the Golden Eagle, it cost 670 million. I'll lower it a bit more, to 600 million. That's my bottom line. If you still think the price is too high, then there's no need for us to continue negotiating." Liliath lowered the price by 200 million. "600 million, although it's a bit challenging for you, I believe you can raise it. I'll give you... three days."
Benqi and Annie's expressions darkened when they heard Liliath's offer of this bottom line. This price meant their team would have to sell their spaceship...
"You can go raise the money now, the sooner the better!" Liliath even gave them the order to leave.
"Wait!" Benqi hesitated for a moment, seemingly struggling with something inside, before finally speaking, "Two hundred million, plus a Treasure Map of Ancient Civilization Ruins. Once inside the ruin, as long as you take anything out, it won't be difficult to sell it for six hundred million Universe Coin at the Auction House."
Liliath looked at Gu Ding, Gu Ding. He wasn't a greedy person, and besides, he wasn't entirely at ease leaving Yalo on his ship. That guy was, after all, an Eleventh Order genetic being, a huge threat to everyone on board, including himself.
"Sure, but we will verify the authenticity of the Treasure Map. If we discover that the Treasure Map you provided is fake, the consequences will be severe," Liliath threatened.
"Don't worry, we won't do such a thing," Benqi said, projecting the Treasure Map.
After scanning the map, Sea Emperor concluded, "This Treasure Map is real, but he only sent out a portion, about one-ninth of it."
"What about the rest?" Gu Ding asked after hearing the Sea Emperor's explanation.
"Give our boss back to us, and we'll send you the rest immediately. Also, Annie will transfer the money to you right away." Benqi looked very wary.
Gu Ding grabbed Yalo by the collar and threw him in front of Benqi.
Benqi knelt down to examine Yalo and, finding that he was alright, finally felt relieved. He then stood up and sent all nine maps to Gu Ding's email address.
As promised, Annie transferred the two hundred million Universe Coin to the account designated by Gu Ding.
After the transaction was completed, Benqi and Annie quickly left the port with Yalo, fearing that Gu Ding and his group might change their minds.
The onlookers outside, seeing Benqi and Annie slink away with Yalo, were all secretly speculating about how much money they had spent to buy back their captain.
Gu Ding and the others were completely unaware of the sensation this battle had caused; they continued with their usual routines after dinner.
Gu Ding was practicing his mastery of Source Power, Liliath was chatting with Elsa, Bigge was looking at a new recipe, and Robert was still busy fiddling with something in his room.
By this time, the video of the battle between the Gu Ding Team and the Marauder Pirate Crew had already spread throughout the Boundary River. More than twenty people filmed the entire battle from beginning to end, so the footage from different angles was very clear.
These videos have also drawn comments from many people in the sky:
"This newcomer named Gu Ding seems to be really strong!"
"Everyone underestimated this team, thinking they were newcomers who were easy to bully, but they didn't expect to kick a hard nut to crack."
"The Marauder Pirate Crew is not weak. Among so many Interstellar Pirate in the Boundary River, their strength is definitely among the top eight. How could they have been so badly defeated this time?"
Many other powerful members of other teams also saw these videos within the boundary river.
Throughout the entire process, what they cared about most was the battle between Gu Ding and Yalo, and some people even figured out some of the tricks involved.
"Yalo seems to have gotten weaker... Could it be that he was injured in the battle with Koude Bulade before?"
"Judging from these video materials, Gu Ding's defense is really strong. He is completely immune to Yalo's attacks."
"Gu Ding's attacks are a bit strange. For the first few punches, Yalo didn't seem to be hurt much. It wasn't until the last punch that Yalo's defense was completely broken... Could it be an ability that doubles the attack power?"
Many people have begun to analyze Gu Ding's special abilities.
Meanwhile, some of Gu Ding's old friends also saw these videos in the boundary river.
Bade had just made a name for himself in the border river these past few days, and when he saw the video, he thought he was seeing things.
In the video, Gu Ding powerfully clashed with an Eleventh Order gene entity. Initially, he was sent flying by a single blow, but ultimately rose to power, knocking his opponent unconscious with a single punch. And that wasn't all; Gu Ding openly demanded that the other party pay to ransom their leader. The final outcome of the negotiations, of course, remained unknown to outsiders.
Bade was astonished by Gu Ding's growth. Just ten days ago, Gu Ding needed his Mecha to barely hold his own against Emily, Tenth-Order Gene Body. Now, Gu Ding didn't even need his Mecha to fight Eleventh Order genetic being head-on and win. In comparison, his own progress seemed insignificant. What made him even more envious was that Gu Ding had recruited another terrifyingly Combat Strength Tenth-Order Gene Body being.
Late at night, the members of the Gu Ding Team were all fast asleep, completely unaware of how many people were suffering from insomnia due to the sensation they had caused.