The night was deep, and the cold wind swept a few fallen leaves along the long street.
Inside a hotel in Spirit City, the door to the Star Luo Empire's exclusive suite was silently pushed open from outside. Dai Weisi and Zhu Zhuyun had avoided their accompanying guards and slipped inside like two homeless dogs.
Dai Weisi tore off his dust-covered black cloak, casually tossed it onto the carpet, and plunged headfirst into the spacious leather sofa.
He ignored the bruise on his elbow from rolling down the stairs, only irritably pressing both hands against his throbbing temples.
One million Gold Soul Coins.
The sum weighed on his chest like a mountain, making even breathing feel difficult.
For the Star Luo Empire, mobilizing one million Gold Soul Coins with the strength of the entire nation was naturally no more than a drop in the bucket.
But although Dai Weisi bore the titles of First Prince and Crown Prince, that did not mean the imperial treasury was his personal purse.
His father, Dai Tianfeng, was a strong-willed, iron-fisted monarch with an intense need for control.
When it came to the treatment of princes, Star Luo had always embraced a competition like raising venomous creatures and never permitted extravagance or waste.
Dai Weisi rapidly calculated the estates, mining contracts, and every resource under his name that could immediately be converted into cash through illicit accounts.
Even counting everything, he could only scrape together seven or eight hundred thousand at most.
There was simply no way to make up the remaining shortfall of two or three hundred thousand within the dead limit of three days.
If he failed to pay this token of allegiance by the deadline, Zhu Yan's words—"either you die"—would absolutely become reality on some night in Spirit City.
Zhu Zhuyun