Chapter 62, Section 32: Aren't You Tempted at All?

Chapter 62, Section 32. Are You Not Tempted at All?

"Officer Chen, it's me. I don't see anyone named Ah Fa that you mentioned."

Zhou Jinru continuously pressed the elevator buttons, wondering why the entire bank of elevators was locked on the 34th floor, unable to go either up or down.

He briefly described what had happened upstairs, including everything he witnessed on the 34th floor.

Aside from the four of them, there was not a soul in sight, which made the situation rather awkward—trapped here with no way forward or back.

Right now, he really wanted to ask: Does Lungmen always have such thrilling days? Thrilling car chases on the streets, intense gunfights waiting around every corner—the people of Lungmen are truly blessed to watch blockbuster action movies live every day.

Chen replied in a muffled voice: "Doctor, you are slandering the Guard Bureau!"

"Enough with that! There are at least three factions of people up here beating each other to a pulp, and one of them is from your Guard Bureau, right? Send someone to save us immediately! Why is the Lungmen Financial Tower so easily breached? I'm starting to suspect there’s a mole inside your Guard Bureau."

Venturing all his frustration into the walkie-talkie, Zhou Jinru felt much better. What kind of madness was this?

Chen sighed and said: "There is only one informant of mine upstairs, and he doesn't know you. Stay safe. The elevators in the Financial Tower are currently shut down—that was my doing. My people are storming up the stairs through the emergency exit right now and will arrive shortly. That's all."

Zhou Jinru tucked the walkie-talkie into his pocket, looked at Bison who was still tinkering with the emergency exit door, and shouted, "Stop messing with that, Bison! The Guard Bureau people are arriving right now; they're really fast. If you open that door and some thugs suddenly charge down from above, we'll be in serious trouble."

Without a doubt, the 34th floor where they stood was the safest place—there were no enemies here. As for why the elevators had stalled precisely on this floor, he could only attribute it to his own incredible luck.

Cuora cautiously and repeatedly checked the office area that had been reduced to ruins, whispering, "Doctor, don't walk too far away."

"What did you say? I can't hear you."

The wind was too loud; Zhou Jinru didn't catch Cuora's words, seeing only her lips moving.

***

Boom!

A deafening explosion echoed from upstairs, shaking the entire floor. Zhou Jinru swayed, nearly losing his footing. He hurriedly grabbed a toppled desk beside him, scrambled forward for a short distance, and finally dove into the safety of Cuora's defensive barrier.

"They even brought explosives?"

Boom!

Another terrifying vibration rattled the building, and the ceiling of the 34th floor suddenly collapsed. Massive chunks of concrete and debris rained down, mixed with fierce gales, instantly filling the entire floor with thick, choking dust.

***

Meanwhile, somewhere inside the Lungmen Financial Tower.

In a spacious conference room, the negotiating representatives of both parties sat on opposite sides of a long conference table. A pale-skinned, white-haired woman picked up her teacup and took a gentle sip. The nameplate placed before her clearly indicated her identity:

Warfarin, Head of Business Partnerships for Rhodes Island.

"Dr. Warfarin, regarding the pricing of the Oripathy inhibitor, we've hit the target. First of all, congratulations to Rhodes Island, but there is still quite a gap from our ideal price."

Sitting opposite Warfarin, a middle-aged man in a formal suit spoke with solemn gravity. His hands were clasped before him, his torso leaning slightly forward, a pair of gold-rimmed glasses resting on the bridge of his nose, reflecting the woman's image in his brown pupils.

"So you're saying the deal is essentially struck? This price is ten percent lower than our order price in Columbia. With Lungmen's vast wealth, of course you don't mind squeezing us, but a pharmaceutical company operates on production costs—we can't run a business at a loss. The total supply of the inhibitor is strictly limited, yet Lungmen's demand is immense. Are you truly so interested in opening up new trade routes?"

The middle-aged man completely sidestepped the question. He closed the notebook in front of him and smiled faintly, "Miss Warfarin, you jest. Over the past year, Lungmen has provided Rhodes Island with a considerable amount of humanitarian aid. However, we cannot make any concessions on the medicine prices, as they concern the well-being of the people of Lungmen. If..."

Click.

The conference room door suddenly swung open. A man wearing a vintage overcoat walked in from outside, his leather boots making crisp sounds against the polished floor tiles. Twirling a pipe in his hand, his gaze swept twice across everyone in the conference room before he smiled and said, "Miss Warfarin, how about we sign a wager agreement right now?"

***

"Lord Wei! The negotiations have already concluded!"

Warfarin set down her teacup. Though her tone was hurried, her crimson pupils betrayed no emotional fluctuation.

Cold sweat broke out on the middle-aged man's forehead. Uttering not another word, he rapidly packed his belongings and hurried out of the conference room.

The newcomer was none other than Wei Yenwu. He had come alone, taking a seat unceremoniously in the spot originally reserved for Lungmen's chief negotiator. The secretary following closely behind him retrieved a document from a briefcase and placed it before Warfarin.

Warfarin glanced down at the contents of the document and remarked mockingly, "Even Lord Wei is interested in personally joining the negotiations this year?"

Wei Yenwu naturally tapped the table lightly with his pipe, saying, "I am merely very interested in today's events. You might want to take another look at that wager agreement; Rhodes Island will definitely find it intriguing."

Warfarin had already read through it once. Aside from provisions concerning next year's medical import quotas, the agreement included a batch of high-demand, tightly controlled supplies that Rhodes Island urgently needed. This wasn't necessarily taking advantage of someone's misfortune; as a pharmaceutical company—and a mobile-city-operating one at that—the people living on Rhodes Island required countless items, ranging from small things like combs, lightbulbs, and lunchboxes, all the way up to microscopes, engraving machines, and medical beds. The vast majority of these could be procured in Lungmen at prices far lower than anywhere else.

Having survived three and a half years of grueling hardship, Warfarin might appear to be a carefree, devil-may-care Blooddemon lady on the outside, but beneath the surface, she had long since developed the habit of splitting every single coin in half.

She closed the wager agreement and smiled, "Had I known Lord Wei was this interested, I should have sent Closure to negotiate instead. You know, Blooddemons drink blood, but she's the exception—she only drinks engine oil. Who knows, she might have made Lungmen a massive profit."

"In truth, it makes no difference who comes. Even if Dr. Kal'tsit were sitting here, I would still have brought out this wager agreement. The fact that you are continuing to talk with me instead of rejecting my proposal and walking out the door proves that you are also deeply interested. We see eye to eye."

As his voice trailed off, Warfarin stood up, tossed the wager agreement back onto Wei Yenwu's secretary's desk, and shook her head. "I am not interested. Your proposal is completely worthless. Using a ten-percent price fluctuation of those supplies as stakes for a gamble? I object."

Wei Yenwu raised his head, staring fixedly at the completely devoid-of-warmth smile on Warfarin's face. "Are you not tempted by these supplies at all?"

"Lord Wei, you are mistaken. My comrades and I are indeed very tempted. But temptation does not mean we are willing to use his life as a currency of exchange."