Chapter 104: Making an Exorbitant Demand

“What do you mean?”

Hearing the seemingly malicious question from Chen Chong, Long Ying, the leader, had his pupils suddenly contract, and his whole body involuntarily tensed up:

“You once led Lin Kun and the others to rebel against these white-skinned ghosts, and if we hadn’t led the charge today, you couldn’t have gotten your revenge so easily. Now you want to make a move against us?!”

It wasn’t just Long Ying; the other team members also clearly sensed something was wrong. Their hearts tightened, and they gripped their weapons one after another.

“Who said I’m making a move against you?”

Noticing that everyone present looked like they were facing a formidable enemy because of his single sentence, Chen Chong laughed heartily:

“Don’t misunderstand. It’s just that I suffered great losses coming to help you all this time, so I hope to get a little bit of compensation from Leader Long Ying. That’s not too much to ask, is it?”

Naturally, Chen Chong had no intention of letting Long Ying and the others off so easily. The wasteland world had cultivated in him the miserly quality of plucking feathers from a passing goose. This time, if he hadn’t happened to follow them here, Long Ying’s group would have certainly been wiped out on the spot against the well-prepared Diris and Katherine. So, calling himself their savior wasn’t an exaggeration, and he had even consumed a Senzu Bean for it. Asking for some compensation was perfectly justified.

You didn’t suffer any losses at all!

Seeing Chen Chong with his clothes neat and not a single scratch on his body, the team members present couldn’t help but grumble inwardly. Leader Long Ying, however, seemed to breathe a sigh of relief instead and immediately said:

“That’s easy to settle. I, Long Ying, am certainly not someone who receives kindness without repaying it. No matter what compensation you want, I will do my best to satisfy it.”

Although Chen Chong’s demand at this moment tasted strongly of taking advantage of a crisis, it also signified room for negotiation, slightly easing the heart that had been hanging in suspense. He knew very well how astonishing Chen Chong’s strength was. Even in his peak condition, he wouldn’t dare claim an easy victory, let alone in their current state as a defeated force. If the other party were ruthless, they could be wiped out with no place to appeal for justice.

After all, in this world, the size of one’s fist represents the right to speak, and only by staying alive is there any possibility.

“That base of yours, the Dawn Gathering Place, should have artificially cultivated Spiritual Fruit, right?”

The next moment, Chen Chong thought for a bit and then made an exorbitant demand:

“I want ten tons of Spiritual Fruit!”

You must be joking!

Everyone present was stunned by the figure of ten tons. Long Ying’s face twitched before he said with a stiff expression:

“Chen Chong, are you mocking me? What does ten tons of Spiritual Fruit even mean? What is the total yield of Spiritual Fruit in the entire gathering place? Let me tell you, the monthly output in the territory is only around 1000 catties! And Spiritual Fruit cannot be stored for long, most of it is distributed right away. You asking for ten tons, that’s 20,000 catties, twenty months of my territory’s entire yield. How could I possibly produce it?”

“Ah, is that so…”

When making an outrageous demand, be ready to settle for a compromise. Not angered by Long Ying’s reaction, Chen Chong stroked his chin:

“How about this, then? I want five tons. I’ll allow you to pay in installments, to be cleared within one year. For the first batch, I need 500 catties delivered to my Crimson Territory. Surely that won’t be a problem?”

“Five tons is still too much, I sim… wait, delivered to Crimson Territory?”

Long Ying was about to continue haggling when his expression changed, as if he remembered something:

“Blood General’s Crimson Territory? What’s your relationship with Blood General?”

“Your information is way too outdated…”

Chen Chong smiled slightly, revealing a row of ghastly white teeth:

“That fool, Blood General, couldn’t see reason. I’ve already beaten him to death and exposed his corpse at the highest point in the territory. Now, I, am the leader of Crimson Territory!”

Beat Blood General to death?

What was going on here?

This piece of news was quite explosive. Everyone present was shocked again. Long Ying, who had clashed with Blood General several times before, felt his eyelid twitch and his heart palpitate with fear.

The other team members who hadn’t witnessed Chen Chong beat Diris to death with their own eyes looked doubtful and incredulous. However, Qiao Jun, who had been in a daze the whole time within the crowd, changed expression several times, seemingly understanding the reason for Chen Chong’s appearance here.

“Fine, I agree!”

Taking a deep breath, Long Ying suddenly said crisply and decisively:

“Upon returning to the territory, I will dispatch someone to deliver the first 500 catties in the shortest possible time, and the rest will be delivered once a month thereafter!”

Although he didn’t know the specific details of Blood General’s death, as someone who had witnessed Chen Chong’s strength firsthand, Long Ying chose to believe it almost instantly. Even though he clearly knew Chen Chong was faintly threatening and intimidating him, he wisely abandoned the idea of haggling further.

“Very good. I believe Leader Long Ying is a man of his word and won’t deceive me.”

Seeing Long Ying so sensible, not requiring him to waste more breath, Chen Chong didn’t press further and said contentedly:

“Your losses this time are also considerable. Later, let’s search and see if the base has anything else of value. How about we split it evenly?”

As for whether Long Ying would go back on his word once he’d gotten what he wanted, Chen Chong didn’t consider it. If the other party was foolish enough to that degree, he wouldn’t mind spending a bit more effort to let the Dawn Gathering Place change its leader.

Circumstances dictated the terms. Long Ying’s mouth twitched, and he gave a stiff smile.

Just as Chen Chong thought, he had no intention of going back on his word, or rather, he didn’t dare to. The other party’s strength was overwhelmingly dominant, having killed two Transcendents consecutively—Blood General and Diris. He wasn’t foolish enough to be confident he could withstand the other party’s assassination or retaliation.

…

Over the next few hours, leaving a few people to care for the wounded, Chen Chong led several members of the Dawn Squad in sweeping through the entire base. They harvested over ten standard submachine guns and rifles, over twenty pistols, as well as a considerable amount of ammunition stored in the warehouse.

Besides that, there were many medical supplies, canned food, several precision instruments of unknown function, and various items like walkie-talkies, flashlights, probes, monitors… and other miscellaneous things, some working, some broken.

The vast base was soon completely ransacked, and recorded on a list. Among these things, the most valuable, besides the standard firearms, were ten off-road vehicles in perfect condition in the garage, along with some fuel.

It took several hours to count everything and load it onto the vehicles. Afterward, Chen Chong brought people back to the experimental hall and handed the list to Long Ying:

“I keep my word. The things on this list, we split fifty-fifty between our two sides.”

Long Ying took it and looked it over, a look of delight surfacing on his face: “Ten modified off-road vehicles? That’s great!”

For people who often ventured into the Wilderness, vehicles were undeniably very important. Hearing Chen Chong’s promise and seeing the items on the list, Long Ying’s bleeding heart felt at least a sliver of comfort.

In truth, for a cultivation fanatic like Chen Chong, who had no interest in farming and developing a territory, personal power was his pursuit. He didn’t care much for these things. However, following the principle that a thief never comes away empty-handed, he could only reluctantly accept them.