PFC Chapter 3964 MU Superbody Major Event (44)
Chapter 3964 MU Superbody Major Event (44)
Chapter 3964 MU: The Superbody Incident (Forty-Four)
Right now, Arkham Batman has only one thought in his mind—"Is this still English?"
What does it mean to "lend loans at exorbitant interest rates to the Assassin's Guild"?
But without even a second's hesitation, he turned to Schiller. Schiller stepped forward, cleared his throat, and said, "Madam, I am the President's financial advisor. You can ask me any professional questions."
Talia tossed out a stack of contracts, crossed her arms, and said, "You used a dual contract to raise the interest rate on this loan to 22%, which is 10 percentage points higher than the black market loan sharks. What, is the federal government so short of money?"
“I’m more concerned about why the League of Assassins need to borrow money,” Arkham Batman said. “Your father must be very rich, right?”
"Ahem." Natasha coughed twice suddenly. Batman Arkham turned to look at him.
Before I could look away, I heard Talia say through gritted teeth, "I don't know which bastard got hold of our assassin list. Many of our strongholds across the continents have been wiped out, and a lot of our carefully trained assassins have been killed. My father has made a lot of investments, but he doesn't have enough working capital. And governments around the world, I don't know where they got the information from, are taking advantage of this opportunity to relentlessly pursue the Assassin Alliance. We need money to quickly rebuild our defenses, otherwise, we'll have to retreat to the desert like those losers."
Now, Batman Arkham knows why Natasha was coughing—it's clearly the work of the CIA.
Then it dawned on him: Schiller and Natasha were a classic duo who conspired to steal money and kill. Schiller was in charge of stealing, and Natasha was in charge of killing. Add Nick to the mix, and they were practically invincible.
“I’m sorry, miss, this isn’t some kind of dual contract,” Schiller said, pretending to glance at the contract. “The entire signing process was legal and legitimate, and it has legal effect. If you have any objections to this contract, you can file a lawsuit in the International Court of Justice. However, the second phase of the loan we agreed on is now off the table.”
“We can’t afford such high interest rates!” Talia said through gritted teeth. “If you don’t provide a second loan, we won’t even pay back the first one!”
Schiller remained unfazed, smiled at her, and said, "I imagine you've been too busy traveling to keep up with the news. Just yesterday, America's first space carrier successfully launched. I doubt you'd want us to be using this weapon of mass destruction to collect debts, would you?"
Arkham Batman sighed inwardly again. No wonder those old academics in universities and research institutes didn't produce results earlier or later, but only now.
Talia clenched her fist, then slowly relaxed it: "Fine, we accept this contract. But the second loan must be changed; we absolutely cannot accept such a high interest rate."
"Sorry, we won't lower the interest rate. After the space carrier takes off, there will be plenty of people begging to borrow money from us. We're only giving you priority because you're a long-time customer. If you don't want it, then stop wasting your breath here."
Batman from Arkham could clearly see that Talia was furious, but there was obviously nothing he could do. While her father could at least be considered an investment expert, Talia certainly had no experience in this area.
However, Schiller's statement was also true. After the space carrier took off, it was less like usury and more like protection money. There were plenty of people eager to pay, and the Assassin's Guild wouldn't be an exception.
Just as Talia was about to say something, her phone suddenly rang. When she answered, a man's roaring voice came from the other end, sounding like her father.
Then Schiller's phone rang. Ray Xiaogu's voice came from the other end, but it sounded much calmer. After hanging up, Schiller said to Talia, "I must say, your father is indeed very professional. Our cooperation with the League of Assassins will continue."
Talia left with a cold expression. Arkham Batman looked at Schiller and said, "Just how much trouble have you caused?"
"I said this is macroeconomics..."
Before he could finish speaking again, Green Lantern flew in, carrying a large stack of documents. He handed them directly to Schiller and said, "So you're here. I couldn't find you in Gotham. This is the list you requested; all the civilizations that have signed contracts are listed here."
"How's the follow-up in the remote sectors going? Don't underestimate those places just because they're not well-developed; many civilizations there have great potential. We need to be prepared for both short-term investments and long-term returns..."
Arkham Batman narrowed his eyes, staring at the stack of documents in Schiller's hand. His gaze was so focused it seemed almost tangible. Schiller had to adjust his glasses and explain, "We obtained some energy through the Cosmic Environmental Cleanup Project and made some investments in the universe. This is the list of investors."
Batman from Arkham took the list. It listed the names of the civilizations and the green light's energy units. The only slightly puzzling thing was that the interest percentage was still indicated at the end.
"Isn't this still usury?!" Arkham Batman said to Schiller, "22% interest, you really can pull that off!"
"This is just an angel investment to help a low-level civilization in the universe develop. Don't think I'm exaggerating; they signed the contracts voluntarily, and there was absolutely no fraud involved. Otherwise, the Green Lanterns wouldn't have agreed. Even so, they should thank us."
Green Lantern nodded in agreement. Arkham Batman sighed; he knew this would happen.
How difficult it is for civilizations to survive in the universe! Even on Earth, a chosen place, after so many years of human existence, there is still no sign of the interstellar age. Most civilizations are in a much worse situation than Earth, with very few managing to survive.
In this situation, the universal "green light" energy is incredibly valuable. Let alone a 22% interest rate, there would be plenty of people willing to lend at 122%. The problem is, no matter how high the interest rate, nobody lent it before, but now that someone is finally willing to lend it, they are naturally extremely grateful.
Putting everything else aside, if the Green Lantern Corps were to approach Arkham Batman one day and offer him a loan of Green Lantern energy at this interest rate, Arkham Batman knows he would probably take it.
With such universal energy, the limitations of materials science no longer exist. Spaceships can immediately take off and mine resources on nearby planets, making it a perfect solution in one step.
Thinking of this, Arkham Batman coughed twice. Schiller immediately pulled out another document from the side and said, "Earth is also one of the beneficiaries; these are the terms."
The contract was so thin it didn't even look like a set of terms. Arkham Batman took it with some doubt. He didn't think Schiller was necessarily going to give Earth any special treatment, but he was still taken aback when he saw the three-digit interest rate.
“This is to secure subsequent loan installments,” Schiller said calmly. “You just need to sign, and we’ll take care of the rest.”
Arkham Batman looked at Green Lantern. Green Lantern nodded to him and said, "Don't worry, the Guardian of the Universe trusts me now."
Arkham Batman trusted Green Lantern. However, why the Guardian of the Universe trusted him was probably more complicated than that. But Arkham Batman didn't seem to care. He signed the contract, and Green Lantern mysteriously produced a whole box of lampburners.
"Use these for now, I'll bring the rest over later. By the way, Schiller, about the solar system defense line you mentioned earlier..."
“We’ll talk about that in the meeting later,” Schiller said. “You go to the base and wait there; I’ll be there soon. And you, Superman, you go with him; you have a mission later too.”
After they both left, Arkham Batman pinched his brow and said, "Looks like you've become the leader of the Justice League."
“Not really, it’s just that I’m short-staffed and need to find them some work to do. Oh, by the way, don’t just sit around,” Schiller said, pointing to the door. “I’ve brought a film crew to help you shoot a documentary. Your personal online account is also activated now, go record a greeting video later.”
"And you, Natasha, when you're recording the video later, pretend you accidentally walk past him from behind. I'll buy a trending topic, then you release a clarification video, he releases an apology video, then you release another apology video, and he releases another clarification video..."
Arkham Batman covered his face and said, "I'm the president with real power, I don't need to be an internet celebrity!"
“Alright, Mr. President, now, take this and sit down. Natasha, go to the waiting room. Film crew! Film crew! Come on in…”
Gotham, the Batcave. Stark leaned against the wall, reviewing data. Doom was still debugging. After tapping twice, he sighed and said, "The metal's strength is completely insufficient; it needs an upgrade and optimization."
"What can we do then? This universe doesn't have vibranium, so its shock resistance is just too poor. The previous soft-buffer solution also had significant drawbacks. Now it's simply a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils..."
“Try to get some,” Doom said. “If all else fails, have Black Panther send some over by hand. It’ll just cost more money.”
"You make it sound so easy. Putting aside the fact that vibranium has now transformed into a luxury gemstone and is sold by the gram, the cost of just getting the people of Wakanda to make this trip is staggering."
Do you know how much funding we have?
"This isn't about money, and besides, the money from the two universes isn't interchangeable. What's the use of having so much money?"
"Take a look at our research accounts first."
Stark pursed his lips and picked up the tablet from the table beside him. The moment he opened the financial account, he almost dropped the tablet.
"Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions, hundreds of millions, billions, tens of billions... Where did all this money come from?!"
Doom didn't even bother to answer his question. Stark thought for a moment and said, "This Batman is insane, daring to take Nick and Greed away in one fell swoop. I'm afraid they'll just give us next year's military budget."
“Good idea,” Doom said. “Giving it to us will definitely be more useful than giving it to the army. Alright, let’s think of something, we have to get some vibranium.”
“Our universe definitely won’t be able to handle it. Let’s try buying from other universes,” Stark thought for a moment and said. “I’ll send Peter a message and ask him to find a Spider-Man from another universe to help us make connections and see if we can buy some.”
“And there’s adamantium,” Doom said, “perfect for making melee weapons. I’m planning to attach a Wolverine-like claw here…”
“Do we really have to use metals from our own region?” Stark frowned. “Do they have any good metals available locally?”
"I just checked some papers, but I didn't find any suitable ones. Their materials science level is even lower. Not only do they lack vibranium and adamantium, but they also have many gaps in particle research."
“Wait a minute,” Stark said suddenly, “I’ve heard Schiller talk about things here before. You know the Court of Owls, right?”
Doom shook his head. He didn't even have a ticket to the Battle Realm, so of course he knew very little about this place. At most, he had heard of some famous figures, but he knew almost nothing about the villains.
"The Court of Owls is a criminal organization here. One way they control Gotham is by injecting a strange metal into the buildings, causing the entire city to emit an evil magnetic field, thus driving the people here even crazier."
Doom stopped what he was doing and said, "You want to use this local metal? But if it really brings a malevolent magnetic field, wouldn't that weaken it?"
"Metal is just a material, and the properties of a material can be changed through forging. We can discard the bad parts and keep the good parts, depending on the forging skill. If we really create a metal with good performance, we can save some budget and spend it on more useful things."
Doom nodded and said, "I think that's a good idea too. Let's look for abandoned buildings or construction waste recycling sites, and then find a place to smelt the materials."