Chapter 986
Chapter 986 - 972: Returning Home
1,475 words
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8 min read
Every bankrupted mega-corporation has an entrepreneur hastily making their escape.
Every impending Ponzi scheme explosion has a super-rich individual who has already fled.
"Have the factories and real estate all been liquidated?"
"Everything that could be sold has been sold. Those that couldn’t be, let’s leave them to the unlucky souls in the refugee camps."
Lu Ping’an took the list, glanced over it briefly, and nodded in satisfaction.
Escaping was not an impromptu event. As soon as it was decided to get rid of the loyal path, Lu Ping’an and his team had already determined the escape plan.
Expanding debt and liquidating assets were happening simultaneously. Lu Ping’an had no intention of returning to this world... But, having said that, since his industrial enterprises had already spread out, and factories were producing daily, and also because of his very good relationship with City Lord Fang, these were all high-quality assets.
Particularly because City Lord Fang had a practical approach and was currently entrusting Mr. An Nan with a portion of the city’s "reconstruction projects."
"Are you sure you want to follow me? Actually, staying here wouldn’t be too bad. If I hand over the remaining businesses to you, at the very least you could have a life of relative comfort..."
Regarding the arrangement for people like Damu, Lu Ping’an did offer them an additional choice... For him, smuggling a few individuals had absolutely no cost to speak of, he could even earn a stable workforce in the process.
Lu Ping’an’s plan was to "leave a note before fleeing," that is, "the world is so large, I want to go see it, and I’m gifting my businesses away."
Although it sounded far-fetched, it was indeed very much in line with the impression Mr. An Nan usually gave people.
Even without such a far-fetched reason, as soon as Mr. An Nan left, it would naturally cause ripples that affected the entire city... Perhaps, they might even think it was the city’s "insecurity" that led to Mr. An Nan’s departure.
A portion of the assets that couldn’t be taken along had actually already been transferred in advance. If they were given to people like Damu, it wouldn’t guarantee a lifetime free from want, but it would certainly be much better than their previous life as refugees.
Moreover, since this was a society governed by laws... even if Blood Feast’s people wanted revenge, as long as they stayed within the city, they could actually survive it.
All of this was predicated on the assumption that Blood Feast would first clear themselves of the charge of "attacking and destroying the city," which was no simple matter... When a case involves the relationship between two countries or even two ethnic groups, it can easily shift from a criminal case to a political incident.
At that time, it won’t be about right and wrong or evidence, but purely a calculation of benefits and losses.
It’s possible that right now, the core families of the Feather Tribe are eagerly awaiting a plausible justification to sweep away these troubles and end the annoying standoff in the sky.
Staying in the city and inheriting Mr. An Nan’s "legacy" carries significant risk, but as long as they endure, they could also secure a relatively stable life.
"You also said that you would take the core components with you, which means these industries could not be operated to the extent you did..."
This was indeed a hard truth. To maintain a competitive advantage and to expand capacity, Lu Ping’an’s factories used a modern upstream and downstream industrial chain model.
For example, for a piece of clothing, some workshops or factories are responsible for zippers, some for cutting, some for buttons, some for pocket stitching, and some merely for attaching zippers and buttons to the clothing.
This series of processes greatly increased production efficiency and at the same time reduced costs and increased competitiveness... But the most valuable "button," "zipper," and "decorative" components are actually mass-produced by machines in the courtyard.
The most time-consuming and "high-tech" stages, which are also the core competitive parts, are not outsourced to external factories.
This isn’t limited to "textiles"; it’s the same for other products. Truly, when Lu Ping’an leaves, these things might still be producible elsewhere, but the costs would instantly rise, and the failure rate and production time wouldn’t match those of "high-tech" products, leading to a natural increase in failure rates.
All things considered, products would see a decline in competitiveness and an increase in costs, reverting from miraculous industry to mediocrity.
"...As factory owners, that should suffice for you, right?"
"Without you, we will most likely be unable to hold on... The law can only stop their pillaging, but can’t prevent their ’extortion’ within the boundaries of the law. Without the protection of a ’local’ like you, we outsiders are merely slightly plumper pieces of meat. Or perhaps conversely, the more wealthy we are, the greater the calamity we invite."
Damu saw very clearly, so clearly that Lu Ping’an was somewhat surprised.
"You seem... well-read?"
"Back in my homeland, I was a Scholar, one of some renown, but here, even porters have to undercut each other in price..."
The cities of the Feather Tribe were peaceful and orderly, even radiating kindness and friendship, but these wonderful qualities were limited to the Feather Tribe itself.
Towards outsiders, they always harbored arrogance and hostility.
𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦
"Originally, we heard this was a peaceful world..."
"Our world, Earth, isn’t peaceful either."
"We know, but there are many Exotic Races there, and it’s at a point of great development. We’ve reviewed your materials, and it seems like the perfect era and world for our Ethnic group to thrive in."
Damu was in high spirits, it seemed the prospects of a bright future were inspiring him.
Since he was coming along, Lu Ping’an had no reason to refuse... he presented a work contract, the ship fare could be paid off slowly in the future, of course, non-payment would be acceptable as well.
By now, Lu Ping’an wasn’t really afraid of people owing him "money".
The fall of Blood Feast was swift and decisive, which gave Lu Ping’an the time to sort out his assets and enterprises. Even because of the panicked reality, some acquisitions (treasures) had become easier, requiring just a cash payment.
What needed to be sold was sold, what needed to be bought was bought...
"...This core of the Holy Image is interesting, can I keep it?"
"Uh, is that not okay? Then let’s put it another way... could it get ’lost’ in the war? After all, you’re going to replace it with a new one, and the authorities above won’t Reward you for it."
"Hmm, just send it to my museum then, I am heading out to the outer city to purchase goods, it would be best if you delivered it today."
And so, the "Holy Relic" of the Holy Image was simply and straightforwardly pocketed by Lu Ping’an.
The Courtyard directly offered a buyback price of fifteen hundred points, obviously indicating treasures above the Rule-level... but with the Workshop and Fang Wen present, it seemed there were better options.
Similar events kept happening, he had his eye on "treasures" for a long time, and this time he outright overpaid for them... meanwhile, size wasn’t an issue anymore, whether it was a small house-sized Stone Statue, Mr. An Nan personally came to collect it and handled it within moments.
For Lu Ping’an, who had a Courtyard, both large-scale purchasing and moving were not troublesome tasks.
Similar events kept occurring, it was a pity that the City’s war weapons weren’t for sale... but the Hunting-dogs, Lu Ping’an managed to collect a full set of them.
He even acquired a production and repair line for "Security Puppets" (scrapped), which, although would certainly present many problems after leaving this world, was worth a try, and at the very least it could be used for technological accumulation.
Those medicines, raw materials, rare Demons, and the like, he bought as much as he could get.
In just one day, merely a single day, he completed all of the transfer work... what remained on the ground were just empty shells.
Under the pretense of "purchasing goods," Mr. An Nan "escaped" with his "wife" and "sister-in-law"...
As for what happened later... it’s said that a whole five Rule-level individuals formed a team to come here, causing quite a stir, but that was all it amounted to.
As for Lu Ping’an himself, he set off happily on the road home.
"Finally, I’m going home."
— End of Chapter 986 —