Chapter 102 Company’s Issue

Chen Fan woke up a little late today. The night before, the electric eel acted as an “excavator” for five to six hours before finally digging a sixty-meter deep hole. At last, the eel would no longer need to curl itself up or hang its head out anymore.

After filling both stomachs, Chen Fan stimulated both the growth cortex and the pressure-resistant cortex of the pituitary gland before moving its tail, and then he swam toward Shimen Trench.

Ringgg!!! Just as the electric eel reached the gentle slope of Shimen Trench and was about to dive in, the mobile phone which was placed on the bedside cabinet rang.

“Who’s this?” Chen Fan shifted his thoughts back from the eel temporarily and picked up the phone.

“Bro Chen, it’s me Zhang Xueyang! You don’t recognize my voice?”

“Oh Bro Zhang, what’s up? You need me to smuggle machine tools from Japan again?”

“No, no, we have enough machine tools for now. It’s about something else. Do you have time now? It’s better for us to meet up and talk.”

“Can’t you just say it over the phone?”

“It’s the company’s issue. It’s difficult to explain like this. Let’s meet up first!”

“Company’s issue?” Chen Fan mumbled. “Alright then, you name the place!”

——–

“Company’s issue? There’s no issue with my company. What’s this fellow up to?” Chen Fan shook his head and then controlled the electric eel to find a more even seabed to lie on. Unknowingly, the monster managed to touch its head the previous time because its attention and electromagnetic induction were all on the pituitary gland. The electric eel usually could release 800 volts of continuous discharge to monitor a radius of around 100 meters, so it didn’t have to worry about surprise attacks by monsters.

After settling down the electric eel, Chen Fan changed his clothes and drove to the business club he arranged with Zhang Xueyang.

“Tsk tsk, rich people are just different. People usually meet at tea houses, but he arranged to meet at a business club!” Chen Fan exclaimed after getting out of the car, as he looked at the luxurious three-storey building.

The hostess brought Chen Fan to the private room. Once he entered, he saw Zhang Xueyang leaning on the couch looking like he was up to nothing good.

“So, why are you looking for me?” Chen Fan went to the coffee table, took a piece of watermelon and put it into his mouth before sitting on the couch.

“How’s your company doing recently, Bro Chen?” Zhang Xueyang asked with a sinister smile.

“Same old—three employees, nothing much to do.” Chen Fan crossed his legs. “You know what it’s like in the smuggling trade; the company is just a cover-up.”

“Then, do you have any intention of expanding the company?” Zhang Xueyang sat up straight and said with a serious expression. “The government is hitting hard on smuggling activities, and you don’t have a legitimate business facade. There might be issues as time goes by!”

“What issues?” Chen Fan also sat up straight. Although he did not think that anyone would be able to find out about the electric eel or of the eel’s owner, he still wanted to listen to Zhang Xueyang’s suggestion. After all, smuggling was also one of his sources of income.

“Most bosses in the smuggling trade have a company under them specializing in ocean shipping as a cover. Other than not being easily discovered by the government. It wouldn’t be a big problem even if it is discovered. The government will just turn a blind eye to it.” Zhang Xueyang took the remote control and switched off the projection on the wall. “Look at the richest man in Zhongyun, Ma Rongtao. The Star Shipping Group under him has twenty huge cargo ships just for ocean shipment, not to mention other types of vessels. The number of employees is more than 3,000.”

“Yes, I know that!” Chen Fan nodded as he started to understand what Zhang Xueyang was trying to say.

“The largest smuggler in Zhongyun is none other than Ma Rongtao!” Zhang Xueyang said resoundingly. “But look at him…He appeared on TV more often than the mayor. He has no less than ten social titles, like Philanthropist for Provincial Exemplary Unit of Good Faith, Honorary Chairman of Zhongyun Red Cross Society, etc. He could even easily get you a post in the government.”

“I understand what you mean, but can you get straight to the point?” Chen Fan waved his hand. “Like your purpose of asking me here?”

“Heh heh…” Zhang Xueyang scratched his head feeling a little embarrassed. “I have a friend who also manages an ocean shipping company. He has two second-hand, 5,000 ton class container ships which you can buy under your company’s name for transportation. This way, you can have a cover for your smuggling activities and also pay a huge amount of taxes so that the government will look after your company.

“Well…” Chen Fan looked at the ceiling not knowing what to say. What Zhang Xueyang said made a lot of sense. His business was still small and his company did not have anything that attracted the attention of others, but this would not be the case forever. Chen Fan thought of something which was of utmost importance—power. Having just money was not enough. The previous incident alerted him that having both money and power was the way to go. There was a very good method of obtaining power and that was to use money!

“Your friend’s bankrupt?”

“Almost there!” Zhang Xueyang shrugged helplessly. “He gambled away everything in Macau. He’s sold almost everything that he could sell and is only left with two cargo ships. I feel that it’s more suitable for you to buy them, which is why I contacted you.”

“How much in total?”

“They were custom-made domestically three years ago. The price is 36 million RMB if you can pay in full!”

“36 million…” The price is neither expensive nor cheap; it was about forty percent off the factory price. A three-year-old ship was still considered relatively new, and the price wouldn’t drop much if one were to sell it after another few years.

Chen Fan thought for a long while before saying, “Let me go back and think about it. 36 million RMB is not a small sum after all. I won’t be able to come up with so much cash now even if I wanna buy.”

“Sure!” Zhang Xueyang nodded. “I can lend you money if you wanna buy it and don’t have enough. We’ll calculate the monthly interest at 0.8 percent.”

“Um, I’ll give you a reply in the next two days!”

After saying goodbye to Zhang Xueyang, Chen Fan drove home and laid on his bed immediately. “Ocean shipping…” Chen Fan mumbled to himself. He was inexperienced in this trade, and the possibility of him making a loss was high if he took over. Nonetheless, Chen Fan was not worried about money. He had the means to make money, but he was just lazy to do so. He just had to get the electric eel to make a few rounds on the ancient waterway, and he could easily get thousands of antiques from any shipwreck. However, Chen Fan felt that it was not easy to sell off the antiques, and hence was not in the mood to do it.

“Use money to get power…” Chen Fan analyzed the possibility carefully. If he had a legitimate business as a cover, he could better explain the sources of huge amounts of money in the future. Moreover, if he managed to become the richest man in the city or even the richest man in the province with his legitimate assets, he would have much more social influence. If anyone wanted to lay a finger on him then, the person would have to think twice about whether they could bear the negative consequences.

It was easy to understand this. If you had 10,000 employees under you and contributed a hundred million RMB in taxes to the government every year, the government would be the first to stand up for you if anyone were to lay a finger on you. This was because, other than losing a hundred million RMB every year, the social impact from the career of 10,000 employees was enough to cause distress to the leaders. Needless to say, it would be a different thing if you committed to anything outrageous.

“Argh, I’ll think about this again tomorrow.” Chen Fan shook his head and shifted his thoughts back to the electric eel. Opening the eel’s eyes, Chen Fan controlled it to move its tail and swam toward the deep waters.

After spending over ten minutes to reach 1,000 meters under the sea, the electric eel stopped swimming and only used its four claws to grab onto the gentle slope. It slowly crawled down the oceanic trench.

Three minutes later, the eel reached a depth of 1,200 meters. The eel could now feel the pressure of the seawater on its body, but it was much better as compared to the previous time. At 1,300 meters, the eel’s four limbs started to feel heavy and the surrounding seawater felt like Gleihow glue, making every step forward difficult.

Gritting its teeth as he crawled downward for another fifty meters, Chen Fan could already hear the cracking sounds coming from the bones of the electric eel. “It’s slightly better than the previous time at 1,300 meters deep!” After resting for a few minutes, the electric eel continued crawling downward under the enormous pressure.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep