Chapter 55: Extortion.
Haru laughed as there was silence on the other side. The was hesitation in the man's voice. "You are the cultivator we met earlier today? What have you done to my men?" He said with anger. Haru looked at the four men who were writing in pain on the floor scattered around Zen's yard.
"Don't worry. They are all alive. But I was hoping you could tell me why they kicked down my front door and then aimed guns at my dad? That's not very nice is it?"
"They did what?" The man sounded confused. Was it not his Idea? Haru thought to himself. The man spoke again. "Fuck. This is bad. I was hoping that we could leave this alone that is why we withdrew earlier today. I didn't want to have to call the boss but those idiots had to go off on their own and get revenge." The man on the other side of the phone began to speak his thoughts out.
Haru sat and patiently listened. So it really wasn't his fault? And here I was thinking that the whole government would be wanting revenge on me right now. That's good news at least. But I also can't use these people as bargaining chips. Haru thought for a few minutes and so did the man on the phone with him.
The man spoke up once again. "I didn't introduce myself did I? I am Vice Director Chu of the Rouge Mage Task Force. Can I ask what condition my men are in?"
Haru used his spiritual sense to check the injuries of the men who laid siege to his home. "Sure, One of them has a broken spine and 4 fractured ribs, Another has a broken collar bone and two broken femurs, The other has two gunshot wounds. One in the leg and one in the back, And the last guy just has a broken nose. He is still unconscious though." Haru described all the injuries to the vice director.
"Thank god." He sounded relieved. "I thought that maybe you had killed them all." Haru then interrupted him. "That option is still on the table. I have a few requests for you."
The vice director froze. He wasn't expecting this but he understood why he was threatening their lives. "Okay, Go ahead." He sounded nervous again. "Well, First of all, I want full compensation for damages to the property," Haru stated.
"That is a given. There is no problem with that. We will fully cover any damages. There is no need to go through insurance we will send government contractors to fix everything. It's honestly the least we can do. What else do you want?" He asked.
Haru thought for a moment. He didn't really want much but then an idea came to mind. "Compensation. Your subordinates didn't follow your orders and broke the law. They came onto the property with weapons and could have easily killed everyone here if I didn't intervene. What is a life worth? Hmm, let's say seventy million yuan. [Around 10,000,000 USD]
And there are six of us here including a baby. So how about we round down to four hundred million yuan?" Haru said. He was expecting it to be turned down instantly.
"Four hundred million? That is insane!" He shouted down the phone. "Are you saying that human life isn't worth at least seventy million? And here I thought the government was supposed to value human life." Haru said jokingly.
"This is extortion! We aren't made of money. We can't just pay that much money out for compensation." Haru thought for a moment. He still had chips on the table. "How about I guarantee the safety of your men until you send someone to come and pick them up. Is the safety of your subordinates worth four hundred million?" Haru asked again this time trying his best to sound serious.
"Wait, Don't do anything. I will ask my boss. He isn't in town right now he is currently in a meeting in another city. It might take a while for him to reply." He went quiet again as the sound of him slamming his fingers against his keyboard echoed through the phone.
[Boss, We ran into some trouble. Half of the faceless unit are injured and are being kept hostage by a cultivator. He said he will return them only if we pay him four hundred million yuan.] The message read.
Somewhere far away in another city, a man in his early thirties with swept back hair and a stubbled beard was sat in a room with a bunch of old men. "So what report did you get from the Japanese?" One of the old men asked him. "Oh, Those guys? They said they are willing to go for full cooperation." He sat back in his chair and replied. His phone buzzed in his pocket.
"Hmm, Strange I thought I turned it off?" He muttered as he pulled out his phone to check the message. He read the message as it appeared on the screen.
[Boss, We ran into some trouble. Half of the faceless unit are injured and are being kept hostage by a cultivator. He said he will return them only if we pay him four hundred million yuan.] "What the fuck?" He said out loud ignoring the fact that others were in the room with him.
"Hey put that dammed phone away." One of the old men said to him. He looked back with pure hatred in his eyes as he suppressed the room with his Qi. "I'm not in a good mood right now. My men are in a situation and I need to deal with it. I need you old bastards to be good boys and shut the hell up whilst I fix this okay?" He looked at all eighteen of the men gathered around the table.
They all struggled to nod their heads in compliance before he finally let up with the pressure and then went back to typing on his phone.
[I've been gone for two days. How did you let this happen?] He sent back to the vice director. "Never mind. It looks like his schedule has cleared. He replied right away." He said to Haru as he waited patiently for him to type again.
[They went against my orders to get revenge on a cultivator that intervened in an arrest earlier today. I wanted to let it go since we were no match for him but they went out of their way to break into his house and hold his family at gunpoint. They are severely injured.]
The man looked down at his phone again. As he read this he became even more enraged. [Why do the kids get disobedient when I go away? I hate this. I will be back in an hour just wait for me. I will go get them.] He sent back whilst getting ready to leave the room.
"Oh, The boss said he will be on his way back to meet you. He will be around an hour." The vice director said to Haru.
"He is coming back to cause more trouble isn't he?" Haru asked. The vice director stuttered. "Yeah, that is probably true. He is also a cultivator so you know what it's gonna be like." He said sounding pretty defeated.
"Fine then. Tell him he has two minutes to decide. If I don't get the money with in half an hour I will execute all of them." Haru said back to him.
The vice director gulped so hard Haru heard it from the other side. "Okay. I will tell him now. Just don't do anything please." His voice was shaking and his finger trembled as he struggled to type back to his boss.
[I have an update. He said if he doesn't get the money within half an hour he will execute all of them.] The man known as boss to the vice director was visibly shaking in anger as all the old men looked at him. They couldn't figure out what was wrong.
Did they do something to piss him off? They all sat waiting for him to speak up or even shout at them for being useless but it never came. He just stood there with his eyes glued to the screen. He began typing as the veins in his neck became visible and his face turned red.
[Just send the god damn money. I will deal with him when I'm back..." And then he left it at that. Turning to his attention back to the old men. "Continue!" He said before sitting back down in his seat.
"Oh, Great news. He permitted me to send you the money but he didn't sound too enthusiastic about it. You should probably expect a visit from him when he gets back from his trip." The man vice director said as he began clicking around on his computer.
"Are you sure you should be telling me this? Haru asked. "Well, I feel like you are the biggest danger to me right now. I don't want to make you mad since we are in the same city." Haru almost laughed. But managed to stay in character.
He spoke once more. "Can I have your card numbers I will send the money right now." He said to Haru who had already begun reading them before he finished asking.
He finished entering the numbers and then pressed enter before slamming his hands on the desk and sighing in relief. "Sent. You should check your balance." He said again.
Haru did just that. He pulled out his phone and then opened up the banking app. there it was. four hundred million yuan. He didn't expect to get the money right away but he just guessed that the government can bypass verification processes for online banking. It would be inconvenient if they could negotiate with terrorists.
"It's a pleasure doing business with you. Send someone to pick these guys up. I will make sure they are all healed before your people arrive. But if I see any sight of a weapon when they arrive I will kill them all." He added the last part to get a reaction from the man. He just gulped again
.
Haru hung up and began to laugh. He wasn't really going to kill anyone. But he just managed to get the government so scared that they just gave him almost half a billion yuan. He felt like his attempt at extortion was a success.