[This Chapter Is Sponsored by 356PumpsAMinute! Everyone, please thank him in the comment!]
"What's wrong? Why do you all have a look on your face as if you've eaten shit?"
Seeing the astonished expressions of the crowd, Fang Mo deliberately asked in a puzzled tone, "I'm an employee. Is there a problem with me creating value for my boss?"
"Um..."
Hearing this, Thales was also stunned, and for a moment, he didn't know how to rebut.
As one of the few pragmatic senior members of the association, Thales was quite sharp-witted, but now he vaguely felt that something was amiss, although he couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was.
Strictly speaking,
The behavior described could already be considered bribery.
However, the problem was... Fang Mo was already set to be an S-rank hero.
The internal system of the Hero Association was odd. While C-rank heroes received very poor treatment, it was completely different for S-rank heroes; the association nearly treated them like ancestors.
So, following this line of thought,
If he were just a C-rank hero, using money to bribe the upper echelons of the association might have some reason behind it.
But for an S-rank hero...
Honestly, the Hero Association already treated you like an ancestor, and even if you didn't go on missions, the salary you received each month was more than enough for a good life. In this situation, there was really no need to bribe the top brass.
Although Thales was very confused,
When the other senior members heard this, they immediately became excited.
Due to Fang Mo's shot at the House of Evolution previously, the association had thought something major had happened there and had sent Tatsumaki to check it out.
As for what happened afterward... there's no need to go into that anymore. Since Tatsumaki was commissioned by the association to investigate the reasons, she reported everything about Fang Mo, including his strength, identity, and some of his capabilities.
Like the Alchemy, magic, and his power, which was comparable to the top S-rank hero.
Of course, this narrative was entirely concocted by Fang Mo himself.
But Tatsumaki took it at face value subconsciously.
It can't be helped; it's also a reflection of human nature. If you're powerful enough, others will subconsciously believe what you say.
But if, after a long time together, they find out you're just a goofy idiot... well, that's a different story.
Unfortunately, Tatsumaki hadn't interacted much with Fang Mo, and some things she couldn't judge at the moment, so she simply left it all to the association to decide.
After some discussion on the association's side,
They quickly reached a consensus, valuing him highly.
Although Thales valued Fang Mo for his immense strength, which might help the Hero Association solve many crises—after all, Tatsumaki also mentioned that Fang Mo had predicted a possible god-level disaster—
But another part of the upper echelon didn't see it that way.
They were already parasites, caring about things quite different from true heroes.
"Uh, Mr. Fang Mo,"
A corpulent middle-aged man suddenly said with a smile upon hearing this: "You made a small mistake there. What you give to the Hero Association shouldn't be called a salary; it should be called a sponsorship."
"Ah, right, right."
The other executives also chimed in slyly: "Hehe, this is sponsorship."
"…"
Seeing this, Thales was somewhat speechless.
He really didn't want the heroes to see this side of the association's top brass.
But there was no helping it; Thales was just an employee himself and didn't have the authority to stop others' actions. If he accidentally offended someone, they might even band together to target him.
As harsh as it sounds, this was the repugnant truth about the association's upper echelons.
"Oh, I don't mind."
Different from Thales's helplessness, Fang Mo wore a cheerful expression: "Sponsorship or salary, it's just different terminology."
"Mr. Fang Mo makes a good point."
The people on the association's side also laughed along: "About the sponsorship..."
"Strike while the iron is hot."
Fang Mo's lips curled slightly upwards: "How about a magic trick?"
Before the executives could react, Fang Mo reached back and, like magic, produced a large, disc-sized, golden ingot.
"!!!"
The executives' eyes widened at this sight.
"This... is this real gold!?"
A balding executive with glasses suddenly paused, then quickly got excited: "The Metal Knight's personally manufactured detection lenses don't make mistakes; this is real gold!"
"What?"
"Are you serious?"
"To think such a large piece exists!"
"I never thought Alchemy could actually be real..."
Hearing this, the other executives were also stunned.
However, just as they were shocked, Fang Mo spoke again.
"Just one gold brick and you're already overwhelmed?"
Fang Mo looked at the executives with an almost mocking playfulness, then without saying much, waved his hand through the air next to him: "That was just one person's salary; this is for all of you."
As soon as he finished speaking,
A cubic meter of gold appeared out of thin air.
Weighing nearly twenty tons, it even made the floor creak under its weight.
"…"
Seeing the gold block, the executives were so stunned they couldn't even show a shocked expression anymore; they just stood there speechless.
"I'll just leave this here, huh."
Fang Mo cheerfully patted the nearby gold block: "You guys can find a saw and split it later."
"Mr. Fang Mo, your sponsorship is quite generous..."
Eventually, Thales was the first to recover from his astonishment, sighing somewhat at a loss for words: "Such a grand gift, we are unworthy."
"Hey, no problem."
Fang Mo simply shook his head with a smile: "I have plenty of these to spare; using them to make a toilet would be too uncomfortable. Just split them among yourselves, and consider the rest medical fees."
"Medical fees?"
Thales repeated, puzzled.
Then, suddenly, a staff member knocked and entered: "Uh, Mr. Thales..."
"What's up?"
Thales turned to look at him: "Just speak up."
"Okay, okay."
The association's staff member looked at Fang Mo before hesitantly saying: "The candidates and proctors at the sixth venue have all gone mad, along with some of the staff responsible for the physical tests. Nearby hospitals just contacted us, saying they can't cure this..."
"What?"
Hearing this, Thales was suddenly stunned.
Then he instinctively turned to look at Fang Mo.
"...Okay."
Thales rubbed his temples with a bit of a headache, now understanding what the "medical fees" meant: "For now, let's calm the families down; I'll figure out a way to handle this later."
"What about the hospital's compensation?"
The staff member asked.
"Hospital compensation?" Thales frowned: "Didn't the hospital fail to cure them? Shouldn't they be compensating us instead? This is really..."
"Uh, Mr. Thales."
Before Thales could finish, the staff member cautiously interrupted him: "It's the doctors who went mad..."
"What did you say?"
Thales could hardly believe his ears.
"It's the doctors who were treating the candidates with mental breakdowns," the staff member explained, holding a stack of reports: "After listening to the candidates' delirious ramblings... they started showing the same symptoms, so the hospital is asking us for compensation."
"I..."
Thales was at a loss for words and could only turn to look at Fang Mo: "Mr. Fang Mo, these candidates..."
"That was done by a monster called Cthulhu, nothing to do with me."
Fang Mo quickly passed the buck, but as Thales was dealing with his headache, Fang Mo's tone suddenly changed, cheerfully saying: "But after all, I'm about to become a hero, and saving lives is part of my job, so let me handle this."
"Much appreciated."
Thales let out a sigh of relief.
"You folks just provide some consolation money and take care of them," Fang Mo waved indifferently: "I could cure them too, but I don't have the time right now, so it'll have to wait a few days. I'll have my apprentice take care of them later."
"That's fine."
Thales immediately nodded: "We'll deduct some of the gold for the consolation money, to take care of them and also to soothe the families' emotions."
"What?"
However, hearing this, the other executives were not pleased.
"Hey, Thales."
One corpulent executive suddenly spoke up casually: "That was a donation to the entire association. You don't have the right to use it by yourself, right? And we've already said, it was a monster attack that caused this; our association is only responsible for repelling monsters, not for compensating for the damage they cause."
"You..."
Thales, hearing this, was already struggling to restrain himself, even Fang Mo noticed his fists clenching for a moment, but then they relaxed.
"Well, according to Mr. Fang Mo, there should be a share for me in these salaries, right?"
Thales's tone became slightly harsh: "In that case, we can just deduct the consolation money from my share, how about that?"
There were six executives present.
Divided evenly, Thales would get about two tons of gold.
And according to his calculations, including the candidates and staff, there were about two hundred people eligible for compensation. He didn't want to take this money himself, meaning each person could receive at least twenty million in compensation.
Yes, the currency used here was somewhat similar to the Japanese yen system, not what Fang Mo imagined as the American dollar system, so this rate was also ridiculously high, but even converted into the currency system of his previous life, this amount of gold would still be worth several million, enough to go crazy for a few days and earn millions in compensation, which was much better than working.
"Fine."
Hearing Thales's words, the executive didn't argue further.
"Sorry you had to see that."
Thales took a deep breath, then calmed down again and turned to Fang Mo: "Mr. Fang Mo, could you leave a contact number, please? I need to go handle this now, and we can keep in touch by phone about what follows."
"Oh, sure."
Fang Mo nodded and then pulled out his ancient Nokia: "What's your phone number?"
Don't be fooled by this phone being just a Nokia, but the technological level within Fang Mo's domain was quite high, after all, he had both Ultron and the Supreme Intelligence as artificial intelligences.
So his phone had already been modified to be compatible with most world communication protocols.
It even conveniently included features like a one-click option to remove mosaics from videos.
After briefly exchanging contact details,
Thales left soon after, probably to arrange for the treatment of those who had gone mad.
As for Fang Mo,
He was still cheerfully greeting the others.
It just goes to show that if you choose the right way to knock, any organization's efficiency and attitude can be excellent.
Like these association executives, they are essentially brainless gluttons, having climbed to their positions through connections and flattery, but now with Fang Mo's influence, they almost treated him like a close relative.
But thinking about it, this tone was indeed always like that over there.
After all, even in anime, there are memes about bootlicking, right?
And as Thales left, the executives became even more cordial, even subtly hinting that they could possibly help Fang Mo out in the future by pulling strings.
Of course, pulling strings here meant going through connections.
It didn't imply anything else.
Fang Mo just laughed it off after hearing this; he didn't believe that if he committed a huge crime, these few wine bags and rice bags could cover it up for him, after all, their vision was too limited.
Fang Mo's sponsorship of them was primarily for the purpose of utilizing the association's resources for activities later.
But fair is fair, even though both were organizations aimed at maintaining world peace and both had accepted a gold block from him, in Fang Mo's view, the entire upper echelon of the Hero Association put together... wasn't even as good as Nick Fury alone.
Waving his hand,
Fang Mo quickly left the meeting room.
Following the path he had come by, Fang Mo soon rejoined Saitama and the others.
However, when he saw what was happening in front of him,
He was quite astonished.
Probably because the candidates had gone mad, the test results came out very quickly, and at this moment, Saitama was holding a score sheet, sitting on a chair filled with despair.
It was as if it wasn't a hero exam score sheet he was holding,
But rather a paternity test result.
But this scene was originally going to happen in the story; Saitama, being too honest, didn't cheat on the written exam, which led to him being classified as a C-rank hero, while his disciple Genos, having passed both the written and physical tests, became an S-rank hero.
But the current problem wasn't with Saitama.
It was with the voluptuous, tall black woman nearby... At the moment, she was visibly annoyed, grabbing A-rank hero Snake Fist Sneck by the leg, and unceremoniously slamming him against the ground.
As for Doctor Genus, he was desperately hugging her waist, trying to stop her.
"Gorilla! Stop! Please, just stop!"
~~~
Damn Armored Gorilla turned into black beauty 🤣