256: Chapter 256 Exorbitant Prices

Wu Ya smiled and replied, "I am indeed a lobbyist sent by your brother, that's true, but I didn't promise him that I would tell him the contents of our conversation."

Although this was the first time Shen Ya had met Wu Ya, her intuition told her that Wu Ya was someone who kept her word and truly wouldn't tell Shen Yan about what they discussed tonight.

"Alright, then I'll trust you. I'll find some time to have a good talk with him another day."

Wu Ya gave an "Mhm" in response and then turned the conversation to other topics.

...

When Shen Yan returned home, the lights in the house were off.

He guessed that Shen Ya was still chatting with Wu Ya and hadn't come back yet.

He took out his key and opened the door.

Shen Yan stepped into the house.

As soon as he entered, he keenly felt that something was wrong.

Even though the living room lights weren't on, he felt as if someone was staring at him from the shadows.

After standing at the door for a few seconds, he suddenly crouched down and put his shoes back on.

Just as he was planning to leave quietly to call the police without alerting the intruder, someone suddenly lunged at him from behind.

"Who is it?!"

Shen Yan gave a sharp shout, turned around, and snapped on the living room light switch.

The lights suddenly flared to life.

As the dazzling white light hit his eyes, Shen Yan closed them, feeling a bit of discomfort.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw Wang Tian standing in front of him, rubbing his eyes.

"...Wang Tian?"

Hearing his name, Wang Tian opened his eyes and stared at him fiercely with bloodshot eyes.

"Shen! Yan!"

Shen Yan narrowed his eyes and subconsciously glanced toward the room where Youyou was sleeping.

"What are you looking at? Looking for your daughter?"

Upon hearing that question, Shen Yan's aura changed instantly.

With a dark expression, he asked Wang Tian, "What did you do to my daughter?"

Wang Tian gave a sinister chuckle and replied, "Don't go making false accusations. I haven't done anything to your daughter yet."

"But... if you don't do as I ask, I really will do something to her!"

Hearing that Youyou was still sound asleep in her room, Shen Yan felt a sigh of relief in his heart. With a grim face, he shot a cold look at Wang Tian and asked, "What are your demands?"

After asking, he walked to the sofa in the middle of the living room and sat down.

Seeing him so calm, Wang Tian immediately became annoyed.

He brandished the silver-glinting dagger in his hand at Shen Yan and said, "I advise you to be a bit more respectful toward me. If you aren't, I'll use this blade to..."

Before he could finish, Shen Yan looked up at Wang Tian and said, "You'll use it to do what? Stab me? Go ahead, stab me, and you'll have to die right along with me."

Hearing this, Wang Tian's expression shifted instantly. He pursed his lips and forced himself to continue, "But if you don't help me, I'm dead anyway. Instead of dying alone and miserable, I might as well take you down with me!"

"Anyway, your life is worth more than mine. If I take you with me, my life will have been worth it."

Shen Yan let out a scoff and leaned back against the sofa, watching the blustering man before him with composed interest.

"Fine, don't just stand there. Didn't you want to talk about cooperation and business? Sit down and talk."

Sensing that Shen Yan intended to give him money, Wang Tian nervously walked over and sat down opposite him, still clutching the dagger. He looked at Shen Yan with expectant eyes and asked, "How much money do you plan to give me?"

Shen Yan rubbed his fingers together and asked Wang Tian, "How much do you want?"

Wang Tian swallowed hard and tremulously held up a number with his fingers.

Shen Yan: "Five hundred thousand?"

Wang Tian: "Five million."

Shen Yan knew that since Wang Tian had come with a dagger, he would certainly want a lot of money, but he hadn't expected the man to ask for such an exorbitant price—actually wanting five million from him.

"I've recently poured all my money into company projects. I simply don't have that much to give you. I can give you five hundred thousand at most."

Wang Tian didn't believe a word Shen Yan said.

He narrowed his eyes and said to Shen Yan in a sleazy tone, "Don't think you can brush me off with that kind of excuse. I know you definitely have money. Even if you don't, you can go borrow it from others."

"Don't you have the contact information for lots of rich people? Call them one by one and have them lend you the money."

Shen Yan closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, saying, "Even if I borrow the money, so what? Five million is a lot of cash; I couldn't carry it all by myself."

Wang Tian replied without thinking, "Who said I wanted to take cash? You can just transfer it to me. Not a penny less than five million. If I find you're short by even a cent, your daughter better watch out in the future."

Shen Yan seemed to suddenly take an interest. He raised an eyebrow and asked Wang Tian, "If the money really is short, what will you do? Kill my daughter?"

Wang Tian chuckled and replied with the cruelest method he could imagine, "That would be too light a torture for you. When the time comes, I'll tie her up and cut off her fingers one by one. For every bit of money you're missing, I'll send you a finger a day."

"Of course, toes and other organs work too. It mainly depends on how much money you actually give me."

By the time he finished, Shen Yan's face had turned as black as the bottom of a pot.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and said to Wang Tian, "Fine, five million it is. But you have to give me some time."

Wang Tian glanced at the watch on his wrist and asked, "Fine, how much time do you need?"

Shen Yan answered without hesitation, "Two days."

Wang Tian also refused without hesitation.

"No, two days is too long. At most, I can accept you transferring the money to me tomorrow."

Having said this, he added another condition just to be safe.

"Anyway, you don't need to meet them to borrow money. Just send them messages and have them transfer the money to you directly."

Shen Yan didn't resist.

He nodded and, as if worried, gave Wang Tian a reminder: "During the time I'm raising the money, you cannot hurt my daughter."

Wang Tian had no interest in the daughter to begin with.

"Of course. However, you can't hide from me when you borrow the money; you must make the calls right in front of me."

Shen Yan had already guessed that Wang Tian would make this demand, so he agreed directly without any concern.

Taking out his phone, the first person he called was Chen Guangke.

"Beep! Beep! Beep!"

He had no idea what Chen Guangke was up to.

He made two or three calls in a row, but the other party didn't pick up.

"Alright, stop calling him. Call someone else."

Seeing that Shen Yan still intended to call Chen Guangke, Wang Tian impatiently moved the tip of the dagger closer to his neck in a blatant threat.

Facing a threat to his life, Shen Yan's heart rate didn't even quicken. He calmly opened his contact list to look for someone else's number.