773: Chapter 768 You'll Regret It

The man lightly kicked the cardboard box on the floor with his toe, his gesture contemptuous.

"These scraps of paper are useless; you might as well sell this shop along with them to us."

"Land prices in this district are still falling."

"Two hundred thousand Euros. This is the highest offer the Strabag Group can make."

Elsa suddenly lifted her head.

She was still tightly clutching a black drafting tube in her arms.

"Get out!"

"Grandpa's designs are not waste paper!"

"This studio is his life's work, and I am not selling!"

The man in the suit shrugged, seemingly unfazed by the scene.

"Life's work?"

"Don't be naive."

"Old man Hans was a lunatic in his later years."

"He drew a pile of illegal structures that could never be built."

"No one will take over this mess except us."

"Besides, as far as I know, the Bank's notice of repossession will arrive next week."

"By then, these so-called 'life's work' will be thrown directly into the shredder."

The man in the suit stepped forward, aggressively.

"Two hundred thousand. Take the money and live a normal life."

"Stop clinging to the trash of the dead."

Elsa's body trembled, a mixture of anger and powerlessness.

Because she knew the bastard was telling the truth.

The studio hadn't received a single commission in three months.

They couldn't even afford the electricity bill.

In the eyes of modern builders, all the blueprints left by her grandfather were just impractical fantasies.

"Excuse me."

A steady voice cut in, not loud,

But it easily severed the tense atmosphere between the two.

The man in the suit frowned and turned around.

He saw Shen Yan standing in the shadows.

An Asian face, dressed well, but in a place like this, he looked like just a lost tourist.

"We don't receive visitors here. Leave."

The man in the suit waved his hand impatiently, as if swatting a fly.

Shen Yan ignored him and walked straight to a drafting table covered in scratches.

His fingers lightly brushed over a manuscript on the tabletop.

It was an unfinished dome structure, the lines flowing with astonishing smoothness.

"Is this the work of Hans Steiner?"

Shen Yan asked softly, as if speaking to himself.

Elsa was startled for a moment; she hadn't expected anyone to still remember her grandfather's name.

"Yes... Yes, it is."

"Do you know my grandfather?"

Shen Yan turned his head and looked at the exhausted woman.

"I've heard of him."

"A structural master who tried to defy gravity."

"A pity he was born in the wrong era."

These few sentences almost made Elsa's tears fall again.

Born in the wrong era.

That was the phrase her grandfather had repeated most often before he passed away.

The man in the suit sneered.

"Master?"

"I think he was more of a master swindler."

"Sir, if you're here for a pilgrimage, you can go to the cemetery."

"This is a business negotiation site."

Shen Yan finally looked directly at the man in the suit, his gaze faint, as if looking at a dead object.

"Strabag Group?"

Shen Yan asked.

"That's right."

The man in the suit puffed out his chest proudly, "Austria's largest construction company."

"Then your judgment is truly lacking."

Shen Yan picked up a drafting pencil from the table and spun it between his fingers.

"For the sake of a mere piece of land,"

"You treat a genuine gold mine like trash."

"Is this what you call an industry giant?"

The man in the suit's expression changed.

"What do you mean?"

Shen Yan ignored him again and looked towards Elsa.

More accurately, he looked at the black drafting tube she held in her arms.

The red dot marked by the System was right there; it contained a future worth billions of US dollars.

"Miss Steiner,"

Shen Yan spoke, his tone unhurried, yet carrying an irresistible force.

"I want to discuss a business deal with you, not to buy this land, but to invest."

Elsa was somewhat stunned.

"In... Invest?"

"Five million Euros."

Shen Yan stated the figure, and the air instantly fell silent.

Even the wind chimes at the door seemed to stop swaying.

The man in the suit's eyes widened, as if he had heard something from a fairy tale.

"Five million?!"

"This broken place, including the land, isn't even worth five hundred thousand!"

"Are you insane?"

Shen Yan couldn't even spare him a glance, focusing only on Elsa.

"In exchange for 51% of the shares in this studio."

"And..."

Shen Yan pointed to the black tube in her arms.

"The permanent usage rights to all the drawings inside this drafting tube."

Elsa instinctively hugged the object tighter.

It was the thing her grandfather had specifically instructed her to burn before he left.

Grandpa said it was the 'Devil's Temptation,' and no one could build it.

"Why?"

Elsa's voice trembled; she couldn't believe a pie was falling from the sky.

"Because I need a team capable of creating 'miracles.'"

Shen Yan walked towards her. Although there were a few steps between them, his composed aura gave Elsa an inexplicable sense of security.

"And I believe."

"Hans Steiner's descendant,"

"Should be capable of more than just cleaning up trash."

The man in the suit became anxious. This unexpected interloper not only ruined his plans but was also insulting his intelligence.

"Miss Steiner! Don't listen to him!"

"This person must be a fraud!"

"Five million Euros? Anyone can write a blank check like that!"

"I think he wants to swindle away the scraps your grandfather left behind!"

Shen Yan turned his head, a faint smile on his lips.

"Chen Guangke."

He called out towards the door.

Actually, he didn't need to call out; Chen Guangke, who had been following behind, was already waiting.

Although this trip was low-key, as Shen Yan's right-hand man, all necessary equipment was present.

Chen Guangke pushed the door open, carrying a black briefcase.

He didn't even glance at the man in the suit, walking straight to the drafting table.

With a 'snap,' the briefcase opened.

There was no cash inside, only an urgently printed wire transfer authorization form and a promissory note from a Switzerland Bank.

The number of zeros on it was dizzying.

"Boss, Legal is already on the way."

"This is the initial deposit."

Chen Guangke always handled matters efficiently.

Shen Yan picked up the promissory note, held it between two fingers, and handed it to the man in the suit.

"See clearly?"

"Instant redemption from the Switzerland Bank."

"Now."

"Take your two hundred thousand Euros."

"And get out of here."

The man in the suit's face flushed purple. He had been in this business for over ten years and had never seen anyone throw money around like this.

Five million Euros.

To buy a pile of unwanted, broken blueprints?

If this wasn't madness, what was it?

But he dared not gamble.

The anti-counterfeit watermark on the note stung his eyes in the dim light, and the two bodyguards by the door were already approaching, their muscular bulk creating a palpable sense of pressure even through their clothes.

"Fine... Very well."

The man in the suit gritted his teeth and glared fiercely at Elsa.

"You will regret this."