12: Tens of billions of investment, she thinks I am attracted to her?

Inside the Dragon Perch Residence, the spiritual pond was wreathed in immortal mist, and the rich energy materialized into visible droplets, condensing and evaporating in the air, making the place resemble a fairyland.

Lin Tian sat cross-legged on a thousand-year-old warm jade by the pond, his mind immersed in the vast Universe constructed by the Void Gazer Meditation Technique. His Mental Energy transformed into an invisible tendril, traversing among billions of stars; each breath he took seemed to be in sync with the entire Universe, and his Mental Energy cultivation was steadily increasing at an astonishing speed.

Just then, a slightly hurried sound of footsteps, out of place with the tranquil atmosphere, approached from a distance.

Lin Tian slowly opened his eyes, and the boundless stellar phenomena around him receded like a tide, instantly converging into his deep, night-sky-like eyes, as if they had never appeared.

He looked up and saw Long Ling'er, who had grown into an elegant young woman with an increasingly cold demeanor like a snow lotus on a mountain, walking quickly towards him. Her perpetually icy face now uncharacteristically showed a hint of solemnity and urgency, even mixed with a trace of subtle anger.

“Young Lord,” Long Ling'er walked up to Lin Tian, first respectfully bowed, then reported in a deep voice, “I received an urgent plea for help from Jiangnan City, sent through my private encrypted channel.”

Lin Tian calmly asked, “Who?”

“It's an old acquaintance I met once at a business summit hosted by the Federal Chamber of Commerce: Su Mucheng, the current CEO of Su Group in Jiangnan City,” Long Ling'er's tone carried a hint of sympathy and indignation. “Her Family is in immense trouble, and I'm afraid… they won't last much longer.”

She raised her personal terminal on her wrist and projected a compiled, detailed report with images and text into the air in front of Lin Tian, forming a clear virtual light screen.

On the light screen, a massive business Empire was collapsing at a visible rate.

Su Group, a renowned technology giant in southern China known for its aggressive innovation in the “bio-gene” Domain, was now facing a destructive siege from the world's top organizations.

The report began with a photo of Su Mucheng. The woman in the photo wore a white OL suit, outlining her mature and alluring curves. Her charming wavy hair was casually draped, and her exquisite face, enough to drive any man wild, was adorned with a confident and composed smile.

However, next to this photo, in the real-time surveillance footage, the same woman looked haggard, with bloodshot eyes, leaning tiredly in the CEO's office chair, her former radiance completely gone.

“Su Group's core business is the research and application of ‘Exotic Beast Genes’. Three months ago, they achieved a revolutionary technological Breakthrough in the cutting-edge Domain of ‘Exotic Beast Gene Grafting and Optimization’ and successfully applied for a global patent,” Long Ling'er explained from the side, her voice cold.

“But it was precisely this technology that touched upon the core interests of a colossal entity.”

On the light screen, an emblem was magnified—a majestic snow-capped mountain, with twelve vague phantom Divine Thrones faintly visible above its peak.

—North America, the Holy Mountain Organization!

This terrifying entity, which had a blood feud with the Dragon Family and secretly controlled nearly 70% of the global bio-gene technology industry!

“The Holy Mountain Organization will never allow any potential challenger to encroach upon the pie they have monopolized for the longest time. Thus, a frantic, world-class strangulation campaign against Su Group began.”

The subsequent content of the report was shocking.

Patent Sniping—Hundreds of subsidiaries under the Holy Mountain Organization simultaneously initiated nearly a thousand patent lawsuits against Su Group worldwide, using cumbersome legal procedures to tie up Su's core research team in court.

Raw Material Blockade—All global suppliers capable of providing high-end biological experimental raw materials to Su Group collectively tore up their supply contracts with Su overnight, bringing their laboratories to a complete halt.

Channel Suppression—All sales channels for Su Group's finished products, both online and offline, suffered devastating blows. They were either forcibly delisted or maliciously undervalued, leading to a large backlog of products that could not be monetized.

Stock Shorting—Wall Street's capital sharks, like sharks smelling blood, launched a tidal wave of short-selling attacks on Su Group's stock at the behest of the Holy Mountain.

In just three months, Su Group's stock price plummeted by 90% from its peak, evaporating nearly 100 billion in market value. Countless partners panicked, withdrawing capital and breaking contracts, pushing the entire Group's capital chain to the brink of complete collapse.

At the end of the report, an encrypted voice message from Su Mucheng was attached, sent through the private contact information Long Ling'er had left.

“Ling'er… I know this request is very presumptuous and puts you in a difficult position. But you… are my last hope.”

In the voice message, the once high-spirited business queen's voice was filled with undisguised fatigue, hoarseness, and despair.

“As long as… as long as I can get a capital injection of tens of billions to help Su Group overcome this difficulty… I… I am willing to pay… any price!”

The words “any price” were almost squeezed out from between her teeth, containing endless humiliation, unwillingness, and the desperate resolve she had to make for the Family's survival, all unspoken.

Long Ling'er finished her report, looked at Lin Tian, and asked for instructions, “Young Lord, this matter involves the Holy Mountain Organization, and Su Group is now in a precarious state. If we intervene, I'm afraid…”

Before she could finish, Lin Tian raised his hand, signaling her to stop.

His slender fingers tapped gently and rhythmically on the white marble desk in front of him, making crisp “tap, tap, tap” sounds.

The entire hall was silent, with only this tapping sound, as if in harmony with the pulse of heaven and earth, echoing.

Lin Tian looked at Su Mucheng's haggard but still undeniably beautiful face on the light screen, a deep light, as if capable of foreseeing the future, flashed in his eyes.

After a moment, the tapping stopped abruptly.

He made a decision that even Long Ling'er found astonishing, with an unquestionable and domineering tone, almost without hesitation.

“Inject 30 billion into Su Group in the name of the Dragon Family's venture capital department.”

“Thir… thirty billion?!”

Even though Long Ling'er had been by Lin Tian's side for years and was accustomed to all sorts of grand spectacles, hearing this number, she couldn't help but gasp, her cold Phoenix eyes filled with disbelief.

That was 30 billion! Not 3 million!

Su Mucheng was desperately pleading for only 10 billion in rescue money!

And the Young Lord, with a single word, directly tripled it!

What a terrifying move! What powerful courage!

“The condition is that we want 51% absolute controlling stake in Su Group,” Lin Tian added, his tone as calm as if he were discussing a trivial matter, as if the 30 billion was just a meaningless string of numbers in his eyes.

“Also, have that Su Mucheng… come to the Yan Capital headquarters in person to meet with me.”

“Yes! Ling'er understands!”

Long Ling'er suppressed the turbulent waves in her heart, immediately accepted the order, and began to arrange the relevant matters. She knew that from this moment on, the sky of Jiangnan City was about to change.

The hall returned to quiet once more.

Lin Tian slowly got up, walked to the large floor-to-ceiling window, stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze seemingly piercing through the endless night sky, looking towards the North American continent, separated by the ocean, full of hypocrisy and arrogance.

“The Holy Mountain Organization, huh… Just in time.”

A cold curve, like a hunter seeing his prey fall into a trap, formed at the corner of his mouth as he murmured to himself.

“Hero saving the beauty? No, I'm never a hero.”

“Su Group's ‘Exotic Beast Gene Grafting’ technology, though still immature, its core patent is an indispensable part of my future plan to build a ‘Mythical Gene Army’ capable of conquering the star sea.”

“This time, I'll just take advantage of the Holy Mountain's momentum to completely reclaim the entire Su Group, along with their technology, patents, and talents… principal and interest!”

His true purpose was never about cherishing beauty or acting out of kindness.

Rather, it was a far-sighted, strategic annexation, leveraging external forces to achieve his goals!

...Meanwhile, in Jiangnan City, on the top floor of the Su Group headquarters building.

In the brightly lit CEO's office, the air was so heavy it felt like it could drip water.

Su Mucheng looked haggardly at the city nightscape outside the floor-toceiling window. Her beautiful eyes, once radiant and captivating, were now dim, filled with helplessness and despair.

Just then, her private terminal emitted a soft “ding”.

It was a reply from the Yan Capital Dragon Family, with the highest encryption Rank.

Su Mucheng's heart instantly leaped to her throat, her breathing even stopped. With trembling hands, she used all her strength to open the email that might decide her and her entire Family's fate.

When she saw the words “30 billion” and “meet in person” in the email content, she was first stunned as if struck by lightning, her mind a blank.

Then, a huge surge of ecstasy, like surviving a disaster, almost drowned her, instantly sweeping over her entire body!

Saved!

The Su Family was saved!

However, this ecstasy lasted for less than three seconds before being replaced by an even stronger, bone-deep sense of desolation and humiliation.

30 billion… this astronomical figure, far exceeding her expectations, in her eyes, was undoubtedly the price set for herself, for her physical appearance.

In her mind, various rumors about the legendary number zero heir involuntarily surfaced—domineering, decisive, acting as he pleased, viewing all rules of the world as nothing… “He… he must be interested in me.”

Su Mucheng bit her bright red lips tightly, her nails digging deeply into the tender flesh of her palm. A trace of blood slowly seeped out, but she was completely unaware.

She thought sadly that this legendary being intended to use this huge sum of money, enough to buy her entire Family, to buy her, to make her one of his many collections, a forbidden plaything that could not see the light of day.

Though humiliated, though unwilling.

But thinking of her father, sick in bed and toiling day and night for the Group, and thinking of the livelihoods of tens of thousands of families behind the tens of thousands of employees in the Group… she knew she had no choice.

Su Mucheng slowly closed her eyes, and a line of clear tears finally uncontrollably slid down from the corners of her eyes, dripping onto the cold office desk, shattering into a crystalline flower.

She took a deep breath, and when she opened her eyes again, all traces of fragility and sadness had vanished, leaving only a cold, numb, and resolute expression, as if she were preparing to go to the execution ground.

She replied to the terminal with two words, her fingers trembling.

“Okay.”