CHAPTER 338: CHAPTER 218: COMMERCIAL VALUE

Qu Jianlei had always been very cautious. Seeing so many people from the Hedley Clan, he even planned to strike at any moment.

Even though the other side explained the reason, he did not let his guard down completely, maintaining a high degree of vigilance.

However, Wellington’s move was truly unexpected for him—because he did not sense any killing intent from Wellington.

In other words, Wellington purely acted on a whim, and he hid his killing intent extremely well.

But at the moment Wellington attacked, Qu Jianlei still sensed something was amiss.

His body was already covered with a layer of rock armor, and he temporarily activated the "Golden Skin Technique" to block the opponent’s strike.

He had just killed Wellington when Xiao Moshan fiercely attacked, throwing a Wind Binding Technique directly at Kest.

Bentley, leaning against a tree, abruptly stopped snoring, his eyes suddenly opening as he reached for two snake-shaped short daggers.

"I have something to say!" Slig shouted loudly, his right hand covering his left chest while making an "OK" gesture.

Kest broke free from the Wind Binding Technique and saw vines rolling towards him, his brow slightly furrowing.

He knew well that his reaction at this moment would determine the future fate of the Hedley Clan.

Thus, he steeled his heart, neither dodging nor flinching, shouting, "Don’t anyone make a move!"

But by the time he shouted, the vines had already wrapped around him tightly.

However, he was still a bit late; a C-level warrior had already made a move, targeting the three opponents with "Earth Spike!"

He was an Earth Attribute Warrior, and generally, at the C-level stage, the range of Earth Spike Technique wouldn’t be too large.

But the range he used was quite substantial, directly targeting the three, indicating he was an exceptional talent.

Although he didn’t expect to hurt Qu Jianlei and Xiao Moshan, those areas were merely meant to be distractions.

His main target was Benjamin, whose electromagnetic attribute was very troublesome, and the opponent had just exhausted his strength, making it an ideal opportunity to strike.

In his plan, he at least needed to seriously injure his opponent to secure a chance for negotiation.

However, to his surprise, not only did Qu Jianlei withstand the Earth Spike.

Xiao Moshan skillfully dodged it, and Bentley’s body strangely slid more than three meters to the side.

For a moment, he was shocked, "They also have a Wind Attribute Warrior!"

However, he realized it a bit too late; the next moment, Xiao Moshan swept him into the air with a Wind Tornado.

Immediately, hundreds of Wind Blades appeared around him, slicing his body into numerous wounds.

The Earth Attribute defense is very strong, but the wind blade’s attack power is indeed very weak.

But it couldn’t withstand B-level Wind Blades attacking C-level Earth Attribute defenses.

This person was cut with dozens of wounds, blood splattering everywhere, and then fell heavily to the ground, clearly doomed.

"Dare to attack me?" Bentley grinned fiercely, about to unleash the Thunder Dragon.

"Old Ben, wait," Qu Jianlei had already noticed that most of the opponents hadn’t made a move.

The key was that he knew clearly that Bentley could at most make one or two more attacks; if he couldn’t kill the opponent, it would reveal their weakness instead.

It would be better to let him conserve some energy to dodge quickly if a fight was needed.

Qu Jianlei looked at Kest, who had given up struggling, and sighed softly, "I need an explanation."

Immediately, he noticed someone trying to save that C-level Earth Attribute Warrior, raised his hand, and shot out a golden radiance.

A golden short spear stuck into the soil beside that warrior, "Don’t save him!"

Although it’s not appropriate to finish him off now, wanting to save him? That’s a dream!

The one trying to rescue was a female Modified Warrior. She turned her head angrily at Qu Jianlei, "He must be stopped from bleeding immediately!"

Qu Jianlei looked at her expressionlessly, "Are you teaching me what to do?"

"Just kill him directly," Xiao Moshan spoke indifferently.

When he said this, there was surprisingly no killing intent in his eyes—in his view, it’s just a small finishing blow.

"Daring to attack three people at once, he’s lucky to live to this age. If you save him, I’ll kill you."

The female Modified Warrior was about to say something when someone next to her shouted, "Shut up!"

At home, you can argue all you want, but don’t you see what kind of people you’re facing now!

The woman finally fell silent.

Xiao Moshan raised his hand expressionlessly, pulling Wellington’s corpse over and began looting the body.

Looting a corpse in front of the Hedley family was really somewhat bullying.

But the other side just didn’t dare to make a sound—after all, the previous example of the Douglas family was right there.

Kest felt the vine loosen a bit around him and couldn’t help but quietly breathe a sigh of relief—it was the right gamble.

He spoke up, "Jian Lei sir, this Wellington is merely a son-in-law in the family and doesn’t represent the wishes of the Hedley Clan."

Qu Jianlei silently looked at him for a long time before speaking, "Then why did you bring him here?"

What are you doing... Of course, it’s to have some capital for retaliation if negotiations break down!

Kest definitely didn’t dare to speak frankly, he could only force a bitter smile, "I really didn’t expect this person to be so ungrateful!"

Slig also promptly chimed in, "His sense of belonging to the family is not very strong; after reaching B-level, he had thoughts of self-reliance."

Being a son-in-law in the Wasteland isn’t necessarily shameful, but it’s definitely not something to be proud of.

It’s normal for Wellington to develop a sense of self-reliance after advancing to B-level.

The key was that he had been sponsored by the Hedley family before, with some treating him kindly and others envious of him, leading to some snide remarks.

And the Hedley family wouldn’t stop these idle conversations; after all, Wellington was an outsider and needed occasional reminders.

At this moment, someone else spoke up, "It’s said that he has someone outside; even on the brink of death, he didn’t forget to pull us down."

"Nothing more than harboring greedy intentions," Xiao Moshan sneered, "The Storage Talisman is good... Does your Hedley family deserve to have it?"

This was indeed a truthful statement; the appearance of a space treasure is enough to drive people into madness, even willing to take risky ventures.

Kest certainly understood this too; if not for bearing the responsibility of the entire family, he might have taken a chance.

Now, with Wellington’s death, the Hedley family’s top combat power was halved.

However, at this moment, he couldn’t afford to feel heartache, just let out a light sigh and spoke, "The Hedley family is willing to compensate."

Xiao Moshan snorted coldly, "Let’s see how you appraise, if the compensation is not enough, prepare to sacrifice lives!"

This kind of domineering statement was always something the Hedley family said to others; little did they expect it to be their turn.

But Kest didn’t have the courage to argue, he could only curse inwardly, Wellington, this guy, truly did cause a lot of harm.

Next, the group scrambled until dawn, finally ascertaining roughly the assets of Benjamin’s family.

Due to Qu Jianlei’s previous warning, they didn’t dare to under-assess but could only overestimate.

The family fortune combined with some business, came to roughly... around fifteen thousand silver coins.

A total of four properties, two storefronts, a construction company, and large items like vehicles, plus some gold and silver accessories.

Fifteen thousand silver coins might not sound like a lot, but considering Xiao Qin’s off-road vehicle, which was only about three thousand silver coins.

Such a pretty decent off-road vehicle can buy fifty, which is already a considerable fortune.

Benjamin had no major objections to the valuation, but Qu Jianlei expressed dissatisfaction, "The valuation of that construction company is too low!"

Kest hesitated for a moment, patiently explained.

"The most important part of a construction company is the workers; those vehicles and machinery aren’t worth much."

The Bunker family aimed at Benjamin’s family; no matter how insane, they couldn’t possibly target those ordinary workers.

The dissolution of the construction company meant that only the vehicles and construction machinery had value; the workers... keep those who can be kept, let go of those who can’t.

Central City is much stronger than a Gathering Area, but overall development still falls short, and labor costs aren’t very high.

Anyway, these workers haven’t signed indentures and can’t be considered part of the company’s assets.

Qu Jianlei shook his head, "What you said is wrong; buying some construction machinery and hiring some workers, can you establish a construction company?"

Kest was speechless; he wasn’t familiar with this; business issues were managed by someone in the clan, his task was cultivation.

However, he thought Jian Lei’s words seemed to make some sense.

Qu Jianlei continued to explain, "A construction company that can get projects is a legitimate company; a pop-up operation doesn’t count!"

"The original ’Fast and Good Construction’ already had quite a reputation, making job acquisitions convenient... Doesn’t this intangible asset count for anything?"

This theory is common knowledge on Blue Star, but in Central City, there’s really no equivalent saying.

Here, although business is also prosperous, everyone still values Combat Value most, with business activities as a supplement.

However, after Qu Jianlei pointed this out, everyone thought about it, and it really wasn’t without reasons.

Everyone agreed that good reputation makes doing business easier, so "reputation" is indeed very important.

However, pricing reputation... only Jian Lei brought it up, and no one dared to refute it.

For someone without enough strength to make such a demand, the Hedley family would let the other party understand what it means to "invite trouble by speaking recklessly"!

Qu Jianlei finished explaining and didn’t care if the other party understood; he confidently stated, "So... the total valuation is twenty thousand!"

"Twenty thousand," Kest’s mouth twitched, "multiplied by thirty, that’s... six million."

Enough to buy two thousand off-road vehicles like Xiao Qin’s, or about a thousand B-level Crystals.

The Hedley family’s assets are substantial, but wanting to immediately cough up this sum would undoubtedly cause some pain.

But he didn’t dare show the slightest dissatisfaction.

"What six million, who told you it’s still thirty times?" Qu Jianlei’s face darkened.

"I didn’t know before that you actually had the guts to take on the leftover assets of the Bunker family!"

He didn’t feel he was reneging, "Now that I know, if I don’t react... others might think I’m afraid of your family!"