Chapter 1230
[Immortal Realm Chapter] Ten Thousand IOUs, Interstellar Smuggling
The two were left speechless, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
They were also illegal immigrants who had nowhere to stay at night and could only temporarily hide in an underground bar. They happened to find Lin Shan, such a conspicuous bag, so they kindly pulled him out of the mire.
Seeing the stack of banknotes in his hand, he couldn't help but show an envious expression.
"You're making money really fast, kid. Three thousand star coins is equivalent to a month's salary for an average person in the city. If you have any connections, please share them with us!"
Lin Shan was speechless for a moment. "I can teach you this method, but are you sure you can handle it?"
The three of them had nothing to do, so they hid in a corner, watching the men and women dancing wildly on the dance floor while chatting about their plans.
Uncle Tie finished his shipment today and will stay here for the night. He'll hitch a ride on a train out of the city tomorrow morning, and then wait a month before taking the sanitation company's garbage boat home. This isn't the first or second time he's done this routine.
Qu Ying is still interviewing for jobs, but because there is no requirement for a 'fixed address', many companies have rejected her during the interview process. She has been facing rejection after rejection all day long. Fortunately, she still has some high-interest loans that she took out before leaving, which should be enough to last her for a month or two.
As for Lin Shan, he also frankly expressed his desire to take a spaceship, leave Coal Condensation Star, and travel to other worlds.
"What, you want to travel to other worlds?"
"Yeah, I just don't know if three thousand star coins will be enough."
Uncle Tie, being a man of great experience, confidently told him that it was definitely not enough, not even a fraction of what he was looking for!
"You need to understand that interstellar travel is no joke. Ordinary families simply don't have the means to do it unless you have assets or are a tycoon. A trip can easily cost eight million star coins, which is an astronomical figure that an ordinary person can't earn in a lifetime."
"Eight million star coins?"
Lin Shan raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. It turned out that the little money he had swindled from his black friend was really a drop in the ocean, but there were other ways.
"For example, if I want to go to Steelforge Star, is it also eight million star coins if I start from here?"
Uncle Tie nodded.
"In our luminous universe, no matter where you come from or where you go, it costs eight million star coins. That's the price of a ticket for interstellar travel."
Qu Ying also became interested. Although she couldn't sit up, it didn't stop her from asking questions.
"Why is it that the distance between each world is different, but the ticket price is the same?"
"This has to do with the energy consumption of the warp drive."
Uncle Tie had some knowledge in this area, and he gave the two of them a brief explanation of this universe's understanding of interstellar exploration.
People once imagined spaceships traveling at the speed of light, but anyone with common sense knows that any object with mass can never achieve the speed of light, because the energy required for propulsion is infinite.
Only massless things can reach the speed of light!
The essence of a warp drive is to create a locally distorted space bubble, allowing this space bubble to move at faster-than-light speeds relative to the distance. The spaceship inside the bubble remains relatively stationary, essentially being transported to its destination by the space bubble.
Although the energy consumed is enormous, it is basically not consumed during the cruising phase. Energy is only consumed when starting, accelerating, turning, and stopping. Therefore, the distance between the two places does not affect the energy consumption much, at least within the finite boundaries of the faint universe.
Eight million star coins are out of reach for ordinary people, but they are nothing to the rich. Many members of the elite class take one or two 'interstellar trips' every year, and even the children of the rich will drop out of school for a gap year.
Many interstellar explorers, adventurers, travelers, and nomads have funding sources behind them to dare to do this; the key is whether they have money or not!
Qu Ying's eyes glazed over after hearing this, her face flushed with longing.
When will I be able to travel between stars?
"When I'm dreaming."
Uncle Tie ruthlessly interrupted the beautiful girl's daydreams, telling her that now that she had finally escaped the garbage camp, she should find a way to settle down in the wasteland city as soon as possible, and not to be unrealistic and think about those unimaginative things.
Even regarding her status as an illegal immigrant, Uncle Tie offered some targeted insights, namely that she should marry a legal citizen for two years.
"Hurry up and find a local man to marry, then you won't have to hide from the world anymore."
Upon hearing that she was to be married, Qu Ying was clearly unhappy and angrily rebuked the city people for not following the rules.
"I inquired about it during the day, and they say there's no bride price here! It's outrageous! I don't want to be taken advantage of after marriage!"
Upon hearing this, Lin Shan exclaimed, "Oh, so you're just a novice boxer. My apologies for not recognizing you."
Uncle Tie looked helpless and had no choice but to give her another suggestion.
"I heard that if you get robbed here, you can automatically get a crime victim visa/green card. I only heard this secondhand, but you can give it a try."
Qu Ying had never heard of getting a green card after being robbed before. Was it really that simple?
Just then, they were suddenly spotted in the corner!
"Boss, it's him! He dared to swindle our money! You have to do justice for us!"
Lin Shan looked up and saw that it was the two black guys from before.
The two men now had the confidence to return because they had found an even more powerful leader, and behind them were more than a dozen henchmen, all of whom looked fiercely at the three country bumpkins.
The leader was a terrifyingly large man, standing at a full 2.2 meters tall. He had a fierce and menacing look with a face full of scars, and a sense of oppression emanated from him.
"Kid, you're the one who dared to cheat my brother out of his money? You want to be turned into a Gundam?"
Upon hearing this, Lin Shan looked heartbroken and pointed at the two black men, questioning them.
"Oh no, I've been completely open and honest with you, and you actually turn around and bring people to rip my heart and lungs out. How can you be so shameless?"
The two black guys were almost driven mad by him, and they started cursing him out with a straight face.
"A swindler like you is lucky to be made into a Gundam. If you fell into our hands, we'd chop you into eight pieces. Give us our money back!"
"I can't pay you back. I need money, lots and lots of money, and I need to borrow from you anyway. Where would I get the money to pay you back?"
Unexpectedly, this explanation was surprisingly successful.
When the leader heard that he wanted to borrow money, he immediately beamed and treated him like an honored guest, as if afraid that he would not lend the money. He quickly came up and put his arm around him, completely changing his fierce demeanor from before.
"You need money, right? Then you've come to the right place to borrow from me! I have a loan with an extremely low daily interest rate. You can borrow as much as you want, and since we're on good terms, the limit is more than enough!"
The two black guys next to him were shocked, thinking their leader had gone mad, and quickly tugged at his clothes.
"This guy just scammed us out of three thousand star coins."
Unexpectedly, the leader turned around and slapped the two black guys across the face, almost killing them.
"Fool! A mere three thousand star coins, you can earn that back in a day's interest. What good would it do to give it to him? Of course, I'm not just lending a small amount here; if you're going to lend, you'll have to lend a lot. What do you say?"
He turned around and looked at Lin Shan with a smile, the warning in his eyes very strong.
Uncle Tie and Qu Ying, who were standing nearby, were terrified!
Is this some kind of forced loan? It seems my friend is in trouble, burdened with high-interest debt, and will never be able to recover.
What if I can't repay the money?
What else can you do? With so many organs and parts to compensate, in the end it still becomes a Gundam!
To everyone's surprise, Lin Shan smiled and agreed. "Oh no, you're such a kind person! You're the one who offered to lend me money when I was in my most difficult time. There's no one better than you in the world!"
Brother Hei laughed when he heard this, and took out a loan contract, asking him how much he planned to borrow.
"Eight million star coins!"
Seize the young master?
The henchmen around him were all stunned. They thought this kid might borrow a few tens of thousands or a hundred thousand, but they never expected him to dare to borrow eight million!
Lin Shan handed over his freshly earned three thousand star coins to the other party with a sincere expression.
“I know this amount of money might not even cover one day’s interest, but let’s calculate it as one night’s interest. Let’s sign the contract quickly so as not to delay the loan agreement’s expiration.”
"."
Now, whether they were human or ghost, everyone was a little confused.
Who would be so reckless as to borrow so many Star Coins? The interest would be astronomical. If they couldn't pay it back, every part of their body would have to be turned into a Gundam!
Is he tired of living and wants to squander his money before he dies?
The eldest brother's expression was unpredictable; he was truly stuffed with his appetite and was calculating in his mind which day to dismember the kid to ensure a profit. This required an actuary to come to the site and readjust the interest rate.
More importantly, there's just too much money involved!
"Um, my credit limit isn't enough, I need to go back and ask the boss. You wait here for me, I'll be right back."
After giving his orders, he commanded his underlings to keep watch over the area, then squeezed into the crowd by himself.
What? This boss has a backer?
Surrounded by a group of thugs, Uncle Tie and Qu Ying were inwardly groaning, lamenting that they had followed a jinx. Of all people to associate with, why did they have to associate with this kid!
Without even thinking about it, a few days later there will be a Gundam body, which can now be classified as dead. But what about the two of us?
Little did they know what was happening behind the bar.
In a luxurious office, the elderly black man who had previously been wearing sunglasses and a thick gold chain was leaning back on the sofa, smoking a cigar, listening to a report from a black man who was over two meters tall.
When I heard someone make such an outrageous demand, asking for eight million star coins, I almost choked!
"What? Eight million star coins? What's he going to do with so much money? Is he planning to go on an interstellar voyage?"
Both of them were taken aback by these words.
Then they suddenly realized something, and their faces immediately darkened.
Inside the bar, everyone was dancing wildly and getting increasingly excited. Some people had lost their minds, and men and women started engaging in promiscuous sex. It truly lived up to its reputation as a crazy party!
The leader returned to the corner once again and asked Lin Shan to come with him.
"The owner of this underground bar, the talkative old man, wants to meet you. Whether you can persuade him to take out that eight million star coins loan depends on your skills!"
Lin Shan's eyes lit up. This rapper's father could run such a big bar, so he must have a lot of illicit assets. He should have at least eight million. He immediately decided to go with them.
Uncle Tie and Qu Ying remained silent, only able to watch as the others escorted Lin Shan away before finally letting out a sigh of relief.
I almost got mistaken for an accomplice and taken care of!
Fortunately, these people saw that Lin Shan was quite courageous and didn't have time to pay attention to these two cowards. They didn't even ask them a single question the whole time, and their complete disregard saved their lives.
I arrived at the office.
Lin Shan saw the real boss behind the scenes, the so-called rapper, who was standing with his back to him, smoking a cigar and constantly calculating with a calculator.
"Reset to zero, reset, reset, reset to zero."
Well, as expected of a rap master, even his math is rap-like!
After doing some calculations, the big boss turned his chair around, looked at him arrogantly, and put the calculator aside.
"You want to borrow eight million star coins, what will you use them for?"
Lin Shan said very frankly:
"Let your body and soul embark on a spontaneous interstellar journey!"
"."
There were only three people in the office. The old man and the big black guy looked at each other speechlessly. They had actually guessed right that they were going to take a spaceship. You're really no pushover!
"So where are you planning to go?"
"Steel Furnace Star".
Upon hearing the place name, the rapper dad, contrary to his usual behavior, stroked his chin and pondered for a while before saying something unexpected!
“I have a way to send you to Steelfurnace Star, but not as a tourist costing eight million star coins per person. Instead, I’ll send you there as an interstellar immigrant. What do you think?”
"Smuggling?"
Lin Shan was a little surprised. It was possible to smuggle people between stars? This old man had connections everywhere; he was quite capable.
"Yes, smuggling! Anyway, you wanted to go to Steel Furnace Star, so no matter what the process was like, at least you reached your destination in the end, isn't that enough?"
The rapper took out an agreement and asked him to sign and put his fingerprint on it.
Lin Shan opened it and saw that it was written in black and white on the paper that he was still borrowing eight million star coins!
"Didn't you say you were going to let me smuggle myself out? What's with this money?"
The talkative old man explained to him with a smile:
"You've asked for too much, so I thought I'd offer a compromise. As long as you can reach Steel Furnace Star, I'll arrange the interstellar spaceship. After all, you've already experienced eight million star coins of service, so the money doesn't really matter."
Lin Shan thought about it and realized that it made sense!
Anyway, all he wanted was to go to Steel Furnace Star. As for whether he was a smuggler or a tourist, it didn't really matter. This way, he could keep a low profile, so why not?
Lin Shan picked up the agreement and touched it. He used the enhancement panel to confirm that it was just a normal business agreement. There was no special supernatural power to enhance it. Even if he violated it, it wouldn't be a big problem for him. So he simply bent down and signed it.
The old man and the black brother immediately changed their expressions when they saw him sign!
She changed from being indifferent to smiling broadly, asking him with concern if he had any family members he needed to say goodbye to, and even said she could help him get a visa for Steel Furnace Star.
But Linshan doesn't have any of these. He doesn't even have an identity card, let alone a visa!
When they learned that he was an illegal immigrant and an undocumented person, the two almost burst out laughing; they couldn't stop smiling.
"Alright, alright, then I'll put you on tomorrow's interstellar flight and find him a clean private room to stay in."
After seeing Lin Shan off, the two of them couldn't help but burst into laughter!
"Dad, it just so happens that Hangrui Interstellar Company is going to take a batch of slaves to sell to Steel Furnace Star, and this kid just stupidly delivered himself to our door. We don't spend a penny and we even make hundreds of thousands of star coins in referral fees. This deal is too good to be true."
"That's right! This kid has no idea that there's no such thing as a free lunch. Every gift from fate comes with a price tag. He'll probably be dumbfounded when he lands there!"
"Hahahaha"
The two men in the office both let out a grating laugh, like that of night owls. (End of Chapter)