Chapter 5 Funding
In fact, the system's conceptual skills are Liu Bai's strongest trump card. Ordinary skills and props seem to have strong effects as described by the system, but in reality they are not absolutely effective. If the opponent is strong enough, he can break or ignore these effects by himself.
For example, if Liu Bai pointed the universal remote control at his own queen and pressed it, it was very likely that she would notice it and slap Liu Bai to death despite the interference.
This is also why Liu Bai thought that someone had interfered with his transmission and made him go to jail on his own initiative...
"Forget about it... Girl, the scattered soldiers came here to cause trouble yesterday. It's probably not safe for you to continue staying in Winter Solstice. Come with me to Liyue today. Let's go and grab the Heart of the Rock God."
Shaking his head to stop himself from thinking too much, Liu Bai turned around and made a suggestion to Nashida.
Although it was too cold to go out, she had to carry out the Queen's mission, and she could also bring Nashida to a safe place.
“…Will it be more dangerous there?”
Liu Bai's proposal made Nashida silent for a moment. The Rock God was the oldest of the Seven Rulings. How could she snatch his Heart of God?
Why don't you hand me over to the Ice Queen...
"Hey, what's so dangerous? Even though I don't play games, I've heard people say that rock is the weakest element. A mere rock god is nothing to be afraid of."
Liu Bai waved his hand indifferently.
In fact, he knew very little about the history of Teyvat, and only roughly knew the identities and names of the Seven Rulings. Otherwise, he would not have failed to recognize Nashida as the Goddess of Grass at first.
The reason why he chose Liyue as his first target was also related to his understanding of the rock element.
As the saying goes, you should pick the softest persimmon.
"..."
Nashida didn't know what gave Liu Bai such confidence, but what could she do? She was actually kidnapped by Liu Bai...
"Anyway, you stay here and look after the house. I'll go ask Brother Fu for a few hundred million yuan for the operation before we leave."
Liu Bai gave Nashida some instructions, then couldn't wait to go out.
Although it didn't snow today, Liu Bai still subconsciously shrank his neck as soon as he left the range of the heater...
But when Liu Bai saw the old man looking around not far outside the door, he froze and stepped back cautiously.
"Strange, I remember there was another house here?"
"Haha, isn't this Xiaobai? Do you know what's going on here?"
The old man muttered in confusion, and at this time he noticed Liu Bai who was about to hide back in the house. He greeted Liu Bai with a smile and then asked him questions.
"Mr. Goel... I, I don't know..."
"Well, I accidentally broke the house."
Liu Bai, who failed to hide successfully, opened his mouth, and finally scratched his head awkwardly and admitted it.
The old man in front of him was Liu Bai's landlord. When Liu Bai had just awakened in the winter and was driven out by someone, Liu Bai, who had not yet joined the Fatui, accepted his help.
"So that's how it is. Haha, I'm glad everyone is okay."
The old man named Goel was not angry either, he just nodded with a smile.
"Ahem, don't worry, Mr. Goel. I will get someone to help you rebuild it."
Seeing that the other party was not angry, Liu Bai felt a little embarrassed and immediately patted his chest to assure himself.
"Oh, don't bother yourself. It's just an old house... Hey? Xiaobai... kid, I haven't finished what I'm saying yet."
Goer looked at Liu Bai who had walked away with some helplessness. His legs could not keep up with the young man.
……
After saying goodbye to the landlord, Liu Bai continued on his way to the Northland Bank. Not long after he walked, he ran into Dadalia who was shopping with her younger brother and sister.
Tartaglia became an executive officer not long before Liu Bai, and the two were quite familiar with each other. At the same time, he also knew that Tartaglia did not want his younger family members to know that he was an executive officer of the Fatui.
So Liu Bai didn't dare to talk to him and planned to pretend that he saw nothing.
"Hey, isn't this Xiaobai? Do you want to go to Liyue together later?"
Just when Liu Bai was about to pretend to be a passerby, Tartaglia waved and took the initiative to talk to him.
After all, Liu Bai looked so cold that he put his hands in his pockets and hunched his neck, most people would not think that he was an executive of the Fatui.
Moreover, the fact that Liu Bai became an executive officer was basically not publicized, and many Fatui had never even seen his portrait.
"Brother, is this your friend?"
Tartaglia's brother Tok looked up curiously and asked.
"This is my brother's colleague. Tonya, Toke, you better be nice and call him."
Tartaglia introduced him to his younger brothers and sisters.
"Hello, big brother!"
They had no choice but to call out to Liu Bai obediently.
"Hello, little friends. We don't have any gifts for our first meeting, so why not let me reward you by letting you pick any gift from the store next door? You can just use your brother's wallet to pay for it."
Liu Bai also greeted the little ones and generously gave them a gift of their choice. It was these words that made the girl named Tonya stunned for a moment.
Why is my brother's colleague so weird...
"That's a great suggestion. Tonya, take Toke to the store in front to go shopping first. My brother has some work to discuss and will come to you later."
Dadalia did not reject Liu Bai's proposal, but took the opportunity to speak to Tonya and the others.
Tonya nodded and took Tok away obediently.
"How about it, Xiaobai? Are you interested in going to Liyue with me to make a scene sometime?"
"There's an old saying over there... the masters are among the common people. I'm really looking forward to my opponent over there."
Only then did Tartaglia come closer, touch Liu Bai's arm with his elbow and make a suggestion to him.
"It's not impossible, but I won't go with you, or you'll start a fight with me on the boat. It's too cold to fight."
Liu Bai nodded. The country he originally planned to go to was Liyue, and he had also drawn Liyue on the system wheel before.
As for Fontaine, I'll tell you when the woman with the eye surgery calls me...
"Haha, it's a deal then. We'll discuss cooperation after we get to Liyue."
Only then did Tartaglia hold Liu Bai's hand tightly and calm down.
"Also, it's been so long since you've adapted to the winter climate. Why don't you go ice fishing with me sometime?"
"No, no, I'll be a useless soldier even if I go. I'd rather hide in a pigeon's bed and get beaten to death than go!"
Faced with Tartaglia's proposal, Liu Bai hurriedly shook his head and ran away.
……
"Isn't this Mr. Lerch? Welcome to Northland Bank."
"But why are you so cold? The coat that represents the status of an executive officer is very warm. Why don't you try it on?"
At the Northland Bank headquarters, when Liu Bai, who was huddled up as if frozen into a frozen state, entered his office, the ninth executive officer [Rich Man] Pantalone stood up enthusiastically to greet him.
"Hey, don't mention it, Brother Fu. I hung the clothes at the door after washing them and found they were already hard the next day. I couldn't even break them with a hammer."
Liu Bai entered the room and sat down in front of Pantalone's desk. He couldn't wait to pick up the teapot and pour himself a cup of hot tea.
Pantalone is a Liyue person like Liu Bai, so compared to the winter people who use "fire and water" to keep warm, he prefers hot tea.
"Ahem, if you want to clean that coat, you'd better send it to the dry cleaners."
Pantalone almost couldn't hold it in and coughed lightly. He hadn't seen anyone who dared to hang clothes outside in the winter for a long time.
"I see... Never mind that. I came here to ask you for funds for the operation. Just one or two hundred billion Mora will do."
Liu Bai nodded in understanding, then shook his head and explained his purpose to Pantalone who sat back behind his desk.
"……How many?"
Pantarone, who had just taken a sip of tea, almost choked and immediately sat up straight to confirm with Liu Bai.
"Just one hundred billion."
"If the purchasing power is converted at a ratio of 1 to 100, it is only equivalent to 1 billion RMB on Earth, which is not much..."
Liu Bai repeated it carefully and convinced himself silently in his heart.
"Haha, you really don't regard money as money..."
"Although as an executive officer you do have the right to apply for such a large amount of funding, can you at least tell me what you are going to use it for?"
Pantalone wiped the non-existent sweat from his forehead and asked Liu Bai.
If there is no reasonable use, he would not approve it.
"Oh, the scattered soldiers demolished my house last night. I need to use it to activate the repair function to repair the house, otherwise I will have to pay compensation to the landlord."
Liu Bai did not hide anything and told Pantalone the situation truthfully.
"...???"
Although I don't know which construction team did the repairs, wouldn't it be more cost-effective for you to directly compensate the landlord? !
Pantalone couldn't figure out what kind of house it would take for a rental house to make the compensation price more than 100 billion Mora.
"Don't look at me. I lost money and Northland Bank won't reimburse me, so the funding is different."
Looking at Pantalone's eyes, Liu Bai spread his hands and explained.
"Haha, you're pretty smart... How about this, I'll pay the compensation for you and give you another 500 million Mora in funding, how about that?"
The corner of Pantalone's eye twitched, and then he smiled, raised one hand and held out five fingers as a suggestion.
"Okay, deal."
When Liu Bai heard that Pantalone was going to help him pay the money, he readily agreed.
With Pantalone's permission, Liu Bai no longer needed to prepare anything else. He could just go to the Northland Bank to collect the funds when he arrived in Liyue Harbor.
After saying goodbye to Pantalone, Liu Bai walked onto the street again with his neck hunched.
Seeing Liu Bai wearing so little, shivering while walking on the street but not buying more clothes, passers-by around him couldn't help but look at him in confusion.
"That's not right. Didn't the girl say I'm not afraid of the cold?"
Seeing the gazes of passers-by, Liu Bai shrank his neck in confusion.
System: “Hey~”
"I can't help it... I'm a fool for freezing like this!"
Liu Bai shook his head, not noticing the system's sudden small laugh, and then raised his hand towards the air: "I picked this up!"
The next moment, an almost brand new executive coat appeared in Liu Bai's hands.
"It feels quite warm to the touch, hot..."
Liu Bai put it on with satisfaction, smelling its faint fragrance and feeling its warmth, then continued on to the next destination.
Before leaving for Liyue, he decided to say goodbye to the executives he was more familiar with.
In this way, Liu Bai skillfully arrived at the residence of [Girl] Columbia.
It was basically where an executive lived, and it was much more luxurious than the small houses Liu Bai rented. The building in the yard in front was like a palace.
“I picked this up.”
Liu Bai skillfully used his skills to get the key to the house, opened the door and walked in.
But before Liu Bai could reach the door of Columbia's boudoir, she had blocked Liu Bai's way at some point.
Liu Bai looked at the girl in front of him with her eyes closed and noticed that her eyes under the blindfold did not seem to be open.
"Little pigeon, why are you sleepwalking?"
Liu Bai said this and raised his hand and waved it in front of Columbia.
"..."
Columbia was silent for a moment, but she didn't want to open her eyes and look at the mentally ill guy in front of her.
"Oh... I see. I'm blocking your way, right? Then go ahead and I'll wait for you to finish sleepwalking. After all, you can't wake up a sleepwalker."
Liu Bai thought for a moment, then quickly moved to the side to make way, and gestured with both hands to Columbia to continue walking.
"Why are you wearing my coat?"
Columbia was silent for a long time before she finally spoke, and her ethereal voice asked Liu Bai.
"Ah? You can actually recognize it? Are there any differences between these coats?"
Liu Bai was stunned for a moment and quickly looked down at his coat. He thought all the executive officers' coats were exactly the same.
"…I was wearing it just now and it suddenly disappeared. How do you think I knew about it?"
Although Columbia maintained a faint smile on her face, the little wings behind her head drooped, and it was obvious that she was not in a good mood.
If I had known this guy was so annoying, I wouldn't have picked him up from the snow...
"Then, then I'll return it to you..."
Liu Bai had no choice but to take off his coat guiltily and return it to Columbia.
"Ahem, anyway, little pigeon, I came to say goodbye to you."
Liu Bai stuffed the coat back into Columbia's hands, and then quickly explained why he came to see her.
"Really? Then I can finally have some peace and quiet in the winter."
Hearing this, the little wings drooping behind Columbia's head began to flutter again, and the smile on her face became more obvious.
Liu Bai: “?”
……