Chapter 302: Traveling to the Sea
Tang Xiu glanced at the roadster and nodded, circling around the car and then sitting on the front seat. He then looked at Jasmine and said lightly, “This resort of yours has a casino as well as this place. Are you not afraid of the local authority’s inspection?”
Looking at Tang Xiu with a strange expression, Jasmine lightly laughed, “Mr. Tang, you don’t know, but the bigwig who has real power in local government also owns shares in the resort, from which he can get a lot of dividends annually.”
‘So that how it is!’
Nodding and secretly sighing inside, Tang Xiu himself didn’t feel like saying anything about the situation where such officials held protection umbrellas over the matters. This phenomenon was, after all, so pervasive that, let alone speaking about foreign countries, it was even a normal issue domestically.
Two minutes later, the roadster had been parked in front of the beach villa Tang Xiu was staying at.
“Well, good night, Mr. Tang!” said Jasmine with a smile.
Nodding to her in reply, Tang Xiu was about to enter the courtyard entrance when he suddenly remembered something, “Ms. Jasmine, you should be paying attention to the sea meteorological news, right? Will there be a storm at sea tomorrow?”
Jasmine said, “Tonight’s marine meteorological forecast reported that the sea will have calm weather tomorrow. Yet, I think this report is rather unreliable because of the rapid climate change in the ocean. Perhaps the weather is quiet for the moment, but then a big storm might occur a while after.”
“Are you saying that the ocean climate is capricious?” asked Tang Xiu.
Jasmine assented with a nod, “That’s exactly what I mean!”
Thinking for a moment, Tang Xiu then said in a deep tone, “Since the ocean climate is capricious, I need not stay here for long. Please tell Tom that we’ll leave early tomorrow. Also, we’ll be staying here after taking care of business.”
“Copy that.” Jasmine nodded.
The next morning, Tang Xiu and the Mo Brothers left Lao Bay Resort along with someone who was sent by Tom Reggie to escort them to the Redsand Bay. By the time they arrived there, a temporary deck had already been built, extending for dozens of meters away from the seawater with the luxurious cruise liner parked there.
There, Tom Reggie had long arrived and been waiting for Tang Xiu. Reckoning their arrival, he laughed and said, “Everything’s been set up. I’ve sent people to sail for dozens of miles to the sea and everything is normal. Also, the crew, food, and drinks you need on your way have all been readied on the ship, enough for a week’s sailing.”
“Thanks!” Tang Xiu smiled.
“You’re welcome,” Tom Reggie grinned and accompanied the trio to board the ship. As they arrived there, Tang Xiu suddenly asked, “Tom, how much would you sell me this cruiser for if I wanted to buy it?”
Surprised for a moment and appearing reluctant, Tom Reggie then slowly said after a few seconds of silence, “I ordered this cruiser from abroad, and the ship designer is the best in the world. The total cost of the purchase was 160 million USD.”
“Sell it to me for 200 million USD,” said Tang Xiu with a smile.
As Tom Reggie’s face flickered, he glanced at the silent Mo Awen at the side, nibbled his teeth for awhile and then finally said, “If so, it’s yours.”
“Then prepare the selling papers, please. I’ll pay you after we come back and sign the contract,” said Tang Xiu with a smile.
"No problem!" Decision made, Tom Reggie immediately complied happily.
Though the price offered by Tang Xiu was rather high, he still had eaten a loss. After all, Tang Xiu won 1 billion in his casino last night. The money was in RMB, still, it was around 100 million USD approximately. In other words, Tang Xiu only spent tens of millions USD to buy his cruiser.
The ship then set sail after Tom Reggie disembarked.
The blue sky and the dark blue ocean echoed with each other as it stretched vast as far as the eyes could see. On the front deck of the ship, Tang Xiu stood, braving the wind and waves of the seascape along with a faint expectation inside. He looked forward to arriving at the Nine Dragon Island.
As of now, the island was still under the management of the seller. However, news came more than a month ago that the other party was prepared to move the people there, while it was his issue about when would he receive the island. Prior to this, Tang Xiu had no free time. Thus, there should be nobody managing the island now.
‘Nine Dragon Island is located in a very particular location in the ocean where only a few people are supposed to be nearby. So I suppose there’s no one there now!’
Upon thinking up to there, Tang Xiu faintly smiled.
Regardless whether there was nobody in the island at present, even if there was any, he must drive them away from there. He was the owner of the island and nobody was allowed to there without his permission.
“Boss! A call for you.”
Behind him, Mo Awen arrived and handed him a satellite phone.
After Tang Xiu took it, he then spoke in a deep tone, “Tang Xiu speaking.”
A voice belonging to Gu Xiaoxue then transmitted from the phone, “Grandmaster, are you on the way to Nine Dragon Island? I didn’t disturb you, did I?”
Hearing Gu Xiaoxue’s voice, Tang Xiu immediately let out a smile and said, “It’s okay. The ship just set sail. Is there something?”
“Yes, Grandmaster! Tian Li, Hao Lei and the other two have come back and told Elder Ji about your command. Also, they came back and brought a total of 28 billion. Would you like me to transfer the money to your account, or should I wait for you to come back later?” asked Gu Xiaoxue.
Tang Xiu thought for a moment and said with a smile, “Keep 18 billion and send me 10 billion! It would probably take a huge sum of money to transform the Nine Dragon Island. Also, for the remaining 8 billion, after buying the ginseng, I’m going to keep it.”
“I see. Then I’ll have someone send the money to your account later. Also, Grandmaster, what do you want me to do to assist your transformation of the Nine Dragon Island?” said Gu Xiaoxue with a smile.
Tang Xiu asked, “Does the Everlasting Feast Hall have a reliable construction company in Saipan? I am talking about a very large construction company here.”
“No, Master’s operations were only limited to the country before. But I’ll ask some people in our Everlasting Feast Hall and if anyone knows someone there, I’ll have them look it for you,” said Gu Xiaoxue.
“Alright!” Tang Xiu replied.
After ending the call, Tang Xiu handed the satellite phone to Mo Awen and said with a smile, “I never expected that those four Hong Kong billionaires would actually give us so much cash. I originally thought that the money would be insufficient to reconstruct Nine Dragon Island, but now it looks like the difference won’t be too much.”
Mo Awen’s expression moved as he said, “Boss, you just said you’re looking for a big construction company here in Saipan, didn’t you? Tom is the local snake here. He must know about it.”
“I did consider this issue, but I’m not planning to tell Tom as I’m not sure of who he is exactly as of now,” said Tang Xiu with a smile.
“Boss, there’s no problem with Tom himself since it’s impossible for him to mix with others considering his character. Unless he can learn the abilities we learnt, I think it’s unnecessary to hide it from him. Besides, it’s a due course that a lot of building materials would pass from Saipan once the reconstruction of Nine Dragon Island commenced. When the time comes, it’s inevitable for him to know about it since he’s a local snake here.”
Tang Xiu was silent for a moment and then slowly said, “Let’s wait and see first. We’ll look for it from the Everlasting Feast Hall’s people if there’s anyone amongst them who knows about a large construction company here. If there’s any, we don’t need to bother him, if not, then I’ll talk to him again!”
Mo Awen nodded and no longer said anything.
After two and half a days of voyage, the ship finally arrived on Nine Dragon Island at sunset. As the ship stopped at an extended marina port, Tang Xiu ordered Mo Awen to stay aboard while he brought Mo Awu to land on the Nine Dragon Island. They climbed all the way and quickly approached the palatial manor on the hill.
“Boss, something's not right!”
Overlooking the brightly illuminated castle, Mo Awen’s brows deeply furrowed. He and Tang Xiu possessed keen eyesight and could clearly see that a lot of people were in the building a kilometer away from them. They also saw several people armed with guns in the periphery of the building along with some brawny men in camouflage attires.
Tang Xiu nodded as his face suddenly moves when he was about to reply. He then shouted, “Who is it?”
“It’s me, Boss!”
Wang Dong and another man quietly appeared from a huge boulder and came to Tang Xiu’s side. He quickly looked toward the castle and whispered, “Special circumstances happened here, Boss. We can’t go in there temporarily.”
“What happened? Who are those inside the castle?” asked Tang Xiu with a frown.
Forcing out a smile, Wang Dong said, “We arrived here a few days earlier than you did, Boss. By the time we got here, we found that a group of pirates had occupied this place and most importantly, they also kidnapped hundreds of civilians; all of them are detained here.”
“How many people do these pirates have?” asked Tang Xiu.
“There are more than 200 people,” Wang Dong said. “Each one of them is armed with a gun. Wolf Head has investigated the situation in the vicinity yesterday, and a pirate found him, so Wolf Head killed that pirate. He then led us to hover nearby the nine ports to wait for your arrival, Boss.”
“Contact Wolf Head and the others. Tell them to come here immediately!” said Tang Xiu.
“Copy that, Boss!”
Wang Dong replied and quickly took a satellite phone.
Half an hour later, Wolf Head and the other ten arrived.
“Boss, has Wang Dong told you the situation here?” asked Wolf Head.
“He has. Have you asked clearly from where this group of pirates came from?” asked Tang Xiu.
“I have, Boss. These pirates are the ones who operate in the nearby waters and have no fixed base. They have been here for several years and are barely able to get enough food and such because there have been few ships passing through this area. This pirate group is called the Bloodfish Pirate group and is led by a man called Duffsky—a ruthless wanted international criminal. After they arrived at Nine Dragon Island a few days ago, they massacred the people who stayed behind in the castle and successfully seized it.”