That evening, the members of the Huaxia team, upon hearing that their leader Lin was hosting a dinner,
rushed over with their families, all arriving at leader Lin's mountaintop villa without missing a single soul.
Even Chen Xin, the arms dealer, and Hua Shijiu, the rogue doctor, hurried back from the arsenal and the Shennong tribe.
Ying Xuan and Zhang Haoran, the son-in-laws of the Shennong tribe, also came, bringing with them the Lieshan Spirit Grass and Lieshan Spirit Magpie.
Zhang Lingxiu, fully embracing her role as the eldest sister-in-law, led the women's contingent to dine on the second floor.
The remaining bunch of beasts, seeing their wives were absent, quickly sat down at the table, devouring meat and drinking wine heartily.
Lin Zhan exchanged a glance with the young Taoist, Zhang Haoming, "Brother-in-law, are you sure you invited the right people? Why have you invited a pack of wolves?"
Upon hearing Lin Zhan's words, everyone immediately shot him a disdainful look.
He Dazhuang, as the Tiger Lord, stepped forward to confront the leader without hesitation:
"Old Lin, you two shouldn't just stand there talking without considering others. Putting aside other things, how much underground business do you two have? We brothers have to support our wives and form private armies with the meager profits we get. We're practically dying to sell our blood."
Lin Zhan was taken aback and said, "Didn't I ask Xiao Ming to give you subsidies? And Xiao Ming even provides loans, why didn't you approach him?"
Wang Erzhuang chimed in to support his elder brother, "Who dares to borrow money from this kid? It's all 'nine out, thirteen back,' with double interest. If you don't repay, they'll confiscate your property and sell your wife."
"Look at those guys from Yin San next door, they borrowed just 10 million Lord-level Crystal Cores, and now they've pushed a bunch of quasi-kings to their last penny. Of the more than 100 Diamond and Lord-level Holy Elephants, he slaughtered six females and two males, all while claiming to leave some seeds for the Holy Elephant herd to reproduce well in the future."
Lin Zhan looked at the young Taoist in bewilderment, "Brother-in-law, you didn't start a loan sharking business that targets your own brothers, did you?"
The young Taoist also looked at everyone in bewilderment,
"When did I ever ask you for 'nine out, thirteen back'? Big Brother approved 2 million Lord-level Crystal Cores worth of resources for everyone, and asked me to provide an interest-free loan of 2 million each. I personally prepared another 1 million for each brother, totaling 5 million! But none of you came to me. When I asked, my brothers all said it wasn't necessary."
As soon as the young Taoist finished speaking, everyone stopped eating and drinking and turned to look at Wang Erzhuang.
He Dazhuang, as the elder brother, said to his second brother, "Second brother, what exactly is going on? Explain it properly to us brothers."
Wang Erzhuang looked at the angry eyes of his brothers, feeling a little unsure, and said,
"Don't look at me like that. I saw it with my own eyes last time when I accompanied Xiao Ming to collect debts from Yin San. That kid is indeed practicing 'nine out, thirteen back'!"
Lin Zhan shook his head and said, "The case is solved. It's Er Zhuang spreading rumors and causing trouble. This kid needs to be taught a lesson."
Then Lin Zhan suddenly turned to the young Taoist and said, "What about those more than 100 Holy Elephants?"
The young Taoist looked as if it had nothing to do with him, "Ancestor Shang Tang took 50 of them, saying he wanted to use them for breeding with the Barbarian Elephants to improve the Barbarian Elephant population.
"There are still 25 slaughtered and stored in the cold room, and 17 young elephants are being raised in the back mountain of Gaowu. The remaining 33 have been eaten."
Lin Zhan was stunned, "My God, Diamond-level Spirit Beast Holy Elephants, and you guys just ate 33 of them. What a bunch of spendthrifts."
"Who ate them? That's 33 Holy Elephants! Even 33 Platinum-level wild boars wouldn't be enough to feed us for two years."
The young Taoist said with a wronged look, "Big Brother, don't blame me for this. Including the feasts for the ancestors and King Arthur, plus us brothers here, we only ate two.
"The remaining 31 were eaten by Xiao Jin and the other five. These 25 that are now slaughtered were prepared by the Gaowu Grand Hotel for them."
Upon hearing this, Lin Zhan's eyes lit up with stars, and he slumped into his chair.
"My God, 25 plus 31, a total of 56 Holy Elephants.
"If you round this up, my entire heavy cavalry legion has been eaten by these useless brats."
Everyone looked at Lin Zhan in a daze. He Dazhuang pouted and said, "I don't know who taught Old Lin his math. How did he round up a legion of one million people?"
Lin Zhan suddenly remembered that the alloy refined from the bones of the Holy Elephants could be used to make weapons that would have an attack bonus against the undead.
So he quickly asked the young Taoist, "Brother-in-law, what about the bones? With the bones of over 50 Holy Elephants, it should be at least a thousand tons, right?"
"Pfft," the young Taoist instantly spat out the juice he had just taken a sip of.
"Big Brother, you're not trying to extort me too, are you? Is this another one of your rounding-ups? A thousand tons? We've only eaten a total of 33 Holy Elephants so far, and having over 200 tons of bones would be the absolute most."
Lin Zhan nodded, his eyes filled with excitement, "200 tons is enough. It can refine 20 tons of alloy. What about the bones?"
The young Taoist shrugged, "Big Brother Leng Shan took all the bones away, saying he took them home to feed the dogs."
Lin Zhan's eager gaze immediately shifted to Leng Shan.
Leng Shan glared at Lin Zhan and said, "Don't look at me like that. The bones were all gnawed clean by our dogs long ago. Even the dog droppings have become organic fertilizer for growing vegetables. The vegetables we sent for hot pot last time were grown with dog droppings."
"Holy crap."
"Holy crap."
"Holy crap, gag, gag"
As soon as Leng Shan finished speaking, the entire group erupted in commotion.
"What the hell are you all reacting like this for? As if the vegetables you usually eat aren't grown with manure."
He then turned to Lin Zhan and said, "Old Lin, you can't blame me for this either. Didn't you ask me to raise over 30 million dogs? I don't have money to buy dog food, so I had to scavenge for bones, meat, and so on.
"If our Leng family doesn't deal with this batch of dogs soon, our Leng family's warriors won't even have the resources to cultivate."
Lin Zhan was taken aback, "Didn't I give you 10 million resources last time? Isn't that enough?"
Leng Shan shook his head and gave a wry smile,
"That 10 million was based on 2,000 adult dogs and 15 million puppies. Who knew you'd get your hands on medicine that's so potent? Now the Leng family has over 30 million adult dogs ready for battle, plus 3 million breeding dogs and 50 million puppies.
"Adding the Leng family's war beasts like the Cloud Sparrow, Falcon, Steller's Sea Eagle, and Dragon Mastiff, I can tell you honestly, if your resources don't arrive by the end of this month, the Leng family can declare bankruptcy."
Lin Zhan stared at Leng Shan with wide eyes and said, "Then why didn't you say so? If you didn't say, how would I know? If I didn't know, how could I manage it for you? If I don't manage it for you, of course you'll go broke."
Leng Shan: Go to your ancestors!