148 Titanium Alloy Submarine (1/2)

”Let those pirates delay for a few days...” Chen Fan bit his lip, saying no more.

This ungrateful guy, he has gotten so many benefits, yet he's still unwilling to help when we need him to carry out a task.

Wu Ruoyu's inner flame of rage started growing rapidly, as she looked at Chen Fan, who was deep in thought.

”Is there anything bothering you?” Ma Rongtao let out a sigh, as he took out a cigar from a box with trembling hands.

The moment he put it in his mouth, he immediately spat it out, touching the purple-reddish blister at the corner of his mouth. The blister was a result of the excessive internal body heat produced from his anxiety level and lack of sleep, which were direct results of his receiving the call from the pirates last night.

”There is nothing bothering me. I was just organizing my thoughts!” Chen Fan glared at Wu Ruoyu, who was beside him, before taking out his phone.

The phone rang for almost 40 seconds and Chen Fan was about to hang up, when the opposite party picked it up finally.

”Hel, hello, wha, what do y, you want?” asked the translator, stuttering on the other end of the call.

”Nothing much, just feeling a bit bored, so I called you up for a chat!” said Chen Fan casually, while leaning on the sofa.

”Ah!” Wu Ruoyu, who stood beside him and could hear the conversation, covered her small mouth, staring at Chen Fan with great dismay.

At this moment, it was as if Chen Fan had suddenly torn his shirt apart, revealing blue tights with the gem-shaped letter S printed on it. He was like Superman! Ma Rongtao was no better than her niece, as he did not even notice that the cigar in his hands had fallen onto the floor.

”Ch, ch, chat? What do you want to chat about?” he stuttered.

”What are you busy with? What took you so long to answer my call?” teased Chen Fan.

”Nothing much, anything from your side?” the translator did not have the guts to claim that he had no intention of answer his call initially. So, he tried his best to reply in a forceful and confident manner.

”Is Abadi around? If he is, call him over, I've got matters to deal with him about,” Chen Fan barked.

”He… He's not in…”

”How did you even qualify as a translator? You're always claiming that he's not around.” Chen Fan raised his eyebrows. ”Anyway, did you guys rob two Chinese cargo ships that were heading to Turkey yesterday?”

Wu Ruoyu desperately wanted to snatch the phone away from Chen Fan and use her most gentle and soft voice to apologize to that poor translator. The translator suddenly had a feeling that all their efforts to rob the two ships were going to be in vain…

”Yea, it… it did happen!” The translator sounded as if there was a big lump in his throat.

”In that case, tell Abadi that these two cargo ships belong to a friend of mine, so I hope they are immediately released.”

Chen Fan signalled to Ma Rongtao, who wanted to speak, to stay quiet. He then continued saying, ”Do as I say now. I hope to hear good news from you in no more than half an hour.”

When Chen Fan hung up the phone, both Ma Rongtao and Wu Ruoyu looked at him as if he was out of his mind. They just stared at him, wide-eyed.

”Why are you two looking at me like that?” Chen Fan asked with a smile.

Actually, he just wanted to tease Wu Ruoyu. He would have informed Ma Rongtao about the situation, had he been the only one around.

Five seconds later, Wu Ruoyu quivered and placed her cold yet soft hands on his forehead, just like how he had placed his on her chest some time ago. She then touched her own forehead.

”It doesn't seem to be a fever,” Wu Ruoyu concluded doubtfully.

”Little Chen, are you crazy?” Ma Rongtao snapped his mouth opened and closed, almost bursting the blister, as it was too hard to take in what just happened.

When the pirates first called him, he did whatever he could to please them. However, Chen Fan was too brave, as he had even requested an immediate release of the cargo ships!

”Hehe, you will soon find out in another thirty minutes!” Chen Fan told him with a smug grin.

”Thirty minutes?” exclaimed Wu Ruoyu, as she almost took the ashtray to beat up Chen Fan. ”The ransom is going to become one hundred million US Dollars after thirty minutes!”

”Sha Sha!” Ma Rongtao shouted at Wu Ruoyu.

He believed that Chen Fan would not say things without having his reasons, but he also believed that the pirates would not release the ships and their crews, just because of a word from Chen Fan.

It took a mere 20 minutes for the office phone to ring. Ma Rongtao walked towards it, looked at the displayed incoming number, and took a deep breath. He was trembling as he answered the call.

”What!?” he barked into the phone.”The pirates released all of you, and on top of that, they even allowed you to inform me that everything is alright?” Ma Rongtao's bitter expression was suddenly plastered with astonishment, as he repeated the words that he had just heard.

”Yes, boss. They even sent someone who could speak Mandarin to apologize to us!” The voice on the other line crackled.

”That's good, that's good.”

Ma Rongtao's legs suddenly gave away beneath him in front of his office desk. ”Don't say another word, as long as everyone is safe. We will celebrate everyone's safe return upon their reaching home safely.”

”You… How did you do it?” Wu Ruoyu showed disbelief in her big eyes, as she stared deeply at Chen Fan.

”Little Chen, this… This… This is…” Ma Rongtao stuttered, as he grabbed both of Chen Fan's hands, unable to speak properly.

Everything was too shocking for him. Yesterday, he was on the verge of having his head explode from anxiety, but today, all of his problems were solved with just a simple phone call by Chen Fan. He was not expecting anything at all, when he wanted to try his luck to borrow some money from Chen Fan or use his connection with the pirates.

”That time when the ship crew was abducted, I paid the demanded ransom and waited until everyone got back safely. After that, I sought out a friend with a large influence to get back my ransom from those pirates. I have even gotten a compensation of 10 million US Dollars from them,” Chen Fan explained, while holding on a tea cup.

He then added, while sipping his tea, ”My friend even told me that he had warned them before. So, if such things were to happen again, I just need to give them a call to get them to obey and cooperate.”

Ma Rongtao could not speak at all.

Just how capable and influential is he, to make those pirates obey his words? Who is that friend of his? Obama? Putin? Hillary?

Although Ma Rongtao found it extremely hard to believe that Chen Fan knew such a God-like person, he gave in to the truth that was in front of his eyes. It was obvious that those pirates were not stupid enough to willingly give up their gains for a word from Chen Fan.

Thus, there must be a party involved that the pirates feared. Otherwise, he could not think of any other reasons for their actions.

”Who is that friend of yours?” Wu Ruoyu also found it hard to believe, because her impression of Chen Fan had always been that he was just a normal hooligan, who did not work honestly and depended on illegal activities to become rich.

”Sha Sha!” Ma Rongtao reprimanded her again. Even if Chen Fan wanted to tell them, he would prefer not knowing such an influential figure.

...…

12 pm in the afternoon, VIP private room at First Class Dynasty Restaurant

First Class Dynasty Restaurant was one of the best in Zhongyun. You needed to be a member to enter, as well as pre-order at least 2 hours in advance for the chef to have enough time to prepare a nice meal with fresh ingredients.

Chen Fan, along with Wu Ruoyu and Ma Rongtao, sat at a table made from white coral reefs, enjoying various types of mouth-watering food. When they were still in the office, Ma Rongtao kept inviting Chen Fan to a meal enthusiastically.

Chen Fan did not have any second thoughts, before accepting the offer because he also needed Ma Rongtao to do him a favor. So, he phoned Yun Meng and asked her to have lunch at school first, before following the two to the aforementioned restaurant.

”Uncle Ma, I have been wanting to get my hands on a few large cargo ships lately, either by purchasing them from another country or via other means. Do you happen to know any solutions for this?”

Chen Fan was prepared to obtain a few cargo ships overseas to be placed under the name of the offshore company. Since the common currency used in his country was Renminbi (China's official currency, RMB), while overseas accepted US Dollars (USD), it was possible to save on the cost via laundering US Dollars to Renminbi. Plus, he could also use his real identity to purchase the ships at a dirt-cheap price!

Besides, Chen Fan was also prepared to buy a shipyard in Zhongyun with his real identity in order to manufacture some iron submarines for his electric eel. It may even be possible to build a cruise in the future, once his business expanded. As Chen Fan had roughly 25 million Renminbi, it was more than enough for now.

”Buy a ship?” Ma Rongtao put his chopsticks down. ”Roughly how many tons?”

”Around fifty to sixty thousand tons, I suppose. It will be best if I can pay with US Dollars, because I have a large amount of those with me now.”

Paying with US Dollars was simple, since it's a globally recognized currency that many countries use to replenish their foreign currencies. However, for a customized ship, it would take a very long time.