Chapter 4: Robber Logic

Central London, in a cafe under an apartment on Knight Street.

"Ding-a-ling."

With a crisp doorbell sound, David Stik immediately looked up and saw the man he was thinking about walk into the shop.

Murphy wore a slightly formal overcoat, which was decent enough in London's cooling weather, but the style seemed a bit outdated.

The two exchanged names, and after sitting down, Murphy took a small bottle out of his pocket and placed it on the table.

"This is the medicine you saw yesterday. It's called White... cough, just call it White Potion. You saw its effect yesterday, what do you think?"

"Amazing! Unbelievable! It's simply magic!"

David obviously didn't have much negotiation experience.

In fact, this was already his restrained statement.

Let alone seen it, he hadn't even thought that there would be a therapeutic medicine with such an exaggerated effect.

Being able to stop bleeding and heal a wound in just a few seconds, he found it hard to imagine how this was done.

Unless... it's a scam.

"If possible, I want to..."

Murphy pushed the small bottle over. "Please."

David took a few deep breaths and actually took a blade out of his pocket and made a cut on his arm.

Then, while hissing from the pain, he poured the Essence of Dittany on it.

In just a few seconds, the wound disappeared.

Looking at it again, the arm was no longer bleeding, and after he wiped away the previous blood beads, he found that the wound had healed.

Even knowing it might be this situation.

But after experiencing it personally, David still widened his eyes.

Unbelievable!

Simply a miracle!

Magic!

Where it healed, except for a faint red mark, it was almost impossible to see that it had been injured. If it weren't for those bloodstains still there, he would have thought the pain just now was his hallucination.

"How was this done? Human cells can't divide that fast..."

Having been forced by his father to finish an undergraduate degree in pharmacy, he still knew the basic physiological common sense.

Murphy smiled and didn't answer.

"Is this medicine developed by yourself? Is there a patent? Have you published a paper? Is it a biochemical preparation or a herbal formula?"

Murphy shook his head. "This medicine is self-developed, but the formula cannot be given to you. Since you have seen its effect, you should naturally understand its value. I won't sell the formula to anyone. I came here to talk to you about cooperation."

David calmed down then.

Indeed, if he had developed such a medicine, he would absolutely never sell it. This is a great invention that can be eaten for a lifetime, or even several lifetimes.

"How do you want to cooperate?"

"Very simple, we jointly develop this medicine, you provide the money, I provide the technology. Within a year, I will return double your investment."

David was stunned. "Lending? That won't work! I want to buy shares!"

Such a powerful medicine, yet only seeking double the return, this is too stupid!

Murphy wasn't surprised. "How much can you invest?"

"Ten million!" David said immediately, then hesitated. "At least five million!"

Then he thought again. "At least two million is no problem."

He was just a rich kid, and he really had no idea how much his rich old man was willing to invest.

Ten million is all-in, five million is a big gamble, but two million was indeed just a conventional investment scale. In his mind, for such an explosive project, convincing his old man to take two million to test the waters was absolutely no problem.

"Two million, then how many shares do you want?"

"60%!" David blurted out.

"Heh." Murphy just laughed.

"Half?"

Murphy shook his head.

"30%! Can't be less!"

Murphy stood up. "Ten million pounds, I'll give you 10%, this is the upper limit. If you can only come up with two million, then it's 2%." Murphy put the lid on the Essence of Dittany and handed it to David. "Take this sentence and it to your father."

Since the other party didn't have the decision-making power, he just had to state his own conditions; he didn't need to continue wasting time here.

"You have one day to make a decision. If you can accept it, call this number."

After finishing, Murphy put a card with the phone number on the table and left the cafe.

That night, in the Muggle inn room he rented, he received a call from Jim Stik.

"I can give you five million pounds, but I want at least 15% of the shares."

"Sorry, impossible." Murphy hung up the phone directly.

After a while, the phone rang again. "Five million, 10%, this is my bottom line."

Murphy smiled. "Sorry, your bottom line is meaningless to me."

There are so many pharmaceutical companies in the UK, if you don't want to play, there are plenty of people who do.

After a while, a man in a suit and leather shoes knocked on Murphy's door and handed him a brick phone.

Murphy, who had been living in the Wizarding World, had almost forgotten about this thing.

Seeing this retro-style brick phone at this moment, he couldn't help but be a bit stunned.

It is now 1987.

Nokia's Cityman had just hit the market, basically counting as the world's first portable mobile phone in the true sense.

This thing was ridiculously expensive, and those who could afford it were true rich people.

Murphy took the phone and heard the opposite side say: "Give me 8%, I can give you a pharmaceutical factory directly, you can produce your medicine immediately."

Murphy was tempted. "Deal."

"Very good, my car is waiting for you outside, come to my villa, we have a lot of details to discuss."

A Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost was parked at the inn entrance, and the driver opened the door for him.

Murphy didn't dawdle either; this matter couldn't be explained in one or two sentences, and he really needed to meet the other party.

Half an hour later, the Rolls-Royce stopped at an empty factory building.

Murphy got out of the car and saw a middle-aged man with blonde hair and a big back sitting on a chair in the middle of the empty factory, smoking a pipe, with a bodyguard in a black suit and sunglasses standing on each side.

Murphy frowned. "This doesn't look like a villa."

Jim Stik grinned. "It's indeed not."

He pointed casually with his right hand holding the pipe. "This is the factory I'm giving you. But it's already bankrupt."

"What do you mean?"

Jim Stik took out a check and placed it on the table.

"This is a check for two million pounds, enough for you to live without worry for a lifetime. Take it, and give me the formula. Or..."

Following his words, two more strong men walked in from the door and closed the main gate.

Murphy was speechless. "You're threatening me?"

Jim blew a big smoke ring. "I'm a decent businessman, I generally don't do such things. So I hope you can take the check."

Jim said, and took another hard puff, letting the strong, spicy smoke roll in his lungs a few times before letting out a long breath.

"So fucking exciting!" Jim stood up and talked eloquently. "People always have one or two desires they can't control themselves, right? Like tobacco, or pounds. Money, to me, is a stimulant, always able to make me excited."

"So, I'm also forced to be helpless. I can't overcome my own desires."

Murphy watched Jim's self-directed performance and still felt it was a bit funny. "What if I don't agree?"

"Don't be unappreciative, kid, I don't want to make things too ugly."

"I investigated you. You are nothing. You don't even have a household registration; maybe you're just a thief who smuggled in from some third-world country."

"Guess what will happen if I finish you off here?"

Jim spread his hands. "The answer is nothing will happen!"

"No one knows who you are, and no one will care why you died here. Those smart people at New Scotland Yard won't look for trouble for themselves; you'll just become another unsolved case buried in their archives."

"Maybe you feel I robbed you, very unfair, but this is a world where the strong prey on the weak, isn't it? The weak are born to be plundered by the strong. Think about it, kid, at least I paid."

Murphy watched Jim walk back and forth in front of him with a look of 'you still made a profit' and was speechless.

"The strong prey on the weak... alright..."

For this kind of robber logic, Murphy felt...

It really makes so much fucking sense.

So he pulled out his wand.

(End of chapter)