Chapter 3953

Now, there was only one sentence in Arkham Batman's mind—"Is this still English?"

What is "usury to the League of Assassins"?

But he didn't even hesitate for a second before turning to look at Shiler. Shiler stepped forward, cleared his throat, and said: "Madam, I am Mr. President's financial advisor; you can ask me any professional questions."

Talia threw out a stack of contracts, crossed her arms, and said: "Through Yin-Yang contracts, you have raised the interest rate of this loan to 22%, which is 10 points higher than usury on the black market. What, is the federal government so short of money?"

"Compared to this, I am more concerned about why the League of Assassins needs to borrow money," Arkham Batman said, "Your father should be very rich, right?"

"Cough, cough." Natasha suddenly coughed twice. Arkham Batman turned to look at him.

Before his gaze could move away, he heard Talia say, somewhat through gritted teeth: "I don't know which bastard got hold of our assassin list, but many strongholds buried in various continents have been wiped out, and many carefully trained assassins have been killed. Although my father has many investments, there isn't enough liquid capital. I don't know where various governments got the news, but they seized this gap to relentlessly attack the League of Assassins. We need money to quickly restore our defensive lines; otherwise, we'll have to retreat to the desert like those losers."

Now, Arkham Batman knew why Natasha coughed—this was clearly the work of the CIA.

Then he understood: Shiler and Natasha were a typical duo of plotting for money and harming lives. Shiler was responsible for plotting for money, and Natasha was responsible for harming lives. Plus a Nick who managed the overall situation, they were truly invincible.

"Sorry, Miss, this is not a Yin-Yang contract," Shiler pretended to look at the contract and said, "All signing processes are reasonable and legal, and have legal effect. If you have any objections to this contract, you can also file a lawsuit in the International Court. However, the second phase of the loan we agreed upon will be ruined."

"We cannot afford such high interest!" Talia said through gritted teeth, "If you don't give the second phase of the loan, we won't even pay back the first!"

Shiler was not panicked at all, revealed a smile to her, and said: "I think you have been busy traveling recently and haven't had time to watch the news. Just yesterday, the United States' first Helicarrier successfully took off. I'm afraid you wouldn't want us to drive this weapon of mass destruction to collect debts, would you?"

Arkham Batman sighed again in his heart. No wonder those old pedants in universities and research institutes didn't produce results early or late, but had to produce them at this time.

Talia clenched her fists but slowly loosened them: "Fine, we accept the contract for this phase. But the second phase of the loan must be changed; we absolutely cannot accept such high interest."

"Sorry, we won't lower the interest. After the Helicarrier takes off, there will be plenty of people crying and begging to borrow our money. Considering you are an old customer, I'm giving you a priority quota. If you don't want it, don't talk nonsense here."

Arkham Batman could clearly see that Talia was furious, but obviously, there was nothing she could do. If her father could barely be called an investment expert, Talia really had no experience in this regard.

However, what Shiler said was also a fact. After the Helicarrier took off, this was less like usury and more like protection money. Plenty of people were rushing to pay, and the League of Assassins wasn't the only one.

Just as Talia wanted to say something else, her phone suddenly rang. After she picked it up, a man's roaring voice came from the other side, sounding like her father.

Then Shiler's phone rang too. Ra's al Ghul's voice also came from the other side, but it sounded much calmer. After Shiler hung up the phone, he said to Talia: "I have to say, your father is indeed very professional. Our cooperation with the League of Assassins will continue."

Talia left with a cold face. Arkham Batman looked at Shiler and said: "How much trouble have you caused?"

"I said this is macroeconomic..."

This time he hadn't finished speaking when Green Lantern flew in, holding a large stack of documents in his hand, handed them directly to Shiler, and said: "So you're here; I went to Cat Getan and couldn't find you. This is the list you wanted; all the civilizations that have signed contracts are on it."

"How is the follow-up in the remote sectors going? Don't look at those places as underdeveloped, but there are also many civilizations with potential. We must do a good job in short-term investment and also look at long-term returns..."

Arkham Batman narrowed his eyes, staring at the stack of documents in Shiler's hand. His gaze was too focused, becoming almost tangible. Shiler had to push up his glasses and explain: "We obtained a sum of energy through the cosmic environmental cleanup plan and made some investments in the universe. This is the list of investors."

Arkham Batman took the list. It recorded the names of the civilizations and the energy units of the Green Lanterns. The only thing that was a bit puzzling was that the percentage of interest was still marked at the back.

"Isn't this still usury?!" Arkham Batman looked at Shiler and said, "22% interest, you really can do it!"

"This is just angel investment to help low-level cosmic civilizations develop. Don't think I'm exaggerating; the contracts were all signed voluntarily, and there is absolutely no fraud, otherwise the Green Lanterns wouldn't have agreed. Even so, they still have to thank us."

Green Lantern on the side also nodded. Arkham Batman sighed; of course, he knew it would be like this.

How difficult it is for civilizations to survive in the universe. Even for a chosen land like Earth, humanity has appeared for so long, yet there is still no shadow of the interstellar era. Most civilizations are much more miserable than Earth, and very few can break out.

In this situation, Green Lantern energy, this kind of universal energy, is simply too precious. Let alone 22% interest, even 122% would have people willing to borrow. The problem is that no matter how high the interest, no one lent it before, and now that someone is finally willing to lend it, they are of course grateful.

Not to mention anything else, if one day the Green Lantern Corps came to Arkham Batman and was willing to provide him with a loan of Green Lantern energy at this interest rate, Arkham Batman knew he would probably borrow it too.

Because with this kind of universal energy, the limitations of materials science don't exist, and you can immediately fly a spaceship, then go to nearby planets to mine resources, which is simply a one-step choice.

Thinking of this, Arkham Batman coughed twice. Shiler immediately took out another document from the side and said: "Earth is also one of the beneficiaries; these are the terms."

This contract was so thin it didn't look like terms at all. Arkham Batman took it over with some suspicion. He didn't think Shiler would necessarily give Earth any preferential treatment, but seeing the three-digit interest rate on it, he was still shocked.

"This is to secure subsequent multi-phase loans," Shiler said very calmly, "You just need to sign, and we'll handle the rest."

Arkham Batman looked at Green Lantern. Green Lantern nodded at him and said: "Don't worry, the Guardians of the Universe trust me very much now."

As for Green Lantern, Arkham Batman still trusted him. However, why the Guardians of the Universe would trust him, I'm afraid there was some inside story. But Arkham Batman didn't care much. He signed the contract, and Green Lantern took out a box of power batteries from nowhere.

"Use these for now; I'll transport the rest over later. By the way, Shiler, the defense line around the solar system you mentioned before..."

"Let's talk about that when we have a meeting later," Shiler said, "You go to the base and wait first; I'll be there soon. And you, Superman, go with him; you have a mission later too."

After they both left, Arkham Batman pinched the bridge of his nose and said: "It seems you have become the leader of the Justice League."

"Not really, it's just that I'm too short of manpower and must find them some work to do. Oh, by the way, don't be idle either," Shiler pointed outside the door and said, "I brought a film crew over to help you shoot a documentary. Your personal online account has also been opened; go record a greeting video later."

"And you, Natasha, when recording the video later, pretend to accidentally walk past behind him. I'll buy a trending topic, then you post a clarification video, he posts an apology video, then you post another apology video, and he posts another clarification video..."

Arkham Batman covered his face and said: "I am a President with real power; I don't need to be an internet celebrity!"

"Alright, Mr. President with real power, now, take this and sit in the seat. Natasha, you go to the lounge and wait. Film crew! Film crew! Come, come in..."

Cat Getan, Batcave. Stark leaned against the wall looking at the data. Doom was still doing debugging. After knocking twice, he sighed and said: "The metal strength is completely inadequate; it must be upgraded and optimized."

"Then what to do? There is no Vibranium in this universe, and the impact resistance is just not good enough. The previous soft-cushioning scheme also has major drawbacks; now it's just a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils..."

"Find a way to get some," Doom said, "If it really doesn't work, let Black Panther send people to carry some over; just spend more money."

"You say it easily. Not to mention that Vibranium has now transformed into a luxury gemstone and started selling by the gram, just letting the people of Wakanda make such a trip, the cost is staggering enough."

"Do you know how much funding we have?"

"This is not a matter of money, and the money of the two universes cannot be used universally; what's the use of having more money?"

"You first look at our two scientific research accounts."

Stark curled his lips and took the tablet from the table next to him. The moment he clicked on the fund account, his hand almost shook, and he almost threw the tablet away.

"Ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand, million, hundred million, billion, ten billion... Where did so much money come from?!"

Doom was too lazy to even answer his question. Stark thought for a while and said: "This Batman is really crazy, daring to take Nick and Greed away together. I'm afraid they will directly distribute next year's military spending to us."

"Good idea," Doom said, "Distributing it to us is definitely more useful than distributing it to the military. Alright, hurry up and think of a way; we must get some Vibranium."

"Our universe is definitely not going to work; let's buy it from other universes," Stark thought for a while and said, "I'll send Peter a message and let him find a Spider-Man from another universe to bridge the gap and see if we can buy some."

"And Adamantium," Doom said, "It's most suitable for making cold weapons; I'm planning to install a Wolverine-like claw here..."

"Do we have to use the metal from our side?" Stark frowned and said, "Do they have any good metals locally?"

"I just checked some papers and didn't find any suitable ones. Their materials science level is lower; not only is there no Vibranium and Adamantium, but there are also many gaps in the field of particle research."

"Wait," Stark suddenly said, "I once heard Shiler mention some things about this side; do you know the Court of Owls?"

Doom shook his head. He didn't even have a ticket to the Battleworld, so he knew very little about this side, at most having heard of some famous figures; he basically didn't understand the villains.

"The Court of Owls is a criminal organization here. One way they control Cat Getan is by mixing a strange metal into Cat Getan's buildings, making the whole city emit an evil magnetic field, thereby making the people here more crazy."

Doom also stopped his movements and said: "You want to use this local metal? But if it really brings an evil magnetic field, wouldn't that be a weakening?"

"Metal is just a material, and the properties of materials can change with forging. We can completely abandon the bad parts and keep the good parts; it just depends on the forging level. If we really create a metal with good performance, we can also save some budget to spend on more useful places."

Doom nodded and said: "I also think it's good. Let's find if there are any abandoned buildings or construction waste recycling yards, and then find a place to smelt the materials."