Chapter 852: Savage

After gradually entering autumn, the temperature in Cat Getan began to drop, and the mornings were exceptionally cold. However, in the conference room on the top floor of Wei En Enterprises, it was filled with gang bosses in suits and leather shoes.

Bruce stood at the very front and said, "I am very sorry, but Wei En Enterprises only accepts cash investment..."

As soon as these words were spoken, the whole room was in an uproar. Lawrence stood up immediately and said, "Wei En! Are you playing us? For city and traffic construction, how can you only accept cash investment? Do you not need raw materials and transportation costs?"

Bruce cleared his throat, looked down at the document in his hand—in fact, nothing was written on that document, the technical data was all in his head, but he still acted as if he were reading a speech written by his staff team:

"Everyone, please calm down. I only accept cash investment for a sufficient reason. The reason is that the current construction level of Wei En Enterprises has reached a technological gap. The raw materials and transportation costs you can provide are, in our view, not worth mentioning."

"Everyone can look at the television screen. This shows the raw materials used by our company in the first and second phases of the project. All the parts marked with blurred logos involve technical secrets..."

A large pile of professional technical terms appeared on the screen that the heads of the Twelve Families couldn't understand at all. Unfamiliar English words could only be guessed by relying on roots and affixes, and the roots and affixes of the vast majority of professional terms were also relatively obscure. If one didn't know them at all, then one couldn't even guess.

Bruce raised his tone and said, "As everyone can see, the materials I use to build houses are not those ordinary concrete and steel bars. The structure of the entire house is integrated, earthquake-resistant, fireproof, and even fears no tsunami."

"The raw materials you can buy on the market, the workers you can hire, and the engineers you can recruit cannot participate in this kind of construction because their technical level is not high enough, and it is lacking by a lot."

"Now. Only the production lines of Wei En Enterprises can produce similar buildings, and those defensive systems. Can only be used on such buildings. Otherwise. A laser cannon shot hits, the floor is hit with a big hole, and the whole building collapses. Then why would I build it?"

Bruce spoke very righteously and pointed directly to the core. He didn't dwell on how much the investment was, but directly said, my technology is something you can't understand, so technology-based equity or production line material-based equity is something you don't even need to think about. The only way to participate is to invest money.

Originally, the heads of the Twelve Families were not short of money, especially with the Twelve Families combined, the injected funds could also give the entire project a shot in the arm. But as it happened, they had just spent quite a bit.

The precious collectibles that Savage sold, although the price was suppressed very low, were still based on their market price. How much the original works of the three masters of the Renaissance, Van Gogh, and Monet in their prime were worth didn't need to be discussed. Based on this price, even if it were 10% of the price, it was still very expensive.

And Savage wasn't selling just one or two pieces. From oil paintings to sculptures, from antiques to rare precious gemstones, the collections he possessed were weighed by the ton.

He was in a hurry to cash out, the discount was very steep, and the quantity was very large. The Twelve Families bought fiercely. As a result, after this wave, the liquid funds in their hands also hit bottom.

Everyone was hoarding collectibles, intending to buy low and sell high. Some people even wanted to collect them themselves. The liquid funds in their hands were only barely maintained at the safety line.

It just so happened that at this time, they realized that the construction plan Bruce came up with threatened their foundation, and at the same time realized that as long as they could participate, the future returns would definitely be astonishing.

But Bruce only wanted cash. Now the heads of the Twelve Families were a bit uncomfortable. Protect the head or protect the butt? This was an eternal question.

After the meeting ended, the heads of each family squeezed past each other, filing out of the conference room, all talking in low voices.

"I just got a genuine Van Gogh two days ago. The appraiser at the auction house I know told me that as long as the auction process is completed, it will be at least this much, but if sold privately, it's hard to even break even..."

"Who isn't? Didn't I also buy two sculptures? After the appraiser appraised them, he also said they were real, but if you don't go through the auction house process, you can't sell them for any price at all..."

"Urgent sales have to be discounted. Being suppressed by them by 10% is several million dollars. Who can bear that?"

"But this damn Bruce just wants cash. You say, his project shouldn't be able to cover the whole city that fast, right?"

Lawrence coughed and said, "In my opinion, we should just drag it out, cause him some trouble from time to time, and when we have money in our hands, we'll talk to him again."

"I think so too. The art market has been quite good recently. As long as we can go through the auction house, at most in a year, I will have money in my hands again."

"Right, everyone is the same. Since no one has money, there's no need to worry about them taking a step ahead and leaving others behind. We unite to drag him out. Isn't it fine to drag it out until we have money?"

The heads of the Twelve Families exchanged opinions. They all felt that there was no problem with this method.

This is also very common in the business world. If you don't have enough liquid funds but want to take down this project, it's nothing more than the word "drag." If there are competitors, cause some trouble, and when you are well-off, then invest the capital.

But Bruce, who walked out of the conference room, knew that he had won this battle.

In fact, the biggest difficulty in the Cat Getan renovation plan was that once the core interests of the gangs were touched, they would unite to carry out violent resistance. And once the gangs started fighting, it would endanger many people.

Bruce's biggest goal was to eliminate violent conflicts as much as possible and not let it evolve into an all-out city war.

Before, the anesthetic given to the gangs was still quite useful, but in the end, the Twelve Families would definitely react. And at this time, knowledge of psychology and behavioral science would have to be used again.

When people make investments, they all hope to maximize returns, and the lower the purchase price, the better. Therefore, when Savage began to sell his collections at a low price and Bruce handed the olive branch to the heads of the Twelve Families, they naturally accepted it.

Currently, there is no sign of the art market crashing. The experts they invited also concluded this after analysis. As long as they can get those precious collections from Savage at a low price, it is equivalent to increasing the value of their family's assets.

However. Assets and liquid funds are different. What they are paying now is liquid funds, and what they are increasing is future estimated assets.

At the time, the decision they made was not wrong, because at that time, they didn't need that many liquid funds.

But Bruce happened to demand more liquid funds from them at this point and downplayed this matter as an investment.

No money, no investment. This is a fact recognized by everyone. If you don't have money yourself, you can't blame me for not bringing you along. Bruce stood his ground from the perspective of common sense.

And the members of the Twelve Families would adopt the "drag" tactic, which was also based on the foundation that Bruce was a businessman who wanted to recover costs and earn profits. In their view, Bruce couldn't invest without limit. Since he wanted their investment, he could naturally be dragged out.

But this was exactly what Bruce wanted. He wanted this one-year buffer period. The Twelve Families could rely on this year to get money, and he could too.

The reason he was in a hurry to use money before was that he intended to build everything in one go before the gangs reacted, to prevent them from reacting halfway and fighting back fiercely.

But since they intended to drag it out themselves, Bruce would drag it out with them. In the same one year, Batman's money-making speed was not on the same level as others. Bruce was confident that he could earn the funds to renovate most of Cat Getan in one go.

After a year, the Twelve Families, who had regained their liquid funds, would discover that they might be facing half a terminal producer. Batman, at full firepower, buying the Earth was only a matter of time.

It could be said that this shot of anesthetic was not given to them by Bruce, but by themselves.

The heads of the Twelve Families wanted both. They wanted the collections to appreciate and earn money while lying down, and they also wanted to participate in Bruce's investment and completely control everyone in Cat Getan.

Therefore, they failed to have that decisiveness, to cut off the tail to survive, to burn the boats, to sell the collections urgently, to take out funds to enter the market, and to play the game with Bruce.

In the final analysis, it is still interests that move people's hearts.

"This is what I said, we can use the fact that they don't have long-term vision to set up a game..." In the office, Schiller smiled and said: "The price at which they got those collections is too low, so the profit margin is too large. This is very certain money that can be obtained, and they won't be willing to give it up."

"But at the same time, they are reluctant to give up the future you mentioned, failing to see your fundamental purpose. So, they made the choice you wanted most, which is not to raise guns to resist, not to have fierce conflicts, but to peacefully drag through the year and eat from both ends."

Bruce gently rubbed his fingers and said: "One year..."

He shook his head and sighed softly. Alberto turned to look at him. He knew that Bruce had only used a short 20 years to master almost all the knowledge in this world. One year was already a long, unbelievable amount of time.

"Don't forget our agreement." Alberto spoke up: "The Twelve Families are just dogs raised by my father. Perhaps he will still sigh a couple of times, but I am different. I just want to move forward in the new era."

"Aren't you afraid he will average you out?" Schiller asked.

"I don't intend to just stay in Cat Getan. That is not the end of the Falcone family." Alberto looked down at the watch on his hand and said: "My father wants to return to Italy to retire."

"Perhaps one day, Wei En really rules the world..." Alberto glanced at Bruce and said: "Then perhaps we can go see further places. You won't mind, right?"

Bruce turned to look at him and said: "Your father used forty years to establish the order of Cat Getan. If you want to surpass him, Cat Getan is indeed not your end..."

Alberto stood up, looked at Bruce, and said: "Actually, I don't care at all whether the people here live well or not, I don't care what the ending of the Twelve Families is, and I don't care when the gangs will perish. The Godfather is the same..."

"In that era, he did his best. Whether he succeeded in the end or not is not important, because he knew earlier than you that this path is not won only by those who reach the end."

Before Alberto left, he said with his back to Bruce: "He also asked me to tell you that he doesn't like this sentence, because it sounds like an excuse a coward would come up with to give up running to the end."

"Bruce Wei En, the Godfather said you are not a coward... You had better not be."

Bruce sat in place for a long time, then he asked Schiller: "Do you think I will change?"

"People will always change." Schiller paused and answered.

Then he said: "Regarding this question, you might as well go ask your butler."

Bruce left in silence, while Schiller looked out the window.

The rich green was fading. The most lush vitality of summer was gradually withering with the autumn wind. The red of the maple leaves was like the blood vessels of the earth, telling everyone in the midst of great changes that autumn in Cat Getan had arrived. ===== CHAPTER 853 =====