Volume 1: The Other Shore Chapter 11: Pirates

  The colorful sunset, half of the sky was composed of glowing brocade, the crimson sun sank slowly in the chaotic clouds and mist, casting a rose-colored glow. The last bit of the setting sun's afterglow scattered millions of pearls on the sea surface before disappearing into the depths of the ocean...

  Night falls.

  In the big city, it's rare to see darkness fall. Although neon lights have only been on the market for two years, they've already taken over the night sky in New York. The neon tubes are too bright and overpowering, making the city a sleepless place. Horse-drawn carriages and automobiles zip by under the neon lights, while storefront windows display colorful goods. In some quiet alleys, in dimly lit doorways, despite the strict winter season, there are still a few women with bare chests and breasts exposed, flirting with passersby, their seductive voices filling the streets.

  On some bustling streets, the atmosphere of New York, a city that never sleeps, is even more evident. Beautifully dressed dancing girls accompanied by wealthy men enter and exit the doors of dance halls. Men lavish their money, women lavish their youth. This is New York, a dazzling and intoxicating New York.

  Night, immersed in the atmosphere of the bustling metropolis.

  Entwined with two bodies intertwined together.

  A sultry and seductive moan escaped from the woman's throat as she rode on top of the man, finally accompanied by a long, bone-melting sigh. The blonde woman lazily collapsed onto the man's body, panting heavily.

  After resting for over ten seconds, the blonde woman lay down on the bed from the man's body, a head of golden curly hair scattered messily on the bed, her face showing an even more enchanting and weak expression.

  The air in the room was filled with the sweet scent of love after a passionate encounter, teasing those who had just awakened from their desires.

  The beautiful blonde slowly sat up, brushing her long hair behind her ears, revealing a charming and lazy face. Then, completely naked, she stood up, picked up the clothes scattered on the floor, put them on one by one, took the banknotes from the bedside table, gave the man sleeping on the bed a kiss, and then turned around and left the room.

  The phone rang in the darkness, a shrill and monotonous ringtone, just like the electric bell at school.

  The ringing sound slowly woke Li Zichen on the bed, reached out to touch the bedside lamp and turned it on. Squinting his eyes to take in the surroundings, he found himself in a luxurious Renaissance-style bedroom with Louis XVI furniture, hand-painted wallpaper, and a large four-poster mahogany bed.

  "Where am I exactly?"

  A bathrobe hanging on a bedpost with "New York Square Restaurant" written on it.

  "Drank too much again yesterday!"

  Rubbing his aching head from last night's hangover, Li Zichen vaguely remembered that he seemed to have drunk too much again yesterday and even brought a beautiful golden-haired cat back to the hotel.

  The annoying phone ringtone still echoed, and he picked up the receiver with his left hand and the microphone with his right hand.

  "Hello!"

  "Is Mr. Li?"

  A man's voice asked.

  "I hope I didn't wake you up!"

  Li Zichen rubbed his sleepy eyes and glanced at the clock beside his bed. 12:32 midnight. According to his usual habit, he had just fallen asleep, and indeed was woken up by this person.

  "I'm the hotel receptionist, sir. I apologize for disturbing you, but there's a guest who wants to see you. He insists it's extremely urgent."

  "Is someone looking for me?"

  The receptionist's words made Li Zichen stunned. This was not his usual hotel, who was this person and how did they find him here?

  "Tell him I'm tired, and..."

  Li Zichen directly refused without even considering it.

  "But, sir!"

  The receptionist hastily interrupted him, lowering his voice and speaking urgently in a low tone.

  "Your guest is an important person."

  "Important person?"

  Although he was somewhat perplexed and felt extremely uncomfortable being woken up by someone, Li Zichen still maintained the most basic courtesy.

  "Would you mind taking down that person's name and phone number and telling him I'll give him a call tomorrow? Thank you."

  Before the receptionist could say anything else, he hung up the phone.

  After being woken up, Li Zichen sat up. He turned his head and gazed tiredly at the large mirror in front of him. The person staring back at him was a stranger, with disheveled hair and a look of lingering drunkenness, decadent and degenerate.

  Degeneration!

  When this word emerged in his mind, Li Zichen couldn't help but smile, he had really fallen.

  After returning from Pittsburgh, the waiting for him was almost his entire life. First, he waited for a response from the American Steel Company, and then he waited for Mu Xiangyu's reply to himself. However, there was no good news coming from that side every day. During this period, his waiting made him rapidly degenerate. Every day, he vented his anxiety with wine, as if he had found a prostitute yesterday!

  He walked naked to the window, the hotel was facing Central Park, and he fell into deep thought. Why hadn't they given themselves an answer until now?

  “65%！”

  Thinking back to today... no, it should be yesterday when I received the notice from the bank, Al Port Casapes has been transferred, and the bank manager met with me, but he didn't give me a 90% loan, only 65%, and even said that if I refused, not a single bank in the United States would accept my mortgage.

  "Mo Gen!"

  Muttering this name, Li Zicheng's heart was burning with a fire, just wait, as long as you are willing to buy my patent, you...

  "Knock knock..."

  Suddenly a loud knock at the door interrupted Li Zichen's thoughts, someone was knocking heavily on the door with their fist.

  Hurriedly putting on the hotel-provided pajamas, Li Ziyue felt his toes deeply sinking into the thick carpet as he went to open the door barefoot.

  "Which one?"

  "Is this Mr. Li Zicheng? I need to speak with you."

  He could tell that the other person was shouting in a sharp and authoritative tone, with a very heavy accent in English.

  "Mr. Morgan wants to see you!"

  Li Zi was stunned for a moment, Morgan wanted to see himself? It finally came! But why did he send someone at this time...

  "Mr. Morgan wants to see you right now!"

  Now?

  After a moment of contemplation, he opened the door to see a burly man with a gloomy face, wearing a black hat and coat, standing outside. The man's grey eyes were sizing him up when the 2 o'clock bell rang out, and upon hearing it, Li Zichen understood the reason.

  "Wait a minute, I need to put on some clothes!"

  The moment he closed the door, his mouth curled up, and indeed he was a sly old fox!

  As he watched the clock strike 2 am, Li Zichen thought that Morgan might have slept for an entire afternoon to prepare for their meeting today. He couldn't help but secretly laugh at this, and as a night owl himself, his energy only grew stronger with the deepening of the night.

  Ma Li quickly put on his clothes, tied his tie, and when he was putting on his coat, he saw the food on the bedside cart. Lǐ Zǐ Chēng couldn't help but burst out laughing! "Today I'll let you know what it means to lose a chicken while trying to steal a grain of rice..."

  The closed door was pushed open, and at the moment the door was opened, Li Zichen looked around at the person sitting by the window, flipping through cards. He was of medium build, but from the side, he looked quite fat, yet his physique was as robust as a cow. Although he didn't turn his head, he still exuded an aura of superiority, and now he was silently playing cards, which would make his opponent feel fearful.

  Don't mention his temperament, just this name is enough to intimidate everyone. As he walked into the lavishly decorated smoking room of Morgan Library, Li Zichen began to recite in his mind what he knew about Morgan: from a young age, Morgan showed extraordinary business talent, especially in speculation, with super-normal judgment. It can be said that he made his fortune through speculative prowess. In middle age, Morgan massively acquired railways, implemented the "Morgan System", and controlled many American industrial enterprises through this system, concentrating 1/4 of the country's corporate capital under his control. Not only did Morgan use financial capital to control many important sectors in America, but he also used his vast capital to lend to foreign countries. Economically dependent on him were not only countries like Mexico and Argentina, but even old imperial powers like Britain and France had to seek help from Morgan at critical moments. Morgan's power always exceeded people's imagination.

  Since he founded the United States Steel Corporation, Morgan had acquired a second nickname on Wall Street - "Jupiter", in Roman mythology, Jupiter was the king of heaven and the lord of all gods. This nickname vividly expressed Morgan's position on Wall Street, now Morgan was completely intoxicated with victory, of course, this feeling would not be revealed on his face at all.

  But that's not all, according to the description of Morgan in his biography, this guy is not only very cunning! But also has the characteristics of a pirate, what is a pirate? It's cruel, greedy, and Morgan also calls himself a pirate. The Morgan family's yacht, starting from him, until 100 years later, was named "Pirate No."

  And now?

  But I'm going to stir up trouble for this "world creditor", the most successful banker in human history. Am I crazy? No! I'm not crazy, I just...

  Listening to the footsteps, Morgan, who was playing cards, didn't raise his eyes to look at the person walking in. He knew who it was. That's why he invited him at 2 am, and even arranged for a woman to accompany him yesterday, confirming that the man should be exhausted before meeting him.

  And now he's being given the cold shoulder, even scorned, just to remind him that this is America and this is Morgan's domain.

  He walked to within a meter of Morgan, scanning the lavishly decorated smoking room. Morgan's disregard for him was equally evident, but instead of annoyance, he felt himself rapidly calm down and think about how to respond to the situation before him.

  He's doing this to remind himself! Remind himself who he is facing!

  "Morgan not only has extremely high speculative skills, but also has a superhuman level of psychological warfare. He is always adept at using various seemingly innocuous methods to give his opponents psychological hints, thereby making them follow him!"

  Recalling a sentence he saw in Morgan's transmission, Li Zichen suddenly understood what Morgan wanted to do and couldn't let him take the lead! Thinking so, he walked forward.