The Highest Bounty

Chapter 224: “Grand Duke Roland Joins Gu Ding’s Crew!?”

Although Tricke was proud, defiant, and incredibly weak, one thing people had to admit was that he was a capable man. He did most of the tasks assigned to him by the Childe family very well. In many cases, he even exceeded the expectations of his superiors. That was why he was promoted to head of the Childe family’s Probrand Division in his early twenties.

After all, the Probrand Division was not only in charge of business on this planet but was also in charge of the entire Matte Sector and over twenty star sectors surrounding Matte Sector.

This was also one of Childe family’s management approaches. Only one division was set up for about ten to twenty star sectors, which undoubtedly saved a lot of costs compared with other families who had set up one division for each star sector.

Because of this, Tricke also had his own social network. Through his status at Childe family, he had close contacts with many of the elites and even leaders of various local industries. There were also a few companies that processed network information, and a few that worked in media.

After getting the young master’s instructions, he first dialed the contact numbers of several friends who worked in the media.

“Anderson, I haven’t heard from you for a long time. How have you been?” Tricke greeted. Anderson was the most famous news writer in the neighboring star sectors.

“How can you, a busy man, have time to contact me, Tricke? Could it be that something has gone wrong and you want me to help you?” Anderson and Tricke were not really friends. They just had a deal that profited them both in the past.

“No, it’s just that I had some news to sell, and I thought of you immediately,” Tricke said with great persuasion.

“News of what? Is it some inside news regarding the Childe family?” Anderson heard and was immediately interested.

“Did you see the latest bounty updates this morning?” Tricke said, hanging his appetite.

“Yes, but apart from the newcomer Gu Ding and Kohld Blood, the others don’t have enough buzz surrounding them for me to write about.” Anderson, as a media professional, naturally followed news about these Interstellar Pirates daily, but in this new batch of bounties, only Gu Ding and Kohld Blood were much more popular and worth writing about.

“Well, I must say, you’re in luck because the information I’m going to sell is related to Gu Ding.” Tricke laughed.

“Gu Ding’s crew is on Probrand now?” Anderson reacted immediately after hearing Tricke’s statement.

“Yes, and I have much more to tell. For example, one of Gu Ding’s crew members has combat effectiveness comparable to a demigod… and I have the footage.” Tricke drawled.

“We want exclusivity on this news. Don’t upload your video to Skynet yet. Don’t contact any other media or news company. Two hundred thousand Universe Credits. I don’t think any other company will pay more than this.” Anderson made the offer on the spot. He was not only a writer, but also a shareholder of the company, so in a way, he had the right to make a bid.

“Two hundred thousand…” Tricke was a little hesitant. Although he was a manager in the Childe family and made just over three hundred thousand Universe Credits a year, he thought the information would sell for about one hundred thousand, but Anderson’s offer far exceeded his expectations. The businessman instinct made him aware that he could earn more because he immediately quoted a price of two hundred thousand, which suggested that two hundred thousand was not the lowest price they could offer and that he still had room to raise the price.

Anderson was not a businessman. He made his fortune as a media professional. He became a shareholder in the company afterward but did not participate in operations because he was not qualified enough. Therefore, he chose to continue working as a media professional, and he preferred his identity as a media professional. Therefore, instead of waiting for Tricke to offer, he proposed what he thought was the right price.

“To be honest, two hundred thousand was not the price I expected…” Tricke drawled again.

“Two hundred thousand is quite a lot, Tricke. Your annual salary, not including bonuses, is probably around three hundred and sixty thousand. This piece of news can’t be worth more than half a year’s salary.” Anderson knew a lot about Tricke too.

“The value of this information has little to do with my salary. If someone is making one hundred million a year, would your offer go up to fifty million?” Tricke laughed.

“How about this? You encrypt the video and project it remotely. I’ll take a look at the video first and re-offer.” Anderson had a better idea.

Remote projection allowed Anderson to see the video projection in front of Tricke, but the projection was encrypted and could not be recorded. Therefore, Tricke did not have to worry about Anderson secretly recording and not paying for the video.

“Alright.” Tricke agreed and immediately invited Anderson to watch the remote encrypted projection.

The video projection was played in front of Anderson.

Gu Ding’s crew was in a tavern, and everyone seemed to be there. What concerned Anderson was that other than Gu Ding and the tavern owner, there was also a man, a woman and a robot in the video. The three unfamiliar figures did not belong to Gu Ding’s pirate crew.

What took Anderson by surprise the most was that the man with the scarred face was the person closest to being a god, Roland. Roland sat next to Gu Ding. He rested his elbow on Gu Ding’s shoulder several times. It was clear that the two were close.

Tricke was not a media person, and Roland had kept a low profile in recent years. He had heard of his name but did not know that the man with a scarred face was Roland. Otherwise, he would have asked for a higher price.

Soon, the video showed Biggie cutting off the heads of the two Rank-13 martial art practitioners with one strike. Anderson was stunned to see this scene.

As the video was recorded on Tricke’s wristwatch, it was recorded from his point of view, and he was not shown in the video. Moreover, he deliberately blocked out the sound to avoid the video being linked to the Childe family and himself.

However, the media did not matter whether the video had sound or not, having images were enough. The scene in the image was indeed horrifying–Two Peak Rank-13 powerhouses were killed in seconds. More importantly, Roland, who had been given the title Grand Duke by the Federal Government, was in the same tavern as Gu Ding, and they seemed to be on good terms.

“Well? Three hundred thousand is not that expensive, is it?” When Tricke heard nothing for some time, he guessed that he was horrified by the scene.

“Alright, three hundred thousand then. Send me this video and delete your copy. I don’t want you to post it anywhere.” Anderson agreed to the price because the video revealed so much information he could exploit.

“I know,” Tricke said, smirking. To his surprise, Gu Ding had helped him earn nearly a year’s salary. “I’ll send you the video as soon as I receive the money. How you choose to write the story is up to you, but don’t involve me or the Childe family. The source of the video must be kept secret.”

“I understand!” Anderson agreed immediately. “I’ll ask finance to arrange the transfer immediately. You can send the video directly to my work email. You know the email address.”

In less than ten minutes, the two men had closed the deal.

As he looked at the money he just received, Tricke smirked. “Today’s not all bad, I suppose. Young master gave such a good idea.”

Gu Ding’s presence on Probrand was reported half an hour later by a media outlet, which, instead of the usual rumors, it had a real video. The editors of that media outlet even analyzed and explained the entire video.

The identity of the robot and the color-haired woman was played down in the commentary. Even the incident where Biggie killed Rank-13 Gene Bodies was played down. Instead, it was the fact that Roland and Gu Ding were drinking together that was widely publicized.

This was indeed a good stunt; Grand Duke Roland was like a god in the heart of countless swordsmen in Faye Cosmic Nation. He was also a powerhouse respected by numerous martial arts practitioners.

The headline read: “Grand Duke Roland joins Gu Ding’s crew!?”

In less than twenty minutes, the article garnered hundreds of millions of views. Its content and video were also forwarded by countless people, and the number of people who gave thumbs up was endless.

Of course, some of Roland’s diehard fans saw this as an insult to his reputation, but when they saw the video of Roland and Gu Ding getting along, they did not turn their anger on Gu Ding. Instead, they lashed out at the writer.

For Gu Ding’s fans, they had been hitting the like button all along. One even supported by saying, “Good Gu Ding, get the Grand Duke first! Then, take the Lord!” In less than an hour, his supportive commented was liked by millions of people.

Tricke, who read the article, got a little morose, “That scar-face turned out to be Lord Roland… Why didn’t I recognize him? I could have gotten millions of Universe Credits for this video!”

Inside a palace, a tall woman in a black dress and another woman in a purple dress were also watching the video.

“When did Roland get on so well with Gu Ding?” Midea, who was dressed in black, had a puzzled expression on her face. “According to the information we have, he and Gu Ding did not know each other before they met on Probrand.”

“They probably shared the same behavior. ” Elizabeth was not surprised at all. “It’s not like you’ve never met Roland, two headstrong fellows getting together, it’ll be strange if they didn’t get along.”

“Miss, do you think Roland will join Gu Ding’s crew?” Midea frowned slightly–The article made her a little worried.

“No, to Roland, becoming a god is his priority. No matter how close he is to Gu Ding, he wouldn’t let abandon his journey. Then again, it’s hard to say after he became a god…” Elizabeth had her own take on the situation.