Chapter 141: I’m a Little Afraid of Being Ganged Up On

Hearing this, the old man’s head snapped up to look at Rian Sinclair. He then waved to Ronan Ford standing behind him. Ronan, understanding the gravity of the situation, immediately ushered all non-essential personnel out of the room.

Although the two had been speaking in hushed tones, they needed to eliminate any potential external leaks. Once Ronan escorted the three extra people out of the office, only Rian and the old gentleman remained.

The old man’s expression turned serious as he looked at her. “Young Miss Sinclair, explain this to me in detail.”

After all, Veridia had a massive population, and its non-renewable resources were already depleting. They heavily relied on purchasing from other countries, which was why the old man had always been highly concerned about such matters.

Rian began, “I had some free time a while ago, so I went to an auction and bought a little something. Recently, my people investigated it and discovered that this ‘little something’ contained a rather massive treasure.”

The old man listened speechlessly to her casual phrasing of “a little something” and a “massive treasure.” Observing his expression, Rian continued.

“We discovered that the mountain range is rich in oil and natural gas reserves. Since I am quite a patriot, my very first thought was our Veridia.”

The old man didn’t call her out on her rhetoric. Any smart person could read between the lines, and spelling it out would just ruin the tact. However, her next words nearly made him jump out of his seat.

“According to our reports, the reserves contain approximately 1.5 billion tons of crude oil and roughly 90 billion cubic meters of natural gas.”

She wasn’t just pulling these numbers out of thin air. The moment she acquired the mountain range, Donovan Sinclair had sent a team to survey it in preparation for mining the diamonds inside. Although she originally got the information from the system, having an actual survey team made her knowledge seem perfectly reasonable.

The sellers in Babayan had been completely oblivious to the rich mineral deposits hidden within the mountains. They had only sold it because they were in desperate need of funds for infrastructure projects. The high price Rian paid at the auction had solved Babayan’s urgent financial crisis.

Rian had bought the mountain range purely on a sixth sense, simply feeling that the diamonds inside were worth far more than the asking price. She never expected it to yield such abundant non-renewable resources. Moreover, Scott Sutton had tried to outbid her back then. She wondered how he would feel if he knew he had given up on an actual Golden Mountain.

Rian’s lips curled into a faint smile. Across from her, the old gentleman could hardly contain his excitement. After all, this was likely the largest oil field ever discovered in Valoria. If it were utilized for the nation, Veridia’s standing on the global stage would undoubtedly skyrocket.

While the old man knew Rian was patriotic, she was still a businesswoman, and businesspeople never made deals at a loss. Since she had brought it up to him directly, she definitely had conditions.

His expression turned solemn. “Young Miss Sinclair, what do you want?”

Rian smiled. “As you know, sir, I am a merchant. I don’t have the appetite to swallow this entire oil field on my own. After all, having other countries eyeing me would be incredibly uncomfortable.”

She deliberately humbled herself. Given the bold moves she had recently made on the international stage, she was genuinely a bit concerned. “Therefore, I want to partner with the state,” she continued. “The nation can handle the extraction completely, and I’ll just act as a slacker, kicking back behind the nation to collect a little pocket change.”

Listening to her, the old man finally understood the true definition of a humblebrag. Calling trillions of revenue “pocket change”? Veridia’s annual GDP was only around a hundred trillion! And that was with countless enterprises operating at full capacity. Rian could pull in a trillion in pure profit from this single reserve alone!

And Young Miss Sinclair called a trillion “pocket change”?

Catching the faint hint of grievance in the old man’s silence, Rian realized she might have laid it on a bit thick. She smiled and said, “Please excuse my little joke, sir.”

The old man didn’t press the issue. After all, the background information of every Veridian citizen was strictly documented. Rian’s ancestors hadn’t committed a single crime in three generations; she was a textbook upstanding citizen with flawless roots.

He let out a hearty laugh. “Young Miss Sinclair, the property is yours, and the nation won’t take advantage of you. As long as you prioritize selling the extracted resources to Veridia, that will be enough.”

Rian shook her head with a smile. The old gentleman’s proposal wasn’t what she had in mind at all. “Sir, my idea is a full partnership. I will unconditionally donate ten percent of the extracted resources to Veridia. The remaining ninety percent will be sold exclusively to Veridia, and for the price, a discount of forty cents below the international import rate will suffice.”

The old man’s eyes gleamed with bright light at her words. Putting aside everything else, that free ten percent alone was worth over a hundred billion. Furthermore, the remaining ninety percent was exclusively going to Veridia at forty cents cheaper than the foreign acquisition price.

Taking standard figures: if crude oil was calculated at 2,200 per ton, the original acquisition cost of 3.3 trillion could be reduced to 3.2994 trillion. If natural gas was calculated at 2.6 per cubic meter, the original cost of 234 billion would be reduced by forty cents per unit, bringing the total down to just 198 billion.

On top of that, Rian was willing to donate ten percent for free, which essentially meant handing 353.4 billion straight to the nation! This wasn’t paying taxes—it was a pure gift! What other entrepreneur had such incredible generosity?

Despite this monumental offer, the old man did not let the excitement rush to his head. He hadn’t reached his current position without a sharp mind. He looked at Rian, his eyes curving into a smile.

“Young Miss Sinclair, casually handing over hundreds of billions and offering the state such massive discounts means you won’t make nearly as much as you could. Letting the nation pick up such a massive bargain… I have to wonder, what exactly is your condition?”

Rian chuckled. “You misunderstand me, sir. I’m not just handing the state a bargain; this is a mutually beneficial trade. I only have one tiny wish: I hope the nation will protect me well when the time comes. I’m a bit afraid of being ganged up on.”

She was shamelessly asking for a protective umbrella. After all, following the recent incident in Sakuran, some of her local assets had faced harsh crackdowns. The Sakurans only spared her remaining assets because they were tied to business operations in Meridia.

The old man smiled. “Rest assured, Young Miss Sinclair. Since the nation has protected you for this long, we will naturally continue to watch over you just as well as before.”

Rian smiled but said nothing. Both of them knew exactly what he meant. The old man was implying that as long as she remained an upstanding, law-abiding citizen as before, the nation would protect her. But that wasn’t what Rian wanted.

“Sir, you understand how young people are, right? I like to travel and mess around outside. Sometimes, I might run into a little trouble. If I accidentally get ganged up on…”

The old man fully understood her underlying meaning. He smiled and replied, “Young Miss Sinclair, as long as you aren’t caught red-handed, as long as you aren’t dragged to that particular place, and as long as there is no absolute proof against you, the state will always be your steadfast shield. No matter where you are, as long as you hold a Veridian passport, Veridia will guarantee you make it home safely.”

Rian’s lips curled into a smirk. She had been thinking about this condition for a long time. She wasn’t going to just sit around in Veridia forever. The outside world was far too exciting—it would be a shame not to stir things up.

The old man’s message was remarkably simple: as long as she didn’t leave any handles to be grabbed, and as long as her opponents didn’t have ironclad evidence to drag her to the international tribunal, she could wreak as much havoc as she pleased.