James was shocked. Holding Amanda close, he was momentarily lost in the softness of her embrace. But seeing her favorability score spike was enough to startle him into retracting his thoughts. With the previous 11 points, Amanda's favorability was now at 71.
Wow. Tailsa was only at 68 points, and Shirley Taylor at 60. A 71-point favorability was the highest among the 90-point beauties James knew. This familial bond was indeed powerful. Once accepted, it nearly maximized the favorability in one go.
James felt relieved. At least he hadn't lost his composure earlier. Otherwise, those freshly gained favorability points might have vanished in an instant. There's no rush in matters of romance; building favorability takes precedence. Plus, Amanda held the reward for ten super-soldier strategiesâa tantalizing prospect.
He was just 9 points away from a reward. He needed to stay composed. And those 60 million, he was determined to spend them.
Holding Amanda, James silently swore to himself. After a while, when he sensed that Amanda had stopped trembling, James released her, eager to take her upstairs to sign the contract. However, she opposed the idea.
"This bar, given the current market, isn't worth 60 million. That Leo guy is overcharging you, don't you know?" Amanda wiped her tears, displeased by James's impatience.
"What? Isn't it supposed to generate 200,000 in daily revenue?" James was shocked.
"That's only when gullible kids like you come in showing off," Amanda said, poking James in the arm and rolling her eyes. "Typically, this bar pulls in only around 100,000 in daily revenue; during events, it might be higher. When influencers or celebrities advertise, revenues can hit a million."
"But overall, the annual turnover is just over 50 million. And quite a bit is spent on smoothing over relationships, nearly 7 to 8 million goes into maintaining those. Plus, there's rent, equipment, staff, beverages, and advertising costsâ"
"The net profit is less than half. If you have 60 million, we could easily open a new place in a first-tier city."
James, a bit dazed, caught the gist towards the end, striking his fist into his palm in realization: "You want to start anew with a new place?"
Amanda sighed, "Given the choice, I wouldn't want to start everything over. I'm familiar with this place after all."
James shrugged it off, "Then let's buy it."
Amanda sighed again, "But it's just not worth 60 million."
"Then let's go talk to Leo and offer 50 million. If he disagrees, we'll open our own."
Initially, talking about spending 60 million, James felt a bit uneasy since he didn't have that much cash. But now, after gaining so much favorability, he was calm.
If he could successfully get his reward, he could buy bars by the hundreds to give away.
"Dumb little brother, do you have more money than you can spend? Something worth over 30 million, and you're paying 50 million for it?"
James chuckled, "I don't really understand business. Here's the deal: I'll give you 60 million, and you can decide whether to revamp or buy. I support you either way."
Amanda was stunned, staring at James for a while. Once she realized he genuinely intended this, she couldn't help but laugh. Her fox-like eyes widened playfully, "You trust this stranger of a sister so much?"
"Who else would I trust if not you, now that I recognize you as my sister?" James replied resolutely.
"Aren't you afraid I'll take the money and run?" Amanda joked, studying him with a smile.
"I am," James said seriously, "But what scares me more is the idea of not having you, of you being bullied outside."
Amanda's heart fluttered from James's sweet words. It had been ages since a man said such heartfelt things to her. She was internally ecstatic, but outwardly she maintained a composed demeanor and lightly laughed it off. "Save those lines for the young girls. Your sister here won't fall for it."
"Those young girls aren't as beautiful as you, sis. I wouldn't waste time on them."
"You're quite the smooth talker. Honestly, how many girls have you fooled with that mouth of yours?"
James thought for a moment and replied, "Just one yesterday."
Amanda gave him a skeptical look but didn't press further. She casually asked, "That girl from last night seemed decent and clear-eyed. What happened to make her call you a jerk?"
"Uh... it's... well..." James's mind raced. He absolutely couldn't admit he wanted to have a harem and that she walked out when she disagreed.
"Hmm?" Amanda elongated her hm, unknowingly adopting a motherly tone she often used with her daughterâa tone of affectionate questioning.
Cornered, James mumbled vaguely, "I bought her a villa, but she insisted on having her name on it, and I refused. Then she left."
Why not add her name? Amanda, sharp as always, quickly pieced it together. She glanced at this mysterious young man, wisely refraining from probing about his family background.
"Then let's go talk to Leo and see what's the lowest price he'll settle for."
"Alright."
...
After James and Amanda had left earlier, Leo Pg had already instructed his men to investigate James.
"Boss, friends in the capital said they couldn't find anyone named James in the King family."
"That can't be. Maybe he's an illegitimate child?"
"However, we did find someone locally named James who looks a lot like him."
"Oh?"
"His record is clean, no assets in his name. After graduating college, he's been delivering takeout and even worked as a security guard..."
"..." Leo Pg's face darkened, remaining silent.
"And that tall guy at the door, Jay Johnson, he drives for a ride-sharing company..."
"So you're saying I'm being messed around by a delivery guy?" Leo Pg said angrily.
The subordinate worried about having made a mistake, fearing a mess they couldn't clean up. They knew that as subordinates, if things went wrong, they'd be the scapegoat. They had to be careful. Besides, given James and Jay Johnson's aura, it was hard to believe they were just a delivery guy and a driver.
The subordinate defended, "Maybe their identities are fake. For people in our line of work, getting a fake ID isn't hard."
"IDs can be faked, but you can't fake money. Check the transaction records of what that kid spent yesterday. See where his money comes from," Leo Pg sneered coldly.
If he found out James was just some nobody, it would be game on tonight. He wanted this imposter to understand just how easy it was to ruin him.
"We checked first thing, and that's where the issue lies," the subordinate said, sweating bullets.
"Hm?" Leo Pg lazily questioned.
"His Dragon Card balance is 43.2 million, but the source of the money is untraceable," the subordinate reported nervously.
"Untraceable?" Leo Pg exclaimed.
"Yes, it's like someone erased the transaction history. Only withdrawals, no deposits," the subordinate was equally perplexed by this unprecedented situation.
"What bank?"
"Standard Chartered."
Leo Pg exclaimed in shock, "Holy shit, this is a world-class bank, and someone tampered with its records?"
The subordinate said bluntly, "Besides, Mr. King spent 6.8 million just today buying a sports car, not registered under his name."
Leo Pg fell into deep thought.