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Chapter 416 Testing
Mr. Lin is unfamiliar with Western countries.

If Alejandro were here, he would grin and sneer: the Anelians are always like this; when they need something from someone, they don't care about their reputation at all.

But once the goal is achieved, Anelia is the fastest in the world to turn his back on someone.

Mr. Lin was quite surprised to see the head of the delegation yielding to Ma Tianshou.

This is applying the mindset of the Ming dynasty to the Anelians.

But for Richard, it was just a matter of saying a few nice words to please Ma Tianshou.

He himself suffered no real loss.

"Please come in, Your Excellency." Ma Tianshou said coldly, waving his hand to dismiss the officers.

Richard walked in politely, and when he saw Mr. Lin, he smiled apologetically: "I'm so sorry for being so presumptuous."

Ma Tianshou was too lazy to engage in hypocrisy with him: "What exactly does Your Excellency want?"

Richard couldn't help but glance at Mr. Lin, hesitating before speaking.

Mr. Lin then tactfully rose to take his leave: "I will return now. I will convey your message to Lord Bian truthfully."

Ma Tianshou saw him out, and when he returned, Richard couldn't wait any longer: "Sir, three of my men have made mistakes. I have severely punished them and made them swear an oath that they will never do it again and will always respect the Ming Dynasty."

Ma Tianshou snorted and looked at him with icy eyes.

Richard forced a smile and said, "But one of them has been poisoned. Although he is at fault, he does not deserve to die. I beg you, for the sake of the friendship between our two countries, to grant him the antidote."

This is the opportunity for testing that Xu Yuan mentioned.

Ma Tianshou said, "My officers from the Exorcism Division are secretly searching for them within the city. They committed crimes on the land of my Ming Dynasty, and they should be punished according to the laws of my Ming Dynasty!"

Richard hurriedly said, "Sir, we are a diplomatic mission and have diplomatic immunity..."

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" Ma Tianshou said firmly. "I am an official of the Ming Dynasty and I only act according to the rules of the Ming Dynasty!"

“This…” Richard gritted his teeth: “Can we buy them out? I am willing to have the three of them offer up all their assets to compensate your country.”

Ma Tianshou raised an eyebrow: "Indeed, our Ming Dynasty has precedents of paying money to atone for sins."

Richard cursed inwardly.

No matter the country, officials are greedy.

However, since it's Boris and his two companions who are paying, I, the Lord, will never spend a penny on them.

“Then it’s decided,” Richard said. “I will order them to hand over their entire fortune immediately. But could you please give him the antidote first? Boris is almost at his limit.”

Ma Tianshou replied, "Your Excellency only said to let them atone for their sins, but their crimes are not light. How much wealth do they have? Is it enough for the Emperor to forgive them?"

Richard estimated in his mind: "According to your country's calculations, their assets are worth three thousand taels of silver."

“That’s not enough,” Ma Tianshou shook his head repeatedly.

After some haggling, the three men's ransom money was finally settled at 10,000 taels, totaling 30,000 taels for all three.

Ma Tianshou will give all the money to Xu Yuan.

Richard was also very satisfied.

The assets of the three fourth-tier professionals are certainly more than this.

However, it's impossible to force the three of them to actually give up all their family assets.

Richard estimated that he could extract three thousand pounds of wealth from each person through this matter.

Approximately 20,000 taels of silver.

The extra portion was naturally a reward for Sir Richard's hard work in lobbying for them.

(Note: There are several versions of the exchange rate between British pounds and silver; the standard of one pound being equivalent to seven taels of silver is used.)
After they had discussed it, Richard asked again, "What about the antidote..."

Ma Tianshou: "Of course I can give you this first. But the antidote is not with me; it is stored in a warehouse at the canal dock outside the city."

Since your Excellency is in such a hurry, I will send someone with you to fetch it.

“Alright.” Ma Tianshou summoned a captain from outside, gave him some instructions, and then the captain took Richard out of the city.

The canal wharf in Luocheng is located seven miles north of the city.

As we passed a secluded, dilapidated temple, a sudden gust of cold wind swept across the area, instantly changing the color of the sky and earth, and a shadow loomed over us!

The captain exclaimed in alarm, "A great evil spirit has arrived!"

Then, something in the shadows grabbed him and pulled him away, disappearing with a scream!

Richard's face darkened, and with a flick of his wrist, his tuxedo disappeared, replaced by a bright and flamboyant performance costume.

He reached into his hat and released countless white doves.

These white doves, only the size of bees, rushed into the surrounding darkness.

Richard could "see" everything the white doves saw.

He raised his walking stick again, and with a flick of his wrist, it transformed into a torch.

The flames flickered, and something seemed to be hidden inside.

……

Outside the shadows, Ma Tianshou and Xu Yuan stood side by side.

The one in charge of the operation was a powerful evil spirit from the turbid realm of Luo City.

Richard was a sixth-order being, and ordinary evil spirits were not strong enough to achieve the desired testing effect.

Ma Tianshou intervened, offering some condition, in exchange for this great evil spirit taking action once.

Xu Yuan said, "This place is far from the city, and there are no spectators."

Moreover, the open terrain is very unsuitable for the 'trickster' to perform.

Richard fought the great evil spirit for almost half an hour, but was unable to defeat it.

Suddenly, a pitch-black, monstrous head with only a mouth emerged from the shadows in front of Xu Yuan and Ma Tianshou.

He roared at Ma Tianshou, "Is that enough?"

Ma Tianshou nodded: "That's fine."

The shadow then vanished with a whoosh, not wanting to linger for even a moment longer.

Xu Yuan and Ma Tianshou quickly fled, otherwise Richard might find them if they waited any longer.

Even the old man couldn't help but curse, "Evil spirits are really unreliable!"

But it is now certain that "everything written in that book, 'The Divine Path Memorandum,' is true."

The demon-slaying army was unwilling to share intelligence, but in recent days, Ma Tianshou still managed to find out some information through various channels.

"Richard's performance just now was not as impressive as his battle against the demon-slaying army."

After the two returned to the Jiaozhi Southern Government Office, Ma Tianshou immediately ordered: "Gather everyone together and formulate targeted tactics based on the records in the 'Divine Path Memorandum'."

The Ming Dynasty has too little understanding of professionals.

Even the demon-slaying army only had three matches, which gave them a glimpse into some of the characteristics of professionals.

However, the pamphlet detailed the main methods of each profession.

This allows the exorcism department to have a clear understanding of both themselves and their adversaries.

Richard drove away the evil spirit and rescued the captain from a cocoon of yin energy.

The captain, looking extremely grateful, led Richard to the canal dock to retrieve the antidote and escorted him back to the inn in the city.

After Boris took the antidote, he was indeed quickly cured.

Richard, however, felt that the appearance of that evil spirit was inexplicable: such a powerful "mysterious" creature was entrenched outside the city? It should have been eliminated by the Ming Dynasty long ago.

(End of this chapter)