A retired reincarnator from a certain American film studio

"Um……"

Earl looked up, and under Luke's gaze, turned the laptop around, opened the computer on it, and after some calculations, looked up at Luke: "I estimate the annual cost to be around 80 million."

Lu Ke gasped, "Eighty million? How could it be so much?"

Earl shrugged and said, “We’ve taken over eight bases in Europe. The management of those eight bases are highly paid, and none of them are loyal to Whitehouse. The combined annual salary of the management of these eight bases is around 30 million. There are about 500 agents left, and their combined annual salary is about 50 million.”

Lu Ke frowned.

"Could Jack cut some more off?"

"……cannot."

Earl said to Luke, "Sir, the average annual salary of those agents is only $100,000. That's less than our senior agents. I was thinking that if you're sure you want to keep them for future use, you could give them a raise."

After all, new people bring new ideas.

By raising salaries, they can also tell those agents who their boss is.

Lu Ke's brow twitched: "So, what I actually receive each year is only 120 million?"

Earl shook his head again.

Luke was dumbfounded.

Are there any other expenses?

“In various European countries, there are annual property taxes for three ancient castles, twelve manor houses, and eighty-eight luxury residences.”

Under Luke's gaze, Earl counted the various expenses on his fingers: "There are also the annual maintenance costs for the three castles and the salaries of the servants for the twelve manors. Just from the real estate alone, you need to spend 100 million every year. I haven't even calculated the gas, water, electricity and other miscellaneous expenses yet."

Lu Ke's face had darkened.

According to Earl's calculations, he wouldn't even be able to earn any money each year, let alone spend any money out of his own pocket.

Three ancient castles?

Twelve manors and eighty-eight luxury residences?

are you crazy.

Whitehorn, you old dog, haven't you ever heard the saying, "Even with a fortune, you can only sleep in a small space"?

Luke was speechless. He looked at Earl, intending to suggest selling the castles and manors, but then remembered something and fell silent.

While Whitehouse was alive, he never considered selling his assets to make ends meet.

Now that he's taken over, is he immediately starting to sell things?

If this gets out to other people, it will cause a lot of gossip. People who don't know the truth might think that he, Lu, is not even as good as that old dog Whitehoe.

No!

Family property certainly cannot be sold.

"Wait a moment."

Luke raised an eyebrow, recalling something Earl had just said, and looked at Earl: "You just said that Whitehouse spends 800 million a year to support several life science labs?"

Earl nodded: "Yes, four are in Paris, two in Berlin, one in Sokovia, and one in Seoul, which is in partnership with Dr. Zola, making a total of nine."

Lu Ke made a decisive decision: "Terminate the cooperation, now, immediately."

He is different from Whitehouse.

Luke doesn't need to study any life sciences.

He plays with metaphysics, which clashes with science.

Earl had no objection to this, nodded, made a note of it, and then asked, "Should we stop everything?"

Luke nodded: "Except for continuing to fund the 'cloning project' in collaboration with Dr. Zola, cut all the rest."

If he doesn't cut his losses in time, he might have to sell his blood to make a living next year.

He now finally understood why Daniel Whitehead was so eager to steal business from other board members.

We have no choice but to fight for it.

If what Earl just said is true, that old dog Whitehoe's annual income can't even cover his annual expenses.

Tsk tsk.

Spending 800 million to research science?

Dude, are you a Hydra? Spending money to research technology? Is that your style? Why don't you just wait for others to finish their research and then use it directly?

how.

Do you think anyone would dare charge you patent fees?

He now understood why Whitehorn, that old dog, seemed so arrogant, yet he chose to hide away and live like a hermit.

It turns out this guy is all bark and no bite.

Luke inwardly scoffed, then looked at Earl's notes: "Except for Dr. Zola's project, cut all other research projects. That should balance the budget, right?"

He's no longer thinking about getting rich quick by inheriting Whitehouse's estate.

Luke only hoped that inheriting Whitehouse's estate wouldn't lower his current quality of life.

otherwise……

Wasn't he just wasting his time?

Earl looked at the list of projects to be cut and the funds to be retained, and nodded: "That's fine. This way, we'll have the funds to give the agents at those eight bases a raise. Of course, if the commander doesn't want those bases, I think the other directors would be willing to take them."

Luke looked at Earl expressionlessly.

next second.

He picked up his bourbon and downed it in one gulp: "There will be no trades, at least not this year. Let it go up."

Again.

No one would start selling off their assets as soon as they take office, before they've even had a chance to settle in.

We definitely can't do that in the first year, at least not the first year. We have to do it, however we have to, to get through this year.

And Earl is right.

Jack had just used the algorithm Zola provided to eliminate a large number of agents and eight bases in Europe, which was a time of great anxiety.

A slap followed by a sweet treat—this principle applies to both the East and the West.

Lu Ke shook his head and sighed, "So, can the 980 million we have now sustain our operations this year?"

Earl recalculated and nodded: "It shouldn't be a big problem."

Lu Ke chuckled to himself.

Look.

This is why he didn't want to be the leader in the Main God Space.

Being the boss is exhausting.

Being the leader of a villainous organization is especially tiring.

For an ordinary person, let alone having a billion, even earning five million in a lifetime would probably make him ecstatic.

But Luke's side is different; 980 million is only enough to sustain him for a year.

He felt that he wasn't taking over Whitehouse's assets to make money.

This is definitely a poverty alleviation effort.

After listening to Earl's long list of events, Luke was in a bad mood until he saw Lady Viper on his phone's caller ID, which made him feel a little better.

Yes.

Today is the 15th.

Luke's expression shifted. He stood up from his office chair, grabbed the phone, walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, and answered Mrs. Viper's call.

“Maria.”

“Lu Ke”.

Lady Viper's voice came from the other end of the phone: "Are you free tonight? I'll be landing in Los Angeles in half an hour."

Luke smiled and said, "Maria, you can't imagine, I've been making time for tonight for a month now, just to wait for your call."

Lady Viper smiled alluringly: "Have you replenished your essence?"

Lu Ke raised an eyebrow.

"And you, Madam?"

"Want to eat people."

"What a coincidence."

Luke raised an eyebrow: "I really want to be eaten by the lady."

Lady Viper's laughter was full of temptation: "I'll send you the address, I'll wait for you."

Luke said "okay," hung up the phone, looked at the restaurant address sent by Mrs. Viper, zoomed in and out, and then called Rachel.

Rachel was at home reading the newspaper, waiting for time to pass, and then heading to work. She casually answered the phone: "Hello."

Looking at the sunset over Los Angeles outside the floor-to-ceiling window, Lu Ke said, "I have something to do tonight, so I probably won't be going back."

Rachel paused in her reading of the newspaper and closed it.

"beer?"

"Correct."

"A new brand of beer, or an old brand?"

"new."

"..."

Rachel raised an eyebrow: "Which manufacturer is this? Do you know what it tastes like?"

Lu Ke shrugged: "Haven't tried it yet, so I'm not sure which manufacturer it's from. I hope it tastes sweet, but I feel it's more likely to be bitter."