"If you want to borrow 500 million, it won't be easy even for me. Everyone knows that it's easy to lend money out, but it's hard to get it back. And from what you said, 500 million and one billion are just the initial funds." Han Lu picked up the teapot on the table and poured Zhang Heng a cup of Biluochun. "How much more do you plan to ask for?"
"I'm not sure yet, but the total amount is likely to reach eight billion," Zhang Heng told her the truth.
Ordinary people might be scared to death when they heard this number, but Han Lu was a well-known venture capitalist, especially when she was working in an international investment bank in her early years. It wasn't like she had never seen such a large amount of financing. So, she wasn't too surprised when she heard Zhang Heng's words. "It seems you have figured out how to pay me back."
"Well, I do have a preliminary plan, but I'm not absolutely sure it will work. And I've been busy lately, so I can't take care of this matter for the time being," Zhang Heng said.
When Zhang Heng asked Ding Si to post the trade post, he had thought about how he was going to fork out such a large sum of money. The Grade-B game items were only used as a guarantee, and Zhang Heng didn't intend to use them as the final payment unless it was absolutely necessary.
However, even for Zhang Heng, it was definitely not an easy task to come up with 8 billion yuan. Although it was not impossible for him to sneak into the bank vault without anyone noticing, Zhang Heng had to consider the serious consequences that might come with such a thing. It would attract large-scale social attention, and the police's involvement was almost inevitable. Besides, it was not in line with his usual style of doing things.
So, Zhang Heng gave up on this method without much thought. After that, he set his sights on other things.
The Black Sail quest was the longest quest he had ever experienced. At the beginning of the quest, he was intercepted by a pirate ship and boarded Blackbeard Edward Teach's ship. He followed the latter to Nassau, the legendary Pirate Kingdom, where he eventually became the Lord of Nassau and the King of the Seven Seas, witnessing the last glory of the 18th century pirates.
Over the past decade, Zhang Heng had either befriended or fought with many famous pirate captains in history. As a result, he learned many unknown secrets, including the whereabouts of some pirate treasures.
Although the fate of some of them had changed because of his intervention, and the final location of the treasure might have changed as well, it was not easy for pirates to choose a place to hide their treasures. They needed to consider all aspects. Zhang Heng believed that there were still some treasures left in the memory of the pirates.
Other than that, Zhang Heng also knew the sailing route and shipwreck location of a Spanish treasure ship. The latter was known as the biggest jewel in the world of treasure hunting. Preliminary estimates put the value of the treasure on the ship at more than 13 billion yuan. Although Colombia announced that they had found the Spanish treasure ship not long ago.
However, Zhang Heng read the news that year and found out that the shipwreck announced by Colombia wasn't on the route of the Spanish treasure ship. Until now, Colombia hadn't organized a salvage operation. Zhang Heng was inclined to think that it was just a publicity stunt. The real Spanish treasure ship was still somewhere in the ocean, sleeping with all the treasures on board, waiting for the day it was discovered.
If Zhang Heng could find the treasure ship, he could basically solve his financial problem once and for all. However, this matter wasn't that simple. In the Black Sail quest, Zhang Heng participated in the attack on the Spanish treasure ship, so he was likely to affect the shipwreck location of the Spanish treasure ship to a certain extent. Therefore, there was a high probability that he would need to search the ship's route again. Considering that nearly three hundred years had passed, and he had to take into account ocean currents and wind direction, it wasn't an easy task.
Other than that, how would he transport the treasures back after he found them? If he didn't solve the problem well, he might even get involved in international disputes. However, compared to moving a bank vault, the impact would be much smaller, and it was possible to control it within a certain range.
However, even if everything went smoothly, and he had the right time, place, and people, it was impossible for him to get eight billion yuan in just three months. That was why he asked Han Lu to raise the funds first.
And Han Lu didn't disappoint him. "It's impossible to borrow such a large sum of money, even with my guarantee. No one will lend such a large sum of money to someone they don't know at all. However," Han Lu paused, "it's different if you want to invest. The market is always chasing after returns. As long as you have a good investment target, countless people will naturally give you money without even asking for it."
"But I don't seem to have any valuable investment targets on hand," Zhang Heng frowned.
"It doesn't matter. As long as you can convince the capital market that your project has the potential to be profitable, you can still get a steady stream of funds," Han Lu said. "And I happen to be the best at this kind of thing. However, investors nowadays aren't fools. The era of financing purely by telling stories is over."
"What do you rely on then? Good products?"
"No, you rely on telling a better story." Han Lu blinked. "You're in luck. This is an era where traffic is king. Originally, only established companies dared to use loss-making strategies to seize the market and beat their opponents by burning money. But now, almost all emerging companies have become extremely bold and aggressive. No one cares about the profit margins of unicorns. That's something that belongs to the last century. As long as the numbers are good enough, and the prospects are attractive enough, investors will naturally find round after round to inflate the company's valuation. Eventually, the company will enter the secondary market, and everyone will be happy.
What I want to say is that the current environment is very good for what we're going to do next. The more money you burn, the easier it will be for you to hide the final flow of funds. So, all we need now is a convincing story. This may be difficult for others, but I don't think it will be a problem for you. "Han Lu had a sly smile on her face.
On the other side, Zhang Heng quickly guessed her plan. He raised his eyebrows, "You want me to come up with a prop to package the investment?"
"Yes. Technology themes are particularly popular in the market now, and I have been looking for a suitable target. It's time to let other investors feel the charm of black technology. I will lead the angel round. 80 million in exchange for 10% of the shares. Isn't this offer a little too greedy?"
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