Hearing the secretary's words, Qiu Jiji, who had been hesitating for a long time, finally said, "We don't have that many Hong Kong dollars. Can we use something else to pay off the debt?"
“Since the IOU doesn’t specify that repayment must be in Hong Kong dollars, other items can be used to settle the debt.” Upon hearing this, Octopus Head nodded and said, “However, the value of the items used to settle the debt must exceed the value of the debt itself, and we will have our own assessment methods to account for potential losses due to depreciation or replacement. You have twenty minutes. If you cannot provide enough items to settle the debt after twenty minutes, we will forcibly collect the debt.”
After the octopus-head finished speaking, the communication was cut off again.
"What can we use to pay off the debt?" After communication with the aliens was cut off again, Qiu Jiji and the others were once again in a headache. Everyone tacitly avoided mentioning defaulting on the debt. If they dared to default, other countries would probably tear the British Empire apart and sell it off before the aliens even had a chance to act. However, the aliens didn't accept currencies other than Hong Kong dollars, and the goods used to pay off the debt had to be worth more than Hong Kong dollars. The phrase "allowing for depreciation" was a problem; this was based on the aliens' evaluation methods, and who knew what kind of things would be considered so valuable in their eyes? They had considered borrowing from other countries, but now they only had twenty minutes. Even if they managed to borrow, it was impossible to transport more than five trillion Hong Kong dollars worth of goods from other countries to pay off the debt to these aliens within twenty minutes. Even mobilizing resources domestically wouldn't be fast enough.
Now, everyone following this story is furious with the British Royal Family. What a terrible hotel, owing such a huge gambling debt! Now, things could really get messed up, and all of humanity might be doomed. If it causes any more damage to these aliens, who knows how much the debt will grow? Maybe they'll have to sell their planet to pay it off.
"There's simply no time to gather resources, and we don't even know how much our products will be worth in these aliens' assessment of our debt of five trillion Hong Kong dollars. Should we ask again? Could we put it in writing?" one of the decision-makers suggested. Of course, everyone knew what he meant by "ask again, could we put it in writing?" Since there wasn't enough time to prepare, and they didn't know how much material the aliens would require to offset the debt, signing a treaty was the only way they could think of to quickly repay the debt, and one they might be able to afford.
"That's the only way!" Qiu Jiji nodded and said, once again reminding people of the alien spaceship in the sky.
The video call was quickly reconnected, and the octopus head reappeared in everyone's sight.
"Could you..." Qiu Jiji said after the video call connected, but she couldn't bring herself to say the words "sign the contract".
“You don’t have much time left!” the octopus-headed man said.
"Could we write down the items used to settle the debt on a piece of paper and repay it by selling or renting them out?" In the end, Qiu Jiji used a more palatable approach.
“Sure.” Upon hearing this, the octopus-headed man nodded and said, “What do you want to rent or sell? We will have professionals to evaluate it.”
"Minerals!" Qiu Jiji said, "The mining rights to lease out mineral resources!"
“I am the appraiser,” said one of the tribesmen behind the octopus head. “There are many mineral planets in the universe. Ordinary minerals are not valuable and their value fluctuates greatly, but they can indeed be used to offset some debts! We can only calculate based on the lowest price.”
"Phew!" Upon hearing this, Qiu Jiji breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that writing it down on paper was a good idea.
"What about technological items?" Qiu Jiji asked cautiously, as technological items were always the most valuable.
“Your planet’s technology is very backward, and technological items become obsolete too quickly, so we can only calculate it as depreciated refined products, or what you would call scrap metal,” said the appraiser behind the octopus-headed man.
"Uh!" Qiu Jiji was speechless. His plan to use technological products to pay off the debt had failed; the other party only wanted to collect the technological products as scrap metal.
"Can we talk face-to-face?" Qiu Jiji asked. He decided not to broadcast the treasonous talk live, and after the discussion, he would resign and hide away somewhere secluded.
Upon hearing this, the octopus-headed man glanced at Wang Han without making a sound. Seeing Wang Han nod slightly, he said, "Okay."
As soon as the octopus head finished speaking, Wang Han waved his hand and used the wall-penetrating device to send the group to the conference room where Qiu Jiji was.
"This...!" Qiu Jiji and the other decision-makers were startled when they saw the octopus head that suddenly appeared in the conference room.
"It's just teleportation technology, nothing to be surprised about." The octopus-headed creature was startled by the sudden change of location, but maintained a calm demeanor, as if teleportation technology were commonplace.
After listening to the octopus-head's words, Qiu Jiji and other decision-makers had an even higher opinion of the aliens' technology.
“Alright, let’s start discussing the details now. What items will you use to settle your debt?” the octopus-headed man said. “First, let me clarify that the value of the items used to settle the debt needs to allow for depreciation, so the prices will be very low.”
"We plan to use minerals, state-owned enterprises, and land leases to pay off the debt." Upon hearing this, Qiu Jiji said with a bitter face. These were the only options available. Apart from these things that could be written down as assets, they simply couldn't scrape together five trillion Hong Kong dollars and other valuables in twenty minutes.
As for meddling with the royal family, screw the royal family! They've ruined the country so badly, why bother with them?
…………
After ten minutes of hard-fought negotiations and relentless price-cutting, Churchill finally signed a long list of deals, selling 45 percent of the country's businesses, 60 percent of Great Britain's mineral resources (including gold mines and two small islands), and leasing more than half of the country's ports, as well as warships and cargo ships. In the end, he paid off the debt with goods and rights worth over 50 trillion.
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
