Chapter 403: Free Promoter

"Your Excellency, Fanghuan Investment has sent a new negotiation proposal."
The Prime Minister felt a throbbing pain in his temples, as if someone were drilling into them.
He exhaled a long, stale breath, as if trying to expel all the pent-up frustration and anger.
It's finally here!
The Prime Minister's heart sank. What was bound to happen couldn't be avoided.
He had long been mentally prepared to be ripped off.
Even a fool could tell that Fanghuan Investment and their associates were no saints.
After their previous offer of three times the asking price was firmly rejected, they were back with a vengeance; it would be strange if they didn't demand an exorbitant price.
After all, in this current climate, natural gas prices are soaring, changing daily.
Look at the market; it's already almost seven times the original price!
Fanghuan and their pack of wolves have an appetite even bigger than the market itself.
"Tell me, how much do they want?" The Prime Minister's voice was hoarse, like sandpaper scraping.
"Seventy-seven dollars per million British thermal units."
"...?"
The Prime Minister's eyelids twitched violently; he almost thought his hearing had malfunctioned.
He jerked his head up, staring intently at his secretary:
"Say that again? Seven...seventy-seven? That's eleven times more?!"
The secretary, who had come to report, also looked utterly hopeless, silently closing his eyes with an expression that said, "You heard right, this damn world is just that crazy."
"Yes, Your Excellency. Eleven times more than before that damned war broke out."
Absurd! The sheer absurdity made the Prime Minister less angry.
Anger was clearly no match for the other's wild imagination; he even felt a little like laughing.
“Is this a price a human could quote? Eleven times? Are they really crazy, or do they think we're crazy? These bastards!”
“Your Excellency, the opponent is Fang Huan Investment,” the secretary tried to comfort him, but the comfort sounded even more infuriating than anything else. “Those people have never acted normally.”
“No way! Absolutely not! Even outright robbery wouldn't be this ruthless!
Even highway robbers know to shout ‘robbery!’ and go through the motions; they've skipped even that!”
The Prime Minister slammed his hand on the table. “Find other sellers, immediately!”
“But…Your Excellency, other market sellers have already quoted nearly seven times.”
“Seven times is still better than eleven times!”
“The key problem is,” the secretary retorted, forcing a smile,
“even if we're willing to pay seven times, there simply isn't enough stock on the market to fill the huge gap in the entire European Union.”
The Prime Minister’s brow furrowed deeply.
Price is only one factor; the crucial issue is the second—inventory!
This is the trump card Fang Huan Investment holds.
They control the bulk of the global natural gas spot market.
The inventories and production of other suppliers are like trying to extinguish a forest fire with a small water gun for the European Union, which is currently desperately in need—a distant solution that can't quench immediate thirst.
"Send ships to Russia to transport it! Bring it directly from their ports!" the German Prime Minister persisted.
"That route is blocked too. We've never transported natural gas on such a large scale by sea before; we've always used pipelines.
Now, in a last-minute rush, we need specially built liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers.
And the most critical thing is… currently, the only company in the world capable of handling this scale of transportation is… Fanghuan Shipping."
"What?!" The Prime Minister's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "We even have to rely on them for shipping?!"
"Yes. Fanghuan practically monopolizes the global shipping business for bulk commodities.
Even if we force ourselves to beg them, do you think they'd abandon their own natural gas to help us transport our competitors' goods? Unless they've lost their minds."
One link after another, a tight net, impenetrable!
After going around in circles, they finally discovered that the whole world belongs to his company.
The conclusion is clear, and cruel: without Fanghuan, this plague, they wouldn't even have a decent meal.
“No matter what, eleven times is outrageous! $77 per unit?
You want me to spend that money? I'd rather burn it for warmth!”
This price wasn't just excessive; it was like holding a knife to his throat, forcing him to slit his own throat!
“But we have no other choice…”
“No matter what, use every means possible, find me another way!” the Prime Minister roared.
“To be honest, even a price of seven times makes my blood run cold, and they dare to offer eleven times?!
Go find it! Even if you have to dig a hole in the earth, find another way out!”
Eleven times—this was a number he absolutely could not accept.
The Prime Minister firmly believed that Fang Huan Investment had cornered everyone, but there's always a way out.
And hasn't there always been a wise saying throughout history?
Where there's a will, there's a way!
***
A few days later, at the European Union headquarters.
"So, this is why you came to the Alliance crying and begging for our help after making such a mess of things?"
The rotating president of the European Union's eyes were filled with undisguised sarcasm.
In the Union Parliament, the Prime Minister of Germany's face was as black as the bottom of a pot.
Germany, this seemingly most proactive "big brother" on the natural gas issue, had recently vowed to be self-reliant and teach Fang Huan Investment a lesson.
But now, like a defeated rooster, it had finally slunk back to seek help.
Indeed, reality is a cold and hard wall, capable of crushing any dissent.
"Your Excellency, do you know? Because of your frantic running around and inquiring about prices everywhere, you've actually driven the market price of natural gas to the sky!"
"This... how can you blame me?" the Prime Minister of Germany tried to defend himself.
"How can I not blame you? You've gone around the world making such a big fuss, letting everyone know," the Alliance Chairman sneered.
"The news that 'Fang Huan quoted eleven times the exorbitant price' spread like wildfire, everyone knew overnight.
And the result? Everyone saw it and thought, 'Wow, even the leader is offering this price, what are we going to do?'
Raise the price! We must raise the price! Not raising the price would be a disservice to your painstaking efforts, Prime Minister!"
"You've stirred up the entire market!"
The Alliance Chairman's words left the Prime Minister speechless; it was indeed the truth.
He had indeed overturned the table, attempting to start afresh.
He had intended to counter Fang Huan by finding alternatives, but who could have imagined that the news would leak out, turning him into free publicity for Fang Huan, personally igniting market panic and inflating the appetites of all potential sellers.
Now, all sellers with inventory were tacitly raising their prices to an outrageous level.