"What you want?" Fang Chien ground out, tugging futilely at the ropes that bound his hands. "You ready to kill me, ah?"
"Not yet." Arthur sighed. "Though that option isn't off the table."
The leader of the Ghee Hin snorted. “You tak ada balls lah.”
“Now that’s an idea…” Arthur muttered, putting on a considering look. It was gratifying to make the man blanche, and then glower at him. Not that Arthur intended to do something like that – no torture was a hard line. Especially for something like this.
“So, apa you nak?”
“I’d like to know why.”
“You know already lah.”
Arthur let out another elaborate sigh.
“Better to end you now, before you become a problem.” Fang Chien stated, flatly. “That’s why they keep me here lah. You think we here for nothing?”
“No. You all need Climbers too.”
“Yes lah. That’s the Tower. Me, I’m here to stop you people.” Fang Chien moved to gesture, came to a stop as the robes kept him bound. He looked frustrated at them for a moment, then stilled. “Understand?”
“So, that’s the Ghee Hin’s viewpoint?” Arthur said, concerned. “They going to be a problem when we get out?”
“Ya lah.” Fang Chien sighed. “You want to not, be tougher.” He looked around, added. “Do what you did here. Be so strong, they don’t dare come for you.”
“Why tell me?”
“Because you beat me. I want you to succeed. Or else, I’m just a loser who lost to another loser,” Fang Chien said.
“What happens now?”
“Your call, yes?”
“That depends. What happens when we let you go? What will you do to the Clan? We’ve broken the Ghee Hin here, though you still have your main building. We’re not dumb enough to try to destroy you all,” Arthur said, offering some information for free. Trying to get an idea of what the man wanted.
“I will rebuild my people. See what we can recover, once I take numbers.” His eyes narrowed, as he continued. “You killed a number of mine.”
“Quite a few, yes.” Arthur shrugged. “Not that we were the major culprits, mind you.”
“The UN.” He grunted. “Bloodthirsty. There's going to be a price.”
"So long as it's not us." Arthur said, warningly.
"We're done with you," Fang Chien said. "At least on this floor. My tai kor will handle you."
"That's it?"
A shrug, brought up short by the ropes. Arthur leaned back, considering. Fang Chien might be lying, but the thing was - he had no way of telling. Oh, there were people with abilities that would let them sense truth or lies, that could play the role of lie detectors at a much better rate. In fact, some Climbers specced for things like that, and not necessarily those in law enforcement.
Problem was, the majority of those kinds of techniques were Advanced techniques, not Beginner ones. The Beginner versions were just too basic, various traits and an enhanced sensing technique that was still reliant on the individual's ability to pick out such tells. End of the day, it worked for those who had trained skills like that beforehand - whether consciously or not. The only reason Arthur had that side thought was because he remembered reading something about how individuals with abusive or semi-abusive environments picking up clues much better.
Then again, he wasn't sure if that was another AI mangled garbage article or not. Wasn't like he had the money to pay for more than a few subscriptions to properly sourced information, and all that had been dedicated to checking on Climber sources.
Another way that the rich, the West, managed to screw everything up for everyone else. A new way of extracting money and controlling the flow of information.
He'd be angry if he wasn't just tired of it all.
"I can make contract." Fai Cheng mistook Arthur's musings for disatisfaction, hurrying on. "Buy one from the Tower. Sign between me and you."
"And then, once I get dealt with by your Tai Kor, you're free."
"Once you dead, the Durians are gone."
Arthur grunted in agreement. That, sadly, was the truth. Till they managed to get a few more Towers and upgrade the Clan itself, they were dependent upon him. He still didn't know how much he would have to upgrade the Clan before it could sustain itself without him. As it was, he had a suspicion that needing to hand over control to each floor bosss was taking up a degree of his authority that he could have saved up. Or at least, that was the way he envisioned it working.
The little he'd learnt from Cassey had told him that much, how even Clans could have choices in how they evolved. She wasn't clear on the exact mechanisms of course, and he believed her. After all, for all that she was from the main branch and the daughter of the current head, she was also still a kid in many ways. Just starting out.
Not someone you'd give too much information that they didn't know. That she grasped even as much she did was entirely from her listening in to conversations between the adults.
"Fine. That sounds acceptable." Arthur knew he could push the man further, maybe even make the man subservient to them or something. He might be able to do it, but of course, that could esily mean Fang Chien being replaced or killed by his own people. Or just for him to be sidelined, such that there was no use from making an agreement. On top of that, of course, was the concern about the Ghee Hin outside the Tower.
Even if he managed to get them to be peaceful, or to back off sufficiently, there was still a concern that him pressuring their people in the Tower too much could backfire. With the way information flowed too, details of such things would come after he had exited, most likely - unless he stuck around further.
On the other hand...
"But that's not just it. Peace alone isn't enough." Now, Arthur's voice dropped as he continued. "You got some of my people killed. There's going to be a price for that."
To his surprise, Fang Chien actually gave him an approving look when he said that. The man straightened a little, and they got down to bargaining. It made Arthur feel a little dirty, to be discussing lives as though they were just numbers that needed to be balanced or a line in a newspaper article, easily forgotten. But it had to be done, and payment - the blood price - had to be paid.
***
"So?" Mel asked, when he finally made his way downstairs. She had been busy dealing with some basic admin, handling the rest of the Clan's buildup while he was talking. Even with the Ghee Hin and their main concerns faded, there was still a lot of work left.
"We need to start keeping a proper Clan roster. Names, family names, next of kin and who we pay blood prices to," Arthur said. "We can't do much now, but later... we should try to do something for our people."
"Generous," Mel said, carefully.
"It's nice idea, boss. But what if they just joined and died?" Yao Jing said, concerned. "We could become real hard up."
"We can figure it out," Arthur said, waving a hand. "Maybe insurance or something, bought by others. A flat payment early on and then..." He sighed. "Then more if they get drawn into our shit."
"They knew what they were getting into," Mel said, gently to Arthur. Searching his gaze for the guilt he was too easily showing. "You know that."
"We can still do better." Arthur flopped down on a chair, glanced around the lounge and then continued. "We got a lawyer or paralegal or someone who knows contracts?"
"Uhh...." Mel looked flumoxxed by the change.
"Noor will know," Yao Jing offered. "I can ask?"
"Go." Arthur waved the man away and after Yao Jing shot a glance at Mel to make sure she was on duty, took off to hunt down the woman.
"Why do we need one?" Mel said.
"We're getting a Tower contract between me and Fai Cheng. No killing him, we get a couple of open favors we can call on and they will leave the Durians alone for the next five years."
"Why five?"
"I wanted ten, but he pointed out he won't be here that long," Arthur said. "He's willing to commit to staying another five at most. After that, we'll just need to be strong enough they won't mess with our people. Or come up with a new contract."
"Okay." Mel hesitated, then frowned.
"What?"
"Is that it then? All that... and that's it?"
Arthur considered what she said, then eventually shrugged. "I guess? End of the day, not a lot more left to do. Casey's leaving tomorrow. And after that, it's just up to us to train and get out."
"Huh."
Arthur understood her feelings all too well. After all this rushing around, it felt almost anti-climatic. Then again, the entire building the clan bit - that was just secondary to what they were here for.
Climbing the Tower.