"I just received a warning letter from the military base camp, asking me for compensation." Oscar was in a state of despair as he reported this to Marcus.

He knew that he could not ignore this warning from the military base camp, as even the Babbitt Group could not afford to provoke such an influential establishment. After all, the military base camps of the three major battlefronts controlled the strongest forces in all of Stanlos Base Camp! As such, no one dared to provoke these military base camps!

Marcus wanted to laugh at Oscar, but he could not, as he also had great troubles on his own mind. "Now will you accept my previous proposal?" Marcus asked.

"I can only raise two billion in original gold now, which is the money I will get from mortgaging my shares and liquidating all of my investments in the stock market." Oscar gritted his teeth, clearly pained by such a financial loss. "I know you have money too, so you have to share some of this burden."

"The cash flow of the Black Tiger Combat Unit does not exceed 50 million in original gold. Yet, you want us to fork out 7.95 billion in original gold? How can we possibly afford such a huge amount?" Marcus asked.

He was beside himself just thinking of such an astronomical number! After all, this amount of compensation was close to the market value of the entire Babbitt Group at its peak!

"Write him an IOU first, and tell him we are even willing to pay the interest later. Or, we can take out some treasures to put up as collateral. I seem to remember that your combat unit has an ancient relics treasure. That might be able to offset part of the compensation," Oscar suggested.

Marcus said in a cold voice, "That can't be used as collateral!"

"Can't? What's the use of keeping it at this time? It's been in your hands for more than three years, after all. What good has it done you just sitting around?" Oscar asked coldly.

He then added, "I even remember that the military base camp once offered you one billion for it, but you refused. It is worth about that much, I'd say."

Marcus frowned, as he was annoyed by Oscar's insistence. At this time, he had no choice but to agree, as neither the Black Tiger Combat Unit nor Oscar could bring out any other treasures to use as collateral.

Finally, Marcus reluctantly said, "No way will I use it to offset the debt. But, I can allow for it to be used as collateral."

Both Oscar and Marcus were now working together, truly trying their bests to fulfill the compensation requirements. By this point, luckily, they had abandoned their initial thoughts of murdering the person who had placed the bet.

As they were being closely monitored and were even warned by the military base camp, they did not dare to act recklessly. If Oscar and Marcus were to kill the person who had placed the bet, they would have to face the fury of the entire military base camp!

...

After Marcus left, Steve defeated Lawrence and received his 1,000 contribution points and the blood-sucking gra.s.s. Although the 1,000 contribution points were attractive to Steve, he paid more attention to the blood-sucking gra.s.s, as only by possessing it could he refine the Spiritual Serum!

After leaving the arena, Steve returned to the real world. Steve had just come out of the smart cabin, when Lucy suddenly jumped into his arms and kissed him pa.s.sionately.

"Honey, you were terrific!" Lucy looked at Steve with her eyes beaming, "I am beginning to adore you more and more!"

Steve put his arm around Lucy's waist and said, "There will be more chances for you to adore me in the future!"

Lucy smiled and hugged Steve's arm.

Sofia came up and kissed Steve gently on his lips, while whispering to him, "You worked hard. The plan was successful, and the Black Tiger Combat Unit will be suffering a huge loss, all because of you."

"Well, it was all thanks to your good cooperation that they were willing to accept the bet," Steve whispered back.

"No, it was mainly because of you." Sofia smiled.

In the beginning, she had not had a good impression of Steve. In fact, if it had not been for Stuart's drugging her, she most likely would have never even chosen Steve!

However, after getting close to Steve, she gradually found him to be charming and was deeply attracted by him.