Chapter 110: Dirt Cheap

Jude and Evelyn walked down the hall toward the front desk.

Before turning the corner, a voice echoed across the floor.

Standing in the middle of the lobby was a man in a sharp black suit... Preston Zhao, the head of Luminary VFX. Arthur Zhang stood off to the side, hunched over while Zhao tore him apart.

"Out of every account in this city, you chose this one to flex on?!" Zhao yelled, glaring at him. "Do you have any clue who actually owns this business, or are you just stupid?!"

Zhang stared at the floor, sweating bullets.

"Pack your desk by tonight," Zhao said. "HR is transferring you to our server outpost in Nairobi. If you show your face in Midtown tomorrow morning, our lawyers will fire you on the spot."

"Yes, Mr. Zhao," Zhang mumbled. He turned and shuffled toward the service elevator without looking up, his whole career in New York destroyed in an afternoon.

When Zhao saw Jude and Evelyn walking out, all his anger vanished in a heartbeat.

He straightened his jacket and walked over politely.

"Chairman Lawson," Zhao said, bowing his head with deep respect. "I’m Preston Zhao from Luminary. I’m truly sorry about what happened today. The way my sales team acted was completely unacceptable. I’ve taken both of them off this project for good."

"No need to dwell on it, Mr. Zhao," Jude said smoothly. "It’s handled."

Zhao let out a quiet sigh of relief and nodded. "Understood, Chairman Lawson. Thank you."

Behind the front desk, Walter Bai and the animators watched in disbelief.

In the VFX world, Zhao was famous for being a ruthless shark with sky-high prices...

Seeing him bow and scrape to Voyager left everyone stunned.

"Since you’re here, Mr. Zhao," Jude said, "we might as well settle the rendering deal for Nezha right now."

"That’s my top priority," Zhao agreed quickly. "We’re ready to get started."

Jude glanced at Evelyn. "Luminary has great tech, but Evelyn wasn’t happy with the original price."

Evelyn stepped forward, speaking clearly. "Our research shows that a 50% discount matches fair market price. That’s what we want."

Zhao paused for a second, running the numbers.

"If 50% feels too steep all at once," Evelyn added, "we could work out a—"

"No, Ms. Chen," Zhao cut in quickly and smoothly. "50% is standard. And to prove our loyalty and make up for today’s mess, Luminary will do the whole project at a 70% discount. Our lead engineers will be here first thing tomorrow morning to hook up the servers."

A low murmur broke out among the Voyager crew.

A 70% cut meant Luminary was barely covering their power bill and equipment costs, basically giving away their tech for free just to stay on the good side of the boss who owned Apex!

Jude held out a hand. "Works for me. Just make sure the film comes out on schedule."

Zhao shook his hand firmly. "We won’t miss a single deadline. Pleasure doing business with you, Chairman Lawson."

Just like that, the biggest roadblock on Nezha was cleared in minutes, and for dirt cheap.

Jude checked his watch, gave Evelyn a nod, and looked around the room. "Keep up the great work, everyone. When this movie hits theaters, you’ll all get a fat bonus. I’ve got to finish my delivery route."

Jude took the elevator down to the street, leaving the entire team glued to the 14th-floor windows watching below.

When the black Rolls-Royce Cullinan pulled away from the curb with Jude behind the wheel in his delivery vest, Walter Bai turned around, eyes wide in shock.

"Ms. Chen... why was Preston Zhao acting like that?!"

Evelyn picked up her tablet with a smile. "Jude owns Apex Media. Julian Mercer answers directly to him. Back to work, everyone."

She walked into her office, leaving the whole floor in dead silence.

A few blocks away, Marcus Sun stood on the sidewalk near 5th Avenue with his phone pressed to his ear as Arthur Zhang finally answered over the street noise.

"Mr. Zhang," Marcus asked, panicking. "Who the hell was that guy?!"

"Never say his name again," Zhang said in a broken voice. "I’m heading to JFK airport right now. I’ve been shipped off to a server shed in East Africa."

"East Africa?!" Marcus choked. "Over an argument in a lobby?!"

"Lawson owns the entire company that owns us," Zhang said, and hung up.

Marcus lowered the phone, staring blankly into traffic as the sheer horror of how bad he messed up finally hit him.

Jude spent the next 45 minutes delivering the last few boxes from the back of the Cullinan.

By the time the final delivery was logged, dusk had settled over the city.

Jude took an empty side road under the elevated highway to dodge traffic on his way back to the depot.

Taking a wide curve down the deserted road, a girl in a dark school uniform suddenly sprinted out of an alley thirty yards ahead, heading straight for the street.

Four men in dark jackets came chasing right behind her, closing in fast.

"Help!" she screamed, waving at the oncoming car.

Her foot caught on a street drain.

She stumbled, falling hard onto the asphalt and clutching her ankle.

The four men slowed down, grinning as they spread out under the streetlamp.

"Nowhere left to run, little girl," the leader said, reaching for her jacket.

Jude hit the gas around the corner, swinging the heavy Cullinan wide.

The blinding LED headlights flared across the road, and the massive three-ton SUV bore down straight at them like a charging tank!

The men dove back toward the sidewalk, covering their eyes.

"Move!" the leader yelled, jumping back in fear.

All four scrambled back into the dark alley and vanished into the shadows.

Jude brought the Cullinan to a smooth stop at the curb and popped the passenger door open.

"Get in," Jude said.

The girl pulled herself up, limped inside, and shut the door.