Hearing this, Lin Fan revealed a smile that had a deeper meaning.
Lin Fan then said, "Well, that depends on what you mean by cooperating. It's clear that by sending out five Gold Realm beasts at me one after another, there should be another reason for why you invited me here, isn't that right?"
While the president seemed like he had been quite straightforward with his questioning, he had actually been beating around the bush.
He had been testing Lin Fan, but it wasn't to test his abilities in training beasts as it seemed on the surface, rather he had been testing his strength and knowledge.
The president was taken aback when he heard this, but then he revealed a somewhat helpless smile, "When did you notice?"
"Well for the two top powers of Water Pearl City, a S Rank City to work together to invite me, it must be for a special reason. I really doubt that it would just be to invite me to set up a branch here." Lin Fan casually said.
The president said with a smile, "Owner Lin, you really shouldn't sell yourself short. Your store isn't a normal store, we all know this. Just the fact that you have 100% purity pet food is already shocking enough and then there's your special training method, just those two things already merit us inviting you."
Lin Fan also revealed a smile as he replied, "Maybe, but you have to admit that it does raise suspicions. And then my suspicions were confirmed when you showed up at the third test and sent five different Gold Realm beasts who all came from five different environments, it was clear that this wasn't just a test of my training abilities. Tell me, did I pass your test?"
The president looked at Lin Fan for a few seconds before bursting out in laughter, "Owner Lin, I have long heard tales of your wit, but it seems like they were all underestimating you. Yes, there is another reason why Lord Zhu and I agreed on inviting you to our Water Pearl City, but it was an urgent issue so I hope that you understand."
Lin Fan raised a brow at this, "Urgent issue, what do you mean?"
The president revealed a serious look at this and said, "Well first, there's something I need to show you."
After this, he opened a drawer in his desk and took out a file which he handed to Lin Fan.
Lin Fan opened the file and looked through the sheets inside, but he was confused by what he saw.
"These are information on beasts that can be found in different environments, so why are you showing me all this?" Lin Fan asked in a confused voice.
The president revealed a bitter smile before taking out a photo and saying, "What if I told you that we found all these different beasts in the same planar crack?"
Lin Fan knit his brows when he heard this.
Planar cracks followed the rules of minor realms, which meant that when a planar crack was formed, there would be only a single environment that filled that planar crack. A planar crack with multiple environments had never been heard of before.
"Are you kidding? How could these different beasts survive in the same planar crack?" Lin Fan asked in a surprised voice.
The president put the photo he took out and placed it on the table in front of him, sliding it over to Lin Fan.
Lin Fan took the photo and when he saw the image that it contained, he was surprised because in that photo, it was the impossible situation that the president had described.
There was an Ice Tusk standing with a Magma Slug with a Desert Horror on the side and they were all standing in a forest.
The president then said, "That was a photo that was taken by one of our scouts after we received different reports of beasts that you wouldn't normally find in a planar crack of this environment. We are putting together a team to scout this out and we were hoping that you would be able to join them."
Lin Fan put the photo down and turned to the president with a smile, but then that smile suddenly disappeared as he said with a cold look, "So you want me to be your bait?"
The atmosphere suddenly became tense in the room.
Lin Fan was actually a bit angry about this situation. He had been invited here, but now he found out that they had lied to him about the situation and even wanted him to run an errand for them, one that might even put his life in danger.
Of course, if he were to take Angela, that danger wouldn't exist at all, but he still didn't like the feeling of being lied to.
The president and vice president both revealed awkward looks when they heard these words from Lin Fan.
After a bit of hesitation, the president said, "Owner Lin, I apologize for not telling you everything, but the situation wasn't right just yet."
Seeing that Lin Fan didn't say anything in response, the president continued, "You should know that the situation in any city isn't as calm as it seems on the surface. We require someone with great knowledge about beasts and the ability to deal with them on this team, but if either me or the two vice presidents were to leave the Monster Trainer Union, either some humans or the Beast Clan would take advantage of this. Therefore we had no choice but to look for outside help."
Lin Fan could hear the sincerity in the president's voice, so after pausing for a bit, he said, "How are you planning on compensating me?"
Hearing that there was still a chance, the president quickly said, "Of course we'll offer enough compensation to satisfy Owner Lin. At a minimum, both our Monster Trainer Union and the Zhu Family will do all we can to help Owner Lin setting up his store, as well as doing all we can to advertise the store for you. We will also help you find the supplier with the lowest prices for you. If there's anything else that you want, please feel free to tell us."
Lin Fan stroked his chin before saying, "You can just help me advertise the store, there's no need for either of your factions to do anything for my store. As for the supplier, I already have my own supplier, so there's no need for me to get supplies from all of you. Finally what I do want is a supply of free pet eggs from all of you, as much as I can want and I want some workers from you."
Hearing this, the president revealed an awkward look, "We can provide you with the workers, but as for the pet eggs, we can't just give you as many free pet eggs as you want since we don't have the supplies for that."
Lin Fan expected this, so he said, "That's fine, I just want at least a hundred pet eggs a week, I'm sure that a large organization like the Monster Trainer Union can at least afford that, right?"
The president hesitated a bit before saying, "Alright we can agree to that amount, but are you certain you don't want us to help you hatch those pets? Wouldn't it be easier than having you hatch them all yourself?"
Lin Fan just smiled and said, "I have my own ways, there's no need for you to do anything."
The president then said, "But Owner Lin…"
…
Their negotiations went back and forth for over an hour, but by the end of it, when Lin Fan had walked out with Angela and Song Shu, the president fell back in his chair looking exhausted.
Lin Fan hadn't given him a single inch in these negotiations and the president had no choice but to give in to all of Lin Fan's demands.
The president seemed quite straightforward with his words, but actually there were all hidden conditions in his offers.
One, if the Zhu Family and the Monster Trainer Union were to give their all to Lin Fan's store, that would be equal to investing in the store. If they were to invest, they would have shares in the store and would have a chance to investigate deeper into the store, while also creating a deeper relationship with Lin Fan.
Two, if they were to find suppliers for Lin Fan, they could find out what kind of ingredients Lin Fan used to make that 100% purity pet food. Although they were alchemists, they did have connections with alchemists and by knowing the ingredients that Lin Fan used, they could slowly come up with their own recipe.
Third, if they were to hatch the pets for Lin Fan, they would have to help Lin Fan take care of the pets and would be able to examine them while he trained them to slowly learn his techniques.
Then there were many other offers with hidden conditions, but they were all shut down by Lin Fan decisively.
In the end, not only did they not have a single condition that was favourable to them, Lin Fan had even taken Yu Ning from Zhang Liang as an employee.
At first Zhang Liang had been against this, but then when Lin Fan told him that Yu Ning would be able to watch his techniques close up, Zhang Liang immediately changed his mind.
Zhang Liang had been very curious about Lin Fan's techniques ever since he examined the pets that had been trained by his shop in Green Wood City. If Yu Ning could learn some things about his training methods by working in the shop, he was more than willing to send Yu Ning to work there.
So just like that, Lin Fan had taken a bunch of things from the Monster Trainer Union and had left them with nothing, but they had to thank him still for taking these things.
How could the president not feel exhausted after this kind of negotiations?
As Yu Ning led them back out, Angela and Lin Fan moved a bit further back from them so they could talk alone.
Angela looked at Lin Fan with a confused look for a bit before asking, "Why did you agree to help them?"
Lin Fan looked around to make sure that no one was listening before revealing a serious look, "It's a gut feeling that I have. I'm almost certain that the strange circumstances of the planar crack are related to the Beast Clan. If they are related to the Beast Clan, this might even be the sign of an invasion."
Angela was even more confused, "What does it matter to you still?"
Lin Fan said with a sigh, "Right now we can't leave this world and I have important people here, so I have to at least help them. At the very least, this is my home planet, you understand that, right?"