"Old Liu, I just asked you to pick me up. What’s with the huge spectacle? If you ask me, you’re still a few cars short. It’d be even more badass if you had a few more in the front and back, right?"

The last part of Fang Chenyi’s comment was just an exasperated joke, but to his surprise, Liu Yishou nodded vigorously after hearing it.

"Sigh, you’re right, Brother Fang. I was originally planning on that kind of arrangement, but unfortunately, this is the only vehicle we have. Otherwise, I would’ve definitely put one car in front and one in back to form a protective escort."

Fang Chenyi was completely dumbfounded. ’I was just teasing him, okay? How is he taking it so seriously and running with it?’

Liu Yishou actually understood how Fang Chenyi was feeling. Seeing the exasperated look on his face, Liu Yishou chuckled and said:

"Hehe, I’m actually using this to train them. Just treat it as a drill. Without regular practice, if something really happens, we’ll be caught completely unprepared."

As they spoke, the Knight XV had already passed through the main gates of the villa community.

When the car came to a stop, Fang Chenyi didn’t get out right away. Instead, he spoke with a serious expression.

"It’s about that matter we discussed. You and Qi Xiaotian need to find some good veterans. The commercial district project has already begun, and we’re critically short-staffed. During construction, some of the more important areas need to be watched over by people we can trust."

The nine buildings in that commercial district held many secrets.

As it stood, security for the commercial district was being handled by a company Wei Yilong had hired on the fly, which posed a significant risk.

Moreover, Fang Chenyi had no intention of using foreign crew members on the Ocean Harmony, the ship he had just acquired.

The reason, of course, stemmed from David’s earlier comment that "Huaxia People can’t afford it."

’It’s safer to have my own people operating my own ship.’

At this thought, Fang Chenyi immediately added:

"Oh, right. I also need veterans from the navy if you can find them. As for the number... the more the better. If you could get eight hundred to a thousand, that would be perfect!"

*Pfft—* COUGH, COUGH!

The moment the words left his mouth, Liu Yishou, who was in the driver’s seat, nearly choked on his own spit. ’What the hell? Eight hundred to a thousand men? What’s he planning to do?! That’s enough to crew several destroyers!’

Seeing Liu Yishou choking and coughing incessantly, Fang Chenyi knew his request was a bit shocking, so he smiled and explained:

"Look at you, what’s with the dramatics? I recently bought a cruise ship, and I’d feel more secure replacing the whole crew with our own Huaxia people. Alright, alright, just hurry up and recruit them if you find any. The pay and benefits will be top-notch!"

After saying this, he paid no more mind to Liu Yishou, who was still trying to suppress his coughs, and got straight out of the car.

Of course, he wasn’t holding out much hope. After all, Liu Yishou had no connections to the navy.

That matter could wait. The most important thing right now was to secure Huaxia navigation rights. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to bring his cruise ship home, which would be a real pain in the ass.

Back inside the villa, Fang Chenyi went straight to the study, found a number on his phone, and dialed.

This person had come to mind right after he received the call from David. In fact, he seemed to be the only person Fang Chenyi knew who could help him resolve this issue.

BEEP... BEEP... BEEP... The phone rang several times before it was answered.

"Hello, Xiaofang? Calling in the middle of the night... has something urgent happened?"

Ouyang Jun’s voice on the other end of the line was filled with concern. Anyone would assume that a call in the dead of night had to be about something urgent.

Hearing this, Fang Chenyi paused. He glanced at his wrist and was instantly embarrassed. He’d gotten so caught up in his "scavenging" that he’d lost track of time. It was already past midnight.

Realizing this, Fang Chenyi couldn’t help but feel a little sheepish and laughed awkwardly.

"Ah, hehe, look at me... I just finished up with something and didn’t even look at the time. I’m so sorry, Brother Ouyang. Please, go back to sleep. I’ll just call you tomorrow morning."

Fang Chenyi felt quite bad for waking someone up in the middle of the night.

Ouyang Jun on the other end was left speechless for a moment. But since he had already answered the call, what was the point of waiting until morning?

"You kid... It’s fine. You’ve already woken me up, so just tell me what’s on your mind."

Fang Chenyi heard the sound of footsteps through the phone and figured Ouyang Jun had probably stepped out of the room so as not to disturb his wife.

He still felt bad, but since he’d already disturbed him, Fang Chenyi decided to get straight to the point.

"Hehe, really, my apologies. So, here’s the thing... remember how I told you before that I wanted to hire a batch of veterans? I was wondering how that was coming along."

When he heard what it was about, Ouyang Jun on the other end replied in a huff:

"Hah, you kid, you called me in the middle of the night for *this*? Relax, I’m already handling it for you. It’s pretty much settled. In about a week, a group of scouts is set to be discharged. I’ve already made the arrangements for you—a total of one hundred and thirteen men are coming! Hehe, how about that? You’d better not complain that’s too many. You’re the one who told me you’d take as many as I could get!"

Ouyang Jun had originally planned to call Fang Chenyi the next day to talk about this. A group of one hundred and thirteen was a bit large, and he wasn’t sure if Fang Chenyi could take them all on.

Fang Chenyi, on the other hand, was thrilled. He hadn’t expected Ouyang Jun to be so reliable; he’d managed to get him over a hundred men right after he asked.

It looked like he’d definitely gone to the right person. He laughed and said:

"Haha, one hundred and thirteen men? That’s wonderful! It’s a little on the low side, but it’ll help with the immediate need. Hey, Brother Ouyang, since I’m already asking, and since you were able to get me over a hundred men, I’m sure getting another thousand or so shouldn’t be a problem, right?"

At these words, Ouyang Jun, who had been wearing the sly smile of an old fox, was utterly dumbfounded. His voice grew agitated as he exclaimed:

"COUGH, COUGH, COUGH! What?! Xiaofang, you’ve got to be kidding me, right? Over a thousand men?!"

Hearing the astonished cry from the other end, Fang Chenyi just chuckled.

"Hehe, that’s right. A thousand or so should be enough. But out of that thousand, I need at least five hundred to be navy veterans. If any of them know how to operate a ship, that would be even better!"

Ouyang Jun had still been a little drowsy, but after Fang Chenyi’s words, that last trace of sleepiness vanished completely. Not only that, but a hint of vigilance crept into his voice as he asked:

"What do you need that many men for?"

With no other choice, Fang Chenyi had to explain the story of him buying a cruise ship all over again, and he also took the opportunity to ask if Ouyang Jun could help him secure the navigation rights.

Hearing Fang Chenyi’s explanation, Ouyang Jun finally breathed a small sigh of relief. He thought for a moment before saying:

"If it’s really as you say, then I happen to be in a position to help. I can’t get you five hundred, but I can get you more than three hundred. They’re all being discharged at the same time as the other group."

’My design institute works with the army, navy, and air force, so I have contacts in all three branches.’

’Just the other day, when I was arranging employment for those hundred-plus men, an old friend in charge of naval vessels even complained that I wasn’t being a good buddy by not helping his guys find jobs too.’

Upon hearing this, Fang Chenyi was pleasantly surprised. He hadn’t expected the problem to be solved so easily. While three hundred-plus wasn’t a huge number, it was close enough. The Ocean Harmony might have over two thousand crew members, but more than half of them were service staff. The actual technical crew was only about five hundred people.

To put it bluntly, those five hundred or so were the ones he needed to replace. As for the service staff, he could just recruit new ones from the general job market.

With that settled, the only thing he needed now was to find a few captains capable of piloting the Ocean Harmony, and then he would be all set.