Darkstone Code-Chapter 858 - 856: Preparing on Both Fronts

Anna stood by the windowsill, watching her father converse with Lynch, observing her father deep in silent contemplation.

She rarely saw such a contemplative expression on Mr. Pato’s face. Born into a family of this level, she knew that the issues seen as "problems" by many would never occur around her or by Mr. Pato.

Business competition?

Large consortiums never fear competition; they can easily mobilize upstream and downstream, even entire industries, targeting some rivals.

Supply cut-off, payment difficulties, order cancellations, bank demands...

For such dominant consortiums, destroying an immature company or even a group is too easy.

A few phone calls, a chat with bank presidents, governors, senators, playing ball together, and their opponents are toast.

This also made Mr. Pato, in Anna’s memory, unbeatable, the strongest person.

No one could ever trouble him, including Mr. Wardrick, including Mr. Jeruno.

No one could force him into such prolonged thinking—no one.

But now, he was frowning, pondering, seemingly encountering a troublesome issue, which piqued her curiosity—what had he encountered that required so much time to think through yet remained unsettled?

Is it hard?

Five, six, seven, eight minutes later, Mr. Pato relaxed his brow, slightly shook his head, "In principle, I endorse this idea, but I still need time to think more thoroughly."

This sentence meant he couldn’t give Lynch a response today, which was initially designed as his leverage against Lynch.

Lynch couldn’t give him a response today, so he occupied a dominant position, yet the ideal scenario was overly optimistic—Lynch never performed according to script.

"No worries, what we have is time. You have to wait for me to take the first bite before dividing my money, right?" Lynch smiled and extended his hand, ready to see him out.

Mr. Pato felt no offense, extending his hand to shake Lynch’s, standing up gracefully, "I’ll get back to you as soon as possible."

"So... goodbye?"

"Goodbye!"

After seeing Mr. Pato out of the room, he began considering how to deal with upcoming investors.

Mr. Pato was definitely not the last one. Look, Mr. Wardrick was already queuing up, who knows what other person might jump out later.

Some Lynch didn’t know, but others he could already predict.

For instance, the currently dominant military industrial groups, these interest groups wouldn’t relax their vigilance towards Lynch. Without certainty that the airplane truly represents the future, the best insurance method is to buy shares!

And predictably, these people would inevitably demand shares with voting rights, as only then, once they deem Lynch may affect their core businesses’ interests in the arms sales domain, they could, through these shareholder representatives, slow down the company’s development and fast-track their own growth.

The struggle between capitals never considers dirtiness or cleanliness. People only recognize those well-dressed, charmingly smiling successful individuals under blinking flashlights, never remember the flea-ridden tramp in the park once wealthy.

As long as opponents are knocked down, as long as the methods are appropriate, why bother about dirtiness or cleanliness?

Moreover, Lynch is by no means a clean person.

As Lynch pondered matters, the maid came nervously into the living room.

Since expressing her own stance last time, she’s been uneasy, only uncertain because Lynch neither reported harassment to the service company nor asked her to do anything.

This left her unsure how to proceed; such a scenario was entirely unexpected for her.

Recently, many beautiful young girls came from the service company, signaling imminent replacement.

The maids attached to the community service company couldn’t remain forever; how can I say it?

If a homeowner hasn’t designated specific personnel to serve long-term, it implies dissatisfaction with these individuals.

Those residing in the Half Mountain Villa District are very distinguished individuals; the service company receives significant funding from them annually and is surely wholeheartedly dedicated.

If this batch doesn’t please the homeowners, they change the batch—community companies only sign temporary contracts with these temporary maids.

Ranging from three to six months, if they don’t receive owner designation, they’ll lose the job.

The girl’s contract expires in a month, leaving her anxious now.

If she can’t stay here, it means re-entering society.

Some might believe... a pretty girl holds advantages in Bupen. Those with such beliefs are certainly unfamiliar with Bupen.

Anyone truly acquainted would acknowledge, everywhere there are pretty girls, what counts as high-end in other places is widely seen here.

Here is heaven, but mostly it’s hell.

Girls rarely maintain themselves here, like those in Laridemo who strip for art but ultimately lie in bed pretending comfort, initially everyone rejects, yet reality doesn’t allow perpetual rejection!

If she leaves here, she can’t work factory jobs for a mere two hundred a month—that would disrespect her looks and body.

She wouldn’t resign herself to marrying a crude worker like that, then having kids and losing her figure, muddling through life.

She is very likely to become a model; Bupen’s modeling agencies are everywhere, and she can earn an ordinary person’s monthly salary just by striking a few poses.

Then she wears a bit less and strikes a few poses...

Then she wears nothing and strikes a few poses...

Then she strikes a few poses with other people...

Then she strikes poses with many people...

In the end, the poses become dynamic, and people’s bottom lines are completely lost amidst repeated concessions.

This is how people gradually slip into the abyss; they even persuade themselves to accept reality.

Every time she takes a luxurious bus to a private residence, stays there for one night, she can earn thousands or even tens of thousands in rewards.

Otherwise, it might take her one or two years to save up such a sum through other means.

As for going to legitimate companies to work?

Come on, this is Bupen, the financial and political center of the Federation; how could there be any legitimate companies here?

If there are, those girls often become another victim under the corporate sexual dominance culture, which is no different than working outside.

She doesn’t believe she could persevere in such an environment for long; she’s still young, she may seduce homeowners, wear skirts shorter than appropriate, show some improper behavior, but she doesn’t want to be a real whore.

She tidied up her emotions and started working seriously.

She might be a bit foolish, always choosing the wrong time to be at the wrong place, wearing the wrong clothes doing the wrong work.

Normally, servants wouldn’t disturb owners unless they’ve left, even for cleaning.

But she went ahead and very rudely offended Lynch, bending her back towards him as she vigorously wiped the already spotless coffee table.

She bit her teeth and told herself deep inside, "I’m a good girl, I just don’t want to be a whore."

No one can concentrate on thinking when being disturbed, neither can Lynch.

A very pretty skirt, with somewhat different pleats from last time, would the texture be the same?

Lynch thinks this girl isn’t too dumb; she knows how to utilize her strengths; her character is a cleverly designed persona.

Two minutes later, the girl wiped the very clean coffee table to an even higher shine before turning towards Lynch and started wiping the sofa.

This was work supposed to be done when the owner was not around; you can’t exactly ask the owner to move so you can clean the sofa, right?

But she had her ways; she acted as if Lynch wasn’t there, holding the sofa’s backrest with one hand while wiping it with a dry cloth.

Each exertion was a collision; Lynch’s breath almost melted the girl’s heart.

She clenched her teeth, continued working, believing only work was the future.

For a dignified future, work better; lying down is definitely not the right choice!

...

Two days later, early in the morning, Mr. Wardrick’s special car arrived to pick up Lynch, and after meeting with Mr. Wardrick, they headed outside the city.

After half a day, they finally reached the hunting area north of Bupen.

In Gafura, the Spring Hunt is a very important ceremony; Federation people also like to hunt beasts during this time.

Beasts having endured winter are tormented by hunger and become exceptionally ferocious, which is just the right time to prove one’s valor.

In some parts of Gafura, there’s even a custom of spring hunting beasts with cold weapons, leading some to return to the Lord’s embrace every year, yet they still enjoy it.

The knights responsible for clearing the environment set off first, riding horses; they would drive suitable prey towards Mr. Wardrick and Lynch for them to shoot leisurely.

Mr. Wardrick and Lynch rode horses slowly along the reserved route.

"I heard you registered a few more companies," he picked a topic.

Lately, many people have been closely watching Lynch as his plane successfully got military sales right after the research completion; there certainly are people keeping tabs on him every day.

Yesterday, Lynch registered several companies, and many already knew about it.

Capital plays with many strategies, like completely splitting a research institute into at least four to five companies.

Research institution, authorization management institution, authorization production institution, authorization sales institution...

Regardless of whether investors accept his suggestions, he can’t rely on those vague possibilities.

Two options, you have got to choose one!