Modern Cultivation : The Strongest Couple Bonded by Vampire System-Chapter 695: For the Populace

Kael didn't stay long.

He only walked them to the entrance, then turned back toward the shuttle.

"I'll contact you when the next meeting is set," he said.

Then he left.

The shuttle lifted off and disappeared into the traffic lanes above the city.

Alex and Mingyue stood in front of their prepared "home."

Despite the name, it wasn't small.

It was a ten-floor building with a modest exterior, like a modern apartment block from Alex's old world.

Clean concrete, glass panels, and a simple sign above the lobby.

The first floor was open to the public.

A supermarket on one side. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

A small clinic on the other.

And between them, a Cutivation shop with a glass counter and formation lamps decorated nicely.

The second to eighth floors were apartments.

The ninth floor was office space.

The tenth floor was private area, the place Alex and Mingyue will live in.

This whole building had been purchased by Kael using Alex's money.

Money Alex had saved over the years, trading through the Mecalytes.

Most of it came from selling space crystals.

Inside the lobby, the air smelled faintly of herbs and polished wood.

A young woman with silver hair was already waiting.

She wore a simple business uniform. A black blazer with a skirt.

"I've been waiting for you, Sir Edward," she said. "My name is Beatrice."

Beatrice was the daughter of the previous owner.

This building used to be a family business.

But because her father insisted on his personal principles, it finally went under.

That same stubbornness gave the company a good reputation among the local populace.

"I hope you will keep my father's wish," Beatrice said, bowing. "To keep the company working for the people."

Alex nodded. "Cultivation exists to help others. That's what your father believed, and I agree with the idea."

Beatrice's eyes brightened.

Mingyue watched without speaking.

Alex smiled, but in reality his thoughts was different.

To him, cultivation was a tool.

Its only purpose was to make the one practicing it stronger.

Calling it good or evil was like judging a knife.

A knife could kill. It could torture.

But it was also used to cook, and to save lives in surgery.

The tool didn't matter, it all depend on the user.

Beatrice led them deeper into the lobby.

On the left wall was a display shelf.

Small talisman put sealed behind glass, labeled by category.

Heat talismans for cooking.

Cold talismans for storage.

Clean-water talismans.

Repel-insect talismans.

It's all things used for daily use. Each priced making sure everyone could purchase it.

On the right wall was a board showing the clinic services.

Qi imbalance relief.

Detox procedures.

A section labeled "workplace injury support," with discounted rates.

Mingyue glanced at it and frowned. "They treat civilians like this here?"

This something unthinkable for her. In her past world there's no way they will use cultivation like this for the populace.

Altough everyone living in proxima had some kind of cultivation, most of them already used to live in peace.

Their cultivation only useful for self defense and prolonging their health.

Most of their day were mostly spend on working just like normal people.

Beatrice answered quickly. "Only low-tier treatments. Anything serious still needs a hospital. But my father insisted we should at least cover basic needs."

She led them to the talisman shop counter.

Behind the counter, a formation array was embedded into the floor.

A workbench sat nearby with carving tools and a small alchemy furnace.

"As you can see this building's main business was producing cultivation tools adapted for everyday use," Beatrice said. "Talismans, alchemy supplies, and basic medicine for the populace."

Alex nodded. He already know about this.

The business itself had good market, but the problem come from the owner principal.

Beatrice continued.

"My father didn't like high profit. He said it was exploitation."

"So he set the price as low as possible," Alex said, finishing the thought.

Beatrice lowered her head. "Yes. Average people here already living paycheck to paycheck, If we rise it further they will not able to afford it.

In the beginning, people loved it, We sold more than our competitors. Our name spread fast."

"But it's not enough to compete with others. Research on product like these took a lot of money, and you still need to pay for licensing," Alex said.

Beatrice looked up, surprised he understood about it.

This make her wonder.

'Why he still buy the business despite knowing these?'

Alex walked to the side and picked up a sealed product case.

A basic healing powder, used for cuts and bruises.

"How good is this?" he asked.

Beatrice replied quickly. "It will heal any small wound in few months. We also tested everything, making sure it will not have any side effect."

Mingyue's eyes narrowed. "That's slow."

"Yes," Alex said. "That's why the business is losing money."

Beatrice's hands clenched. "Our competitors product had side effect."

"They pushed products the moment it passed QC and got the permit," Alex said. "If something went wrong later, they paid a fine or blamed the user's mistake."

Beatrice's voice turned bitter. "Exactly. My father refused to do things like that. "

"Unfortunately the customer doesn't seem to agree," Alex said.

Even tough it's cheap and had no side effect, people prefer things that's fast.

It may had some bad effect, but how many really got hit by it?

From a million customer probably only thousand does.

Thus in the eyes of other customer, this produce is only a bit more expensive while healing their wound faster.

Beatrice nodded, eyes a little red now.

"It's not like we cannot improve our product. We don't had the money.

We couldn't hire better alchemists. We couldn't buy higher-grade materials. We couldn't upgrade our facility.

Our products stayed the same while the market moved forward."

"And once you fall behind, it cost a lot of money to catch up," Alex said.

Beatrice swallowed. "Yes, but expense keep coming. Supplier, taxes, staff wage…

That's why we also dabble on other business, reducing the facility, renting the room as apartment."

Alex looked around the lobby again.

The building was modest, but the structure was good.

The location was good.

The reputation was even better.

Alex turned back to Beatrice. "Based on the report the income from other business more than enough to cover operational cost, but you cannot improve your product."

Beatrice froze for half a second, then nodded. "Yes, Sir Edward. My father end up taking a huge gamble with a loan, but end up getting scammed instead."