Players Invade Cyberpunk-Chapter 662 - 213: With Enough Packaging and Promotion, Even a Piece of Crap Can Be Wrapped in Gold and Sold

Lin Miao casually picked up a bottle of water, twisted off the cap and took a large drink, swishing it around in his mouth before nodding slightly.

"Hmm... mineral water, more or less."

He took a document from under the table and handed it to Gloria, gesturing for her to take a look.

"Horizon Food Safety Supervision Bureau..."

Gloria looked at Lin Miao, puzzled. She didn't recall there being such an agency in Horizon Corporation.

Lin Miao smiled and said, "I just registered this new company yesterday; just take these waters to go through the motions and get them stamped—completely legal."

"..."

"You have to learn to think with a corporate mindset to handle things, Gloria. To deal with cunning merchants, you must be craftier than they are."

Food safety?

That is a joke in Night City and even throughout the United States.

According to the "Food Additives Amendment" issued by the United States in 1958, certain substances 'generally recognized as safe' are allowed to be used in foods without FDA review.

As for what is 'generally recognized as safe,' it's naturally what those laboratories and pharmaceutical medical companies rave about.

So in the United States, large-scale food companies have their self-registered safety supervision agencies or laboratories, then conduct self-inspections and checks.

Hehe.

Whatever they find, it's definitely passed on the spot.

Who would tell you that the red dye abused in American candy (Red No. 3) is highly carcinogenic?

You should know that this dye was banned in lipsticks as early as the '90s, but until 2076, it is still being widely used in children's snack and candy industries.

Commercial interests prevail over scientific consensus.

According to the "Food Safety Act" issued by California in 2015, food companies can hire expert teams to conduct safety evaluations of new additives themselves, without needing to submit review data, and the government has no authority to question the conclusions.

Getting a food safety certification within 24 hours is routine procedure.

If it weren't too obvious, radioactive element uranium might still be in children's toys and women's cosmetics.

The only small flaw is that this food safety supervision agency was just established yesterday, and the only expert inside is Gloria.

Moreover, she was stationed as a senior talent from ERO medical research institute, even though she was an emergency worker just six months ago.

This is the power of capital; Lin Miao could accomplish all this packaging without Gloria herself even being aware.

Otherwise, why else would he painstakingly acquire the ERO medical company, for fun?

"Isn't this… not okay."

Gloria didn't really want to refute Lin Miao's approach, but this move undoubtedly shattered her worldview; she had never imagined there could be so much filth behind a bottle of water.

Money is dirty, but just how dirty it is, many people lack a clear sense.

You think spitting or stepping on pickled vegetables is the limit?

Then you've truly never seen someone scrape mold off the walls with a shovel to make canned food with dead rats. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"Yes, it's not okay, but there's no choice."

Lin Miao tapped on the table.

"If we went to other food safety organizations to directly buy a certificate, it would cost at least seven figures. That's not worth it."

"And those money-grubbing scoundrels, if they knew what I wanted to sell, would only become more ruthless, refusing to give in. If the 'really' company finds out, it would become even more troublesome, certainly nothing but a hinderance."

That's not what I'm talking about...

Watching Lin Miao rant and rave, a bead of sweat rolled down Gloria's forehead. If she hadn't personally seen how this water was produced and that it was safe, she couldn't imagine what production lines in other food companies were truly like.

Forget it...

With cold sweat streaming down, Gloria decided to steer the conversation back to the water itself.

"Then how should we determine the product pricing and packaging?"

Lin Miao asked in return, "What do you think is an appropriate price point?"

"2 Orokin per liter, maybe?"

The basic cost of the product had already been calculated.

Water is cheap, even when purified with advanced technology through multiple layers. Including all costs, it's still the same.

The cost of 1 liter of water itself is only 0.1 Orokin, with purification costing 0.5 Orokin/L. The plastic material for packaging came from recycling plants, with each bottle costing 0.1–0.35 Orokin. Adding in logistics, transportation, and labor, it still barely reaches 1 Orokin.

In Gloria's impression, a 100% profit margin was already considered an incredible windfall.

And this price was more than ten times cheaper than 'real water,' which was also in response to Lin Miao's initial promise to Adcardo.

To let the Wanderer also afford clean water.

"No, that's not right."

Lin Miao shook his head, then selected the simplest packaged and thinnest bottled water from several dozen bottles.

Inside was the cleanest, lowest-cost distilled purified water.

"This, sell it at cost price, 1 Orokin."

Gloria was a bit surprised, that price was practically doing charity, right?

But then Lin Miao picked up the only beautifully packaged bottle of water that was also the only one in a glass bottle.

"This, sell for 100 Orokin."

Four times the price of real water.

"You mean, sell this to those rich people?"

Gloria understood Lin Miao's pricing intention but thought those people couldn't be foolish enough to spend money on such a readily available daily commodity.

"They... they won't buy it, will they?"

The rich don't lack clean water resources.

The amount of clean water used in a day on Charter Mountain's golf course lawn is more than she'd drink in a lifetime.

"Remember, Gloria, products rely on packaging and marketing. As long as that's done right, there's nothing you can't sell."