Darkstone Code

Chapter 1201 - 1199: A Move Without a Trace

When they were eating dinner that night, Judith came out of her room.

Right now she was extremely resentful, and furious.

She had heard they might pursue some legal responsibility on her part, which made her not only too afraid to show her anger, but a little terrified as well.

In fact, she had only wanted to expose some people’s true faces, like Lynch.

Many people said he was a youth leader, a child of the era, the most perfect embodiment of the Federation Dream!

But in Judith’s eyes, Lynch was nothing more than a despicable Merchant; over this period she had collected some things she considered to be dirt on him.

For instance, Lynch had used certain methods to evade buying insurance for his workers, and did everything he could to exploit and squeeze their value.

In some of his businesses he might also have broken the law; it was said that when he first started out he’d even been investigated for suspected money laundering.

All this was enough to show that this seemingly sunny young man was anything but clean on the inside.

Why she hated Lynch, that question... actually wasn’t that complicated.

It was simply because Lynch was too outstanding, and he was born at the bottom of society; this made Judith, who came from a Middle Class family, feel an instinctive aversion to a climber like Lynch.

Not to mention that Lynch now stood in an even higher place; she was just instinctively trying to negate someone better than herself, unwilling to believe that anyone could be better than her. That was all!

There are actually many people like this; they’ll even rather belittle themselves than elevate others at certain times—"You’re not that smart, I just made a mistake this time..."

Stuff like that. Admitting other people’s success is very difficult for these people.

They can’t see the positive side of anything; all they feel is discontent.

When she first tried to make a big story out of Lynch, she was fired by the company, and the news industry seemed to slam its doors on her all at once.

Aside from a few third-rate tabloids that needed models for photo shoots and wanted her to pose, regular jobs all rejected her applications.

She was pushed to the margins and then kicked right out, yet she had fought for this for more than ten years, maybe; she had liked TV hosts ever since she was a child, and she’d hoped she could jump from a newspaper office into a TV station, eventually becoming a news anchor, or having her own show.

But all of that ended not long after she graduated!

Because of Lynch!

Yes, for a person to hate someone else is actually that simple: just lower the moral standards you require of yourself, then, like a scoundrel, dump all responsibility on the other person, and hatred is born.

"We need to talk," the male head of the household looked at Judith. "What happened between you and Mr. Lynch?"

When he asked this question, the first thing that crossed his mind was that maybe his daughter had slept with Lynch. After all, they were both young; from his point of view his own daughter was actually quite good too.

He even felt a faint surge of delight at this thought, not feeling in the least upset that his daughter had gone to bed with... someone else.

It was Mr. Lynch, after all!

But he quickly threw this idea out of his mind; it wasn’t that his paternal instincts had suddenly awakened him, it was purely that he thought it unlikely, because his daughter would never have the chance.

That made him all the more curious: what was all this for?

Judith was silent for a while. She looked at her father and set down her knife and fork. "He made me lose my job, made the whole industry abandon me. I fought all through high school and college for my dream of becoming a news anchor, and now... it’s over."

"And today, he made me lose face in front of the whole world!"

The male head of the household frowned. "You brought that on yourself. You have to understand, this society is not just realistic, it’s cruel..."

Judith cut him off. "I know he’s rich, and I know he’s powerful, but so what?"

"As long as he can’t kill me, I can do anything I want. That’s the right the Charter gives me."

"I will continue to expose more scandals related to him..."

In the deepest part of Judith’s heart right now, there was a trace of an urge that even she felt wasn’t quite normal: she hoped Lynch would kill her, so that he would fall from grace completely.

But that was just a fantasy; Lynch wouldn’t do that, or if he did, it wouldn’t be by his own hand. No matter what, she would definitely keep going according to her own ideas.

Maybe many years later, she might be able to topple Lynch in her own way; when he fell, she would be written into the Federation’s history.

Even if she didn’t get that kind of result, it would still be enough for her. With her own hands she would make some people recognize her power!

A comfortable, affluent living and working environment had made her more competitive than girls from ordinary families, or rather more stubborn. This was more or less a problem that every Middle Class family faced.

Their children never have to worry about food or clothing from the moment they’re born. They might not have special privileges, but they certainly lack nothing in material enjoyment.

The first society they come into contact with seems to revolve around them, and stubbornness is planted deep in their hearts from that moment on.

Educational experts often hold special courses to talk about teenage education issues. Adolescence leads kids to wrongly believe they are already "mature," so they seek more status and power within the family.

This is when family conflicts start to surface and escalate; some people call it a social problem.

But in reality, the ones who attend these salons, forums, or buy these programs are all Middle Class; those at the bottom of society are much less concerned.

For those ordinary families, if the kids don’t behave, you just beat them.

If a beating doesn’t work, then you must not have used enough force the first time.

Back then, Lynch was the same. Nell was still a factory worker, and the heavy labor left him with no energy to do anything when he got home every day. He didn’t want to reason with Lynch; most of the time he just slapped him.

Kids from poor families recognize reality earlier than kids from rich ones; it’s both cruel and a form of protection for them.

At least kids born into poverty won’t naively think about doing something to Lynch. If they really had any thoughts at all, most likely when they saw Lynch they would smile as if they’d just seen their paycheck, take off their shabby hats, bend deeply at the waist, and say, "Good day to you, Mr. Lynch."

The male head of the household wanted to say something more, but Judith stood up directly. "I’m done eating. I’m going to take a shower now. I don’t want you suddenly barging in and seeing me without my clothes on..."

She was refusing to communicate any further.

The man and woman of the house looked at each other and could only sigh helplessly. They consoled themselves with the thought that this shouldn’t cause Lynch any trouble; it was just a young girl’s farce.

But the next day... the male head of the household ran into a problem.

What trading companies value most are all kinds of commercial contracts, whether for buying or selling.

The Federation has a relatively sound and complete business environment. Once the obligations of both parties are standardized in a commercial contract, it usually includes some breach-of-contract clauses to prevent various issues and provide final safeguards for both sides’ interests.

The most common items are the specified time and place, as well as the agreed quantity of goods.

This is currently the most profitable time for import and export trade; the recovery of industry is precisely because of international trade. Judith’s father’s company was also doing import-export.

And an order he was handling had gone wrong.

"Why does the freighter need an overhaul?" As soon as he arrived at the company, he rushed to the docks. The freighter that was supposed to leave today suddenly needed to be inspected.

This was not normal. Typically, a freighter would only undergo maintenance after completing a voyage and before taking on the next job; otherwise it would delay the clients’ time.

So Judith’s father immediately went to the shipping company. The manager there was powerless as well. "She strayed a bit off course on the return trip. The captain says the hull might have scraped a reef. We’ve called in a shipbuilding firm to assess the vessel’s safety. It can’t sail again until it passes the safety rating."

The manager offered him a cigarette. "This is for everyone’s sake. You wouldn’t want our ship suddenly sinking in the middle of the ocean, right?"

Some cargo is also insured, but the insurance payout usually doesn’t come close to covering the penalty for breach of contract.

Judith’s father frowned. "Then you should immediately arrange another freighter to move our cargo. We don’t have time to wait!"

The manager looked apologetic. "I’m terribly sorry, sir. There were two other ships, but yesterday they both took bookings and have already left port. We’re very sorry about this!"

Judith’s father was so anxious he was drenched in sweat.

In order to maximize profit, capitalists naturally cut every conceivable cost, and warehousing costs are costs too.

Once an export order is signed, they immediately start reserving warehouses and cargo holds, then arrange production.

A factory can’t take only one order; the risk would be too high. Nor can it turn down orders; that’s not how capitalists operate.

They keep taking orders and then split up production capacity, making sure each order is completed within the due date, and even finishing a little early doesn’t matter.

As long as they reshuffle capacity, they can quickly make up for any shortfall in timing. That way, they can keep taking orders non-stop and keep their production capacity running at full load.

But this also brings some minor problems; for example, if any one link goes wrong, it might lead to late delivery and breach of contract.

And that was exactly the situation now.

According to the agreement, this batch of goods had to arrive at the designated International Port within a week. There would be someone there to receive it, and as soon as the ship arrived and the cargo was received, the contract would be considered fulfilled and the other party would send the balance payment.

Originally they still had a comfortable two or three days in hand; the one-way voyage only took four days. But now the ship named in their contract had a problem and wasn’t sailing, and the same company had no replacement available. That meant their delivery might be late!

Late delivery meant penalty fees for breach of contract!