novelraw Chapter 553 141: Reversal (4,200 Words)
Chapter 553 141: Reversal (4,200 Words)
"..."
Yang Qian touched the sticky, somewhat bloody tea on his face, feeling his cheeks numb and sore, with a burning sensation.
Clearly, the teacup shards had cut open his cheek, and some debris had even lodged into his eye.
In fact, acts of violence like this were nothing new to Yang Qian, the General Manager of Gunman Technology. He had experienced them many times, but this time was especially humiliating, exceptionally painful...
He was a top student from the Upper City Elite Academy, having spent over 20 years buried in books, sleeping only three hours a day, never daring to rest for even half a minute. He had outpaced countless classmates along the way, truly a "King of Kings" in his field.
Yet, despite this, at the Upper City Enterprises recruitment fair, he still couldn't compete with the offspring of aristocratic families. They only needed to present proof of their parents' connections to easily crush his 20 years of hard work.
In desperation, Yang Qian turned to the most popular "Genetic Extinction Technique" in Nest City's labor market, effectively a chemical castration but more thorough than simple sterilization—it replaced his genetic makeup, fundamentally eliminating the ability to produce direct offspring.
At that time, the trend in Nest City was that only employees willing to give everything to the company were considered worthwhile hires, and this Genetic Extinction Technique was seen as the highest level of "loyalty".
Yang Qian fulfilled his wish of becoming a vassal of the Collection Clan—a status viewed externally as bringing glory to his ancestors—but internally, Yang Qian found it laughable... He felt like a eunuch from ancient times, having sacrificed everything just to please a noble, being forced to flatteringly proclaim, "Master, your strength is impressive!" even when facing abuse.
Yet he had no choice; in this era, for someone like him to live a good life, the options were either to work as a blood-soaked mercenary or remain as a servant.
He dared not kill, so he couldn't be a mercenary, leaving only servitude as his option.
"Ha, what was I thinking? Haven't I long prepared to be a servant? What right does a servant have to be angry?"
Yang Qian shook his head in self-mockery, ultimately resigning himself, obediently bowing his head, cleaning off the tea and blood from his face, and respectfully bowing to Enfield Collection.
"I sincerely apologize, sir, I overstepped."
He nearly bowed to the height of Enfield's knee, gently saying, "As for the factory acquisition targets, assign as many as needed, I'll handle them right away."
"Hmph... Now that's how a servant should behave."
Enfield snorted coldly, carelessly tossing a purchase permit document beside Yang Qian's feet, ignoring the "family servant" and continuing to focus on the election support rate, even muttering curses about Mokaka.
Yang Qian cautiously picked up the purchase permit, glancing at the digits of acquisition funds—a densely packed array of zeros seemingly without end, leaving him in awe.
It was money he couldn't accumulate even over a hundred lifetimes.
They say the Collection Clan is vast and prosperous; just to grab some votes, these nobles can produce hundreds of billions.
With such an amount, if used to improve people's lives, it could likely benefit at least a million people...
For some reason, at this moment, Yang Qian suddenly thought of Mokaka—viewed as the enemy by the Collection Clan.
Her campaign announcement and policy propositions were innovative—constructing and improving Lower City's social welfare system, increasing corporate and wealth taxes, providing more employment opportunities, purging parliamentary corruption, etc.—speaking straightforwardly without nonsense.
A city's mayor wields significant power; if she truly won the election and wasn't assassinated during her term, working until a natural death, perhaps she could indeed change outcomes.
Despite Enfield's frequent, harsh insults regarding Mokaka—often spewing words like "prostitute" and "commoner"—Yiang Qian, due to the influence of his himself-serving position, held a surprisingly favorable impression of Mokaka.
"If... if she truly won, that might not be a bad thing."
At this moment, the top adversary of Mokaka, the General Manager of Gunman Technology Company, unexpectedly entertained such a "treasonous" possibility.
But he felt indifferent.
"After all, small figures like me can't determine the election outcome."
He shook his head dismissively at himself, putting away such peculiar thoughts, proceeding to deal with the matters Enfield assigned him.
...
As the highest-educated servant within the Collection Clan, Yang Qian's efficiency was indeed high, completing Enfield's acquisition targets within half a day, securing 20 large-scale factories for Gunman Group.
However, the acquisition process was somewhat intricate.
The factory owners were astute individuals, aware of Gunman Group and the Collection Clan's immense demand for factories, knowing their plants' irreplaceability, they quietly banded together, raising prices, extolling their factories, then discreetly inflated acquisition costs.
Even with massive funds, Yang Qian was troubled by the exorbitant acquisition prices.
The last factory he visited was the height of absurdity, located in the suburbs, sparsely populated, with few available workers. Its sole advantages were its large size and reasonably complete equipment, which facilitated easier modification.