Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 582 - 494 Taking Notes

Chapter 582: Chapter 494 Taking Notes

```

After waking up, the colonel was informed that there was an online meeting in the evening, during which he had to recite the letter he had received, and Nestor Corporation would deliver the content intact to the hands of the Ancient Witch.

Before that, he decided to take a walk around the area.

Chiyuki Sajou saw him leaving the factory and asked if he needed a cash card.

"You can’t get far without money, old man. Is 5,000 enough?" Chiyuki Sajou inquired.

"Enough, enough," the colonel hurriedly nodded.

He remembered terrifying things. Ninety years ago, the colonel was still a young man, already renowned for his rise through a series of wars. He had been invited to the Near East Region to help several princes train their troops to fight against the Spice Companies.

The princes there had prepared for him a famously expensive liquor worth one hundred thousand, provided him with a luxury car and a beautiful female guard, and served him rare fruits and seafood delicacies. While traveling, he sat in the rear seat of a luxury car, surrounded by beautiful women, looking at the bungalows and impoverished residents on both sides, the colonel felt an unbearable shame, wishing he could jump off the car.

He was grateful that Nestor Corporation did not treat him as a privileged person and repeatedly inspected the ordinary plastic card with his head lowered.

In the colonel’s era, cash cards were merely a financial game. People argued over whether their value would skyrocket or plummet, the price of a cash card could soar hundreds of times in just a few years, making all players involved millionaires, or it could crash overnight, leaving speculators penniless.

Now, with its high circulation, portability, and decentralization, it has become the true currency of the corporate era.

The colonel had already experienced this on the Agave Continent, fumbling for the sensor on the card. The electronic screen on the top right corner displayed the number 5,000. He pocketed the card and then left the room to learn more about the famous collaborative factories and free communities of the rising Nestor Corporation.

Chiyuki Sajou watched the colonel walk away, with Captain Febus and other sailors escorting at the door. The colonel’s slender figure gradually disappeared from their view into the surrounding Chengxia Town, appearing exceptionally peaceful.

"Should we assign someone to protect him?" Captain Febus asked.

"This is a safe zone under the protection of Nestor Corporation, there’s no threat," Chiyuki Sajou explained, "and the colonel should be able to take down assassins by himself."

"Hmm," Captain Febus, thinking about how the colonel once tossed an assassin out of the theater window, reluctantly reassured himself.

After leaving the old factory, the colonel, wearing brown leather shoes, walked on the concrete road.

He took in the bright spring light around him and the fresh air, impressed by the enterprises Nestor Corporation had expanded.

In his original understanding, the Northern Archipelago was plagued by the maladies of the giant cities, with all towns being economically vampirized by the siphoning effect of Shangjing and becoming its economic vassals, where all talent, technology, and funds converged into Shangjing.

But now, the territories outside the cities had taken on a new look.

After long-term effort and exploration, the factories of the Shangjing Bay Industrial Area had been dispersed, and one by one, new factories started up around the Nestor Community.

A white, large shuttle machine roared over the colonel’s head, filled with boxed goods, at least 100 tons. These goods, collected from the surrounding industrial buildings, would be sold overseas, providing Nestor Corporation with a continuous stream of funds.

The colonel walked for an entire morning and afternoon.

He visited nearby factories, communities, schools, hospitals, and farms and sat in an internet café for a while. He walked and incessantly noted in his notebook, pondering everything that was happening around him.

He interacted with different people, engaging them in conversations about life and cultural issues. The people here had leisure time and were willing to listen to an old man with an Agave Continent accent.

Strange conditions had arisen on every level of society, and before he knew it, the colonel had written many pages of notes.

"Here, everything changes rapidly," the colonel recorded, "The entrepreneurs have taken off, and the employees now coordinate and distribute all profits. There are no promises or lies anymore; people take the knife and start cutting the cake themselves."

```

"Nestor Corporation has attempted to establish a vast and ambitious social formation, offering opportunities to every individual willing to progress. It now employs 600,000 staff, operates 45 scientific research centers, and more than 4,700 factories, while over 7.5 million people live in Nestor Communities. This new industrial titan, which usurped the New Xisheng Foundation, is becoming one of the leading enterprises in the Eastern Hemisphere."

"The population of the community is their foundation. Today, a large number of communities have been established in the suburbs, like a patch of healthy soil, protected by law, with clean water sources and clean air, shielding people from violence, discrimination, murder, and pollution in their lives. The community provides all resources necessary for a decent living, enhancing its appeal. Every day, thousands stream from Shangjing, joining the communities, forming the base, and gradually integrating into the Nestor Corporation’s division of labor."

"The industries here are clean and clear-cut, with the information management system coordinating everything. Today I met with electronic component factory workers, self-media journalists, chemistry teachers, vehicle engineers, agricultural workers, practicing nurses, managers of automated factories, and interior designers, whose monthly salaries range from a minimum of 7,500 to a maximum of 45,000. The salary grading is not imposed, but comes from meetings and discussions, continuously adjusting towards a fairer pay system that avoids blind averaging or shocking disparities."

"Every employee owns shares in Nestor Corporation, and those with greater labor talents see their shares correspondingly increase. They say that with their own efforts, they can clearly see how their rights and interests increase with the individual and company’s development."

"They told me that in Nestor Corporation, the goal of all work is to help every employee achieve a higher quality of life, with decent working conditions, low-cost essentials for living, and time to study during their free time. Labor has truly become the foundation of people’s livelihood, not harsh toil; work is like a matter of choice, and from what I’ve seen in the people I’ve met, they voluntarily join in the activities they wish to."

"The most welcome change has been the reduction in hierarchies, with no more terrifying personal dependencies or power oppression between superiors and subordinates. Managers obtain their posts for their managerial talents, they are equals with others, only required by their job’s nature to exercise their coordination and organizational skills. They cannot insult subordinates nor derive pleasure from it, and subordinates are spared from flattery; even if bribing the supervisor, he cannot provide any favor and it would only result in the briber feeling ashamed. Nestor Corporation’s precision and efficiency also do not allow them to waste work time maintaining relationships."

"Housing is also a major issue. In the past, on the land where I stand, the price of commercial residential land was 17,500 per square meter, astronomical for residents with a median wage of 3,300. Now that Nestor Corporation controls and acquires the land, implementing active new plans, a large number of commercial apartments have been converted into residential centers. Once they join Nestor Corporation, they get their own place to live without having to pay extra rent or land purchase costs, and workers in industries with previously meager surplus labor can now establish the foundation for their own families and lives."

"In this regard, each employee actually becomes a collaborator, a franchisee; every individual’s slightest strength converges to form Nestor Corporation’s productive capacity. Their individual enthusiasm is far higher than that of other conventional companies, which, in general, improves Nestor Corporation’s efficiency."

"According to their forward-looking reports, with such philosophy, the Nestor System continues to expand. The employees under its coverage will be like this—having jobs and families, owning wages, life prospects, security and consumer confidence, and having free time for self-improvement."

"Therefore, Nestor Corporation has established economic traction apart from its strong military power. The most intriguing thing is that these healthy employees are also considered premium consumers from the company’s perspective. Perhaps in the future, there will be an astonishing phenomenon: investment companies will find they need to invest in Nestor Corporation."

"Companies from around the world will beg to enter the Northern Archipelago because only here can they find the last flourishing industrial-level consumer market in the world. These investments will be transformed into an even more vigorous force. The company’s profit-driven principle ultimately becomes their own shovel for digging graves. This trend has already emerged; in the evening, some billboards on the streets announce that the Federro Mc Gee Commerce Group plans to build a Federro mall in every place with a Nestor Community, complete with parking lots and charging stations, trusting in the purchasing power of Nestor employees."

"Other companies are clearly milking profits recklessly, not fearing the post-mortem flood, clutching the belief that future generations will be wise. Only Nestor Corporation is resolving the problems at hand."

"But such a development path is also unique because Nestor Corporation’s military power is too strong, strong enough to smash a renowned enterprise head-on, and I have been targeted by Xisheng ninjas for assassination four times. Moreover, the Northern Archipelago is already a relatively prosperous and developed area, with a high level of basic development and equally advanced technology. The traditional culture of the Eastern Hemisphere also endows the residents here with the qualities of discipline and thrift. All these factors have contributed to the present prosperity. But the rest of the world is not the same; to innovate elsewhere, the challenges faced are much greater."

"I still miss the Agave Continent, people there suffer too much," he sighed.

Having written these notes, the colonel continued to stroll through the community.

In the eyes of passersby, he was simply an unfashionable old man with a gentle smile and an upright gait. The colonel tried an automatic doctor, which administered some nutritional supplements and suggested he increase his daily caloric intake by 200 calories based on his existing diet.

In the evening, it was the factories that finished work which were the liveliest, with people switching shifts before dispersing to entertain themselves. Some were eager to relearn knowledge, as a change of post had become an important new pursuit for them. Their education only qualified them for basic work, yet a single skill could lead to higher wages and better labor skill ratings.

New, progressive, full of life, the colonel was quite pleased with everything. He ate a guest meal here before returning to the old factory.

In his own room, the colonel recited the letter he had memorized in a formal tone, and Seeking Shadow recorded it, then transmitted it to the secret chamber deep within the Xisheng Shrine.

The letter was lengthy; the colonel continued reciting fluently for 5 minutes. Seeking Shadow wasn’t sure if all humans were as good at memorization as the colonel, or if perhaps the colonel was also a modified human. She scanned the colonel twice but found no trace of any implants, yet the colonel had still managed to memorize it.

A long letter written in Secret Script, Farosa listened to it in the secret chamber of the Xisheng Shrine, with Xu Yang standing behind her, recording with Digital Mind.

After Farosa finished listening to the content of the letter, she nodded slightly.

"I understand," she said. "Let the old man stay over there a little longer; the letter’s content is too complicated."

"Yes," replied Seeking Shadow upon receiving the message, turning to the colonel. "The letter has been delivered; you may rest here a bit longer."

"I’ve rested enough, and I can still be of help," the colonel was too worried about being seen as a useless person or someone in need of a nursing home. "I can help you train the military; I’ve fought in wars, many, many wars, small-scale, large-scale corps, in jungles, in snow, in deserts, in the mountains. I can train your officers on how to fight against corporate troops. I want to return to the army; I can still be a colonel."

"Understood," replied Seeking Shadow solemnly.