Cyber Era Witch
Chapter 85 - 85 68 Change

85: Chapter 68: Change 85: Chapter 68: Change “`

Zuo Hongchen and his group had been without money before, merely seeking refuge outside the shop; now they had barely managed to scrape together enough funds to enter, looking utterly destitute.

Xu Yang still remembered his confident demeanor in the office not long ago, but now he was downcast and appeared cowardly.

“Little boss,” Xu Yang sized him up, “what’s next?”

“I…” Zuo Hongchen stammered, “I’m going bankrupt.”

“It’s just a fallen building that’s all.” Xu Yang said calmly, “Weren’t you supposed to be able to hold onto your family business?”

“Please,” Zuo Hongchen was at a loss, “I shouldn’t have spoken like that, I now…

I…

am willing to sell the company.”

“Ah,” Xu Yang said, “unfortunately, your company has already become a completely negative asset to me.

Your capital chain has broken along with the collapse of that office building, and after this disaster, who knows how many employees are willing to continue working for you.”

“There are still some employees willing to follow me, and there’s stock in the warehouse that can be sold cheaply,” Zuo Hongchen hastily said, “I just need some cash to turn over the funds and get over this difficulty.”

“So what’s the price?” Xu Yang asked coldly, “I think I might as well find a suitable small company to acquire than your company that’s all show.”

“No, no, no,” Zuo Hongchen hurried to say, “Jumen Commerce has achieved profitability within 1 year; it’s very promising.

The sources of goods, supply chain, and buyers…

are still effective.

Once the threat is past, I can start over.

Aizu City has a great demand in the market during the rebuilding process after this rat infestation, and our company has much potential!”

For a small enterprise like Jumen Commerce Corporation, survival amidst the crevices of giant corporations and big companies is extremely difficult.

Zuo Hongchen had struggled hard up to this point and was unwilling to see his efforts go to waste.

“I’ll offer 2 million.”

“That’s…

impossible, to think that 2 million would…” Zuo Hongchen clenched his teeth; his psychological price was 10 million, but Xu Yang had cut it down to a fifth right from the start.

“I’ll acquire Jumen Commerce, and we’ll sign a bet agreement,” Xu Yang said, “If you return to profitability within 3 months, I’ll invest an additional 10 million.

If there’s no improvement, I’ll pass your company on to the next one.”

“…Let it be that way,” Zuo Hongchen sighed deeply, regretting why he hadn’t shown more loyalty.

In such circumstances, apart from such a figure, no other institution was willing to lend a helping hand.

If he had fostered a better relationship with this man earlier, perhaps in his current plight, he would have shown great kindness!

It’s just a pity that he had been misled before, holding onto vain confidence.

In dealing with such a personage, one should have bowed and served.

Now it was too late; the efforts of him and his father were being acquired for a mere 2 million.

He could only hope for the future, to carve out a new path for himself and find a way to buy back shares.

Xu Yang had no identity, so Lila drafted the acquisition contract using her name.

According to the agreement, 71% of the shares of Jumen Commerce Corporation were transferred into the hands of Lila Nestor, becoming a company controlled by the Witch, while Zuo Hongchen remained the president, responsible for the actual business operations.

To appease his emotions, he retained 5% of the shares and received a higher dividend.

Moreover, if the restructuring was successful, there were additional benefits.

Zuo Hongchen knew little of Xu Yang’s circumstances.

The sense of mystery brought fear, and he dared not hold any other thoughts about the unfathomable individual.

His father had always taught him that the world is full of people we cannot afford to offend; a slight misstep could lead to deadly peril.

One has infinite opportunities as long as one is alive, but crossing those we shouldn’t can have dire consequences.

He calmed his mind and acted according to the agreement, arranging business plans for the company and introducing the new major shareholder to other minor shareholders.

All procedures still require time to complete, but there were no major issues.

In this world, having a shell identity for a company can do many things.

Xu Yang thought to himself.

Loans, transactions, employment, rentals, and sales could all be managed through Zuo Hongchen’s company.

And since he was in the import and export trade, it was easy to bring in useful information and equipment from around the world, and even recruit new Witches.

Zuo Hongchen was also competent.

Such a self-made small business owner with slight achievements was indeed rare.

Provided that he was sufficiently loyal, Xu Yang thought he could take care of him slowly from now on.

“After such a shareholding affirmation, my identity record has also been updated to a shareholder and the actual controller of Jumen Commerce,” Lila reviewed her Corporate Alliance records without further concerns, “Ah, Master, how much Lila owes you.”

“Don’t be a stranger.” Xu Yang was also in a good mood.

After being busy, Xu Yang noticed a change in Farosa.

Since the mobile game broke her heart, she had shifted her attention to learning but couldn’t find any valuable information; it was all the most basic content, which she already knew from ancient times.

Xu Yang explained it to her.

Nowadays, knowledge also needed to be paid for before it could be accessed.

Companies monopolized information, creating barriers that prevented people from obtaining it.

To understand any technology or industry, one had to spend money.

At its inception, the internet allowed people to access knowledge at the lowest cost, but now it has become a tool for corporate profiteering, cutting off the opportunities for the poor to learn.

They could only enter corporate-run schools, be imbued with specific knowledge, and become deformed cogs in the machine, knowing nothing about the outside world except for what is necessary for their jobs.

Xu Yang purchased a 1-year usage right for the “Intellect Logo” company’s Online Library, costing 750,000, and gave it to Farosa to study properly.

This company had a relatively complete store of knowledge and was designated by the Corporate Alliance as an essential knowledge base for human civilization’s reconstruction after an apocalypse.

Now she had access to truly valuable information and was speed-reading, unknowingly digesting a vast amount of content, gaining intelligence, upgrading her mind, and increasingly understanding the various extraordinary experiences she’d had before.

Farosa kept borrowing the phone to absorb knowledge, never taking her eyes off the screen, and later stopped eating, just staring at the content there.

“Smartphones are quite magical, aren’t they?” Xu Yang said.

“`

“I was looking at the Quantum Mechanics Annual,” Farosa observed, “it’s hard to imagine how far modern witches have explored the essence of the world.”

“So you were reading something so profound.

Can you understand it?”

“Not yet, it has to be one step at a time.

I have self-taught most of the textbooks known as junior high and senior high in the knowledge base, some of the entries point to this technological doctrine.”

Farosa had grown.

Xu Yang was greatly relieved.

She was no longer the one who knew nothing about the world upon awakening.

“The knowledge you learned today, if taken back to that ancient age of magic, would cause a major revolution, inventing fertilizers, steam engines, and telephones ahead of time, benefiting many.”

“Really?

With something as convenient as witch’s power, why would there be a need to develop technology?

The idea you talked about, taking technology back to the past and then gaining an early advantage and so on, that’s something only humans would think about.”

“What would witches do?”

“Use what you call technology to proliferate and create more humans, then manipulate your creations from behind the scenes to generate wealth and enjoy it indirectly,” Farosa said as she took a sip of her coffee.

“Unfortunately, that can’t be done.

The corporations exterminated high-ranking witches to prevent such a situation.”

“Corporations are still too afraid of witches,” Farosa finished her coffee, her eyes lighting up with the glow of witch’s power, both crimson and ashen, “I still want to return to Katagi District to this day.

The deity I seek is only a mere 15 kilometers away, within reach.”

“You’re starting to talk more and more like a modern person.”

“Of course, witches are extremely intelligent, which is also why most of the technologies I read about were developed by witches after the war.”

“They know everything.”

“It’s pitiful, those witches who developed nuclear weapons, their brains were extracted to serve until now.”

“We can go and rescue them,” Xu Yang persuaded, “Farosa, we can change the status quo, free the company people from their desks and hard labor, explore a way of life for the ordinary people suffering outside the company, give freedom to witches.

And those who were once trampled underfoot, we can help awaken them.”

“A waste of time and also very tiring for oneself, I wouldn’t do it,” Farosa smiled, “If I become an extremely powerful dominator, you would be the spouse of the dominator, and together we would welcome back many mysteries and jointly establish a new millennium empire.”

“This…”

“Actually, the world already resembles the one I like, where the strong remain strong,” Farosa said, “It’s clear who is strong and who is weak.”

“The contrast between the strong and the weak is infinite,” Xu Yang shook his head, “There is always someone stronger than you, they look at you like they’re looking at a cockroach.”

Farosa had no desire to argue with Xu Yang; her view of the world was completely different from his.

In her opinion, it was absolutely necessary to become an individual of supreme power, and once that stage was reached, controlling the world’s resources and establishing an arbitrary order was the next step.

What she envisioned was nothing more than a repeat of history.

Xu Yang couldn’t understand Farosa’s ideals.

Why couldn’t we be a bit more progressive?

If all we did was spin in circles and move backwards, what was the point of surviving and evolving?

He looked up, tilting his head back, watching in all directions.

The café actually had hidden cameras and recording devices everywhere, concealed among the flowerpots, bookshelves, and wall lamps, but thankfully all under his invisible control.

The corporation had constructed such a precise net, making most people struggle without power, suffering through life, greatly lowering their expectations, spending their funds on Suzukawa Kiyo, stamps, and anime, striving for hard-won psychological fulfillment.

“Actually…” Farosa said, “We could bridge our differences.”

“How would we do that?” Xu Yang’s heart stirred.

“Our opponent is the same, and that is ‘corporate-ism’.” Farosa smiled, “We can destroy it from two perspectives.

You take your realist path, I’ll take my mystical path.

We start at different points and strive until we meet at the same endpoint, together as the gravediggers, and eventually stand side by side on the ruins of corporate-ism.

Then, we can work together to decide how to shape this world.”

“Well then,” Xu Yang nodded, under the current circumstances, it was indeed a viable strategy, “but by then, I’m afraid we’ll have to confront each other.”

“Confrontation?” Farosa gently moved closer to Xu Yang, looking into his eyes, “We are in a love relationship, aren’t we?”

A gentle kiss.

Xu Yang felt enormously relieved; he had started on the path of exploration for change from fleeing, Farosa had transformed from a slumbering ancient witch into a modern-minded ambitious figure, Lila had also been reborn from the state of a scrapped witch, and now even owned a company.

Indeed, the progress had been considerable.

After other trivial matters in the café were settled, he needed to make a trip back to that small rented room.

Xu Yang recalled the dim basement where he first took on Matteo’s commission and where many personal items remained.