Ultimate Cash System
Chapter 159: Good News. (2/2)

Chapter 159: Good News. (2/2)

Lukas nodded, standing up to look out the window. Snow was falling a bit more heavily now.

"And what’s the damage for the flight?" Lukas asked casually, sipping some juice.

"I got a decent deal," Henry replied. "Since it’s a Gulfstream IV, and you’re flying from Tokyo to Philadelphia, expect it to be about $85,000 for the one-way. That’s already slashed down, by the way. It would normally go over $100k, but I pulled in some favors from the same weirdo contact from last time."

"Perfect," Lukas said with a light smirk. "Just send me the boarding pass."

"Already faxed the company packets," Henry confirmed. "You’ll find your ticket with the documents."

"Anything else you need from me?" Henry asked.

"Nope, that’s all for now," Lukas said. "You did good. Get some rest."

"Take care, Luke," Henry chuckled. "See you stateside."

The call ended.

Lukas stretched a bit, then called the front desk and asked them to bring up the faxed documents. A few minutes later, a bellboy knocked and handed him an envelope.

Inside were the investment documents and the ticket—first-class style, all laid out with company summaries and even flight catering options.

Lukas looked over them briefly, placed them on the glass table near the couch, and leaned back with a satisfied breath. Everything was falling into place.

After Henry faxed over the paperwork, Lukas sat by the desk in his suite and went through every detail. The chartered flight to New York was scheduled for the following night, with a private jet prepared just for him. It wasn’t cheap, even for the year 2000, but Henry had arranged everything meticulously. The total cost of the chartered flight, including airspace fees, crew, fuel, and expedited service, came to about $125,000. Lukas didn’t mind—he was sitting on more than $43 million, and that amount was already reserved for something much larger.

Lukas had spent the entire evening with calculator in hand and pages of historical records and IPO timelines laid out across the table. He had already made his decision: of the $43.9 million he currently held, he would invest exactly $30 million across three companies that had yet to reach their full global potential.

The first was Google, still a private company at the time but expected to go public in a few years. Through Henry’s contacts, Lukas was able to negotiate early private shares at a premium price of $85 per share. With a $10 million investment, he acquired roughly 117,647 shares. Considering that Google had not yet gone public, these were high-risk shares, but Lukas knew how valuable they’d become.

Next was Tencent, a Chinese tech company that had only launched its QQ messaging platform not long ago. Through another one of Henry’s international investors, Lukas got in early. He placed $10 million into Tencent, acquiring a roughly 6.7% equity stake in the company at its current valuation of about $150 million—a major foothold, given the company was still considered a startup.

Lastly, he looked toward Alibaba, another Chinese company that had started only a year earlier but already attracted the attention of early investors. With a $10 million stake, Lukas managed to secure around 5% of the company’s equity, as the company had been valued at approximately $200 million during its early funding rounds.

These three moves, quiet and behind the scenes, positioned Lukas to be a silent powerhouse in the tech world within the next decade. He didn’t need recognition for now. All he needed was to plant the seeds and wait.

The remaining $13.9 million he had was not to be touched—that would go directly into his own company, Facebook. He was still in the early planning stage, but he knew what was needed: infrastructure, developers, legal teams, and a base of operation. In his head, it was already built. All that remained now was execution.

As he stood by the large window of the suite that night, snow gently falling over the Tokyo skyline, Lukas felt calm. He was no longer just a tourist. He was about to become a titan of the future.

After finalizing his investment plan, Lukas leaned back in the hotel chair and took a long breath. The numbers were locked, the contracts were faxed back to Henry, and the future was in motion. But his stomach grumbled. He realized he hadn’t eaten since noon.

Picking up his phone, he dialed Yahoo.

"Yo, what are you doing right now?" Lukas asked casually.

"Nothing much, just walking around Ginza. Why?" Yahoo replied.

"Come back. Let’s get dinner. Are you hungry?"

"Always! What do you have in mind?"

"There’s this Michelin-star Japanese chef nearby. You mentioned it to me before. Let’s try it."

Yaho whispered, "This place has a three-month waiting list. How did you even get in?"

Lukas just shrugged, "Ichigo, your manager, knows people."

The restaurant sat quietly behind a bamboo grove, lit by subtle lanterns and tucked away in a quiet alley near the Ginza district. It was one of those places Lukas had only heard about in passing—a Michelin-starred traditional kaiseki house known simply as "Nakamura." The kind of place where even finding a reservation required deep connections.

The short drive to the restaurant was mostly quiet, the Tokyo lights reflecting against the car windows. Once they arrived, they were welcomed by a hostess in a kimono who led them through a sliding door and into a tatami-mat room with a private view of a snow-dusted rock garden.

Each course came out like a tiny sculpture: grilled tilefish on a cedar plank, sashimi of seasonal catch with gold leaf, sea urchin in chilled dashi jelly, and wagyu beef so tender it barely needed chewing. The rice was polished that same morning, and the miso soup was brewed with white Kyoto miso and rare mushrooms.

Lukas leaned back with a light sigh. "Not bad, huh?"

Yaho, with chopsticks still in hand, nodded. "It tastes like silk. But... this place has to be ridiculously expensive."

He waved her off. "Don’t worry about it."

When the bill came, discreetly folded and placed near the side, Lukas opened it, and his eyebrow twitched slightly. "One hundred seventy-eight thousand yen," he muttered.

Yaho leaned over, eyes wide. "That’s over fifteen hundred dollars! For two people!"

"Eh," Lukas shrugged.

But before he could pull out his wallet, Yaho snatched it away.

"Hold on! You already gave me my Christmas bonus, and I was planning to buy myself a new pair of shoes... But now you made me eat gold leaf and soup made of clouds!"

Lukas chuckled. "You’re paying?"

"Yes! You spent my bonus feeding me caviar and beef that probably has a diploma."

She marched over to the cashier and paid with a dramatic sigh. Lukas followed, smirking.

Outside, the snow had started falling again.

"Are you still hungry?" Lukas asked.

"Only for revenge," Yaho replied, crossing her arms but smiling.

They walked back to the car slowly, the warm glow of the restaurant behind them and the chill air of Tokyo brushing past. Dinner had been extravagant—almost theatrical—but worth every yen, if not for the taste, then at least for the moment.

Yaho and Lukas parted ways for the last time, as he was going back tomorrow early in the morning.