After the assassination attempt and Marcus playing hero with his bleeding hand, the whole cooperation eting went to shit faster than a body in acid. Nobody was in the mood to discuss business partnerships when there was still blood on the garden stones, and Celia looked like she'd seen a ghost… or pretended to. Vincent had seen her recover and knew what she was thinking.
Vincent could practically see the gears turning in Celia's head and the heads of her allies. They were all reassessing him now, realizing that the arrogant hothead they thought they knew had sohow transford into sothing far more dangerous.
Well. Let them sweat.
Both parties agreed to reschedule, treating this god-knows-what as an "informal gathering." Various groups ford around the tea house gardens, making small talk and pretending they hadn't just witnessed a man's elbow bend in ways nature never intended.
Marcus and his injured rcenaries had vanished—probably getting patched up and plotting revenge.
Before lunch, everyone began their strategic retreat.
"It was nice talking to Ms. Celia," Vincent said as they reached the parking area, his tone perfectly diplomatic.
"Likewise. I didn't expect Mr. Cornelius to be so knowledgeable about tea," she replied with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.
After exchanging more pleasantries that fooled absolutely no one, Vincent and his bodyguards departed the tea house.
The picturesque riverside scenery gradually gave way to the familiar urban jungle. Concrete towers, honking traffic, and the general chaos that passed for civilization in both worlds.
Vincent's phone buzzed with a text from Olivia. He'd asked for updates on the BikBok acquisition, wondering if it has been concluded by now or not.
He couldn't help but chuckle as he read through Olivia's ssage. To put it briefly, Mr. Zhang, the owner of BikBok, was open to selling the company—but not at the market valuation. They were deliberately holding out, clearly aiming to negotiate a higher price.
Of course he is.
BikBok's current market value sat around $40 million, which was actually low as hell considering what Vincent knew about its future potential. The platform was still a startup in a world where 4G had just launched and hadn't widely circulated yet. Plus, it was limited to the Great Dragon Country. A nation that, despite its grandiose na, was roughly the size of three average US states.
Most countries in this world were like that. Every royal family and gacorporation kept each other in check through fierce competition, ensuring nobody grew too big for them to feel threatened.
Vincent sent a quick ssage to Olivia: Increase the offer by $10 million. Get this done.
He had big plans for using that platform in dealing with Aelric, and he was damn sure he'd earn back far more than he was paying.
Soon enough, they reached the company building. Vincent headed straight to the floor where Olivia and the negotiation team were still locked in verbal combat with Zhang.
When he entered the conference room, chaos greeted him. Nobody noticed his arrival. They were too busy shouting over each other like children fighting over the last piece of candy.
His negotiators, including Olivia, looked exhausted and pissed off. Zhang, on the other hand, wore a polite smile that couldn't hide the disdain in his eyes.
"Mr. Zhang, I think we've been very sincere with our offer," Olivia was saying, her voice strained with barely controlled irritation. "$50 million is more than anyone else would offer for your little platform."
Zhang's smile widened. "As I said, this price is still too low. I think my company has much more potential."
"Oh? I didn't know Mr. Zhang owned such a prestigious company. It must be worth quite a lot that you'd risk offending for it."
The mont Zhang heard that voice, he nearly jumped out of his expensive leather chair.
Everyone's heads snapped toward Vincent like he was a shark that had just entered a pool full of swimrs. So of his people breathed sighs of relief, while others—particularly Zhang—looked like they were about to shit themselves.
"M-Mr. Vincent? Why are you—" Zhang stamred, his face going pale.
Weren't you supposed to be at the tea house? He thought.
Zhang had known about the Cornelius-Annapurna eting scheduled for today. When he'd gotten the call about Vincent's interest in acquiring BikBok, he'd imdiately decided to sell and invest elsewhere. Why? Because he genuinely didn't see enough potential in the platform. Sure, it might grow over ti, but it was consuming more resources than he expected to see returns on.
He'd hoped for $40 million at most, but when Vincent's team agreed without much negotiation, his greed had kicked in. It had worked. The price climbed to $50 million. But seeing how badly they wanted the company, he'd gotten even greedier and refused that too.
Now Vincent's presence was like a bucket of ice water over his ambitions.
"A-haha! How can that be?" Zhang laughed nervously, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Mr. Cornelius, let's finalize it at $50 million. I think this price is perfectly reasonable."
But then Zhang saw it. Vincent was smiling.
Ah, that smile… that damn smile.
Zhang knew he'd rember that smile for the next decade.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Thirty minutes later, Zhang stumbled out of the building looking like he'd lost his soul.
Inside the conference room, Olivia wore a concerned expression.
"Is it okay to exploit and coerce him like that? As you know, he's an ally of the Khan family in Sector 11. If he says sothing—"
"Let him," Vincent interrupted with a dismissive wave. "It's his own greed that landed him with only $25 million instead of $50 million. Besides, would the Khan family really take action against over this small-ti owner? They're the last ones who should be questioning my thods, considering all the deplorable shit they have under their banner."
Vincent stood up, straightening his suit jacket. "Make preparations. I want to visit BikBok today. Also, release news to the dia about our acquisition and announce that a major update is coming."
Olivia was left speechless by this man's reckless confidence, but was she going to argue? She knew that even if Vincent decided to go on a killing spree with a machine gun, she'd probably hand him the ammunition and ask if he needed her to reload.
She sighed and picked up her phone to send another wave of panic across the city's business district.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Sowhere in Sector 7
The BikBok headquarters was a study in corporate diocrity. The building looked like it had seen better days—probably soti in the previous decade. Paint peeled from the walls, and the lobby slled faintly of industrial cleaning solution.
"Y-You what did you just say?" an obese man asked, his eyes wider than his considerable belly.
"Fu—" The middle-aged man with a mustache caught himself, then sighed. "How many tis do I have to tell you people?"
There were about fifteen employees crowded into the main conference room, and their situation was chaotic, to put it mildly.
"Why has the owner changed all of a sudden? We weren't even inford about this!" the obese man shouted while looking around the room nervously.
Silence.
Just when he thought no one would answer, a slender hand raised from the corner of the room. A quiet woman with wire-rimd glasses looked at the jiggling ball of at with tired eyes.
"Have they ever inford us about major decisions before? We were just hired to execute orders based on his desires. Now that Zhang has lost interest in this company, he sold it without hesitation. We've always been expendable."
The harsh truth hit the room like a slap to the face. Everyone fell silent, contemplating their uncertain futures. They could only hope the new chairman wouldn't fire them on a whim or demand sothing completely unreasonable.
As they considered which companies would heir them, hurried footsteps echoed from downstairs. A security guard burst into the room, gasping between breaths.
"The... The... The new chairman is coming!"
"Right now!"
Two seconds of stunned silence followed, then all hell broke loose.
All fifteen employees scrambled to their feet and ran like their lives depended on it—because they did. If none of the high-ranking figures were present to welco the new chairman, what would the other party think? They'd take it as rebellion. As disrespect. And it wouldn't end with just being fired."
Fourteen people reached the elevator entrance and hamred the ground floor button like it owed them money. One of them glanced back hesitantly.
"W-What about the CEO?"
Everyone turned to see the obese man still huffing and puffing his way across the room like a… like a penguin which looked kinda cute?
"Wait... huff huff... I'm almost there," he wheezed.
They looked at each other. Then at their struggling CEO. So had tears in their eyes.
"Sniff... You were the best leader this company ever had," an old man said, looking into the distance after wiping his snort.
"Y-Your wife's chicken tikka masala was so delicious," the quiet woman with glasses sobbed.
"Wa— huff huff— Why are you all speaking in past tense...?"
But then the CEO's eyes widened in shock and realization. "Wait... SO IT'S YOU WHO STOLE MY LUNCH EVERYDAY, YOU BITCH!"
And then the door closed.
Nobody spoke during the descent. Many had tears in their eyes; others clenched their hands into fists. They'd left a man to die today, and that man had once been their beloved fat boss.
"He was a good man..." soone whispered.
Before others could comnt, the elevator doors opened, cutting short their mourning. They imdiately started their second sprint of the day.
"Move away! Move away or you're fired!" they shouted, pushing past other employees who had gathered to greet the new chairman. Won clutched makeup compacts their boyfriends had bought them, while n adjusted their ties and cursed themselves for not ironing their shirts that morning.
The fourteen survivors made it to the entrance just as a pristine white Phantom Rolls-Royce arrived, flanked by two nacing black rcedes.
Ah shit, here we go again.
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