Chapter 970: Chapter 970

Flickering lights dispelled the quiet darkness, one by one illuminating the brilliantly bright hall.

A pair of arms, lined with smooth muscles, extended from the dense liquid, reaching out from the silver-gray metal box.

Followed by these hands grasping the edge of the metal box, slightly exerting force, along with the parting liquid, a head plastered with wet hair emerged under the illumination.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Wei’an."

A screen next to him lit up, displaying a little girl in a white dress.

A delicately featured, curvaceous maid walked slowly over, handing over a fresh towel and a new suit.

He Ao quickly wiped his body with the towel and changed into the clothes.

A nearby high-end screen flickered, turning into a complete mirror shape, reflecting his figure.

The maid, who had walked behind He Ao, held another towel, and with a hairdryer vent revealed in her palm, quickly dried He Ao’s hair.

"Your hair has gotten a bit long."

He Ao observed his reflection in the mirror.

His originally short hair had grown to ear length.

Though the body changed very slowly during "deep sleep," it seemed there were still changes.

Eve, in the screen, asked.

He Ao said softly, watching his reflection.

The hair was neither too long nor too short; if it grew longer, he could tie it into a ponytail, but for now, it just needed a trim.

The maid extended her fingers, with the index and middle fingers revealing two thin blades, quickly fluttering over the strands of He Ao’s hair.

In just a few seconds, He Ao’s hairstyle returned to the original sharp, short look.

He Ao turned to glance at the maid retracting the blades into her fingers, meticulously cleaning up, and chuckled, "I remember the last time I woke up, this wasn’t available. Did you make this?"

"Under the request of the product department, it was made referencing the Menshu Group’s Type 2 domestic maid robot, assembled using off-the-shelf product components after data analysis, the only thing completely designed by me is the appearance."

The girl in the white dress on the screen quickly replied.

He Ao glanced at the maid robot and smiled.

The robot’s degree of simulation was very high, only some movements betrayed a mechanical feel; if one were to inspect closely, it was almost indistinguishable from a human.

"However, the robot is very expensive to produce, and the maintenance costs are high, making it unsustainable for long-term use. After market research analysis, it was found that the market is too small,

"The market that had the highest acceptance of full-simulation robots was the adult products market, while ordinary users cared more about the functionality of domestic robots rather than their human resemblance."

Eve’s gentle voice continued, "Also, according to the uncanny valley effect, objects that closely resemble humans but are not human can instill a great sense of fear in people—thus, the group has shifted to developing more functional, mass-producible domestic robot products, with the one here being the only prototype."

"The group hasn’t made similar products before,"

A standard robot handed He Ao a cup of coffee; he took a sip, "It’s understandable to take some detours."

He approached the elevator, looking at the slowly opening doors, "Are Danny and Lina here?"

Eve quickly replied, "Would you like me to contact them?"

"Have them go to the top floor conference room, along with Captain Fiss of the Mercenary Corps."

He Ao finished his coffee in one gulp, picked up a wristband handed to him by the robot, put it on, and stepped into the elevator, "Also, send me the latest various reports from the group."

The elevator doors closed, automatically selecting the top floor, and began rapidly ascending.

The elevator seemed to have been modified from the original all-metal design to a structure combining transparent metal and glass.

As it passed a dim area, accompanied by the setting sun’s light streaming through the glass, He Ao turned around, looking out at the cityscape through the glass window.

Neat streets, brand-new streetlights, the coming and going of vehicles, pedestrians with smiles decorating the streets, and in the distance, the rumbling of machines and large cranes.

As the elevator continued to ascend, more and more scenes came into He Ao’s view.

The once-derelict bridges were renovated, the old residential areas refreshed, and the dark corridors filled with street lamps; high-rises now towered over the once ragged slums.

Hover cars shuttled between densely packed buildings, their passengers, though tired, excitedly chatting and laughing.

The elevator reached the top, the doors opened, and He Ao turned around to face the slowly opening elevator doors.

An elderly figure already stood at the doorway, looking at He Ao, and slowly began, "Mr. Vian."

He Ao looked at the elderly man in front of him, reached out, and embraced him.

After a brief hug, He Ao let go, turned to look at the transparent glass in the elevator behind him, "Whose idea was this?"

Old Danny said with a smile, "She hoped that every time you woke up, you could see the changes in the city, so she had the elevator made semi-transparent."

He Ao glanced back at the elevator and then stepped completely past the elevator door, walking alongside Danny, "How have things been lately?"

"Our financial chain is still not optimistic, but overall, the problems have been somewhat alleviated, and things are gradually improving."

Danny responded slowly,

"Friends’ from Saint Joen City have helped relieve some of the reconstruction pressure, but most regions in Saint Joen City still need rebuilding. Fortunately, some of the food production has recovered, and we have achieved basic self-sufficiency in staple foods.

"The Winter City Industrial Group has also established contact with us, they are willing to purchase our food and industrial products in large quantities, and they are willing to accept our investment to help them establish new industrial production lines. The cooperation there has begun,

"But Winter City is still too far away, almost spanning half the Federation, and construction is needed, making it very difficult to help us effectively in the short term.

"However, fundamentally, the situation inside the Group has stabilized, employees’ debt problems have been relieved, purchasing power has improved, the reconstruction of Saint Joen City has created plenty of job opportunities, Winter City has brought new markets and opportunities, and Limen City and Rock City are also entering a rapid recovery phase,"

At this moment, the two had arrived in front of the conference room. He Ao pushed open the conference room door and walked in with Old Danny.

As Danny walked forward, he continued,

"Although there are still surpluses of industrial products, the situation is rapidly improving. Even though it’s tough and the Group is still short on money, the economic machine has started running between our cities and those of our allies."

He Ao asked in a low voice.

"The external situation is a bit more complicated."

Old Danny sighed, "Lina is in charge of that now."

A soft sound of the door opening came from behind, He Ao turned around.

At that moment, a woman with a ponytail also pushed open the conference room door, peered inside, and caught sight of He Ao turning around.

She was startled at first, then her face showed surprise, and she stepped in quickly, "Mr. Vian?"

"Good, we were just talking about you,"

He Ao smiled at Lina, "How’s the situation externally for the Group?"

"The external situation is rather dire,"

Hearing He Ao’s question, Lina thought for a moment and replied softly, "The large Consortiums have discovered our ’Trade Alliance’ and, as we’ve grown, have also begun to directly compete with them.

"The Yiwis Space System Group has begun using their influence to cause some mercenary groups and cities under their control to boycott our Cain Type Mechas and to start restricting our purchases of their weapons.

"Mosanto Grain Industry is starting to block our grain exports,

"Although we have also joined the Grain Industry Alliance, and when we acquired part of the property of the Kajet Consortium, we inherited some of their sales network, but Mosanto Grain Industry is now consciously using their influence to disrupt our sales network, limiting our grain exports.

"They seem to want to force us to give up Saint Joen City.

"Rock City, because it did not join the Mining Monopoly Alliance, is now subject to malicious competition led by the Kopace Mining.

"They are waging a price war in the market and parts of the City Government controlled by them are taking sides,

"Except for selling us the ore, Rock City’s other mineral sales in other cities are not doing well.

"The Rockville Energy Group, although they suffered a big loss last time, seem to have toughened up, and are now completely blocking the energy mineral sales channels of Winter City."

"Our market is still too small to handle the production capacities of Winter City and Rock City, we even have problems selling our own products,"

Lina paused, then looked at He Ao, "Also, the people from the Nord Financial Consortium had visited recently, wishing to meet you, but they left when they didn’t see you."

He Ao rested his hand on the conference table, "For the public listing?"

Lina nodded, "They hope that the Nolanka Group could go public directly, and they can take care of the entire financing process,"

She hesitated a bit before continuing,

"They claim they can help us raise enough money to completely integrate these cities, and they’ve also expressed their willingness to help us negotiate with other major consortia to cede part of the market to us.

"At the same time, they promised to help us find the Federal Government to approve additional aptitude for a new Mercenary Corps.

"If all goes well, the Nolanka Group might just leap into the top ten of the Federation to become a super consortium involved in minerals, grains, industry, energy, and finance."

"Then as the former absolute controller of this emerging large consortium, I would become one of the wealthiest people in the world?"

He Ao asked with a smile.

Lina paused for a moment, then nodded, "That’s exactly what they said."

"Then they’ll marginalize my power, dilute my shares, turn the Nolanka Group into something no different from other big consortia, and then lead the Nolanka Group to its grave,"

He Ao shook his head, "The next time they come, just refuse them."

Upon hearing He Ao’s words, Lina seemed to breathe a long sigh of relief, then she added with some concern,

"However, our industrial products are also not very optimistic now. If the minerals and grains produced in Winter City, Rock City, and Saint Joen City cannot be sold, it will severely affect the economic level of the local employees, and the initially recovering consumption might be directly disrupted.

"Moreover, some city partners that have always cooperated with our headquarters seem to be trying to change their cooperative tendencies, and some industrial consortia seem to be trying to wage a price war with us, seeking to wear us down.

"Some suppliers from whom we long-term purchase parts and raw materials are also colluding to raise prices,

"From certain signs, it seems that the Nord Financial Consortium is involved,

"The parts and raw materials that are raising in price are precisely those that our allies cannot supply, yet are essential for our production."

"Raw material prices rising while goods don’t sell, expenses increasing while income reduces, combined with the employees’ debt issues, it’s like a dull knife cutting meat, continuously bleeding our capital chain.

"If this condition persists, we may not hold out much longer."

He Ao looked at the two people in front of him, "We now have an uneven distribution of resources, some in abundance while some in shortage, excess industrial capacity, but lacking market.

"So under the leadership of the Nord Financial Consortium, the consortium alliance is pricing the resources we lack while also waging a price war with us to restrict the sale of our surplus resources and industrial products?"

Carrot in one hand promising a rich IPO, a big stick in the other imposing penalties and slowly bleeding us dry.

He Ao lowered his head to look at the table in front of him.

Lina gently nodded, "If there were a major city to as our market, to improve our bargaining power in the marketplace, the situation might be much better,

"But the powers we can currently unite are still too weak, basically all the larger cities are under the control of the consortia, and the local city governments tend to support the local consortia, making it difficult for our products to break into their markets."

"No, actually there is a major market that we can enter,"

He Ao lowered his head to look at the conference table, lifting his hand to project a map, "And that is also a resource city, possessing some resources we do not have, and with a relatively advanced industrial system that could complement our industrial system."

At that moment, a man in a Mercenary Corps officer’s uniform knocked on the door and walked in from outside the office, "I hope I’m not too late."

"You’re just in time,"

He Ao looked at the officer who had come in and smiled, "Captain Fiss, are you familiar with the recent situation in Yilan City?"

"From what I’ve heard from a friend, it seems quite lively over there?"

Captain Fiss quickly walked to He Ao’s side, looking at the map in front of him, "The mercenary corps of the Yiwis Space System has driven right to our doorstep, and this news has spread throughout the southeast of the Federation."

"What do you think these consortia want to do?"

He Ao looked at Captain Fiss and quickly asked.

"Kill the chicken to scare the monkey,"

Captain Fiss’s hand pointed at Yilan City, then pointed at Dawn City to the north of Yilan City,

"The Mayor of Dawn City, Christos, has been too troublesome, and the current Mayor of Yilan City is even more so. If I were the commander of these consortia, I would settle Yilan City first, kill the current Mayor of Yilan City, and purge his supporters,

"It would not only intimidate the Mayor Christos of Dawn City but also his supporters,

"At the same time, Yilan City is close enough to Dawn City, has a large population, and strong industry to establish a military base here, allowing for ample supplies,

"Once the war begins, the air force could take off from Yilan City with sufficient supplies to bomb Dawn City, and the supply lines for the army would start from Yilan City, short and fast."

Captain Fiss looked at He Ao,

"From a military perspective, taking Yilan City would make the attack on Dawn City much easier. Conversely, if Yilan City isn’t taken, it would become a fortress choking the southern consortia.

"The forces heading to Dawn City from the south might get blocked by Yilan City, making both the army’s supply lines and the air force’s flight paths easy to intercept."

"What do you think this has to do with us?"

Hearing Captain Fiss’s narrative, He Ao asked with a smile.

"I don’t know the economic and political intricacies,"

Captain Fiss shook his head, his hand resting on the map,

"But from what I see now, these Consortium Alliances are not friendly towards us. I have quite a few friends who have heard about the treatment of the employees here, and over time, our treatment will definitely affect the hiring situation of other consortia.

"In this group of consortia, we are actually an outlier, and moreover, one whose power is continually expanding, so they are very eager to assimilate or eliminate us."

He paused, looking at the map at Dawn City, "The reason they haven’t acted against us directly, only ostracizing us in secret, is because there’s another outlier stronger and more influential than us,

"If they deal with Dawn City, then they will definitely move against us next.

"And if they resolve Yilan City, then it won’t be long before they deal with Dawn City."

He raised his hand and drew a line on the map, "To protect ourselves, we must protect Dawn City, and to protect Dawn City, we must protect Yilan City; our fates are interconnected—one prospers, all prosper; one suffers, all suffer."

After hearing Captain Fiss’s summary, Lina, who had been somewhat dazed, also somewhat came to her senses. She looked at He Ao, "So we are to help Yilan City? But what should we do?"

"Hasn’t Yilan City ordered a batch of grain recently? Has this shipment departed yet?"

He Ao looked at Captain Fiss.

The shipment of goods was the responsibility of the Mercenary Corps.

Captain Fiss nodded, "It’s already en route."

"How are the Mercenary Corps doing now?"

He Ao continued to ask.

"Most of them are from good families, with a strong willingness to fight and high training standards,"

Captain Fiss seemed to understand He Ao’s intent; he looked into He Ao’s eyes and continued, "In the past year, light mechas like the Abel Type and the Cain Type have also been massively issued."

The Nolanka Group’s Mercenary Corps had personally intervened in the Evil God Sacrifice incident in Saint Joen City, which actually gave them a bit more large-scale combat experience than the City Defense Army of Yilan City.

"Summon the Mercenary Corps,"

He Ao looked at the Captain in front of him, "escort that batch of grain into Yilan City."

Captain Fiss looked at He Ao, stood at attention, and responded without hesitation.

"Mr. Vian, wouldn’t this be too risky?"

Old Danny hesitated for a moment and slowly spoke, "Are we going to get directly involved in this fight?"

"We are just fulfilling our duties, and besides, we can no longer back down now,"

He Ao glanced at the elderly man in front of him, lifted his head, and looked out the window at the roaring bustling city,

"To seek peace through struggle ensures peace survives; to seek peace through compromise ensures peace dies."