Before Renji could finish his sentence, Keyji immediately showed an understanding expression, especially when he heard Renji referring to the “old friend” as “her.”
“I see,” Keyji responded, nodding in understanding. “That makes sense. I was wondering why Brother Renji would need to use the back door for an event like this. It’s not easy to have a chance to visit someone familiar in a different place. I won’t disturb your plans.”
Seeing Keyji’s expression, a mix of regret and envy towards himself, Renji didn’t end the conversation there. Instead, he pretended to show curiosity and asked, “What about you Brother Keyji? It seems like this academic exchange doesn’t offer much benefit to us. Why did you also use the back door to get in?”
Keyji sighed in frustration, “Well, don’t even mention it. If I had a choice, I wouldn’t want to leave Sin City. Staying home comfortably is so much better. Besides, I don’t have any special connections like you do. The reason I came this time is purely because I got into trouble and my family punished me. So, they sent me here to serve my sentence!”
‘Family huh…’
From the moment the young man tried to dissuade him from buying that V10 membership, Renji had been paying attention. After all, V10 cost over 888,888 Ashen Coins, a sum that even a professor with a Ph.D. couldn’t easily pull out, especially not in a place like this.
As for the young man’s mention of “using the back door,” along with his casual and somewhat arrogant demeanor, Renji had already tagged him as someone from a wealthy background.
That’s why Renji continued the conversation with Keyji. In his view, this was also a form of networking and resource utilization.
Later on, when Keyji mentioned the mistake he had made, he became visibly frustrated.
“The whole thing started because my family bought the rights to a science fiction novel. This novel was quite famous with a large fan base. Almost anything that followed the original would have been successful. So, they entrusted this project to me. Even though it was basically a guaranteed success, I took it very seriously. After all, I’m a professor, and as a fellow intellectual, I genuinely liked the work.”
“So, I made sure not to go to a small company. Instead, I spent a significant amount of money in Sin City to find a leading film and television production company in the industry. I emphasized the importance of this work to them multiple times. I thought everything was under control. But who would have thought that, in the end, they turned it into a farce! Especially the devilish changes they made to the script, turning the male lead from the novel into a playboy who only knows how to throw lavish parties!”
“Let me tell you, that’s not even the worst part. The most infuriating thing is, when I confronted the production team about this, that damn director had the audacity to say they did it all for me. They deliberately adapted the male lead based on me, just to please me. Can you believe it?, Brother, do I look like the kind of guy who only thinks about women and parties all day long?”
Renji recalled the pictures of the young man showing off his several girlfriends and law school crushes on his phone earlier and shook his head, saying, “Absolutely not.”
“Right? Even you who just met me less than an hour ago can see it. But those directors couldn’t see it. It’s really frustrating!”
“So, is this the reason for your actions?”
“Not really. Despite the online criticism and the terrible reputation of the show, it still gained a massive viewership. It even exceeded my family’s expectations in terms of earnings. Well, now I understand why Sin City can’t compete with the Mechanical Alliance year after year with this level of talent.”
Keyji sighed, not sure whether to be happy or sad.
“So, shouldn’t your family be happy? Why are they punishing you again?”
“Well, that’s true. Initially, my family thought I had made it, and they were quite pleased with me. But then, news came that the Dragon Nation was going to declare war on the Holy Kingdom. When I heard about this, and considering I had just made a big fortune from adapting movies and had some savings on hand, I thought, ‘Why let this money sit idle?’ Since two major forces were about to go to war, the stocks in the arms industry would surely skyrocket. So, I made a bold move. I not only invested the money I earned from adaptations but also my years of savings into buying stocks of the Mechanical Alliance, specifically, Kael Technology, which is famous for its military weaponry.”
“As you know, the Dragon Nation never really started that war. It was said they had a revolution internally, and even that Minister of theirs got arrested. Many secrets were exposed, and it turned out that the Minister had collaborated with Kael Technology for personal gain. It’s easy to imagine that the Dragon Nation wouldn’t continue their cooperation with Kael Technology in the future, and the future orders for weapons would definitely plummet. So, Kael Technology’s stocks practically plummeted overnight! By the time I realized and wanted to sell, I had lost everything!”
As Keyji talked about his bankrupted account, he looked both sad and angry, unable to help but interject his frustration to Renji.
“I really can’t believe it. The Empress of the Dragon Nation was known for keeping her word, Once she said something, she never took it back. Brother who do you think could possibly have the ability to convince that Empress? And who could start a revolution against her? What’s most outrageous is that it didn’t even take three months, and it actually succeeded?”
Renji: “From a common-sense perspective, it does seem a bit excessive.”
“Exactly! Exactly! Who could have seen that coming? It can’t possibly be my fault!” The young man nodded vigorously in agreement, finding a sympathetic ear.
“But my family didn’t listen. They just kicked me out in anger. And, coincidentally, at this time, the Mechanical Alliance sent invitations earlier than in previous years. The host this time is still Kael Technology, which I invested in, so they just sent me over here. Ah, life is so unfair.”
As Keyji was still feeling quite sad and contemplating continuing to complain to Renji, the sound of high heels approaching could be heard from a distance, quickly approaching their location. It was Eileen, who had just returned from inspecting the interior of the aircraft.
Eileen looked at them with a puzzled expression. She had only been gone for a short while, and now there was someone by Renji’s side, and what surprised her even more was that this time it was a man!
Seeing Eileen’s return, Keyji immediately raised his hand in a gesture of understanding towards Renji. Then, he got up from his seat.
“Bro, since your girlfriend… I mean, your female assistant is back, I won’t disturb you two. I’ll take my leave. Oh, wait, almost forgot, let’s exchange contact information, shall we?”
The way to exchange contact information was straightforward; they would use their respective Sin City citizen ID cards, and a simple touch would do the trick. 𝑖𝘦.𝒸𝘰𝑚
Before leaving, Keyji also shared his V10 membership with Renji. With a mischievous smile, he said, “Inside the V10 membership, there’s a feature. After you activate it, you can raise a privacy barrier in this seating area. That way no matter what you do inside, no one outside can see. You’re welcome.”
With that, he gave Renji a comrade’s look that said, -“No need to thank me”- and casually walked away.
Once the unfamiliar young man was completely gone, Eileen sat back down and asked with a puzzled expression, “Doctor, who was that guy? Is he also a professor or scholar on this aircraft? Why did he give off such a strong playboy-rich-kid vibe?”
“Well, if even you got that vibe from him at first sight, it seems like the director really wants to fawn over him,” Renji said as he manipulated the upgraded virtual TV after becoming a V10 member.
“What’s going on?”
“You’re right on the mark. He is indeed a rich kid from Sin City, probably coming from a wealthy and influential family. He seems to have quite some power.”
“With someone like him, what do you have to talk about?”
Renji glanced at the girl next to him who had a grudge against the wealthy and said, “Well, in case we run short of money later, having another client wouldn’t hurt, right? Look at how useful this Vip10 membership is now.”
Eileen’s eyes instantly lit up. She came from a humble background and didn’t particularly like rich kids, but if it came to robbing them, that was another story.
“It’s all thanks to you Doctor!”
“So, how was the little tour you just took? Any thoughts on this spacecraft and Kael Technology?”
“It feels pretty impressive, especially considering we just came from the Dragon Nation. If we’re talking about the level of technology alone, it’s like two different worlds. It’s hard to imagine that this is just a company. So, Doctor, what exactly does Kael Technology do?”
Renji accessed Kael Technology ‘s internal network using Keyji’s V10 membership and browsed through some related information to get a better understanding of the company.
“On the surface, Kael Technology claims to be a security company specializing in providing various security services to enterprises. In reality, the bulk of their operation relies on selling a variety of advanced weapons they’ve developed themselves.”
“Selling weapons is selling weapons, why do they have to pretend to be a security company?” Eileen couldn’t help but criticize.
“Don’t be so harsh. With my advanced weapons, no one dares to attack you. Isn’t that a form of protection? I think it’s fine. As for if I introduce even more advanced weapons and someone else buys them first, well, that’s your problem for not getting in on it.”
After hearing Renji’s description of the company, Eileen was even more indignant. “How can there be such shameless companies!”
“However, the fact is, they’re doing very well and have become a super corporation that can almost monopolize the industry. But recently, it seems like they’re about to hit a rough patch.”
While on the internal network, Kael Technology still appeared to be thriving, both the information Renji obtained from Keyji and the stock market data he found now showed a grim picture. Due to the turmoil in the Dragon Nation, Kael Technology’s entire market value had nearly evaporated by almost a third, and it was showing signs of escalating. It could be said that the company was facing a severe crisis of collapse.
This content is taken from 𝘳𝑎.𝗇t