Chapter 187: Aurum Alley's Hustle and Bustle 『 Part Two 』
「 With the wager set in stone, Skottand his cohorts wasted no time in making their exit.
Stelle and Bailu approached to ascertain the ins and outs of the situation. The diminutive secretary was consumed by guilt toward Sushang, feeling that the Merchant Guild had unjustly dragged her into this quagmire.
Initially, Sushang had taken a cavalier attitude, paying it little mind. Yet, as the adrenaline faded and cool rationality returned, a horrifying realization dawned upon her: should she lose, she would not merely be disgracing herself, but dragging the pristine reputation of the Cloud Knights through the mud.
The secretary introduced herself as Mingxi, serving the Aurum Alley Merchant Guild. She attempted to renew her apologies, but Stelle interjected, cutting her off.
"Speak like that again, and you'll only drive a wedge between us."
"Exactly! There's no 'should have' or 'shouldn't have' about it; I'm already in the thick of it," Sushang added with a beaming smile.
Mingxi laid bare the grim reality to the group: the Merchant Guild was in dire straits.
Not only were they unable to cover the rent, but the lease on the dock alone had buried them under a mountain of debt. The root of the malaise was glaringly obvious—Aurum Alley had lost its former luster and prosperity.
Increasing revenue was impossible; cutting costs was futile. The group stood frozen in an impasse. If matters continued on this trajectory, they were all destined to witness Sushang barking like a dog…
Bailu suddenly craned her neck to look at Stelle.
"Stelle, I've observed that you're quite adept at using that brain of yours. Why don't you give it a shot?"
Stelle placed her hands on her hips, striking a pose.
"Hold on a minute. From which medical text did you diagnose that I actually possess a brain?"
Mingxi sensed Stelle's hesitation and hastily interjected, "It doesn't matter! You can participate as a consultant for the Merchant Guild. Even if things go awry… well, the situation is already catastrophic. How much worse could it possibly get?" 」
「 .....」
〜Dragon Raja World〜
"When you are already at the nadir, every step is an ascent."
Caesar narrowed his lake-blue eyes thoughtfully.
"I, however, have a strategy that might resolve their predicament."
Chu Zihang asked, his face devoid of expression,
"You've dabbled in the commercial sector?"
In his memory, Caesar was notorious at the academy for fudging his way through exams and essays; a field governed by mathematics and complex symbology usually lay roughly eight thousand miles outside his purview.
"Not exactly."
Caesar gently swirled the ice in his glass, producing a crisp clink.
"I believe that at this juncture, Stelle ought to seek out Asta."
"If memory serves, she is the daughter of a board member of the Interastral Peace Corporation. Relying solely on that network of influence, even if she cannot resolve the operational crisis of Aurum Alley, surely she could resolve the problem of Skott himself?"
"Leveraging her family's connections, I suspect a mere snap of her fingers would be sufficient to have this Representative Skott terminated, no?"
"…"
Chu Zihang found himself momentarily at a loss for words.
That was, indeed, exactly the sort of solution Caesar would devise.
"Although I do not know her well, she does not strike me as the type to abuse her family's authority,"
Chu Zihang corrected him.
"She leans more towards the temperament of a scholar, and her personality is fiercely independent. Even if Stelle were to beg her, she would not stoop to such methods."
"Rather than your proposal, I find it far more plausible that she would simply purchase the entirety of Aurum Alley outright."
Considering the young woman's capacity to casually purchase a whole fleet of Star Destroyers, Chu Zihang reasoned that acquiring Aurum Alley would likely cost her nothing more than a few days' worth of pocket money.
—
「 Stelle took manual control, and after adjusting the cargo arrangement, she actually managed to salvage a significant amount of funds. She placed her hands on her hips in triumph, her nose practically pointing at the heavens—as expected, she was the Astral Express's hidden business prodigy!
However, this merely resolved the efficiency issues regarding cargo stacking. If the IPC's Crane Express refused to deliver goods, the dockworkers would still be left twiddling their thumbs.
The group rushed to the Aurum Alley branch of Crane Express. After inquiring into the situation, they discovered the truth: the IPC had promised subsidies to the shops and had preemptively warned the merchants against using the dock's logistics services.
Under this strategy, the Merchant Guild would bleed credits indefinitely, leading to the current crisis. Once the Guild was toppled, the IPC intended to convert the area into a mere freight transit hub, erasing Aurum Alley from existence.
Is this… corporate warfare?
"My scalp itches. It feels like I'm about to grow a brain," Stelle muttered, scratching her head. 」
「 .....」
〜Genshin Impact World〜
Teyvat—
"These people from the Interastral Peace Corporation are truly despicable, resorting to such underhanded tactics in the shadows—"
Upon Yujing Terrace, Keqing's amethyst eyes narrowed sharply, her hand trembling with rage as she gripped her teacup.
As the Yuheng of the Liyue Qixing, responsible for land planning and construction, she understood the significance of a historic district like Aurum Alley intimately. It was not merely a source of livelihood for countless merchants, but the repository of memories for an entire generation of residents.
Beside her, Ningguang languidly cradled her pipe, her crimson lips exhaling a wisp of thin smoke.
"Heh. The rise and fall within the sea of commerce… such petty maneuvers are actually quite common in Liyue as well."
"The reason the Interastral Peace Corporation found an opening to exploit is, fundamentally, because those merchants who struck deals with them showed no hesitation when accepting the money."
Keqing frowned.
"But isn't this simply the tyranny of a massive conglomerate? Its sheer volume allows it to devour small organizations like the Aurum Alley Merchant Guild at will. If the Luofu Xianzhou does not intervene… that behemoth of a Interastral Peace Corporation will eventually consume every individual merchant, leaving not even the bones."
"When that time comes, this district will be repurposed into corporate warehousing. The culture and memories belonging to the Xianzhou people here will cease to exist. Once that sense of belonging is lost… the repercussions will be profound."
—
「 After some discussion, Stelle assisted in mapping out the logistics freight routes, successfully achieving the goal of cutting costs and boosting efficiency.
This only served to solidify Mingxi's conviction… Stelle was the very savior of Aurum Alley she had been searching for!
Consequently, she formally extended an invitation on behalf of the Merchant Guild, beseeching Stelle to become their business consultant and participate in the plan to save Aurum Alley.
Yet, Stelle did not agree immediately, stating that she needed to deliberate with Sushang and Bailu first.
Sushang, naturally, was desperate for Stelle's assistance. After all, cerebral tasks were hardly her forte, and without Stelle, she would be doomed to apologize.
"…You wouldn't want to see me barking like a puppy in front of all those people, would you? Besides, I really do want to help Aurum Alley." Hearing that Stelle needed to consider it, Sushang suddenly lost her nerve.
While she was generally the type to go for broke, barking like a dog… upon reflection, that was simply social death.
"A beautiful girl barking like a puppy? That doesn't seem entirely un…" A thought, equal parts dangerous and curious, suddenly bubbled up in Stelle's mind.
"Hey! What is that look on your face? Stop thinking weird things!" To arrest the other's perilous train of thought, Sushang briefly mentioned her own homeland to Stelle.
"The Yaoqing Xianzhou maintains much closer ties with the Interastral Peace Corporation. It is said that initially, the Interastral Peace Corporation merely invested there to establish a mutual market. But as time passed, things began to change…" 」
「 .....」