Chapter 344 - Will There Be a Butterfly Effect?
Translator: lav
Editor: llikia
Zhen Xu had initially thought that the lawyer would continue to linger in his office. He didn't expect him to smile and nod agreeably. "If that's case, then there's no need to bother the police. I will leave now."
When he saw the lawyer leave, Zhen Xu was so angry that he wanted to kick his ass. Before, he had arrogantly insisted that, as the representative of his company, he had to hear the opinions of Zhen Xu's shareholders. Now he just lightly backed down and left.
However, Zhen Xu wasn't in the mood to pester him. The lawyer had already wasted more than an hour of his time and he was too busy competing against the other company, hoping to increase the number of downloads as much as possible.
With money, he could use advertisements to promote the app. Although 200,000 yuan wasn't much, promoting on television and handing out flyers weren't expensive. After he received the money, the number of downloads increased by more than ten thousand, but the opposing company's promotions were more aggressive. They had been neck and neck in the past few days.
That was the reason the opposing company had arranged for a lawyer to talk to Zhen Xu about buying the company. Perhaps they thought that even though they each had about half the market, the rate at which their downloads increased was much greater than Zhen Xu's. Hence, they sent the lawyer when his defenses would be lowered.
Immediately after the lawyer exited the building, he took out his phone and dialed a number. "Boss, they declined our offer."
"That's normal," the voice on the other end replied. "Was there anything that stood out?"
"The man called Zhen Xu seems to be the legal owner of the company. I can tell from its structure that he and his girlfriend occupy the majority of its shares. I also investigated their changes in equity. Two other people own a total of fifteen percent. When I insisted on meeting them, Zhen Xu first called a lawyer, listened to her advice, and called the other shareholder. He's the one who told him to decline immediately and call the police if I didn't listen. So according to my experience, the legal owner of this company is merely a puppet. The real owner is the one who owns ten percent of the shares. These kinds of situations are normal. You should be familiar with it."
The sound the boss smacking something on the other end accompanied his laughter. "I knew it! It's impossible for this company to belong to Zhen Xu. He and his girlfriend are just standing in for Shi Lei. Having four shareholders is bullshit. There's really only one."
"The one who owns five percent might be the real one," the lawyer warned. "This company's promotion method is very simplistic, so they are not well-funded. However, they do need a legal advisor. That lawyer might've used her identity as a consultant in exchange for five percent of the shares."
The boss continued to laugh. "That's reasonable. As an estimate, how much longer do you think can they hang on?"
The lawyer thought about it for a while before he answered. "That's difficult to say. It appears they recently received some money. Everything is in full swing. It's probably because the Shi Lei you mentioned invested more money when he saw the company predicament. If that's the case, it proves that Zhen Xu and his girlfriend own the shares on his behalf because they do not have money. Since the shares are split among four people, if one person invests more money, the others would have to as well, with the amount corresponding to their percentage of shares. Therefore, we can basically assume that Zhen Xu owns the shares in Shi Lei's stead."
"Nice! Well done! Damn, Lawyer Xu, you're an expert at what you do to be able to confirm my guess so quickly. What about this? I'll book a room and we can have some fun tonight. I can't eat dinner with you because I already have a reservation. I'll send you a message when I book the place. Don't worry about me. Just go when it's about time and knock yourself out. I'll meet up with you after I finish."
A smile appeared on Lawyer Xu's face, not because of the fun he would have, but because he knew that his boss would definitely reward him for completing his mission.
He was a lawyer, yet he was helping others do legal but dishonorable things. That was only because of the boss' generous rewards.
Shi Lei was oblivious to what had occurred as he irritatedly set his phone down. He rose from his bed and showered, all the while unable to comprehend why the Investment Card would predict such an exaggerated increase. With Zhen Xu's personality, Shi Lei suspected that the company would encounter more problems within half a year.
After he went downstairs, Shi Lei entered the self-service bank around the corner. The end of the month was still far away. He had about 100,000 yuan left, which wouldn't be difficult to spend before the consumption period ended.
However, Shi Lei had a new question to ask about the Black Card and he must ask about it clearly.
It was the same old procedure: insert the card, enter the password, and the spinning Scepter would appear.
"What do you want to ask?" Its voice sounded lazy, different from its usual arrogant tone.
"Killing the cardholder is definitely not the Black Card's goal. I know you won't tell me anything about it, but the Black Card wishes to see its possessor grow. Just answer 'yes' or 'no.'"
"The Level Two Employee is not authorized to know the answer to this question," the Scepter immediately replied.
Although it was a very formal answer, Shi Lei still basically received the answer he wanted. He could determine the answers to some of his questions from the Scepter's attitude alone.
"During this period of time, I interacted with a lot of people. They're all of a much higher social class. My interactions with them are related to using the different cards and spending a great deal of money every day. However, why do I so easily make a good impression on them? Can the Black Card adjust something like affinity, such as the relationship between two people? "
The Scepter still replied with its cold and mechanical voice. "The Level Two Employee is not authorized to know the answer to this question."
"Yes or no? I'm asking about affinity and if it will become a certain attribute indicator." Shi Lei changed the question, but the idea was the same. Since the Scepter kept saying that his level wasn't high enough, he could only obtain the answer he wanted to know one question at a time.
This time, the Scepter finally answered. "Of course affinity is one of the attribute indicators. It's one of the most basic characteristics you humans have."
"How many attributes would you say people have?"
"The Level Two Employee is not authorized to know the answer to this question."
Shi Lei shrugged, already expecting that as a reply.
"Can you adjust a person's basic attributes?"
"Under what circumstances will these basic attributes grow? Such as wealth or…"
Still no answer.
"Will the Investment Card's result remain the same or will it change due to special factors such as the butterfly effect? You know what the butterfly effect is, right?"
The Scepter finally replied. "A single flap of a butterfly's wing in South American can cause a fierce storm to rise in North America. How can someone as noble as I am not about simple chaos theory? The results of the Golden Thumb Investment Card cannot change. Otherwise, it won't be called a golden thumb."