The Shadow Tycoon
Copyright© 2026 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 139: Gold Bars Around the Table
In the end, Neo used his eloquence and his plan to persuade the members of the boardroom. This also had to do with Ristowan’s actual situation.
These people would not blindly trust a man who had already deceived them more than once. They would certainly use their own methods to find out whether what Neo said was true, then make their final decision.
But basically, there would not be much change, because this time, Neo had not lied.
Still, these matters were far too distant from ordinary people. For an economic pillar of a firm like this to leave a region, even if it reached agreement with the local city administrators in certain respects, it would not be so easy to accomplish.
Merely resettling the workers and employees who could not relocate to other states with Ristowan would take a long time.
The next day, Saturday, after Friday night’s after-party had time to ferment, people began paying attention to some of the content of William’s Secondhand Auction.
At this consignment auction, a few people appeared who were distinctly out of place among the others.
They wore expensive formal suits. Even in the heat, they maintained a proper appearance. Although they kept wiping away sweat, overall, they did not make people feel they were especially improper.
These people watched William’s consignment auction from beginning to end, and even took the initiative to participate. In reality, they were all potential associates of William.
How to make a business larger had always been something businessmen pursued tirelessly.
The conclusions each person reached might not be the same. Some believed one had to rely on craftsmanship and painstaking skill in the production process. Others believed honesty had to be the foundation. But what could truly make a business grow quickly was the operation and methods of capital.
Perhaps because these respectable people were participating today, they stirred up some people’s urge to spend. By the time the consignment auction ended at seven in the evening, the total transaction amount was twenty thousand dollars higher than last week. This upward trend, which should not have appeared, also brought many positive effects to the auction.
As soon as the consignment auction ended, several businessmen found William and wanted to talk with him about cooperation.
Capitalism had never been kind, merciful, or benevolent.
In the ocean of capitalism, plunder was the foundation of everything.
According to Federation laws related to finance, when a company’s market value exceeded ten million dollars, it had to accept investment from investors. Their wording, of course, sounded nicer than the reality. A firm with assets exceeding ten million dollars needed to be composed of multiple shareholders and have a boardroom with more than ten members. This was to prevent financial crime.
In other words, if William’s Interstellar Trading Company had a market value exceeding ten million dollars, he would not possess the right to reject other people’s investment. Otherwise, his company could be placed under investigation.
As for how much others invested and how many shares they could obtain from him, he could negotiate that with them, but he could not refuse.
If a company’s market value exceeded one hundred million dollars, that company had to be listed. Only after being listed for a period of time could it delist.
The official explanation was that a firm’s growth needed to repay society, and also needed to accept supervision from all of society. This, too, was to prevent financial crime.
But in reality, these laws themselves existed to make it easier for capital to plunder other capital. The market of capital was forever a deep, dark ocean. Everyone was both predator and prey. It was a game of survival.
Infinite appreciation and infinite depreciation were the most common phenomena here. How to become the one whose value appreciated, and how to remain forever in the standing of a predator, was what every businessman, every businessman worthy of being called a capitalist, pursued.
Compared with other entrepreneurs’ fearful attitude toward investors, William behaved far more generously. He even invited these people to go to a hotel with him and opened a business suite with a boardroom.
Sitting in the room, with cool air from the central air-conditioning blowing gently over them, these gentlemen who had been trapped in the gymnasium for several hours finally breathed a sigh of relief.
After a brief rest, someone smiled and asked William for his view on investment.
In truth, at yesterday’s after-party, these people had basically already exchanged opinions with William. Today, they had only come to inspect the scene in person. If cooperation was possible, they would cooperate. If cooperation was not possible but there was profit in it, they would consider whether they could compete with William for the business.
On the surface, they would not do such a thing. But in private, they would have someone register a company to operate the same business as William. Even if they were businessmen in the same camp, when it was time to compete, none of them would yield.
“I don’t reject investment. In my eyes, one person making money is not as good as everyone making money together...” Perhaps because those words carried a different sort of temptation, the atmosphere in the room was quickly stirred up by William.
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