The goal was very clear: to sabotage the Chamber of Commerce's efforts to turn losses into profits and drive its reputation and credibility to rock bottom.
"…Mr. Skott, is this really okay? About the cargo warehouse…"
"Hmph, just do as you're told. What I've given you now is only a small portion. As long as the matter succeeds, there will be even greater benefits for you."
"Yes…!"
After sending away the bribed informant, Skott took off his sunglasses, picked up the wine glass, and drank it all in one gulp.
"To climb higher, what's this little trick worth? Tch."
Climbing to a higher position would allow him to earn more money.
With more money, he could use it to make the devil push the millstone, continuing to climb to even higher, even higher, and even higher positions!
Given time, perhaps even the P45 position would have a seat for the lone wolf Skott.
"Life is really full of hope, hehehe… Hmm hahahahahaha——"
Skott immersed himself in his beautiful dream and let out bursts of laughter.
...
On the other side, in front of Chenji Shop, which still maintained cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce.
The shop owner, Lian Yan, looked at Stelle with eyes that had long carried a bit of respect.
"The President has acknowledged Miss Stelle's abilities and agreed to open part of the management permissions of the Aurum Alley Chamber of Commerce to you."
"From now on, you are the person with the highest authority under the President."
Bailu: "Yay! What do you think?"
Stelle said seriously: "Is it still possible to quit now?"
Bailu's mouth twitched, and her tail swayed to wrap around Stelle's ankle and tighten slightly.
"Don't mind her, she's talking nonsense again!"
Stelle spread her hands, pouted, and shrugged her shoulders.
That little expression made the players call her Trash Grey Hair.
Unlike the protagonist in Genshin Impact, where the "trash" persona came from fan creations, Honkai: Star Rail's is genuinely trash!
Mingxi: "All kinds of recent intelligence on Aurum Alley, including shop information, public opinion rumors, etc., have been preliminarily collected."
"I hope this information can provide Miss Stelle with some help."
Stelle: "Just send it to the group later."
She couldn't help but sigh. Running a business and operations was really tiring.
Not her style.
She still preferred to free her brain and decide success or failure with her own hands.
But she could only think about it.
As Sushang said, the matter in Aurum Alley couldn't be solved by brute force. It required effort and sweat, and… scheming and plotting.
In the eyes of players who chose to seek help from Leon, the proportion of effort and sweat reached 100%.
Asking Leon for help with strength—how was that not putting in effort and sweat?
If you're weak, just practice more.
Of course, these words, when seen by players who didn't choose to seek Leon's help, were understood as jokes.
But many players who didn't like using their brains would regret not choosing him out of curiosity.
If they had gone straight to Leon, they wouldn't have needed to look up guides online to free their brains.
Missing out on a ready-made convenience plug-in… cough cough, external brain—how regretful.
...
Several more days passed.
After a busy period, Stelle took Bailu to Aunt Gao's place to solve their meal needs.
As for Sushang, she said she wasn't tired yet and wanted to work for another half an hour.
"Why haven't we seen March lately?"
Stelle took a sip of hot floating lamb milk and picked up some mixed beef offal to stuff into her small mouth.
"(Chew chew chew) Do you know (chew chew) what Leon arranged for her to do (chew chew)?"
Bailu: "Why don't you just contact her and ask?"
Stelle: "You think I'm on the second layer, but actually, I'm on the fifth layer."
"What does that mean?" Bailu tilted her head, staring with several big question marks.
Even though she was already used to Stelle's occasional leaps and abstract behavior, she still couldn't understand what this sentence meant.
"How could I not ask her? Sigh, every time she mysteriously says she's carrying out an extremely important mission."
Stelle swallowed the food, her tone carrying helplessness.
"Her lips weren't this tight before."
Bailu thought for a moment and gave a guess: "Maybe it really is very important and cannot be leaked."
Stelle: "Probably. After reading the intelligence collected by Mingxi, I realized there are so many shops that are still wavering."
"As for those who have completely sided with the Company, there are far fewer than I expected."
Because of this, she felt even greater pressure.
"We absolutely cannot mess this up, otherwise those wavering shops will no longer choose to support the Chamber of Commerce."
Bailu looked somewhat distressed and puzzled.
"Aurum Alley is their home too. Can't they see the Company's ambition?"
"Once this place falls into the Company's hands and is transformed into what they want, many shops will have to close down and be forced to move out of Aurum Alley."
Stelle glanced at her sideways and explained.
"This is human nature. In my opinion, you long-lived species and short-lived species are no different in terms of human nature."
"At certain forks in the road that determine future destiny, people often only believe in the path they are willing to believe in."
"In the end, they step onto it and can never turn back."
"You can't say those wavering shops did anything wrong. Most of them are just trying to make a living, that's all."
"Not everyone is as pure as Aunt Gao and Yan Cui. Business is about pursuing profit."
As Stelle spoke, Aunt Gao walked over with enthusiasm and placed several fresh-keeping boxes on the table.
"These are afternoon tea and snacks I prepared for you."
"That won't do, Aunt Gao!" Stelle quickly waved her hands.
Aunt Gao pressed down on Stelle's hand and insisted:
"What do you mean it won't do? I heard from the little secretary that you two are running around for the survival of Aurum Alley and confronting the Company."
"We can't help much. Besides making some snacks, we have no other skills. We can only take care of your meals."
"You two, stop refusing."
Since she had said this much, Stelle could only smile and nod.
However, when her hand touched the fresh-keeping boxes, the sense of responsibility in her heart settled even deeper.
She exchanged a glance with Bailu, and they nodded in tacit understanding.
It was the support of these simple and honest people that gave them endless motivation.
Stelle's phone rang.
In the Aurum Alley Revival Team group chat, Sushang sent a message.
[Sushang: Everyone, do you still remember that Company representative?]
[Bailu: Of course I remember. That bad guy who wanted you to apologize publicly and bark like a dog.]
[Stelle: What's up? Did he run to the dock to demand debt repayment?]
[Mingxi: I heard that in the past two days, goods have been continuously damaged during transportation.]
[Mingxi: …It couldn't be him doing it, right?]
[Sushang: As a Company representative, he clearly had bad intentions using our logistics. Today I kept an eye out and didn't leave. I caught him red-handed!]
[Mingxi: I'll come over right now.]
[Stelle: Don't rush, wait for me to arrive.]
When they rushed to the freight dock without stopping, a lot of people had already gathered around.
Skott and the Company group were blocked by Sushang in the crowd, and the atmosphere was tense.
Noticing her good partner's arrival, Sushang's raised willow eyebrows finally relaxed a little.
"You came at the right time. Everyone is demanding an explanation from this Company guy!"
"You keep saying 'Company guy' with every sentence. Isn't that too impolite?"
Skott's face showed a playful expression as he lazily spoke.
"Today I don't represent the Company. I'm just a tourist in Aurum Alley. You can call me Skott."
Stelle: "Got it, Company guy."