Chapter 969 – I Must Run A Factory
Yanking City was a large city under the O’Neal family’s rule. Although this city wasn’t the family’s capital, it was still an important industrial base for the family, making it one of the most important cities under the family’s control.
Zhao Hai’s next goal was here. Although he can easily get what he wants, he intends to attract as little attention to himself as possible. If he wanted something, then he would need to spend money. And when he’s ready to leave, he would get all his money back from the bank.
After the group arrived at Yanking City, they immediately went to look for a good hotel to stay in. Upon receiving their accommodations, Zhao Hai went outside to look at the situation. Zhao Hai already made some plans. If he wanted to buy a lot of things without attracting suspicion, then the only way for him to do so was to open a company in Yanking City.
While Zhao Hai went to inquire about the city’s matters, Laura and the others separated and drove towards several bookstores. All the books that they liked and deemed useful were bought.
Zhao Hai drove to many areas of the city in order to gain a general idea. However, it wasn’t easy to acquire any information about opening a company here. After all, he was unfamiliar with the people and the place.
When Zhao Hai returned to the hotel, Laura and the others had also come back. Aside from buying a large number of books, they also bought a lot of clothes and other stuff.
Zhao Hai didn’t care about it as he put the books away. After that, the group proceeded to enter the Space and look at the monitor. The current image displayed was the state of the Taurus Continent. Their efforts to lure the O’Neal family to the Winged Pegasus had finally bore fruit. In about two days, the O’neal family should see the Winged Pegasus Clan’s spatial rift.
Since there was nothing to worry about, Zhao Hai changed the monitor’s display to Yanking City’s map. Yanking City was an industrial city, there was an overwhelming number of large and small factories operating inside. It may be because the O’Neal family needed great production capabilities in order to make more magic armors and war tanks. Because of this, factories became more prosperous.
After seeing the state of these factories, Zhao Hai couldn’t help but knit his eyebrows as he turned to Laura and said, “I need to buy a factory here. This way, I could buy things in the name of the company. However, the business of these factories is doing very good. I’m afraid there will be nobody who’ll want to sell. From the current state, running a factory wouldn’t be an easy matter.”
Laura nodded. She had done business before, so she understood matters beneath the surface. Although businesses in the Atlanta Plane were different than those in the Ark Continent, anyone with keen business senses would know that setting up a factory at this point wouldn’t be easy.
Zhao Hai knit his brows before he said, “Let’s go. I want to ask the people in this hotel. Let’s see if they can introduce me to someone who could help us.”
Since they didn’t have anything else they could do, Laura and the others could only nod. After the group appeared outside their room, Zhao Hai immediately called for the lobby manager.
Zhao Hai lived inside the hotel’s best accommodation. Therefore, the lobby manager couldn’t just ignore his summons. Upon hearing that Zhao Hai wanted to see him, the manager immediately arrived.
.Zhao Hai looked at the lobby manager. The man’s age seem to be on the bigger side. His hair was white and he had a moustache. However, he had tidily arranged himself. When the manager entered the room, he quickly said, “Mister, do you need something?”
Zhao Hai smiled towards the manager and said, “I’m not from this place. I heard that the factory business in Yanking City is quite booming recently so I thought of doing business here. But since I’m unfamiliar with the city, I can only ask lobby manager to act as a middleman and introduce me to people I need to know if I want to build or buy a factory in the city. I wonder if manager can help me with this?”
The manager immediately replied, “Mister can rest assured, we have agencies that specialize in matters like these. I will contact the best Head-hunting agency for Mister.”
Zhao Hai nodded and said, “Then I would have to trouble the Manager. Price isn’t an issue, but I want the person to be reliable. After this, I certainly wouldn’t mistreat the Manager.”
The manager immediately replied, “Mister is too polite. As the hotel’s staff member, I can’t accept any remuneration. I would be violating the rules. I wonder when Mister plans to see the person?”
Zhao Hai thought about it and said, “The sooner the better. But today would be too early, I’ll see them tomorrow.”
The manager nodded and said, “Good. Mister can rest assured, I will arrange a meeting as soon as possible. Once they contact me, I will immediately inform you.”
Zhao Hai nodded and waved his hand to make the manager retreat. Once the manager was out of the room, Laura turned to Zhao Hai and said, “Brother Hai, is getting a Professional Manager really the right decision?”
Zhao Hai smiled and said, “Rest assured, they can do it. They are trained specifically to handle matters like ours. Do you want to go out and take a stroll? In a city like this, people don’t generally rest in the evening. The city’s nightlife should be very rich.”
As soon as Laura and the others heard this, they happily nodded. Then Zhao Hai smiled as he led Laura and the others to leave. After asking the hotel to arrange a car for them, they immediately walked out.
Zhao Hai wasn’t wrong. The nightlife of people in this city was truly colorful. What made Zhao Hai glad was the presence of a stadium here. He can now watch some matches being held.
Zhao Hai paid attention and saw that their games here was very similar to football. Zhao Hai immediately called the hotel in order to arrange some game tickets. He then led Laura and the others to see the game.
Back on Earth, Zhao Hai wasn’t able to go to a stadium in order to watch a game. In his country, football wasn’t heavily promoted. And there was no need to mention about going abroad. In this case, Zhao Hai had no way to see games in person.
Zhao Hai wasn’t a hardcore sports fan. He only knew the rules of the game and he didn’t have any teams that he supported. He just wanted to watch the game because it looked lively.
At the same time, Laura and the others haven’t seen a single sports match. Games like football were nonexistent in the Ark Continent. For those who always thought about military tactics and cultivation, games where you kick a ball was seen as a joke. Instead of playing football, they might as well spend the time training.
Laura and the others were very curious about the game. Because of this, after having their dinner at the hotel, they immediately arranged for a vehicle to take them to the stadium. What made Zhao Hai somewhat excited about the game was the fact that two rivals were the ones playing. It was the Red Coat Club, Yanking City’s team, against the team from Derby City.
The tickets they had weren’t in the VIP rooms. Zhao Hai always thought that the true way of watching a game was on the stand.
Zhao Hai’s group arrived at the stadium at about Atlanta Plane’s 8:30pm, the game would start at 9:00 pm. Laura and the others followed Zhao Hai into the stadium and upon entering, the ladies were shocked. Although the game was in half an hour, the stadium was packed with people wearing colored clothes.
People were singing their songs inside the stadium. The ladies haven’t seen something like this before, they was shocked speechless. Although Zhao Hai had seen these things in TV, being in person was still a more surreal experience.
Before long, Zhao Hai and the others had found their seats. Their location was very good, it was quite close to the field. In that short distance, they were able to see the looks of the players.
At exactly 9:00pm, the match began. The entire field detonated with cheers. One couldn’t hear anything besides the cheers towards both teams. Even if the person was right next to you, one would still need to listen carefully in order to comprehend their words.
However, once the game began, Laura and the others couldn’t feel somewhat disappointed. They were experts, and they had also seen warriors and mages traversing terrain as though it was nothing. They couldn’t feel the same was as the people watching inside the stadium.
But under the current atmosphere, they still couldn’t help but continue watching the game. It was a 90-minute game. With the intermission and overtime, the entire match took two hours to finish. Since they were early by 30 minutes, Zhao Hai’s group stayed inside the stadium for a bit less than three hours.
In these three hours, the fans of both teams never stopped cheering. Their songs were loud from beginning up to the end. Laura and the others couldn’t help but admire their spirit.
After the group returned to their vehicle, Laura rubbed her ears and said, “Too frantic. Those people are too loud. Brother Hai, you said that they haven’t learned battle qi nor had military training. How could they shout that loud for three straight hours? Every one of them are full of spirit.”
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, “Perhaps it’s because of the game’s charm. It’s difficult for people like us to understand them. To them, football is just like religion.” Laura thought for a moment and said, “Brother Hai, is it possible for the people inside the Space to play this game? The Space is severely lacking in entertainment.”
Zhao Hai smiled and said, “It won’t be easy. There are a lot of races inside the Space. I’m afraid that there would be some disparity in each team. How would Goblins play against the others? I think we should just abandon this idea.”
Laura couldn’t help but agree. Zhao Hai just smiled and didn’t say anything else. One of the reasons he wanted to see that match was to introduce Atlanta Plane’s lifestyle to Laura and the others. He wanted them to see a lifestyle different from the Ark Continent.
Atlanta Plane was very similar to Earth. Zhao Hai wanted to make Laura and the others understand the plane’s culture so that they may share something similar with Zhao Hai.
Nothing noteworthy happened that night. The next morning, as the hotel’s staff were delivering breakfast, the lobby manager led someone to Zhao Hai’s room.
The manager bowed to Zhao Hai and said, “Mister, this is the Professional Manager that the Headhunting Agency has recommended. He can help Mister with what you want.”
After the manager’s introduction, the Professional Manager immediately bowed to Zhao Hai and said, “Mister, Hello. I’m called Bluewell. Being able to serve Mister would be a great honor.”
Zhao Hai inspected the man. He looked like he was in his 30s. He wore appropriate clothing and had his hair properly combed. The man’s eyes seem to sparkle.
Zhao Hai looked at Bluewell and said, “Mister Bluewell, nice to meet you. Please have a seat.” Bluewell was very polite as he took a seat and sat down. He didn’t have any hesitations in his actions which made Zhao Hai very satisfied.
As an Agent, being someone who seemed easy to talk to was a sign of professionalism. If one was cautious with their actions, then that Agent was no good.
The hotel manager didn’t leave and just stood there. The manager understood that Zhao Hai had yet to accept the Agent Bluewell. It can be said that Bluewell was still at the interview stage. If he was unable to satisfy Zhao Hai, then the hotel manager would have to find another person.
Zhao Hai looked at Bluewell and said, “Mister Bluewell, did the manager tell you about my request?”
Bluewell immediately replied, “Yes Mister, the manager already informed me that you wanted to purchase a factory in Yanking City, or maybe build your own.”
Zhao Hai nodded and said, “What would Mister Bluewell suggest?” Bluewell replied, “Mister, if I may frankly speak. I think Mister purchasing a factory in Yanking City wouldn’t be a wise decision. Factory business is doing very well in Yanking City. Nobody would be willing to let go of their factories. And even if they did, they would do so at a very high price. Therefore, purchasing a factory at this time would not be worth it.”
Zhao Hai nodded, he had also thought of this point. Therefore, he waved his hand, telling Bluewell to continue. After seeing Zhao Hai’s response, Bluewell went on, “However, I think it’s possible to open a factory by yourself. Yanking City had always been an industrial hub. There are a lot of factories here. Not only the O’Neal family, other families also run factories in this place. Mister can open a factory here, but I don’t know what kind Mister wants to build.” Zhao hai looked at Bluewell and said, “What can you suggest?”
Bluewell replied, “My suggestion is, if Mister has the money, then Mister should open a medium sized factory. Not too big nor not too small. Big factories in the City are under the control of the O’Neal family vassals. If you want to run a big factory, then you need to cooperate with them or else you would be under the O’Neal family’s pressure. On the other hand, if you run a small factory, then I’m afraid making a sizable profit would be very difficult. Therefore, running a medium factory would be appropriate.”