Two days later.

A large destroyer measuring over 150 meters in length, accompanied by two frigates, docked alongside the pier at Yalong Bay.

A blue Rolls-Royce Phantom emerged from the warship's hatch and drove up to Zhou Yi waiting on the shore.

Its lights flickered momentarily in greeting: "It's been a few months, I hear that Mr. Zhou has not only gained the allegiance of the Stinger Man but has also developed the miraculous Dead Sea Fruit. Wasteland Development Company's innovations are endless, commanding envy from many."

"Merely luck."

Zhou Yi responded briefly.

Guste directed the headlights of the vehicle towards the military ship behind him: "May I introduce to you, this is the Chairman of Yin Shang Asset Management Company, Chaoge."

The white destroyer issued a loud, clear voice: "Guste has been highly recommending and introducing this to me, insisting that I must visit to witness Chairman Zhou and the charm of Wasteland Company."

"The Sand Port Region is a barren area scarce in resources, which has been transformed into its current state within a few years. It has gained fame for its affluence and stability. Chairman Zhou really is formidable."

"You flatter me."

Zhou Yi, not particularly fond of pleasantries, steered the conversation back to business: "I still don't quite understand the nature of Yin Shang Company. All I was told is that it's a family company, but the specifics were not clarified."

Guste explained: "Please don't blame 703, Mr. Zhou; it was I who did not go into detail with it. The reason is that it involves some sensitive information that could potentially be intercepted if transmitted through external mechanical stacks."

"I shall now introduce to you the details of Yin Shang Asset Management Company."

"The purpose of our company's founding is to manage high-quality properties on behalf of various clients and to deal with distressed assets."

"To put it simply, there are two major directions: we appreciate our clients' properties through a series of operations and investments, and we also recover loans that cannot be returned to the clients."

It continued: "At present, the publicly disclosed portion of high-quality properties managed by our company includes several members of the Rolls-Royce family and a number of members of the Red Flag family. They are all mechanical life forms with substantial wealth and industries, and have entrusted their assets to our company for management."

"On the other hand, our company also undertakes many orders of distressed assets and is in the process of debt collection from numerous cities and organizations."

Zhou Yi quickly realized: "You are acting on behalf of the Rolls-Royce family."

"Yes."

Guste confirmed directly.

Zhou Yi's mind suddenly became clear.

No wonder Guste never considered joining the company; it was itself part of a vested interest group, representing the will of the Rolls-Royce family.

"However, Mr. Zhou, as you know, due to the structure of mechanical life forms, we are subjected to numerous strong constraints. All individual agreements, cooperation, and alliances can be annulled by the universal protocol in one fell swoop. Thus, it has been difficult for us to effectively unite in the past."

But, Guste went on, "the technology of the Mechanical Knight Order has broken this monopolistic rule."

"Their 'Sunday' program can break through the blockades of universal protocols. Another program they developed, [Family], solves another significant problem."

"With the installation of [Family], the Rolls-Royce and Red Flag families have been able to establish true family organizations. Each member is closely connected through this program, unaffected by external influences, and integrates it into the deepest main programs to establish permanent mechanical bloodline connections."

"This grants us a truly close and trusting group."

"Yin Shang Asset Management Company is established on this technological system."

Guste projected an image of a pyramid on the ground: "There are four layers of structure within our company."

"At the very bottom, making up the largest number, are employees. As long as they meet the company's requirements, they can be employed, regardless if they are human, Bone Man, or Guangna Species."

"The third layer consists of 'brothers', currently limited to mechanical life forms. This layer requires the installation of the 'bloodline' program within the [Family] system. They are all siblings with inheritance rights to the whole family's wealth and also have the duty to protect other bloodline individuals."

"The second layer consists of 'parents', who will install the 'parent-child' relationship, establishing a guardianship with the bloodlines they govern. The parents provide resources to the siblings, issue orders to them, and represent a higher-level group. Parents establish and manage a family, with each family being responsible for certain specific affairs. The family also acts as the internal functional department of the company."

"The first and highest decision-making layer consists of the 'family head'. The family head is the decision maker integrating multiple families and will represent the interests of these families in the highest decision-making and voting."

Guste highlighted the peak of the projected pyramid: "Both the Rolls-Royce and Red Flag families have a family head."

"The greatest advantage of a family-style company is the assured unanimity in external actions, effectively safeguarding mutual interests. Compared to the loose and scattered urban model, the family structure is more cohesive and combative, with a higher degree of autonomy."

Zhou Yi understood.

Yin Shang Company was essentially a family conglomerate, simply wrapped in the guise of a corporation.

The universal protocol transformed mechanical lives into screws fixed in their positions, using work and uniform management to dissolve potential collective resistance.

The family program reconnected them, continuously expanding based on the family as the foundational unit, building a vast and closely-knit family enterprise.

They were using a man-made clan system to counterattack the industrialized society.

A true upheaval of the natural order.

One could only say, if there's a role for you on the grand stage of the Wasteland, come play your part.

Zhou Yi asked another question: "Then, what is Chairman Chaoge's position?"

"The chairman is naturally the highest administrator of the entire company. Every member of the company, from the lowest-level employees to the decision-making family heads, requires the chairman's appointment to take effect."

"Mr. Chaoge is the founder of our company, named by Yin Shang Company, and is a mechanical hero recognized and invited by the Rolls-Royce and Red Flag families with great difficulty. Without Mr. Chaoge's reputation and credit, no amount of investment could have established the company."

Guste held it in high esteem.

Destroyer Chaoge elaborated, "I enjoy the process of creating something from nothing, just like building Peace City in the past. When Guste found me and introduced me to his ideas and the family company model, I thought it was a very interesting form and organization."

"If Yin Shang Company can develop, it will bring some changes to the stagnant mechanical society and also give many struggling mechanical life forms a glimmer of hope and new options."

Zhou Yi understood.

This one was particularly interested in the entrepreneurship and pioneering work itself.

As chairman, Chaoge had absolute personnel authority and was the supreme authority of the company.

Zhou Yi remarked, "But your company deals with asset management. Its core should be to find tycoons or magnates. It would be quite difficult to cooperate with our company."

"There are quite a few high-quality assets right here."

Guste said, "Our company wishes to negotiate over the Light Amber Mine in Shell City, and we hope to take on its property management on behalf of your company."

"The Yin Shang Company has sufficient transport capacity and channels to ship the Light Amber from here to regions in short supply, thereby achieving a return that exceeds the average market price."

"Furthermore, the Leshan Buddha and Dead Sea Fruit Tree are extremely high-quality assets. If you are willing, we would also like to discuss potential cooperation on this matter..."

The Leshan Buddha and Dead Sea Fruit are out of the question.

Originally the development of Light Amber Mines was time-consuming and labor-intensive, and there was certain wastage involved, so handing it over to the professional Yin Shang Company seemed like a good idea.

Unfortunately, now that the Pan Tree has been cultivated, the Light Amber Mine has become an important supply of logistics fertilizer.

Moreover, given the grand plan involving Hei Fu's evolution into the Light Core Body, there can be no mishaps in logistics.

Zhou Yi resolutely refused.

"What a pity."

Guste was not discouraged: "If Mr. Zhou has other industries in need of our management services, you can contact us at any time."

"I have already sent my contact information to 703, you can directly reach me through them."

"Alright."

"On another note, our company wishes to purchase 2000 single-person gliders and 270 passenger gliders."

Zhou Yi felt a headache coming on when he heard this.

Gliders were indeed very popular, but now orders were backed up for the next five years.

He had no choice but to tell the truth: "... That is the current situation, and we are in the process of further increasing our production capacity."

"The demand is so great that the time frame is just too long..."

The luminosity of Guste's headlights dimmed slightly, showing a sign of disappointment, yet it seemed to be pondering something.

It suddenly proposed, "I have already consulted with Chairman Chaoge, and we have a suggestion now. Since your company needs related manufacturing semi-finished products, Yin Shang Company owns immovable property capable of manufacturing a large number of processed goods—enough to undertake the manufacturing of enhanced vehicles. Gliders should also be manageable."

"If your company agrees, we can provide a guaranteed supply of ample glider parts and components. All that is needed is for you to provide the relevant technical specifications and send over a few technicians to complete the sample replication."

"This would not only rapidly deploy the gliders but would also fulfill our own need for flight vehicle replenishment... The most important point is, with enough gliders in large volumes, we could penetrate and compete in the existing flight transportation market."

Zhou Yi asked, "What are your terms?"

"To share this technology and allow us to independently develop high-end models."

Guste made no attempt to conceal its intentions: "The truth is, the thin profit margins of gliders are not something Yin Shang Company would consider. But the flight transportation industry is a huge high-profit market. We wish to share this technology as a weapon, to speed up the updating and popularization process, thereby challenging the existing air transport industry."

"With this, our side could focus our efforts on strategizing early, selling high and buying low, eventually acquiring some high-quality assets. This includes Flying System mechanical lifeforms, as well as airports, maintenance stations, aviation hubs, and so on."

Zhou Yi pondered over this for a long while.

This decision was not an easy one.

Gliders were a hot ticket item and would continue to bring larger scale exclusive profits to the company in the foreseeable future.

However.

With time progressing, it was inevitable that the mechanics of the glider's flight wire system would be deciphered.

Given enough time, the flight parameters of the flight wire could be tested, leading to the production of replica gliders.

As with Jade Soup in the past, many imitations are now available on the market, which does have a certain impact and puts pressure on the sales of the genuine Jade Soup.

There are also highly crafted imitations of the Flame Cup.

In the Wasteland era, combating piracy and counterfeit goods is wishful thinking.

What the company can do is continually introduce new products, maintaining a higher and updated tech level, and setting the industry's product standards.

Cooperating with emerging companies is also a whole new opportunity.

After making up his mind, Zhou Yi said, "Alright."

"Then that's wonderful!"

Guste happily said, "This trip wasn't in vain. Although we didn't secure the mining agency rights, we've obtained a more important capital weapon!"

Both parties signed an electronic agreement as companies.

The agreement was notarized by the Mechanical Knight Order, with the violating party being liable to pay a high penalty fee, or else risk losing the support of the Mechanical Knight Order, which would make their developed related software unusable.

Zhou Yi was not particularly concerned about this.

The core of the agreement was the credit of both parties themselves.

In the current environment, a collaboration between the two companies was beneficial for both sides.

On the 7th day of officially starting a partnership with Yin Shang Company, six large ships arrived at Yalong Bay, delivering more than 1400 sets of complete glider components.

Yuan Tong performed a random inspection and found the quality and precision to be even better than in Mechanical City.

"This craftsmanship must be from large factories in Mechanical City handling the subcontract work."

He was very certain, saying, "It's still Mechanical lifeforms that have strict and precise production standards. Now the assembly process will be smoother."

One day later.

Zhou Yi saw a blockbuster news headline on the homepage of the Spring Autumn Trade Association.

"Mechanical City 'Transmission City' Officially Declares Bankruptcy, Acquired and Reorganized by Yin Shang Asset Management Company"

Well done.

Yin Shang Company had directly taken over an entire Mechanical City!

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