Chapter 242: Investing is a Higher Form of Voting

Three hours later, Lu Yuan, who had abandoned his sightseeing plans, arrived at "Purgatory" with the bodyguard team composed of players.

They entered directly through the back door and proceeded to the third-floor office, far from the noise of the shop.

Anya was already waiting there.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, honored Executive."

Upon seeing Lu Yuan, she was visibly stunned for a second or two, her face then showing a surprised expression.

"Please forgive my lack of preparation, but — you are truly much younger than I imagined. Could it be that you are even younger than me?"

Lu Yuan smiled in greeting, not answering a question that didn't require an answer.

He had heard similar remarks so many times that his ears were practically calloused.

"It's also a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Anya."

"Oh my, am I really that old, 'Ms.'? Perhaps I should punish my highly-paid styling team and replace their clumsy hands with the latest model of prosthetics?"

She made a "joke" that might not have been entirely a joke, walking over with a smile and pointing to the sofa nearby.

"Please sit, my most distinguished guest."

Anya was wearing a more formal black suit dress today. As the host, she took her seat first, her movements light and graceful, her posture very relaxed.

"I must first express my gratitude to you,"

Lu Yuan sat next to Anya.

"My employees told me that over the past month, suspicious individuals frequently appeared outside the branch office, but nothing ultimately happened, and all our activities proceeded normally in a safe environment."

Lu Yuan had a good idea of what enabled the corporate branch to open and operate smoothly in Apollo's hometown.

"Don't worry about it. As long as the price is right, I can do much more than just this."

Anya winked at him.

"You also helped me achieve considerable profits in the foreign exchange market, so, our favor is now settled. Neither of us owes the other."

Lu Yuan nodded.

"Indeed. On this matter, we can certainly reach a consensus."

"However—" Anya's tone shifted, "—this also means that today, whatever help you ask of me will require additional payment."

Before Lu Yuan could speak again, she snapped her fingers.

The rectangular decorative panels on one wall of the office flipped open one by one, revealing a large high-definition screen behind them.

Displayed on the screen were thousands of star systems within the Star Alliance cosmos.

This...

Important intelligence like the full Star Alliance map had already been collected and purchased the day after the "tianwen" arrived at New Hope, and then transmitted back to Li Star Headquarters through the player community.

But at this moment, Lu Yuan discovered that this map contained much content not found on public star maps, including unrevealed secret wormhole routes!

"As an intelligence collector, it's hard for me not to notice that your subordinates seem to be gathering methods to enter this area."

Anya said, pointing to a peripheral area on the map.

And that was precisely the star system where the resource point coordinates Lu Yuan had bought with redemption points were located.

The legendary Ruin Star!

According to the navigation data found in Omar's power armor, Ruin Star was located outside the known Star Alliance cosmos.

After arriving at New Hope, the investigation of Ruin Star had not progressed smoothly.

Various adventurers and merchant fleets all stated that it was "deep space," a truly wild area, taking decades to reach even by warp-speed spacecraft, and a hundred years for a round trip, thus having no value for exploration or development. But on Anya's map, a clear navigation route was shown there.

‘This star system is within most people's cognitive range. If one follows the hidden route to navigate further into the Star Alliance, they will arrive at one of the busiest and most dangerous traffic arteries currently.

"The Dark Sun Pirate Group frequently appears there, so I speculate that their headquarters should be inside the hidden route."

Anya introduced to Lu Yuan.

Clearly, her intelligence must have come from spies planted within Apollo.

Oh, Dark Sun, huh...

Hearing her say this, Lu Yuan knew that the existence of Ruin Star had not been exposed.

He had specifically instructed the players not to mention any information about this undiscovered planet.

In this regard, he trusted both his employees' professionalism and the physical anti-leakage capability of the explosive collars developed by his senior sister. Given this premise, Anya's purpose in willingly showing him this map for free became very clear.

Her relationship with Apollo was also not great; she hoped to use his power to eliminate them.

Her initial attempt to recruit him by sending Xiu to Li Star was precisely for this matter. Looking at it this way, it could be said that her "original intention remained unchanged."

"We do know that Apollo and Dark Sun are one and the same, and we do hope to eradicate both organizations to eliminate future troubles."

Lu Yuan was too lazy to play guessing games with her and directly stated his position.

"But this action will certainly involve risks, so I want to know what assistance the Apocalypse Queen is willing to provide."

"Ha—"

Anya laughed.

"Executive, you might have misunderstood me."

She leaned closer, one hand naturally resting on Lu Yuan's thigh, gently caressing it. Her eyes immediately became tender like water, and her tone grew intimate and ambiguous.

"Those people outside gave me the nickname 'Apocalypse Queen,' but in reality, I am truly a very, very insecure and fragile woman—"

Anya was exceptionally beautiful, her makeup, attire, and demeanor particularly captivating. An ordinary person, if "caressed" by her like this, would likely be dazed and believe her on the spot.

However, Lu Yuan's mental attribute was now as high as 102. Even if he had never encountered such a scene in his previous life, his psychological state was incredibly stable.

Child's play.

"Is that so?"

He looked directly at Anya, his gaze unwavering.

"But I only see a stunningly beautiful actress, showcasing her proud and exquisite acting skills to me."

Anya covered her face and laughed, unable to maintain her composure.

"Hmm, alright! I'll take that as a heartfelt compliment from the Executive~"

"But, seriously. The reason people on New Hope are willing to respect my opinion is because I am good at helping them maximize their interests and avoid unnecessary conflicts."

"It's not because I possess overwhelming armed force on New Hope; otherwise, I could have turned this place into my own kingdom long ago. Why would I still need to sit in a nightclub secretly gathering intelligence from all sides?"

That made sense.

Lu Yuan made no comment, waiting for her to continue.

Compared to the beginning, Anya's demeanor and tone now had less of the fake, business-like politeness and more of a practical approach to discussing matters.

"Let me put it this way: Mr. Sang, the boss of Apollo and Dark Sun, is a very intelligent and resourceful person. Like me, he has many friends on this space station."

"On one hand, Mr. Sang operates under the guise of Apollo, a large company, providing merchants with affordable and high-quality security, intelligence consulting, and interstellar development services; on the other hand, he engages in large-scale pirate activities through Dark Sun, rapidly accumulating wealth and power, compensating for Apollo's unremarkable book profits, and using this wealth to bribe and buy off New Hope's high-ranking officials and eliminate his rivals."

"I do dislike Mr. Sang; that's no secret on New Hope."

"However, if the 'Apocalypse Queen' were to openly declare war on Apollo, the entire New Hope would immediately fall into division, and all normal affairs, especially commerce and port operations, would be severely affected."

"This does not serve anyone's interests, and I believe that includes Cangyuan."

Lu Yuan remained silent on the surface, but his brain was working at high speed.

Anya's words were indeed true.

His ideal New Hope, as a commercial port, most importantly needed to maintain peace and stability, and be able to provide normal supply services for the merchant fleets he employed.

On this basis, the most ideal situation would naturally be for it to be secretly influenced, or even secretly controlled, by Cangyuan.

"I understand. Assuming that Cangyuan can completely fill Apollo's void in the future, and we, as a newly entering third party, can find substantive evidence of Apollo and Dark Sun being a single entity, would this bring about changes to New Hope's political landscape?"

Lu Yuan continued to speak frankly, saving time.

"Absolutely, it would bring about earth-shattering changes!"

Anya looked at Lu Yuan, her eyes sparkling with intelligent light.

This was precisely what she hoped to imply; the Executive was indeed not simple!

"For New Hope's high-ranking officials, Apollo is actually a huge ticking bomb, it's just that no one has been able to detonate it before! If you can find evidence that Apollo is Dark Sun, then I guarantee, Mr. Sang will lose most of his support overnight."

"At that time, I will also call on all sectors to launch a concentrated assault on the legitimacy of the Council."

"If all goes well, as Cangyuan sweeps away Apollo, the Council's rule will also be ended! Executive, I believe you don't have a good impression of those old Council members either, do you?"

"Indeed."

Lu Yuan finally saw through all of Anya's intentions.

She wanted the "dealing with Apollo" matter to show additional value, using the momentum to stir up trouble on New Hope, achieving a double win, or rather, winning twice in total.

It had to be said, she was a competent schemer.

Acceptable!

"And then?" Lu Yuan asked, "Will you install your own people in the New Hope Council, turning it into a complete puppet?"

"No, no, no..."

Anya shook her head gently.

"Before you appeared, I did plan that. But now, on second thought, why does there necessarily need to be a Council here? What's wrong with a corporate system like Cangyuan's vast enterprise? Why should a Council necessarily be superior to highly centralized rule by a few shareholders? Look at New Hope now, look at the Council's outward strength but inner weakness, its incompetence, and its hidden agendas. There's no evidence to support that point!"

She got up and poured two glasses of wine, smiling as she handed one to Lu Yuan.

"If Cangyuan can completely replace Apollo's ecological niche, then please consider investing in the reborn New Hope Free Port as an interstellar company, and operate it jointly with me, how about that?"