"I can confirm that the contract between Lynch and us was premeditated." After the party, Mr. Herbs sat in the club's room, surrounded by those who co-signed the contract.

He sat on the sofa, legs crossed, playing with a wide-mouthed square cup in his hand, his eyes unfocused as they stared at the carpet's pattern on the floor ahead, though he wasn't really looking at those patterns.

He was in a state of concentrated thinking that made him appear to be in a special state, where nothing could distract his thoughts, ensuring his thinking was correct.

"Lynch bringing his female companion is the best indication, he's definitely signaling something to us!"

Mr. Herbs spoke with certainty, and someone beside him followed up, "What is he suggesting?"

Mr. Herbs withdrew his gaze from the void, looked at the people around him, and shook his head, "I don't know what he is implying, but it's definitely not a good sign. To be honest, this time I really can't figure out what Lynch intends to do, my experience has failed on this young man."

Before this, Mr. Herbs didn't believe anyone could trick him, not considering his special background—a prince of a small country. But no matter how "small" the country is, it still has a voice in international society.

If someone deceives him, he's not someone who can't make his voice heard. He could ruin the reputation of whoever deceives him, coupled with his age and the many things he's experienced, he thought he was close to perfection.

This might be an exaggeration, but it was his mindset before Lynch appeared.

Before signing the contract, he didn't feel this way. After all, a year or two ago, he had just let Lynch swallow a silent loss, and in his view, no matter how the outside world praised this young man, he was really just so-so!

Now it's different; he doesn't even know what Lynch plans to do or how to deal with it?

The people in the room showed a mix of anger and helplessness, angry that someone threw them into a trap, helpless because they still didn't know how this trap works.

After a while, Mr. Herbs sighed and snapped out of his thoughts, "Is there any big news recently?"

"Big news?" a slightly younger gentleman muttered, repeating. He was actually around forty. After thinking for a moment, he kept shaking his head, "No news. You know, today's reporters aren't like before, able to report news accurately. They just want to catch people's attention!"

This is also a natural development trend of a commercialized society, everything revolves around commercial value. Only by catching people's attention can effective value be generated, allowing reporters and media to make money.

This leads to fatigue; big events and small events alike get written as big stories, like "Humans Are Approaching Extinction," when it's actually about some social phenomenon, but with an eye-popping headline, it can still make people pay for a newspaper or a magazine.

In such a trend of sensational headlines, people find it difficult to judge the effective value of a news story from its title.

People's energy is limited, impossible to read all reports, resulting in reading a bunch of trash news and gaining nothing.

"Apart from some people habitually contradicting the mainstream, I don't know what other news could be related to our business."

"Contradict?" Mr. Herbs sharply caught the keyword in the man's words, "What contradiction?"

The young man hesitated, frowned, gathered his thoughts, and spoke slowly, "Recently, some international investigation agencies, small ones, issued a warning about the danger of Gallier's currency. They believe Nagariel's current industry and economy cannot support Gallier's exchange rate, and Gallier will soon crash."

As he spoke, the young man kept adding, "Actually, this kind of news has been there since Gallier started appreciating, and it hasn't stopped till now. These small investigation agencies always report such contrarian news."

"A few years ago, when Gafura was about to win, they said Gafura would lose a decisive war. When the Federation's economy was booming, they said it would collapse... ugh!"

Mr. Herbs pointed at the young man, "They got it right once."

The young man refuted, "But I don't think they'll be right this time. They just want to attract a small section of investors' attention and trust with this perspective!"

This is indeed a way for many small agencies to quickly gain fame. It doesn't matter if they fail ten, one hundred, or one thousand times, as they have always been unknown anyway.

But as long as they successfully bet once on an unexpected development trend in mainstream events, they will receive enough attention and become one of the new mainstreams.

"But, what is the benefit of doing this?" Mr. Herbs raised a question, seeming to ask others, yet also himself.

…

Meanwhile, Lynch and Jenia returned to the hotel, and they quickly completed the first round and entered a halftime break.

"You're very bad, you know?" Jenia lay on Lynch, a TV in the bedroom playing the evening news.

The female host was undressing while reporting the news, a very popular late-night adult show.

Of course, those completely explicit adult shows are very popular too, but watching them too much gets boring, while stripping news began trending.

The host's unique profession, their broadcast, and their decreasing clothes give viewers a different sensory stimulation, driving viewership up since the first episode, leading the midnight adult channel to introduce more varied shows.

"What have I done?" Lynch asked.

Jenia flipped over on Lynch, looking at him, "You knew the nature of tonight's party, and you brought me along. You wanted those people to feel awkward, right?"

Lynch didn't deny it, nodding with a smile, and Jenia continued, "Do you have a grudge against them?"

She believed she would never do such a thing to her friends, so Lynch must have some ongoing feud with that group.

Lynch smiled without answering, as there was nothing to answer. In the world of capital, there is no concept of right or wrong.

Or rather, in the world of capital, there's no concept of ethics; all capital exists to continuously expand and grow. If there's a reason, it's probably a natural law.

Big fish eat little fish, little fish eat shrimp, and capital does the same.

Lynch wanted expansion; he couldn't find a factory and work seriously on it himself. Beyond the most basic exploitation and oppression of capital, there weren't many ways left for him.

The fastest, most rapid, and effective way is the mutual devouring between capitals. He wants to make Herbs and the others nourishment for his expansion, nothing more.

When Jenia couldn't get an answer from Lynch, she didn't pursue it further. The two of them got together for various reasons, so under such impure motives, they were rather cautious.

So Jenia changed the topic, "You know, today I read in the newspaper that Amelia's independence organization attacked the garrison, causing terrible casualties."

Lynch shifted his attention from the nearly undressed host to Jenia.

Jenia sighed with a bit of emotion, "Why is there war? Why can't everyone coexist peacefully?"

Because you fucking invaded other people's country and forcibly leased their territories!

Of course, Lynch wouldn't say that. He merely smiled and said, "Because the world is not lacking in ambitious people."

He reached out to feel Jenia's smooth skin, admittedly, she maintained her body well. For a woman in her early thirties, her skin should be declining, but Jenia's skin was still at its peak.

It's said she bathes in milk every two to three days, and employs advanced and effective maintenance methods.

Some scientists tell people that these maintenance methods are not very effective and don't last long, but for wealthy people, even if the effect only lasts six hours, they can maintain it endlessly.

In such an environment, her body looks less like a thirty-year-old and more like someone in their twenties, making her irresistible.

"Ambition is the ugliest thing in the world, it's those who provoke ethnic division and hostility, gaining benefits from it."

"Power, status, wealth, or just the simple power of life and death!"

Jenia asked absentmindedly, "Didn't you say last time you had a solution to the Amelia problem, what's the solution?"

An actress, a brilliant actress, her performance was excellent, everything seemed like casual remarks sparked by a news event along with a touch of curiosity, as if she had no underlying intentions.

But Lynch knew, all of this had intention, perhaps the Emperor was still probing. Lynch wouldn't say nothing, nor would he reveal the core solution.

He merely joked, "This issue is not cheap!"

Just as he finished speaking within less than five seconds, he suddenly took a deep breath, looking at the silent Jenia, a bit curious.

What kind of benefit did the Emperor promise her to make her work so hard?

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