Liam's PR manager betrayed him, directly confessing his criminal acts and issuing further criminal orders in front of the police communicator.
As Liam was being handcuffed by the police, he was still bewildered, shouting at his PR manager:
"What the hell are you doing! Damn it! Why did you betray me! You son of a bitch!"
Perhaps it was Liam's questioning, or perhaps it was his cursing, that provoked the PR manager who was standing at the office door, quietly watching his boss being arrested.
"Because you still don't remember my name, damn it."
Liam was stunned by this answer. He couldn't understand. It was just a name, only a name, what was the big deal if he couldn't remember it?
Why would he betray himself for this reason?
***
"Oh, God, the boss of Emily Company is such a pathetic man. He was betrayed by his own subordinate. God bless this poor man."
In a private cigar room built in a primeval forest, a burly man in his sixties, about 1.9 meters tall, dressed in a suit, sat on a deep brown leather sofa. The buttons of his suit had long been undone, and due to his large belly, they naturally slid to the sides.
He held a cigar in one hand, his fair skin covered with age spots, and his earlobes hung down like deflated balloons.
As he spoke, despite constantly calling the other person pathetic, his blue-green eyes showed no trace of pity.
"Andrew, perhaps you should be glad that the little girl was only selling candy and drinks. You know, people are already researching whether that new functional drink can delay aging. If it's really effective, perhaps we old men will start finding things difficult."
The man sitting opposite Andrew, dressed in a full three-piece suit, was slender compared to Andrew. At this moment, his face did not show Andrew's casual demeanor. His brow was furrowed, and although he was only in his early fifties, he looked as old as Andrew.
"Noah, don't worry. I received news that someone had paid a large sum of money to have that woman's life taken, to bring her here alive. However, that order has now changed. If they can't bring her back alive, her death will suffice."
After speaking, Andrew took another deep puff of his cigar and slowly exhaled, filling the entire log cabin with thick smoke.
Hearing Andrew's words, Noah did not relax his brow. Instead, he became even more angry. The hand holding the cigar tapped the edge of the coffee table rhythmically, and he reprimanded in a low voice:
"Heh, a large sum of money. I think that large sum of money was also for us. Over the years, how much have those people taken from us? What's the point of them taking her alive? Don't they feel that the money we offer is not enough, and they want to develop drugs in their own labs? They don't consider the capital and time required for the research and development of a new drug. Do they have it?!"
Of course, although Noah was very agitated, he still deliberately lowered his voice, as if afraid of being overheard.
They were a renowned pharmaceutical company in Beautiful Country. Almost half of the medicines they produced entered Beautiful Country's medical insurance system, and the other half covered the daily use medications for the entire population.
Others called their company an empire.
But only he and the founder, Andrew, knew that although they were the founders and actual controllers of this company, they had to hand over almost fifty percent of the company's annual profits to a group of insatiable leeches.
After speaking, Noah and Andrew exchanged glances. They both saw deep fatigue in each other's eyes.
However, in the end, they simply finished their cigars in silence, then walked out of the log cabin, got into their respective cars, and left.
***
The lawsuit filed by Meimei Company against Aipiaoliang Company created a stir worldwide. This was the first Asian company to dare to sue a local company in Beautiful Country.
After all, in everyone's eyes, doing business on someone else's turf meant being obedient, keeping a low profile, and sometimes even sacrificing a portion of profits to ensure peaceful business.
But Meimei Company didn't seem to understand this. They not only came in with great force, quickly occupying market shelves with their products, but also engaged in lawsuits with local companies.
It looked like they intended to send the owner of that local company to prison.
At this moment, not only local companies in Beautiful Country were watching, but Asian companies that had long wanted to enter the global market were also observing.
If Meimei Company won the lawsuit, they would rapidly expand their branches in the European and American markets and seize market share. If they lost, they could only proceed as originally planned, opening one store first, then a second store six months later, and so on, like a frog in warming water, reducing their presence.
However, although they were all from Asia, they were from different countries, and the companies with such expectations were basically the leaders in different industries in Asia. It was almost impossible for them to communicate.
But they all understood in their hearts that this was an extremely important turning point.
***
Andre Law Firm, as the top law firm in Beautiful Country, lived up to its reputation. Although many local companies secretly pressured the court to acquit the owner of Aipiaoliang Company, Andre's elite team still managed to secure a huge compensation for Aipiaoliang Company in court.
A compensation of ten million US dollars.
This was a colossal sum of compensation that neither local companies nor Asian companies had expected. And this was merely because the owner of Emily Company had made a joke with the owner of Meimei Niu Company.
Of course, Andre Law Firm presented strong evidence to prove that the requested compensation amount was reasonable.
"According to the sales evidence provided by Meimei Company and the total advertising expenses incurred, if Aipiaoliang Company's dirty tactics had succeeded, Meimei Company's advertising investment of nearly five million US dollars would have gone to waste, and future profits would have disappeared."
"Therefore, we propose that a compensation of ten million US dollars is a very reasonable request."
This statement was publicized by reporters in newspapers, and even the financial television channels discussed the lawsuit.
However, whether in newspapers or on television, they could not help but comment:
"Meimei Company's spending on advertising is almost astronomical. Their expenditure is almost equivalent to the total profit of Meimei Company's sales in all of Beautiful Country for ten years."
As a result, people all over Beautiful Country remembered that Meimei Brand was a food company that spent a lot of money on advertising, and their products were made of real ingredients with no negative side effects.
***
The lawsuit concluded, and although the owner of Emily Company was ordered to pay ten million US dollars in compensation, he was not imprisoned. However, for someone like Liam, who valued money above all else, his current situation might be more unbearable than being locked up in jail.
Soon, news spread in the market that Liam was going to sell his company, including factories, production lines, and everything else.
But the beverage companies that learned of this news did not act, because they needed to wait. They waited for Liam to willingly package everything at an extremely low discount, and then they would swallow it whole.
Unfortunately, their calculations were good, but after waiting and waiting, they only received news that Emily Company had been completely transferred.
Noah was among those waiting, the most patient and capable one.
Noah had previously considered that if their Eternal Group wanted to maintain its current high-profit model, it would need to continuously expand its business sectors.
For a pharmaceutical company, health products were already saturated in the market, so he set his sights on Emily, a new company making functional drinks.
He had originally planned to make a move when this company grew bigger and bigger, whether it was to collude with those vampires to bring the company down, or to kidnap the company's founder and then hollow out the company during its turmoil.
These were Noah's past plans, but now.
"Are you sure that Emily Company has completed the transaction?"
Noah sat in his executive chair, his thin body hidden within his wide suit, as if he could appear strong this way.
His voice at this moment was filled with questioning.
He couldn't believe that someone had snatched away the prey he had been watching for a long time right under his nose.
The employee who came to report, if he took off his suit jacket at this moment, could see that the back of his shirt was completely soaked and clinging tightly to his equally thin back.
Unlike most Wall Street elites, the executives in their Eternal Group were almost all thin, resembling boiled chickens.
Because at some point, they discovered that once someone started working out, exercising, or became obese, Noah, the helmsman of the entire group, would reassign them.
Later, it was rumored within the group that due to Noah's health reasons, he disliked healthy bodies, so he stopped his ten-year fitness habit and dieted.
And now, he had finally reached a senior executive position within the Eternal Group, but he still felt a sense of suffocation when facing Noah, as if Noah's gaze could turn all his efforts over the years into bubbles that would pop with a single blow.
"Yes, boss. Based on the information currently obtained, it can be inferred that Emily Company has undergone a change in its actual controller, and Liam will be taking a flight tonight to the other side of the Pacific, to Zhonghua."
Upon hearing the word Zhonghua, Noah's half-closed eyes opened completely.
"You said he sold the company to go to Zhonghua?"
"Yes, boss."
"Understood. You can go now."
"Yes!"
After the reporting person left the office, Noah sank into the large chair.
"Zhonghua, Liu Chen, Emily, Meimei Niu. Damn it, those idiots spent a sum of money but only managed to alert the enemy. No, next time Liu Chen enters the country, I must find a way to capture her."
***
Liu Chen, whom Noah desperately wanted to capture, was currently reviewing her newly acquired subsidiary.
Yes, the current behind-the-scenes owner of Emily Company was the plaintiff who had sued the company.
Her fair fingers rolled the mouse wheel. As her fingers moved, the laptop screen rapidly browsed through the research projects left behind by Emily Company.
Honestly, at first, Liu Chen had not paid much attention to this company. It was a competitor that was trying to frame her and drive her out of the industry.
This was Liu Chen's understanding of Emily Company, until...
Liu Chen saw the photo of the company's founder, Liam.
After enhancement, her memory, which was as high as 87, quickly helped her recall this man. Liam was handsome, resembling the male leads in Beautiful Country's fashion dramas, with a pair of hesitant blue eyes.
So, when he was charged with rape in her previous life, everyone was shocked, unable to understand why such a handsome and wealthy man would rape his subordinate.
Later, when the police searched for evidence, Liam even tried to cover it up by hiring an assassin, causing a globally sensational case.
Of course, these memories were not the reason for her decision to purchase the company.
It was that in another six months, Emily Company would develop a high-protein chocolate bar, which would become their flagship product. It was delicious, could quickly replenish protein, and had been tested to be completely harmless to the human body. At most, eating too much would cause constipation.
This protein bar was almost a perfect match for Meimei Niu.
Meimei Niu could supplement energy but not physical strength. In other words, after drinking Meimei Niu, you could maintain your learning state, but you might suddenly fall asleep due to insufficient physical energy and collapse at your desk.
With this protein bar, under certain ideal conditions, you could even have a temporary period of 72 hours of abundant energy.
During this period, you would be completely normal.
And this 72 hours was a limit.
This was calculated by Liu Chen based on laboratory data, and then simulated by Ren Yu. It was the limit of how long a person could maintain good physical condition with sufficient nutrition and energy, without sleeping.
Liam coming to Zhonghua was just a decoy. The person who truly carried the project data and information was a Zhonghua international student.
This international student had returned to China to join Xinghai Technology.
This time, Liu Chen did not intend to sell this project as a product. She intended to submit it to the state.
She had a feeling, a premonition, that this thing was very important.