Chapter 45 Benevolence to the Utmost, Righteousness to the Fullest

Chapter 45 Benevolence to the Utmost, Righteousness to the Fullest

Emily's POV

Christopher nodded, "But the asset transfer still needs Bruce to personally..."

"Don't worry about that, I'll figure it out. He'll agree."

Two days later, Elizabeth's funeral ended simply. I didn't have much time for grief.

I'm not sure if it's because when sadness reaches its extreme, you forget how to grieve. I only knew there was a force inside me, driving me, telling me not to stop.

After the funeral, I asked Abigail for help when she came.

As Elizabeth's close friend during her lifetime, and with connections in Silverlight City, I figured if I asked her for help, she would probably help me.

She was the only one I could think of. After all, Christopher's home turf wasn't here, and many things were restricted for him.

The negotiation exhausted me. Through Abigail's connections, I finally met the military commander and the handcuffed Bruce at a private club.

I watched him sign the agreement. His hand shook a bit, but he still signed.

The sound of the stamp falling was heavy, muffled in that room.

I stood beside him, feeling no relief, no satisfaction, just tired—so tired I wanted to go back and collapse into bed.

After confirming he could walk out alive, I turned and left without looking back at him again.

He wanted to see me one last time before leaving Zephyria. I just had someone tell him: we're even now.

He was secretly sent off with a plane ticket to Celestria. I left him fifty thousand dollars for emergencies.

That fifty thousand was from my personal savings.

It took me another three days to finish handling all these matters.

I never thought I would end this eight-year relationship so hastily.

More than reluctance, I felt relief and relaxation.

After finishing all this, I visited Abigail again to express my gratitude.

In the villa, Abigail held my hand, "Good girl, knowing how to repay kindness—not many people can do what you've done."

Then she called upstairs, "Ryder, Emily's here, come down and say hello."

Soon Ryder came down with a gloomy expression.

I stood up to greet him, "Ryder, are you feeling unwell?"

I asked casually, just making conversation.

Ryder sighed and started explaining, "Don't even get me started. Lately the military has been really unhappy with the chassis of our entire off-road vehicle line."

"They say the compression resistance isn't good enough, can't handle high-load use. The military-grade steel we produce is already two or three times stronger than regular steel, and it's still not enough."

I didn't expect him to discuss such technical stuff with me. I didn't really understand it, so I could only nod along vaguely.

"Maybe you could improve it somehow?"

Ryder shook his head, "It's not that easy to improve. The military people said if we still can't meet standards, they'll switch suppliers. It's such a headache."

Abigail interrupted, "Alright, alright, enough with all this technical jargon, I can't understand any of it. Emily does automotive exterior design, how could she possibly understand this? Let's talk about something else."

I chatted with them all afternoon, mainly expressing my gratitude to Abigail. It wasn't until evening that I got up to leave.

Abigail asked me to stay for dinner, but I politely declined.

Back at the villa, Christopher, Joshua, and I sat on the sofa drinking.

Elizabeth had left the villa to me.

It was the only inheritance I kept.

I was already a bit drunk.

"Everything's taken care of. Why haven't you guys gone back to Eldoria yet?"

Christopher grinned mischievously and replied, "For love."

Joshua was more serious, "The targeted therapy system and samples haven't been found yet. They must still be in Silverlight City, haven't been shipped out."

"Besides that, I came to Silverlight City to meet some senior professors and discuss professional topics with them."

Christopher gave me a thumbs up. I held my glass but didn't respond.

The drunkenness was rising, but my thoughts were crystal clear.

I took out a three hundred million dollar bank loan, not from Christopher. He wanted to give me the money directly at the time, but I refused. On one hand, I didn't want to owe too much; on the other hand... honestly, I needed debt to pressure myself, to give myself a reason to work.

Two hundred and fifty million dollars covered the holes from Bruce's years of tax evasion, and the remaining fifty million was for employee bonuses, family compensation, various fines—all the bits and pieces added up perfectly.

Elizabeth was gone. I couldn't let her son die here too.

On one hand, I didn't want to owe too many favors. On the other hand, I wanted to keep myself busy.

Now with three hundred million dollars in debt, just thinking about it gave me motivation.

Maybe I'd spend the rest of my life paying off this loan.

If I really couldn't pay it back, I'd just leave. Worst case, I wouldn't return to Zephyria.

That was the main reason I didn't take Christopher's money.

Unless absolutely necessary, I didn't want to leave this place where I'd lived for eight years.

Mainly because I didn't want to give up this villa. It was full of memories and things Elizabeth left for me.

Christopher's eyes lit up, and he immediately raised his glass, his tone eager yet confident: "I have a proposal. How about the three of us partner up and start a company in Silverlight City?"

Joshua and I were instantly drawn to his words, looking at him in unison.

He smiled and raised his glass, breaking it down methodically: "Look, I've been planning to enter the Zephyria market anyway; Joshua, you need to find research results and connect with professors in Silverlight City; and you, Emily, want to pay off three hundred million dollars in debt—working for someone else your whole life won't make that possible."

"Only by officially becoming a company shareholder and receiving dividends can you have that chance."

"Instead of each doing our own thing and getting in each other's way, why don't we cooperate? I'll provide the money and be the largest shareholder; Joshua, you must know quite a few people in Silverlight City, right? So you handle public relations and connections—and of course, you'll invest money too; as for Emily, you have real technical skills, so you'll handle the technical side. What do you think?"

Joshua spoke first, "I'm fine with it. It mainly depends on Emily."

I thought about it seriously. This could actually work.

Consequently, our provisional organization was established with considerable haste.

I still offered some suggestions.

"Instead of starting a company from scratch, why don't we look for a company that's about to go bankrupt? That way, we can get started quickly, and some companies might even have hard-to-obtain licenses."

"And most importantly, there'd be an existing team and channels, with employees already used to the workflow. As long as we handle it well, we can get up and running quickly. What do you think?"

The two of them exchanged glances and agreed.

Christopher said, "Alright then, let's spend this time looking for quality bankrupt companies."

Quality bankrupt companies?

Do you hear what you're saying?

Over the next month, Christopher and I searched through twelve companies in Zephyria, finally settling on one in Luminous City.

We chose this location mainly because the company we were taking over had close ties and cooperation with the government, and it was genuinely strong.

You could say if this company wasn't about to go bankrupt, we wouldn't have been able to access it at all.

Flint Advanced Defense Technologies!