The Festival of Lights, celebrated on the fifteenth day of the first month in the Oskian calendar, finally came to a close.It was a final cheer to the Oskian New Year festivities, which ended as the sixteenth arrived.While the adults had already returned to work as early as the seventh, school was still out until the sixteenth. Still, it was like all of Oskia was slowly recovering from the celebrations before starting fresh for the new year.Claire was working hard, while Charlie suddenly found himself goofing off.He wasn't keeping an eye on the Qing Eliminating Society or asking Merlin to keep searching for their bases. After the Transition, there was no chance for him to draw entire bases to his cause. Now, any base he tried to infiltrate, he would have to face armed cavalry guards and death soldiers fighting to the death for the sake of their families.It wasnot like he would have to worry about an average martial artist posing a threat—he just really didn't want to spill

Profit wasn't all about making more money—it was about proving the quality and advantages of buying Curtis Auto. If they just wanted publicity in exchange for money, then the brand had already failed, and Curtis Autos' reputation would be dragged through the mud.Yolden then told Charlie, "It's a sleight-of-hand tactic which most car companies use these days when they say they're losing money. Most of them simply include initial hardware investment and development costs in the overall manufacturing cost. "It's like investing 100 million Oskian dollars to start a luxury hotel business and making 50 million Oskian dollars annually. They would easily break even in two years, but since the initial investment isn't technically recouped in a single receipt, they can brazenly claim they are operating at a loss."They would tell guests that every night a guest stayed in their hotels, is basically them paying guest subsidies. It'd convince the guests they are enjoying great value in their s

Yolden admitted, "There's nothing groundbreaking with the automotive industry at present, but we can ensure that our materials are top grade and production quality is tip-top to ensure safety. "In fact, our body-in-white is a unibody of die-cast aluminum alloy. We've also upgraded Godot's old production line, and the die-casting is 16,000 tons. It's state-of-the-art, be it in Oskia or the rest of the world!"For welding, we will also be using cutting-edge robotic arms, along with the assembly lines and paint machinery. Our hardware and software development team is Oskia's top elites, so even if we are going for mass production, our quality will definitely surpass everyone else at the same price range."Charlie nodded. "Since you put it that way, success in the automotive business is really about resource integration and management.""Yes!" Yolden smiled and nodded. "It determines the upper ceiling of what our manufacturing process can achieve. If you can integrate all the best ele

In fact, Charlie was not just a dangerous individual in existence, but also a master at PR.After all, what Bernard Arnault got out of the Randheli was something most billionaires—even the Rothschilds—would never even dare dream of.Out of the nearly ten billion people in the world, most hold some resentment toward the rich. Deep down, they know the wealthy built their fortunes by taking the value created by others, hoarding resources and wealth that should have been shared, all so they could keep making obscene amounts of money.But after Randheli and his American escapades, Bernard suddenly became a beloved tycoon supported by everyone and a global symbol of justice. It was an envy of people like Julien, who had since fantasized how beautiful it would be if Charlie afforded him the same privilege. If it only cost ten billion, he sure as hell would spend the money, but good PR was impossible even if he donated that much money to charity.That was why he was absolutely thrilled t

Yolden blurted in surprise, "A global automotive supplier conference? Are you saying we should use that as a pretext to hold public talks with them?""Yes!" Julien nodded. "It's all well and fine if some of them come here to Aurous Hill—even meeting you at your office. But if there are too many of them coming at the same time, people will pay attention and ask unnecessary questions."On the other hand, a global automotive supplier conference hosted by Curtis Autos is the perfect excuse to invite everyone here. It just makes perfect sense."Charlie couldn't help nodding in approval. "That's perfect. It's a reasonable cover, and the world will now know that Curtis Autos has a place in the global supply chain. With the world's top automotive suppliers all gathered in the same place, the world will be left awed by Curtis Autos' supply chain integration."Julien nodded. "That's the idea. And the entire global automotive industry will come to understand Curtis Autos' influence! I'm not s