Shivering with rage, when will the boys get to stand tall?

Without Spark's interference, the convoy arrived safely at its destination—the Prism industrial park in District 14.

Prism.

Like Serpent Coil, this company was one of the Six Great Conglomerates, firmly controlling the medical and pharmaceutical industries.

The inhibitor Xu Shi had taken earlier, for instance, was one of their products.

"Huh? Chairman Xu came in person?"

The person handling the handover was a petite woman in a white formal suit. Her large round glasses and fluffy curls made her look cute and lively.

Ye Shanshan, the private secretary and bodyguard of Prism Group's chairwoman.

Though she seemed somewhat flighty, Xu Shi knew full well that beneath that misleading appearance, she was exceptionally capable.

Even in terms of supernatural abilities, she was no less formidable than Su Lin.

"Is Secretary Ye surprised?"

He politely shook her fingertips. "After all, this shipment is worth quite a bit. If anything went wrong, I wouldn't be able to account for it."

"...Mm, Chairman Xu is certainly thorough."

Ye Shanshan froze for a moment, clearly genuinely surprised. "I'll arrange for someone to inventory the goods right away. Once everything has been confirmed, the remaining payment will be transferred. Please wait a moment."

The wait was somewhat long. As Xu Shi had said, this was a major order.

The combined value of the four trucks of weapons and equipment came to a full fifty million Credit Points.

One could imagine just how serious the consequences would have been if Spark had truly hijacked these goods.

Financial compensation would have been the least of it. More importantly, in the original novel, the hijacking of this shipment had caused the once-close relationship between the two conglomerates to gradually fracture, ultimately falling apart completely.

A tiny butterfly flapped its wings and eventually stirred up a hurricane capable of destroying the world.

Thinking about it now, Xu Shi even felt a little relieved to have survived the ordeal.

"Come to think of it, Chairwoman Xie didn't come?"

After quietly collecting himself, Xu Shi made small talk with Ye Shanshan in the lounge. "Su Lin told me that for previous handovers, she always attended personally."

"That's true, but Chairwoman Xie has a very important meeting today and truly couldn't get away."

Ye Shanshan pressed her palms together apologetically. "That's why I came instead... I hope Chairman Xu can understand."

However, before Xu Shi could say anything else, she suddenly blinked and put on a sly smile.

"Of course, perhaps Chairwoman Xie guessed that you would come, so she deliberately didn't want to see you?"

That was practically a taunt.

"Is this how Prism treats its partners, Secretary Ye?"

The instant those words left his mouth, Su Lin's expression turned cold.

She could not tolerate anyone treating her young master with such contempt, especially to his face!

Xu Shi, on the other hand, remained calm and gestured for her not to take it to heart.

After all, it was not as though he had only just learned what attitude this bespectacled little girl and her master had toward him.

The cooperation between Serpent Coil and Prism had probably existed for nearly a century, dating all the way back to Xu Shi's great-grandfather's generation.

This was mainly because the two companies complemented each other—Serpent Coil needed the other party's biological research achievements to strengthen its military industry, while many of the precision instruments Prism required could only be manufactured by Serpent Coil.

This had kept their relationship exceedingly close, much like Refraction and Tianhe back in the day.

By the time of Xu Shi's father's generation, their honeymoon period had reached its peak.

So how could such a relationship be made even more secure?

Marriage.

As early as the day Xu Shi was born, his father, Xu Cheng, had already arranged a marriage for him.

The bride was none other than Prism's current ruler, Xie Qingyan.

Interestingly enough, this fiancée of his had also been a villain in the original novel.

Unlike the original Xu Shi, that brainless, hedonistic young master, Xie Qingyan's scheming and ruthlessness had left a deep impression on Xu Shi when he read the book.

Xu Shi's memories of the plot only went as far as the original Xu Shi's downfall—by then, Serpent Coil had already reached the end of the road, yet Xie Qingyan and her Prism still held absolute power in Night City.

Under her schemes, Shen He and Spark had been driven into desperate situations more than once.

There had not been the slightest hint of romantic ambiguity between her and Shen He, either, so readers jokingly called her "the only woman in the entire book truly focused on her career."

Compared to a major villain like her, calling the original Xu Shi a minor boss would have been giving him too much credit. He was more like a nameless lackey.

Shivering with rage, when will the boys get to stand tall?!

It was precisely this gap that caused their relationship, which had been fairly good when they were children, to gradually drift apart as they grew older.

In Xu Shi's memories, they had basically become strangers around the time they entered high school.

That was just how career-driven strong women were. Understandable... He could not be bothered arguing with Ye Shanshan anyway. After all, he truly had plenty of embarrassing history. What else could he do?

For him, maintaining a cooperative relationship with Prism was enough for now. Marriage was not part of his current priorities.

"Come to think of it, Secretary Ye, have you taken care of the matter I contacted you about a few days ago?"

So he did not continue the subject and instead asked about business.

"The intensive care ward?"

Ye Shanshan paused, then nodded. "You have always had an exclusive ward in District 16, and you can come anytime... But forgive my presumptuousness, Chairman Xu, what illness do you have?"

In truth, she had found it rather strange when Xu Shi contacted her.

Why was someone so young being hospitalized... Could he have caught something while fooling around?

"Not me. Her."

Xu Shi called Xia Wuyou over. "More precisely, one of her family members is seriously ill and needs Prism's medical technology."

"And this is?"

Ye Shanshan had never met her before, so she could not help being curious.

"An outstanding employee of our Field Operations Department."

Xu Shi introduced her, then briefly explained the attack on the convoy.

"If not for Team Leader Xia, this shipment would never have arrived here safely."

"...I see. Then Team Leader Xia is our benefactor as well?"

After hearing this, the bespectacled girl looked thoroughly surprised. "Then please rest assured, Team Leader Xia. We will certainly take good care of your family."

As she spoke, she shook Xia Wuyou's hand with exaggerated enthusiasm, looking as though she might even present her with a ceremonial banner.

Xia Wuyou was still somewhat dazed. If Xu Shi had not reminded her, she would have forgotten to return the pleasantries.

As they spoke, the inventory outside was also completed.

"Then I'll be taking my leave."

Xu Shi did not stay any longer. After receiving the payment, he got up and left.

"Come to think of it, Chairman Xu, you don't seem like the type to take such good care of employees."

Ye Shanshan personally saw them out, still not forgetting to toss out a couple of barbed remarks before they left. "Team Leader Xia is very pretty, after all. Oh my, no wonder Chairwoman Xie..."

"If you were my employee, I'd sew that mouth of yours shut."

Xu Shi cut her off, leaving her with an inscrutable cold smile before departing.

Pah, look at you getting all smug!

Ye Shanshan curled her lips and made a face at his retreating back.

When she returned to her office, the communicator on her wrist rang.

"Are you done? Was there anything wrong with the goods?"

A seductive female voice came through the communicator.

"It's done, but... there was nothing wrong with the goods. Every single item was completely intact."

Ye Shanshan answered seriously, though she did not sound particularly pleased.

"Hm? Are you sure?"

"I'm sure..."

"Now that's strange."

There was a little more confusion in Xie Qingyan's voice. "I never told him that people from Sin City were watching this shipment. I was planning to catch him off guard... and he actually dealt with it?"

"Yes, Xu Shi even introduced some kind of operations team leader to me just now."

Ye Shanshan shook her head. "And I keep feeling that Xu Shi was a little different today from before... He seemed much more reliable, like he had become a different person."

"...Interesting."

Xie Qingyan chuckled softly. "All right, finish up and come back as soon as possible."

"Report his affairs to me in person."