Short on Cash

Tang Shizhe was pondering one thing: the new office building.

The current two-story building felt far too cramped. He wanted a mansion, not this run-down place that had been renovated into an office.

By regulation, seven percent of the 140,000 square meters of industrial land could be used for supporting office facilities.

That meant nearly 10,000 square meters of buildable land. After accounting for the existing buildings, there probably wouldn't be much left.

But that was fine. The useless buildings could be torn down and new plans filed. He wanted to build a modern office tower in the middle of the factory complex, with a penthouse on the roof.

Two days later, Tang Shizhe became the new owner of 140,000 square meters of land, and his cash reserves dwindled to just 82 million.

After buying the three neighboring factories, the land in Tang Shizhe's hands had become almost square, with each side close to 380 meters long. A road now bordered the factory complex on each of its four sides. Any further expansion would require buying separate parcels.

Still, the area was more than enough for Tang Shizhe's plans. Ten large factories could handle everything he had in mind for the foreseeable future.

"Take down the walls around all the factories and build new ones. They need to be three meters high and made of reinforced concrete!" Outside the factory complex, Tang Shizhe gestured at a map with several contractors.

"Oh, and add high-voltage electric fencing on top of the walls."

"Use the best materials you can get. The most important thing is to make the walls solid. I'll pay you a million up front, then settle the rest once the walls are done. Don't worry about the money." Tang Shizhe patted the construction team's foreman on the shoulder.

"Understood, boss. We guarantee that even a truck won't be able to crash through the finished walls," the foreman assured him, patting his chest.

"Pave all the roads inside the factory complex with concrete. Plant trees and lay lawns on all the unused land that hasn't been assigned a purpose."

"And those factory buildings—renovate all of them. Paint every exterior wall with environmentally friendly white paint."

"Clean up the interiors, too. Repave all the floors with concrete, add a layer of soundproofing material to the walls, and redo the sealing throughout the buildings."

"Build a 200-square-meter clean room at the entrance to each factory building. I want the seals to be as good as they can possibly be."

"I'll pay six million up front for the renovations and clean rooms. Make sure you get these factory buildings in order!" With that, Tang Shizhe turned and left the worksite.

All the Splitters had now moved into his two-story building. It was a bit cramped, but at least they were safe and out of sight.

The equipment that had originally been in the factories had also been packed away in the building's warehouse.

Tang Shizhe had sold off all the cheap tables, chairs, and other furniture in bulk. It wasn't that he was wasteful; now that he had money, he wasn't going to keep treating his people poorly.

Besides the renovations to the factories and the surrounding walls, plans for a new office building had also landed on Tang Shizhe's desk.

"Boss, we're short on cash again!" Tang Shizhe had just returned to the office in the two-story building when Tang Yi placed a proposal in front of him.

"The new office building and lab you requested will cover 6,500 square meters. At a bare-minimum construction cost of around 2,000 yuan per square meter, each floor will cost us 13 million."

"And you designed a five-story building. If we follow this plan, just the building itself will cost us 65 million!"

"That doesn't include the interior work or supporting facilities. If we budget another 2,000 yuan per square meter for the interior, we'll need over 60 million more!"

"Together, that comes to nearly 130 million! Do you know how much we have left after the 7 million in advance payments for the walls and factory renovations? Only 82 million!"

"We're more than 50 million short already! And that's not counting the remaining payments for the walls and factory renovations. You also want to buy biological research and manufacturing equipment next. We don't have nearly enough money!" Tang Yi finished, dropped into the sofa, and sighed miserably.

"Don't worry. I've already got a plan." Tang Shizhe tapped his fingers lightly against the desk, a smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.

"Have you forgotten that we still have a full 300 million dollars in dirty money overseas?"

"Next, write a few biology papers according to my instructions and publish them in some of the less selective scientific journals."

"Then you'll leave the country with a fake passport and begin a trip around the world. Tang Er and the others are already cracking the national identity system so they can register your new identity."

"Without exposing yourselves, you'll need to register a shell company in Bear Country, Eagle Country, Wa Country, Sun Never Sets Country, and Ao Country."

"After that, Tang Er and the others will launder our dirty money through cryptocurrency and the stock market. The money will be transferred into the 25 third-tier offshore shell companies we've set up in the Virgin Islands, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, and elsewhere."

"These 25 third-tier shell companies will also hold shares in one another to confuse anyone looking into them."

"Next, the third-tier shell companies will acquire some old investment firms on the verge of bankruptcy, using them as cover."

"Then, the third-tier shell companies that have been brought to life through these acquisitions will each invest in one of the five second-tier shell companies we set up in those five countries."

"Those five second-tier shell companies will invest in a first-tier shell company in Eagle Country. Finally, that first-tier shell company will inject a large amount of capital into us."

"We'll take our money on a grand tour of the world, and in the end, all the shares will still be in our hands. But we'll have successfully become a unicorn backed by companies from several countries, which will save us a lot of trouble around the world." Tang Shizhe laid out his plan in one breath.

It would be difficult to pull off, but he had plenty of people and plenty of money. They could use intermediaries for every step that called for one, and those intermediaries would come from all over the world, ensuring no one could uncover the network Tang Shizhe had woven.

"I've even picked a name for our first-tier shell company: Sman Group."

"This first-tier front company will inject 100 million dollars in cash in exchange for 49 percent of our shares." Tang Shizhe continued tapping the desk.

That would give the soon-to-be-established Titan Environmental a full 600 million RMB in funding—more than enough to build the office building, lab, and factories.

"Boss, you really are amazing," Tang Yi said with a grin before taking the proposal and leaving the office.

As for the office building? Build it! Start right now! Just pay the construction companies part of the cost up front, then settle the rest when it's finished!

And the new equipment? Buy the best! They'd have money soon anyway. Tang Yi happily started thinking about what equipment he would apply for.