North Cross / The Strange Chen Huiying and the Boss

Had they only just met, and already the dagger was showing at the end of the map?

Swire had met many people. They worked hard to ingratiate themselves with her, trying to build a relationship with her solely because she was Adams Swire's granddaughter. That kind of socializing was truly dull and boring.

Besides, she could already guess what those people were thinking, yet they still hid it and put on an utterly unconvincing act. It was exhausting.

Thinking that, Miss Swire suddenly felt inexplicably relieved. Bai Ye had actually proposed discussing business less than two days after meeting her. Perhaps he was a straightforward person...

Then she might as well talk business with him.

Naturally, Bai Ye had no idea about Swire's conflicted thoughts. He only felt that the girl before him was rather unstable at the moment, somewhere between happy and unhappy, and extremely hard to read.

But it did not matter. Bai Ye blinked. "I want to establish a courier company, but I currently lack the capital."

"And I need to purchase a large batch of weapons."

"After thinking it over, the only people I know are Penguin Logistics's Emperor and you, Miss Swire. I don't want to deal with that Emperor for now, so I came to you."

"..." Swire was speechless.

She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but she had no idea where to begin. In the end, it became a single sentence. "Is it really okay to tell me that so directly? Who talks business like that?"

"I heard that too. A large batch of weapons? You really dared to say it. Do you really not take us Guards Bureau officers seriously?" Chen also fanned the flames from the side.

Bai Ye was speechless. Why were you joining in? Besides, weren't you normally super fierce and serious? How could you tease people and stir up trouble too?

Swire ignored Chen and looked at Bai Ye instead. "You don't have that much money, so you came to borrow money? I don't have that much either. I can't help you monopolize Lungmen's logistics business. Fengchi Logistics is still rather difficult to deal with."

"And I'm not involved in the family business, so I don't have much say in the chamber of commerce..."

Swire kept talking, but Bai Ye was dumbfounded. What did she mean, not having enough money and being unable to monopolize things... She was even thinking about taking down Fengchi Logistics?

Was she really going this hard right from the start?

He hurriedly waved his hands. "No, no, you misunderstood. I only want to cooperate with you personally. It has nothing to do with the Swire family."

"Eh?!" This time, Swire was the one left dumbfounded.

She did have some money, but only compared to ordinary people.

But ordinary people would not come to discuss business with her. At most, they borrowed small amounts of money from her. Certain Guards Bureau officers highly approved of this. And most of those who came to discuss business with her were after the family behind her.

She herself was in a rather awkward position. She had investments and a few small businesses of her own, but no one ever came looking for her.

Bai Ye was the first person to discuss business with her for her sake alone.

"Do you have a proposal? A business plan or something?" Swire immediately became interested.

"To be honest, no. I just have a rough idea." Bai Ye answered truthfully. "In fact, I only thought of this idea just now."

In the end, it was simply an idea that had popped into his head. However, Bai Ye's ability to act was too strong. The moment he had an idea, he said it aloud.

Upon hearing that, Swire could no longer hold back. "Did you come here specifically to toy with me?"

"Don't get worked up!" Bai Ye hurriedly raised a hand to stop her.

"No, I'm wondering why you think a logistics company idea you casually came up with can make money. It makes no sense. Do you know how many logistics companies there are across this land? And how many go bankrupt every year?" Swire felt like she had a problem for having seriously considered this matter just now. Bai Ye simply did not know how to do business. She felt she had to talk him out of it, lest he lose even his underwear in the end.

"You didn't do any research, you don't have a detailed plan, and you came straight to me. Do you think I'm easy to fool?" Swire put her hands on her hips as she spoke, barely resisting the urge to curse him out.

"There's no need to understand any of that, because the times are changing." Bai Ye did not understand business, but he could copy someone else's homework.

He knew the world was about to change. Once large numbers of Players entered Terra, many things would change. The companies that first dealt and did business with them would all gain the opportunity to rise.

And Players could do it themselves as well.

In his previous life, several large guilds had joined forces to establish a Player logistics company in Columbia. It was highly successful at first, but then it was boycotted by Terra's local giants. Only after lengthy negotiations did they reach a cooperative agreement and gain entry to the upper table of the game.

But that had happened at least in the second or third version. Bai Ye was moving the matter up to the first version, when the large guilds had only just entered the game and had unstable foundations. They had no chance to compete with him.

What was more, Bai Ye himself was now a Terran and even knew powerful people. It was practically an advantage bestowed by heaven. He definitely had to give it a try.

Northern Cross

Swire was truly curious where Bai Ye's inexplicable confidence came from. Although they had not known each other for long, she knew he was not someone who merely talked big.

After checking the time, Swire looked at Chen. "It's three in the afternoon. Time for tea. I'm heading out with him."

"Hmph." Chen snorted. "Only now do you realize that discussing business in a Guards Bureau hallway is inappropriate? Go on, then..."

She had originally wanted to deliberately stop Swire, but after thinking about it, she found it rather pointless.

Bai Ye looked at Chen and suddenly felt it would be a waste to leave her behind. She was, after all, the leader of the Special Inspectorate Team...

"Should we invite her too? Sir Chen, are you coming? Let's have tea together." Bai Ye basically said whatever came to mind.

Swire was displeased. "Why invite her?"

"Aren't you going to discuss business?" Chen herself could not make sense of it.

Bai Ye raised one finger. "You can join us too, can't you?"

"You want to collude with our Guards Bureau? Dream on. We're not that kind of people." Chen did not need to think to know what Bai Ye was trying to do. What else could it be? Nothing more than that sort of thing or another.

Bai Ye repeatedly waved his hands and shook his head with a smile. "Don't put it so harshly. This is called reaching a cooperative relationship with the Guards Bureau... Honestly, if I really wanted to collude with someone, I wouldn't need to look for you, Sir Chen. Do you know who the current Chief of the Guards Bureau is?"

"Of course I know." Though she answered casually, Chen frowned. She truly could not understand what Bai Ye was trying to say now.

Swire suddenly seemed to recall something and sharply turned her head toward Bai Ye.

"The current Chief of the Guards Bureau was originally Adams Swire's man." Bai Ye directly gave the answer.

"Damn it!" Miss Swire suddenly shoved Bai Ye hard against the Guards Bureau wall.

"Why are you bringing that up? No matter where you learned that, he is him and I am me. We have absolutely nothing to do with each other. If you want to pull that kind of stunt, go find them. Don't come looking for me!"

"Easy, easy... It's all a misunderstanding!" Bai Ye looked at the girl pressing him against the wall and could not help turning his head away. She was far too close.

And her voice was far too loud. Her roar could be heard throughout the entire hallway.

"Whew..." Swire released him, then turned to explain herself to Chen.

"Enough. I already knew." Chen did not care in the slightest.

"Eh?" This time, it was the little tiger's turn to be dumbfounded.

"Heh, are you stupid? Did you forget who I am?" Chen ignored her and turned to Bai Ye, her expression turning serious. "You need to explain clearly what exactly you want to do. Bai Ye, you're a decent person. Don't stray down the wrong path."

"I made it clear from the very beginning. I want to cooperate with you." Bai Ye shrugged. Why did no one believe him when he told the truth?

"The Guards Bureau needs informants, especially you, Sir Chen, and we can provide them. In return, when we face certain forms of unfair competition, we need the Guards Bureau's help."

"Isn't she a member of the Guards Bureau herself?" Chen tipped her chin toward Swire.

"She's just a mascot..." Bai Ye blurted out.

"What do you mean by that?!" Miss Swire was unhappy.

"Pfft—" Chen laughed. While laughing, she thought for a moment, then said, "Fine. Wait until I get off work, and we'll go have tea."

Around four or five, Bai Ye waited near the entrance of the Guards Bureau for Chen and Swire.

The two had already changed into casual clothes. At first glance, it felt a little strange.

"Which place are we going to?" Miss Swire asked.

"Let's go to that place in Sheung Wan, the one whose pork cutlet sandwiches are really crispy."

"Oh... oh, I remember now. I used to go to that place all the time while on patrol. Is it the Pretty Tea Restaurant?" Swire suddenly recalled. "Their pork chop buns are about the size of two palms, right?"

Chen nodded. "Yes, that's the one."

"Why not go somewhere more upscale?" Swire herself did not mind either way.

Chen rolled her eyes. "Your idea of upscale and mine are very different."

Swire smiled instead. "Hey, I can treat you."

"Miss Swire, do I look like that kind of person?"

"Chen, are you trying to pick a fight again? Try calling me that one more time?" Miss Swire looked ready to explode again.

"Treat me..." Bai Ye suddenly said shamelessly from the side. "I'm that kind of person."

Players would always freeload when they could. It was not about the money; freeloading was simply enjoyable.

Of course, you could not freeload when reading books. Paying to read was enjoyable too.

Ahem...

Chen and Swire looked at Bai Ye in a new light. At first, they had merely thought he was rather handsome. After the earlier case, they had realized he was quite capable. And now, they felt Bai Ye was genuinely interesting.

At the Pretty Tea Restaurant, Miss Swire found a soundproof private room.

Bai Ye still did not feel entirely reassured. He quietly activated his Originium Arts and, with the miniature casting unit on his short sword, spread a vacuum layer that isolated the room.

This was an application developed based on his Arts talent.

Then Bai Ye voiced his idea. "The refugees who appeared at the entrance to District 5 earlier were only the beginning. More of them will pour into places all over the world later. They aren't actually refugees, but people from a very distant place."

"Compared to us, they have many unique traits and special Originium Arts. I think we can cooperate with them."

Chen pondered for a moment before suddenly understanding. "No wonder you placed so much importance on them before. Yes, they do have some unique qualities. Though they're also very strange."

"Only if we take this seriously ahead of everyone else is this an opportunity. We have to seize it." Bai Ye continued.

Next, Bai Ye explained some things he had known from his previous life.

The courier logistics sector alone had tremendous potential. For instance, Players came with their own inventories, which made transporting goods extremely convenient. There was no need for lengthy convoys. A single vehicle could handle transport assignments.

What was more, Players possessed combat power themselves, so there was no need to hire mercenaries or bodyguards.

Even if something happened, Players could quickly find a place to log out and avoid disasters, even Catastrophes and the like.

Low costs, low risks, high returns.

Players had thought of this in his previous life. At first, they only made extra money in small groups, but later large guilds joined forces and turned it into an industry.

Naturally, Bai Ye would not reveal something like "inventory." Even when Players collaborated with Terra's local powers in his previous life, that had been strictly forbidden confidential information. Bai Ye used "special Originium Arts" as an explanation.

After all, anything could be explained with Originium Arts.

Bai Ye talked about many things, including future plans. Because of that, Swire understood that he was not acting on a sudden impulse. He truly had ideas, and there was great potential here.

"I, Swire, will invest in this project." Miss Swire made the decision. "But while your ideas are good, you lack a business plan. That won't do. I'll make a new one."

"Chen, are you joining too?" Bai Ye tried to recruit her.

"...First, I don't have much money, and I don't want to return to the Chen residence to ask that man. Second, I won't abuse my position for personal gain. I have my own bottom line..." Chen still did not understand why Bai Ye insisted on bringing her in.

"No problem!" Bai Ye nodded in agreement.

How could she know that Bai Ye had his eye on Wei Yenwu behind Chen, and Wei Yenwu represented all of Lungmen. There might even be an opportunity to intervene in Great Yan in the future.

"The three of us are in this together now." Bai Ye lowered his voice and spoke softly.

"A secret little society?" Swire smiled as well. "Bai Ye, why not give it a name?"

After pondering for a moment, Bai Ye said, "Northern Cross."

The Strange Chen and the Boss

Northern Cross was an asterism formed by the brightest stars in Cygnus, named for its cross-shaped arrangement.

Cygnus lay entirely within the Milky Way, standing alongside Aquila and Lyra on either side of the galaxy. The three principal stars of these constellations—Deneb, Altair, and Vega—formed the famous Summer Triangle in astronomy.

Bai Ye's game ID in his previous life had been Northern Cross. Perhaps it was for remembrance, or perhaps he was simply too lazy to think of another name, so he gave the secret society of only three people that name.

But Chen and Swire were both curious why Bai Ye had chosen that name and what meaning lay behind it.

After thinking about it, Bai Ye answered, "I was an orphan. Even my name was chosen by the director. He had an astronomy book and named me while flipping through it."

"We spent our childhood listening to his stories about astronomy."

"The first asterism I remembered was the Northern Cross, because it contained the most beautiful binary star, Nian Dao Zengqi. One was blue, and the other amber."

"The director said the universe held unknowns, and for us, that was joy, because it meant adventures to unravel those mysteries were waiting for us. They were tiny, grand, important fairy tales of love and courage."

Chen and Swire looked at each other. They had never understood such things. Terrans always focused on this land, yet forgot to look up at the starry sky. The days when they could see the stars had long since passed.