Clap~ Clap~ Clap~…
The sound of applaud resounded within the hall all of sudden. “You are a crafty and wise CEO indeed.”
“Thanks for the great compliment, master.” Truly happy to hear those words which felt nothing but encouraging to him, the CEO ugly bowed thankfully.
“That’s not your entire plan, right?” All of a sudden, a piercing glint that could see right through the CEO ugly was directed at him.
“Y-yes, of course. As expected of Master.” Stuttering a little, a shiver went down the CEO ugly’s spine as he confirmed, ‘See! Just as I had assumed, he knows every step of my plan, he just enjoys hearing about them.’
Subsequently, he blurted the rest of his devious plan, “Also, by selling our ores at half the original price to rest of the world, not only is my goal to attract customers to ourselves, more importantly, I’m going to be snatching many basic metal production factories using this particular strategy. You know, since setting up factories takes some time, getting our hands on already prepared factories besides those we’re building would save a lot of our precious time, money, and energy and would instead add to our efficiency.”
“To be more specific regarding my plan. When we start selling our minerals and ores that can probably sustain the world at half the initial price, naturally the price of metal would plummet alongside with it. This means that if those metal production factories want to continue running without any loss and going bankrupt, they would need to procure ores from us.”
“However, I’m going to be choosing a selective few of those factories and refuse to sell them any ores. Like this, while the rest of those factories who we sell our merchandise to would naturally survive. The selected others would be having a rather difficult time making a living. I’ll be making my move then by offering them a satisfactorily high price in exchange for their factory. That’s my entire plan.”
Of course, that wasn’t everything he had in mind. “Now I know there are going to be many variables and problems popping alongside this plan of mine. But I’m confident that by acting at the appropriate time and place, by utilizing each piece at its most suitable location, I would be triumphant in achieving my goal.”
By the side, truly sensing the extent of the CEO ugly’s intelligence for the first time now that she was within a real physical body, the golden beauty couldn’t refrain from uttering, “Wow, you’re a genius, CEO ugly!”
Meanwhile, hearing her complimenting him while still calling him ‘CEO ugly’, the CEO ugly didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. All he knew was that he had just felt an arrow piercing through his metallic heart.
Still, he didn’t forget to reply, “T-thank you, little sis.”
Hearing him call her ‘little sis’ out of the blue, however, the golden beauty was stumped and caught off-guard for a while as she murmured, “L-little sis?”
“Eh, did I perhaps cross the line here? I apologize if that’s the case, miss Bella.” Feeling extremely pressured at the notion of making a mistake at the presence of their master, the CEO ugly was quick to apologize and fix his manner of addressing her.
“N-no, no, no. Actually, it’s okay. Taking from a certain perspective, you’re not wrong either since we five did indeed come to exist in this world from the invaluable hands of the same master. So you’re not making an error here by calling me ‘little sis’, I was just slightly surprised, is all.”
“Anyway, since you called me ‘little sis’ already, I won’t be holding back and call you ‘CEO ugly bro’ from now on. Is that okay?”
Once again, the CEO ugly was simultaneously on the verge of both tears and ecstasy while he pondered powerlessly, ‘The word ugly is still in there though…’
‘But it’s a start at least.’ Shaking his head in the end, he agreed, “Yes, that would be great, little sis.”
“You can call me ‘Lil Belle’, ‘Bella’, ‘Little sis’, or whatever’s convenient for you, either one would be fine with me, CEO ugly bro.” Beaming a bright radiance of happiness, the golden beauty suggested.
Meanwhile, during the entire awkward conversation between the two, Virus was simply chucking as he did not say anything in rejection or agreement. This was because he never intended to butt in or interject in the matters regarding the relationship between the five.
Unless it was necessary, of course.
“Is there anything else you need to report or want from me?” Finally, Virus opened his mouth again at this point.
“Um, the report is over, master. But… I’ll need some capital for my plan to work, so-“
Before he could even finish, however, a pitch-black card was thrown on the table. It was his personal [Virus] debit card.
“Take as much as you want and just return the rest to me.”
“Yes, master.” Bowing reverently, the CEO ugly turned around before leaving the presence of the two.
“Shall we begin the session then?” Grinning at the golden beauty, Virus declared.
…
Afterward, returning to his own grand room, Virus sat on the couch cross-legged before closing both his piercing eyes.
Soon, he could sense the entirety of his 12 Energy Pathways as clear as the day itself.
“Sigh…” Thinking about his remaining three pairs of pathways that were going to stay locked forever, he couldn’t help but release a sigh. ‘That’s such a shame indeed. But… since there was no helping it, let’s move on.’ And with that, it seemed as if the entire feeling of pity had vanished from his heart as he no longer felt anything regarding the matter.
Instead, focusing on the network of complex pairs of pathways, he began to deliberate, ‘Hmm, now that I’m already in the initial phase of the 1st level of [Liberation], what I’m required to do is to start the fusion of the first pair of Yin and Yang Pathways.’