Chapter 284: You Couldn't Earn That Much Even If You Sold Me
"No! Why are we going bankrupt again?!"
The moment Lorne heard the word "bankrupt," his emotions clearly spiked, and his voice involuntarily rose.
Ted: "— — — —"
"Cough, cough—" Realizing his lapse, Lorne cleared his throat twice, lowered his voice, and asked almost through gritted teeth, "Why are we suddenly going bankrupt when things were fine?"
"Weren't things just fine two days ago?"
It wasn't Lorne's fault for being so surprised. Although the factory's current performance wasn't great—barely breaking even—it was at least on the right track. After all, they had secured a connection with the military, and he was counting on making a fortune later with the Submachine Guns he designed. How could they suddenly be going bankrupt when everything seemed fine?
Ted's face was ashen, as if he hadn't slept well in days. He struggled to explain, "Boss, it's not a problem with the factory itself—it's, it's because of the stock market—"
"The stock market? Don't tell me—the stock market crashed?" Lorne guessed.
"Yes." Ted nodded heavily. "Just in the last couple of days, the stock market suddenly suffered a massive collapse. Countless people lost everything—jumping off buildings, running away—they're everywhere."
"Collapse? Bankruptcy?" Lorne recalled that just a few days ago, the newspapers were full of news about excellent market conditions, encouraging the public to invest actively. How could it have happened so fast—
"Ted," Lorne suddenly remembered something. He looked at the factory manager whose face was dark. "I remember you seemed to have mortgaged your house to the bank to buy stocks, right? Your money—"
"It's gone!"
Before Lorne could finish, Ted's forced composure finally broke. "It's all gone! I lost everything! My house—the bank took that too!"
"Wuwuwu—"
Watching this grown man in his thirties break down in tears right in front of him, Lorne felt sympathy mixed with awkwardness.
"It's alright. As long as you're still here, everything can start over."
"That's right, Mr. Ted. As long as you're safe." Old Kohler, standing nearby, also sighed and reached out his rough hand to pat Ted's trembling back.
Seeing the other man wipe his tears and finally regain his composure, Lorne quickly steered the conversation back on track: "There's still one question. The stock market crashed, but what does that have to do with my factory?" He was confused. "I didn't buy stocks, nor did I mortgage the factory. Why would we go bankrupt too?"
"Pfft—"
Ted sniffled, wiped his face haphazardly with his sleeve, and tried hard to make his voice sound clearer, "Because—the entire industrial chain, from top to bottom, has collapsed."
He paused for a moment and continued to explain: "The processing plants that sell us firearm raw materials, the wholesalers who help us sell our products, and even several of the most basic "Steel" factories have been hit by this stock market crash. Some went bankrupt, others were reorganized—"
"You could say that the entire Arms industry chain has suffered structural damage."
"Once they collapse, we, who are in the middle of the entire industry, naturally have to collapse along with them."
"This is too—" Lorne opened his mouth, still somewhat disbelieving. So many factories and industries, just vanished because of a storm that happened in the stock exchange?
This was the first time since he transmigrated that he had felt the immense impact of a financial storm so directly.
"Boss, we're not the only ones hurt. Many factories in Backlund are failing now," Ted added, his voice hoarse. "Like the textile factory next door, and the wood processing plant across the street—they've also been severely hit. They've laid off a lot of people these past few days. Many workers are unemployed."
"So tell me, what should we do now?" Visiting time was running out, and Lorne was getting anxious.
"Boss, I've thought about it. Given our current situation, there are only two options."
"Tell me."
Ted held up one finger: "First, close the factory immediately. Given the current situation, for every day the factory remains open, we lose money. It's better to close it early to minimize losses."
"In that case—won't all the workers lose their jobs?" Lorne glanced at Old Kohler, who had instantly turned pale and lowered his head.
Sure enough, he was also afraid. If the factory was gone, his future would be gone too.
"There's nothing we can do about that," Ted said, sounding helpless.
"Sigh—what's the second option then?" Lorne asked.
Given the current market, once the workers lost their jobs, it would be impossible for them to find new employment quickly. They wouldn't be able to return to a stable life until the chain reaction caused by the stock market crash completely ended.
"The second option is—acquisition."
"Acquisition?" Lorne was stunned, not understanding what he meant.
"Yes." Ted nodded. "We can use this opportunity to buy up the entire upstream and downstream of this industrial chain! We can integrate it into a chain that we completely control! This way, the raw material and sales problems facing our factory will naturally be solved easily!"
"Huh?"
Lorne listened, dumbfounded. "Ted, are you so overwhelmed with grief that your mind is a bit—"
"No! Boss! I'm not crazy!" Ted shook his head repeatedly, agitated.
"The stock market crash is a disaster for most people, but at the same time, it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"
"The assets that banks can directly take over and manage are limited! Right now, countless factory owners and business owners are forced to sell their still valuable assets at extremely low prices to pay off the huge debts they incurred from stock speculation!
I've roughly estimated that the capital required to take over a medium-sized but comprehensive industrial chain, covering the upstream and downstream we need, might be less than twenty percent of the normal market price!"
"Twenty percent?" Lorne suddenly became interested.
"Well—how much is this twenty percent, roughly?"
"Roughly—a little over two hundred thousand pounds."
"Huh?"
Just kill me now—Hearing that figure, Lorne's vision went black.
"My 300 pounds—gone! All gone!"
Fors collapsed on the sofa, staring blankly at the shocking newspaper report about the stock market crash.
To purchase the formula and materials needed for her advancement, she had seen the great stock market news in the papers a few days ago and, unable to resist the temptation, invested all the royalties from her last book. Who would have thought that
less than two days later, it would—
"A dream—this must be a dream, right?" Fors murmured, clutching her forehead. "I must still—"
"be dreaming."
"Sleep! Yes! As long as I take a nap, when I wake up, everything will be fine!"
Saying this, she climbed off the sofa and staggered toward her room.
"Fors, accept reality!" Xio Derecha mercilessly shattered her friend's delusion with slightly sharp words.
She stood beside the sofa, arms crossed, looking at Fors's devastated appearance, feeling both annoyed and helpless.
"I told you long ago not to buy financial products you don't understand at all! But you wouldn't listen!"
"Wuwu—Xio Derecha, you're being mean to me!" Fors immediately became teary-eyed and pointed indignantly at Xio Derecha, trying to change the subject: "What I need right now is comfort! Not your lecturing!"
"Comfort? Go ask that pen pal of yours to comfort you!" Xio Derecha said irritably, hands on her hips.
"Didn't you two sneak out on a date before?"
Recalling Fors's appearance when she came back drunk and giggling a while ago, Xio Derecha felt speechless.
"What date! That was just—just normal communication between friends!" Fors retorted loudly, her face flushed.
"Well, you've been running outside every day recently too!"
"I'm doing missions!" Xio Derecha shot back.
"Besides, Scott asked me to keep an eye on his factory for him."
"Scott—" Hearing that name, Fors's expression suddenly became complicated.
"Sigh—so many factories have gone bankrupt recently. I wonder if Scott's factory will follow suit." Xio Derecha didn't notice her friend's unusual reaction and turned her worry toward the workers at the firearms factory.
"Speaking of which—" Fors suddenly remembered something. "Have you seen Scott recently?"
"Oh, right—" Her friend's words made Xio Derecha suddenly realize something too.
"These past few days, I don't think—I haven't seen him."
"Two hundred thousand pounds—where am I supposed to get two hundred thousand pounds—"
Unless he weighed himself and sold himself at the price of gold, there was no way he could come up with two hundred thousand pounds!
"Could it be—do I really have to watch the factory go bankrupt? I'm unwilling—I'm truly unwilling!"
As a transmigrator, he still wanted to leave some mark on this world.
Just as Lorne was complaining bitterly, his Spiritual Intuition was suddenly triggered!
"I have two hundred thousand pounds. I can lend it to you."
A calm, gentle, yet somewhat familiar female voice suddenly sounded next to his ear.
Immediately afterward, countless illusory emerald-green vines emerged from thin air, wrapping the small detention room entirely as if they possessed life.
Lorne spun around abruptly and saw a mature and elegant figure, and a pair of straight, slender, beautiful legs clad in black leather boots swaying gently right before his eyes.
"Queen Mystic"!
However, Lorne's gaze only lingered on the Queen for an instant before it was immediately drawn to something she was playing with in her hand.
It was a glass bottle containing a liquid that shimmered with faint golden light, brilliant like stars.
The "Winner" Potion!