When you have a firm footing, you’ll find that the world is full of nice people, everyone speaks pleasantly, competing to give you money.
But once you start to lose power, you’ll see the true faces hidden beneath those smiling masks.
The first to come knocking were the banks. Besides having two mortgage hospitals repossessed by Huang Shan Bank, other corporate banks began urging ERO to immediately repay its loans, worsening its already declining finances.
There’s no way to repay the money; ERO can’t even pay its employees’ wages. What are they going to repay with?
Banks have always been a group that lends umbrellas in sunny weather and takes them back during rainstorms. The more you drag on, the more they want to fiercely bite you.
In less than two days, a board member received an anonymous death threat, causing panic throughout the company, halting all departments, with doctors and emergency workers either resigning or fleeing, leaving untreated patients on beds waiting to die, creating a desolate scene.
At this critical moment, the person Lin Miao had been thinking about finally contacted him.
Deputy Director of Military Technology in Night City, Freddy Vazquez.
Typically, acquiring a small company wouldn’t require someone of this level, but due to Santo Domingo’s recent incidents involving him and his bar-going downstairs, Military Technology reluctantly glanced down.
It wasn’t even a meeting, just a video call.
Freddy looked at the young man on the screen, over twenty years younger than himself, and said into his watch,
"You have three minutes, or just state your numbers."
"I only need a minute." Lin Miao pretended to check his empty wrist.
"25% of my company’s shares, fifteen million, help me acquire ERO, then I’ll fend off the Trauma Team, secure ERO, and we can all cash in on the rising stock price."
For a moment, Freddy thought the person in front of him was a lunatic, ready to end the call and leave, saving himself the time—the thought that fifteen million was more likely to buy off his entire family.
Who do you think you are?
Do you know that amount can buy Colonel Hansen’s dog head next door?
But.... Staff member Percy’s report made him pause slightly, surely his subordinate wouldn’t be bluffed by a madman.
"Why should I trust you?"
Lin Miao tapped the table.
"I act first, you pay later."
Freddy squinted slightly, feeling an inexplicable confidence from the other side.
"First investment, 2 million, within 24 hours, if you lose, your company is mine."
If this person is crazy or foolish, let him go to his doom. Originally, the three million for acquisition could still spare a million for myself.
But if he really fends off the Trauma Team, even if just temporarily holding them off to let ERO catch a breath, adding some side operations from the Military Science department, the profits wouldn’t just stop at two or three million.
Military Technology has always wanted to expand its influence in Night City, but because of Huang Ban and other companies’ interference, they couldn’t succeed. If they could get involved in Night City’s medical industry, they could afford this amount.
Lin Miao blandly asked, "What about the rest?"
"Delay for a week, 5 million."
"Delay for a month, 8 million."
"Make the Trauma Team stop, 20 million."
"Agreed, but I have one condition."
"Because the war between the two companies might stir up significant movements, you have to help me withstand the pressure from other companies."
"As I said, if you can’t block the Trauma Team in the end, everything you have belongs to Military Science, including yourself."
Freddy finished and immediately hung up the video call.
"Tsk, big companies sure talk arrogantly."
Lin Miao shook his head.
If the frontline rescue activities last a month, wouldn’t he go bankrupt on the spot?
Seeing the medical company he just joined fall into such desolation due to a war with another company really makes one sigh.
But the resident didn’t think much of it, thinking this is a prelude to success—endure a bit of grievance now to make a comeback later, right?
Of course, this is before the resident knew what ERO used to do; if he had any idea, he would have turned around and blown up that company first.
"Bro, can you really do it? Does it take this long to adjust an arm?"
"Say another word, and I’ll give you a whack."
"Aren’t you an East University doctor?"
"I get grief outside the game and still get grief in the game, did I book for nothing?"
The resident grumpily slapped Mongolian Toplaner’s arm, "Just stay put."
He’s currently a legitimate doctor in California!
The kind who charges thousands of dollars for a consultation, not like the days when it cost thirty bucks.
And everything he does is observed by those who are still working in the hospital.
"Growing up so fast... and he’s so efficient...."
Although initially clueless about prosthetics, his knowledge in human medicine made nurses and emergency workers, who hadn’t received proper education, feel embarrassed.
Moreover, his proficiency in prosthetic repairs has grown by the day.
He basically pulled in all the Trauma Team members ERO could snatch, every time with a fight, and even if he died, he’d wait six hours and come back.
This led to his experience growing faster than single combat-type players, skyrocketing upwards, and he invested all skill points into basic prosthetic comprehension.