Eldest Sister couldn't fathom just how shameless Fifth Brother had to be to come up with such a ruthless scheme.
This was practically a scorched-earth tactic.
If exposed afterward,
it would inevitably lead to a fight to the death.
It was even more underhanded than typical stock market battles.
It was practically a direct slap to the face.
Highly likely to get someone blacklisted or assassinated.
Don’t think it’s impossible.
Behind these corporate giants are either high-ranking national officials or ‘squid’ (powerful elites).
How much net profit do these giants make in a year?
Billions… in dollars.
Think about the taxes and employees they sustain.
Moreover,
As a strong-willed businesswoman, Eldest Sister knew full well that many industries were the backbone of certain nations.
Targeting such pillars was tantamount to provoking the factions that profited from them.
"You bring up other concerns, and I might worry."
"But if you’re talking about getting killed… I’m really not afraid."
Cao Cheng truly wasn’t afraid.
But then it occurred to him—
while he might be untouchable, those around him weren’t.
He needed to make more preparations.
Setting up a security and protection company.
He’d considered this before, especially since he planned to expand along the ‘Silk Road’—a key direction for the future.
Early preparation meant greater advantage.
But that region was chaotic, so having a security team, registered overseas to safeguard the company’s foreign interests, was essential.
Cao Cheng picked up his teacup: "Eldest Sister, now that you’ve recovered, it’s time to change your mindset. Stop being so timid. So what if we offend them?"
"If you’re too scared to take risks in business… you might as well quit."
"……"
Eldest Sister’s mentality hadn’t shifted yet.
After all,
the Ren family were merely minor tycoons in Zhonghai—barely noteworthy.
She didn’t have the same audacity as Young Master Cao.
She shook her head: "I don’t have your confidence."
"Then learn. Watch. Or better yet, let me handle the family business while you shadow me as my assistant for a few years?"
Cao Cheng pointed at his shoulder: "Don’t stop now, keep massaging! Feels great!"
"……" Eldest Sister shot him an exasperated glare.
His ulterior motives were painfully obvious.
Still, she resumed kneading his shoulders.
Neither spoke for a while.
Young Master Cao relaxed with closed eyes.
Eldest Sister, meanwhile, mentally dissected his scheme.
Now everything made sense.
The midnight countdown, the press conference—none of it was for consumers. It was all a setup against the cosmetics giants.
The plan was simple.
But sometimes, simplicity was the hardest to guard against.
Upon reflection,
the only critical point was ensuring the essence formula never leaked.
If rival labs reverse-engineered it,
Cao Cheng’s entire plan would collapse.
And he’d look like a fool.
After a pause,
Eldest Sister asked: "What if someone reverse-engineers the essence formula?"
Cao Cheng replied: "Impossible."
"That confident?"
"You wouldn’t understand."
"??"
Eldest Sister gritted her teeth and subtly increased pressure.
This bratty Fifth Brother.
Always dismissing her with ‘you wouldn’t understand’—as if she were an idiot.
She’d been managing companies while he was still playing chess with the old man.
"Ouch—"
"Ah, perfect! That’s the right pressure. Were you slacking earlier?"
"……"
Furious, Eldest Sister punched his shoulder.
"Yes! Just like that! Keep pounding, don’t hold back. I’ll treat you to meat for lunch."
She had no way to deal with him.
Unlike Second Sister,
who could actually make Young Master Cao feel pain when provoked.
But Eldest Sister?
Delicate and frail, weaker than even The Fourth.
She was better off playing the intellectual with her glasses on.
Now she could balance intellect with authority.
Her innate dominance was emerging—soon, she’d be the family’s undisputed matriarch.
The signs were already there.
As for her concerns about reverse-engineering the formula—technically possible, given time.
But…
Cao Cheng’s essence contained rare herbs from a ‘cultivation realm,’ obtainable only through a treasure chest system.
These plants didn’t exist on Earth. At best, substitutes could be found.
However,
mixing herbs from two worlds? Using Earth substitutes? Unpredictable consequences.
A formula was precise—one herb changed everything.
So,
Young Master Cao wasn’t worried about leaks.
Otherwise, he’d never have deployed such a ruthless strategy.
——
L'Oréal was the most eager.
They went straight to Yunnan-Guizhou,
tracking down a near-bankrupt factory.
Paul stood by his car, eyeing the rusted, peeling gates.
"Are you sure this is the place?"
"Yes, sir."
Paul shook his head: "Unbelievable. The essence comes from this dump? Now I’m even more confident about acquiring it."
He then revealed his identity openly.
A middle-aged boss, General Manager Li, came out to meet him.
But contrary to Paul’s expectations,
Li shook his head: "We don’t accept acquisitions or investments. If you want cosmetic ingredient X, we can sell it. The formula stays with us."
Paul raised three fingers: "30 million. Just the formula."
"No."
"40 million."
"No!"
"……" Paul rubbed his bald head, gritted his teeth, and spat out: "100 million. We buy your entire company."
"No."
Paul scowled: "I meant euros."
"No."
Fuming, Paul glanced at his secretary: "Does he know any other word?"
The secretary tried mediating: "General Manager Li, Mr. Paul is sincere. Name your price."
"No!" Li replied flatly.
(▼へ▼メ)
(〃＞＿＜;〃)
Both men wanted to scream.
Are you a broken record?!
100 million euros—do you even comprehend that sum?
Li remained calm: "I don’t need money. I want respect. Cooperate or leave."
"Wait."
Paul, defeated, stopped him: "Fine. I’ll take the essence. All of it."
He quickly added: "But quality must match Miracle Cosmetics’. If it fails, you refund and compensate."
Li smirked: "Then no deal."
"……"
Paul panicked: "Wait, Mr. Li! This is business. Contracts protect us. If the product’s subpar, our losses are massive."
Li nodded: "Contracts are fine. But your tone just now? Unacceptable."
Paul forced a smile: "Aren’t you all about ‘business is business’? What’s wrong with my tone?"
"That condescending tone—I don’t like it. It’s not like I’m short of clients, and sure, L'Oréal is impressive, but so what?"
"Apologies, it’s not condescension—just habit."
"A habit of being condescending?"
"No… Mr. Li…" Paul felt his Mandarin was failing to convey his meaning.
Eventually, it took the secretary’s groveling explanations for both sides to sit back down.
"I do have another batch of inventory, but part of it is reserved for Miracle Cosmetics. We’re shipping it to them next week."
Paul said, "I’ll take their share too."
"That’s not possible," General Manager Li shook his head.
Paul raised two fingers. "I’ll pay double."
"No."
Paul felt like he was stuck in a loop.
"Triple," he offered.
"No!"
"..."
The secretary interjected, "General Manager Li, Mr. Paul is very sincere. And whatever Miracle Cosmetics can offer you, L'Oréal can double—even triple it."
General Manager Li hesitated for a few seconds.
Paul’s eyes lit up—progress.
"Mr. Li, have you signed a contract with them yet?"
"Of course," General Manager Li nodded.
Paul smiled. "Does the contract specify that the goods must be delivered to Miracle Cosmetics next week?"
"Well… no," General Manager Li wavered. "It only states the annual supply… but we verbally agreed to ship a batch to Zhonghai every month."
Paul laughed. "Then there’s no problem, Mr. Li. The contract only requires an annual quota—you could deliver everything on the last day if you wanted. The rest of the time, give it all to us. I’m paying triple."
"And," he added, lowering his voice, "there’s a little extra in it for you personally."
After ten years in the country, Paul knew exactly how these deals worked behind the scenes.
Besides, it didn’t technically violate the contract.
"Alright, you’ve convinced me," General Manager Li conceded.
Paul grinned and extended his hand. "Mr. Li, a pleasure doing business. And if you ever want to sell your formulas or need funding, just let me know. I’m genuinely very, very interested in investing in your company."
"If you join L'Oréal, I’m certain you’d be overseeing raw material procurement and R&D—or even managing a regional division."
A lucrative position.
A blatant carrot dangled.
Seeing the flicker of interest in General Manager Li’s eyes, Paul was thrilled.
The contract was signed shortly after, stipulating that all inventory for the next few months would go to L'Oréal.
Triple the price?
It was steep.
But the profits were still astronomical.
An ¥80,000 essence could produce nearly ¥4 million worth of cosmetics.
Tripling the cost was nothing.
In fact…
Miracle Cosmetics would soon face shortages, allowing L'Oréal to hike prices even further.
They’d sell diamond-tier products—one bottle at a time.
Each priced at ¥380,000.
Pure bliss.
…
Two weeks later, Paul received two pieces of good news.
First, headquarters had analyzed the essence and sent a commendation.
Second, Miracle Cosmetics had begun limiting sales.
Diamond sets: only ten per day.
Gold: a hundred.
Silver: a thousand.
Even the bronze tier was capped at five thousand.
This meant… Miracle Cosmetics was running low on essence reserves.
"Ahahahaha—!" Paul roared with laughter.
These were his glory days. Not only had he secured the essence, but he’d also earned corporate recognition.
And competitors—so-called "allies"—were practically begging him daily.
Since his exclusive deal with General Manager Li, no one else could get their hands on the goods.
They’d been too slow. Now, they had no choice but to plead for collaboration with L'Oréal.
Mid-laugh, Paul suddenly grimaced, clutching his stomach.
"Sir, are you alright?" the secretary asked nervously.
"Just a stomachache. It’s fine."
"Should we go to the hospital?"
"..."
Paul was about to refuse, but his raised hand paused mid-air.
A thought struck him.
"Get the car ready!"
] This is a dark fantasy-themed dating simulation game. The main gameplay involves containing various monster girls and investigating the truth of a world shrouded in mist alongside your companions. However, due to his love for the dark and bizarre atmosphere, Luo Wei ended up turning a dating game into a detective mystery game. Women? Women only slow down his quickdraw! To Luo Wei, the female leads in the game are more like tools to perfectly clear levels and squeeze out rewards. For Luo Wei, flirting with every girl he meets and then discarding them is standard procedure. Worried about characters losing affection points? No need. With his maxed-out charm stat, Luo Wei is practically a "human incubus." A little psychological manipulation and those points come right back. It's a bit scummy, but the paper cutout heroines in the game won't actually come at him with real cleavers. However... Luo Wei has transmigrated. He's accidentally entered the second playthrough of this game. His past actions have caused all the girls to transform into terrifying yanderes. Due to the game's setting, most of the heroines he once contained are "troubled girls." Obsessive, twisted, mentally unstable, all aggressive yanderes... The type who will kill you if they can't have you... Luo Wei wants to cry but has no tears left. "I really just want to survive..." In short, this is a story of battling wits and engaging in a love-hate relationship with yanderes.
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
ose... to cooperate with the protagonist! Shen Yuan: I have a system! Protagonist: What? System: Holy crap, you're just spilling it out like that? Shen Yuan: Let's team up, we'll split the system rewards! Protagonist: Fifty-fifty split? Shen Yuan: No way! Protagonist: What!? I'm the one getting beaten up, and I don't get half? Shen Yuan: Forty-sixty split, I get forty, you get sixty! Protagonist: Deal! Big brother, come on, hit me! As long as it doesn't kill me, beat me like you mean it! Shen Yuan: Don't worry... I will definitely protect all of you! No one but me can lay a finger on you! Guard our Heaven's Chosen Ones! I'm the only one allowed to bully them!
