58: We need to think about it for a while

A tense conflict was thus lightly dismissed by them.

It was as if all those malicious remarks and violent actions had never happened.

They apologized indifferently, and then, once again, surrounded Lin Yao.

Only this time, their attitude was infinitely more respectful.

"Student Lin Yao, our Fengxing Technology's SS-grade contract is still valid! Furthermore, we are willing to add another five percent of the company's original shares on top of the existing offer!" Feng Rui eagerly threw out his chips.

"Bullshit! Feng Rui, have you no shame?" The chubby representative cursed directly, "For a Mythic-grade, you only offer five percent of the shares? Are you trying to get rid of a beggar! Student Lin Yao, come to our Panshi Biology! We'll give you an SSS-grade contract! Plus ten percent of the shares! One hundred million in cultivation funds annually! No upper limit!"

"Our Juli Group offers two hundred million!"

"Our Tower of the Firmament is willing to list you as a Saintess candidate!"

A new round of even crazier bidding began.

Only this time, the item they were vying for had changed from a "customizable purple genius" to an "uncontrollable Mythic-grade professional."

They handed various sky-high contracts to Lin Yao like snowflakes.

"Student Lin Yao, you choose!"

"As long as you nod, we can give you everything you want!"

Lin Yao stood there blankly.

She looked at the faces of these people before her.

Each face was filled with eager, sincere smiles.

It was as if they were truly thinking of her, truly excited for her future.

But, just a few minutes ago...

It was these very people who, with the most venomous words, planned how to drain everything from her.

It was these very people who regarded her as a commodity, a tool, a breeding machine.

It was these very people who, when she wanted to make her own choice, revealed their most hideous faces.

Her stomach churned.

Lin Yao felt a strong wave of nausea.

She couldn't understand.

How could they?

How could they act as if nothing had happened?

How could they, in a single second, transform from a bandit who wanted to devour her alive into a kind and benevolent philanthropist?

She wanted to vomit.

"You..."

Lin Yao's lips moved; she wanted to question, to curse.

But she couldn't utter a single word.

Because she noticed that there wasn't a trace of guilt on their faces.

Their enthusiasm, their smiles, their promises, were all incredibly real.

So real that it made her wonder if everything that had just happened was merely a nightmare of her own.

"You... do you have no shame!"

The school leader on the side finally couldn't bear it; he trembled with anger, pointing at the group's noses and roaring.

"How did you treat a child just now! How do you have the face to stand here now!"

The smile on Feng Rui's face stiffened for a moment, but quickly returned to normal.

He didn't even glance at the school leader, just continued to address Lin Yao.

"Principal, you don't understand."

A middle-aged man who hadn't spoken much, wearing gold-rimmed glasses and looking refined, suddenly spoke.

He was the representative of another large enterprise, "Tiangong Group."

He pushed up his glasses and spoke unhurriedly, as if explaining a most basic common sense.

"We do this not because we want to do it."

"Shame? That kind of thing, perhaps we still had it before we climbed to this position."

The middle-aged man surveyed his "colleagues" with a self-mocking yet matter-of-fact expression.

"Which one of you sitting here wasn't a normal person with flesh and blood, joy and anger, when you were young?"

"But now, we are not."

"What we represent is the company. Behind me are tens of thousands of employees waiting for their salaries, hundreds of shareholders waiting to see financial reports and dividends, and countless upstream and downstream industrial chains."

"Every decision we make must, and can only, be responsible for the company's interests."

These words brought a strange silence to the noisy main stage.

The middle-aged man looked at Lin Yao; his expression was calm, even with a hint of... apology?

"So, Student Lin Yao, we apologize for frightening you just now."

"But that was merely a matter of position, not a personal grudge."

He paused, then uttered a sentence that completely shattered Lin Yao's worldview.

"Let's put it this way, even if you had stabbed me just now, as long as I wasn't completely dead, the first thing I would do after crawling up from the ground would still be to smile and ask you, Student Lin Yao, are you still interested in our Tiangong Group's SSS-grade contract?"

"Because that is my job."

"My personal life, death, honor, and disgrace are worthless in the face of the company's interests."

Boom!

Lin Yao's mind went blank.

What her brother faced back then was such a group of people.

A group of emotionless, profit-driven... machines.

In their eyes, there was no right or wrong, no good or evil, only value.

If you have value, you are a god.

If you have no value, you are trash.

All warmth, all morality, all rules, in the face of absolute self-interest, were merely a piece of waste paper that could be torn up at any time.

This was more despairing than simply being evil.

Because you simply cannot defeat them.

If you kill them, new people will step up, continue to smile at you, and continue to ask you, will you still sign the contract?

A bone-chilling coldness shot up from Lin Yao's feet to the top of her head.

She felt like she was about to collapse.

Just then, a warm, dry hand gently rested on her shoulder.

It was Lin Yu.

He had been standing silently behind his sister, watching all of this.

He felt no anger, nor surprise.

Because he had experienced all of this five years ago.

He had even seen uglier, more blatant scenes than this.

The warmth of that palm passed through the thin fabric of her school uniform, reaching Lin Yao's shoulder.

A steady and powerful force, flowing down her spine, dispelled the bone-deep chill that had invaded her.

Lin Yu didn't look at the middle-aged man who called himself the representative of "Tiangong Group"; he just calmly looked at the group of well-dressed "machines" who had surrounded them again.

Lin Yu's voice wasn't loud, but it brought all the noisy bidding to an abrupt halt.

"We need some time to consider."

As soon as these words were spoken, the entire venue fell silent.

The smile on Feng Rui's face froze for a moment, then immediately became even more eager.

"Of course! Of course! It's only right! A Mythic-grade profession, this is a lifelong matter, it should be carefully considered!"

The chubby representative from Panshi Biology also nodded repeatedly, his fleshy face squeezed together as he tried to make a benevolent expression.

"That's right, that's right, we were presumptuous. Student Lin Yao, Student Lin Yu, please take your time to consider, there's no rush, we have all the time in the world to wait."