Darkstone Code

Chapter 401: 0399 Minor Issues and Small Checks


After a day of selection, Lynch assigned different jobs to the guys in the club. In the afternoon, Vera contacted him, hoping to have a talk.

He had the driver take him to Vera's house, where Vera stood at the door. After a few seconds of eye contact, Lynch asked the driver to wait by the roadside and walked over directly.

"I must have disrupted your schedule...," Vera smiled before they even entered, "but these matters are important, and it's inconvenient for me to discuss them over the phone."

Her gaze passed through the space beside Lynch's shoulder, where she saw a few men who obviously looked like special agents getting out of another car, wandering around to observe.

Sometimes Vera felt emotional, especially when she saw Lynch's handsome face on TV, she felt emotional.

Before this, she never believed in miracles, and Gap didn't believe in miracles either. They, the middle class, are more rational than ordinary people and understand that miracles, these low-probability occurrences, only happen when they need to happen.

Most of the time, miracles don't occur because miracles are controlled by humans.

Compared to miracles, they believe more in the rewards gained through hard work, which is the standard most middle-class people use to approach work and life—they work harder than ordinary people.

This saying might sound a bit funny when heard because isn't the wealth of the middle class built on exploitation?

Actually, in a way, that's correct, but they exploit themselves, too, and oppress themselves.

While ordinary people still lie in bed for the last few minutes of comfort at half-past eight, the middle class has already finished exercising, had breakfast, and is driving to work, almost reaching the office.

While ordinary people walk leisurely, those middle-class folks rush like they're racing to be reborn.

While ordinary people waste time, the elites of the middle class continually squeeze out their value and deposit it in the bank.

So miracles are not born, but Vera witnessed the birth of a miracle with her own eyes.

Just last year, this young man only started a company with a registered capital of just a hundred dollars, yet now no one can imagine just how much money he has, how many times his wealth has multiplied.

If this doesn't count as a miracle, then what is?

Looking at the big boy in front of her, Vera experienced a moment of distraction, but quickly she gathered herself and led Lynch into the house.

"Sit anywhere, want something to drink?" She walked to the bar and looked at Lynch. Lynch ordered coffee, and soon two fragrant cups of coffee were served.

Vera's outfit at this moment... was very ordinary, possibly due to the pressures of life, which restrained her natural love for beauty; she wore seemingly plain home attire and a pair of black-rimmed glasses, masking her attractive features.

She raised her hand and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear, "How should I say this...," she said, shaking her head, "Some accounts in the company don't seem quite right lately."

Lynch's brows moved slightly as he set down his coffee, pursing his lips, the remaining coffee on his lips was drawn into his mouth along the lip lines, and he softly asked, "What's not right?"

"Currently, the company's main revenue comes from auctions of second-hand goods. We calculate our costs, our revenues, deduct necessary expenses and payments to managers, and what's left is the net profit. But sometimes, our money doesn't match."

"Besides this issue, we acquired a piece of land near the capital to build a second-hand trading area. The actual expenditure now exceeds the initial budget."

Lynch was aware of the land acquisition plan; he set it, and these people just executed it. They had called Lynch before, and he agreed to their budget.

In Lynch's view, the budget was enough to see the project to the end. There might be a need for slight replenishment then, but it certainly wouldn't run out of funds in the middle phase.

"How long has it been?"

Vera pursed her lips, "About a month, and the issue... is mainly on the capital's side."

She found it difficult to explain because the capital side was mainly managed by Richard. His capabilities were evident to all, including Lynch, who kept an eye on him.

Richard is a natural marketing expert, born for money; he's also not a fool. Lynch believed he wouldn't mess things up too badly.

But it seemed things were changing, causing Lynch to remain in York State for longer.

"This is very important for me. I have to thank you...," Lynch reached out and held Vera's hand, sincerely looking into her eyes, "You've helped me tremendously. Without you, I might not be able to focus on other things."

Vera wanted to withdraw her hand but ultimately did not, "It's my duty; after all, you're my boss."

Lynch nodded noncommittally, "Don't overexert yourself; you can delegate some tasks to those employees under you…"

Right then, a young boy holding a servant's hand returned from outside. When the boy entered the room, the smile that had been on his face disappeared upon seeing Lynch, and he quickly went to the room upstairs without looking back.

Vera's gaze retrieved from the closed door, then she looked at Lynch with a bit of apology, "Sorry, ever since Gap… You know, those police and investigators never respect the ones they view as criminals, so now he's somewhat afraid of strangers."

During Gap's escape, the investigators from the bureau monitored those associated with him. This surveillance, in a way, could be seen as a form of harassment.

They often show up around surveillance targets, check the items they carry, or ask some questions.

The adults found it unbearable to be harassed, let alone a young child; under such pressure and stimuli, a child from a cheerful middle-class family background began to become introverted.

He started to fear strangers and became afraid of interacting with people outside those he knew.

Federation children often find themselves trapped in various external reasons leading to a certain low mood and negative emotions, hard to extricate from, which is why the Federation has much more psychologists than other countries.

Actually, sometimes people are really strange, like in Gafura. Their level of civilization is not worse than that of the Federation, but under their social mechanisms, people's tolerance is stronger than in the freedom-loving Federation, and this is actually quite amusing.

Lynch felt, this is just spoiling.

He quickly bade farewell, and Vera didn't keep him; her mind was primarily focused on the child now.

By this time, it was getting late, so he had someone book a ticket for the capital of York State the next day, and then returned home, where the phone rang just as he sat down.

After answering the call, he quickly left the house; someone wanted to meet him to talk.

The person who asked to meet him was Director Johnson of the Federali Tax Bureau's Sabin City branch, and Lynch met him by the lakeside on the outskirts of the city.

The old man was wearing an explorer's hat, sunglasses, and holding some miscellaneous items that he was throwing towards the lakeside.

There were quite a few fish gathered at the lakeside to feed, and Lynch's arrival disturbed the calmness of the lake surface; those fish quickly made decisions between safety and filling their stomachs.

Watching the fish flock that vanished in an instant, Director Johnson tossed the last bit of his items into the water, patted his hands, and stood up.

"You came quickly..." he sighed, with a somewhat wistful expression.

Lynch didn't respond, just looked at him.

Director Johnson's face suddenly turned a bit red, and he whispered, "I've encountered some troubles recently..."

Before he finished his sentence, Lynch interrupted him, "How much?"

Director Johnson was a bit stunned, seemingly not catching what Lynch said, "What did you just say?"

"I said, how much do you want!" Lynch said as he pulled out a checkbook from his pocket, unscrewed the cap of his fountain pen, "Five thousand dollars, is that enough?" He swiftly wrote down several figures on the check.

Director Johnson was somewhat ashamed and annoyed, but he didn't say anything, just frowned slightly.

Lynch added another sum, signed it, ripped off the check, and handed it over, "Fifteen thousand, that should be enough to deal with the difficulties you are facing, right?"

"I didn't mean that..." Director Johnson wanted to explain something but in the end, still took the check.

He felt increasingly undignified in front of Lynch, sometimes even pondering if this was Lynch's trap, but quickly dismissed the thought.

Even if it was a trap, if he hadn't made mistakes, he wouldn't be in today's situation.

Michael's wife was not only pregnant but already showing; a woman's husband is in prison and the wife suddenly has a big belly, such a thing wouldn't seem normal to anyone.

The rumor that the woman had an affair while her husband was in prison spread rapidly in Michael's community.

Such gossip is very damaging, not only causing great harm to that poor woman but also to little Michael.

Previously when little Michael saw Director Johnson, he might not have been affectionate, but at least he wouldn't glare at him with hatred.

But since his mother started showing, mature beyond his years from experiencing many things, little Michael immediately understood who was responsible for his mother's pregnancy.

Undoubtedly, it was Mr. Johnson, who often came to their home to take care of the mother and son.

The feeling was awful, so Director Johnson discussed with the woman about relocating to a place where nobody knew them, and also arranging for little Michael to attend a boarding private school.

This way they could avoid some unpleasant conflicts between little Michael and him, and with his mother.

The idea was good, but there was no money.

For the wealthy in the Federation, it's heaven; money is the Divine Power from the Lord and can do anything.

For the poor, the Federation is hell; poverty is a noose around their necks strangled by a devil, the more they struggle, the more desperate it gets.

Currently, only Lynch could solve these problems because Lynch is a wealthy man.

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