Having traversed countless realms, can you possibly be as clever as me?

This feeling of betrayal and abandonment is far more painful than simply facing VOX's copyright infringement. Because she can see VOX and their AI as enemies and monsters, while Aki Tomoya was someone she once considered a friend.

Just as she was lost in thought, the doorbell rang. Shiyu didn't want to answer it, but the doorbell kept ringing. Annoyed, she got up, walked to the door, and looked out through the peephole. The hallway was empty. She frowned and opened the door, puzzled.

An all-black envelope, with a texture like frosted metal, lay quietly on the doormat. There was no stamp or address on it, only the VOX technology logo, branded with silver thread, exuding a futuristic and imposing aura.

Shi Yu's heart skipped a beat. She hesitated for a few seconds, then bent down and picked up the envelope. The envelope was thin, but heavy, and cold to the touch. She returned to her room, carefully cut open the seal with a paper cutter, and pulled out a hard, black card.

The card had a few lines of simple text printed in silver lettering:

Ms. Kasumigaoka Shiwa:

We cordially invite you to our headquarters this afternoon at 3 PM to participate in a private consultation meeting.

We believe that this meeting with you will be of extraordinary significance in your creative career.

VOX Media CEO

Dongjiang

......Why?

Kasumigaoka Utaha looked somewhat bewildered, or rather, she hadn't expected such an abrupt turn of events.

Meanwhile, Eriri, who was venting her anger by punching a doll in her room, also received the same invitation. However, after thinking about it, her sudden surge of anger made her feel that this was a provocation.

There's no reason not to go!

She composed herself, changed her clothes, prepared the security camera and other protective gear, and set off immediately. She arrived in Shinjuku quickly.

Here, the former Toei Company building still stands, but it now has a different owner. The entire exterior has been replaced with a massive curved LED screen, displaying dazzling advertisements for various VOX products.

As expected, the girls bumped into each other here.

At the top of this building, a handsome young man in an expensive, bespoke suit, exuding an air of wickedness, stood by the window, looking down at the tiny figure in the square below, his eyes radiating a crimson light.

"Hmm~ Appearance and identity are suitable, making it a good tool for experimentation."

Having transmigrated, my only purpose is to kill, kill, kill! : 14. The Business Wars of the Demon Entrepreneur

The main residence of the Shinomiya family is located in a quiet and ancient area of ​​Tokyo, like a secluded kingdom.

Here, there is no coldness of reinforced concrete, only meticulously trimmed pines and cypresses, babbling brooks, and wooden buildings imbued with a sense of history. The air is filled with the fresh scent of damp earth and precious wood, and even the sound of the wind seems more tranquil than outside.

In a Japanese-style room within this vast mansion, the delicate and graceful young lady, Kaguya Shinomiya, is impeccably preparing a cup of fine tea for her third brother, Untaka Shinomiya.

She wore an elegant kimono, and every movement she made—warming the cup, placing the tea, pouring water, and serving the tea—was as precise and graceful as if it were a textbook example, leaving no room for error. On her delicate, snow-white face was a flawless, gentle expression befitting the eldest daughter of the Shinomiya family.

However, the atmosphere in this tranquil Japanese-style room was not as soothing as the rising steam from the cup.

Shinomiya Un'yō sat opposite her, dressed in an impeccably tailored suit, which seemed somewhat out of place in this traditional Japanese setting. He took the teacup but did not taste it, simply letting the warm steam rise onto his cold face.

The brother and sister remained silent, the silence thickening in the air, carrying the unique, polite yet distant pressure inherent within the family.

This is normal, or rather, taken for granted; the relationship between the Shinomiya family's children has never been friendly.

"Brother, you've been very busy with official duties lately, thank you for your hard work." Finally, Kaguya broke the silence. Her voice was soft and pleasant, but it still sounded like a perfunctory greeting.

"Hmm." Shinomiya Un'taka responded with a short syllable from his throat. His gaze passed over Kaguya, landing on the courtyard outside the paper sliding door, his eyes sharp and anxious. He put down his teacup, making a slight clinking sound, and finally couldn't help but speak, his voice very low.

"That man... Tsugumi... is talking to Father right now, isn't he?"

Kaguya's smile faltered slightly, a momentary lapse that Shinomiya Un'taka keenly noticed. She lowered her eyes, her long eyelashes casting a small shadow on her pale cheek, and softly replied...

"Yes, elder brother. Father seems to have something important to discuss with Mr. Tsugumi."

"Important matter?" Shinomiya Un'yō let out a cold laugh. He turned back, his sharp eyes fixed on his sister, and said in an interrogative tone...

"Kaguya, what exactly happened that night on the overpass in the pouring rain? What deal did Father and he make? What method did he... use?"

His voice wasn't loud, but his tone was unyielding, leaving no room for Kaguya to question him. That night's attack was the biggest crisis the Shinomiya family had faced in recent years; the family's heir and head were both in danger, and even the heir, Shinomiya Hikari, had mysteriously died there!

All the investigations ultimately pointed to a vague conclusion—that she was rescued by a mysterious young man named "Tsurugi." The specific details, however, were kept secret by her father, becoming a taboo subject that all those who knew the truth had to remain silent about.

Don't get me wrong, Shinomiya Un'yō wishes his older brother were dead!

After all, the other party wasn't just a competitor, but a 'crown prince' whom he himself was almost impossible to defeat. Moreover, they had a very unfriendly past...

He would only cheer with his hands raised when his brother died, but he really wanted to know the truth about what exactly happened that night!

Kaguya's body tensed almost imperceptibly. The memory of that night was terrible: the cold rain, the screeching of brakes, the deafening clang of metal twisting, and the figure of that young man... Her fingertips turned slightly white, but when she looked up, her face remained calm and composed.

“Brother, Father doesn’t want me to say more,” she said softly, pushing all the questions to the highest authority in the family with a helpless tone.

"Hmph." Shinomiya Un'yō snorted again, knowing he wouldn't get any more answers on this matter. He picked up his teacup and downed the now lukewarm tea in one gulp, as if venting his frustration.

The Japanese-style room fell into a suffocating silence once again.

To ease the awkward atmosphere, Kaguya refilled his teacup and changed the subject, her tone carrying just the right amount of curiosity.

"Brother Yunying, is VOX Technology, founded by Mr. Tsurue, really that powerful? I heard from Hayasaka that it has become an undeniable giant in the media industry in just a few months. What kind of business acumen does he possess to achieve this?"

Shinomiya Un'yō didn't answer immediately. Instead, he took out a pack of cigarettes and a metal lighter from his inner suit pocket. With a crisp "click," a flame leaped up and lit the cigarette.

The crimson flame flickered in the dimly lit Japanese-style room, and a wisp of bluish-white smoke rose, blurring his cold, stern face. He spoke softly through the swirling smoke.

"Business acumen? Ha..." He scoffed. "Kaguya, if your so-called 'talent' is about having no bottom line, then he is indeed the most 'talented' person I have ever met."

Kaguya Shinomiya listened quietly without interrupting.

Shinomiya Un'yō took a deep drag of his cigarette, letting the bitterness of nicotine numb his senses. He leaned against the pillar behind him, his eyes unfocused, as if lost in those terrifying memories.

"Kaguya, you know that the rise of our Shinomiya family was far from clean. We have plenty of shady methods here, but even we would make many, many preparations in order to take over a company."

“Asset valuation, legal due diligence, market analysis, public opinion guidance—we typically spend months, or even longer, planning a merger that complies with regulations. And he…” Shinomiya Un'ei exhaled a puff of smoke.

“He doesn’t need to. He simply destroys everything in his way.”

At this point, he glanced at his younger sister, who was listening quietly, and a look of wanting to tease her appeared on his face. Then he began to describe it vividly.

"Let me explain slowly. Do you know Kanji Ishihara, the president of Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS)? He's an old-fashioned, stubborn, and well-connected media mogul. He looked down on Tsugumi, this nouveau riche, and in the early stages of his business, he joined forces with several established media outlets to try to completely shut him down in terms of public opinion and distribution channels."

Kaguya Shinomiya nodded slightly. She knew about this. In the past few days, several old-school news media outlets and channels, as well as financial experts, had all expressed pessimism about the prospects of VOX Technology, such a new company.

However, this public opinion environment disappeared in less than two days.

She had initially thought that her family's influence had silenced these people, but now it seemed...

“Our people had searched for Ishihara’s weaknesses before, but to no avail. He is an extremely cautious man, and his private life is as clean as a blank sheet of paper. However, Tsugumi only took one day.”

Shi Gong Yunying stubbed out his cigarette, lit another one, and said softly.

"He dug up an old story from twenty years ago from somewhere. When Ishihara was young, he had an affair with his wife's sister and even had an illegitimate child. Because his wife had no children and only a daughter, he kept this illegitimate child outside. Even our Shinomiya family's intelligence network had never heard of this."

"And then what? Was he exposed? Was he brought down by public opinion?"

"Kaguya, you're too naive. Such gossip may cause him some turmoil at home, but what good is it? It's not enough to bring him down."

Si Gong Yunying sneered and shook his head.

The notion that negative public opinion can affect one's career is limited to celebrities who need exposure. For the vast majority of wealthy and powerful people, even if they publicly engage in morally reprehensible acts, it will not affect them in the slightest.

"He asked me how to fight business wars with people, but after I talked to him for three minutes, he got impatient and said he wanted to solve the problem in his own way."

Amidst the swirling mist, Shinomiya Un'taka, whose expression was obscured, whispered...

“I don’t know how he did it, but the next day he found some shady accounts, a few bones, and a fresh hand under this dishonest old man’s control. Then, he took these things and put them on the coffee table in front of Ishihara and his wife.”

Kaguya Shinomiya's body trembled slightly. She raised her head as if to ask a question, but no words came out.

It's quite obvious that the bones likely belong to the people Ishihara killed to cover up his shady accounting problems, while the new recruits are either his illegitimate sons or his daughters.

"As a result, the next day, all the media campaign against VOX Technology disappeared. Not only that, Ishihara also transferred his shares at an extremely favorable price. Then, in less than three days, this big shot who could wield influence in the media world vanished without a trace."

Shinomiya Un'yō narrated the process casually and lightly, yet it sent a chill down Shinomiya Kaguya's spine, and she couldn't help but speak with a hint of fear.

"Is he... dead?"

"Heaven knows, that's what makes him so terrifying," said Shinomiya Un'yō, his gaze deep.

“I am the second largest shareholder of VOX Technology. My father has been sending me to monitor him. There are also many members of the Shinomiya family in VOX Technology. But no one knows how he got this information, or how he made Ishihara disappear without a trace, or where he went.”

Kaguya Shinomiya lowered her head in silence. Perhaps... she knew the answer.

If what happened on the overpass on that rainy night wasn't an illusion, then perhaps it was a world that neither she nor her brother were qualified to experience.

She had thought the Shinomiya family's darkness was dark enough, but now, she realized that she had never even seen the most superficial aspects of the world's depths.

Thinking of this—

Kaguya Shinomiya's awe of that handsome, otherworldly young man deepened considerably.

"And then there's Tanaka of 'Future Technology,' who's not greedy, not lustful, comes from a poor background but works hard to improve himself, and is a decent and good person. If there's any weakness, it's only his daughter who's still in elementary school and his loving wife?"

Shinomiya Un'taka chuckled, while Shinomiya Kaguya remained silent for a moment before speaking in a deep voice.

"So, he used other men's wives and daughters..." Kaguya said in a very low voice.

"Oh no, he didn't do that." Shinomiya Un'taka took a drag of his cigarette and said lazily.

"That guy sometimes has a weird moral obsession, and his ability to dig up dirt on people is extraordinary. He just discovered that the daughter wasn't Tanaka's child, and that she was actually Tanaka's brother-in-law's child."

Kaguya: ?

Although she knew that the circle she was in was a decadent structure, hearing such gossip still made Kaguya Shinomiya feel somewhat excited.

"He was even a good person in this matter, giving that fool the truth," Shinomiya Un'taka sighed.

"But after that, Tanaka's wife and brother-in-law disappeared. Given Tanaka's abilities and personality, it's impossible that he would do such a thing. After that, Tanaka directly brought his own technical team to join his team, squeezing out many of our people."

“I asked him what he had done, and he told me bluntly that he had given Tanaka’s wife and brother-in-law to Tanaka and then ‘pushed’ him.”

The discussion ended abruptly there. Shinomiya Un'taka undoubtedly didn't know what Tsugumi had actually done, but using one's imagination, it's likely that Tanaka had already personally dealt with his cuckolded wife and her brother...

"And then there's the matter with those entertainment agencies—kidnapping, threats, smear campaigns, sowing discord, making them fight amongst themselves. His methods are far more ruthless and underhanded than ours," Shinomiya Un'yō said quietly.

“Kaguya, stop asking me about his ‘business acumen.’ He doesn’t. All he does is drag everyone down to his level, into a gladiatorial arena with no rules or boundaries. Then he crushes them in the way he does best.”

In a sense, this is indeed the truth and true nature of all 'business wars' when the packaging is torn away.

So-called civilized games only exist when neither side can defeat the other. If one side is strong and the other weak, the pawns of capital never care about civilization.

Kaguya remained silent, her gaze unconsciously drifting deeper into the mansion.

There, in a courtyard even grander and more imposing than where Kaguya and Untaka were, their father, Shinomiya Kan'an, the head of the Shinomiya family, was meeting with the 'guest' they had just been discussing.

Outside the huge floor-to-ceiling windows is a dry landscape garden meticulously maintained by generations of master craftsmen. The main beam of the room is made of a single piece of ebony wood, and priceless ancient paintings hang on the walls. The air is filled with the scent of precious incense and a strong, unmistakable medicinal aroma.