The villain daughter did all kinds of things

Amidst the rapid spread of various rumors, Emeryte's seemingly holy and radiant golden right eye also acquired another name—the Eye of Instant Death.

That is why, even if Amelie's gold and jewels were piled up like dirt and transported by truck, no one dared to covet them.

Even the most reckless desperado wouldn't do something that guarantees death.

. . . . .

After emptying almost all the wealth in the Financial Triangle region, Judy and her troops withdrew from there.

The three once-prosperous financial cities are now all ruins. Not a single living person can be seen on the dilapidated streets. Only Yulia is sitting by the lake, eating snacks and directing the divers to retrieve the remains of human infants from the bottom of the lake.

In the beginning, Yulia would personally go into the water when retrieving the remains.

But the Yulia in this world is completely different from the Yulia in the original game.

Although she is still kind and helpful, she has become accustomed to a luxurious life and can no longer endure hardship.

If there were any dangerous monsters at the bottom of the lake, Yulia would definitely go into the water and fight to the end, but she couldn't quite stick to the boring and patient work of retrieving corpses.

Since all the dangers at the bottom of the lake had been eliminated, Julia stopped going into the water from the second day onwards and instead directed the company employees sent by Emeryte to do the work from the lakeside.

Fortunately, although she didn't want to suffer anymore, Yulia's original intention remained. She hadn't gone home or rested these past few days, insisting on waiting until the salvage work was completely completed before talking about it.

For such trivial matters, Emery now basically obeys Julia's every whim, just to make his wife happy.

After several days of searching the Financial Triangle region by Judy's forces, most of the squid people there have been found and killed. Even if there are any lucky survivors, there won't be many.

Meanwhile, the Ise Rei Foundation was previously a large corporation with offices throughout the entire Allen Federation. While not all the employees in those offices were squid-men, they certainly weren't all human either.

In other words, there must still be a few Squid People hiding in the current Allen Federation, and completely eliminating them will be a long-term task.

So Emerald first had Gaif issue a bounty in the name of the federal government: any federal citizen, whoever could find and kill the hidden squidman, would receive a bounty of 50 rons from the federal government, turning every squidman into a walking 50.

Then, Emerald took out the latest improved potion from old man Langdon.

This version of the Squid Man Reveal Potion has had its delayed onset effect removed, and its harmful effects on the human body have also been completely eliminated.

For ordinary people, drinking it is like drinking water; they won't have any reaction. Even for squid people, drinking it simply reveals their true form immediately without being harmed.

The federal government will then mass-produce this potion, and all restaurants will be required to add it to their food to identify and eradicate the surviving squid people.

Furthermore, just as Emery had predicted, thanks to thorough preparation and effective public relations efforts, the destruction of the Ise Rei Foundation did not have a significant impact on the financial industry of the Allen Federation.

Another major reason is that people are too greedy.

As we all know, the business of lending money at high interest rates requires a large amount of capital. Normally, one should accept deposits and lend them out at the same time to earn the interest spread.

In fact, when the Ise Retsu Zaibatsu was first established, it did absorb a large amount of deposits, and those who invested in the Ise Retsu Zaibatsu made money.

However, as the Ise Group's funds increased, it stopped accepting deposits from any human financial institutions or individuals. Instead, it only accepted deposits from its own kind of squid people, allowing the money earned through usury to be distributed only among its own people.

Therefore, the sudden collapse of the Ise Retsu Zaibatsu did not leave many ordinary people with nothing, unlike the collapse of financial companies on Earth, because the Ise Retsu Zaibatsu's funds all came from the Squid People themselves.

Now that the Squid People are almost all dead, those who owed high-interest loans don't have to pay back their money anymore, so it's a win-win situation... This includes the 1000 billion Luns that Blue Star Films owes.

However, lending is an indispensable financial service in any economy.

With the collapse of the Ise Group, the largest financial giant, a new financial giant must take its place.

The family with the greatest opportunity, of course, is the Morgan family, which has become a rising star by relying on the financial industry.

Amelie had previously expressed the same idea, promising to help the Morgan family become a new financial giant, on the condition that the next head of the Morgan family must be Stella Morgan, and that she must be a powerful head who is not subject to constant control.

Amelie thought the Morgan family would agree, but to her surprise, after several days of internal discussions, the Morgan family declined Amelie's proposal.

They would not make Starling Morgan the next head of the family, nor would they fill the vacancy left by the Ise Group and become a financial monopolist. Instead, they proposed a new cooperation plan.

A new plan that would also allow Emery to profit greatly, while ensuring the Morgan family's independence from the witch's control.

Chapter 331 A Friendship That Never Fades

"I really don't have any particular feelings for your family. I really... I only put you in charge of the family so that it would be easier to cooperate in the future. Sigh."

In the president's office of Blue Star Films, Amelie sat in her personal chair, looking at the business plan given to her by the Morgan family while complaining.

"I know."

Stella Morgan, dressed increasingly fashionably and even sporting curls and a peach-colored hairstyle, sat on the sofa opposite the desk, sipping tea brewed by Marcy, her face completely indifferent.

"That's how I explained it to the old men in the family, but they didn't believe me. They said I had been bewitched by a witch and kicked me out of the succession line... Now the position of head of the family is completely out of my reach."

"But you don't seem to care much?"

Amelie had almost finished reading the plan, so she casually put it aside, picked up her teacup, and smiled as she looked at her best friend, whose friendship with her had not yet changed.

"Because, like you, I'm not really interested in that position."

Starling shrugged:

"I only like making money and the sense of accomplishment when I close a deal. I don't want to worry about those messy things or scheming against messy people."

"Of course, more importantly..."

Starling then changed the subject, smiling as she looked at the project plan on Emerald's desk:

"If this project can be established, my status in the family will not be much lower than that of the family head. In fact, the family head will have to give me some respect and dare not point fingers at me... because there is a terrifying witch behind me."

"Don't talk nonsense. I am a beautiful and kind saint, not that scary."

Amelie rolled her eyes at Starling, then fell into thought.

Starling knew she was thinking, so she didn't disturb her further, continuing to slowly drink her tea and occasionally chatting quietly with Marcy.

The Morgan family clearly did not want their family to be controlled by the witch, but they also did not want to offend the witch who was at the height of her power in all aspects. The new plan they proposed was actually very beneficial to Amelie.

In short, the Morgan family not only won't seize the financial market vacancy left by the sudden collapse of the Ise Group, but they will also help Amelie take it over, on the condition that Amelie will not interfere with the power transitions within the Morgan family in the future.

The main content of the plan is to have Starling Morgan, in her personal capacity, collaborate with Emerald to establish a new large bank to fill the market gap in financial lending in the Allen Federation after the sudden death of the Ise Group.

The Morgan family continued to act as a third party, neither accepting deposits nor making loans themselves, but simply acting as intermediaries to connect clients and earn commissions and service fees.

As a partner, Starling will own 30% of the new bank. She will lead her elite financial team away from the Morgan family and be primarily responsible for the bank's initial construction and daily operations, transforming herself from a third party into an investor.

The remaining 70% of the shares belonged to Emerald, and she didn't have to worry about most things. Her main responsibility was to use her personal strength and influence to guarantee the bank's creditworthiness.

To put it bluntly, it's about making depositors believe that the saintess will deposit their money in the bank, and making loan customers afraid of the witch's terror so they dare not default on their loans.

At the same time, most of the spoils that Emerald acquired from the Ise Group, namely the gold and silver jewelry, could serve as seed money for the new bank, allowing this wealth to grow even larger.

"...Generally speaking, there's nothing wrong with your family's plan, and I believe you won't betray me, my dear... I'm not afraid of you betraying me, I'll just devour you then."

After pondering for a moment, Emerald first expressed her approval of the plan in a joking tone, before becoming serious:

"I probably don't have time to manage the specific operations of this bank too much, but some key policies must be implemented as I say."

"no problem."

Starling agreed very readily:

"Anyway, you're the boss, so you can do whatever you want, as long as you don't owe this poor employee your wages and commission."

"You're a poor working-class guy earning hundreds of millions a month, right? If you say that, the real poor working-class guys will cry."

Emery gave Starling another sarcastic remark before continuing seriously:

"What I want to do is actually nothing special... When the Ise Retsu Group did this before, they would lend money to whichever project could make money, and the more urgently the other party needed funds, the higher the interest rate of the loan agreement they signed, right? I would never do such a thing."

"……how?"

Starling was somewhat surprised:

"Are you really too immersed in playing the saint? Or have you been corrupted by your girlfriend? You're actually giving up such a good way to make money? You don't just lend money to any project, and all of them are low-interest loans, do you?"

"Of course not... After all, my money didn't grow on trees, it's all hard-earned, and I absolutely can't waste it."

Amelie smiled and shook her head:

"The loan projects will still be selected based on their quality, but the criteria for judgment need to be changed... Previously, both the Ise Group and your Morgan family prioritized providing services to projects that could generate profits, right?"

"Yes, after all, we're in it to make money."

Starling nodded, somewhat curious:

"Do you think there's a better standard of judgment?"

"From a money-making perspective, it may not be better, but from my personal needs, it is definitely better."

Amelie smiled slightly:

"My new standard is very simple: the focus is not on whether the project itself can make money, but on the talent of the entrepreneur. As long as the entrepreneur is a truly talented person, even if he chooses a terrible project that will never make money, I can still invest in him. On the contrary, if the entrepreneur is an idiot, no matter how good his project is, he shouldn't even think about using a single penny of my funds."

"...You value talent more than whether a project makes money? That's definitely your style. Back in college, you were a talent-obsessed jerk. No matter how much your female classmates with average talent tried to please you, you were always quite indifferent to them... Hmph."

Seemingly recalling some events from her time at the academy, Starling first gritted her teeth and glared at Emerald with a somewhat resentful look, before thinking for a moment and saying:

"This plan is generally sound. If truly talented people have the funds, they're bound to make money as long as the project isn't too bad, and of course we can make money too... The problem is, what about those who really chose terrible projects? How are you going to protect your capital?"

"It's very simple, just let those talented entrepreneurs pay off their debts."

Amelie's lips curled into a smile:

“If someone borrows money from me and can’t pay it back, I won’t take away their hard-earned wealth like the Ise Group did. I only want them… They must sign a labor contract with my company and work for me until they pay off their debts with their salaries. After that, they can continue to start their own businesses and do what interests them, but while they are working for me, they can only use their talents where I need them.”

"...I think I understand your plan now. You really are a witch."

Starling gave Amelie a deep look, but didn't say anything explicitly.

Emery's new plan sounds kind, but what is it really like?

Even disregarding her family background, Emery herself has almost completely controlled the media and public opinion of the Allen Federation, and is the mastermind behind the president.

If she wants to ruin a project, no matter how talented or well-funded the entrepreneur is, they have no chance of fighting back.

In most cases, Emerald doesn't really pay much attention to the bank's specific operations. However, once one of the entrepreneurs shows a talent that interests Emerald, his fate of falling into the witch's trap, accumulating a mountain of debt, and ultimately having to work for the witch for the rest of his life is basically unchangeable.

...You really haven't changed at all. You still have an extreme greed for talent, but perhaps it is this greed that has driven you to achieve what you have today?

Thinking this to herself, Starling smiled brightly and stretched, deliberately showing off her good figure to Amelie:

"Then let's do it your way, I have no objection... How about we name the new bank? I can start the process after I get back to Sphinx. Remember to give Mr. Da Tong a heads-up and ask him to speed up the approval process."

"Don't worry about the approval process. As long as they see that I own 70% of this newly established bank, they will give you the best possible treatment."

Emerald generously admired her best friend's recent physical development, then pondered for a moment:

"As for the name of the bank... since we're partners, let's take one syllable each from my Emerald and your Stellar, and call it Merlin Bank, how about that?"

"It sounds pretty good... I'll head back to Sphinx now. Don't forget to show your face on the day the bank officially opens."

Stella was as energetic as ever. After finishing her business, she didn't waste any time, immediately got up to say goodbye, blew a kiss to Emerald, and left.

“Miss, you and Miss Starling still have such a good relationship.”

Marcy immediately went to clean up the teacup Starling had used, and at the same time, she jokingly said:

"Has the young lady considered winning her over and making her one of her own?"

"Win over Starling?"

Amelie briefly imagined the scene, then frowned and gently shook her head:

"Anyway, I don't have that idea for now... I am indeed very close to Starling, and she is a very beautiful woman, but we are really just friends, a pure best friend relationship. Back then, even when we shared a blanket, we would just look at bishoujo manga together, without any reaction between us. It's probably hard for our friendship to change."

"Well……"

Marcy tilted her head upon hearing this:

"Somewhat like the pure friendship described in some novels? Intimate and trusting like lovers but not lovers? I think it's called... a confidante?"

"Sisi, you should probably stop reading those ridiculous romance novels... You've even learned to use the term 'confidante' now?"

Emery was speechless.

"It's all due to the construction of the international teleportation portal. Miss, haven't you noticed that there are more and more black-haired, black-eyed Asians in our Locke City lately?"

Marcy chuckled, then lowered her voice and said mysteriously:

"I heard that many of them are actually from the Tianyun Empire. Because they were dissatisfied with some of the high-pressure policies and strict creative environment in China, they spent money to disguise themselves as people from Shangying and came to our side... Some even brought their own scripts to Lanxing Film and Television to apply for screenwriting jobs. I learned the term 'confidante' when I was looking through those submissions from people from the East a while ago."

"Such a thing is true?"

Emery raised an eyebrow in surprise, but after a moment's thought, she wasn't too surprised. Instead, she instructed Marcy:

“You heard Starling’s assessment of me just now. She’s not wrong. I am indeed a very greedy person for talent… Tell the people below that if the submissions from those Asians are good enough, hiring them into the company as screenwriters or even directors is no problem. I only look at their talent, not their background.”

"Understood, Miss."