Chapter 369 - Grandfather's Difficulties.
"Sigh, one should never trust a ruins coordination even if it was bought from secure channels." Felix shook his head at Malak's story.
He understood that in this universe most coordinations shared in the UVR were either fake or traps set by pirates. Traps in the sense that those ruins were actually real and still unexplored.
What those pirates do was simple.
They sell the coordination to a targeted clan that was studied by them and then wait for them next to the planet, laying an ambush.
Since the contract signed entailed that the ruins were real and unexplored, that clan wouldn't hesitate to send a squad to scout ahead for the main exploration crew.
Felix's sold ancient ruins map were going to receive the same treatment since no one could trust that the ruins wouldn't be infested with pirates ready to jump on them.
The pirates had to be creative in their approaches since just wondering around in the infinite cosmos wouldn't make them rich anytime soon. It wasn't easy to luck out on a spaceship on their radar.
This method of laying down traps was quite a good one to earn coins since the caught hostages could be sold back to the clan for billions of coins and if the clan was unwilling to pay the ransom, they would be auctioned as slaves.
Malak had told Felix that three of her clanmates had made the same decision as her. If they had the same integration level as her then it meant that the pirates had earned at minimum 20 billion SC out of them!
When compared to the Criminal Organizations like Gama that target weak planets, pirates were earning a shitload of coins in each operation they make.
Naturally, the danger had increased significantly since no one knows if the trap was going to work out or just invite trouble.
This was one of the reasons Felix wanted to build a loyal squad so when he aims at the unexplored ancient ruins in his memories, he would have some backup unlike going solo like a moron.
"Alright guys, you have shared more than enough and I am really appreciative of that." Felix smiled faintly, "As much as I want to share things about myself, I can't do so unless we meet in reality...I hope you understand why."
Malak nodded her head in understanding while Erik kept looking at them in confusion. Felix wasn't planning on explaining anything as time was of the essence.
"I will be paying for your journey." Felix informed, "I need you to reach me as fast as possible, so I will be paying for the VIP wormhole expressway."
Felix chose the VIP wormhole expressway since he knew that the regular expressway had a long queue before getting access.
That's due to the Space Worm checking on those without permits by setting up stations in front of the wormhole expressway.
After all, if the wormholes weren't watched properly, everyone could just use them wantonly without paying fees or having a permit.
Naturally, most pirates weren't given permits to make it difficult for them in the universe.
Meanwhile, the VIP expressway only had space fleets guarding it. Since the moment one paid for VIP treatment, he would be given access straightway without stopping to get checked.
This removed the queue time that might take up to days of a wait if one was unlucky and met with heavy traffic.
Although they would be traveling at the best wormhole expressway, Felix knew that it would take them at least two months before they reach him.
That's because planet earth was isolated from the centers of civilizations in the Alexander Kingdom.
They were positioned in the borders of the Alexander Kingdom and the Coronia Kingdom. This implied that neither the wormhole expressway nor the VIP version was even close to them.
In the case of deliveries, this wouldn't have created any problems for Felix since Fatty Bodidi could simply open up a wormhole in his bedroom.
However, for human transportation, the spaceship had to travel the entire distance from the center of the Kingdom to Earth.
With that being said, Felix wasn't bothered that much by waiting two months since his Dark Deviant spaceship was currently on its way and it would be arriving in a month and a half at best.
It was a must to have it arrive before those two since Felix was planning on meeting up with them in it.
He couldn't have them enter the Earthling Team Headquarters since the anti-surveillance barrier would detect them instantly. It wouldn't let them get inside without scanning them.
That simply meant giving permission to the Queen to inform Mr. Rodrigas about their names, backgrounds, integration level...etc.
Naturally, this process was only for outsiders since the ESG Organization wasn't going to allow strangers inside without fully checking them out, unlike their known team members.
Felix didn't want to expose Malak and Erik's strength lest they end up getting exposed to the Gama Organization.
If all went well, Felix was planning on sending them to retrieve the pieces of the Artificial symbiote after he makes his move against the Gama Organization's spaceship.
After all, he wasn't a prophet to foresee that the Gama Organzaition was truly going to perish once and for all from his Red Plasma weapon.
Those two would be his plan B when shit hit the fan and everything derail from the script in his mind.
***
After Felix sent them away, he contacted the auction and gave them his address.
He would be responsible for the payment but they would take care of the transportation for him.
Felix didn't want Princess Bird snooping around him due to those sensitive discussions and information.
Now that he was done, he sent her a message to accompany him to the last auction of the day.
He wasn't planning to buy anything in it but he was willing to attend so he could broaden his horizons.
Plus, he was left with only 15 billion SC and he wanted to save it for the biggest auction tomorrow.
At that time, he would be accompanied by the Anti-Royal Alliance and not just Princess Bird.
'I need to concoct some high-quality bullshit to throw them off. It will be even better if I managed to turn them into my allies.' Felix rubbed his chin while gazing absent-mindedly in front of the auction's gate, waiting for Princess Bird's arrival.
'Good thing you are an expert in that.' Asna chuckled.
'True.' Felix laughed back and started brainstorming for tomorrow.
***
Tomorrow Evening, at The Androxa House, at 09:00 PM...
Felix was sitting in the living room all dressed up neatly, appearing quite handsome.
He was video chatting with his grandfather, listening to the difficulties his Family Company had run into in their main business venture.
Naturally, His grandfather wasn't the one who called to whine about them but it was Felix who wanted to check on them.
The millions of coins that he kept sending them discreetly were used properly to get themselves a small footing in the UVR.
Naturally, they couldn't afford to create a company in Androxa City but they did manage to place it in the 3rd biggest City in the Alexander Kingdom's UVR territory.
Unsurprisingly, they started with the easiest industry and also one of the most profitable ones if it was done right.
Cuisine!
They took advantage of Earthling's diverse cuisine by implementing it in the UVR!
Naturally, they couldn't just steal recipes and call them their own as they had to legally purchase them from the owners by paying them in dollars.
That's why private clothes brands, recipes, patents, and all for the data that was sold to the Queen wasn't placed by her in the VR store.
She was simply buying the information to increase her database and also help new planets get a better footing.
Hence, besides public information that was accessible to everyone, nothing else was posted by the Queen in the public database.
Thankfully, it wasn't really that hard to get recipes from chefs since they couldn't really be 'copyrighted' in the Planet.
But in the UVR? That was a different story.
After those recipes became the family's property, they legalized it based on the UVR Rules and it truly became theirs!
In other words, unless one received permission or the Maxwells turned the recipe public, no one could use it in restaurants or sell it for profits.
This was possible only due to the Queen AI.
After they collected multiple recipes from every cultural cuisine, ranging from pizza recipes, pasta recipes, steak recipes, coscos recipes..etc, they had officially started a business by placing their food in VR store, >Cuisine Section< where Felix used to pick his food from.
Naturally, there was an infinite number of different food in that section, making it almost impossible for their food to get some spotlight in the list unless it got picked constantly, turning it into one of the favorites in the section.
But for their food to get purchased in the store they needed to be spotlighted first!
Hence, the dilemma that the Maxwell Elders and Felix's Grandfather were facing.
"Sigh, we were quite naive when we believed that our earthling food will turn the UVR upside down due to their deliciousness." Robert said while rubbing his eyelids with a fatigued expression.
He seemed like he wasn't having enough sleep or rest due to the family company hitting the roadblock in their path.
"I warned you before." Felix shrugged his shoulders, "I told you that the cuisines industry shouldn't be underestimated. It is indeed a fact that a single popular recipe could turn one into a multi-billionaire but that is just gambling with resources and hoping for luck to take the wheel."
Felix indeed warned his grandfather by saying so. But in all honestly, Felix already foresaw that the earthling cuisine was going to fail hard into making an impact in the UVR.
He had 20 years of future knowledge and not a single recipe had managed to leave a mark and raise above the trillions of different recipes.
Those recipes were just for the human race without mentioning the other races.
Frankly speaking, Felix always believed that earthlings' food would have made an impact if it was heavily advertised in the UVR.
But who in his right mind would spend hundreds of millions to billions of coins to advertise a single recipe when they didn't even have half that amount as their capital?
What's worse, the recipe could still fail to attract enough interest, thus killing off the investment.
It was too risky to advertise a recipe. If one was willing to do so, he needed to study extensively the science of food in correlation with the majority of consumers in the UVR.
If it wasn't for so, Felix would have chosen his grandfather and the elders' plan way before them.
However, that didn't mean he wasn't investing in the food industry at all as his Primo Investment Company was owning one restaurant and investing in one food company.
Felix knew that down the line, the restaurant was going to create a heavenly recipe while the food company was going to invent a new cooking tool.
So he might be dipping his feet in multiple industries but all of his projects were bound to succeed sooner or later.
"Sigh, we should have listened and switched to another industry." Robert sighed with a discouraged tone, "Now most of our capital had been invested in this company and we can't retreat anymore."
"Old geezer, are you giving up already?" Felix taunted with a mocking tone, "What happened to the prodigy businessmen who single-handedly turned the family into a business Empire? Did you get overwhelmed by the Business side of the UVR?"
Robert chortled softly in derision, "Don't I have you? If I failed to make money I can always live off you."
"I see your shame hasn't returned yet." Felix chuckled and said, "Gramps, I told you many times to come to me for capital if you failed your projects. I don't care if you failed one or a hundred, I will always have your back." Felix bragged shamelessly, "Unlike you, my projects are bringing me more profit than I could handle."
'You are just as shameless as him.' Asna rolled her eyes after hearing him bragging about his projects that he cheated with his future memories.
Felix ignored Asna's jap and sighed after noticing that his grandfather's expression had gone strict all of sudden. "Fine, fine, I won't say this again."
Felix knew that his grandfather was too proud to ask money out of him.
Although he joked about it, he would never actually live off Felix when he was healthy and vigorous just like his younger self!