Darkstone Code
Chapter 174 - 0172 Accident! So terrifying!

Chapter 174: 0172 Accident! So terrifying!

The conference room that once represented the pinnacle of Ristone now seemed somewhat empty.

At the height of Ristone, even without extra chairs, those shareholders were willing to stand there during meetings, listening to Neo and other board members express their opinions at the conference.

Even if they couldn’t speak or move around during the meeting, they were still very willing.

But now, many chairs in this room were empty, and combined with the current rumors outside, a difficult-to-define emotion was spreading among the few people in the conference room.

Gap adjusted his glasses and sat at the end of the table. As an important employee who had become a partner in the group company, he also received an invitation from President Neo to attend this private, closed-door meeting.

Moreover, no minutes would be taken at the meeting. In other words, this meeting wouldn’t be disseminated through any official or unofficial channels, and even if someone did so, no one would admit it.

This was a meeting that would never appear in Ristone’s history, naturally signifying that it was indeed different.

Mr. Neo, sitting at the head of the table, glanced at his watch, and the security guard downstairs also looked at the watch on his wrist.

Both the watch worth over two hundred thousand and the watch worth a little over twenty pointed to the same time. The security guard closed the door, and Mr. Neo wore a slightly broader smile.

He looked at the employees sitting around the conference table. These were Ristone’s very "important" employees, each holding secrets about some aspect of Ristone.

For example..., his gaze lingered on Gap at the end of the table. The reason he first chose Gap was, one, because Gap wasn’t turning his head to look around, and two, it was an instinctive behavior.

Selectively looking at someone from the left or right can give a feeling of being targeted, while directly looking ahead doesn’t.

Feeling the president’s gaze, Gap wore a humble smile and bowed slightly to show submission.

Neo nodded noncommittally, starting the agenda for today’s meeting, "You know, there have been some sayings circulating outside recently, and those sayings are actually true."

"I have already submitted a relocation application for the group company to the Governor, which will be approved at the latest in about a month. Roughly before the first half of next year, we will complete all the relocation work."

As he spoke, his tone was measured, his articulation clear, and he spoke with confidence. He exuded a strong presence, which demonstrated his calmness and composure, "I know many people are puzzled by everything that has happened recently, but now I’m telling you, it’s all part of my plan."

The atmosphere in the conference room changed slightly, as Ristone Group had encountered a rift with the Mayor of Sabin City and the Governor, leading to a plummet in stock prices, losing 40% of its market value in just one week.

Even the upward momentum of Bail Industry’s index was dragged down by him, causing more and more people to lose confidence in Ristone Group.

Subsequently, Neo, on behalf of the Ristone Group board, submitted a delisting application. Ristone’s stock plummeted again, and at this point, Neo and others seized the opportunity to buy back stocks at a very low price, having completed about seventy percent of the stock repurchase plan this week.

About twenty percent of the stocks are still held by long-term investors and some inactive accounts.

Some people are purely investing in enterprises, not stocks, while others are gamblers who don’t believe a group company would just disappear; they bet on Ristone relisting one day.

Anyway, the delisting plan is unstoppable now, and Neo can proceed to the next step.

He’s saying this to make those who have developed different thoughts drop their little schemes.

These people are hard to let go of, and if possible, Neo wouldn’t want to continue being involved with most of them, but there are unignorable ties between them and the group company.

Just like the new partner Gap, he helped the company audit and amend a large number of accounts to reduce and eliminate some unreasonable accounts.

These people becoming partners seems to be due to their efforts and abilities, but in reality, it’s because they hold secrets of the company, which the company has to provide them with higher status and more benefits to ensure they keep the secrets.

These people are like vampires, but the company can’t discard them all. If someone decides to self-destruct, the group company would also be dragged into the abyss.

He wants to stabilize the morale, so these people don’t think about relying on selling secrets to gain new opportunities; he’ll directly give them opportunities.

"The group company’s performance has actually been weak for several years. We’ve been looking for a new breakthrough while ensuring our steady development on a technical level."

"The recent opportunity came from the Henghui Group. If we can take over part of Henghui Group’s core industries, we could quickly reverse the current situation. But as you all know, the talks with the City Hall and the state government fell through."

"If we don’t change, it won’t be long before we’re doomed, so the board and I finally decided that we will discard all burdens and start anew."

His eyes lowered, and after scanning a document on the table, he looked around, "I know some of you might have opinions about this, but that’s not important."

"What’s important is that when we relocate to a new place, we will get rid of at least 4,400 direct employees and about 7,000 employees with indirect employment relationships with us."

"This is currently Ristone’s heaviest expenditure. Most of our profits were spent on paying these people’s salaries and other activities."

"Once rid of these people and this heavy expenditure, even without Henghui Group’s core business, we could easily complete the transformation and achieve brilliance again."

He placed the document back on the table and looked again at the participants around the conference table, "Once our plan is completed, Ristone Group will reapply for listing. The shares in your hands will become extremely valuable!"

Neo bore a faint, possibly sarcastic smile at the corner of his mouth, but it didn’t matter; what mattered was that the atmosphere in the conference room livened up.

His tone also became more relaxed, "In view of all your support for the group company and myself during this period, I decided to offer you some additional shares as a token of our gratitude for your loyalty to the group company, based on factors like your years at the company, level, job content, etc."

The atmosphere became increasingly relaxed, and smiles appeared on many faces. They, the ones in "high positions," feared nothing more than suddenly falling to rock bottom.

The more debates outside about Ristone, the more anxious they became.

Fortunately, now President Neo personally explained the reasons, and they filled in some other points that Neo didn’t explain, like how Neo kept things from them initially to avoid letting news leak rather than because he didn’t value them.

Sometimes people’s minds work in mysterious ways; they didn’t even actively make excuses for Neo or the board, but such thoughts surfaced directly from their hearts.

Nonetheless, despite other matters, this is ultimately a good thing: stable lives and more benefits, just at the cost of changing places.

Next came some detailed instructions, requesting everyone to maintain the stability of their departments, hold talks with important department members, and await further instructions.

This meeting wasn’t long; after it ended, Neo’s secretary sent over a list, and the confident smile he had earlier was replaced with a cold indifference mingled with anger.

There were four people absent from the meeting. Like Gap and others, these people held some potentially unlawful evidence of the group company; they might even be the handlers.

This is quite common in large group companies; a group company would surely face some challenges in its development.

Some challenges can be reasonably resolved in a gaming manner, such as challenges from other players or some non-human-made difficulties.

But some issues are hard to solve, like "just not," a mentality common among the lower public, or the problems Gap handled, requiring specific skills to handle non-human problems.

As long as there are these problems, handlers are needed, and now four guys missed the meeting, leaving Neo very displeased.

If they spill anything to Sabin City’s City Hall or the state government, his upcoming opportunities might be thwarted.

After a moment, he moved his facial features, asked the secretary to leave first, and then picked up the phone to summon the Minister from the company’s Internal Security Department.

About seven or eight minutes later, a middle-aged bald man with a somewhat stern face entered the room.

Neo handed him the list, "Check what these people are doing, who they’ve contacted recently, and what they’re planning."

The Internal Security Minister glanced at the list and looked at Neo, "If..."

Neo turned his head to a large oil painting hanging on the office wall, a work by a famous medieval painter. At that time, the government in the painter’s country was suppressing an uprising known as the Can Rebellion, with many insurgents sent to the guillotine.

This painting depicted such a scene—numerous heads hanging by their hair on the guillotine’s edge, with endless convicts awaiting execution, while the crowd below watched with twisted and bizarre expressions.

It portrayed a sense of fear yet excitement, leading to two research schools discussing the painter’s stance, and the emotions he intended on the faces of those people: fear, excitement, or something else.

Neo stared at this painting for a moment, then withdrew his gaze, lowered his eyes, took out a pack of cigarettes, and lit one.

The tremor of the Langsheng Lighter’s spring lingered slightly, and he exhaled smoke, smiling faintly, "The world is full of surprises every day, Minister."