Chapter 42: Crisis

"You seem to be in quite a hurry."

After exiting the Leaf Tower, the two walked across the campus of the Ye Ye Academy and eventually arrived at the Sun Tower. Finding an empty classroom at random served as the best venue for their discussion.

"I have no choice but to be," Liu Ru sighed. "You haven't checked in on the factory for an entire month."

"Because I have you," Su Ziye replied calmly.

He had placed his trust in Liu Ru, and in turn, she had to live up to that trust. Su Ziye had already paved the most difficult path; now, it was Liu Ru's turn to keep walking it—unless she truly encountered a difficulty she could not resolve on her own.

"The problems are severe, and to be precise, there are two of them," Liu Ru said, looking at Su Ziye. "The first is lethal: we can no longer purchase raw materials."

"What materials?" Su Ziye asked.

"All of them," Liu Ru said flatly. "Including but not limited to flour, white sugar, salt, and various spices. Simply put, every ingredient needed to make Happy Water and instant noodles—ingredients we once purchased in bulk—is now unavailable to us."

Su Ziye frowned deeply. This was indeed a thorny situation. A factory is a behemoth that consumes raw materials and churns out finished goods; those roaring machines cannot stop for even a moment. With a three-shift rotation, even if the humans rest, the machines must not. The very source of their formidable productivity lay in the machines' ability to work tirelessly. But no matter how powerful the machinery, it is powerless without raw materials. If someone could prevent Su Ziye from acquiring supplies, what could even a saint do?

"Could there be anything worse than this?" Su Ziye sighed. This was completely beyond his expectations. After all, who would have thought that one could be blocked from buying raw materials?

"Yes," Liu Ru nodded, which piqued Su Ziye’s curiosity. What could be more terrifying than a lack of supplies?

"The Gold Flash Chamber of Commerce has launched its own version of Happy Water, calling it 'Gold Flash Happy Water,'" Liu Ru said, watching him. "They have abandoned their orders for our concentrated syrup and have turned to mass production themselves. Relying on their existing sales channels, they have replaced our Happy Water with their own, and at a price twenty percent lower."

Su Ziye’s expression turned grim—a rare sight. This kind of backstabbing was truly despair-inducing.

"What exactly is going on?" Su Ziye couldn't help but ask. He had only retreated into seclusion for a month to conduct research. How could the world outside have changed so drastically in such a short time? One moment, everything was thriving and full of vitality; the next, it felt like Xiang Yu trapped at Gaixia.

"We aren't sure," Liu Ru sighed. "The suppliers we were in contact with all claimed that someone offered double the price to buy up all their stock. They couldn't refuse such terms."

"What about the contracts we signed?" Su Ziye asked. To ensure a stable supply chain, he had signed legally binding contracts with a large number of nearby villages.

"Wheat needs time to grow after it's sown," Liu Ru sighed. "The old harvest is gone, and the new crop hasn't been planted yet. Even if they wanted to honor the contracts, they have no seeds to fulfill them."

Su Ziye slowly closed his eyes. "Does Qingyi know?"

"She does," Liu Ru replied.

"What is her stance?"

"She is waiting for your reaction," Liu Ru said with a bitter smile.

Everyone regarded Su Ziye as the nearly omnipotent Prince of Ster, hoping that no matter what hardship arose, he would solve it magically. For the past three months, everyone had been waiting for Su Ziye’s performance. Perhaps now was the moment for the grandest show of all.

"Where is Senior Karottes?" Su Ziye asked.

"Upstairs," Liu Ru replied. She didn't mean the floor above them; she meant the very top of the Sun Tower—the Student Council President's office.

The door was pushed open slowly. Su Ziye walked in, sat down at the desk without ceremony, and looked at the red-haired president opposite him.

"You already know?" Su Ziye asked.

Karottes looked at the Prince before him with a smile. "I know everything."

"Then what is really going on?"

"I don't know," Karottes said calmly. "You only entrusted me with protecting those assets from destruction, and I have faithfully fulfilled that task. As for matters outside that scope, I am not your father."

"My father is already dead," Su Ziye said flatly, then stared at him. "So, you’re very happy and quite expectant, aren't you?"

"Very happy, and very expectant," Karottes chuckled. "I thought you would complete our wager without the slightest effort, but I didn't expect you to have such a formidable enemy."

Su Ziye sighed. "My uncle is truly unreasonable."

"You still call him uncle?" Karottes laughed.

"What else should I call him? The old geezer?" Su Ziye replied coldly. "Just because I want to kill him doesn't mean I don't acknowledge he is my uncle."

"He is your uncle; killing him would be patricide," Karottes corrected.

"It doesn't matter," Su Ziye smiled. "I am more concerned with the matter at hand."

"What do you intend to do?" Karottes looked at him.

"I know the Academy has vast reserves of supplies, enough to last me more than a year, and no one dares to refuse the Academy’s procurement requests," Su Ziye said calmly.

"Don't think about using the Academy for everything," Karottes shook his head. "I refuse."

For the Academy to cover Su Ziye would be an unbeatable strategy, but only if Karottes, the one in charge, agreed. But what if he didn't?

"I will provide appropriate compensation—compensation sufficient to move the Academy," Su Ziye said coldly.

"Then bring it out," Karottes replied. He was being strictly professional.

"I need time," Su Ziye said.

"Your factory won't last that long," Karottes smiled. "If I recall correctly, even if your factory stops production, you still have to pay the workers' wages. Over the past two months, under your direction, several factories have been expanding production wildly. You now have over a thousand workers, and that number is still growing."

Su Ziye sighed. "Then I must go see the Gold Flash Chamber of Commerce first."

"But you came to me first," Karottes noted.

"Because you are closer," Su Ziye explained. He thought for a moment and added, "Give me three days. I will bring you something that will move you."

"I shall wait," Karottes said calmly.