Clockwork Bride

Page 226

So, jealousy may be real, but there must be another reason, another more important motive.

Freya didn't answer immediately. She stared at Hayden with angry eyes for a full minute before saying dryly, "I sent a spy to infiltrate the Flower Magic Company half a month ago because I was worried that your messy and reckless actions would hinder Karen's future."

"Huh?" Hayden frowned immediately. "What nonsense are you talking about? You yourself said that only a precognitive can interfere with the premonitions seen by a precognitive. I'm not a precognitive, how could I..."

...Then Hayden realized halfway through his sentence: Was he really not a prophet?

Freya was now looking at Hayden with the same suspicion. She hadn't really believed Hayden to be a prophet; after all, he wasn't even a god, let alone someone who could foresee the future like a supreme deity. But after talking with Hayden for half an hour, anyone would begin to wonder if there was something wrong with him.

Seeing Hayden's strange expression, Freya, not being stupid, became even more vicious: "So it really was you! What Karen's deputy, helping her? I think you're the one who took advantage of her vulnerability and disrupted her supreme destiny!"

This is a bit embarrassing.

"Don't make baseless accusations, Freya. All you ever talk about is recruiting 40,000 people. It's not like we can't solve this problem; it's not as serious as you make it out to be."

Even so, Hayden was breaking out in a cold sweat. He had a vague idea of ​​what Freya was about to say.

"Is that true?"

As expected, Freya sneered again.

"You know perfectly well how bad the human resources market is right now. You know exactly what the Mitra Group just pulled off recently. At a time like this, are you still saying things aren't serious enough?"

She was about to bring it up. The human resources market was already in turmoil because of the skills training chips that the Mitra Group had recently begun piloting.

For workers, educational chips mean a further loss of bargaining power with their employers, perhaps even a complete collapse. If Mitra Corporation can simply implant chips in beggars on the street and bring them back to work, what right do employees have to negotiate with them?

Although workers these days don't really have much say in negotiating with their employers, nobody likes things going from bad to worse.

However, this move by the Mitra Group is not good news for other large companies either. From the perspective of these other three giant corporations, the Mitra Group has already bared its fangs.

If the Mitra Group were to monopolize educational chips, it could very well drive the other three giant companies out of business!

"Up to this point, I have told you a lot about things that happened in the past—a lot about things that happened decades ago."

Freya said coldly, her eyes flashing with an ominous light.

"Now I'll tell you what's going to happen. Times are changing. And all the changes start with this so-called educational chip. That's what's starting the storm of chaos."

Hayden listened silently to her, still sweating profusely. He had heard the word "storm" before. And Hayden wasn't stupid; he could figure out many of the reasons himself.

Modern capitalist society is built on a very fragile balance. The essence of this balance is based on a fragile peace among the capitalist gods and giant corporations. The four most powerful world-class giant corporations, although they differ in resources, power, technology and strength, and although they have been engaged in fierce behind-the-scenes competition for four hundred years, have never broken ties or disrupted the hard-won world peace we enjoy today.

Even if, occasionally, terrorist acts like those committed by Alastor's "Bosa" organization occur, sowing discord among the three major corporations, the three corporations still tacitly compromise with each other and then first eliminate the "Bosa" organization. Because the market pie is still large enough for everyone to share, the capitalist gods haven't yet, and are unwilling to, engage in a bloody battle.

Of course, everyone is secretly developing their own secret technologies, hoping to one day use groundbreaking new technologies to change the world, dominate the world, and win this battle royale game—but that's another matter.

No one expected that Mitra Group would reveal its game-changing "educational chip" so quickly and so early, throwing it onto the market for everyone to see. This has a rather domineering "I'm done playing this game" feel to it. Because Mitra Group's move is like actively pushing the shrinking safe zone in a battle royale game.

Let's not get bogged down in the complexities; let's just talk about employee costs. Mitra Group will be able to reduce employee costs to an astonishing level using the [educational chip]. Not only can wages be reduced to the bare minimum, but employees won't even dare to ask for various employee benefits. That would truly be a low-human-rights advantage. How can other large companies compete with Mitra Group?

If there was still courtesy and tacit understanding among the gods of capital in the past, and they only occasionally cooperated while engaging in minor squabbles, then that may no longer be the case from now on.

From now on, it may be an era where even the gods of capital will fight tooth and nail, tearing each other apart and battling to the death.

That's what it means to shake the throne of the gods.

"That will be an era of cruelty, an era in which people turn into wolves and see one another as prey, an era in which there is no difference between gods and beasts."

"That was Fimbulle Winter, the prelude to Ragnarok, an era of moral decay and chaos."

Freya murmured as if reciting a prophecy, her tone deep and chilling.

“Hayden, social order and etiquette are on the verge of collapse. At a time like this, it is unwise for you to come to my temple and cause trouble. If I wanted to, I could kill you now without paying the same price as before.”

But this threat wasn't enough to frighten Hayden. He simply shook his head: "Freya, killing me isn't that easy."

"Perhaps you really are hard to kill," Freya sneered. "But there's something else I need to tell you. Your company, Kallen's little group that spans three major corporations, is only able to exist safely because of the peaceful order of capitalist society. Once that peace is completely shattered, and the big corporations tear each other apart and fight amongst themselves, do you think one of them might target you first, devouring you for nourishment? The Peacock King might be able to protect your and Kallen's lives for now, but he can't protect your entire company."

...This is indeed a problem.

Actually, the collapse of social order and the resulting chaos should have been a good thing for Hayden and his group. Karen had become powerful, a true god, and New Sprout City and the Life Network were already taking shape. Add to that Angela's unreasonable perpetual motion machine, and it wasn't impossible for Hayden and his team to simply lie low and reap the benefits.

The problem is, others won't just stand by and watch you retreat to farming! Even though everyone has become much stronger now, they still can't withstand a serious beating from another giant corporation. Even the weakest of these giant corporations, Smoke Mirror Company, could easily crush Flower Magic Company if they really went all out.

Hayden rubbed his temples, starting to think of a solution.

For smaller factions to survive in times of chaos, the simplest way is to align themselves with larger ones, buying time for development and change. Hayden has Karen and Angela, whose potential for resource management is unparalleled; given enough time, they'll likely be able to turn the tide.

He currently has Freya right in front of him. She's the second most powerful goddess in the Wotan Corporation, and she's also very fond of Karen. If he could form an alliance with Freya, the survival of [Flower Magic Company] would obviously improve significantly. But Freya is ultimately a goddess of capital; she still values ​​practical benefits. Appealing to her emotions alone isn't enough to form an equal alliance with her… Besides, Hayden doesn't want to be Freya's rival in love—that would be ridiculous.

So, besides that, what other tangible benefits could Hayden offer Freya to sway her? He certainly had many powerful bargaining chips, but the problem was that most of them were shady dealings. Hayden was willing to share many secrets with his core group, but clearly Freya wasn't worthy of being part of that group.

However, Hayden soon came up with a good idea.

"Freya, you previously said I wasn't worthy to be Kallen's right-hand man, or Kallen's fiancé. But now you know some new information."

Hayden winked dramatically as he finished speaking.

“You already know that I am also a seer. You also said that if two seers share what they see and exchange information, the conclusions they draw will be more accurate.”

"Isn't this extra point enough?"

Clearly, Freya had absolutely no desire to cooperate with someone like Hayden. However, she was also a shrewd businesswoman who knew the world was about to descend into chaos, forcing her to seriously consider her own interests.

So in the end, wizards can still solve problems by deceiving the gods.

255: I order you to correct this immediately!

"Freya, you claim that I am not qualified to be Karen's deputy and fiancé, but all you ever talk about is my previous recruitment of 40,000 people. You think that in this increasingly chaotic market, if I do this, I will become a target and be watched by other big companies, which will cause trouble for Karen."

Hayden said slowly,

"But now you know I'm also a prophet. Do you still think I was stupid for hiring 40,000 people before?"

Lies! He's just lying! Hayden's recruitment of 40,000 workers was entirely his own decision and had absolutely nothing to do with his prophetic abilities! In fact, no one can even vouch for the reliability of Hayden's precognitive abilities. Who knows what his intuition is all about?

However, Freya had no idea that Hayden's intuition was so unreliable. She had already suspected that Hayden was a prophet, and now that Hayden said this, she was even more convinced.

However, she was a master after all, and not so easily fooled: "Just because you say you're a prophet doesn't mean you're reliable. It just means you're giving an explanation for your bizarre behavior. Just because you have precognitive abilities doesn't mean I'll benefit from cooperating with you."

“Indeed,” Hayden nodded. “But I am, after all, a prophet; shouldn’t that be a plus?”

Indeed, it's possible. Precognitive abilities could certainly make Freya reconsider the pros and cons of cooperating with Hayden. Besides, Hayden isn't trying to get something for nothing. Although most of his own things are shady, Kallen's things are still his, so it's not a big problem.

“You mentioned before the huge advertisement for the Dream Flower I created in the Dead Sea. Are you interested in collaborating on that?” Hayden asked. “The alchemical techniques of the Dream Flower would also be useful to you.”

Freya is the goddess of love, beauty, magic, and procreation at the Wotan Corporation. For the god of capital, a so-called god in charge of love and desire isn't solely responsible for what normal people call love. "Prenatal and Postnatal Care of Sows" and "Eugenics" are also Freya's specialties.

The essence of the Dream Flower's technology lies in its specialized plant alchemy, focusing on the separation and purification of substances. Freya could certainly use this; in fact, she quite desired it. However, upon hearing this, Freya frowned: "What exactly do you want to do?"

“You said that the coming era will be one of conflict between the gods, and that the order and etiquette of capitalist society are about to collapse. So my suggestion is that we establish an equal and cooperative relationship, and stop with all those espionage tricks.” Hayden gestured with his hand. “Not with me, but with Karen. We should unite to resist those who want to cause us trouble, and form alliances with each other instead of fighting. This will be better for both of us.”

Freya's brow remained furrowed: "Such beautiful words, but why should I believe you? I'm increasingly convinced that you are the fraudster, the liar, the cunning wizard, the father of snakes and wolves! Perhaps I should just kill you now to prevent you from interfering with Karen's future destiny as the Supreme One!"

“Wrong. If you were to kill me, Karen would obviously hate you terribly, and the Peacock King might actually come and kill you.” Hayden shook his head. “But if you ally with us, you’ll have a reason to visit Newbud City frequently and continue to exert influence over Karen. If you’re truly worried that I’ll interfere with Karen’s future destiny as a supreme being, you should personally intervene and balance the influence I can exert, instead of continuing to watch helplessly from afar like this.”

These words finally hit the nail on the head. The entire reception room fell silent once more. This silence lasted for more than a minute, as Freya carefully calculated the pros and cons.

But Hayden knew she would eventually agree. Not out of intuition, but because of his understanding of her character. These capitalist gods, after all, were not free from emotions and desires, nor from the pursuit of profit. And these very traits would determine their fate. A wizard didn't need the ability to foresee destiny to deceive these self-righteous gods; knowing their weaknesses was enough.

Sure enough, two minutes later, Freya turned to look at Hayden again. Her eyes flashed with both genuine anger and a calculating desire for profit.

"Let me make this clear from the start. If you lie to me, or deceive and hurt Karen, I will make sure you suffer greatly, you lying Hayden. At that point, sweet talk won't work."

Oh dear, why make things so harsh? Hayden didn't think he had actually deceived Freya about anything. But now that things had come to this, he naturally had to appear responsible: "If that day ever comes, I will naturally take responsibility."

Freya said no more and called back the two Valkyrie maids outside the reception room, asking them to bring paper and pen to sign the contract... However, a small accident occurred at this time. When the two Valkyries returned, Angela also came back with them. And for some reason, they seemed very afraid of Angela, not only keeping their distance from her, but also showing some fear in their eyes.

It's important to understand that the War Gods are almost entirely fearless. They are designed to be virtually immune to fear. Genetically modified warriors like the Mithraic Group's Vajrapani are physiologically devoid of fear. The Valkyries of Wotan are completely mechanical, lacking any organs capable of sensing fear. In other words, only extremely bizarre supernatural horrors can break through the War Gods' fear immunity and frighten them. This is incredibly rare.

"What's going on?" Freya was completely bewildered by her two maids. "What happened outside the door?"

However, the two Valkyries were speechless and could not explain the reason.

Hayden, however, thought of something else and quickly interrupted to change the subject: "Freya, I'd like to ask you for a small favor. You should be able to tell that my maid is using substandard Valkyrie parts that leaked from your company, but you also said that the situation will become increasingly dangerous, and those substandard parts alone will not be enough. I want a set of your True God-level nanomechanical bodies."

"Stop talking nonsense. Giving you a true god-level mecha is absolutely impossible." Freya rolled her eyes, still frowning as she looked at her maid. "I can give you a blueprint for the most advanced and newest Valkyrie fully constructed body right now, but you'll have to exchange it for shares of the Flower Magic Company of equal value."

Hayden hadn't really expected Freya to give him a god-level mechanical body. But as the saying goes, if you want a horse, you can ask for an elephant first, and then the other party will be more likely to agree to give you a horse. Besides, Freya was the Valkyrie Queen. She certainly had Valkyrie bodies that she could use for trade.

Angela's mechanical body was of poor quality, a constant source of worry for Hayden. Everyone knew that Wotan Mystic Technology Company possessed the world's leading mechanical body manufacturing technology. To obtain the strongest mechanical body, cooperation with Wotan was essential. Freya's willingness to provide Hayden with the Valkyrie body design blueprints was a welcome surprise; after all, Hayden wasn't entirely comfortable with just buying a body, and it was safer to take the blueprints home and study them himself.

In comparison, giving her some shares is hardly a big deal; on the contrary, it can strengthen the relationship between the two parties.

And so, Hayden and Freya signed their first cooperation agreement.

--------------------------------

After leaving Freya's company and ensuring information security, Hayden immediately asked Angela, "What exactly did you do to those two Valkyries?"

I'm sure everyone wants to know the answer to this question.

However, Angela tilted her head, thought for a moment, and instead of answering directly, asked a question first: "Master, do you know who designed these Valkyrie bodies?"

That was a strange question, but Hayden answered honestly, "I heard that Odin and Freya designed it together, each holding half the rights, which is why Freya is called the Valkyrie Queen. What's wrong?"

Angela then explained, “Master, the design of these Valkyries may have used bionic techniques learned from the fallen angels, or obtained by dissecting fallen angels. The fallen angels would instinctively fear me. Creatures that imitate the designs of fallen angels will naturally be influenced by me.”

This really surprised Hayden.

Bionics refers to the study of the structure and working principles of living organisms, and the invention of new devices, tools, and technologies based on these principles. Fallen angels are, of course, also living organisms. By dissecting and studying fallen angels, humans may indeed be able to understand some profound principles and imitate their structure to invent new technologies.

This kind of thing is common in various fields of mechanical technology and cybernetics—like developing infrared sensors by mimicking the heat-sensing principle of snakes, or developing gas analyzers by mimicking the sense of smell of flies… Wotan Corporation, which specializes in the mechanical modification of organisms, already has many biomimetic products. Flesh and blood are weak, but machinery soars. Wotan Corporation's mechanical modifications, modeled after living organisms, are far more powerful than the original organisms.

But Hayden never expected that these Valkyrie mechs would actually utilize the technology of bionic fallen angels.

Well, considering what happened with Terasque back then, Hayden knew that fallen angels weren't exactly rare in the hands of large corporations. These corporations probably captured and sealed away several fallen angels for research or even toy with. Plus, since fallen angels are immortal, it's not surprising that they could dissect and study them to develop some technology.

So now Hayden's only concern is: "Since this Valkyrie's mecha uses bionic fallen angel technology, will you have any problems using it?"

Angela immediately shook her head, looking confident: "Please don't worry. A material vessel is just a material vessel. Fallen angels are still angels after all. Artificial bodies made by imitating them are actually more useful to me."

“As Ms. Freya said, the situation will become increasingly dangerous in the future. I also need a better vessel to better protect my master and fulfill your wishes.” Angela smiled slightly as she said this, “So I am very grateful to my master for preparing such a vessel for me.”

That gentle smile made Hayden feel incredibly ashamed. If Angela hadn't frightened the two Valkyries, Hayden probably wouldn't have even thought to ask Freya for anything.

Freya previously criticized Hayden for never thinking of giving Karen a gift, not even knowing Karen's birthday, and never expressing his love for her. These were indeed all Hayden's fault. And in his dealings with Angela, Hayden had the same problem.

Angela manages the household chores and takes care of Hayden's physical and mental health every day. How many times has he expressed his gratitude to her? Angela loves him unconditionally and purely. How many times has Hayden put himself in her shoes, cared for her, and made sacrifices for her? Is Angela now his wind-up wife or his wind-up mother?

Although it was a matter of chance and opportunity, Hayden, as Karen's fiancé and the one who summoned Angela, failed to fulfill the responsibilities corresponding to these two roles. Instead, he constantly claimed that he, Karen, and Angela were not equal enough, and therefore unable to love each other. How can someone so concerned with saving face and lacking any sense of manly responsibility be tolerated?

After being thoroughly scolded by Freya, Hayden has finally come to his senses and realized that these were indeed his biggest mistakes. Since he has shortcomings, he can no longer procrastinate and must begin correcting them immediately.

So Hayden said, "Angela, I'm going back to find Karen now. Do you understand what I mean?"

Angela immediately broke into an even happier smile, not seeing anything wrong with it at all: "Of course. Good luck, my dear master."

To be honest, this added even more pressure to Hayden. His pride as a man meant that one day he would have to confront the issue of Angela and Karen existing simultaneously... However, he could put this less pressing issue aside for later.

Today, he needs to go find Karen first.

He teleported back to the city and the company, pushing open Karen's office door. Coincidentally, Karen was giving instructions to Joanna, who had recently become her secretary. Clearly, Joanna hadn't received Freya's notification to end her espionage work, but that was no longer Hayden's concern.

Ignoring Joanna, Hayden met Karen's surprised amber eyes for a moment, then spoke first, loudly:

"Karen, are you free today?"

This abrupt question left Karen completely bewildered, but she still answered matter-of-factly, "Aside from the company's daily work, there's nothing special going on. After all, I don't really have any vacation time. What's wrong?"

This answer was sufficient for Hayden. So he went on to say something he had been pondering for a long time:

"Let's go on a date today!"

256: A Date with Karen

Needless to say, Hayden's sudden attack left Karen completely bewildered: "Huh? A date?"

Although Joanna was completely confused (she naturally had no idea what Hayden had just done at Wotan Corporation), she sensed something was amiss and quickly stepped in to stop him: "Mr. Hayden, please don't joke like that. Miss Karen has a lot of work to do every day. Important decisions, management strategies, and communications with senior management are all things only Miss Karen can handle. We also have to meet with..."

Before Joanna could finish speaking, Hayden reached out and flicked her forehead. With a loud "bang!", Joanna slammed against the office wall. She remained glued to the wall for three seconds, like a painting, before slowly sliding down.

“I’ve already reached an agreement with Freya. You can prepare to pack your bags and go back, Miss Joanna,” Hayden said calmly. “However, Freya seems to be in a bad mood right now, and I’m not sure what will happen to you when you get back.”

Now that things have come to this, Hayden naturally dislikes this corporate spy sent by Freya to cause trouble. But Hayden has now come to a realization, and understands that his annoyance with Joanna's behavior is not because she has actually done anything, but simply because Hayden is disgusted with himself.

Because of Joanna's constant jumping around, Hayden saw his own weaknesses more clearly. In a way, this was a blessing in disguise.

Meanwhile, Joanna, having been hit by the bullet, was more shocked by Hayden's words than by the pain.

Karen glanced at Hayden, then turned to look at Joanna on the wall, finally showing surprise, even though she already knew Hayden had gone to Freya: "What did you do with Freya?"

Hayden didn't need to say much; he simply took out the agreement he had signed with Freya and handed it over. "When I left, Freya was already implementing this agreement," he said. "She made three copies before I left. But I guess her spies haven't gotten wind of it yet."