Chapter 304
They never expected the company to expand so rapidly. In a short amount of time, those bikes had flooded every street and alley in Aethelgard.
Business was booming, yet they had the audacity not to pay tribute to the local power players? It was pure arrogance!
Figuring it was their first offense, Lawrence had generously decided not to hold it against them and offered them an out.
He simply sent someone to inform them that handing over half their equity would settle the matter.
It wasn’t a total shakedown; in exchange, he would offer them his protection moving forward.
Any other outsiders would have rushed to present the shares on a silver platter the moment they caught wind of his interest.
Making money in this day and age was hard enough. Being allowed to keep half their profits while operating on someone else’s turf was a generous deal.
Who would have thought that manager, Felix Grant, would be so ungrateful as to reject the offer?
Fine, then they wouldn’t do business at all.
Lawrence barely had to lift a finger before his distant relative volunteered to eliminate the problem for him.
“This is a piece of cake. Why should you even bother worrying about it, Mr. Lance?
Just wait and see. It won’t be long before they scurry out of Aethelgard with their tails between their legs p>
His distant relative, the police superintendent, was indeed efficient. The very next day, reports flooded in about EcoRide bikes being parked illegally.
Citing a severe impact on the city’s appearance, the internet exploded with overwhelming condemnation and attacks. Some people even started smashing the bikes in the streets.
Then, Superintendent Yates cially epped in, forcing EcoRide to operations for a structural review.
The message was clear: Even though you previously reached an agreement with the traffic department, you’ve made a mistake, the public won’t tolerate it, and we can’t ignore it.
How do you like that, hotshots? Time to roll out of the Aethelgard market.
For a while, Lawrence and his crew were incredibly smug.
As for the inconvenience caused to the public and the loss of tax revenue from the bikes’ removal, the Lance family would naturally step in to fill the void once EcoRide was out of the picture.
Bike-sharing? It was a brilliant concept!
If he knew who came up with the idea, he would absolutely bend the rules to recruit them as his right-hand man.
But the final outcome wasn’t as
satisfying as he’d hoped. Despite his
massive maneuver they easily
sidestepped the suspension
claiming, “We need to unlock the
bikes to organize the improperly
parked ones p>
Then, with a stroke of genius-introducing a “move to earn” feature and a “bad parking
penalty” they turned the entire user base into their workforce, ensuring no customer dared park carelessly again.
The problem was completely eradicated.
From that moment on, the petty Lawrence Lance was locked in a bitter feud with
Solflare Entertainment.
The Lance Group had no original
plans to host a concert, but upon hearing that Solfare was organizing one in the capital, Lawrence immediately ordered his people to set one up.
“Hire top-tier artists. We’re going head-to-head with them p>
He refused to believe he couldn’t crush an out-of-town competitor.
“Find out what tricks they’re using to attract the audience,” Lawrence commanded.
“Word is they leaked that the famous songwriter, Lune, will be attending in person.” “Are you serious? You don’t think they’d hire a fraud to impersonate Lune, do you p>
This Lune was incredibly elusive-practically a ghost.
“That’s unclear.
We looked into it before, and all of Lune’s previous hits were sung exclusively by Solflare Entertainment’s artists p>
“Whether it’s true or not, add to our promotional ads that Mr. Lune will be making an appearance on our stage, too p>
“Mr. Lance, that… that wouldn’t be appropriate, right? When the time comes… what if p>
“You’re worried we won’t be able to explain it to the audience when the time comes p>
Zachary Lloyd nodded. This wasn’t something to joke about.
Deceiving the audience! If word got out, the Lance Group would face a massive crisis of trust.
“Zachary, are you thick-headed?
Since no one has ever seen Lune, why can’t we just create one p>