At the headquarters of T Corp, a newly rising company in the City, Hugh sat behind his desk, staring at the ceiling and lost in thought.
There wasn't enough time.
Hugh silently mulled this over.
For T Corp, still barely starting out, this was undeniably a fatal problem.
There was simply too little time… one might even say, nowhere near enough.
Currently, T Corp's time supply came from two main sources. The first was those embryos from K Corp's underground factories. Those embryos fully matured or lacking potential had all been thoroughly drained of their time by T Corp, providing around two thousand hours of time daily.
The second was from people exchanging their time for money… including these individuals, T Corp's daily harvested time totaled just a bit over five thousand hours.
Yet, what exceeded Hugh's expectations was that the demand for time far outstripped his initial estimates.
Even a daily output of around five thousand hours was insufficient to meet the current demand… Worse yet, those who exchanged their time for money were gradually decreasing.
This was predictable. Trading time for money was, after all, just a temporary measure. Once financial pressures eased, few would continue using this method to earn extra income…
However, this situation spelled absolute disaster for T Corp, and that was no exaggeration.
If they failed to meet the time demand, forget becoming a Wing of the World—developing subsequent TT2 and TT3 technologies would probably become impossible.
This was exactly what troubled Hugh the most.
"Ah… not having W Corp really is troublesome. If we had W Corp, just one train would allow us to drain thousands of years from a single individual. An entire carriage full of people… Who knows how much time we could gather."
Hugh murmured to himself, rubbing his temples as if nursing a headache.
Standing up, he paced around the room, carefully weighing his options.
T Corp's current objectives were straightforward: acquire more time, expand influence, and continue developing Singularity technologies—all guiding towards a single goal: becoming a Wing of the World.
If he wanted more time, he could only extract it from others.
After careful consideration, Hugh finally reached a conclusion:
"Let's go open up a new market."
He immediately returned to his desk, picked up a chess piece, and idly moved it around as he muttered to himself.
What T Corp needed now was a new market. One that provided raw materials.
A place capable of supplying massive amounts of time. Using such a place as a T Corp branch would serve as a stepping stone for expanding their influence, ultimately earning formal recognition as a Wing of the World.
"It'd be best to look on Terra for this. The City's population is still too small… Let's see, I have an idea. Find a place with plenty of internal power struggles, then have one faction completely swallow all the others…"
Moving the chess pieces around the desk repeatedly, Hugh eventually stopped, revealing a smile.
"Then, we'll integrate all those absorbed factions into T Corp. After placing them in a hidden branch, completely isolated from the outside world, we'll drain their time, providing T Corp with an enormous supply."
"Yes, let's do exactly that. Now I just need to find a place with enough factions to swallow up."
With a single sweep, Hugh knocked down all the chess pieces. He sighed deeply, stood, and turned around, gazing at the map of Terra behind him.
He scrutinized the map carefully, as if choosing precisely where he would go.
Soon enough, he made his choice.
"Hmm… I feel like Siracusa would do nicely."
Looking towards Siracusa, Hugh pondered briefly, then clapped his hands, smiling brightly.
A place that almost perfectly matched his needs… Yes, it would be here.
Exhaling gently, Hugh made his resolution, lips curling into a smile:
"Then, let the planning begin… First, we set the groundwork, muddy the waters thoroughly, and after that… it'll be harvest season."
As far as the City was concerned, before T Corp accomplished anything big, it was merely one among many companies. Their only distinction was their rather unusual business model.
But for people already accustomed to life in the City, this slight peculiarity was nothing. With L Corp's practically limitless energy and K Corp's miraculous ampoules bordering on resurrection... No matter how absurd T Corp's industry sounded, before it could be widely supplied, it was merely an emergency measure for the poor, or a plaything for the rich.
This was precisely T Corp's current status. In other words, T Corp urgently needed to pull off something huge to prove their potential as a Wing of the World.
Internally, T Corp was diligently working toward this attainable goal. They were already investigating Siracusa's internal situation and formulating their strategies accordingly.
Of course, this would take time… T Corp was currently laying low. By the time they officially took action, at least a week or two would have passed.
Meanwhile, in the City, others were hardly idle.
Within the Hana Association, after Hai returned—coupled with Ch'en Hui-chieh, the top-tier overworked assistant—work pressures had greatly eased. Additionally, the affairs regarding workshops had been split off into the newly formed San Association, to be handled exclusively by their Fixers. Right now, the Hana Association had never been so relaxed.
Precisely because of this, Hai found spare time to personally witness the moment when Ch'en Hui-chieh finally used her Extraction Ticket.
"Ah… hold on a moment. Take this as compensation."
Just as Ch'en Hui-chieh was about to use her ticket, Hai raised his hand after pondering briefly, speaking up. He handed her a Gold Extraction Ticket—one of the gold rewards Obsidian had recently drawn.
Being "Obsidian," they currently had no real use for this Extraction Ticket. High-end single-combatants were covered by Hai and Suo; as for group capabilities…
L Corp and K Corp already provided enough. Not to mention, now that L Corp possessed Nothing There and had developed Mimicry, they'd begun advancing plans to contain more ALEPH-level Abnormalities.
"Consider this compensation for making you wait this long. Anyway, give it a try?"
Hai tilted his head slightly. Ch'en Hui-chieh froze for a moment, then seriously nodded as she accepted the ticket, tearing it open.
And in an instant, possibilities unfolded before Ch'en Hui-chieh's eyes, possibilities drawn from Limitless Light…
In the next moment, Ch'en Hui-chieh felt as though her gaze swept across the Great Yan Empire's countless civil and military officials…
[000 Identity: Emperor of Great Yan]