On the way back, Takashi Kazuma asked Aoki Haruhi, while driving, "President, are you really going to buy this company?"
"Yes." Aoki Haruhi nodded, "Pokeni currently has ample cash flow. Money that isn't spent is just waste paper; only spent money is truly money."
After several years of effort, Pokeni now has approximately 60 billion Japanese Yen, which was equivalent to about 600 million US dollars in 1994.
In his previous life, Condor was sold to Blizzard for over 6.7 million US dollars, and that was with the boost of Diablo.
In this life, Condor game hasn't even been released, so its valuation would only be lower.
Pokeni has enough funds to buy it, without a doubt.
"If I buy this company, I can have another foothold in Europe and America, which will make it easier to enter the Europe and America market in the future, rather than just relying on Sega to make game."
"Oh."
Upon hearing this, Takashi Kazuma immediately understood.
It seemed the President's ambition wasn't limited to Japan.
Aoki Haruhi said, "By the way, what do you think of their game?"
Takashi Kazuma paused for a moment, then replied, "Before I saw it, I couldn't judge, but after experiencing it, I think the game they made is pretty good. It might really be as you said, President, that they lack publicity and a company with vision to recognize them.
That's quite a pity."
If he didn't have the ability to appreciate and judge game, this operations director would likely be dismissed.
Fortunately, Takashi Kazuma's answer was satisfactory to Aoki Haruhi.
...
Initially, Takashi Kazuma was a bit worried that the President had wasted money, but now that he understood Aoki Haruhi's intentions, Takashi Kazuma felt much more at ease.
On their way back to the hotel, Takashi Kazuma noticed the car was low on gas, so he suggested finding a gas station to refuel.
Aoki Haruhi nodded, saying nothing, just quietly observing outside the car window.
Although Europe and America was developed in the 90s, not every neighborhood was brightly lit like daytime at night.
Some areas still looked pitch black and eerily quiet.
During the day, there were quite a lot of people, and at night, some neighborhoods were very lively, but some were particularly desolate. You could see a very clear contrast in Chicago.
Half light, half darkness.
Literally.
...
"President, please don't wander off at night. Wherever you go, I must accompany you," Takashi Kazuma said while driving, "You see, Europe and America may seem like a developed and civilized country, but just like places illuminated by sunlight, there will always be shadows behind them.
Europe and America, at times, is actually quite chaotic."
Takashi Kazuma explained.
Aoki Haruhi rolled his eyes. Good heavens, you've only been here a few days longer than me, and you're already acting like a local expert?
"Europe and America needs to be divided by neighborhoods. Some neighborhoods are where the rich live, so management, safety, and everything else are guaranteed, and if something happens and you call the police, they're more attentive."
"But then, some neighborhoods are very chaotic, places where many poor people and black people gather. They're poor and like to take drugs, and if the craving suddenly hits, they might just go out and rob someone.
So, it's best to stay as far away as possible."
"How do you know so much?" Aoki Haruhi, sitting in the back seat, raised an eyebrow, "Have you been robbed?"
"I..."
Takashi Kazuma choked for a moment, unable to lie in front of the President, and could only tell the truth, "I haven't experienced it myself, but I have friends in Europe and America, and they told me.
This car, for instance, was borrowed from them."
Aoki Haruhi smiled and said nothing.
Logically speaking, our two-point-line life didn't really require borrowing a car.
But thinking about it, it was probably Takashi Kazuma who borrowed one to make himself more comfortable.
Aoki Haruhi originally wanted to scold him, but considering Takashi Kazuma's good intentions and his proactive nature, he decided against it.
"And my friends said that yellow-skinned Asians like us are not well-liked; many black people especially like to rob us," Takashi Kazuma said with some resentment, "Because they know we're small and can't beat them, we're easy to bully.
Especially Japanese people, who are generally wealthy."
Takashi Kazuma turned the steering wheel, "At night, you should look for bright, crowded places. If you encounter a black person in a dark corner, they might see your weak appearance and, even if they didn't intend to rob you, might not be able to resist taking something."
Ah, this...
Aoki Haruhi suddenly remembered being mistaken for 18 years old at the basketball court a few days ago.
Being praised for being young was happy, but being told he was too weak and naive was not a compliment.
Takashi Kazuma drove past several gas stations that looked relatively dark and didn't dare to enter. He finally found one that was reasonably bright, and Takashi Kazuma pulled the car over.
"President, what would you like to drink?" Takashi Kazuma asked thoughtfully, "I'll go buy a bottle of water and bring you some too."
"Just cola is fine," Aoki Haruhi said.
As the President, it usually felt a bit awkward to let a subordinate pay out of pocket when traveling, but on second thought, how much could a bottle of cola cost?
He could just have Takashi Kazuma expense the gas fee back at the company.
Takashi Kazuma got out of the car, asked someone to fill the tank, and went into the convenience store to buy water.
Just then, Aoki Haruhi inadvertently glanced out the car window.
It was quite interesting; although the area was brightly lit, there were four tall, burly black men standing at the entrance of the gas station convenience store, all looking menacing.
Most importantly, Aoki Haruhi looked to the side and saw several motorcycles parked behind the men.
They weren't the cool motorcycles seen in later Fast & Furious movies; these looked more like bicycles with a cylinder and an engine added in the middle, as rudimentary as could be.
And they were very low to the ground, with two long, curved handlebars extending upwards from below, looking like a praying mantis's antennae.
Given the size of the four men, one person alone would probably burst the tire of these bikes.
However, Aoki Haruhi only took a fleeting glance and quickly averted his gaze, fearing encountering bad people at such a time.
It wasn't a problem to encounter bad people; the most crucial thing was not to be targeted by them.
The few black men were originally chatting and laughing, but they also happened to glance over and noticed Aoki Haruhi sitting in the car.
To be precise, they first saw Takashi Kazuma entering the convenience store to buy something, probably thinking he was a yellow-skinned Asian, and then turned to see what pretty girl this guy had in his car.
The black men looked closely; she was indeed pretty, but unfortunately, not an Asian girl.
Although Aoki Haruhi was sitting in the car, cold sweat was already trickling down his back.
Fortunately, their preferences were still normal, otherwise, wouldn't he have been taken for a spin?
Aoki Haruhi felt uneasy under the gaze of the black men, only hoping that the damned Takashi Kazuma would return soon.
...
After waiting for about a few minutes, Takashi Kazuma came out and handed the cola to Aoki Haruhi.
The gas was already filled, the bill paid, and a tip given. The two were about to drive away.
Unexpectedly, just as Takashi Kazuma was about to get into the car, he was stopped by the four black men.
One of the black men directly pulled a gun from his waistband and aimed it at Takashi Kazuma.
"You, give me your money."
Takashi Kazuma had never seen such a scene before; ordinary civilians had no chance to touch a gun, let alone see one.
Takashi Kazuma froze, feeling his legs go weak, almost unable to stand upright.
He just slumped against the car roof, holding onto it to steady himself.
Seeing that Takashi Kazuma didn't speak.
The few black men exchanged glances, thinking, these two probably don't understand English?
So they switched to Chinese and said:
"You, money, take out."
These few words had exhausted the black men's lifelong knowledge.
Although Takashi Kazuma was scared, he was more worried about the President's safety.
He had finally borrowed a car to take the President out for a relaxing time, and encountering something like this, if anything happened to the President, Takashi Kazuma would simply be a sinner to the company.
"I can give you the money, but I hope you can let us go," Takashi Kazuma blurted out in Japanese in his urgency.
Hearing Takashi Kazuma babbling, the men finally realized that they had encountered Japanese people.
But that's not right!
Japanese people should understand the word 'money'!
"Money, money..." The black man shook the gun in his hand, urging impatiently.
They had already seen Aoki Haruhi and gestured with the pistol for Aoki Haruhi to also get out of the car.
Aoki Haruhi had no choice but to get out of the car.
At this moment, he only regretted not sitting in the driver's seat.
At this point, Aoki Haruhi suddenly remembered Nao Tsuda's words—
If you get robbed, just give them your belongings; never resist.
Losing money is minor; losing your life is terrifying.
And Nao Tsuda had specifically exchanged a lot of US dollars for him before this trip, just in case they didn't get the money and, in a fit of rage, harmed him.
The black men didn't stand on ceremony with them and directly started patting them down.
After frisking the two of them and taking all their money, they found a wallet on Aoki Haruhi that looked quite high-end. Opening it, they found about 500 US dollars in cash inside.
Seeing this, the men's eyes lit up, and they couldn't help but exchange smiles.
They hadn't expected the Japanese to be so rich.
After succeeding, the black man pocketed the wallet and prepared to leave.
"Wait a moment."
Just then, Aoki Haruhi spoke in English.
The men paused slightly, not expecting this person to actually speak English?
If you speak English, why didn't you say so earlier?
They had been babbling senselessly for half a day.
Their entire vocabulary had been exhausted.
"What? Is there something else?" The men stepped forward, each one a head taller than Aoki Haruhi, and most importantly, they had real weapons in their hands, so Aoki Haruhi didn't dare to provoke them at all.
However, as if possessed, he still bit the bullet and said, "Hey bro, you can take the money, but can you return my wallet? This wallet was the first gift my wife ever gave me, and it holds great sentimental value to me."
Beside him, Takashi Kazuma was scared out of his wits—
President, at a time like this, you're still thinking about a first gift?
Huh?!
Wait, President, when did you get married? You have a wife already?!
The black men paused slightly, looking at each other and exchanging glances.
They hadn't expected this little yellow-faced person, who looked frail and quite like a minor, to be so sentimental?
The four men discussed for a few moments. The leader took all the money out of the wallet, then pointed at the watch on Aoki Haruhi's wrist.
Aoki Haruhi understood and quickly took off his watch and handed it to them.
The black men returned the wallet to Aoki Haruhi, saying with a chuckle, "For your wife's sake, we'll give it back to you. We Americans never bully men who love their families."
"Thank you."
Aoki Haruhi put the wallet away.
"It seems you must love your wife very much."
The black man patted his bulging belly and laughed.
"I also had a wife, but she later ran off with someone else," the black man said, "But she left me a daughter, and I love my daughter very much. I love my family."
As he spoke, he took off the necklace around his neck and opened the pendant to show Aoki Haruhi.
Inside was a photo of a cute, curly-haired little girl, probably around 5 or 6 years old.
Aoki Haruhi couldn't accurately gauge the actual age of Americans now; he might think she was 5 or 6, but she might have developed quickly and actually only be 2 or 3 years old.
However, the little girl's skin was quite fair, not like a black person's.
Seeing the doubt in Aoki Haruhi's eyes, the black man smiled, "This is my wife's daughter with her white ex-husband, but I've been taking care of her since she was 1 year old. She's no different from my own daughter. We're all family, loving each other, and that's enough."
Okay.
This is very America.
Aoki Haruhi nodded, giving him a thumbs up, "I envy you for having such a good daughter. But why do you still rob people? What if you go to jail, what will happen to your daughter?"
Honestly, if he hadn't just been robbed by these people, Aoki Haruhi would have had the illusion that he was just chatting with him like family.
"Honestly, we didn't intend to rob you," the black man said with a simple, mischievous grin,
"But, you guys really look easy to rob."
Damn it!
Listen to this, is this even human language?
Okay, this is very America.
...
The men, with their own code of conduct, kept their promise after getting the money and let them leave.
They didn't even steal the car.
However, it's very likely because stealing a car makes it easier to get caught.
On the way back, Aoki Haruhi and Takashi Kazuma, having survived the ordeal, were both drenched in cold sweat.
There was lingering fear, but more so, excitement.
Just this incident alone, Aoki Haruhi could talk about for a lifetime after returning to Japan.
Back in the day, I was also someone who had a gun pointed at my head.
"But Europe and America is too chaotic, isn't it? President, you don't know how worried I was just now. What if asking for the wallet angered them and they just shot you? What would I do?
I wouldn't be able to face everyone in the company when I go back!"
"Good heavens, you practically stopped right in front of them, didn't you?"
"How was I supposed to know? I already found the brightest gas station," Takashi Kazuma said with a distressed look.
The two chatted for a while, finding it incredibly surreal.
"By the way, President, are you insured? Who is the beneficiary listed as?"
Just then, Takashi Kazuma suddenly remembered something.
The President seems to be a single man with no parents, no siblings, right?
Aoki Haruhi glared at him fiercely.
Good heavens, are you cursing me?
"Could it be Your Name?"