Chapter 60: Chessboard of a Great Being

Even though Lin Jie was just lending some guidance to supplement this customer’s own opinion, he felt that the notion to venture out was a good idea.

Since this customer was being trampled on in the company to the point he considered himself a disposable tool, it meant that the psychological damage he suffered was severe. Therefore, taking on a different path and getting out was a better choice.

However, a career switch for a middle-aged person was something rather difficult and couldn’t just be achieved with purely determination but money and means as well.

Most importantly, this customer needed to have no worries for the future.

However, from how quickly he had made his decision and said he knew that it was “very risky”, that meant that the customer probably had some confidence.

To ensure that this new customer didn’t leave as quickly as he came, Lin Jie felt that it was best to have some insurance.

Fortunately, young Miss Ji should be able to help a bit. At the very least, it could ensure that this customer before Lin Jie wouldn’t be unemployed.

Ji Zhixiu’s father controlled Rolle Resource Development, an enormous corporation that basically monopolized all resources and minerals in the lower city district, as well as being involved in nearly all aspects of Norzin.

The corporation’s influence in Norzin was unbelievable.

This was a corporation that was omnipresent in every industry. Whether it was clothing, food, housing, transport, or any other trade, there would be the influence of this corporation as long as one was willing to do a little digging. At the very least, there hadn’t been anything like this back on Earth.

Even though Lin Jie was an outsider who had only been in this world for three years, he had deeply experienced the influence of Rolle Resource Development.

Lin Jie would see the Rolle Resource Development’s logo of a flight of descending stairs on at least half the stores whenever he went out to get food or groceries.

Even the CD and CD players sold in the audio store next door were manufactured by a company under the Rolle flag.

Perhaps, even the contents of these CDs were produced by artists in entertainment companies that Rolle Resource Development held a controlling stake in.

Lin Jie had once looked up Rolle Resource Development’s history out of curiosity and discovered that the company had been established a very long time ago and that it had actually been an army that administered the lower district prior to its establishment.

Some of its history was complicated and many records were already unreliable at this time. The head of Rolle Resource Development had already gone through many generations of change and even those in their internal department might not have a full understanding.

All in all, how Rolle Resource Development became a monopoly was basically due to the structure of the entire Norzin.

Norzin’s Upper District was an artificial city constructed out of metal and was completely separated from the ground.

When viewing from above, the Upper District was just like a humongous sphere.

Norzin’s land area was about the size of a province in Ancient China. Streets close to the Central District had their own names while the remaining roads and streets would be labeled with alphabets or numbers.

The 23rd Avenue where Lin Jie’s bookstore was located was a numbered street that was still considered close to the Central District.

Then, there was the Lower District which referred to “below ground” and “ground transition zone”.

From such a structure, it was obvious that the Upper District was basically artificial constructs where no natural resources existed.

The actual natural resources were entirely situated in the Lower District.

The Lower District was also where some inhabitants came into contact with the boundary of Azir—The Wall of Fog, and suffered from a strange plaque and affected their descendants.

For thousands of years, isolation was enforced for these people, resulting in an entirely different ecology in the Lower District and above ground.

Incidentally, the Church of Pestilence originated from the Lower District and was still the principal faith there.

This led to a complete separation between the Lower District and the upper ones.

Thus, certain specialized organizations emerged within the districts to help the Upper District mine for resources.

Over time, competition and annexation occurred between these organizations which finally resulted in the formation of a huge corporation, Rolle Resource Development.

Now, only this company held the sole right to act independently and operate in the Lower District.

Other resource companies needed to obtain approval from the Central District before being able to head to the Lower District to extract resources.

Of course, inhabitants of the Upper District could also apply to visit the Lower District, just that it requires many levels of approval as well as valid grounds for doing so.

Most of the time, those that went down were reporters or scholars and they needed to sign extremely complicated agreements before they started.

In any case, Rolle Resource Development was such a massive corporation and since Ji Zhixiu was the only daughter of the boss of this corporation and a lady of the upper class, it should be truly effortless for her to arrange a job.

“She should probably be able to help you out.”

Lin Jie noticed that the customer across him seemed to have some slight doubt that this affluent young lady was an acquaintance of his and thus explained, “She encountered some troubles not too long ago and my counsel was useful in helping her resolve the issue. The loan period for the book she borrowed is nearly up and I reckon she would come by to return it in a few days’ time.”

Ackerman’s pupils narrowed as he had a flash of understanding.

“No wonder…. No wonder,” he uttered.

This explained a lot!

Although he acted alone as a hunter, he had some understanding about the current state of Norzin.

The starting point of White Wolf’s hunters’ cooperation with Scarlet Cult’s black magicians had been when Heris’ ‘White Wolf’ was defeated by the Ji Zhixiu-led group ‘Spider’.

In the end, Heris had to kill the second leader, Kaji, and fled on his own.

Eventually, after consolidating his strength, Heris started working with Scarlet Cult.

However, the reason for White Wolf’s fall was that Ji Zhixiu who was initially being pursued became much stronger all of a sudden.

This was a baffling riddle that many people couldn’t solve. But now, Ackerman finally knew that it was because Ji Zhixiu had gotten help from the bookstore owner!

No wonder. And all this stuff he is telling me, could it mean… He wants the originally scattered and individualistic hunters to gather and form an organization that can rival the Truth Union and Secret Rite Tower?!

Haa, this would really be a prominent mark in the hunter history if it really is the case.

The entire structure of Norzin would also be changed!

Ackerman’s heart was pounding. At the same time, he felt a deep sense of trepidation towards the bookstore owner as he couldn’t help stopping himself from thinking that—

This is the chessboard of a great being! And I am fortunate to be just a little chess piece in his game…

However, some small doubt had crept into his heart. “Can I borrow a book?”

Ackerman cast a glance at the bookshelf.

Lin Jie’s smile deepened.

Finally, after dup… no, putting in effort for half the day, we are finally on the right subject.

“I was just about to mention it.

“Since you are inexperienced and it being your first time doing something like this, I foresee that you might encounter many troubles in the upcoming process… Here’s a book that would be very useful. It will be best to read through this first.”

Lin Jie fished out a book titled Zero-Cost Entrepreneurship from the bookshelf behind him.