Chapter 25 - Rewards And Punishments

Felix sat down on a chair in the tent with a hidden smirk while eyeing the entrance.

He was certain that he would pass the inspection safely after that flawless excuse he gave them. He might even gain some advantages when the family realizes that he was a business prodigy worth nurturing.

But that meant jack shit to him since he just wanted to show them that he was good enough to obtain a rare rank beast during the assessment.

After that, he would give the family the hotel to manage while having Leila and Jack supervise everything.

Like this, he would wash his hands from the island while also earning billions of dollars each year. But what he truly wanted was to obtain a good relationship with the elites of the world.

He then took his phone and started playing league of legends Wild rift with enjoyment.

….

Outside of the tent, the inspectors were in a heated argument over Felix's explanation of truthfulness.

"I can't believe what he said, honestly. Just think about his actions when he was a kid. He constantly bullied his cousins, who just wanted to learn in peace. Then when he got bored or beaten up, he fools outside with his retarded friends who only know how to fuck around and bring mess for their families."

The male inspector quickly added after seeing that she was about to interrupt him. "Now you are telling me that this kid had magically found that he had all of his family members' talents and then used them somehow to create a plan that made the impossible possible?! I can't believe it. Something is missing, I tell you, something he is hiding from us. We need to find out about it, and everything will be clear to us." He crossed his hands and stared at the entrance of the tent with clear distrust.

The glasses lady stomped her leg and replied with a hint of sympathy for Felix. "This is exactly what he said. No matter what he does now or in the future, everyone in the family will keep judging him due to his past. Who knows, maybe one year alone in an isolated island away from the toxicity of the family, might have awakened his hidden talents, which were buried deep within, without anyone's intention to dig them out, since he was just a useless thug in the eyes of the family."

"But now that he self-awakened them and learned how to use them properly, so he can earn his honor and redeem his misconduct in his past. You still doubt him and not believe him."

She poked his forehead while lecturing him on how their jobs are supposed to be, "It is our job to inspect the juniors of the family encase they cheated or played tricks, but it is also our job to help them realize that cheating is not taking them anywhere."

Furious, she increased her poking speed until the man began to feel throbbing pain on his forehead. "But here you are trying your best to bring that poor lad more problems and issues. Even though he only wanted to fix his broken reputation. Instead of doing your job and give him some compliments over the great work he did, you are trying to look for an excuse not to face the reality that people truly change for the better, just because you are too lazy to change your revelation of his character from your mind to his current good character."

She kept barraging him without stopping. Forcing him to lower his head and not interrupt her rage.

"But I will not allow your crooked judgment to make more troubles for him anymore. He already suffered enough. We are returning to the family headquarter now to report what he said, and they will decide if he is a good seedling or not. Now move."

She kicked his ass with her heel to push him forward away from the tent. The poor inspector could only clutch his ass and walk ahead of her, not daring to disobey her. He never saw his partner rage at him like this, and truthfully he never wanted to see it again.

….

Felix had no idea about their decision and didn't bother trying to figure it out. He was confident in his excuse.

If they believed him, then it was all good. But, if they didn't, it wouldn't matter much since everything he said was the closest thing to the truth.

Because the real truth was that he returned from the future and had knowledge about everything. If he said that, they might beat him up and take him to the headquarter for interrogation.

So he never bothered what their next action was and just intentionally fed to his heart content in a league ranked game while reading his teammates' curses with enjoyment.

....

Evening 17:30...

In America, Boston, an enormous skyscraper was surrounded by trees of other similar buildings. But not one of them could reach half the size of this establishment.

At the peak story of it, a round table was in the middle of the floor that allows more than 30 people to sit around it.

It was currently filled with only four elders, who were listening with a focus to the inspectors' report over the situation in Sky Pearl Island.

"I see. It seems that Robert truly did not get scammed and received a prodigy child. But the miserable circumstances of his parents passing away and his grandfather's busy schedule forced that lad to take the wrong step in his path, thus making his talents buried, without us knowing about it."

A white-haired man that had not a single wrinkle on his face sighed with sympathy over the fate of Felix.

"But now it is all good, as long as he managed to change his thuggish character, we will take care of everything for him. A business genius like him is truly too hard to find nowadays." A middle-aged woman with a ponytail and wearing thin glasses nodded her head.

"Indeed, he truly shocked us to death when we found out that he spent only 20 million dollars to obtain more than a thousand chests of precious materials, construction materials, equipment, and vehicles. He even alerted his aunt Marry about his plan, allowing her to invest more than 400 million dollars. She truly will make a killing when she sells everything slowly after the leaders release the information to the public."A bald old man said with an envious tone.

"Baldy Albert, how dare you to envy others when your net worth is close to 2 billion dollars? Your cheapskate character always manages to surprise me."

"His greed for money truly knows no bound. Last time I found a business opportunity that will allow me to earn some easy millions, but it was a waste of time. So I decided to hand it to my subordinate to enjoy. However, this bastard heard about it from somewhere and used it to his own advantage without shame. Fuck he would probably jump out of building for a dollar."

Irritated, the white-haired elder rubbed his eyebrows after retelling such an unpleasant memory.

"What do you guys know? This is how rich people at the top keep their positions secure. Every dollar is important, no matter if it is just one bill or a billion. You will never understand where I am coming from, so change the subject to young Felix. I want to hear your sentence if his use of Marry transportation ships is allowed or not?" Albert replied indifferently to his shaming.

"Well, in my opinion, he did nothing wrong or went out of line. We forbid juniors from the use of any free foreign assistance, whether giving money or just some knowledge. But Felix did not get his aunt's help for free; he traded it with information to allow his aunt to earn billions of dollars over the upcoming years. His information had exceeded whatever help he obtained from his aunt."

The middle-aged woman reasoned calmly. She pushed her glasses upward and laid out her verdict. "So my final judgment is that he did nothing wrong but did something worth applauding for. Because this is what we want from our future family leaders to be able to do."

"Agreed, he did well, and we will reward him for it later. On the other hand, the other juniors were truly a disappointment. All of them were cowering in fear and not seeing the big picture or having the guts to leave their nest and see what can they profit from the chaos. They failed as businessmen and should be punished during the assessment."

Disappointed, Albert sighed over losing a huge amount of free money, simply because the other juniors were too fearful of making a move like Felix.

"Sigh, if it was not hectic for us during the chaos, from the death of an elder to appease all of the companies and hotels. We would have profited a bit as well." A middle-aged man with a long nose and bushy eyebrows smiled wryly.

"Indeed, fortunately, Felix helped us remodel a hotel that may turn into a 6-star resort hotel that will host only the elites of the world, By using only 30 million dollars, while the actual cost will reach 300 million or more if the prices were at market price."

All the elders smiled with approval. Felix truly brought them a great win, which they desperately needed after the economic crash. After all, their businesses around the world were all affected negatively because of it.

"Alright, I believe we have decided on Felix's achievements. I will start by voting for him to be treated as a future business seedling, and if during the assessment he showed that he has a good affinity to an element. We will make him a representative seedling."

The middle-aged woman raised one finger and added with a smile," Plus, reward him with an AP bracelet. He exceeded everyone's expectation, and he deserves one bracelet from the hundred we bought from the American government."

This was how the Maxwell family operates. Rewards and punishments were proponents of one's achievements.

"Agreed."

"I vote the same."

"I agree as well. Now let's move on to the punishment for the other juniors."

Albert's expression turned nasty instantly as he couldn't wait to lay down punishments for those wastrels. "I believe fear is the primary reason for their inactivity, so we need to curb that fear not to make them miss one in a billion opportunities like this." He smiled wickedly, "So I suggest making them face their fears as punishment. If one fears snakes, lock him in a room with tamed snakes with no teeth or poison. This will allow him to see that his fear of them can be overcome if he faced them without a retreat."

To actually suggest such a messed up punishment, he was really butt hurt over them missing free money.

"Even though it is heartless, it must be done, lest they shame us during the representative world battle."

"Our family cannot be disgraced."

"It is decided then, Felix will obtain AP bracelet as his reward, while the other juniors will be punished. Meeting adjourned."

The white-haired elder tapped his knuckles on the table two times and stood up. The elders carried their belongings and left the floor, each heading in separate ways.

The only ones who were left were the inspectors who probably had a high rank within the family to listen to the Elders' board, making decisions.

"Told you so, you stupid bastard. Someday your judgmental eyes will cause you trouble you won't escape from."

The woman gave a smug smile as she pointed her finger at him. She then turned around and chased after the elders, leaving the inspector man standing in front of a glass window all alone.

After a while, he sighed and left the floor as well. He already realized that she was right. People change whether we like it or not. But it depends on us if we changed our views about them or kept using their previous character as criteria for judgment.

"I guess my time to change has come as well." He chuckled over the irony of the situation as he entered the elevator.