On a dark night, a train stopped at a platform in the Royal Capital.
A man in a suit and mask boarded the train.
He walked over to the only passenger in the carriage and stopped.
He sat down in the seat on the other side of the aisle.
"How are things going?" the masked man asked.
"Everything is going according to plan; the counterfeit currency project is a great success!"
Fox Demon Xue Nv took out two banknotes and handed them to John Smith.
John Smith took the two banknotes.
"Counterfeiting this kind of banknote is not difficult, but the Mitsugoshi Company banknotes you suggested cannot be counterfeited! The materials, ink, printing, and the numbers and portraits that appear when held up to the light—we cannot fake a single aspect!"
Sid was a complete egoist.
Mitsugoshi Company had a vast enterprise.
But nominally, it was also under him.
As a Shadow of Shadow Garden, he felt awkward asking them for money.
That would diminish his coolness.
And the dream of counterfeiting money was a long-held dream of his.
He wanted to achieve it himself, to some extent.
This outcome, while a little disappointing to John Smith, at least still offered hope.
He still had the Great United Company counterfeit banknotes.
"Can Young Master John tell which one is the counterfeit?"
Fox Demon Xue Nv asked.
John Smith confidently threw the two banknotes in front of Fox Demon Xue Nv.
"If you look closely, you'll find that one of these banknotes has a rough cut edge, the watermark in the ink is slightly different, and the printed characters are a bit crooked, not to mention…"
Fox Demon Xue Nv kept looking at the banknotes, and following John Smith's explanation, she also discovered the problem.
"Indeed, this is true. I clearly double-checked it…"
"Do I need to keep making… talking about it?"
John Smith almost blurted out what he was thinking.
In fact, there were only a few ways to distinguish banknotes. He just casually glanced at the banknotes, saw no problems at first glance, and found nothing even after a closer look.
So how could he maintain John Smith's coolness?
One word: "Fabricate!"
"You don't need to continue!" Fox Demon Xue Nv replied.
"Of these two banknotes, the one with rough workmanship is the counterfeit!"
"Of these two banknotes, the one with rough workmanship is the genuine one!"
"Eh!"
"Eh?"
John Smith's "Eh!" expressed surprise; for a moment, he couldn't understand why the counterfeit was more genuine than the real one.
Fox Demon Xue Nv's "Eh?" expressed: wasn't the genuine one brought by you? You spoke so eloquently, yet gave a wrong answer.
John Smith immediately adjusted his emotions, pushing up his mask to hide his embarrassment.
"It's clear you've done too good a job, making the genuine banknote look like a counterfeit!"
"That is indeed a problem. Do I need to order people to remake them?" Fox Demon Xue Nv replied.
"No need. No one else should be able to tell besides me!"
"As expected of Young Master John! Then I think we should start issuing them now! What do you think?"
"No problem!"
"Young Master John, during the issuance of counterfeit currency, someone might trace it back to me. At that time, I will need your help!"
"No problem, leave it to me!"
...At Mitsugoshi Company, Sino leisurely sat opposite Gamma, drinking tea.
"There shouldn't be too big a problem with Great United Company, right?"
"Please rest assured, Great United Company will collapse on its own before long."
"Oh? What did Gamma do?"
"This still relies on Master's wisdom."
"Don't put all the credit on me for doing nothing; this is all Gamma's own credit."
"Master, you are truly humble."
"So what did you do?"
"Great United Company was established to contend with our Mitsugoshi Company, but we have all the most valuable items on the market! And the quality is guaranteed! If they just focused on sales, Great United Company would certainly not be our opponent!"
"But ever since they started playing dirty, we haven't been idle either!"
"Once suspicion arises, the charge is already established.
This is something you said, and you also said that this statement does not apply everywhere, but it is very suitable for the current Great United Company!
Great United Company has been on a downward trend.
Those merchants who eagerly wanted to get rich with Great United Company were on the verge of bankruptcy and latched onto Great United Company as their last straw.
And as time went on, their out-of-pocket income made them increasingly anxious.
To appease them, Great United Company temporarily filled their funding gap with banknotes instead of gold coins.
What if someone appeared at this time and told those merchants that the banknotes in their hands were just waste paper?
They might still be willing to believe in Great United Company, a large and well-established company.
When I showed them Mitsugoshi Company's banknotes and told them, 'These are actual banknotes, and what they have in their hands is just waste paper.'"
Saying this, Gamma took out Mitsugoshi Company's banknotes and Great United Company's banknotes.
"Lord Sino probably hasn't encountered such low-end banknotes from Great United Company! You can try touching them. If you compare them carefully, you can see the problem."
Gamma was right; Sino had indeed never used such things. He had a large stack of Mitsugoshi Company banknotes under his bed that he couldn't spend all of them. If Sid found out, he would die of envy.
But Sid also had a sense of propriety; he wouldn't deliberately use magic to detect the existence of banknotes or money.
Sino held them in his hand and felt the difference between the banknotes.
The quality of the two banknotes was completely worlds apart.
Sino's ordinary A4 paper from his previous life was like fine gauze compared to this so-called Great United Company banknote.
This kind of banknote would feel rough even for wiping one's bottom.
Comparing it with Mitsugoshi Company's banknotes, they were exquisitely made, smooth to the touch, and had multiple anti-counterfeiting features.
They were basically not much different from the banknotes of his previous life.
The Great Commerce banknotes had no anti-counterfeiting features at all, as if they were specifically created for others to counterfeit.
Gamma took a sip of coffee.
"Merchants are not stupid. When things are explained so clearly, they understand something, more or less!"
"What the truth is, I don't know, but I only need to keep them suspicious, and they will verify it themselves. The deeper they investigate, the deeper their suspicion will become!
Of course, with their abilities, they cannot investigate the truth of The Order! Finally, at a certain point, they will not be able to go any deeper!
"Unable to know the truth, the suspicious matters will become the truth in their eyes!"
"Great United Company was established by a large number of local Royal Capital merchant associations cooperating. If their hearts are not united, can they still survive?"
Originally, Gamma was opposite Sino, but she had been slowly moving while speaking and was now leaning against Sino.
"Gamma is truly clever!"
Sino stroked Gamma's head.
Gamma happily rubbed against Sino.
Seeing Gamma, who had the aura of a top-tier mature woman, acting like a shy little bird, it looked strange no matter how one saw it.
"Gamma, look closely at this Great United Company banknote again! This banknote hides another secret."
At this moment, Gamma picked up the banknote and observed it carefully as Sino instructed.
"Next, Shadow will give you a test. He told me not to interfere. Gamma, you all must do your best!"
Sino left Mitsugoshi Company.