NOVEL NEXT Chapter 20 - The Contract
Jiang Hui made two additional requests, stating that they were necessary to fulfill; otherwise, the negotiations would be considered broken.
The first request was for the Hailusi Group to investigate the cause of the smart system’s malfunction. She wanted to determine whether the malfunction was due to poor quality control of the smart system itself or if there were issues with individual parts that had hidden dangers leading to subsequent failures. In any case, she demanded a thorough investigation without any ambiguity.
If she was going to die, she wanted to die clearly and without confusion. She couldn’t go to the afterlife without knowing how it happened.
The original body might not be able to do this anymore, but Jiang Hui was still alive within it. Regardless of the circumstances, she felt it was her duty to seek justice on behalf of the original body.
After thoroughly understanding the entire situation, she wanted the matter to be publicly disclosed in a consumer magazine along with an apology, which would serve as a slight relief for the original body.
The second request was for the Hailusi Group to recall the TM series of products and conduct a comprehensive quality inspection.
It was reported that this series of products had already experienced multiple incidents. Prior to Jiang Hui, there had been three major incidents reported, not to mention numerous smaller accidents that were resolved privately. This was no secret within the interstellar community. Even individuals like Calet and Xu Jia, who were not directly involved in the industry, had heard of this series, and it was all due to its bad reputation.
This level of product, if it were a different medium or small consortium, would likely have already been scrutinized by higher-ups. This year, not only did they not receive any warnings from the relevant departments, but they also launched several new product series. Perhaps they were simply doing their jobs well, especially since they had the financial backing to support it.
Jiang Hui could be considered the biggest victim of this product series, and one might even call her the “grave digger” of this line. If it weren’t for her soul inexplicably coming from Blue Star and living on in this body, the Hailusi Group would undoubtedly be facing a major scandal.
Therefore, whether for personal or public reasons, Jiang Hui most sincerely hoped they would immediately investigate and adjust this product to prevent such tragedies from occurring again. The rate at which issues were happening was already absurd and could not be explained by ordinary failure rates.
Unexpectedly, Andy immediately responded to the second request, while he would need to report the first to the group.
“Ms. Jiang, you have thought this through. You truly are a compassionate person. Before we found you, our group had already held relevant meetings to reflect on the situation, and the current board of directors has decided to halt the production of the TM series products and recall all sold TM series products in an effort to prevent similar incidents from happening again. You do not need to worry about this; our group has always operated with integrity and strives to provide all customers with better quality products and services.” Andy looked at the girl before him with a slightly admiring gaze.
Jiang Hui: …There’s really no need for further advertisements.
Moreover, she genuinely didn’t have a good impression of the Hailusi Group. Time and time again, they had issues but didn’t conduct proper investigations, instead opting to silence complaints with money. If the victims accepted the money, that was one thing, but the real problem was that they had so many issues, yet they didn’t bother to put in the effort to investigate the product problems. If they had discovered the issues sooner and resolved them, wouldn’t that have prevented all the subsequent problems?
This recent withdrawal from the market seemed more like a crisis management tactic, a last resort, rather than a sincere desire to improve.
Jiang Hui thought of the Hailusi Group as a typical capital consortium that prioritized profit above all else, acting without regard for the consequences.
However—
The employee, Andy, who came to negotiate was quite the “odd one.” She found the expression on the face of the person on the other end of the screen somewhat subtly perplexing.
She watched him earnestly advise her, firmly stating that their group had already decided to stop producing the TM series of products without her having to bring it up, and so on.
Why didn’t he want her to bring up this request on her own? He was going to great lengths to guarantee this decision for the group. Then he mentioned that the group might be reluctant to accept the two additional conditions she proposed… He was even speaking ill of his own side. So, from a motivational standpoint, why was he unwilling to bring up this additional request on her behalf? Was it really because of what he had said?
Of course not. Andy had a pang of conscience and didn’t want to see the girl step into a pit.
Although he had only recently joined the group, he had some understanding of the group’s style and was well aware of how unscrupulous they were.
Jiang Hui’s first request was manageable; after all, he had seen all kinds of demands in negotiations. There was even a previous victim who, rather absurdly, didn’t want any monetary compensation because she was “not short on money,” but instead requested introductions to several high-quality, outstanding male friends. So, Jiang Hui’s request seemed quite normal in comparison.
But the second one… in Andy’s view, it wasn’t unreasonable at all. In fact, it echoed the questions and concerns he had always held in his heart.
He had just graduated and was still naive about the world; his youthful passion had yet to be extinguished by reality, and he still had an earnest heart.
To be honest, he was quite disapproving of the Hailusi Group’s methods. The issues surrounding the TM series had been presented to them countless times, yet for some reason, the higher-ups had never taken it seriously and instead repeatedly tried to suppress it with money, dragging their feet until now without addressing the situation.
It was unfortunate that he had signed a three-year contract right after graduation. If he left before completing a year, it might negatively impact his resume. He had no choice but to grit his teeth and carry on. Being pushed out as cannon fodder this time had already planted the seeds of resignation in his mind.
Thus, he didn’t want to see Jiang Hui fall into this pit. Jiang Hui’s request for the group to recall the TM series products coincidentally matched a thought the group had, but how could they make it public in a reasonable way without losing face? Jiang Hui’s demand as a victim was clearly a good angle to work with… God knows how those heartless guys in the marketing department would exploit poor Ms. Jiang.
They might exploit this poor child in various ways, guiding the media across the galaxy to focus on her life, and there might even be some shameless keyboard warriors on the star network maliciously speculating about her. Just thinking in that direction felt suffocating—so it absolutely couldn’t be mentioned.
He wanted to sincerely advise her to abandon this thought.
The girl continued, “Thank you for informing me of your company’s decision. However, I’m still a bit uneasy as long as things aren’t settled. In any case, a contract will ultimately have to be signed, and we can add a confidentiality agreement then. It shouldn’t be an issue; after all, your group originally planned to do that anyway.”
A contract? A confidentiality agreement?
Are the currently unawakened individuals this impressive now? Have they reached such a level? It feels like you’re reading my thoughts as you speak.
Andy felt like a fool coming to this negotiation today; he couldn’t close his mouth the entire time and was being led around by the nose.
He was afraid; the current unawakened individuals were remarkably strong.