Chapter 221: Royal Traditional Arts

Saudi Arabia, a land steeped in black gold, flows with oil and gushes with wealth.
But this immense wealth is almost entirely monopolized by the Saudi royal family.
The country's GDP per capita looks impressive, but the gap between rich and poor is appalling.
Youth unemployment remains high, and the wages of the lowest-paid workers are pitifully low.
Public discontent boils over, especially when oil prices plummet.
"But as long as the royal family's foundation remains unshaken, what does it matter how many peasants die?"
The Al Saud family, which rules this land, has thousands of members whose names are known, each possessing astronomical wealth.
External estimates suggest that the total assets of the Saudi royal family are at least one trillion US dollars.
Having so much money is a good thing, but the problem is that this enormous sum is too dispersed, which fuels discontent among some ambitious individuals.
In particular, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, though not yet formally enthroned, already wields immense power, exercising the authority of a king.
This has deeply resented many princes who also covet the throne.
"To seize power, we need substantial resources! But what's going on here?!"
A prince named Abdul Hadeem was raging in his palace.
Although power is currently concentrated in the hands of Mohammed bin Salman,
in Saudi Arabia, the drama of a crown prince being deposed and replaced mid-term is a royal tradition, played out frequently.
Past, present, and future, royal families worldwide are engaged in a bloody "game of power" for that supreme throne.
Abdul Hadeem is one of the many princes who covet the throne.
He must seize the position before Mohammed bin Salman truly ascends the throne and launches a massive purge!
But at this critical juncture, problems arose.
His investments around the world collapsed overnight!
“Your Highness, TSMC is facing a production halt crisis, its stock price has plummeted, and the entire supply chain has been impacted.
On the contrary, that nearly bankrupt AMC, somehow secured a miraculous investment, and its stock price is skyrocketing…”
“So, everyone else's investments are going up, while ours are all going down?”
“Yes…yes, Your Highness.”
“What are you bunch of useless idiots doing?!” Abdul Khadim roared in fury.
“Didn’t you all confidently predict that the cryptocurrency boom would bring an unprecedented explosion to the chip and graphics card markets?
I believed your lies and poured my money in, and now you tell me we’re all losing money?!”
“Your Highness, we didn’t expect Fanghuan Investment and Jiangjin Group to be working together on this scheme. We were completely caught off guard.”
Fanghuan Investment.
It's Fang Huan Investment again!
From the last oil price storm, to the shipping market, and now semiconductors…
Abdul Hadiim feels like a jinx. He painstakingly cultivates a vegetable garden, only to have some bastard named "Fang Huan" gleefully run over and defecate wildly in his garden just as harvest is about to come!
He doesn't believe it's not because bin Salman conspired with them to deliberately sabotage him!
“Fine, very well.” Abdul Khadim’s eyes turned cold. “Trying to play these games with me, huh?”
He wasn’t the type to sit back and take a beating while applauding.
***
“Chairman Su, Netflix has responded. They’re proceeding with the project exactly as you instructed.
They will prioritize resources on *The Squid Game*.”
“However, they themselves didn’t expect *The Squid Game* to be chosen. Pre-production was practically nonexistent, so the filming period might be quite long. But its advantage is its extremely low production cost.”
There are many reasons why Netflix, the streaming giant, values ​​non-English films so much.
The most crucial reason is that production costs in other countries are practically dirt cheap compared to Hollywood.
The salary for a top-tier Hollywood star is enough to produce a high-quality S-level web series in another country.
"Oh, right, Chairman Su. This is a project proposal that Saudi Arabia has recently been sending to large companies around the world.
They also sent one to Fanghuan Investment this time."
Su Hao took the thick folder from his subordinate.
"This is a mega-project strongly promoted by Mohammed bin Salman, who was just appointed Crown Prince last year.
He claims to be building the greatest futuristic city in human history; it feels like reading a hard science fiction novel."
Su Hao opened the cover and saw the project's name.
"...'NEOM City'?"
"That's right, the futuristic city project that claims to require trillions of dollars to build in the desert."
Just looking at the design drawings, Su Hao felt his imagination was running out.
If this were done in another country, Su Hao would definitely consider it a "metaverse" level scam on the spot.
But the initiator is the Saudi royal family, the richest family in the world, which inevitably aroused a damnable interest.
"So, they want us to invest now?"
"Yes. They're actively seeking funding from top global investment institutions.
It seems they're determined to build a truly global metropolis."
I see. Su Hao began carefully reading the "Future New City" plan page by page.
"...?"
However, just as he turned to a certain point in the middle of the plan, a cold, viscous black aura suddenly rose from between the pages, as if countless invisible hands were reaching out from that abyss to drag him in!
Alarm bells rang in Su Hao's mind, and he slammed the report shut with a "snap" as if electrocuted!
"...Chairman Su?" His subordinate was startled by his sudden action.
“This project,” Su Hao’s expression turned grave, his tone leaving no room for argument, “we won’t invest.”
“Huh? But Chairman Su, this is a golden opportunity that all the giants are scrambling to get on…”
“I said, we won’t invest.” Su Hao interrupted him. “Next report.”
“Ah…yes!”
Although he didn’t know why, Su Hao’s intuition was screaming warning signs: that thing, absolutely not to be touched!
"Chairman Su, this is a summary of all the investment proposals Fanghuan Investment has received recently. We've compiled it; please take a look."
As Fanghuan Investment has grown significantly, it's no longer the small organization it once was, constantly running around and having to be subservient to others.
They can simply sit back and relax, and countless glittering investment projects will line up and come knocking.
"...Skyline Entertainment?"
"Oh, it's a mid-sized entertainment company in China. Two years ago, they held a talent show and launched some idol group. It made a small splash at the time, and while their overall revenue isn't large, their net profit margin is quite high."
Su Hao could see a stable and bright golden halo emanating from the company's name.
"Bring me this 'Skyline Entertainment'," Su Hao's fingertip touched the glowing name,
"and all the information on their idol group!"