Chapter 171: The Only Client

In the capital of Xia Country, inside the main hall of the First Construction Bureau, a crowd was currently surging.

Globally renowned architectural firms had gathered in the capital of Xia Country today; they were all here to bid for the design of a mysterious manor. Today was the big day for presenting designs to the tenderer, and whether they would win the bid would likely be decided today.

By the time the protagonist arrived at the scene, it was the moment for all the famous architectural firms to show off their skills.

Before the bidding work began, the atmosphere in the venue had already grown tense; every person's expression was worth savoring in detail.

Some looked anxiously toward the outer doors, some sat upright as if facing a great enemy, some were full of expectation, some looked at their surrounding competitors with hostility, and some, though they had clearly memorized their presentation script until it was second nature, still kept muttering it under their breath...

DESTROY is a global avant-garde architectural firm headquartered in Xincheng, gathering over 200 top international architects and designers, and it has shocked the architectural world with its unique style and philosophy.

The Songbai Architectural Design Group is one of the largest architectural design companies in Australia and globally; many landmark buildings around the world come from this firm's hand, and it specializes in large-scale buildings and projects.

foandpa is a famous architectural firm in Britain, specializing in combining high technology, ecology, and local culture; its works have won international design competition awards multiple times.

There were also the Lijia Group and Badanma Group from Hong Island of Xia Country, the PERKINS firm from Aka Country, and GMP from Germany... These firms ranked in the top ten globally, some of which had always only undertaken large-scale projects, yet now they were all here to fight for the design of a private manor, which truly made people feel it was incomprehensible.

It was currently 8:20 in the morning; in another 10 minutes, the bidding presentation meeting would officially begin.

As the time drew near, the expressions of the people in the hall grew even more tense.

At this very moment, Yang Yi was sitting in the back seat of the car; Liu Liu Siyuan was driving, and Director Zhou sat in the passenger seat with a mysterious smile on his face.

"Director Zhou, being so mysterious, exactly what did you bring me here to do?" Yang Yi looked at the sign for the First Construction Bureau, feeling somewhat strange.

"You'll know once you go inside." Director Zhou played another card of mystery.

Yang Yi felt a bit helpless; seeing that they had already arrived at the destination, she said no more and waited for the truth to be revealed.

Inside the First Construction Bureau, a group of cadres wearing short-sleeved shirts were already waiting there; fortunately, it was still morning and the scorching heat of the sun had not yet risen, yet even so, a few cadres with protruding bellies had sweat stains appearing in their armpits from the heat, and upon being reminded by people nearby, they quickly grabbed tissues to wipe them away.

As soon as the car stopped steadily, Director Li Zhijian of the First Construction Bureau immediately stepped forward, personally opened the car door, and said, "Captain Yang, your coming to guide our work at the First Construction Bureau is truly an honor that makes our humble place shine!"

No matter how many times she experienced it, Yang Yi still felt awkward with this kind of official rhetoric.

Fortunately, her principle for handling official social interactions was to keep the general direction unchanged while letting the details be casual; "I don't even know why I came here; Director Zhou forcibly dragged me along."

Director Li was stunned, then burst into hearty laughter, shaking hands with Director Zhou; "Director Zhou, you were right to forcibly drag Captain Yang over; otherwise, all our hard work would have been in vain!"

The crowd escorted Yang Yi into the main hall; the people inside the hall all stood up. Looking at their curious and excited expressions, it was not out of politeness and respect, but rather like watching a certain big movie star, or looking at something strange.

It should have been a moment of extreme satisfaction for vanity, but whenever this happened, Yang Yi felt like a monkey being gawked at.

She maintained a calm expression as she walked through the crowd, led by Director Li to the head seat.

At 8:30, the manor bidding presentation meeting officially began.

The presentation order was randomly selected by the system; the first to present was the British firm foandpa. The first and the last presenters are the ones most likely to leave a deep impression on the client, but at the same time, they are also the most prone to problems; if they cannot leave a shocking impression on the client, they are easily surpassed by excellent later contenders. Therefore, the designer representative stepping onto the stage first was obviously somewhat nervous.

This was a British-style manor; the designer was very well prepared, presenting their design concept for this garden, the blueprints, three-dimensional graphics, and even an animation demonstration.

This manor had long since been approved and selected for its location; the address is near Lingxi Mountain in the suburbs of the capital, covering an area of about five hundred mu, slightly smaller than the entire capital city district. It has natural rivers and waterfalls, and even incorporates part of the Lingxi mountain range into its planning. Every late autumn and early winter season, the mountains are covered in red leaves like fire, making it one of the most beautiful tourist spots near the capital.

The foandpa firm, obviously after conducting a field investigation, combined the local environment and climate to design this British-style manor, which carries obvious rural flavors, combining nature and artistic sense, quiet and natural.

Yang Yi could even faintly discern the natural and tranquil flavor of Tim Village from it; the corners of her mouth curled slightly up, not knowing whether it was joy or sarcasm.

She seemed to have expected something in her heart, but still turned her head and asked Director Zhou in a low voice, "What is this?"

"This is what the recipient of the 'National Guardian' medal deserves!" Director Zhou spread his hands and said, "Previously, you didn't accept the rewards the state gave you, always living in the Dormitory of the Awakened Management Bureau. The higher-ups asked me, 'What exactly does Captain Yang want?' I said, 'She wants nothing; she just wants to live in seclusion in the mountains.' So, the higher-ups directly allocated a mountain range to you."

Yang Yi was rendered speechless.

She pressed her forehead, shrank her body into the seat, looked at the sea of people in the venue who were all working hard for this project, and slowly said, "You call this living in seclusion?"

Director Zhou smiled awkwardly; "When a matter is passed through a hundred people, its meaning changes on its own; just consider it as the state building you a villa!"

Yang Yi asked again, "How much money will this cost?"

"Around two hundred billion..."

Yang Yi was startled and asked loudly, "How much?"

The voices of everyone in the hall immediately fell silent; the representative of the architectural firm presenting on stage looked at her at a loss.

Yang Yi frowned, stood up, and walked straight out of her seat.

Director Zhou, Director Li, and other officials exchanged glances and immediately followed her; everyone else stood there at a loss.

After they left, the hall immediately erupted into discussion; most people had seen the expression on Yang Yi's face when she left, and couldn't help but feel uneasy in their hearts.

"This is too outrageous! If you have the time to spend two hundred billion building me a villa, you might as well invest it in people's livelihood! The crisis of alien creatures, post-disaster reconstruction caused by alien space channels, the construction of fortresses in every city, interstellar migration, people's livelihood construction—none of which doesn't need money! Investing money into a building that is fundamentally useless, just to please one superhuman; the person who made this decision is simply a parasite of the nation!"

In a conference room of the First Construction Bureau, Director Zhou and Director Li led officials of various levels standing near the door, listening to the scolding from the young girl opposite them; for a moment, the room was utterly silent.