"It seems most of you aren't very optimistic about the future of our new Cole Power Group," Ethan said calmly, his eyes scanning the restless workers.
"So here's what I'll do. I'll give everyone the right to choose. If you're willing to stay and keep working, I promise that in three months your salary will increase, and your benefits will improve.
"If you don't want to follow along, I won't embarrass you. Many of you have worked here for years. Just come to my office with your resignation letter. I'll sign it on the spot, and Finance will pay you three months' wages as compensation."
For Ethan, it was a simple calculation. Those who no longer believed in the plant would only drag their feet if they stayed. Better to let them walk out now. Normally, firing an employee meant paying out a full year's compensation. But if they resigned on their own, he only had to pay three months' wages. A bargain.
In the future, when people were fighting tooth and nail to get into Cole Power Group, the ones who left today would regret it bitterly. That regret would be their own problem, not his.
As soon as his words fell, the room stirred with whispers. To many workers, Ethan's plan of "bioelectricity" sounded like nonsense. They secretly believed the factory would collapse within months. Taking three months' wages now and leaving while the ship was still floating… it was tempting.
Others, though, had been with the plant for decades. They had roots here. And working in a power company still carried pride and stability. Even if Ethan's ideas failed, they could always find another job later. Why not stay?
After some hesitation, the first stood up."Mr. Cole, I'd like to resign."
"Me too," another said. "I can't see a future here. I'm thinking of starting a small business once I leave."
"Mr. Cole, since you insist on bio-power, I can't follow you. I'm leaving."
One after another, employees made their choice.
Ethan had prepared for this. He handed each resignee a sheet of paper to write their letter on the spot, signed it immediately, and sent them to Finance for payment. By the end, dozens had lined up, resignation letters in hand, eager to collect their compensation.
Each payout was three months' basic salary—about 13,000 rupees. In Eastmere, that wasn't a small sum. Watching colleagues walk out with thick envelopes, some still wavering employees finally gave in and joined them.
On the surface, Ethan's face was unreadable. Inside, though, his heart clenched.Damn, I didn't expect so many to actually leave. I only had five million rupees from Claire. After investments, I've already spent more than two million. How much is left for expansion now?
By the time the wave was over, 86 people had resigned. Ethan had spent more than a million rupees in compensation. Painful—but worth it. At least those who stayed were loyal, willing to walk into the unknown with him.
He dismissed the workers early. "Alright. For those of you who remain, rest assured—Cole Power Group will not treat you poorly. Everyone go home early today. Tomorrow, we begin a new chapter."
…
That night, after the plant gates closed, Ethan quietly drove in a truck himself, showing his face at the guard post to avoid suspicion. No one but him knew what the truck really carried—hundreds of millions of Volt Ants. They couldn't simply "appear" out of thin air.
…
The next morning, workers entered the workshop to find empty crates scattered across the ground, with clear ant trails running from them. The guard, still buzzing from last night, eagerly told everyone how Ethan had personally driven a truckload of "equipment" into the plant.
When asked, Ethan brushed it aside with a single word: "Confidential." A trade secret. He wasn't worried about imitation—because no one could possibly copy what he had.
Soon after, sanitation trucks arrived, dumping piles of freshly collected leaves into the yard. Under Ethan's instruction, workers tossed some directly onto the soil above the buried electromagnetic collector boards.
The workers stared in disbelief as ants poured out by the millions, already building nests, slicing through leaves with razor claws, and carrying them underground. Within minutes, the big screen in the control room began to flicker—current rising steadily.
"Holy—! It's generating electricity! The current's climbing!"
The workshop erupted.
"It works! It really works!"
"I told you—Mr. Cole wouldn't change the company name for nothing. This is real tech, an upgrade!"
"Unbelievable. Ants eating leaves… and we're watching power flow into the grid."
Ethan allowed himself a small, satisfied smile. The ants hadn't even covered a fifth of the workshop floor, yet already they were producing visible results. The colony's growth rate was astonishing. With natural reproduction, their numbers would rise every month—but Ethan planned to push expansion even faster, trading earned "power value" back into the system for more ants.
"Alright," he ordered. "Back to your posts. Production department—keep an eye on the leaves. If the piles run low, add more."
Compared to shoveling coal into a furnace, tossing leaves onto soil was child's play. The workers, relieved, returned to their duties in good spirits.
Meanwhile, Ethan's mind turned to the next step: the market. Cole Power Group had the ants. It had the power. Now it needed customers.
He would not slash prices. That was the mark of a desperate businessman. Price wars only dragged companies into ruin. Instead, he'd take another path—a bold promise:
Never-ending electricity.
Across Seabridge, Eastmere, and the rest of the country, power outages plagued factories and households during peak demand. Everyone had lived through the sudden blackouts. But Ethan's Volt Ants would never fail him.
So his message to the market would be simple:
"As long as you use electricity from Cole Power Group, there will never be an outage caused by insufficient supply. If it happens, we'll not only refund your monthly bill, but also pay ten times compensation."
A wild guarantee. Reckless, some would say. But Ethan smiled to himself. With his Volt Ants, the risk was zero.
And soon, everyone would know it.