Chapter 60: Carter's Assets and Vacation Plans
Chris, who'd spent the day at school being congratulated on his election victory, arrived at the pickup spot as arranged.
Lois was indeed already waiting there, and Meg had already claimed the back seat with her headphones on.
"How was your day? Were your classmates as enthusiastic as you worried?"
Listening to Lois's concerned greeting, Chris replied with a smile, "Very enthusiastic, actually. I'm starting to like the attention."
"That's wonderful. You've really changed so much. It's like that head injury actually gave you confidence!"
"Uh..." Chris didn't respond to that particularly dark observation.
The three returned home in comfortable silence. Lois went to start dinner, Meg disappeared to her room to blast emo music, and a bored Chris decided to find Stewie.
Since Brian was still managing the factory gate and it wasn't quitting time yet, Stewie was the only family member available for conversation.
"Well, well! If it isn't Chris! You're willing to make peace so quickly?"
Seeing Chris walk into his room, Stewie taunted him, clearly not forgetting yesterday's stomach pump betrayal.
"Hey, don't be so petty! I thought after this morning, we'd already moved past that?"
"Hmph!" Stewie thought about asking Chris to lift him into his chair that morning, and his expression became complicated.
Could he admit he'd just woken up that morning and temporarily forgotten about the previous day's trauma?
Obviously not—that would severely damage his image as a genius!
So Stewie could only snort dismissively while allowing Chris to enter his laboratory.
"Speak. What do you want from me?"
"Can't I just visit you without needing something? Meg's too boring—she just watches depressing TV shows and listens to terrible music. Brian's at work, so you're literally my only option!"
Facing Chris's brutally honest assessment, Stewie sneered, "So I'm just your backup entertainment? That's really touching!"
"Whatever, let's move on. I need you to add a manual shutdown function to the temporal synchronization device on my wristband, to prevent me from traveling too long and having too much time pass here."
"Why didn't you just say so from the start instead of wasting my time?" Stewie grumbled as he grabbed Chris's wrist, operated the band interface a few times, and it popped right off.
"Any other modifications? I'll add them all at once to save us both trouble!"
Holding the wristband, Stewie asked Chris for confirmation, actually wanting to be thorough.
Chris, however, looked at Stewie with exasperation. "You're the genius here, why are you asking me? I'd love a time-stop function too, but is that even realistic?"
"Tsk tsk tsk, you really do dream big. I can't achieve large-scale spatiotemporal stasis, and the power cell on your wristband isn't sufficient to support stopping time. You can forget about that function for now.
Since you don't have any useful ideas, I'll proceed with my own modifications. Don't complain if you encounter problems later!"
Hearing Stewie's warning, Chris nodded indifferently. After gaining the death-accident ability, Chris discovered he could not only inflict bad luck on others but also subtly manipulate his own fortune.
Therefore, as long as it wasn't an overwhelmingly catastrophic disaster, Chris could protect himself adequately.
After giving Stewie his instructions, Chris shifted the conversation to the beverage factory.
It had to be said that Stewie's capabilities were genuinely impressive, and Mayor West's shares were paying off handsomely.
In just these few days, the factory's production capacity had reached one million bottles daily—just enough to supply Rhode Island's residents.
However, because the beverage's effects were so powerful, many residents were hoarding large quantities, which prevented market saturation.
But according to Stewie's projections, in about two more weeks, once all residents realized the product wouldn't become scarce, the beverage would circulate normally in the market.
By then, they'd have accumulated substantial capital and could proceed to the next phase: opening their own chain of gyms and launching a fitness-oriented version of the beverage to attract health enthusiasts.
However, during their discussion, Chris suddenly thought of a critical question: the dragon blood beverage made people energetic and strengthened their immune systems.
So essentially, anyone who drank the dragon blood beverage regularly would be virtually immune to common illnesses.
But if that were the case, wouldn't Rhode Island's pharmaceutical companies come after them?
Upon learning of Chris's concerns, Stewie suddenly burst into laughter. "Hahahaha, Chris, Chris! Don't you realize that Rhode Island's largest pharmaceutical conglomerate is part of Carter's business empire?"
"Carter owns a pharmaceutical company too?"
Chris was genuinely surprised, as he really didn't know what industries his grandfather controlled.
He only knew from the show that Carter was extremely wealthy, but Chris had never grasped the actual extent of his fortune.
Seeing Chris's ignorant expression, Stewie smiled and opened a holographic projection, pulling up Carter's complete asset portfolio.
"Look—these are the assets under the Pewterschmidt Family holdings, and they're also the fortune you'll inherit eventually!"
Chris didn't think Stewie was joking, because in many Family Guy timelines, Carter's assets were indeed inherited by Chris.
However, those assets—totaling hundreds of billions of dollars—were always somehow squandered after falling into Chris's hands within remarkably short periods.
It could only be said that the Griffin family wasn't destined for lasting generational wealth!
But that was the original Chris's fate. For this version of Chris, making money was becoming increasingly simple, so even with the possibility of acquiring Carter's inheritance again, Chris didn't particularly care.
However, just a quick glance at the projection made Chris's jaw drop.
"Does our grandfather have any secret identities, like being Bruce Wayne or something? This is absolutely insane! Does Carter own half of Rhode Island? Doesn't the federal government care? Aren't there antitrust laws?"
The assets Chris was viewing now included nearly every essential industry for residents' daily lives: steel, energy, finance, media, technology, pharmaceuticals, and real estate.
It could be said that Carter's companies were involved in every aspect of food, clothing, housing, and transportation throughout Rhode Island, having essentially achieved complete economic self-circulation.
As long as Carter spent money anywhere in Rhode Island, no matter how extravagantly, the money would ultimately flow back into his own accounts.
That's why Chris was so shocked—because even with such an incomprehensibly vast fortune, the original Chris had somehow managed to squander it completely in a relatively short time.
It was genuinely impressive in the worst possible way!
"Hehehe, take a look at Carter's full name, and I think you'll understand why!"
Following Stewie's hint, Chris examined Carter's complete name, and immediately recognized something significant.
Carter Roosevelt Pewterschmidt!
"...Our family is actually related to that Roosevelt?" Chris was silent for a moment, then looked at Stewie hesitantly.
"No relation whatsoever—it's just a common name."
"What?!" Chris looked at Stewie in confusion, questioning why he should examine the name if there was no connection.
"Although there's no blood relation, don't you think Carter lives up to that name? After all, the taxes Carter pays are significantly less than the federal grants allocated to Rhode Island, and those grants ultimately return to Carter's enterprises anyway."
"So..." Chris still didn't understand what this had to do with Carter being able to essentially monopolize entire industries in Rhode Island.
"So, if Carter can achieve this level of control, it means he's part of the small group of ultra-wealthy elites at the absolute top of this country's power structure. And since he only dominates tiny Rhode Island, the other elites won't interfere!"
After Stewie's emphatic explanation, Chris rubbed his ears and continued, "Then why would Carter allow the dragon blood beverage to compete with his pharmaceutical division? Just because we're his grandsons?"
Hearing Chris's question, Stewie looked at him with surprise. "Isn't that reason enough? His current heir, Lois, is the only qualified successor, and you're Lois's eldest son. Who else would he give it to?"
"Fair enough, I guess." Chris thought about it and realized Stewie had a point. However, the thought of a ruthless capitalist like Carter having genuine family warmth felt bizarrely out of character.
After chatting for a while longer, Chris carried Stewie downstairs for dinner.
At that moment, Peter was sitting at the head of the dining table, excitedly announcing, "My pet bereavement leave got officially approved! That parrot's sacrifice wasn't in vain! Let's all raise a glass to Gonzo!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Peter chugged the beer in his hand.
Chris suspected Peter was just using this as an excuse to drink more beer, especially since no one else seemed particularly moved—which meant this parrot was probably just something Peter had acquired specifically to scam vacation days.
"Oh yes! Too bad I have human rights, otherwise I could sacrifice myself for your vacation time, Peter!" Seeing Peter's excited demeanor, Brian mocked him, clearly still holding a grudge about Peter's willingness to trade his life for time off.
"Come on, Brian, don't kill the mood! I'm about to announce something great!" Peter, who was reaching for another beer, waved dismissively at the sarcastic dog.
Then Peter continued enthusiastically, "To celebrate this vacation, how about we all take a family trip? I've already booked everything—we're going to Pawtucket!"
"That's amazing! We can finally do something fun together!"
Hearing Peter's announcement, Meg excitedly raised her hands and shouted, then was simultaneously shut down by both Peter and Lois:
"Shut up, Meg!" x 2
Lois and Peter exchanged glances, then Lois said more gently, "Be quiet while eating, and your father hasn't finished speaking yet."
"Huh?" Peter looked at Lois in confusion. Hadn't he finished? Was there more to say?
"Oh, right! We're leaving at six tomorrow morning, so everyone should get to bed early tonight."
Just as Peter finished speaking, Chris felt a slight fluctuation in his death-accident ability—a subtle warning pulse.
It seemed this vacation wouldn't be entirely peaceful after all!
But since it was a Griffin family collective activity, there probably wouldn't be any genuinely life-threatening danger, so there was no need to worry excessively.
Besides, Chris thought with a slight smirk, he now had the power to shift probability itself.
What could possibly go wrong in Pawtucket?
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