In the 86th floor conference hall of the Qianwu Continent within the Virtual Universe, a meeting was taking place.
On one side sat the senior executives of Pinghai Corporation, and on the other side were the high-level officials from the Virtual Universe Company’s investment department stationed at Qianwu Continent.
Xu Xin and Botele completed the document handover and both signed their names.
“Happy cooperation!”
“Happy cooperation!”
Xu Xin smiled, stood up, and raised her teacup. “After a successful signing, we Earthlings usually celebrate with a toast. Mr. Botele, please try this new tea beverage our Pinghai Corporation has recently developed.”
“Oh?” Botele accepted the cup with a smile. “A toast to celebrate? That’s novel.”
The subordinates from both sides also raised their glasses, then toasted together.
“Hmm, quite good. The slight bitterness lingers in the mouth—it’s fascinating,” Botele nodded approvingly. “I like the name ‘tea.'” Botele struggled slightly to pronounce the Chinese word ‘cha.’
Xu Xin smiled. “I like it too, because it brings substantial profits.”
“Exactly,” Botele said, his face beaming.
With the technology of the universe, replicating Earth’s culinary culture in the Virtual Universe wasn’t difficult. However, in the Virtual Universe, these innovations were protected by patents. Xu Xin had quickly registered many Earth-based cultural elements on the Virtual Universe Network, ensuring that even if other companies uncovered some secrets, they couldn’t copy them without facing hefty patent infringement penalties.
“In the future, Pinghai Corporation will be in your capable hands, Madam Luo,” Botele said. “Otherwise, I’d be held accountable for a failed acquisition.”
“Rest assured,” Xu Xin replied with a smile.
“Haha, with such an excellent management team at Pinghai, of course I feel confident,” Botele smiled. “Then I look forward to Pinghai becoming a ‘Level-2 Subsidiary’ as soon as possible—ideally within a thousand years.”
“My goal is to achieve that within a hundred years,” Xu Xin smiled.
“Oh!”
Botele’s eyes lit up. “Yes, the sooner the better.”
“Please rest first, Mr. Botele. We’ve already prepared a celebration banquet,” Xu Xin smiled and arranged for the high-level officials from the Investment Department of the Virtual Universe Company’s Qianwu Division to be escorted to their accommodations.
Inside the conference room, only Xu Xin and a short-haired woman remained.
“Xu Jie, we did it!” the short-haired woman said excitedly.
“Selling 51% of the equity at 10.2 times the price—how’s that?” Xu Xin smiled. “Including this major investment, Pinghai’s total net assets have now reached 32,882 Primordial Units.”
…
When Luo Feng received a bonus of 1,000 Primordial Units, he allocated 300 to his younger brother Luo Hua for investment and gave 200 to Xu Xin.
However, later on…
Since Xu Xin’s company earned substantial profits but depositing them in banks yielded low returns, she decided to let Luo Hua handle financial investments instead. Thus, Luo Hua also became an investor in Pinghai Corporation, eventually establishing an important department within the company—”the Financial Investment Division.”
At that time, the equity was distributed as follows:
Luo Feng held 50%, Luo Hua 25%, and Xu Xin 25%. At the time of the merger, Pinghai’s total assets were nearly 600 Primordial Units.
Luo Feng spent ten years in Chaos City, but in the original universe, over thirty years had passed.
During these thirty-plus years, Xu Xin managed the entire company while Luo Hua handled financial investments. Over three decades, the company’s assets grew from nearly 600 Primordial Units to nearly 3,000. Though this seemed like a modest increase—only a few times the original—it would be considered extremely low efficiency on Earth, barely worth mentioning.
However, in the universe, such returns were already considered exceptionally high, as larger investments made generating profits increasingly difficult.
Large-scale investments often attracted the attention of financial giants.
It was common to suffer losses if one wasn’t careful.
To generate over five times the profit in more than thirty years? Extremely difficult!
Many Immortal Beings, with lifespans spanning millions of years, found it extremely hard to double their wealth through investments.
Because in the Virtual Universe, many ancient beings with lifespans in the billions of years, combined with the regulation system of the Virtual Universe, ensured that currency value remained stable. A Primordial Unit from a hundred million years ago retained nearly the same purchasing power even after a hundred million years!
This meant!
Making profits from massive financial investments was extremely difficult.
Even ‘Pinghai Corporation’ managed to achieve this only by rapidly expanding its chain of restaurants combined with financial investments.
…
The equity was re-divided again. Previously, the shareholders of Pinghai Corporation held only 49% of the shares, while the Virtual Universe Company held 51%. In reality, the three original shareholders—Luo Feng, Luo Hua, and Xu Xin—had all seen a substantial increase in their wealth. Although their share percentages had decreased, Pinghai’s net assets had grown from nearly 3,000 Primordial Units to nearly 33,000!
Combined, the equity assets of Luo Feng, Luo Hua, and Xu Xin instantly surpassed 160 million Primordial Units!
“The subsidiaries of the Virtual Universe Company are divided into four tiers: Level-3, Level-2, Level-1, and Super-Tier subsidiaries,” Xu Xin said, looking at the document in her hand. “A net asset value of 1,000 Primordial Units qualifies as a Level-3 subsidiary, while 100,000 Primordial Units qualifies as a Level-2 subsidiary!”
“A net asset value of 10 million Primordial Units qualifies as a Level-1 subsidiary.”
“A net asset value of 100 million Primordial Units qualifies as a Super-Tier subsidiary.”
The Commercial Division and the Martial Division were the two major divisions of the Virtual Universe Company.
“A Level-3 subsidiary manager is still considered an outer-circle member.”
“A Level-2 subsidiary manager can become a core member of the ‘Apocalyptic Secret Realm.'”
“A Level-1 subsidiary manager becomes a member of the ‘Heavenly and Earthly Secret Realm.'”
“A Super-Tier subsidiary manager becomes a member of the ‘Primordial Secret Realm.'”
Xu Xin gazed at the document, her eyes gleaming.
“Our company’s current net assets are nearly 33,000 Primordial Units. It’s not too far from reaching 100,000,” Xu Xin murmured. “Let’s aim to achieve that within 60 years!”
“Sixty years?” The short-haired woman exclaimed beside her.
The larger the assets, the harder it was to grow.
A hundred million Cosmic Credits, Luo Hua could easily turn into a billion within two or three years.
But if it were a hundred million Primordial Units, even given millions or tens of millions of years, Luo Hua couldn’t dream of multiplying it tenfold. If he could truly increase it to a billion Primordial Units, the Virtual Universe Company would immediately treat him as a super-being, assigning Immortal Guardians to protect him!
Because!
Such wealth-generating speed would be even more terrifying than an Immortal King!
Therefore, small-scale achievements don’t reflect one’s true capability.
The real measure of power among the giants and elites was the ability to generate massive wealth. Clearly, the Virtual Universe Company had high hopes for Pinghai Corporation.
“Mm, 60 years,” Xu Xin nodded slightly.
“Promoting to a Level-2 subsidiary in 60 years is too difficult,” the short-haired woman shook her head.
“Just keep striving.”
Xu Xin smiled, thinking to herself, “In 60 years, I should be done with my training in Chaos City. Before that, I can meet him at Yuxiang Mountain… I wonder what his expression will be like then.” A hint of anticipation flickered in her eyes.
…
In Chaos City.
“This is the place!” Luo Feng arrived at the gates of a mansion. At this moment, small groups of cultivators were entering the estate.
“Today is the lecture by Zhenyan King. I heard he’s going to explain the first to third diagrams of the ‘Nine Heavens Chaos Stele.'”
“Yeah, although I’m currently studying the fourth diagram, I always gain something from listening to the basic explanations.”
“Same with me.”
“A true master is a true master.”
Numerous Monarchs, and even Immortal cultivators, entered the mansion. Luo Feng also entered without any hindrance, as the scanning device at the gate detected no issues, confirming his eligibility to attend the lecture.
Inside the estate.
Across a plaza spanning dozens of kilometers, hundreds of cultivators had already gathered.
“There sure are a lot of people,” Luo Feng sat in a corner.
“Young man, is this your first time attending a lecture?” A bald old man sitting not far from Luo Feng smiled.
“Yeah,” Luo Feng nodded.
“A Universe-Level cultivator attending a lecture—impressive! I bet you were selected from the Genius Competition, and probably ranked among the top, right?” The old man chuckled. By now, over a thousand cultivators had gathered in the plaza.
Boom~~~~
An invisible pressure suddenly swept across the entire plaza. The thousand-plus cultivators fell silent out of respect for the master. A tall, ape-like figure in golden armor strode into the plaza. With each step, his body flickered, covering several kilometers. Dozens of cultivators followed behind him.
“Instant movement—that’s teleportation.”
“Zhenyan King’s teleportation has reached an incredible level.” Murmurs arose from below, though the voices were very low.
“The ones following Zhenyan King are his disciples. If only we could become his apprentices too.”
“It’s all about ability. Without it, how could Zhenyan King accept you?”
Luo Feng held his breath and watched.
In the distance, Zhenyan King sat cross-legged, with dozens of disciples seated on either side. The rest of the thousand-plus cultivators who hadn’t been accepted as disciples were merely here to listen.
“Today, I will explain in detail the first three diagrams of the ‘Nine Heavens Chaos Stele.’ These three diagrams are the foundation,” Zhenyan King said, extending his finger to point into the air. Suddenly, complex golden runes appeared in midair, resembling the runes on the scales of a Gold-Horned Beast.
“This first diagram, the fundamental laws of operation, should be like this…”
In midair, the intricate golden runes flowed like mechanical gears, exuding mysterious and unfathomable law power.
“How amazing,” Luo Feng stared in awe.
…
During the lecture, Zhenyan King spoke clearly and described everything in detail, but the gathered cultivators still found it mysterious and abstract.
Each cultivator’s understanding varied based on their personal cultivation experiences.
“Alright, today’s lecture ends here,” Zhenyan King said calmly after three days.
“Thank you, Master!”
The thousand-plus cultivators bowed respectfully.
At that moment, from among the crowd, a young man with black hair stepped forward and walked directly toward the front, immediately drawing the attention of everyone present, filled with astonishment: “Could this kid really be going to request apprenticeship?”
At the very front, Zhenyan King’s face broke into a slight smile.
…
“This Luo Feng actually went to apprentice under Zhenyan!” In another mansion within Chaos City, Jianhuang King, who had been meditating, shook his head helplessly.
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