Countless audience members faced the pitch-black livestream, but they still recalled the scene of Xu Jingming's easy rampage on the fourth floor of Cosmos Tower.
"Too strong."
"How much stronger is Xu Jingming compared to half a month ago? He killed the ape king so easily?"
"Moreover, the shield techniques and spear techniques he spoke of seem quite easy."
Experts made people instinctively believe in them! The way Xu Jingming easily steamrolled the fourth level of Cosmos Tower won the hearts of many easily.
"I'll study his classes carefully. I won't ask for much. I'll be satisfied if I can have one-tenth of his strength." After watching the livestream, countless viewers immediately swarmed into the Martial Arts Center to take up Xu Jingming's martial arts course.
In the stands, Miyagawa Meishin sat in silence.
I reckon I have a chance of killing the ape king in half a month, Miyagawa Meishin thought. I thought I was improving quickly, but this old senior Tiger Fussen broke through yesterday while Xu Jingming easily killed the ape king today.
I thought the gap between Xu Jingming and me would shrink, but from the looks of it, the gap might be even greater!
Miyagawa Meishin got up and returned to the martial arts arena in his personal space.
...
Although I'm confident of clearing the fourth level of Cosmos Tower in three days, there's still a huge gap between the three strongest people in the world and me. Russia's current number one expert, Akinov, sat in the stands silently.
But I believe I'll catch up to them. Akinov got up and left.
...
This kid is growing way too fast. Liu Hai was a little dumbfounded. I don't have any confidence in fighting him now. Perhaps I'll be defeated by him.
I have to work hard. I was first on the Cosmos Ranking twice after all; I'm his master! Liu Hai continued working hard.
Although the outside world felt that Liu Hai was invincible, and he was indeed very strong, Liu Hai felt a strong sense of urgency. Be it Tejano or his disciple—Xu Jingming—their speed of improvement was too fast.
Fang Yu, who was still stuck at the limit of Lv. 3, was sitting cross-legged in a chamber in reality.
I've taken Liu Hai, Tejano, and Xu Jingming's courses. Only Xu Jingming talked about mental tempering, Fang Yu thought. According to Xu Jingming, mental tempering can greatly improve the neural network. With strong neural signals, one can naturally mobilize the body at a deeper level. This… might be the difference between them and me.
I received a complete Lv. 7 legacy from the country, and there's also a complete mental-tempering cultivation technique included. However, I've practiced it for many days and have been stuck at a bottleneck. I doubted it and reduced the time I spent tempering my mind every day.
According to Xu Jingming, one needs to practice for at least three to five hours a day, or even 12 hours a day. Then, from today onward, I'll practice for 12 hours a day.
Fang Yu had been a good student since he was a child. He learned from his elders when he was a child, and now, he learned from Xu Jingming. This was because of the three strongest people in the world… Only Xu Jingming spoke about the essence of martial arts and gave a clear direction.
Liu Hai and Tejano's explanations were meaningless to Fang Yu, who had reached the limit of Lv. 3.
He had even doubted the mental-tempering art previously. After all, he couldn't see any progress! Moreover, he felt that mental tempering sounded like hogwash.
Xu Jingming's explanation of neural networks made the mental-tempering art comprehensible.
Whoosh.
Fang Yu cultivated the evolutionary method with only one goal—to improve his neural network.
In fact, tempering one's mind was a very difficult task. After all, one had to remain motionless for a long period of time and have a sufficiently calm mind… It would be fine if one improved, but if one didn't, many people would be filled with thoughts. These myriad thoughts led to doubt, confusion, and even torment…
In fact, Xu Jingming's 'neural network' explanation was very superficial; it was based on Xu Jingming's current level of experience. However, it did manage to 'convince' Fang Yu!
The mental-tempering art in the Lv. 7 legacy was too profound, so it was difficult for Fang Yu to agree with his values completely. Instead, he agreed with Xu Jingming's superficial explanation.
Since he was convinced and had a direction, his heart was set.
Fang Yu focused for 12 hours before being awoken by the alarm clock.
It feels pretty good. Fang Yu felt energized after waking up. His mind felt invigorated and comfortable—an extremely wonderful state.
I've found the right direction for mental tempering. I'll just practice like this. Fang Yu smiled. At this moment, he was very grateful to Xu Jingming and treated him as a teacher. He had studied under teachers since he was a child!
When he became the strongest and didn't have a teacher, he became lost, not knowing how to advance. He couldn't figure out the Lv. 7 legacy thoroughly either.
Time passed.
The experts grew stronger.
Akinov, Halu Singh, Miyagawa Meishin, Zhao Fan, and Merritt cleared the Cosmos Tower's fourth floor in the following half-month.
Fang Yu finally broke through to Lv. 4 half a month later, but he was clearly far behind the world's top.
...
December 1.
"Dad." Pang Yun came to his father's personal space and handed him a document. "I've analyzed Cheng Zihao's behavior over the past year! I've also predicted his future fate."
Pang Ze received it with a smile and looked forward to it.
Pang Yun waited by the side.
"There are many problems with your analysis." Pang Ze shook his head gently. "It's still too superficial, but your conclusion is right—Cheng Zihao will go bankrupt!"
"I'll give you 50 points out of a perfect score of 100," Pang Ze said. "There were many mistakes in the process, but the conclusion was right. That's how you received 50 points."
"Only 50 points? A fail?" Pang Yun was a little indignant. "Dad, how did I not analyze it well? Tell me."
"It's like answering a question. If the process is wrong but the answer is right, marks are typically not given." Pang Ze smiled at his son. "It's not bad to give you 50 marks."
"As for what's not good enough?" Pang Ze shook his head. "Don't worry. We'll see how it goes in the future. Look at Cheng Zihao's fate in reality; we'll see it in a month. I'll explain it to you when it's completely revealed."
"Okay." Pang Yun nodded.
"Alright, you've finished the first dossier." Pang Ze flipped his hand, and another dossier appeared beside him. He handed it to his son. "This is Fang Yu's dossier."
"Fang Yu?" Pang Ze took it.
"All the detailed information about Fang Yu from when he was a child until yesterday is recorded." Pang Ze smiled at his son. "I want you to analyze the reasons behind Fang Yu's past success and failure carefully. Also… predict Fang Yu's future."
"Alright." Pang Yun took the dossier in expectation. When analyzing a person's life, life seemed to become clearer to him, and he found it possible to predict the outcome of many actions. He liked this feeling; he was entranced by it when he was analyzing Cheng Zihao's life.
"Go then." Pang Ze couldn't help but be delighted when he saw his son's eyes filled with fighting spirit. It looked like his son was interested in this.
He was his son after all, and he was talented in this aspect.
Pang Yun left.
My path is only the first step in initiating enlightenment. Even if you can't finish learning, you can at least lead a good life. Although Pang Ze had expectations for his son, reason told him that it was too difficult for his son to grow to his level.
...
In the virtual world's personal space.
Cheng Zihao sat in the immortal abode and looked at the swirling clouds with a cold expression.
Suddenly, a transmission connected.
"Huh?" Cheng Zihao took a look. Although he was in a bad mood, he forced a smile and established the connection.
A middle-aged man appeared on the other end of the transmission.
The middle-aged man frowned and said, "Young Master Cheng, I heard that the company's net loss reached 2.2 billion in November?"
"Director Wang, are you that well-informed?" Cheng Zihao smiled obsequiously.
"You were supposed to send me the financial report from the previous month at the beginning of every month. It's already the 5th, so I knew something was amiss when I didn't receive your financial report," the middle-aged man stated coldly. "Young Master Cheng, do you have any explanation for the 2.2 billion loss?"
"As you know, at the beginning of this month, the Earth Alliance allowed experts on the Cosmos Ranking to live-stream globally. Every expert is very popular, especially Liu Hai, Tejano, and Xu Jingming. Every livestream drew the attention of nearly half the number of viewers on the spectator platform. Coupled with the livestreams of other experts… The live-streaming market is really miserable these days," Cheng Zihao said immediately. "In order to maintain our leadership position in the virtual world market while it's still in the early stages, we had to spend money and sign on many popular streamers. Many contract sign-on bonuses and salaries have to be distributed monthly. November was a black swan event, so the losses were huge."
"You've been incurring losses the past few months as well," the middle-aged man said.
"We're buying market share," Cheng Zihao said. "If we don't spend money now, we won't be able to gain any market share even if we spend ten times the money in the future."
"But your market share hasn't increased at all. Instead, it shrank." The middle-aged man shook his head gently.
His conversation with Cheng Zihao was to get the latter's explanation. If the latter could convince him, he could give Cheng Zihao a chance. But from the looks of it, Cheng Zihao only knew how to find excuses!
"I'm hereby informing you." The middle-aged man said, "In ten days, return the five billion we loaned to your company, including interest."
"We can return the loan and interest at any time," Cheng Zihao said with a sycophantic smile. "There's no need to be nervous. We agreed back then that you could do a debt-to-equity swap at any time. How about this—why don't we reduce the 'share price' for the swap?"
"There's no need." The middle-aged man said, "You just need to pay back the money. If you don't do so in ten days, I'll see you in court! When that happens, you can't blame me if your assets are frozen."
With that said, the transmission ended.
"F*ck you. All these bloodsuckers only provide help when the times are good, but they can't provide any timely help! They only know how to add insult to injury," Cheng Zihao cursed angrily.
Back then, the company had taken loans.
The huge sum of money he borrowed had a clause allowing a debt-to-equity swap. Now, the other party didn't care about the company's shares and only requested the debt to be paid.
How could the company's cash flow handle that?
"Boss." Another message came.
"What's the matter?" Cheng Zihao looked over.
"Young Master Qu has sued us," Zhou Feng said helplessly. "They requested us to follow the contract of having the major shareholder buy back his shares. You personally have unlimited liability."
"Where the f*ck do I get the money to buy the shares back!?" Cheng Zihao gritted his teeth. "They're all a bunch of bloodsuckers. Bastards! Bastards!"
Clasping his head, Cheng Zihao ended the transmission and ignored everyone.
