In the Qianwu Continent of the Virtual Universe, in the conference hall on the 86th floor of Pinghai Company.
On one side were the senior executives of Pinghai Company, while on the other were the senior executives of the Investment Department of the Virtual Universe Company stationed on the Qianwu Continent.
Xu Xin and Botlai exchanged the documents and signed their names on them.
“Happy cooperation!”
“Happy cooperation!”
Xu Xin smiled as she stood up and raised her wine glass. “After successfully signing a contract, toasting and celebrating with wine is a custom among us Earthlings. Mr Botlai, you should also try the tea beverage our Pinghai Company has recently developed.”
“Oh?” Botlai smiled as he accepted it. “Toasting to celebrate? How novel.”
The subordinates on both sides also raised their wine glasses, and then they all toasted together.
“Mm, this is really good. This slight bitterness lingers in the mouth, it is quite wonderful.” Botlai nodded repeatedly. “I like this name, ‘tea’.” Botlai awkwardly pronounced the Chinese character ‘茶’.
Xu Xin smiled faintly. “I like it too, because it can bring in huge profits.”
“Yes, exactly.” Botlai was beaming with delight.
With the technology of the universe, it was not difficult to research some of Earth’s food and beverage culture. However, there was patent protection in the Virtual Universe. Back then, Xu Xin had registered patents for many culturally distinctive things from Earth in the Virtual Universe network as quickly as possible. Even if other companies managed to research some of their secrets, they could not imitate them. Otherwise, they would have to pay enormous patent usage fees.
“From now on, I’ll be counting on you, Madam Luo, to manage Pinghai Company,” Botlai said repeatedly. “Otherwise, if this acquisition fails, I will be held responsible.”
“Please rest assured,” Xu Xin said with a smile.
“Haha, with such an excellent management team at Pinghai Company, of course I’m confident.” Botlai smiled. “Then I look forward to Pinghai Company being promoted to a ‘second-level subsidiary’ as soon as possible. Ideally, it should reach that level within a thousand years.”
“My goal is to achieve it within a hundred years,” Xu Xin said with a smile.
“Oh!”
Botlai’s eyes immediately lit up. “Yes, within a hundred years. The sooner, the better.”
“Please go and rest first, Mr Botlai. We have already prepared a celebration banquet,” Xu Xin said with a smile. She then arranged for people to take the senior executives of the Investment Department of the Virtual Universe Company’s Qianwu Division away to rest.
Only Xu Xin and the short-haired woman remained in the conference room.
“Sister Xu, we did it!” the short-haired woman said excitedly.
“At a price of 10.2 times the valuation, in exchange for giving them 51% of the shares, it isn’t bad.” Xu Xin smiled faintly. “With this huge investment coming in, the total net assets of our Pinghai Company have now reached 32,882 mixed units.”
……
Back then, Luo Feng had received a bonus of 1,000 mixed units. He had given 300 mixed units to his younger brother Luo Hua to operate, and another 200 mixed units to Xu Xin.
However, later…
Since Xu Xin’s company earned huge profits, simply depositing the money in a bank produced very low returns. It was better to let Luo Hua handle the financial investments as well. Therefore, Luo Hua also became a shareholder of Pinghai Company and took charge of one of its most important departments, the Financial Investment Department.
At that time, the shares were distributed as follows.
Luo Feng held 50% of the shares, Luo Hua held 25%, and Xu Xin held 25%. When Pinghai Company was first consolidated, its total assets had already reached nearly 600 mixed units.
Luo Feng had spent ten years in Chaos City, while more than thirty years had passed in the Original Universe.
During those thirty-plus years, Xu Xin was in charge of the entire company, while Luo Hua handled financial investments. Over those thirty-plus years, the company’s assets had risen from nearly 600 mixed units to nearly 3,000 mixed units. On the surface, the increase seemed quite small, only several times. If this were on Earth, such efficiency would indeed be extremely low and hardly worth mentioning.
But in reality, such returns were already extremely high in the universe, because the larger the amount invested, the harder it was to make money!
Large investments easily attracted the attention of various financial giants.
It was perfectly normal to suffer losses if one was even slightly careless.
To earn more than five times the original amount in thirty years was extremely difficult!
Many Immortal existences had lifespans of billions upon billions of years, yet even increasing their wealth by one time through investment was extremely difficult.
Because many ancient existences in the Virtual Universe had lifespans of hundreds of millions or even billions of years, combined with the regulation of the Virtual Universe system, currency had almost no inflation. Assuming that one mixed unit from a hundred million years ago had the same purchasing power a hundred million years later, there would be almost no change!
This resulted in one thing.
It was extremely difficult to make money through ultra-large-scale financial investments.
Even Pinghai Company had only managed to achieve this by combining rapidly expanding restaurant chains with financial investments.
……
After the shares were divided again, the previous shareholders of Pinghai Company held only 49% of the shares, while the Virtual Universe Company held 51%.
Yet in reality, the wealth of the three previous shareholders, Luo Feng, Luo Hua, and Xu Xin, had all undergone an enormous increase. Although their percentage of shares had decreased, the net assets of Pinghai Company had risen from nearly 3,000 mixed units to nearly 33,000 mixed units!
The combined value of the shares held by Luo Feng, Luo Hua, and Xu Xin instantly exceeded 16,000 mixed units!
“Subsidiaries under the Virtual Universe Company are divided into third-level subsidiaries, second-level subsidiaries, first-level subsidiaries, and special-grade subsidiaries.” Xu Xin looked at the documents in her hands. “A net asset value of 1,000 mixed units qualifies as a third-level subsidiary, while a net asset value of 100,000 mixed units qualifies as a second-level subsidiary!”
“Assets of 10 million mixed units qualify as a first-level subsidiary.”
“Assets of 1 billion mixed units qualify as a special-grade subsidiary.”
The Commerce Division and the Martial Division were the two major divisions of the Virtual Universe Company.
“The managers of third-level subsidiaries are still considered peripheral members.”
“The managers of second-level subsidiaries can become members of the core layer, specifically members of the End of the World Secret Region.”
“The managers of first-level subsidiaries become members of the World Secret Region.”
“The managers of special-grade subsidiaries become members of the Primordial Secret Region.”
Xu Xin looked at the documents, her eyes shining.
“Our company’s net assets are now nearly 33,000 mixed units. The distance to 100,000 mixed units isn’t particularly far.” Xu Xin said quietly. “Let’s strive to reach it within sixty years!”
“Sixty years?” The short-haired woman exclaimed.
The greater the assets and the larger the scale, the harder it became to make money, and the more difficult it was to grow.
With 100 million universe dollars, Luo Hua could easily turn it into 1 billion universe dollars in two or three years.
But if it were 100 million mixed units, even if Luo Hua were given a million or ten million years, wanting to increase it tenfold would be nothing more than a dream. If he really managed to turn it into 1 billion mixed units, the Virtual Universe Company would immediately regard him as a super existence worthy of special protection and immediately arrange Immortal existences to protect him!
Because!
That rate of wealth generation would be even more terrifying than that of an Immortal King!
Therefore, small-scale ventures could not demonstrate one’s true ability.
The ability to make money from enormous amounts of wealth was what the various giants and major figures truly competed over. Clearly, the Virtual Universe Company had considerable confidence in Pinghai Company.
“Mm, sixty years.” Xu Xin nodded gently.
“Becoming a second-level subsidiary in just sixty years is far too difficult.” The short-haired woman shook her head repeatedly.
“Let’s work hard.”
Xu Xin smiled, but inwardly she thought, “In sixty years, he should just about have finished his cultivation in Chaos City. If I can meet him at Rain Mountain Residence before he finishes… I imagine the expression on his face will be quite interesting.”
There was a hint of anticipation in Xu Xin’s eyes.
Chaos City.
“This is it!” Luo Feng arrived at the entrance of a residence. At this moment, cultivators in twos and threes were entering the residence.
“King Zhen Yan is giving a lecture today. I heard he’ll be explaining the first three pictures of the ‘Nine Universe Chaos Monument’.”
“Mm, although I’m currently comprehending the fourth picture, I still gain something every time I listen to the basic explanations.”
“Me too.”
“A Grandmaster really is a Grandmaster.”
One World Lord after another, and even Immortal cultivators, entered the residence. Luo Feng also entered with them. The signal detector at the entrance swept over Luo Feng without obstructing him, clearly indicating that Luo Feng had the right to attend the lecture.
Inside the residence.
On a square stretching dozens of kilometres in length and width, several hundred cultivators had already gathered.
“Quite a lot of people.” Luo Feng also sat down in a corner.
“Young man, is this your first time attending a lecture?” An elderly bald man sitting not far from Luo Feng asked with a smile. He could tell at a glance that the person before him was only at the Universe level.
“Yes.” Luo Feng nodded.
“A Universe-level cultivator can come here to attend lectures. It seems you were selected from the Genius Battle, and you must have ranked among the very best in the Genius Battle, right?” the bald old man said with a smile.
At this moment, the number of cultivators gathered in the square had already exceeded a thousand.
Boom~~~~
An invisible pressure instantly spread across the entire square. The more than one thousand cultivators gathered there all fell silent, expressing their respect for the Grandmaster.
A burly ape-man wearing golden battle armour walked towards the square. With every step, his figure flashed several kilometres forward. Dozens of cultivators followed behind him.
“Teleportation, that is teleportation.”
“King Zhen Yan’s mastery of teleportation has already reached an unimaginable level.” Quiet discussions arose from below, but everyone’s voices were extremely soft.
“Those following behind King Zhen Yan are all his disciples. If only we could successfully become his disciples.”
“That depends on your ability. Without sufficient ability, why would King Zhen Yan accept you?”
Luo Feng held his breath as he watched.
In the distance, King Zhen Yan sat cross-legged, with dozens of disciples sitting on both sides of him. As for the more than one thousand people who had failed to become his disciples, they were merely there to listen to the lecture.
“Today, I will carefully explain the first three pictures of the ‘Nine Universe Chaos Monument’. These three pictures form the foundation.” King Zhen Yan extended a finger and pointed towards the sky.
Complex secret inscriptions actually appeared in mid-air, resembling the secret inscriptions on the scales of the Golden-Horned Beast.
“As for this first picture, the operation of the fundamental Laws should be like this…”
The complex golden secret inscriptions in mid-air flowed and circulated like the wheels of a machine, containing mysterious and unfathomable power of the Laws.
“How amazing.” Luo Feng stared in astonishment.
……
During the lecture, King Zhen Yan explained everything clearly and described everything clearly, yet the group of cultivators still found it incredibly profound and mysterious.
Everyone experienced it differently based on their own comprehension.
“Alright, today’s lecture ends here.” Three days later, King Zhen Yan spoke calmly.
“Thank you, Teacher!”
More than a thousand cultivators respectfully bowed.
At this moment, a black-haired young man immediately stepped out from among the thousand-plus cultivators and walked directly towards the front of the crowd. This immediately drew the gazes of all the cultivators, who were filled with astonishment.
“Is this kid going to become his disciple?”
King Zhen Yan, who was seated at the very front, revealed a faint smile.
……
“This Luo Feng really went to become Zhen Yan’s disciple!” In another residence in Chaos City, King Sword Emperor, who was meditating in seclusion, could not help shaking his head. He was quite helpless.