Jin had expected that Ke Loong would want to join his ‘illustrious’ Panda Clan, especially since Kong Rong had tried to persuade him into accepting his friend. But the way this CEO was acting was too much for Jin to handle.
If anyone had told him that a mighty man like Ke Loong would prostrate in front of him for the chance to work for him rather than demanding certain conditions, Jin would have never believed it. With all the scheming he had to endure from other Royal Zodiacs (especially the Tigers), Jin had nearly lost all faith in dealing with such people.
“Ke Loong, get up, this is unseemly. Other people might not see you right now, but this is totally unnecessary.” Jin gathered senses as he tried to bring the CEO up from his knees, which he managed with little effort.
Ke Loong was quite that Jin could actually pick him up from his kneeling stance. To have the strength to pull him up and with technique showed Ke Loong he was indeed skilful. Jin was not wrong in mistrusting others, as the CEO of Sea Mesh was using an Advanced Martial Technique to keep him steady on the ground. While he was indeed genuinely asking to be in his clan, Ke Loong could not help to stay in character, and thus his kneeling had been a form of a test intended to tease his Young Master. (After all the Sea Mesh CEO still had some sense of twisted pride.)
Perhaps it was a tit for tat for making him try to find Jin in his Panda Street Stance but generally, he performed this trick on most people he requested help from. For those businessmen who knew Ke Loong and his style, some would say this was a form of reverse psychology. If the person could not lift him up from his prostrating position, it could be seen as a sign that his request was too much for that person to deal with.
But to Jin, all he had to do was to hold his shoulders and slowly pick the CEO up while maintaining some form of balance. He knew the Ke Loong was more towards the heavier spectrum, but he had no idea he was being tested.
Eventually, the CEO slowly released his technique when he got up and saw that Jin did not bounce when he got a little lighter. Instead, Jin merely shifted his balance naturally to let him stand straight and subsequently poured a cup of water for Ke Loong to drink.
The Sea Mesh CEO was very impressed by Jin’s handling since not many were able to carry him up, much less handle him smoothly. Even Kong Rong had difficulty bringing him up normally and required a few tries. This reinforced the fact that Jin was indeed a trained cultivator despite Kong Rong’s information on him. (After all, seeing is believing.)
“Instead of prostrating, tell me the reason why you still wish to bet your entire company on me. I did send an email informing you about my decision to stop the portal devices, and my employees should have seen to their deactivation. I shall honour what I said in that mail, and I will pay for the cost of the production incurred already by the end of the month.” Jin promised, even though he knew he could pay it even sooner thanks to the funds he would receive by the end of the week for what the Royal Zodiac Tigers had done earlier in the day.
“I am not worried about that, and in fact, I’m okay with your choice of ditching that technology. However, let me also warn you that people will still try to reverse engineer them, especially after they’ve seen your products in action. Even though I ran a tight ship when it came to the blueprints and held my workers strictly on a need-to-know basis, one of them is bound to spill the beans since everyone wants a piece of your portal device. It’s next-level technology, ushering to the age of automation and convenience.” Ke Loong turned serious. “Its too enticing for my employees when all they needed was a bag full of cash to open their mouths. There is no such thing as loyalty in this era.”
“I know that. It was part of the reason why I wanted things to be done locally, instead of being outsourced to some german factory.” Jin said crudely which incidentally offended Ke Loong a little since he had great ties with that German manufacturer. But he understood that Jin might not know the relationship he had and thus Ke Loong explained why he had taken that ‘risk’.
“Your what?!” Jin exclaimed, and it nearly shocked the Panda Waiter enough to drop the food and assume a defensive position to guard his master. (And the food at the same time.) “Oh sorry, please just bring in the food.”
“Apologies too. Yes, right away master.” The Panda Waiter returned its composure and placed the food on the table. Before leaving, it even helped refill their glasses. Ke Loong got a little frightened by the sudden action taken by the Waiter, but Jin reassured him that it is a defensive mechanism inbuilt into the NPCs to ensure the safety of customers in his Panda Street Instance.
“Ah…I did hear something along that line of an advanced AI by Kong Rong. He was raving about it even though I tried to get more information about you… Anyways, as I said, that german factory belongs to my stepbrother. He might be of a different mother, but our brotherhood is tight as fuck.” Ke Loong boasted while clenching his fists and Jin was speechless.
“In any case, I actually own nearly half the shares of the factory so by putting me under you, you would have control of that factory too.” Ke Loong explained, his eyes were confident that there was nothing to worry about. “In any case, I have not come here to talk with you about the portals. I think that you are not concerned about the portal because of your new invention. Your upcoming Virtual Reality Network!”
“Is that the reason why you’ve rushed to meet me?”
“YES!!! When Kong Rong told me about it, my brain literally exploded with excitement! Can you imagine the amount of money we could earn by being the very first global distributor of a Virtual Reality Network? This is the stuff you only normally read about in those web novels, but I believe you will actually be able to turn such a fantasy into reality! We will kill all the competition in an instant. And seeing how Kong Rong insisted that he could not say more unless I became a Panda Associate, here I am, stripped of my pride to become yours truly.” Ke Loong announced while his arms were wide open and it somehow irked Jin a little.
“Most importantly! The realisation of being on board for making the very first working Virtual Reality Network in the world! That is a goal worth accomplishing in my lifetime! Our names will go down in history!”
Even Jin could understand the indescribable urge of getting the Virtual Network done and with Ke Loong and his connections. This would be the breakthrough Jin needed to expand the network quickly too.
Thus, without any further delay, he brought out the very same contract that they had used on Kong Rong. The only thing was the System made some amendments to it since the CEO had a variety of properties in his name. In the event, Sea Mesh turned bankrupt, there should be no implication of it to Jin. However, the wording was so shrewd that even Ke Loong who was experienced in looking at legal documents, did not pick it up. (The System must have learned a trick or two from analysing Xiong Da’s way of writing contracts.)
To him, the CEO would do whatever it took to be rich, famous and accomplished, and Jin definitely had the means to allow him to achieve that.
It was a win-win situation.
Only once he had signed it, did Ke Loong learn that there was so much more waiting for him. His brain repeatedly exploded from the revelation of the System’s existence and Jin’s explanation during their snacks. (which they eventually called for more.) Ke Loong had already tried to overestimate the possible potential Jin had in his hands, but the System had blown all those out of the window. With proper backing by him, the Sea Mesh CEO already started to spit out ideas which could help Jin.
The discussion subsequently became one of the longest nights that they could ever have with the System taking down all the notes. (Even though The System insisted it is not Jin’s secretary.)
