No matter how self-confident one was, one still had to face reality.
With no money, no Wealth points, and a 1000 credit debt, the 340 credits Fang Ping had left at this point were not of very much use.
Fang Ping changed into his C-class alloy combat boots and put on his armor made from the hide of Peak Rank-4 Catacombs’ creatures before picking up his repaired fengzuidao.
He then looked at himself in the mirror and admired his reflection.
“Such a handsome person, but unfortunately, I have no money.
“Maybe it’s time to do something that will earn me a lot!”
After these muttered words, Fang Ping once again fell into a state of despair. No Wealth points meant that Fang Ping was officially a rookie who had newly entered Upper-stage Rank-3, not a formidable Upper-stage Rank-3 martial artist.
…
Fang Ping did not spend too much time indulging in self-pity and left the dormitory after putting on full battle gear.
Fu Changding, who was making his way over, saw Fang Ping coming out with a weapon. In shock, he asked, “Are you going to risk your life by battling President Qin?”
Fang Ping was confused. “Risk my life?”
“President Qin is looking for you. He’s ready to murder you. Didn’t you know?”
“What?”
“You charged him an interest of 0.1%, three times more than everyone else. He’s so angry he could spit blood. I just saw him making the rounds of our dormitory area with a weapon…”
“Looking for me?”
“Maybe.”
Fang Ping’s expression darkened. Did Qin Fengqing know he had achieved his breakthrough?
Was the President taking advantage of the fact that he had not yet achieved Rank-4 to gain the upper hand and beat him up?
“Is he still here?”
“Are you really going to risk your life and fight him?” Fu Changding was astonished. Fang Ping was now so impressive that he even dared to challenge Qin Fengqing.
Qin Fengqing was a strong fighter who had managed to escape from a Rank-5 powerhouse. He had killed a Rank-4 martial artist and was ranked sixth on the Martial Arts University Combat Strength ranking list. He was most certainly powerful, this one!
Even in the national ranking, Qin Fengqing was among the top one hundred martial artists in the three lower ranks—perhaps even among the top fifty.
Back then, Wang Jinyang was among the top thirty on the national Rank-3 list.
In other words, at the same rank, Qin Fengqing would not be much weaker than Wang Jinyang. Martial artists who made the list all had their own specialties.
Fang Ping did not reply. He walked to the staircase and peered down from the window there.
Luckily, Qin Fengqinq was not around.
In Qin Fengqing’s absence, Fang Ping felt a little more at ease. Right now he was at his strongest but also at his weakest.
In his present state, with his level of Vitality, he could beat up five of his previous selves.
However, because his Wealth points were at 0, and he had 0 pills, encountering Qin Fengqing right now meant a ninety percent chance of being maimed, even though the fellow was almost certainly as poor as himself. Fu Changding stuck his head out of the window and looked around as well. Not seeing anyone, he suddenly yelled, “President Qin, are you still there?”
Smack!
Fang Ping raised his hand and slapped the back of Fu Changding’s head, asking crossly, “What the hell are you doing?”
“Don’t you want to have a duel with him?” Fu Changding did not know what to say. Wasn’t this what Fang Ping intended?
“Go to hell!”
Fang Ping did not want to bother with this fellow who just wanted to watch a good fight.
He had not finished cultivating his Combat Techniques, and he had no Wealth points left. He would be crazy to risk his life by fighting against Qin Fengqing.
“I’m going out for a bit. Also, I’ve been thinking of planning a feast to celebrate my promotion. What do you think? Would fellow students be able to give a few million each as congratulatory gifts?”
Fang Ping thought a celebration like this might actually be a good opportunity to make money.
He just did not know if everyone would buy it.
Clearly, the chances that they would were extremely low. Fu Changding could not help laughing as he said, “Giving you a three to five hundred red packet is still alright, but a few million? Are you dreaming? Also, what kind of promotion feast are you planning? You’re just a Rank-3 martial artist…”
“An Upper-stage Rank-3 martial artist isn’t considered weak, right?”
There was an immediate change in Fu Changding’s expression. A little tic appeared at the corners of his mouth as he spluttered, “Upper-stage Rank-3?”
“Didn’t I say so before? When you’re Upper-stage Rank-2, I’ll be Upper-stage Rank-3. With you entering Upper-stage Rank-2, I couldn’t fall behind either, could I?”
“You…”
Fu Changding was completely dumbfounded. ‘I’m at Rank-2, and you’re Rank-3!
‘Can you even compare these two things?
‘When I was at Middle-stage Rank-1, you weren’t even a martial artist yet.’
Now, he had just entered Upper-stage Rank-2, and Fang Ping had become an Upper-stage Rank-3 martial artist!
Fu Changding was dazed and starting to question the meaning of life.
Looking at Fu Changding, Fang Ping understood his friend clearly would not be giving him a few million as a congratulatory gift, and instantly discarded the idea of planning a feast.
When he became a Grandmaster, however, he would definitely plan a big celebration!
A feast to celebrate Grandmasters really did exist.
Every time a powerhouse achieved Grandmaster level, it meant that there was one more Grandmaster, one more strategic powerhouse. No matter if it was within government circles or outside of them, such powerhouse level ups were valued by the authorities. A Grandmaster feast was indeed a grand spectacle.
Sadly, Fang Ping currently did not have the qualifications to attend.
…
Leaving Fu Changding behind, Fang Ping went downstairs to investigate. Not finding Qin Fengqing anywhere, he cautiously left the school.
That Qin Fengqing fellow was in the same situation as himself— basically destitute, and yet Fang Ping was still collecting a high interest from him. If Fang Ping were in his shoes, he would also want to kill someone just to let off steam.
“We’re all poor!” Fang Ping lamented as he walked. As poor as he was now, he could not even drive a car as using gas was also a waste of money.
He could now understand why back in the day, Wang Jinyang had looked everywhere for Huang Bin to collect 500 thousand.
When Fang Ping was at Rank-1 and Rank-2, he was not so short of money. 500 thousand was something he did not even really notice, but now at Rank-3, he felt the lack of money sorely.
…
Ten minutes or so later.
Prosperity Building.
The moment Fang Ping arrived, an immediate silence descended upon Distance Ltd before a round of extremely enthusiastic and slightly intimidated greetings broke the air.
“Good day, President Fang!”
Now that he was Number 96 on the Rank-3 ranking list, and had killed a Peak Rank-3 martial artist, Fang Ping was no longer merely a rising star of MCMAU.
No matter how good MCMAU’s rising stars were, they were all new students and untested individuals.
As of now though, Fang Ping, who had previously killed a Rank-3 martial artist, was already at the pinnacle of the three lower ranks.
In the eyes of normal people, a Rank-1 martial artist was already someone to respect, what more a Rank-3 martial artist.
Even in Magic City, middle-rank martial artists were few and far between.
The reason Fang Ping saw so many was because MCMAU’s instructors were all middle-rank martial artists. MCMAU itself was not a basic-level institution.
A famous martial arts university was comparable to a provincial administration.
Though Nanjiang was so large, how many Grandmasters did they have in total?
MCMAU had 4 Grandmasters. If not for Zhang Dingnan’s breakthrough last year, Nanjiang province’s total number of Grandmasters would only be equal to the number in MCMAU. In reality, this was still not on par, as MCMAU had two Rank-8 Grandmaster powerhouses.
Fang Ping nodded in response to his staff’s admiration, not feeling much of anything.
When he was still doing missions in the early days and visited certain places, a few of the directors of the Department of Investigation Services there had all made a fuss, so Fang Ping had become indifferent to all of this.
Following the staff’s greetings, Li Chengze came out of the office.
“Mr. Fang…”
Fang Ping nodded slightly and made his way over. Once in the office, Fang Ping asked, “What’s the progress of the financing?”
At the end of May, Li Chengze had given him a call, saying that the financing situation was more fleshed out.
It was already the 4th of June now and Fang Ping was completely broke, so he was also a little anxious.
Li Chengze said, “This is the situation now. The other party intends to finance our online platform, but they’re not so willing to finance the actual express delivery, food and beverage included, as they feel that this wastes too much money.
“They suggested we outsource these things and not do it ourselves. Not only is it time-consuming, but it’s also a waste of funds.”
“How much is their quoted price?”
“For the platform, they’re willing to finance 20 million, with 30% equity after financing.”
Fang Ping scrunched up his brows lightly. This quote was not really that low.
The other party had previously invested nearly 50 million toward Distance Ltd’s food and beverage platform. It could be said that the other party was sincere in their intentions—very much so, in fact.
Fang Ping had invested approximately 35 million into Distance Ltd, although the money was mainly used to cover expenses for both the offline and express delivery channels.
What was actually spent on the construction and promotion of the platform probably did not even reach 20 million.
However, as of now, it had been close to a year since the platform had gone live. In Magic City, the platform had amassed a large number of customers. The other party giving a quotation of 50 million was not unrealistic enough to be shocking
Fang Ping lightly rapped on the office table and said quietly, “As of now, a lot of outlets are already on 3G smart devices, so we should prepare our food and beverage application platform to go online.”
Li Chengze nodded and said, “Then, about the financing…”
“If they want to finance the platform, that’s fine. We can divide Distance Ltd into three parts.
“The first part will be the food and beverage platform.
“The second part will be the offline express delivery service, inclusive of conventional express deliveries and food and beverage deliveries.
“The third part is the e-commerce platform for martial arts universities. For this, we will not be accepting any investments for the time being.
“For the food and beverage platform, they want to finance 20 million and get 30% in equity…”
Fang Ping considered it for a moment. “It’s a little low. Of course, currently, it doesn’t look very low, but with the arrival of mobile internet, the business will grow very rapidly.
“We’re now already starting to develop other aspects of the business, and Nanjiang is also preparing for an expansion.
“For 30 million, I can sell them 30% of the equity.”
Li Chengze was stunned. These two things were not the same!
Selling implied that Fang Ping himself would get the 30 million in hand, while financing implied that the money would enter the company. These two things were not equal.
Selling 30% of equity to the other party at the price of 30 million was also a way of saying that Fang Ping estimated the value of the platform to be worth a hundred million.
If the other party financed 30 million and obtained 30% of the equity, this would imply that the platform’s estimated value was now 70 million.
Fang Ping’s simple change of wording made far too much of a difference in meaning.
“This…”
Li Chengze felt that Fang Ping was really attempting daylight robbery. Fang Ping had invested less than 20 million into the food and beverage platform and now, not even 10 months in, he had increased his asking price by five or six times the original amount. There was simply no way to continue the discussion like this.
Fang Ping said indifferently, “With this thing called the internet, what we’re selling is a concept and not a physical item.
“If one says it’s worth a hundred million, then it can be worth a hundred million
“If one says that it’s not worth the money, then it’s really not worth the money.
“If the socio-political and economic environment doesn’t deteriorate, we still have some prospects. Currently, even if the situation is a little tense, it hasn’t started to deteriorate yet.
“At the very minimum, there won’t be any issues within the next three to five years.
“Within that timeframe, anything is possible. Who knows for sure what the situation will be like in the future?
“We might earn a lot, and there might be losses, but that’s what’s to be expected of a venture capital…”
Li Chengze was at a complete loss. Fang Ping laughed, “Pass on what I said to the other party. They should understand my meaning. After all, I started this company.
“I’ve already achieved Upper-stage Rank-3. Peak Rank-3 is merely a thought away.
“In the days to come, if the environment really were to deteriorate, perhaps I might have achieved Grandmaster level by then. What do a mere few tens of millions matter when investing in a future Grandmaster powerhouse?
“When the time comes, perhaps this will be money that can save lives, which is much more important than profits.
“Of course, this is also a test for these investors, to see whether or not they dare to seize this opportunity. I need the money now, which is why I’m willing to sell the company’s equity at such a low cost, and it also comes with one favor from me.
“No matter what, based on what I see, I think it’s worth investing 30 million and obtaining not only 30% of the platform’s equity but also my friendship.”
Once again, Li Chengze was completely shocked once. Upper-stage Rank-3? Peak?
The boss’s rate of progress was way too fast!
Fang Ping ignored him and laughed, “Pass on what I said to the other party. I’m only mentioning favors because they’re the first people to invest in our company with such sincerity.
“Otherwise, business is business. No favors are involved.
“30 million is not that big a deal to me. If they understand me, they should know.”
Martial artists earned money relatively fast, on condition that they were strong enough.
Fang Ping was also not doing this just for the 30 million in cash, he was also doing this so that the platform’s worth could be acknowledged by the system.
Once the platform was actually valued at a hundred million, the system might very well increase his Wealth points by 80 million or more. This could be considered a net increase in assets.
For now, though, Fang Ping sorely lacked Wealth points, even for his upcoming cultivation of Combat Techniques.
Without Wealth points, expecting to advance in a short period of time was merely a pipe dream.
Although Li Chengze did not understand a lot of what Fang Ping had said, he still nodded. “Very well, I’ll pass on what you said to the other party.”
“Ask them to make a decision as soon as possible. I’m only in such a rush because I am in dire need of funds recently, so if they miss this window of opportunity and I return with enough money, then I won’t need them anymore.”
“You’re going out?”
“Yes, I’m going on a long journey this month.”
Li Chengze nodded again. “I’ll also pass on this message to them.”
“If it’s necessary, you can ask them to talk to me.”
Fang Ping had always been at school, so up until now, the other party had been communicating with Li Chengze. Li Chengze lacked understanding of matters in the martial arts world, so occasionally it was hard for him to persuade the other party with some of the merits he mentioned.
Fang Ping was different. As an Upper-stage Rank-3 martial artist, he had taken less than a year to achieve Upper-stage Rank-3.
The investors were not only investing in the company now but also in a person. They were investing in Fang Ping.
This point was something that Li Chengze had not yet considered for now.
Fang Ping estimated the platform to be worth one hundred million because while it could be valued at 50 million, investing in Fang Ping would require a minimum of 50 million as well.
Of course, this depended on how the other party looked at it.
After talking with Li Chengze for a while, Fang Ping urged him one last time, “It must be quick. If it can be done in one day then don’t wait till the next. I’m rushing for time.”
Entering the Catacombs would take up half a month to twenty days.
He still had to cultivate his Combat Techniques as well. Time was far too tight right now.
At this point, Fang Ping did not even have time to do a mission. If he encountered a slightly more troublesome one, he might not be able to finish it within a few days.
For now, financing seemed to be his only option.
If there were really no way of financing things, then Fang Ping would have no choice but to borrow some credits and buy himself some pills. A sizeable reduction in combat effectiveness was something he would have no option but to accept.
“I understand,” Li Chengze affirmed.
“If there’s any news, contact me immediately.”
Fang Ping did not waste time on small talk and rapidly left the company after giving Li Chengze a few final exhortations.
…
When he returned to campus, Fang Ping received a message from Zhao Xuemei, asking him to quickly head to Villa No. 8.
Fang Ping did not think too much about this and headed straight for Lu Fengrou’s villa.
Seeing how he was completely broke, he could only hope Lu Fengrou might have a sudden onset of benevolence and give him some benefits.
