Chapter 21: The Terrifying Power to Amass Wealth

In Dorm 222 of Yanhuang University, Li Fu had woken up early. Shaking his head, he still felt a dull ache in his mind. Last night’s wild celebration had left its mark—Li Fu, who rarely drank, was naturally the favorite target for everyone to force drinks upon. If it weren’t for his inner energy, he would have been knocked out cold and wouldn’t be up now. As it was, each of his roommates was still fast asleep, curled up in their quilts.

The entire dorm was filled with the strong stench of alcohol. There were even traces of vomit on the floor, yellow and white. The revelry had been excessive, but as the core members of their startup team, heavy drinking was inevitable. Even Zhao Dongye, who usually held his liquor well, had been taken down by the girls from the art and design teams.

“Alcohol really isn’t something to overindulge in—it’s too hard on the brain,” Li Fu muttered, opening the window. Cold winter air rushed in, jolting him awake. After washing up, he started tidying the dorm. It was simply too filthy after last night’s chaos.

About ten minutes later, the dorm was finally clean and orderly again. Li Fu headed out to begin his daily training. Ever since embarking on the path of cultivating his inner energy, he had resolved to keep at it rain or shine.

An hour later, in the Yanhuang University cafeteria, Li Fu was wolfing down a large bowl of noodles as if he were starving. But he knew very well he’d already eaten at several different stalls—steamed buns, dumplings, vermicelli, congee—he had sampled them all. The amount he’d consumed was more than ten times what an ordinary person would eat.

Due to his cultivation, his energy requirements were enormous; his appetite was bottomless. He had already gone through several bowls of noodles and still wasn’t full.

“At this rate, I’ll run out of money for food soon,” Li Fu sighed helplessly. His appetite was simply unbelievable—no one would believe him if he said it aloud.

“King of Glory has amassed a huge player base, but who knows when it’ll start making money…” Naturally, his thoughts drifted to King of Glory, the game he now pinned all his hopes on.

---

Yanhuang University Entrepreneurship Center.

“Brother Li, you’re here!” As soon as Li Fu stepped into Room 602, Shen Xi, who handled their finances, greeted him with a mysterious grin, barely able to contain his excitement.

“So, how are things? Tell me the latest numbers,” Li Fu smiled. Seeing Shen Xi’s expression, he knew that after just one day, King of Glory’s explosive power had probably been unleashed—the figures must be staggering.

“Heh, our game downloads have already surpassed three million. By midnight, we could hit four million. Registered players have exceeded two and a half million, and concurrent online players are over a million.”

Shen Xi chuckled, reading out the numbers as if he’d expected them. As more people discovered King of Glory, its growth would become ever more explosive, like nuclear fission, until it truly reigned over the gaming world.

“Not bad. At this pace, we’ll break the ten-million mark in less than a week,” Li Fu nodded, satisfied but not surprised. He had anticipated such results.

---

“Brother Li, there’s one more figure I haven’t mentioned yet.” Shen Xi grinned even wider, almost unable to speak for excitement.

“Go ahead. How many VIP users do we have?” Li Fu smiled knowingly—he was well aware that this was the most critical number, the one that determined King of Glory’s money-making power.

“As of 3 p.m., we already have over 500,000 VIP users. That means half a million people have spent money in our game.”

Shen Xi spoke, raising his hand in an excited gesture toward Li Fu. Clearly, he was thrilled.

“My god, half a million VIP users on just the second day? We’ve struck gold!” Before Li Fu could reply, Wang Wanli’s voice boomed from outside, his laughter filled with excitement. Zhao Dongye and Qian Jin joined in, their faces lit up with joy.

With over two and a half million registered players and half a million VIPs, that meant one in five players had already chosen to spend money in King of Glory—a free game, at that. Such a high percentage was astonishing.

“Brother Wang, you’re absolutely right. As of 3 p.m., there’s already more than twenty million yuan in our company account—and that’s just after two days. King of Glory is truly a money-making beast.”

Shen Xi laid out the figures with a smile. Twenty million yuan, siphoned from players in just the game’s second day—such a staggering figure was hard to believe.

“Twenty million? Is that even real?” Even Qian Jin, who was used to extravagant spending, was wide-eyed in disbelief. He’d thought a few million would be impressive—never imagining twenty million on day two.

Qian Jin knew exactly what that meant. Last year, in 2016, among all listed companies in China, only eighty out of more than five hundred on the Growth Enterprise Market achieved a net annual profit of twenty million yuan or more.

Of course, not all of this twenty million was pure profit; there were taxes, expenses, and costs to consider. But this was just two days’ worth, and only the beginning. As King of Glory’s player base grew, its money-making capacity would become even scarier. Soon, daily revenues of more than a hundred million wouldn’t be out of the question—after all, they’d already hit twenty million in just the opening days.

Qian Jin’s family ran a sizable real estate company. Even their annual sales were only a few dozen billion, which meant less than a hundred million a day. As for profits, those were even slimmer.

Real estate required massive capital flows; financing costs took a huge chunk. With all the various expenditures, the average profit margin in 2016 was just 8.2%. In the end, the real winners were the government and the banks.

So, hearing the twenty-million figure, Qian Jin was understandably stunned—his eyes wide with disbelief.

“Incredible! Simply incredible!” he exclaimed.

“We’ve already reached this scale with just a few million users. If we hit tens of millions of players, daily revenue in the hundreds of millions will be perfectly normal. Given our margins, the profits will be astronomical.”

“Haha, by my calculations, I’m already making more than my dad!” Qian Jin laughed, clenching his fists in excitement, imagining the look on his father’s face when he saw these numbers.

“Brother Jin, these numbers are absolutely real. I was woken up by calls from the bank this morning. At first, I couldn’t believe it myself, so I came in early to check—there’s no mistake,” Shen Xi reassured him, smiling.

“Twenty million! Not two million—twenty! I’ll make sure to give my dad the shock of his life when I go home for New Year’s!” Qian Jin burst out laughing. For him, money wasn’t the main thing; what mattered was proving to his father that he could do more than just party and squander wealth—that he had ideals, drive, and the grit to fight for success.

“Hmm, just barely passable, I suppose. At least it’s an achievement worth mentioning,” Zhao Dongye remarked, remaining calm. Coming from a well-established family with deep roots in the political world, he didn't care much for money—what he valued was the chance to hone his abilities through entrepreneurship.

“Tsk, listen to you all—so calm, as if money is nothing but dirt to you. I, for one, am already dreaming of the life of a billionaire. All those things I always wanted but never bought—now I can finally afford them!” Wang Wanli was beside himself with excitement. Glancing at the ever-calm Li Fu and then at Zhao Dongye, he realized the only one truly thrilled was Qian Jin—and only because he could show off to his father.

“Haha, look at you—so easily satisfied,” Zhao Dongye teased, shaking his head, while he couldn’t help but cast another glance at Li Fu.

Li Fu was the least well-off among the four roommates, yet he remained the calmest, as if none of this could truly stir his heart. That, to Zhao Dongye, was strange.

If Li Fu had been overjoyed, Zhao Dongye would have found it normal. But his air of tranquility, the faint smile on his face, made him impossible to read.

“This Li Fu is getting harder and harder to figure out,” Zhao Dongye thought, his estimation of Li Fu rising once again. Li Fu’s extraordinary abilities had already impressed him, but his composure today made Zhao Dongye realize he truly couldn’t fathom what was going on in Li Fu’s mind.

“Excuse me, is this the King of Glory company?” Just as everyone was basking in their achievements, several important guests arrived at the entrepreneurship center, and soon someone found their way to Room 602.

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