40: Chapter 40 News and Background

Looking at the dense array of messages popping up on the screen, Wang Shuo was truly stunned.

"What on earth is this?" Wang Shuo widened his eyes and examined them carefully.

The screen was filled with private messages from someone named Tian Wuming, dense and overwhelming. Wang Shuo counted them, estimating there were forty or fifty in total.

The tone at the beginning was still quite polite.

"Hello, are you there? I have something to consult you about."

"Hello, I wonder if you have some time. I apologize if I am disturbing you."

"Hello, I would like to learn more about your answer."

"Hello..."

The tone later on seemed to be getting a bit worse.

"Please reply when you see this!"

"It's urgent! Please reply to me!"

"Reply to me! I will reward you heavily!"

"Reply to me!"

"Reply to me!"

"Reply to me!"

Indeed, the string of dozens of "Reply to me" messages fully expressed the sender's inner breakdown and vented their pent-up frustration. Wang Shuo felt all of it.

"Tian Wuming?" Wang Shuo looked at the ID. "It seems familiar, like I've seen it somewhere before?"

However, looking at the dozens of messages, Wang Shuo couldn't help but feel a bit sympathetic. He typed into the reply box: "Please go ahead."

He clicked send, but the system popped up a dialog box, indicating that sending a private message required forum points.

Wang Shuo was instantly shocked.

The way he looked at these dozens of messages changed; these... were all money!

A wealthy tycoon!

Wang Shuo smacked his lips, looking at the screen with some regret.

"Brother, it's not that I don't want to reply to you; I'm just not as wealthy as you. I can only blame your bad luck. Who told me to just happen to use up all my forum points? I highly suspect you're here to trick me into topping up? Trying to scam me? That's impossible!"

Wang Shuo didn't know what wealth did to people, as he had never been rich and still owed a huge debt, but poverty... made one frugal.

He efficiently closed the forum page, shut his laptop, stood up, and stretched. He poured himself a glass of water, moved back to the bed, leaned against the headboard with his legs stretched out, closed his eyes, and began to continue attempting to transfer the knowledge of the Humanoid Race.

During his few days in the Hospital, he had initially figured out the core's function.

Simply put, the core was now similar to a database, and his brain was equivalent to the entire computer or a hard drive or something similar.

As long as he used the Humanoid Race's language to issue a docking command in his mind, he could transfer the data from the database into his own brain. This portion of data could not only be immediately understood and memorized, but when accessing the data again, it would not be restricted by the core.

The data transfer speed and capacity had an upper limit, and this upper limit was determined by his own brain, or rather, his Brain Domain strength.

Once it exceeded the limit, his brain would suffer serious nerve cell damage due to over-operation. To put it bluntly, it was like the brain's CPU or hard drive burning out.

Then... it would crash.

Even a god couldn't fix it.

Fortunately, his brain had undergone two consecutive enhancements, and the limit had been greatly increased. General transfers or occasional large-batch transfers would not cause too severe damage to his brain. At most, it would result in some sweat or a nosebleed, things Wang Shuo had long been accustomed to.

In continuous exploration, Wang Shuo also discovered that although he couldn't always perform data transfer at the maximum limit, he could perform slow data transfer at the lowest limit he could control. This process could also serve to enhance Brain Domain strength. Although the actual effect was minimal, in the absence of Genetic Serum and mental training methods, this was still a way to make do.

As for how low this minimum limit was, after Wang Shuo's constant probing, he had gained some experience. Now, he could extremely skillfully maintain it for two hours without wavering, the price being the title of "Blood Demon" earned from multiple fainting spells and frequent nosebleeds.

Wang Shuo even gave this training method a nice name, calling it the "Trickle Data Training Method." Hmm... basically easy to understand. The only problem with this method was its extremely low efficiency; it basically couldn't acquire anything useful, only providing a tiny bit of training effect.

Lying with his eyes narrowed for a while, Wang Shuo opened his eyes, wiped the non-existent sweat from his forehead, and seemed to heave a long sigh.

"The Humanoid Race civilization is truly incredible."

Wang Shuo exclaimed sincerely.

Every time he recalled the history of development and astonishing achievements of the Humanoid Race civilization, and then returned to the present society, Wang Shuo suddenly had the feeling that he had time-traveled. The world, which was originally considered advanced, seemed to have suddenly regressed by tens of thousands of years. This sense of disparity made Wang Shuo very uncomfortable.

And what was even more uncomfortable was...

"Gurgle..."

Wang Shuo could almost hear his stomach protesting.

This was the aftereffect of using the Trickle Data Training Method every time. There were almost no exceptions, and Wang Shuo was already very used to it.

He picked up his phone, opened the delivery app, clicked to order, and paid, all in one go.

However, looking at the two-digit deposit balance sent by the bank, Wang Shuo's mood instantly soured. Thinking again that he seemed to have a huge debt that he hadn't wished for, the grand aspirations that had just risen in Wang Shuo's heart instantly vanished.

As expected, money was the most realistic thing for people.

Thinking of those big shots who said they weren't interested in money, Wang Shuo felt a wave of disdain.

Talking about sentiments and ideals divorced from material reality is just hooliganism!

But when these big shots act like hooligans, it just leaves one speechless, helpless, and powerless.

When would he be able to reach the composure of those big shots, not furrowing his brows over a mere one million in credit and three million in debt?

Sighing silently, Wang Shuo stood up and was just about to refill his glass with plain water when he saw the dormitory door pushed open, and Chen Cheng walked in with a serious face.

Wang Shuo was a bit surprised. Could Chen Cheng, who usually grinned like a fool and didn't act like a rich, handsome guy, actually put on such a cold and aloof expression?

"Old Four, you..."

"Wang Shuo. Thank you!" Chen Cheng did not give Wang Shuo a chance to speak and bowed deeply to Wang Shuo directly.

Wang Shuo was startled, quickly stepped aside, placed the water glass on the table, and shouted, "Stop!"

He looked at Chen Cheng up and down with a suspicious and uncertain gaze.

"I say, Old Four, you didn't go to Japan for further studies, did you? Where did you learn this bad habit of bowing to people at every turn?" Wang Shuo was a bit baffled. "Also, you barged in like a bull in a china shop, putting on a deadpan face—is this to thank me? You're trying to scare me to death, aren't you?"

Chen Cheng's gaze was very serious, not a trace of his usual grinning face remained. Coupled with eyes that were calmer than usual, it actually made Wang Shuo sense a different kind of temperament.

Oh, what is this damned feeling of attraction?

Wang Shuo shuddered and quickly shook his head, driving the unhealthy thoughts out of his mind, and waved his hand, saying, "Speak up, why are you thanking me for no reason?"

"I know everything." Chen Cheng said.

"You know everything?" Wang Shuo widened his eyes.

Chen Cheng nodded.

"Everything?"

Chen Cheng continued to nod.

Wang Shuo was a bit terrified. No way, wasn't only Chen Xin present when he did that thing? Could it be that Chen Xin...

"Did Chen Xin tell you?"

Chen Cheng shook his head this time.

Wang Shuo breathed a sigh of relief. He had thought that the thing he secretly had Zero do had been discovered by Chen Xin. But thinking about it carefully, how could that be possible?

Scaring oneself really does lead to problems.

"Old Two." Chen Cheng didn't pay attention to that much, and with a solemn face, continued, "Just now was my thanks to you on behalf of the Chen Group. Now, I am thanking you as your classmate, roommate, and brother."

"Between brothers, there's no need for so much pretense. In the future, whenever you have need of anything, just say the word."

Why does this sound so familiar?

Looking at Chen Cheng's serious face again, he suddenly felt it was a bit strange.

"Ahem, I say, Old Four." Wang Shuo coughed and said, "I don't think you're suited to play the role of a gangster. You should go back to your previous funny style; it was quite good. No need to deliberately change styles."

Chen Cheng was clearly stunned.

"Also, can you please deal with the little tails behind you, and then explain what this thank you is all about?"

Chen Cheng blinked speechlessly, his aura instantly collapsing. He glanced at the little girls who were peeking their heads in at the doorway, cautiously observing, and then...

"Bam!"

Chen Cheng slammed the door shut, turned around, and said, "Alright."

Wang Shuo opened his mouth, having nothing to say.

Half an hour later.

"That's how it is." Chen Cheng showed a heavy expression, his slightly furrowed brows looking very heart-wrenching, and a melancholic aura washed over him.

"If you hadn't asked me if the group was in trouble before you left last time, I wouldn't have known that the situation the group is facing would be so serious."

"And I wouldn't have known that cousin Chen Xin had made such a huge sacrifice for the group!"

"And I certainly wouldn't have known that those aunts and uncles of mine would be so... unscrupulous."

Indeed unscrupulous.

Wang Shuo looked at the phone Chen Cheng handed him, which was playing a video.

In the video, it was clearly a banquet venue. Chen Xin was dressed very plainly, wearing a simple white gauze dress, sitting in the center of the video with a cold expression.

Opposite her was an unfamiliar young man, about twenty years old, smiling and saying something to Chen Xin.

A few minutes later, one could see Chen Xin's lips move slightly, and a voice came out.

"You are just a lackey. Do you deserve to?"

The whole venue was in an uproar.

The video ended there.

"It was this video that some people uploaded to the internet, and they also attached rumors about our group, causing our group's stock to plummet off a cliff, hitting the daily limit down for several consecutive days, with losses as high as... well, it's a lot, anyway."

Chen Cheng showed a hint of lingering fear.

"I only found out after asking my father that our group had signed a valuation adjustment mechanism agreement with an investment company. If we cannot meet the conditions of the agreement, then we need to pay the other party a huge amount of liquidated damages and shares, and agree to their acquisition."

So that was it. No wonder that girl Chen Xin was frantically reading computer books while in the Hospital. And she didn't even think about whether that was something she, a layman, could understand!

Wang Shuo understood.

"Sigh... regardless of everything, Old Two, thank you for this. Others may not know the specific situation, but my father knows. It's inconvenient for him to come forward, so he specifically asked me to thank you!"

"You're too polite, too polite. Why say such things between brothers?" Wang Shuo took a sip of water, feeling a bit guilty. "This system... did it have any strange problems when you were using it?"

"Strange problems?" Chen Cheng asked curiously. "What kind of strange problems?"

"Ahem, for example... strange text suddenly popping up, or a black screen, or something else."

"This..." Chen Cheng carefully recalled. "I heard from people who were there that there was indeed some strange UI, but it didn't seem to be a big problem."

This was awkward. Wang Shuo was speechless. That girl Chen Xin, who usually seemed quite sharp, why did she act so foolishly at critical moments?

Couldn't she have tested it on a machine first?

The scare he created for Chen Xin turned into a scare for a whole group of people, and it also gave him a fright, okay?

This seems to be embarrassing.

Wang Shuo silently rubbed his nose, thinking somewhat awkwardly.

"Old Two..." Chen Cheng's voice had become heavy at some point. He said, "I used to always dislike cousin Chen Xin."

"She had been cold since she was a child, never interacting with anyone, and kept her distance from everyone except her aunt and uncle, and her sister. In everyone's eyes, she was a refined young lady, precocious and steady, but I just couldn't stand her."

"She probably couldn't stand me either." Chen Cheng showed a mocking smile, full of negative energy. "I thought she was pretentious, she thought I was dissolute, and we couldn't stand each other."

"From childhood to adulthood, she was my nemesis. I would always take the initiative to... um... bully her, and take some trivial matters of hers to report to my father and uncle, but in the end, the one who would get criticized would always be me."

Wang Shuo was speechless listening to this. You, a grown man—oh, no, you were a big boy at the time—you, a big boy, acting like a little girl, running to tattle at every turn? If I were your dad, I'd beat you too! How embarrassing!

"But I never tired of it, and I would even act exactly the way cousin Chen Xin didn't like to see me act." Chen Cheng showed a look of nostalgia. "Although we couldn't stand each other, there was no deep conflict, just the dislike between children."

"Until..."

"Until the year I was ten, when I pushed cousin Chen Xin into the pool."

"Pushed her into the pool?" Wang Shuo widened his eyes.

"Yes, pushed into the pool." Chen Cheng nodded affirmatively. "Actually, I was just joking, but what I didn't expect was that cousin Chen Xin suffered from mild claustrophobia. When she fell into the water, she lost consciousness because of fear. By the time she was rescued, she had choked on a lot of water and almost didn't make it."

Wang Shuo didn't know what to say, and he looked at Chen Cheng with a strange gaze.

"I was severely beaten by my dad and mom, and I couldn't get out of bed for three days."

Wang Shuo felt that if he had such a son, he would definitely beat him to death.

"From then on, cousin Chen Xin couldn't stand me even more, nitpicking at the slightest issue." Chen Cheng's voice was a bit muffled. "But it was indeed me who pushed her into the water. Although I was incited by others, it was indeed my own hands that pushed her."

"So you feel guilty but hate that she specifically targets you?" Wang Shuo added.

"Yes." Chen Cheng nodded seriously.

"So you gave up on yourself and galloped down the path of a dissolute rich playboy, never to return?"

"Which eye did you see that with?" Chen Cheng widened his eyes and said, "I just am not very interested in things like managing a group. Who said I wanted to be a dissolute rich playboy?"

"That's the plot in novels. And..." Wang Shuo pointed to a book on the table titled "The Domineering CEO Falls in Love With Me," and then gestured towards the door.

"You can't blame me for this." Chen Cheng sighed melancholically. "You have to blame my parents for this."