The next morning, a thick fog filled the air.

Chen Yansen slowly opened his eyes. He gently moved Song Yuncheng, who was lying on top of him, to the side, then threw off the covers and walked toward the small living room outside the door.

Today was June 1st, which was also payday.

He sat at his desk, opening a book he had brought with him to pass the time.

By 8:00 AM, the Human Dao Fire column already showed 597 wisps.

Including the Aurora System’s R&D team, his monthly salary expenses were nearly six million, but this was still just a drop in the bucket for the points needed to upgrade beyond level 10.

Opening a factory and manufacturing phones was an absolute must!

Chen Yansen summoned his panel and focused his mind on his physique. The familiar sensation washed over him once more.

He sat on the sofa, quietly observing the changes in his body.

Under his watchful gaze, the skin and pores on his arms seemed to be breathing.

Opening and closing, contracting and expanding!

His muscles, bones, skin, and flesh felt as if they were being forged in a 100-megapascal hydraulic chamber. Their density gradually increased, and the strength and resilience of his bones, tendons, ligaments, fascia, tendon sheaths, and muscles underwent a rapid transformation.

The sensation was particularly intense this time!

Chen Yansen let out a long breath. His body was as if it had just been pulled from water, his pores covered in fine, slightly murky beads of sweat.

At that moment, a new talent appeared in his talent column: [Rhino Hide and Tiger Bone]: Impervious to water and fire, impenetrable by blades and spears!

’Impervious to water, fire, blades, and spears, huh?’

’A Barrett and an M2 heavy machine gun are also guns. Do they fall into that category?’

This thing was hard to test. Getting a gun wasn’t difficult, but shooting himself with one was.

He just couldn’t get over the mental hurdle.

Chen Yansen stood up and walked to the sink. He unwrapped a disposable razor, and with a squeeze of two fingers, the plastic frame shattered, sending a thin blade clattering onto the countertop.

He picked up the blade and held it against his arm.

’Is this damn system reliable or not?’

Chen Yansen wasn’t sure. He hesitated for a moment before gently beginning to apply pressure.

The sharp edge pressed against his skin but was met with resistance as if blocked by a layer of tough rhinoceros hide. With his current strength, he couldn’t cut through it at all.

Chen Yansen gradually increased the pressure, and a series of short, muffled thumps came from where the blade met his skin.

SNAP!

The blade abruptly snapped and clattered to the floor!

Chen Yansen lifted his arm and observed it carefully. Aside from a white mark, not even the top layer of skin was broken.

"Damn, this skin of mine is really thick!"

Chen Yansen said with an amused sigh. But then a thought struck him: ’If I get sick and need surgery in the future, what happens if the doctor can’t cut through my skin?’

Fuck!

’I’m already ’impervious to water and fire, impenetrable by blades and spears.’ How could I possibly get sick!’

Chen Yansen laughed freely, shaking the messy thoughts from his head.

He then took a quick rinse, got dressed, and headed to the hotel’s indoor swimming pool.

After buying a swimsuit, goggles, and a swim cap at the front desk, he held the handrail and lowered himself into the pool.

He wasn’t a good swimmer!

But the phrase "impervious to water and fire" still made him want to test it out.

He pinched his nose and submerged his head in the water. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

The oxygen in his lungs and blood gradually decreased as carbon dioxide built up. Just as he couldn’t resist the urge to lift his head and breathe...

The pores all over his body suddenly opened in what seemed like an instinctual reaction. Oxygen from the water passed through the fine pores and re-entered Chen Yansen’s body, while carbon dioxide was expelled.

The feeling of suffocation vanished in an instant!

Chen Yansen let go of his nose. He held his breath, and the muscles around his nasal cavity subconsciously contracted, closing off the passage and preventing water from entering.

His breathing was still smooth!

Chen Yansen fumbled around in the water for a bit. Before long, he was able to move his arms and start swimming.

At first, his movements were stiff and awkward, but after familiarizing himself with the power and motions, being in the water felt no different from being on land. He felt a sense of freedom, like a fish back in water.

Half an hour later, Chen Yansen left the swimming pool.

’The "water" in "impervious to water and fire" refers to the ability to operate underwater. So what about the "fire"?’

Chen Yansen mulled this over as he walked back.

In the end, he gave up on the idea of testing it. He wasn’t a masochist.

’Physique and Spirit activate a talent after reaching 10. What’s the activation point for the next talent?’

’20? 100? Or maybe 1,000, or 10,000?’

Chen Yansen was full of motivation. ’It would be best if I got talents like [Immortality] or [Great Success Saint Body]. A [Blood-Drop Rebirth] would be nice too.’

’Wouldn’t that make me an old undying bastard?’

Chen Yansen chuckled, returned to Song Yuncheng’s room, and saw she was still asleep. He gently pinched her cheek and gave her soft lips a kiss.

"I’m not going on a business trip with you next time. I can’t sleep well at all," Song Yuncheng said, struggling to open her eyes, her face full of sleepiness.

Song Yuncheng wasn’t sure if she should take Chen Yansen to see a doctor.

"But weren’t you quite happy last night?"

Chen Yansen sat on the edge of the bed, holding her and teasing.

"Stop it! Go back to your own room, or Gao from Finance will find out." Song Yuncheng’s face was beet red and her eyes were moist as she pushed Chen Yansen out.

"We haven’t had our morning exercise yet!"

"Exercise my foot!"

"But we are exercising the ’head’!"

"Chen Yansen, are you trying to get yourself killed?!"

Bickering, the two of them found themselves back under the covers before they knew it.

It wasn’t until 9:30 that the two of them finally washed up, got dressed, and went downstairs for breakfast.

Gao Weilin finished breakfast and had been waiting in his room the whole time. He didn’t dare to knock on either Chen Yansen’s or Song Yuncheng’s door.

Only when Chen Yansen messaged him on WeChat to leave did he pull his suitcase and head to the hotel lobby.

On the way back, Gao Weilin was very tactful, and his attitude toward Song Yuncheng became even more respectful.

The plane landed at Peng City Guanyin Airport.

After getting in the car, Song Yuncheng drove with Chen Yansen in the passenger seat. Gao Weilin sat in the back, feeling completely awkward.

"Boss, after I finish my resignation procedures, I’ll immediately go exchange my driver’s license for a Mainland one," Gao Weilin said.

He had a driver’s license, but he couldn’t drive directly in the Mainland. He had to go to the relevant authorities to exchange his license before he could legally drive.

"Yes, get on board as soon as possible. That 800 million from Augusta hasn’t been touched yet. It’s waiting for you to handle."

Chen Yansen instructed him calmly.

On the 800 million from the equity transfer, the normal tax would be 150 million. However, a professional financial expert could use tax havens and differences in company attributes to legally reduce the tax amount to between 90 million and 120 million.

This was another core reason why Chen Yansen was paying Gao Weilin 100,000 a month.

"Understood, Boss," Gao Weilin agreed with a nod.

An hour later, the car stopped at the East Gate of Xuyuan.

Gao Weilin went directly back to the hotel to get his things, as he had a connecting flight back to Hong Kong Island that evening.

Chen Yansen walked Song Yuncheng to her dormitory building, then went to the library to return and borrow some books.

Afterward, he passed by Song Yang’s courier station and picked up the books he had bought from Jingdong and Dangdang Network.

Recently, Handsome Dong had been burning cash like crazy in the book category, frequently issuing "100 off 199" universal coupons to force users to spend.

These weren’t like the tricky coupons from ten years later; they were genuine universal red packets that could be used on any book purchase.

This led Li Guoqing to curse out Liu Qiangdong on Weibo: "I’m older than you, you entered the game later than me. I’m the big brother, you have to listen to me."

The implication was that Liu Qiangdong’s method of sacrificing profits to push Dangdang to the brink was dishonorable.

Faced with his former "big brother," Liu Qiangdong could only laugh awkwardly and say that since he had taken venture capital money, he had to produce results. "Brother Li, how about you just bear with it for a while?"

If Li Guoqing bore it any longer, he wouldn’t survive. He also jumped into the price war, which ended up being a great deal for book lovers.

Seeing this, the Key Account Investment Attraction team immediately contacted Jingdong and launched a "110 off 199" book brand group-buy event.

Dangdang Network immediately followed suit, also running a brand group-buy on Super Rebate, which generated over 20 million in sales in just three days.

Chen Yansen was no stranger to the great internet melee of 2011. To capture the market, these people dared to issue not just "110 off 199" coupons, but even "150 off 199" ones.

With venture capital backing them, they’d just ask for more money when it ran out!

Chen Yansen tossed the books onto the passenger seat, drove to the faculty apartment building, and carried his things upstairs.

Back in his room, he summoned the panel again.

[Host: Chen Yansen]

[Physique: 10]

[Spirit: 10]

[Skills: Automobile Driving (Two-Star Proficient 74/100), Guitar Playing (One-Star Novice 83/100), Eight Vajra Skills (One-Star Novice 41/100), Swimming (Two-Star Proficient 93/100)]

[Talents: Eidetic Memory, Rhino Hide and Tiger Bone]

[Human Dao Fire: 44]

[Divine Dao Fire: 2]

The Swimming skill was a derivative benefit from [Rhino Hide and Tiger Bone]. Just half an hour’s effort this morning nearly raised it to level 3. It was true that 99% of effort couldn’t compare to 1% of talent.

He had converted the remaining 244 wisps of Human Dao Fire into 2 wisps of Divine Dao Fire.

Chen Yansen hesitated for a few seconds before deciding to add it to his Spirit.

A golden thread, as fine as a strand of hair, appeared out of thin air—or perhaps pierced through from a higher dimension—and drilled into the space between his eyebrows.

This time, there was no soul-searing pain, only a refreshing and invigorating comfort.

Three seconds later, everything returned to normal.

His Spirit value increased to 10.02!

Fuck!

’My 200 wisps of Human Dao Fire were gone in just three seconds?’

Chen Yansen couldn’t help but curse. It was too fast, reminding him of some embarrassing past experiences.

「Meanwhile.」

Far away in Shencheng City, Old Cao and Zuo Hongyu had just walked out of an electronics auction event center. They huddled together, staring at the equipment list in their hands.

high-speed chip mounters (Fuji CP842E), 8 high-precision chip mounters (Yamaha YSM10), 8 solder paste printers (DEK 265), 8 reflow ovens (BTU Pyramax), and 12 AOI inspection machines (Omron VT-S730).

This was enough equipment for roughly eight SMT production lines. Although they were secondhand, the price was not low, totaling 128 million.

"We finally got it done. We’ll source the testing equipment here in Shencheng City, but for the assembly and production equipment, it has to be Su Cheng Technology. Their quality is the best, and their after-sales service is the most reliable."

Old Cao said with a relieved smile.

"We can ask President Chen for the payment now. That kid Zhou Jinling called me yesterday, said he wants to join us."

Zuo Hongyu twisted open a bottle of mineral water and wiped the sweat from his brow as he spoke.

"You mean ’you,’ not ’us.’ I’m the director of the Innovation Park at Xucheng Academy, just here to provide some guidance."

Cao Dahua quickly corrected him.

"Brother Hua, stop pretending! I know you’ve never forgotten about the factory closing down back then. Otherwise, how could you, after not being in Shencheng City for five years, still know the prices of all this equipment like the back of your hand?"

Zuo Hongyu directly called out Cao Dahua’s true feelings.

"Old Zuo, you’re just too blunt,"

Cao Dahua’s expression froze. He gave an awkward laugh and cursed in resignation.