Chapter 194: 400,000 Grams of Energy
“Phantom Clone Slash. It’s pretty good. I’ll learn this then.”
Eventually, Lin Yao decided to learn this diamond combat skill. However, he would do that only after he became a warlord and planted the Bodhi Tree, not now.
“Did they give a deadline for this?”
“Yes, if you achieve small progress within six months, they will upgrade your terms… The Flowery Sect is really serious about attracting you so you will join them.”
“Six months. That’s more than enough.”
After this conversation, Qin Ya pa.s.sed a single-use jade piece that contained the legacy mark of the Phantom Clone Slash to Lin Yao.
The advanced combat skills of established dojos were typically pa.s.sed down this way. First, it was too troublesome to explain them with words and pictures. Second, this was meant to prevent people from disseminating them rampantly.
In addition to the legacy mark, Qin Ya also told Lin Yao about the publicity plan of the Flowery Sect and asked for his cooperation.
The so-called publicity plan was that Lin Yao would take some photos while wearing the attire of the Flowery Sect, and they’d film some videos of him unleashing some of the sect’s combat skills. At the same time, Qin Ya also explained that the sect would send some of its disciples to meet Lin Yao and film some clips with him for publicity.
Although this would waste a lot of Lin Yao’s time, he agreed.
The other party had already spent money—eight million yuan—and given him a diamond combat skill. How could he possibly make money without putting in any effort?
In fact, to a certain extent, Lin Yao was the unreasonable one.
After all, he was the one who wanted to earn money, yet he refused to pay the other party a visit. He also imposed countless restrictions on the publicity plan, which was dependent on whether he had time. Even some of the most famous celebrities in the world wouldn’t dare be that willful.
Fortunately, Lin Yao was not a celebrity but a martial artist with outstanding talent. According to Lin Yao’s guess, the Flowery Sect was very accommodating because of his talent.
In addition to the situation with the Flowery Sect, Qin Ya also updated Lin Yao on the foundation, which had officially started operating, and explained that she had delegated some of the unimportant work to Yan Yu’er.
Lin Yao was initially quite happy to hear that the foundation had been officially launched. This meant that money would soon be spent contributing to people and would reap energy points for him.
However, the way Qin Ya empowered others made Lin Yao frown deeply. “After telling me so much, you’re going to leave?”
“Well, the compet.i.tion has already ended. I’ll be able to manage the foundation remotely. Most of your time will be spent practicing at the research inst.i.tute, and there’s nothing I need to do in the short run. There are still many things waiting for me in Shanghai to deal with them.”
After she said that, she took out her cell phone.
“We have communication devices. You can contact me anytime if something happens. I’ll also come over in the event of a serious situation.”
She had everything covered, which left Lin Yao speechless.
In the end, Lin Yao nodded and agreed to let her go without uttering a word.
Although Lin Yao was silent, Qin Ya said, “I suggest you follow me on my trip to Shanghai.”
After speaking, she quickly spoke before Lin Yao could refuse.
“Ninghai City is too small, and your development will be restricted. Shanghai is different. It has top-notch, genius youths and countless headquarters of powerful dojos. It also has martial arts grandmasters and even kings holding the fort. You’ll be able to improve and make money faster over there.
“Furthermore, I can help you convince the school. You don’t have to worry about your studies. I’ll find a teacher to give you private lessons.”
Qin Ya was very sincere. After contemplating it for a while, Lin Yao nodded. “You are right. I will go to Shanghai, but not now. Let’s talk about it after I become a warlord.”
Of course, Lin Yao wouldn’t agree to confine himself in a small city.
However, he felt insecure and didn’t dare venture out of the city yet. He planned to wait until he became a warlord and got stronger before leaving the place to strive for a better future.
“It’ll be very soon. At the rate that I’m improving, I’ll be able to go over in less than a month.”
In the end, Qin Ya left and Lin Yao continued to improve his physique in the research inst.i.tute.
‘What a bother.’
Two days after Qin Ya’s departure, the disciples of the Flowery Sect made a trip to Ninghai City. They took photos, performed combat skills, and arranged various kinds of publicity activities, which wasted some of Lin Yao’s time.
Fortunately, Lin Yao was happy about something that occurred during this period. The foundation he had established had already completed its talent sourcing phase, found some impoverished places, and started to work officially. According to Lin Yao’s discussion with Qin Ya, the preliminary work involved constructing primary schools and junior high schools in places where educational resources were scarce.
In addition, they had started working on not just one but more than 10 schools simultaneously.
At the same time, they had also received funds to refurbish some of the old facilities of the primary schools.
‘The last time Qin Ya and I sent supplies to some of the orphanages and refurbished some of the primary schools, we spent a total of 50 to 60 million yuan and I gained 60,000 grams of energy. This translates to one gram of energy per 100 yuan spent.’
This was not a small amount, and Lin Yao was quite satisfied with it.
‘Now, I have a total of 140 million yuan. If I spend all the money in two months, I’ll be able to get 1.4 million grams of energy. Perhaps I can wait another two months to upgrade the Celestial Tree before advancing to become a warlord?’
Lin Yao had it all perfectly planned. However, reality gave him a slap in the face.
The good thing about this world was that all the working adults were martial artists, and there were some who had awakened the earth talent. With the help of these superhuman workers and talented people, the process of building the school was way faster than Lin Yao had imagined.
So long as the supply of materials was adequate, it would take only 10 days to two weeks to build a primary school, which would have taken six months or even a year to build in the world Lin Yao had come from.
This could not be helped. The workers were awesome.
The martial artists could carry steel bars and other building materials that needed to be pulled up by machines. When building the third and fourth floors in the previous world, frame construction had been necessary for people to stand. There was also concern about the construction workers’ safety. All of this was not a concern in this world. The earth geniuses could build makeshift frames just by tapping their feet on the ground.
As for worrying about falling from heights? That was not a concern either. A martial artist would not die after falling from a height of three or four meters.
With such workers, the construction efficiency increased a dozen times. 15 days later, when Lin Yao was done with the photoshoot and filming requirements of the Flowery Sect, the construction of the schools had entered the final stage.
Some of the schools had even started enrolling students. However, something unexpected occurred. After looking at his energy gain, he discovered that the previous calculation of the energy conversion didn’t apply.
100 yuan for one gram of energy? He had been overthinking!
‘400,000 grams of energy? How can it possibly be that little?’
Out of the total sum of 140 million yuan, Lin Yao had spent 120 million yuan to purchase various supplies and recruit construction workers to build the schools. He had then set aside 20 million yuan as back-up funds.
He was very idealistic, so he’d believed that the expenditures of 120 million yuan would bring him 1.2 million grams of energy and he would be able to upgrade his Celestial Tree again.
However, when the work was completed, Lin Yao discovered he had only gotten 400,000 grams of energy after spending 120 million yuan. That meant he had gained only one gram of energy per 300 yuan spent.
400,000 grams of energy was not a small amount, but Lin Yao was not satisfied with it, especially when he compared this to his previous gain.
Furious, Lin Yao simply called Qin Ya and interrogated her.
“Why is there only… What’s going on with the foundation? I delegated all the power to you, yet you’re repaying me like that?”
He was infuriated, and his tone was filled with rage. Qin Ya could sense his anger. She had also received a report from the foundation. However, she didn’t discover any problems after skimming through it. “There are 40 schools. Each primary school now has a complete suite of facilities. There is also a field and some body-training facilities. The expenses of each school were three million yuan. There is no problem with the numbers.”
“No problem? There is a huge problem. This is different from last time!”
While listening to Lin Yao’s furious voice, Qin Ya, who was situated far away in Shanghai, thought for a moment and then said slowly, “You have the ability to perceive the power of faith, right? Are you angry that the ratio of the power of faith this time is different from last time?”
Of course, Lin Yao couldn’t perceive the power of faith. What he could see were the energy points.
However, Lin Yao didn’t correct Qin Ya’s words. He needed the power of faith to disguise his ability to see his energy points.
Sensing Lin Yao’s silence, Qin Ya explained, “It’s different this time. We provided for people who were critically in need last time. Besides, we didn’t spend any money during the initial sourcing period. This time, we needed to spend money to provide for places with children in need. The foundation also needed to pay wages and spend money for the talks with the construction merchants and people in the city…”
Qin Ya explained a lot. Based on her explanation, Lin Yao gradually figured out some of the issues. The reason the increase in energy points hadn’t met his expectations was twofold. First, although Lin Yao had built primary schools in impoverished areas, not everyone who had enrolled in the schools had no other means of education. Lin Yao would also gain energy points from the children who had other means of education, but the quantum would be much smaller because the actual help Lin Yao had provided to them was very little.
Second, given the expenses of employee wages and networking with people, there was also more corruption.
Of course, this corruption was not blatant, and there were various means and ways it happened. For example, when the construction project was contracted to others, the screening personnel could decide on the vendor. When there were bribes, the bidding price of the project would be slightly higher, some supplies would be more expensive, and so on…
After all, more than 30 schools were being built in various cities at the same time. Lin Yao washed his hands off this, as he needed to train, and Qin Ya also returned to Shanghai. Although she was still in control of the foundation, she could not keep a watch on those people all the time, and the costs would certainly increase.
In fact, some of these expenses, such as treating others to meals, were necessary.
Infuriated, Lin Yao entered the state of thinking speed acceleration and figured out all of this. Despite this situation, the fury in his heart couldn’t subside at the thought of the sudden reduction of close to 800,000 grams of energy.
“We should be able to build more schools if you take full control of the foundation.”
Upon finishing his words, out of anger, Lin Yao gripped the cell phone so hard that it exploded.
This action made both Qin Xue and Yan Yu’er, who were in the room, jump in shock.
They’d been living together for many days, so the relationship between the trio had become closer. At that moment, Qin Xue looked worried, and Yan Yu’er was panicking.
Unlike Qin Xue, she was in charge of the foundation’s work.
Fortunately, Lin Yao knew she was just a subordinate and didn’t blame her for this.
At the same time, Lin Yao was thinking about ways to remedy the situation.
‘400,000 grams of energy. I’m still short of 600,000 grams of energy to reach 1,000,000 grams. This gap is too huge.’