Chapter 185: 24,073 Strands of Human-Path Torch, Little Ma's Decision (Seeking)

The next morning, a sliver of cold light filtered through the glass window and fell on the living room floor of 0418.

Outside the window was a vast expanse of white; the parasol trees downstairs were wrapped in silver.

The first snow of winter in Xucheng came earlier than in the Chunshen hometown; the cold wind howled, sweeping the swirling snowflakes off into the distance.

Chen Yansen sat on the sofa, wearing only a short-sleeved T-shirt on his upper body, yet he felt not the slightest chill.

Pinbei had been online for 44 days, with cumulative sales of 7.26 billion; after the Double Twelve promotion, daily active users had once surged to 25 million, but as e-commerce was about to enter the off-season, it had slowly dropped back to around 22 million.

Daily sales fluctuated between 240 million and 260 million; transaction commission, advertising, and marketing service revenue came to roughly 8.5% of total sales.

In short, over the past month and a half, Pinbei had earned a total of 617 million.

Sister Chengzi Tech's profitability couldn't catch up to Pinbei's no matter how hard it tried.

But in Chen Yansen's heart, ten Pinbeis couldn't compare to Sister Chengzi Tech—after all, Sister Chengzi Tech provided over 6,000 workstation jobs for the Sister Chengzi phone factory, contributing more than 4,000 strands of Human-Path Torch each month.

The moment 8:05 arrived, the Torch value on the panel began to climb wildly.

Within just a few seconds, the Human-Path Torch figure skyrocketed from the original 43 to 24,073.

Last month, both Sister Chengzi and Pinbei Tech employees received quarterly bonuses, so the Torch value was noticeably higher by a large margin.

Among them, Sister Chengzi Tech had 673 employees, with labor costs of 42.39 million, and an average salary of nearly 63,000;

Pinbei Tech had 382 employees, with labor costs of 12.99 million, and an average salary of just over 34,000;

Yunsu Express had 17,829 employees, with labor costs of 139.06 million, and an average salary of about 7,800 yuan;

Kuaipao had 157 employees, with labor costs of 1.05 million, and an average salary of about 6,700 yuan;

The Sister Chengzi phone factory had 6,311 employees, with labor costs of 44.81 million, and an average salary of about 7,100 yuan.

Sister Chengzi Tech's headcount was only one-tenth of the Sister Chengzi phone factory's, yet the two companies' labor costs were remarkably close.

Sister Chengzi Tech's employees were mainly R&D engineers, whose base salaries were already above twenty thousand; add in the quarterly bonuses, and the average salary had easily doubled from November's level.

"Synthesize!"

Chen Yansen focused his will and synthesized the 24,073 strands of Human-Path Torch into 240 strands of Divine-Path Torch.

After the operation was complete, he deliberated for a moment, then added 10 strands of Divine-Path Torch to Physique.

This was the first time he had reinforced since his Physique broke through 10.

A golden mist as fine as a hair strand materialized out of thin air, then burrowed into his brow; completely unlike the cold touch of Human-Path Torch, this golden mist, after entering the brain, clung to his nerves and blood.

Immediately afterward, as if a violent chemical reaction had occurred, the blood infused with the golden mist galloped wantonly through his body like an unbridled wild horse.

After a few breaths, every trace of strangeness vanished completely.

Chen Yansen stood up, walked to the full-length mirror, and observed carefully; aside from a sense of abundant strength and a light step, there was no obvious change.

His height was still one meter eighty-six!

But his weight had risen from 98 kilograms to 98.1 kilograms!

"Looks like my guess was right—as Physique gradually strengthens, the density of flesh, blood, tendons, and bones also increases; although my build hasn't changed, my weight has genuinely gone up."

Chen Yansen mused to himself.

If he dumped all the remaining 230 strands of Divine-Path Torch into Physique, his weight would most likely exceed 100 kilograms, or even 110 kilograms.

If he pushed Physique's value up to 100, wouldn't his weight break through 400 jin!

Wouldn't that make him a monster?

For the moment, until he found a solution, Chen Yansen decided to put all the remaining Divine-Path Torch into Spirit.

"Add points!"

Chen Yansen gave a low shout; golden mist as thick as a thumb entered his mind, giving him a comfort like soaking in a hot spring; the cells in his neurons and glial tissue, stimulated by some unknown energy, rapidly multiplied and transformed.

When he opened his eyes again, he couldn't help but let out a long breath.

Within a ten-meter radius, Chen Yansen could sense the rough outline of objects even through thick floor slabs and brick walls.

Compared to last time, the range seemed to have increased, but it was almost imperceptible.

The perception image in his mind before had only amounted to a stick drawing; now there were a few more strokes, barely enough to tell men from women.

Teacher Wang, who lived next door, was currently taking a shower in the bathroom.

Her figure outline surfaced in his mind, twisting and turning under the showerhead.

"Drooping that badly? Still, they're quite big."

Chen Yansen commented with a smile.

This beginner-version Divine Sense really was freaking beginner!

Over twenty thousand strands of Human-Path Torch poured in, and all he got was a few extra strokes—not even a splash.

Chen Yansen summoned the system panel and narrowed his eyes in thought.

【Host: Chen Yansen】

【Physique: 10.1】

【Spirit: 14.78】

【Skills: Automobile Driving (Three-Star Professional 47/100), Guitar Playing (One-Star Beginner 89/100), Eight-Part Vajra Art (Two-Star Beginner 19/100), Swimming (Three-Star Professional 24/100)】

【Talents: Photographic Memory, Rhinoceros Hide and Tiger Bone】

【Human-Path Torch: 73】

【Divine-Path Torch: 0】

At the current rate of adding points, it would take at least three months before his Spirit value could break through 20.

To break through 100, it would take three whole years!

The expansion speed of Kuaipao, the Sister Chengzi phone factory, and Yunsu Express still had to keep accelerating.

Last time Liu Zhiping called, he had deliberately steered the conversation toward food delivery, wanting to pull Penguin into the water.

With only him alone, it was hard to preheat this track ahead of time, but with Penguin joining in, the speed could naturally increase greatly.

Meanwhile.

The first day of the new year.

At Penguin headquarters, Liu Zhiping sat across from Ma Wenteng, holding a cup of black tea and taking small sips.

Ma Wenteng held a research report, his brow tightly furrowed, reading through it carefully.

"GrubHub in the Lighthouse Country has 100,000 daily orders and 10 million USD in monthly revenue; JustEat in the UK has 80,000 daily orders and 9 million GBP in monthly revenue; Germany's DeliveryHero was only recently founded, so order and revenue figures are unknown."

"Martin, do you think this project is reliable?"

Ma Wenteng tossed the document aside, took a sip of hot tea to moisten his throat, and asked.

"I think the prospects are quite promising. The working hours of domestic private enterprises, and the way Chinese food is cooked, mean that over ninety percent of white-collar workers have a strong, natural demand for the takeout market — not every company has its own staff cafeteria."

Liu Zhiping set down his teacup and answered with a smile.

Especially in the internet industry, 996 is an everyday occurrence; very few office workers still feel like grocery shopping and cooking after work.

"Then we're not doing group buying anymore?" Ma Wenteng suddenly felt frustrated.

The Thousand-Group War had lasted a year; Gao Peng was out, and QQ Group Buy had fallen out of the market's top five.

He didn't understand!

Lashou, Wo Wo Tuan, Meituan, and Nuomi — with less traffic and capital than Penguin — how had they managed to keep QQ Group Buy pinned down so thoroughly?

"Naturally, we'll do both. Since we can't tell which model has more potential, we'll invest in both tracks at once."

Liu Zhiping picked up the teapot, refilled Ma Wenteng's cup, then poured one for himself before unhurriedly replying.

Neither of Penguin's two investments in Chen Yansen had lost money.

The first investment, in Fox Tao, was cashed out for 2 billion.

The second investment, in Pin Bei, took less than two months to nearly catch up with JD's efforts of many years.

Although Chen Yansen had not yet opened an A-round of financing, DST, Gao Ling, Sequoia, and Tiger Fund all valued Pin Bei at over 5 billion USD.

Simply put, in a month and a half, Chen Yansen had solidified Pin Bei's inflated 2-billion-USD valuation and multiplied it 1.5 times.

Even investment-banking bigwigs jokingly called Chen Yansen the God of Wealth — and they weren't wrong.

DST spent 1.35 billion USD, plus supply-chain resources and technology patent licensing from Gao Tong, Microsoft, and Sony, before it moved Chen Yansen and secured 15% of Sister Chengzi Tech's equity.

Ma Wenteng had also entertained the idea of investing in Sister Chengzi Tech, but Penguin had no resources or connections in the phone industry; the moment Liu Zhiping tested the waters, Chen Yansen refused him outright.

Yet according to rough iResearch statistics, Sister Chengzi Phone's shipments ranked fourth in the domestic market in 2011.

In less than half a year, it had surpassed phone makers like Ku Sect, Lenovo, OPPO, and ZTE.

The soaring valuation made DST's investment a classic industry case.

"Then leave it to Lin Chenfeng. He's an old acquaintance of Chen Yansen's anyway. Since Chen Yansen spoke up on his own last time, it shows he's open to bringing in Penguin capital."

Ma Wenteng decided on the spot.

"Alright, I'll arrange it." Liu Zhiping nodded slightly and agreed readily.

On the other side.

Lin Chenfeng, still on vacation, received a call from his boss.

"Kuai Pao? Takeout? Got it, boss, I understand."

After hearing Liu Zhiping's instructions, Lin Chenfeng politely hung up.

He knew about takeout — Penguin's venture-capital division had previously evaluated Ele. me and concluded that the upfront investment was too high and the profit cycle too long, so they passed.

Yet just a few months later, the boss's attitude had actually changed.

Still, Lin Chenfeng was clear: the one running Kuai Pao was Chen Yansen, so it had to be different from Ele. me.

Thinking of this, he had someone contact Kang Guodong first, preparing to visit for inspection after the holiday.

The big boss had spoken — Kuai Pao was a must-invest, no question. What remained was just the price.

On New Year's Day, Kang Guodong, still busy with the "Kuai Pao Treats You to the New Year's First Cup of Milk Tea" campaign, suddenly received a call from Penguin's venture-capital division.

"Sure, no problem, we'll be in touch."

Kang Guodong didn't hesitate and agreed readily.

Kuai Pao had just started, and monthly operating expenses already exceeded 4 million. The 30 million Chen Yansen had given would likely not last three months once new-customer volume picked up.

"Brother Dong, who was that?" Pei Yi asked curiously.

Standing nearby, he had only caught a few vague words — something like "Penguin," "investment."

"Penguin's venture-capital division. They said they want to invest in Kuai Pao."

Kang Guodong didn't overthink it and answered honestly.

"That's good." Pei Yi's eyes flicked, and he immediately connected it to what Chen Yansen had said — this might well be one of the man's moves too.

"I've set a meeting with them for January 4th. You can take charge of it then."

Kang Guodong thought it over and felt it was more appropriate for Pei Yi to step up.

Last time, when he'd gone to Xu City to pitch Chen Yansen for investment, it was Old Pei who controlled the situation and successfully secured the funding.

"Let's report to Mr. Chen first — after all, he's the real big boss of Kuai Pao." Pei Yi sighed softly and reminded him in a low voice.

He thought to himself: Brother Dong's coding skills are solid, and he's a good friend, but he's just not cut out to be Kuai Pao's CEO.

"Right, right, Old Pei is the careful one." Kang Guodong laughed and agreed.

"Alright, I'll get back to work then. I need to keep an eye on the orders — if we get a surge, we'll have to adjust the number of part-time riders again."

Pei Yi nodded and said.

Kang Guodong said nothing, turned, and walked toward the tech department, planning to continue optimizing Kuai Pao's intelligent dispatch system.

(End of chapter)