Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

The next morning, a sliver of cold light pierced through the glass window, falling upon the living room floor of Apartment 0418.

Outside, the world was a vast expanse of white. The plane trees below were draped in a silver cloak of snow.

The first snow of winter in Xucheng had arrived earlier than back in his hometown of Chunshen. A cold wind howled, sweeping the swirling snowflakes into the distance.

Chen Yansen sat on the sofa, wearing only a t-shirt, yet he didn’t feel the slightest chill.

Pinbei had been online for 44 days, with cumulative sales reaching 7.26 billion. After the Double Twelve promotion, its daily active users had peaked at 25 million. However, as e-commerce entered its off-season, that number slowly fell back to around 22 million.

Daily sales fluctuated between 240 and 260 million, and its revenue from transaction commissions, advertising, and marketing services was approximately 8.5% of total sales.

Simply put, Pinbei had earned a total of 617 million in the past month and a half.

Orange Technology’s profitability couldn’t even hold a candle to Pinbei’s.

But to Chen Yansen, ten Pinbeis weren’t worth one Orange Technology. After all, Orange Technology provided over 6,000 jobs at the Orange Phone Factory, contributing more than 4,000 wisps of Human Dao Fire each month.

As soon as the clock struck 8:05 AM, the fire value on his panel began to skyrocket.

Just a few seconds later, the number in the Human Dao Fire column exploded from 43 to 24,073.

The employees at Orange and Pinbei Technology received quarterly bonuses last month, so the amount of fire generated was significantly higher.

Orange Technology had 673 employees, with labor costs totaling 42.39 million and an average salary of nearly 63,000.

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

Cloud Speed Express had 17,829 employees, with labor costs of 139.06 million and an average salary of about 7,800.

Kuai Pao had 157 employees, with labor costs of 1.05 million and an average salary of about 6,700.

The Orange Phone Factory had 6,311 employees, with labor costs of 44.81 million and an average salary of about 7,100.

Orange Technology had only a tenth of the employees of the Orange Phone Factory, but their labor costs were nearly identical.

Orange Technology’s staff consisted mainly of R&D engineers, whose base salaries were already over 20,000. With the quarterly bonus, their average income easily doubled what it was in November.

”Synthesize!”

Chen Yansen focused his will, synthesizing the 24,073 wisps of Human Dao Fire into 240 wisps of Divine Dao Fire.

After completing the process, he pondered for a moment and added 10 wisps of Divine Dao Fire to his Constitution stat.

This was the first time he had enhanced his Constitution since it broke past 10.

A hair-thin golden mist materialized from nothing, then drilled into the space between his eyebrows. Unlike the cold sensation of Human Dao Fire, this golden mist attached itself to his nerves and blood upon entering his brain.

Immediately, as if a violent chemical reaction had taken place, the blood infused with the golden mist surged wildly through his body like a stallion that had broken its reins.

A few breaths later, all the strange sensations vanished completely.

Chen Yansen got up and walked to the full-length mirror to observe himself closely. Aside from a feeling of immense power and a lightness in his step, there were no other obvious changes.

His height was still 1.86 meters!

But his weight had increased from 98 to 98.1 kilograms!

’Looks like my theory was right. As my Constitution gradually improves, the density of my muscles and bones increases. My physique hasn’t changed, but my weight has definitely gone up.’

Chen Yansen mused to himself.

’If I add the remaining 230 wisps of Divine Dao Fire to my Constitution, my weight will probably exceed 100 kilograms, maybe even 110.’

’If I raise my Constitution to 100, my weight will probably surpass 200 kilograms!’

’Won’t I become a monster?’

For the time being, until he could find a solution, Chen Yansen decided to put all the remaining Divine Dao Fire into his Spirit.

”Allocate!”

With a low cry from Chen Yansen, a golden mist as thick as his thumb entered his mind, making him feel as comfortable as if he were soaking in a hot spring. Stimulated by the unknown energy, the cells in his neurons and glia began to rapidly grow and transform.

When he opened his eyes again, he let out an involuntary sigh of relief.

Chen Yansen could perceive the rough outlines of objects within a ten-meter radius, even through thick floorboards and brick walls.

The range seemed to have increased compared to last time, but the change was almost imperceptible.

Previously, the sensory image in his mind had been like a simple stick figure drawing. Now, it had a few more lines, and he could just barely distinguish between men and women.

Teacher Wang, his next-door neighbor, was taking a shower.

Her silhouette appeared in his mind, moving about under the spray of the showerhead.

’They’re drooping that much? They’re pretty big, though.’

Chen Yansen commented with a smirk.

’This beginner-level Divine Sense really is fucking basic!’

’I dumped over twenty thousand wisps of Human Dao Fire into it for just a few extra lines. It barely even made a ripple.’

Chen Yansen summoned the system panel, squinting his eyes in thought.

[Host: Chen Yansen]

[Constitution: 10.1]

[Spirit: 14.78]

[Skills: Driving (Three-Star Professional 47/100), Guitar (One-Star Beginner 89/100), Eight Vajra Skills (Two-Star Beginner 19/100), Swimming (Three-Star Professional 24/100)]

[Talents: Photographic Memory, Hide of a Rhino and Bones of a Tiger]

[Human Dao Fire: 73]

[Divine Dao Fire: 0]

’At my current point allocation speed, it will take at least three months for my Spirit score to break 20.’

’To break 100, it would take three years!’

’Kuai Pao, the Orange Phone Factory, and Cloud Speed Express have to expand even faster.’

’The last time Liu Zhiping called, I deliberately steered the conversation toward food delivery. I need to drag Penguin into this.’

’It’s hard for me to heat up this market sector on my own, but if Penguin gets involved, things will move much faster.’

「Meanwhile.」

「New Year’s Day.」

At Penguin Headquarters, Liu Zhiping sat across from Ma Wenteng, sipping a cup of black tea.

Ma Wenteng held a research report, his brows furrowed as he carefully scanned its pages.

”Grubhub in the Lighthouse Country gets 100,000 orders a day, with a monthly revenue of 10 million US dollars. Just Eat in the United Kingdom gets 80,000 orders a day, with a monthly revenue of 9 million British pounds. Germany’s Delivery Hero was just founded, so their order and revenue numbers are unknown.”

”Martin, do you think this project is viable?”

Ma Wenteng put down the file, took a sip of his hot tea to wet his throat, and asked.

”I think the prospects are quite promising. The work schedules at private domestic companies and the nature of Chinese cuisine mean that over ninety percent of white-collar workers have a strong, inherent need for a food delivery market. Not every company has its own cafeteria.”

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

Especially in the tech industry, a 996 schedule is the norm. Very few office workers still have the energy to buy groceries and cook after they finally get off work.

”So we’re giving up on Group Buy?” Ma Wenteng asked, a sense of frustration welling up inside him.

After a year of the ”War of a Thousand Groupons,” Gaopeng Network was out, and QQ Group Buy had fallen out of the top five.

He just didn’t get it.

How had Lashou, WoWo Group, Meituan, and Nuomi Network—all with less traffic and funding than Penguin—managed to completely suppress QQ Group Buy?

”Of course we’ll do both,” Liu Zhiping said calmly. ”Since it’s not clear which model has more potential, we’ll just invest in both sectors.”

Liu Zhiping lifted the teapot, refilled Ma Wenteng’s cup, and then poured one for himself before replying at a leisurely pace.

Penguin had made two investments in Chen Yansen, and neither had lost a single cent.

Their first investment in FoxTao had been cashed out for 2 billion.

Their second investment was in Pinbei, which, in less than two months, had nearly matched the results of Jingdong’s years of hard work.

Although Chen Yansen hadn’t even started his Series A funding round, firms like Digital Sky Technology, Gao Ling, Redwood Capital, and Tiger Fund were all valuing Pinbei at over 5 billion US dollars.

To put it simply, in just a month and a half, Chen Yansen had not only justified Pinbei’s supposedly inflated 2 billion US dollar valuation but had also increased it by another 1.5 times.

It was no wonder the bigwigs in investment banking jokingly called Chen Yansen the God of Wealth. They weren’t wrong.

Digital Sky Technology had to spend 1.35 billion US dollars—in addition to offering supply chain resources and technology patent licenses from Qualcomm, Microsoft, and Sony—just to convince Chen Yansen to give them a 15% stake in Orange Technology.

Ma Wenteng had also considered investing in Orange Technology, but Penguin lacked the resources and connections in the mobile phone industry. The moment Liu Zhiping tentatively broached the subject, Chen Yansen had shut him down.

And yet, according to rough estimates from iResearch Data, shipments of the Orange Mobile Phone had ranked fourth in the domestic market for 2011.

In less than half a year, it had surpassed established phone manufacturers like Coolpad, Lenovo, OPPO, and ZTE.

Its skyrocketing valuation had made DST’s investment a classic industry case study.

”Then hand it over to Chenfeng. He and Chen Yansen are old acquaintances, more or less. Since Chen Yansen was the one who brought it up last time, it must mean he’s open to taking capital from Penguin.”

Ma Wenteng decided on the spot.

”Alright, I’ll arrange it,” Liu Zhiping agreed readily with a slight nod.

「On the other side.」

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

”Kuai Pao? Food delivery? Understood, boss.”

After listening to Liu Zhiping’s instructions, Lin Chenfeng politely ended the call.

He was familiar with the food delivery space. The Penguin Venture Capital Department had previously evaluated Eleme but had passed on the investment, deeming the initial capital outlay too high and the path to profitability too long.

’Only a few months have passed, and the boss has already changed his tune.’

’But,’ Lin Chenfeng knew, ’the man behind Kuai Pao is Chen Yansen. It’s bound to be different from Eleme.’

With this in mind, he had someone contact Kang Guodong to arrange an on-site visit after the holidays.

’The big boss has given the order, so the investment in Kuai Pao is a sure thing. The only thing left to do is haggle over the price.’

On New Year’s Day, Kang Guodong was busy running a ”Kuai Pao Treats You to the First Milk Tea of the New Year” event when he suddenly received a call from the Penguin Venture Capital Department.

”Okay, no problem. I’ll be in touch.”

Kang Guodong agreed readily without a moment’s hesitation.

’Kuai Pao was just getting started, but its monthly operating expenses were already over 4 million. Once the number of new customers started to climb, the 30 million from Chen Yansen probably wouldn’t even last three months.’

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

He had been standing to the side and had only caught a few muffled words, something like ”Penguin” and ”investment.”

”The Penguin Venture Capital Department. They want to invest in Kuai Pao.”

Kang Guodong answered truthfully, not giving it much thought.

”That’s great.” Pei Yi’s eyes flickered. He immediately recalled what Chen Yansen had said; ’This is probably one of his schemes, too.’

”I scheduled a meeting with them for January 4th. You... you should be the one to handle it.”

Kang Guodong thought for a moment and decided it would be more appropriate for Pei Yi to take the lead.

The last time they were in Xucheng looking for an investment from Chen Yansen, it was Old Pei who had kept things from falling apart and successfully secured the funding.

”We should report this to President Chen first. After all, he’s the real boss of Kuai Pao,” Pei Yi reminded him quietly with a soft sigh.

’Brother Dong is a great programmer and a good friend,’ he thought, ’but he’s just not cut out to be the CEO of Kuai Pao.’

”Right, right. You’re always the detail-oriented one, Old Pei,” Kang Guodong replied with a laugh.

”Alright, I’m heading back to work, then. I need to keep an eye on the orders. If we get a sudden surge, I’ll have to adjust the number of part-time riders.”

Pei Yi said with a nod.

Kang Guodong said nothing, simply turning and heading toward the tech department, planning to continue optimizing Kuai Pao’s smart delivery system.