CHAPTER 29: CHAPTER 29: THE FIRST SUPPORTING CHARACTER LI SILI

He summoned the interface. A radar icon was on the main page, and he pressed it to activate search mode. A virtual circle appeared in the living room, its range only extending a few meters around him.

[Li Sili: Bond Value 80]

[Fang Sihan: Bond Value 56]

[Yun Yuqing: Bond Value 59]

The results were unexpected. It wasn’t that Fang Sihan and Yun Yuqing failed to reach 60, but that Li Sili’s Bond Value had soared to 80. It seemed that, for now, she was the only one he could bind with.

[Binding Successful]

Supporting Character: Li Sili

Occupation: Internet Celebrity

Bond Value: 80

Experience Value: 0

Sun Dasheng watched Li Sili chat animatedly with her friends. She’s an internet celebrity, so I need to find an arena she’s not good at, he thought. This was because, according to the system’s usual tricks, greater frustration yielded more experience points. If she earned less money, he could just compensate her with a high salary.

Looking at the ’Occupation’ field on his own panel, he saw that he had become an investor.

Protagonist: Sun Dasheng

Occupation: Investor

Level: 3 (1,000/?)

Experience Value: 0

Withdrawal Value: 0

In that case, if I set up an investment company and invest in unreliable projects, I could probably get a lot of experience points, right? Why not just set up companies for all the supporting characters and then invest in them? Wouldn’t that be killing two birds with one stone? I’ll use this girl to test the waters first.

The new Supporting Characters page gave him the feeling that the key to further system upgrades lay within it. He needed to farm more money to support his future spending sprees and investments in the various supporting characters. After all, it wasn’t as if they would willingly be at his beck and call just because he said so. He didn’t believe he possessed that kind of charisma. The only thing with that much charm was money.

「The next day.」

The three girls had their last day of part-time work. Sun Dasheng told them that once they were done, they shouldn’t take on any more jobs for the time being. Instead, they were to head to Starlight Building, Block C.

Their destination was adjacent to their previous company: the entire top floor of the 66-story building. All one thousand square meters of it belonged to a single investment company.

Nuokai Capital (China)

This company had been prepared for him by the system. When he was withdrawing money last night, a system message had popped up.

[Withdraw to a domestic personal account OR a domestic personal investment company.]

This piqued his curiosity. When did I get a company?

He chose the latter option, and a series of messages followed.

[Nuokai Capital (China) has received a capital injection of 10,000,000 from its overseas parent company, Nuokai Capital.]

[The parent company, Nuokai Capital, is 100% held by the protagonist Sun Dasheng through discreet ownership.]

[Nuokai Capital (China) is 100% co-owned by the parent company and the protagonist Sun Dasheng.]

Note: All employees of Nuokai Capital (China) are assigned by the parent company. No new employees are to be hired.

The system’s thorough preparations saved him a lot of trouble.

Welcoming him was the company’s General Manager—Fu Youqian. He was a foreigner, and Fu Youqian was his Chinese name.

Sitting in the luxurious chairman’s office, Sun Dasheng listened to Fu Youqian’s report. The office space was rented by the parent company, with rent paid a full year in advance, so that was one less thing to worry about. All employees were dispatched from the parent company, which also covered their salaries. However, there weren’t many of them, leaving a large part of the office vacant. All investment proposals the company had received were also temporarily shelved.

Just as expected of a Herman Miller chair that costs tens of thousands, he mused, leaning back into its comfortable embrace.

He casually flipped through the documents on the desk. "Didn’t the company receive ten million yesterday?"

"Did it? The finance department hasn’t started work yet. I’ll ask them later," Fu Youqian replied.

Hasn’t started work yet? He glanced at his watch. It was 8:30 AM.

"What are the company’s work hours?"

"The company follows an eight-hour workday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m."

I see, he thought. So it’s not a vampire company. That’s good. But even if it were, I could change it. I’m the one calling the shots here now. Awesome!

After Fu Youqian finished his report and left, the rest of the management staff queued up to report to him one by one. Being the boss for the first time filled him with inexhaustible energy. He took note of everyone who came in and even made some small talk, which made them feel that their new Chairman was approachable.

The last person to enter was the Investment Director, Wang Hai. He was a local from Shanghai City with an undergraduate degree from a domestic 985 university and a master’s from an Ivy League school. After Wang Hai finished his report, Sun Dasheng asked him to stay.

"Among the investment proposals submitted to the company, are there any for MCN companies?" Sun Dasheng asked.

Wang Hai was very competent. After a moment of recollection, he listed several names.

"Oh? Are there that many MCN companies seeking funding right now?"

"Yes. The competition is fierce, and the market is already a ’red ocean.’ Countless companies go bankrupt and close down every day," Wang Hai answered.

"Then are there any we could acquire immediately?" Sun Dasheng revealed his true intention. He planned to acquire a ready-made company to save time and effort. Any influencers he signed in the future would be placed there.

Wang Hai immediately had an answer. "There’s one right here in Shanghai City called Xinli Media. Their biggest influencer just breached her contract and left, so the company is now insolvent. It can be acquired for a very small amount of money."

"Alright, you handle it," Sun Dasheng instructed. "How long will it take?"

Wang Hai held up three fingers. "The company has connections, so three days should be enough. It’s a sole proprietorship, so there are no shareholder disputes to worry about. We just need to clear their debts."

"Good. Please close the door on your way out," Sun Dasheng said.

「Three days later.」

A portion of the office space on the 66th floor of Starlight Building, Block C, had been cleared out, and Xinli Media had already moved in. The media company’s original supervisor and accountant, both relatives of the former boss, had resigned along with him. The rest of the staff, about a dozen people, had stayed on. The influencers who wanted to terminate their contracts were allowed to part ways amicably, leaving about a dozen remaining—mostly women—who covered various genres.

Sun Dasheng held a meeting with everyone, offering a few words of encouragement and some motivational "chicken soup." Seeing the grand and impressive new office, everyone was enthusiastic and full of hope for the future.

After the crowd dispersed, he found Yu Xiaoqiang, the deputy manager of the media company. He was a seasoned expert who had been deeply involved in the short video industry for many years.

Sun Dasheng brought Li Sili, who wore her hair in charmingly cute twin ponytails, before him. "She’s the influencer the company will be heavily promoting from now on."

Yu Xiaoqiang glanced at Li Sili and nodded. Her looks were outstanding, but he had no idea what her talents were. "Director Sun, what kind of image should we build for her?" he asked.

"What do you think?" Sun Dasheng tossed the question back at him.

This is a test from the new boss, Yu Xiaoqiang immediately understood. If I don’t answer well, forget becoming the manager—I might not even keep my job as deputy manager.

After pondering for a moment, he said, "Based on her appearance, she’s suited for cosplay and fashion videos. We could market her as a goddess of the anime world. The number of otaku is growing rapidly, and anime-style characters hold a huge appeal for them. Moreover, their spending power is no weaker than that of female fanbases."

"Which group of fans has the weakest consumer power right now?" Sun Dasheng asked.

"Middle-aged men have the weakest spending power," Yu Xiaoqiang stated. "They face immense pressure at work and heavy family burdens. Plus, their wives control most of the money, leaving them with little to spend."

Isn’t that me? Or, the me from not too long ago, anyway, Sun Dasheng thought, and a smile broke out on his face.

Seeing his boss’s satisfied smile, Yu Xiaoqiang smiled as well. Looks like I passed, he thought.

"In that case, the videos we make for her should cater to the tastes of middle-aged men," Sun Dasheng said. "I think those stress-relief videos, like trimming donkey hooves or deep-cleaning carpets, are quite popular with them. Let’s record a few to test the waters."

Will videos like that even go viral? Unlikely. And even if they do, that niche has terrible monetization potential. Heh, a double-layered insurance plan. I’m untouchable.

HUH?

Yu Xiaoqiang was completely dumbfounded, staring at his boss. Did he really just say that, or are my ears playing tricks on me?