87: Chapter 87 The richest man wants to compete with me in terms of money? My gold is weighed by the ton!

Before I could even finish reading the financial report for Chenxing Technology, the winds of public opinion on the internet shifted again.

As the saying goes, popularity breeds controversy. No sooner had Jiang Chen been placed on a pedestal than someone started finding him an eyesore. This time, it wasn't some sanctioned tech company jumping out, but a traditional energy tycoon who had been on the domestic rich list for many years—Zhu Dafu.

This "Richest Man Zhu," who made his fortune digging coal, was known for his fiery temper and even a bit of wealth-hatred (specifically, hatred towards the wealthy who were more cultured than him).

He posted a long article on Weibo, accompanied by a nine-grid image collage.

The first eight photos were of his private jet, his yacht, and that mansion famously valued at one billion. The last one was a screenshot of his mobile banking balance, where that long string of zeros was enough to make anyone with trypophobia faint on the spot.

The accompanying text was even more explosive:

"These young people nowadays, get a PowerPoint, make a few holographic projection gimmicks, and dare to call themselves entrepreneurs? And what is this 'National Husband' nonsense? To me, he's just a swindler selling sentiment! The real economy is the backbone of the country! Compare with me? Are those few coins in your pocket enough for me to refuel my yacht once? @Chenxing Technology - Jiang Chen"

Once this Weibo post went out, the entire internet was in an uproar.

The onlookers instantly split into two factions: one supporting the industrial tycoon, the other firmly backing God Jiang. But one had to admit, that screenshot of Zhu Dafu's multi-billion cash deposit had immense lethality.

In this money-first society, a balance is the hardest truth.

"Boss, this old brat is too arrogant."

Zhao Gang looked at his phone, his brows twitching with anger. "This is a classic case of clout-chasing! He wants to step on us to climb higher. Should I look into his background? A nouveau riche like this surely has some dirt under his fingernails."

"Why bother investigating him? It's a waste of police resources."

Jiang Chen tossed the financial report onto the table and stretched, his face devoid of anger; instead, he wore that familiar look of someone watching a fool.

"It's useless to reason with a nouveau riche; they only recognize one thing."

"Money."

Jiang Chen stood up, adjusted his collar, and snapped his fingers at Ikaros, who was standing by:

"Hey you, turn on the livestream."

"Since Boss Zhu wants to compare wealth, let's play along with him. It just so happens that the pile of stuff in the basement is just sitting there anyway; might as well take it out to sunbathe so it doesn't get moldy."

Five minutes later, the Chenxing Technology livestream went live without warning.

No warm-up, no title.

In the frame, Jiang Chen held his phone, walking through the deep underground corridor of the West Suburb Base like a livestreamer selling goods.

"Hello everyone, I saw someone tag me earlier saying I don't have money?"

Jiang Chen raised an eyebrow at the camera, not stopping his pace. "Actually, I really don't have much of a concept of money. After all, my company isn't public, I don't take financing, and I don't even know how much money I have."

At this moment, the number of viewers in the livestream was skyrocketing, and the comments were flying by.

[God Jiang has responded! Front-row seats for the drama!]

[Although God Jiang's technology is awesome, when it comes to cash flow, he might not really be able to beat a coal boss like Zhu Dafu.]

[Indeed, tech companies burn money in the early stages. God Jiang is probably operating in debt right now, right?]

Watching these comments, Jiang Chen walked to the end of the corridor.

Before him was a blast-proof steel door as thick as a bank vault, with a sign hanging on it: "Material Reserve - Heavy Metal Zone."

"Old Zhao, open the door."

Jiang Chen stepped aside.

Zhao Gang stepped forward, entered the password, and verified his iris. Accompanied by a dull sound of hydraulic air release, that steel door, which was half a meter thick, slowly slid open to both sides.

"Boss Zhu just showed off his balance, but that stuff is just a string of numbers; it's boring to look at."

Jiang Chen walked inside, pointing the camera forward, his tone as casual as if he were introducing cabbages in his own cellar:

"I'm a bit vulgar, I don't like saving money; I prefer to store some hard currency."

"Everyone, help me take a look. Is this junk worth any money?"

As the camera panned, the tens of millions of viewers in the livestream stopped breathing at the same instant.

The space behind the door wasn't large, only a few hundred square meters.

But in this space, there were no shelves, no safes, only one thing—

Gold.

Golden, yellow, enough to blind the eyes of any pay-to-win gamer.

They weren't arranged neatly like in a bank, but were dumped on the floor like trash. Some were standard gold bricks, some were weirdly shaped gold cakes, and there were even a few thick gold chains (relics of a Wasteland nouveau riche), just piled up in a mess like a small hill.

Under the warehouse ceiling lights, that "mountain of gold" reflected a breathtaking radiance, turning the entire screen gold.

"Holy crap..."

"Holy crap!!!"

"Holy crap!!!!"

The comment section was instantly flooded with these two words. Beyond that, human language could no longer express the shock of this moment.

Is this a vault?

This is clearly a dragon's lair!

Jiang Chen walked up to the pile of gold, casually picked up a gold bar the size of a brick, weighed it in his hand, and then tossed it back like a stone, making a crisp "clatter" sound.

"These were all... cough, given to me by clients to offset debts while doing business a while ago."

Jiang Chen explained to the camera with a look of disdain:

"I didn't want them initially. After all, this stuff is too heavy, takes up space, and it's soft; it's not even hard enough to build a house."

"But there was no help for it; the clients really didn't have cash and insisted on using this to pay. I couldn't refuse to give them face, so I reluctantly accepted some."

He pointed to the mountain of gold behind him that was almost reaching the ceiling:

"I didn't count it carefully, there's probably over two hundred tons."

"I'm not like Boss Zhu, who likes counting zeros."

Jiang Chen shrugged, giving the camera an extremely flex-worthy smile:

"I'm bad at math, I can't count it."

"So my money is usually measured by the ton."

"This little bit of stuff is just kept here as ballast. If the company goes bankrupt one day, I can melt it down to make a few gold rings to wear; that way, it won't have been for nothing."

Dead silence.

Absolute dead silence.

Two hundred tons?

Netizens with mental arithmetic skills had shaking hands. At current gold prices, one ton of gold is about 450 million RMB. Two hundred tons... that's ninety billion!

And it's physical! It's spot goods!

That few billion in deposits that Zhu Dafu showed off, in front of this mountain of gold, was simply pocket money for a child's game!

"By the way, Boss Zhu."

Jiang Chen seemed to remember something suddenly and called out to the camera:

"You just said you wanted to compare wealth with me?"

"How about this, you take out all your cash, and let's find a weighbridge to weigh it?"

"If your money weighs more than mine, I'll admit defeat. How about that?"

This sentence became the final straw that broke the camel's back.

Zhu Dafu, who was watching the livestream, dropped the cigar in his hand onto his crotch, burning a large hole, but he couldn't feel the pain at all.

He looked at the pile of gold stacked like trash on the screen, and the whole person was stunned.

Compare weight?

Compare the weight of paper money with gold?

Is this a method of comparison that a carbon-based lifeform could think of?!

Ten minutes later.

Netizens discovered in horror that Zhu Dafu's Weibo account had been deactivated. Along with all the videos of him showing off his wealth that he had posted before, they were all completely deleted, as if this person had never existed.

He chickened out.

Completely chickened out.

In the face of absolute "money power," any resistance was futile.

"Boring."

Jiang Chen looked at the blacked-out livestream, shook his head, and signaled for Zhao Gang to close the door. "In this day and age, nobody believes the truth; they force me to show off my wealth."

"Alright, work's done. Lock the door tight, don't let any rats in to gnaw on it."

He turned and walked out, calculating in his heart how to liquidate this gold to pay for that exorbitant "cross-boundary transfer fee."

Just then.

The dedicated phone he always kept in his pocket suddenly emitted an extremely special, rhythmic vibration.

Jiang Chen's footsteps paused, and his eyes instantly lit up.

This vibration frequency...

It's a video request!

And it's a video request from that world!

He hurriedly took out his phone, and on the screen, Jiang Wanqiu's avatar was flashing with an unprecedented red light, carrying smoke and blood.

[Jiang Wanqiu (Video Requesting)]

[Status: Extremely excited. Coordinates: Ruins of the former Brotherhood of Steel headquarters.]

Jiang Chen took a deep breath and pressed the answer button.

The holographic projection expanded.

This time, Jiang Wanqiu wasn't wearing that sexy tactical pajama, but had changed into a set of power armor stained with machine oil and blood.

Behind her was a burning steel ruin, huge mechanical wreckage piled up like a mountain, and countless Wasteland warriors were cheering on the ruins.

Jiang Wanqiu took off her helmet, and that head of silver hair danced in the smoke.

She looked at Jiang Chen, her face wearing a wild smile unique to a conqueror, her voice slightly hoarse with excitement:

"Father God!"

"Did you see it?"

"According to the 'Art of War' you bestowed upon me..."

"I have wiped out the 'Brotherhood of Steel' next door that was always fighting us for batteries!"

"And..."

She turned sideways, pointing to the center of the ruins, at the group of strange creatures tied up and trembling on the ground:

"I also caught you a group of... particularly interesting 'trophies'!"