Make money by hiding in the interstellar battlefield!

Before 10 p.m., Jiansheng brought Lin Zhizhi back to the Mech Officer Academy on time. He had Lin Zhizhi move into his dormitory room directly, for a straightforward reason—now that she was a formal member of his team, sharing a room with people from other teams would not only make it inconvenient to coordinate training, but also easily reveal team arrangements. He gave Lin Zhizhi the single bed by the window, and he himself took a thin blanket and curled up on the folding sofa in the living room.

A cool breeze drifted in through the gauze curtains of spring night. Jian Sheng lay awake, wide awake, his mind racing with calculations about leveling up and making money. The three tasks the patch system had thrown at him felt like death knells; he'd long ago realized he had no way out, only to be pushed forward by the system. As for where he would end up—whether he'd reach the summit or crash to his death—he had no idea.

The most urgent task right now is to upgrade his C-level blue crystal energy sensing ability to B-level within two years. Electromagnetic tolerance has never been a problem for him, but his blue crystal energy sensing ability is lacking—Windsor Louise herself said that the materials for B-level mechs have been gathered and mass production will definitely begin within two years. By then, with his C-level talent, he won't even be qualified to pilot one, and his combat power will plummet to the second tier. He'll go from being a "useful person" who barely manages to squeeze in to a "useless piece" that can be manipulated at will. He knows the Windsor family's nature all too well; pawns without value will be ruthlessly kicked aside, leaving not even a trace.

How many resources are needed for the upgrade? Jian Sheng mentally calculated, his heart sinking with each calculation. Upgrading from C to B requires a full 1 billion calories of energy, and it must be general-grade blue crystals. At the black market exchange rate of 10:20, this means he would need to earn two small goals' worth of blue crystals within two years. Spread over 24 months, that's at least 833 million per month.

But what about his current financial situation? He only has 9.2 Blue Crystals left in his account. Even with the 4% equipment rebate promised by the Windsor family, it's a total of 1609 million. Add to that the 150 million cash from his apartment in the South Third Ring Road, and he's only left with 1759 million. That's barely enough to buy two months' worth of General-level Blue Crystals. What about the remaining 22 months? Will he starve?

The thought sent chills down Jian Sheng's spine. This was just the cost of upgrading to B-rank; if he wanted to reach A-rank, the resource consumption would be more than ten times higher. He'd probably have to throw in hundreds of billions of blue crystals. He'd initially thought the patch system was a cheat code, allowing him to escape death with ease, but now he realized it was a bottomless pit. Not only would he constantly face life-or-death crises, but he also had to rack his brains to make money. At this upgrade requirement, even if it took twenty years—let alone two—to completely plunder the wealth of the entire Seventh Ring City, it probably wouldn't be enough for the system to even fill a tooth gap.

Despite his worries, Jian Sheng had no intention of giving up. He figured he'd take it one step at a time and solve the immediate problem first. Now, there was an even more pressing issue—he needed to spend 833 million on blue crystals every month, but the black market could only provide a maximum of 3 kilograms of general-grade blue crystals, costing him 6. Having money but nowhere to spend it was more frustrating than being broke.

How to make money? How to spend money? These two questions need to be addressed separately. Let's focus on making money first, because once you have money, you can always find ways to expand your supply chain.

Making money was precisely Jian Sheng's forte. In his past life, his father was a complete hypocrite, worse than a beast, yet he inherited in him a cunning and insightful ability to see through people's hearts; his mother, though self-righteous, was vain at heart, which also honed his calculating mind at a young age. With a small amount of capital in a trust fund, he earned his first small goal in US dollars at a young age.

For someone as shrewd, insightful, and perceptive as him, who understands human nature, is adept at assessing situations, and can adjust his bottom line at any time, making money has never been difficult. He categorizes ways to make money into three types: selling value, deception and fraud, and snowballing capital.

The first category is selling one's own value, which can be further divided into social value, ability value, and emotional value.

His greatest social value in Seven Rings City right now is his title as captain of the Mech Officer School. This position looks prestigious, but in reality, it carries real power and benefits. Selling this power for a good price is the quickest way to go right now.

The core of his ability's value lies in his unparalleled sniping skills—but this is merely an external manifestation of the patch system's superhuman computational and reasoning abilities. While this ability cannot be directly monetized, if used correctly, there are plenty of opportunities to make money.

Finally, there's the emotional value, which, to put it bluntly, is selling oneself. Jian Sheng understands women all too well. His father's philanderings made him see through the true nature of romantic relationships, and his mother's hypocrisy gave him a completely demystified understanding of women. In his eyes, the feelings between men and women are nothing more than a transaction where each party gets what they need. To put it bluntly, it's being a gigolo. And the key to being a gigolo is finding the right rich woman. He currently only has access to two rich women: Lin Lan and Windsor Louise.

Lin Lan can be ruled out immediately; she's dirt poor and barely scraping by. Trying to get money out of her by selling her feelings or being gentle won't work. You have to promise her a lucrative revenge plan and help her achieve her goals before you might get anything in return.

Windsor Louise was even more complicated. She was hot and cold towards him, sometimes distant, sometimes close, her attitude ambiguous and unpredictable. But Kenji knew perfectly well that this woman was extremely ambitious, looking down on his out-of-town background and even more so on his dual talents. Trying to control her simply by selling emotional value was simply a pipe dream.

After much deliberation, Jian Sheng reluctantly realized that becoming a gigolo was not an option for the time being; without a way to monetize his emotional value, he had to put it on hold. Perhaps he could sell himself for a good price later if he had the opportunity to meet other wealthy women from the three major families.

The second type of scheme involves swindling, cheating, theft, and robbery. In his previous life, during the internet age, his specialty was preying on the poor who wanted to get rich and those desperate to pay off debts—the more impatient they were, the more easily their intelligence would falter. But in Seventh Ring City, technology and information were lagging behind, making it much more difficult to pull off these tricks. After all, to swindle money, you need to swindle large sums; small amounts aren't worth it.

In absolute terms, the hardest targets in the Seventh Ring City are the wealthy, represented by the nine major families. They are all shrewd as foxes, with deeply entrenched influence; trying to scam them is tantamount to suicide. Nor are the poor in the Sixth and Seventh Rings; their pockets are practically empty, offering no opportunity for profit. The best targets are the ordinary middle class in the inner ring. This group's greatest obsession is climbing the social ladder, and their greatest fear is falling to the bottom of the city. What they need most is a seemingly attainable opportunity for advancement—and this is the weakness he can exploit.

As for stealing and robbing, Jian Sheng had his own set of logic: the most sophisticated theft and robbery was to take things openly and honestly under the banner of justice. He already had a plan in mind, a scheme that seemed noble and glorious, but was actually a way to plunder wealth.

Once he had accumulated his first pot of gold, the most advanced way to make money was through "passive income" from capital. This required a combination of money and power, as well as the accumulation of connections and resources. It was a path fraught with blood and tears, but also the only one that would allow him to truly gain a foothold.

Following this line of thought, Jiansheng quickly outlined his money-making blueprint for the next two years. From this moment on, his money-making journey in Qihuan City officially began.

And the beginning of all this was the most readily available thing—betraying the captain's social value and abusing his power for personal gain.

The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, Jiansheng got up. Without waking Lin Zhizhi, he went straight out of the school gate and headed towards the North Sixth Ring Road. Ken had been waiting for a long time at the agreed-upon restaurant. Knowing that Ken didn't have the habit of eating breakfast, Jiansheng still ordered a basket of meat buns and a bowl of soy milk and pushed them in front of him.

"I need you to do something for me," Jiansheng said bluntly, taking a sip of warm soy milk.

Ken nodded, and said succinctly, "You can arrange it."

Jian Sheng trusted Ken. "Even with blood on his own butt, he was still willing to clean up his friend's mess." Such character is incredibly rare in a place like Qihuan City, where people are ruthless and exploitative.

"Go to the black market tonight and find a guy named Old Man Elon." Jian Sheng put down his spoon, his tone calm. "From now on, you'll be my contact in the black market. If I need anything, I'll contact you directly."

He didn't reveal the specifics of the business to Ken, not because he didn't trust him, but because he was afraid of implicating him. This matter was far too dangerous; the less Ken knew, the safer he would be. If anything went wrong, Elon's father, being an old hand, would definitely shift the blame onto Ken, the "middleman," immediately, thus buying him precious time to react.

With Ken's affairs settled, the next crucial step was selling player qualifications—he had to make a trip to the Windsor family.

Things are different now. He is now the captain of the mecha team, and if he wants to see Windsor Louise, he only needs to make an appointment by phone in advance. Before long, he was sitting in the luxurious drawing room of Windsor Manor, and on the sofa opposite him sat Windsor Louise, who was wearing a white dress.

Jian Sheng didn't beat around the bush and went straight to the point: "The church and the Fujiwara family have both contacted me."

Windsor Louise picked up her coffee cup, her fingertips lightly tracing the rim, a disdainful smile playing on her lips: "What conditions did they offer you?"

"One tried to bribe me with money, while the other made empty promises and talked to me about ideals." Jian Sheng leaned back on the sofa, looking calm.

"So which one did you choose?" She looked up, her gaze falling on his face with a hint of scrutiny.

Jian Sheng scoffed, "I had no choice, why are you pretending not to know?"

"So why did you come to see me today?" Windsor Louise put down her coffee cup, the bottom of which clinked against the coffee table.

"I'm here to clarify our previous agreement." Jian Sheng sat up straight, his tone serious. "Before the exam, we agreed that if I were elected captain, I would purchase a complete set of Windsor Armoury equipment. I won't go back on that. However, I have my own ideas about recruiting and selecting team members."

He paused, looked into Windsor Louise's eyes, and said, word by word, "The team still has 28 spots left. I hope the Windsor family can buy these spots at a price of 100 million blue crystals per spot."

Windsor Louise was taken aback at first, then, as if she had heard a joke, she made no attempt to hide the mockery in her eyes: "Do you think I need to spend this money?"

"Of course it's necessary." Jian Sheng was not intimidated at all. Meeting her gaze, he analyzed clearly, "A set of C-grade mechs costs 1500 million blue crystals. Even if you produce them yourself, no matter how low the cost is, training a qualified mech warrior will not be less than 1000 million. But now, you only need to spend 100 million to train a private army loyal to the Windsor family through the school's public funds—this deal is a sure win."

He leaned forward, lowered his voice, and said with a sharp, all-knowing edge, "At first, I thought you were only after that military contract. Now I realize that your real purpose is to misuse public funds."

Windsor Louise's smile faded, and her eyes turned cold: "What if I disagree?"

"Then I don't mind turning around and embracing my ideals." Jian Sheng's tone was calm, yet carried an undeniable confidence. "Anyway, for me, it doesn't matter who I cooperate with if I don't gain anything. There are plenty of people waiting to join the church's teams. I know the church has long wanted to get involved in the military, but they haven't been able to find a way. This time, they've secured three team slots. Even if their equipment is controlled by your Windsor family, the loyalty of those warriors will probably be beyond the control of your nine great families."

Windsor Louise's fingers tightened slightly. After a few seconds of silence, she spoke: "28 spots, 2800 million, too expensive. 2000 million, deal."

"Okay." Jian Sheng agreed almost without hesitation.

Windsor Louise seemed somewhat surprised, raising an eyebrow: "You agreed so readily?"

"You can't fight city hall; there's no point in haggling." Jian Sheng leaned back on the sofa, his expression calm. "I know my place perfectly well."

Ultimately, Jian Sheng chose to openly align himself with the Windsor family. He knew perfectly well that he was nothing more than an ant before them. Having a powerful backer was the safest option at the moment. The church was too poor; their promises wouldn't fill his stomach. The Fujiwara family lacked boldness, acting hesitantly and timidly. He had considered the George family, but his current value was too low to even be considered.

In fact, the power he wielded could be sold for an even higher price—for example, by linking equipment rebates with team member quotas, maximizing profits. But Jian Sheng dared not take that risk; if he earned too much money, he might have the life to take it but not the life to spend it.

"Living like a dog, isn't that just living like a dog?" Jian Sheng chuckled to himself. There was nothing shameful about it; surviving was the most important thing.

He suddenly remembered something and added, "Oh, by the way, could you please help me cash out that apartment on the South Third Ring Road as soon as possible?"

Having secured channels for monetizing his social and skill value, Jian Sheng's thoughts drifted to emotional value. He was a normal man, even though his body was only 16 years old; his desires were as strong as ever.

He'd always taken romantic relationships lightly. In his past life in America, none of his girlfriends lasted more than three months. It was all about mutual benefit—money, loneliness relief, a clear price tag, no one owing anything. Talking about feelings hurts money, but talking about money doesn't—that was the truth he'd gleaned from countless transactions.