Tokyo Soft Rice King.

A real rich woman... a wealthy old lady.

Mika Kobayashi, 74 years old, lives in a two-story detached house with a small yard.

Upon seeing Akira Kuroba, Mika Kobayashi seemed to immediately understand his predicament. She waved to him and said in his familiar native dialect, "Come with me."

At first, Kuroba Akira thought he had misheard, but then he heard another sentence: "What are you standing there for?"

She's really good at talking!

But how did they know that he wasn't a local?

Who exactly is this old woman?

In short, Kuroba Akira was taken home by Grandma Kobayashi, ate curry rice, and got temporary accommodation... a room of about four tsubo, or about 12 square meters.

Later, Kuroba Akira learned that the reason Granny Kobayashi helped him was because her deceased husband had left a will:

"If you encounter someone who is unable to speak clearly and has been brought back by Kuroo, do your best to help them."

It seems that Granny Kobayashi's husband was also a time traveler, and most likely from the same hometown as Kuroba Akira, which is why Granny Kobayashi speaks fluent Chinese.

Judging from his accent, Mr. Kobayashi is most likely from Hunan.

Kuroba Akira was moved to tears. "Transmigrator senior! I am so grateful to you!"

However, Grandma Kobayashi also stated that she was not helping Kuroba Akira unconditionally. She was only providing him with food, lodging, and tuition fees until he became independent. She said that he would have to pay back the rent and food expenses once he was able to earn money.

In other words, it's similar to a student loan.

Even so, Kuroba Akira was very grateful to Grandma Kobayashi and her husband, otherwise he might have experienced death a second time on the streets of a foreign country.

In fact, besides Kuroba Akira, Granny Kobayashi also took in two other people, but because those two people had irregular schedules, Kuroba Akira hadn't seen them much.

After his life settled down, Akira Kuroba began to learn languages ​​and familiarize himself with the world.

Because the neon lights of this world are subtly different from the neon lights of his memory.

He first glanced at the geography. The world map didn't seem to have changed much, with all four oceans and seven continents, but the land area... seemed a little off?

It doesn't refer to the small island nation of Japan, but rather to Kuroba Akira's hometown in his previous life, which is located across the sea from the island nation.

How come a hen that should be incubating eggs has grown a comb, a tail, and even legs?

Feeling puzzled, Kuroba Akira folded up the world map, pulled out a book of world history and quickly flipped through it. It wasn't much different from the history he remembered. All the things that were supposed to happen had happened, and all the famous people who were supposed to appear were still there.

However, things changed inexplicably in modern times.

Leaving aside what happened on the other side of the sea, Kuroba Akira exclaimed that it was impossible. This was not just a sudden appearance of strong men, but a gathering of strong men with cheat codes... Could this also be the work of a time traveler?

Looking at the magical modern history of Japan, he was even more astonished.

It seems that Japan has embarked on an unexpected path?

It seems like this surreal situation of 'fighting against myself' has actually actually occurred?

But it's not completely over yet, it seems like we've only gone halfway... We're currently in a state of uncertainty, unsure of who to choose as our father.

Akira Nakaguro was not interested in politics, let alone the politics of other countries.

The wheels of history roll ever onward, and all of that is intertwined with the present.

At least in the modern era, the neon lights of this world have still evolved into their original form, with a touch of retro charm.

High school girls' uniforms are changing from sailor suits to Western-style uniforms, but they still wear athletic shorts for gym class, school swimsuits are still one-piece suits, and Akihabara is still an electronics district...

Isn't it good too?

However, the butterfly effect brought about by national-level changes is terrifying, which also resulted in the fact that none of the companies that Kuroba Akira knew in his previous life appeared in this world.

Internationally renowned companies such as Soyo, Paradise, Sanyo, and Toyota do not exist.

However, the Famicom still appeared, arcades remained popular, and the comics, animation, and game industries were booming.

Japan hasn't experienced the lost two or three decades... the bubble hasn't been burst yet.

Nobody knows what the future holds.

This is not good news for Akira Kuroba.

Because the advantage of being able to predict the future is gone.

The idea of ​​making money from stocks and then lying low was immediately shattered.

But since time travel is already a fait accompli, then we should at least make this life go smoothly.

So, if you want to live a good life, the most important thing you need is naturally... a knife! Yuan! Yen!

In other words, money!

However, Kuroba Akira didn't want to work hard to make money; he wanted to make money while lying down.

Although Akira Kuroba is good-looking, he's not handsome enough to live off his looks.

Moreover, even a pretty boy who makes a living off his looks has to juggle a bunch of women, which is mentally exhausting and not the ideal lifestyle he wants.

The ideal lifestyle should be: to earn enough money to do whatever you want, even without doing anything!

This is commonly known as financial freedom.

However, to achieve this goal, you need start-up capital first.

Kuroba Akira's initial plan was to plagiarize.

After all, he was a writer in his previous life, which was his forte.

In addition, having read so many stories, I'm sure I can write something worthwhile.

However, after discovering his seemingly insignificant cheat ability, another mischievous idea popped into Kuroba Akira's mind.

In fact, after getting to know the class monitor, the plan became clearer and clearer.

Actually, meeting the class monitor on the last day of summer vacation and getting so many benefits, including solving the problem of meals, was indeed a pleasant surprise.

However, for Kuroba Akira, class monitor Anri Hitomi was not his target.

Because the class monitor is a 'self-aware genius'.

She knew she had talent, and she turned it into proficiency.

However, not everyone is aware of their own talents. Perhaps a nerd has the talent to play baseball, but he may never have thought about playing baseball or had any interest in it, so he never touches a bat in his entire life, and his talent is buried in this way.

However, Kuroba Akira can see talent. As long as Kuroba Akira takes the initiative to intervene, build a good relationship with him, and guides him to become a professional player, he can demand compensation!

What is the annual salary of a professional baseball player?

Now that you've made your fortune, it's not unreasonable for you to share some of your money with your brothers, right?

Of course, if given a choice, Kuroba Akira would still prefer to live off a woman.

But if he had a close friend who was willing to support him, he certainly wouldn't refuse.

A woman should eat money from a man, and a man should eat money from a woman; only then can things be considered healthy!

Live off the wives of many, and become the king of live-offs!

Chapter Twelve: What's yours is mine

Therefore, the most urgent task is to dig out those 'undiscovered gold'.

In other words, they are talented but lack the relevant skills—these are 'hidden geniuses'.

Moreover, it's best if the person is already in trouble, so that Kuroba Akira can 'take advantage of their weakness'.

Become a benefactor to your genius, or even a god!

There's a saying that goes, "There are plenty of people who add flowers to brocade, but few who offer charcoal in the snow."

A helping hand extended to someone during their most difficult time can be remembered for a lifetime, leaving them with a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid.

I'm not only your best friend who stood by you during your most difficult time, but I also pointed you to a glittering path to success. This will definitely boost my goodwill to the maximum.

Then, as long as the other party has even a little conscience and repays a small favor tenfold, Kuroba Akira will be able to enjoy the fresh, hot meal he has prepared himself.

The question is how many powerful figures Kuroba Akira needs to curry favor with to achieve his dream of a life of ease and comfort.

Akira Kuroba had once heard a saying that if everyone in the world gave him one dollar, he could instantly become a billionaire.

In fact, what he is doing now is similar to this.

If each of those successful people were to receive ten million after achieving fame and fortune, then just ten people would be enough for one person to receive one hundred million.

While 100 million might be a small goal for a certain Mr. Wang, for Kuroba Akira, 100 million is already the ultimate goal that would allow him to relax and live a carefree life.

However, 100 million yen is equivalent to 22 billion yen. If ten people share the burden, each person would have to pay 220 million yen.

The average career salary for a typical office worker in Japan is around 200 million yen.

However, if someone is only slightly famous and earns millions or tens of millions of yuan a year, it's unlikely that they would give Kuroba Akira so much money.

It's important to understand that issues involving interests are always complex. Even brothers who are as close as family might turn against each other when it comes to money.

But what if, to the other party, 200 million yen is just a 'small amount of money' that they can squander at will?

In other words, it depends on how powerful a backer Kuroba Akira can get.

There are different levels of genius.

Currently, Kuroba Akira has seen five talent levels, from E to A, from lowest to highest.

Actually, there is an S-rank above A-rank, but that is extremely rare. Kuroba Akira has only seen one person with such top-level talent so far.

He had seen it on TV a few days ago; a prominent figure in the country was waving to people around him, and the word "Speech" was printed on his palm.

Of course, Kuroba Akira knew that climbing to that position wasn't something that could be done solely through talent, but his persuasive abilities, comparable to those of a mustache, certainly greatly helped his career, accumulating many allies and popularity.

In other words, people with S-level talent can climb to the top in a field.

Kuroba Akira didn't expect to encounter someone of that caliber, but at the very least, someone with B-level or higher talent was worth cultivating a good relationship with.

After all, if one's talent level is not high enough, the speed at which one becomes famous and makes money will be relatively slower, which will result in the quality of the "soft rice" that Kuroba Akira is eating being not high enough, and the cooking time will also be very long.

Kuroba Akira just wanted to lie down as soon as possible.

Ideally, one should be able to immediately enter a relaxed state upon graduating from high school, thus avoiding the predicament of being unemployed upon graduation.