The Young man in Online Romance (9): 

After telling President Wang that he was going to rest, Gu Juntian stood up, stretching his arms and legs while checking his phone messages.

At a glance, he saw that both Little Lamb and Zhou Qinghao had sent him messages.

Zhou Qinghao’s message had just been sent, saying that he had a school event in the evening and couldn’t play games.

As for Little Lamb’s message, it was sent at noon, praising his skills and asking how he managed to clear the “Caged Dragon” dungeon in one go.

Ever since Gu Juntian came to this world, he had never responded to Little Lamb, but Little Lamb kept persistently sending him messages—dozens by now.

After thinking for a moment, Gu Juntian replied to Little Lamb: “I got a boyfriend. Let’s delete each other.”

Once he sent that, Gu Juntian immediately removed Little Lamb from his friends list.

The original owner and Little Lamb had never officially confirmed their relationship, but there was some ambiguity between them—mostly on Little Lamb’s side.

The original owner liked Little Lamb quite a lot, but still acted reserved when chatting, only occasionally bragging about how much money he had made.

Like a peacock displaying its feathers, he constantly showed off in front of Little Lamb.

After settling things with Little Lamb, Gu Juntian had a quick meal, put on his holographic headset, and entered Cultivation.

With Zhou Qinghao busy and unable to play, Gu Juntian felt less motivated to game.

However, he wanted to farm a Dragon Scale set for Zhou Qinghao, so he still logged in.

Once in the game, he found that he had received many private messages, with quite a few people praising his gameplay.

The original owner had played many dungeons and killed plenty of monsters before, but usually relied on level and gear advantage.

Although his long-term gaming had given him decent skills, he wasn’t nearly as good as Gu Juntian, so he had never posted gameplay videos before.

People knew of the original owner, but his reputation was only for being rich and well-geared.

Now, everyone was saying his gameplay was excellent.

“I’m planning to run the ‘Caged Dragon’ dungeon today. Anyone want to join?” Gu Juntian sent a message to the Heavenly Demon Pavilion guild chat.

A group of people quickly responded.

The “Caged Dragon” dungeon was still fairly difficult. Even though Gu Juntian had cleared it once yesterday and posted a “guide,” only one party had cleared it during the day today.

The first three clears triggered system announcements, and many were eager to become the third team to beat it.

Gu Juntian quickly assembled a full team and led them to the dungeon entrance.

Having cleared it once yesterday, he already had his own strategy. With Zhou Qinghao not around to distract him…

As soon as they entered, Gu Juntian began commanding his team in battle.

The feeling of not having to worry about casualties and just going all-out against monsters was great!

By the time he logged in, it was already close to 7 p.m.

He planned to finish the dungeon before 9 p.m. so he could go to bed early.

It wasn’t difficult.

With his team, Gu Juntian killed everything in their path.

Elsewhere, Little Lamb was also leading a team into the dungeon.

While running the dungeon, he was livestreaming—though he wasn’t fighting much himself, he was constantly explaining strategies to his teammates and viewers.

At this point, the dungeon seemed very difficult, but in a few months, once players leveled up, it wouldn’t be hard anymore.

In his past life, he had farmed this dungeon many times.

Today, however, while streaming, he felt restless.

That guy Tiandi had actually deleted him!

How dare he!

He had already planned to mock Tiandi once his identity was revealed, but Tiandi suddenly deleted him?

Because of his bad mood, Little Lamb almost got killed by monsters—fortunately, his healer healed him in time.

“Sorry, I was distracted earlier. From now on, I’ll focus completely!” Little Lamb said, looking determined. “I’ve already analyzed this dungeon—we will definitely be the third team to clear it!”

Just as he finished speaking, a system announcement popped up: Tiandi had led his team to clear the “Caged Dragon” dungeon.

This run, Gu Juntian had obtained another piece of the Dragon Scale set.

Now, he had three pieces; the team that cleared it during the day had one, leaving four pieces unclaimed.

Gu Juntian wanted the full set, but he wasn’t in a rush to buy them—he logged off instead, and uploaded today’s dungeon video to the game forum.

The video he posted yesterday had 20,000 views, earning him 0.20 yuan per view—4,000 yuan total. After Qida Technology took their 20% cut, he received 3,200 yuan.

It wasn’t a lot, but it covered the cost of his treadmill purchase, so he was satisfied.

After leaving the game, he saw that a real estate agent had transferred money to him—they had helped him collect overdue rent from several tenants.

When he had asked them to sell the houses, he told them they could take a 20% cut of any recovered rent.

Motivated by that commission, they had worked hard to get him the money.

It was some income, though small compared to his debts—if he wanted big money, he’d have to rely on President Wang.

That night, Gu Juntian went to bed early, waking up before 6 a.m. the next day.

He took a walk outside, came home to cook breakfast, and ordered vegetables, fruits, and meat for delivery.

At 8 a.m., he sat at his computer, preparing for his talk with Qida Technology’s President Wang.

Yesterday, he learned that Qida planned to make a new game, Counter-Terrorism.

Since it was another holographic game, there was a lot they could discuss—especially since he had ideas for improving the headset.

At 9 a.m., their conversation resumed.

They talked all morning, and by the end, Gu Juntian had reached a cooperation agreement with Qida Technology.

He would help them solve various problems, and they would pay him accordingly.

They would sign a contract.

Gu Juntian took out the original owner’s ID card and bank card to sign the agreement.

The ID photo was taken years ago, when the original owner was already quite chubby—overall, it was an unflattering picture.

He resolved to lose weight quickly and get a new ID.

Gu Juntian had been working with Zhou Qinghao all this time, so Zhou was the first to see his ID details.

“Effort to Fill the Pit” was 28 years old, the same as him—fair-skinned and plump, rather cute.

But that name sounded familiar.

Zhou suddenly recalled—Tiandi’s name was also Gu Juntian.

When he transferred money to Tiandi via payment app, he had seen his real name.

Same name as “Effort to Fill the Pit.” Quite the coincidence.

Still, their situations were worlds apart.

“Effort to Fill the Pit” clearly had real talent. As for Tiandi, Zhou remembered how Tiandi couldn’t understand some of his technical jargon and just felt speechless.

The name Gu Juntian wasn’t common, but Zhou didn’t think they were the same person.

In such a big country, duplicate names were normal.

The days passed in a steady routine.

Gu Juntian bought several high-end computers, splitting his time between studying, helping President Wang improve the new game, exercising, doing chores, gaming, and sleeping.

Every day was fully scheduled.

In the blink of an eye, half a month passed.

With his large starting weight, losing pounds was relatively easy—he had dropped from 190 to 180 jin, and his stamina had improved greatly.

Seeing his face slimmer and his skin better in the mirror, Gu Juntian felt touched.

He was tall—if he reached 160 jin, he wouldn’t look fat. Then with more effort, he could lose fat, build muscle, and one day have an eight-pack.

Even better, he was about to receive his first payment from Qida Technology.

The framework for Counter-Terrorism had already been built, and in the past two weeks, he had helped improve it.

Qida planned to pay him 5 million yuan in consulting fees.

They were generous, and President Wang was a good person.

At first, Gu Juntian had been cautious, not revealing the truly game-changing ideas in his mind.

But now, he felt he could share one or two.

Although the agreed payment was 5 million, Qida paid the taxes, so he received less in hand—but it was still a lot.

When he first transmigrated, he didn’t know he had such skills and had planned to sell his houses.

Now, he decided not to—after all, they were bought with his parents’ hard-earned money.

If he could pay off the debt himself, there was no need to sell them.

After receiving the payment, he contacted the agent to change his properties from “for sale” to “for rent.”

The agency, which also managed rentals, readily agreed.

After that, Gu Juntian contacted President Wang and provided a technology he wanted to sell to Qida.

In the past two weeks, he hadn’t actually done that much work, yet President Wang still paid him 5 million—this technology should be worth at least 10 million.

What he didn’t know was that at Qida Technology, He Jingming thought Zhou Qinghao had underpaid him.

“President Zhou, this tech from Fill the Pit can make Counter-Terrorism surpass Cultivation and match the realism of the best foreign holographic games. Giving him only 5 million—don’t you think that’s too little?”

Zhou replied, “I think so too, but the company’s not mine yet, and he can’t work here full-time—5 million was the most I could give.”

He had a point.

The game’s budget was limited. Spending more could make it better, but the board might not approve—like movies, where more money could buy better effects, but producers often skimped.

He Jingming sighed, understanding.

Zhou added, “Don’t worry. I’ll apply for more funds—once I get them, I’ll be more generous.”

Satisfied, He Jingming left.

Zhou watched him go, smiling to himself.

He could have paid Fill the Pit more, but it was obvious the man didn’t understand the value of his work—so he paid less.

He was, after all, a businessman.

Just then, Fill the Pit sent him another message, saying he had a way to improve holographic devices and attaching a massive file.

Zhou opened it, and as he read, cold sweat broke out on his back.

Who exactly was this Fill the Pit?

He had never heard of such technology—where had it come from?

Could it have an illegitimate source?

This was beyond his authority—he needed his grandfather’s decision.

After replying to Fill the Pit, Zhou immediately left to find his grandfather.

Qida’s technology was advanced, but not world-leading.

If Fill the Pit’s claims were true, the company would be at the very top globally.

Zhou already knew he had a good chance of beating Zhou Lin to become the Zhou heir, but he couldn’t be 100% sure.

If this technology was real, however, Zhou Corporation would definitely be his.