David Clark and the other shook their heads. With the college entrance exam approaching, their families were all being strict, so there was no time to go online.

Seeing that the two of them didn’t know, Brian Carter and another boy also looked confused. The crew-cut boy immediately laughed and said, “What a pity!

There was huge news last night!

Did you guys hear?

Grandmaster Ma has broken through to the eighth rank!

Grandmaster Ma is not even 40 this year, already the top martial artist of the younger generation.

Yesterday, Penguin Group officially issued a challenge to the president of Google Asia-Pacific, the veteran eighth-rank powerhouse, Time!”

“What?”

“Are you serious?”

“Grandmaster Ma broke through to the eighth rank? Didn’t he just reach the seventh rank a few years ago?”

“Unbelievable!”

“Jason Bolton, tell us, is it a public challenge or a private one?”

“A battle between eighth ranks, I really want to watch, but unfortunately we’re not qualified to be spectators…”

As seniors about to take the college entrance exam, not many still went online after school, so even though last night’s news had already caused a stir, not many in the class actually knew about it.

The crew-cut boy, who was Jason Bolton, had spoken quite loudly just now.

As soon as he finished, before Brian Carter and his group could respond, the nearby classmates who overheard were all getting excited.

And Jason Bolton was now basking in the attention, his face beaming as he said, “It’s true!

Grandmaster Ma really broke through. Not just us—who in the world would have believed he’d reach the eighth rank so soon?

So as soon as the challenge was issued, the whole world was shocked!

If Grandmaster Ma defeats Time this time, Penguin Group will be able to make a big push into Asian countries and become one of the dominant conglomerates in Asia!

And in a few years, if Grandmaster Ma breaks through to the ninth rank, then Penguin Group could become one of the world’s leading conglomerates!”

“Heavens, that’s so fast, the eighth-rank grandmaster level!”

“Has the grandmaster ranking been updated? Grandmaster Ma is about to break into the top thirty!”

“Come on, top thirty? I say, even top twenty is possible.”

“No way, Grandmaster Ma just broke through, how could he rise to the top twenty so quickly? Unless he beats Time, then maybe.”

“……”

At this point, the students were all discussing among themselves, each one’s eyes filled with excitement, admiration, thrill, and longing.

Even the girls were no exception.

The only exception in the whole class was Brian Carter.

Right now, Brian Carter’s mind was a mess, his face blank, the whole person stunned.

What’s going on?

He understood every word they said, and he could certainly write each character.

But why, when strung together, did he not understand at all?

Who is Grandmaster Ma?

Of course he knew Penguin Group. Back in 2008, Penguin Group was already a giant in the IT industry.

He knew Google too—who wouldn’t?

From what Jason Bolton just said, Penguin and Google are business competitors?

But why… why does it feel so off!

Brian Carter swallowed again, feeling his lips were terribly dry. This script… something’s not right!

Chapter 2: I Must Take the Martial Arts Exam!

In the classroom.

Brian Carter was completely confused, nervous inside.

He finally waited until everyone had almost finished discussing, then nudged Ethan Brooks next to him and whispered, “Grand… Grandmaster Ma, is that Ma Huateng?”

Ethan Brooks’s expression changed, instantly becoming serious, and he said earnestly, “Brian Carter, calling a grandmaster by name directly is the greatest disrespect!”

Brian Carter: “……”

At this moment, Brian Carter felt like crying. Good grief, you can’t even mention his name now. Brother Ma’s prestige is even scarier than the president’s.

But Brian Carter also confirmed one thing: Penguin’s boss was indeed Brother Ma.

The company is right, the boss is right, the only thing off is this “martial arts powerhouse” everyone’s talking about.

He kept feeling there was something strange, something abruptly mixed in, making Brian Carter feel like a fishbone was stuck in his throat.

Suppressing the urge to argue, Brian Carter tried to sound casual: “I’ve been busy preparing for the college entrance exam lately, haven’t really checked the news. Tell me, is there anything interesting going on?”

Ethan Brooks didn’t mind: “It’s just the same old stuff, except Grandmaster Ma breaking through to the eighth rank—that was a bit unexpected.”

Ethan Brooks wasn’t much for gossip, but the bearded David Clark in the front row was more talkative.

Class hadn’t started yet, and David Clark had overheard Brian Carter’s question. He turned around and whispered, “There’s not much confirmed big news, but a few days ago I read some gossip and picked up a bit of inside info—not sure if it’s true.

I heard that Master Ma from Ali might soon break through to the seventh rank and become a grandmaster!

Grandmaster Li from Baidu is apparently about to go into seclusion to break through to the eighth rank. Grandmaster Li reached the seventh rank around the same time as Penguin’s Grandmaster Ma, but in recent years his martial progress hasn’t been as fast as Grandmaster Ma’s, so it’s hard to say if he’ll make it.

Oh, and there’s another bit of news: our Jiangnan Province’s Governor Bolton is very likely to break through to the seventh rank soon.

If Governor Bolton breaks through to the seventh rank, that would be huge. Jiangnan has been weak for years, and now only a few old seventh-rank grandmasters are holding down the fort. Governor Bolton isn’t that old—if he breaks through, he could go even further and finally rid Jiangnan of its long-standing martial weakness.”