Penguin’s products are pretty much the same as in the previous life, still mainly focused on instant messaging. QQ, as always, is currently the main online chat tool in China.

But it’s limited to China only!

Penguin can’t even enter the rest of Asia these days. Although William Harris has reached the seventh rank in strength, as a global conglomerate, Google has also developed instant messaging software, and the powerhouse Google has stationed in Asia is at the eighth rank in martial arts.

As long as William Harris can’t prove his own strength and show he has what it takes to compete with Google for resources, he can forget about expanding abroad.

Because outside the country, the people you send to expand might just vanish without a trace overnight.

Only by proving to the outside world and to your peers that you have the strength to expand can you actually do so with confidence. That’s also why, right after breaking through to the eighth rank, William Harris immediately chose to challenge Taim.

In this challenge, winning or losing isn’t important. What matters is proving that he, William Harris, is now a top-tier eighth-rank powerhouse and qualified to get a share of the pie.

That’s the rule in the business world, and it’s pretty much the same in other fields as well.

For example, in politics, there are some differences from the previous life. Within a province, the governor holds the greatest authority, and a provincial governor is at least at the fourth rank in martial arts.

In reality, almost none of today’s provincial governors are below the fifth rank. In some powerful provinces, the governors are even seventh-rank grandmasters.

The current governor of Nanjiang Province is at the sixth rank in martial arts. While not the weakest among provincial governors, he’s not particularly strong either. As a result, he can’t secure more resources for Nanjiang.

The amount of resources determines how much the authorities can invest in and support the training of martial artists.

There were rumors earlier that the Nanjiang governor was about to break through, and David Clark was quite excited when he mentioned this, for exactly this reason.

A grandmaster-level governor can secure more resources for Nanjiang.

It’s the same in business, politics, the military, and even in the entertainment industry and other fields.

Famous superstars not only need talent and good looks, but also impressive martial arts strength.

Because if you don’t have strength, no matter how much wealth you earn, you won’t be able to keep it.

Unless you have powerful parents backing you up.

Nowadays, the children of the rich and powerful are almost all called by a unified nickname—“martial second generation”!

Because those with money and power are all strong martial artists.

A very small number of ordinary people can make it to the top, but without exception, they all have powerful martial artists backing them, and they themselves must demonstrate absolute value—value that’s demanded at a level far harsher than for martial artists.

If you can’t become a martial artist, you’re destined to have nothing to do with society’s elite, with power or influence.

This extreme gap has led to a modern society where all ordinary people aspire to become martial artists.

Even the weakest martial artist, doing nothing but lending their name to a small company, can easily earn at least a million a year.

In reality, those who can truly become martial arts powerhouses are, without exception, the elite of society. Unless they submit to someone even stronger, they rarely just lend their name to others; more often, they start their own businesses.

Compared to ordinary people, their advantages are just too obvious.

“If you’re not a martial artist, no matter how many golden ideas you have, you’re just serving them up to others.”

Brian Carter muttered to himself. This is a brutal fact.

He just went online to look up information, and aside from things related to martial artists, everything else is pretty much the same as in his previous life.

In other words, if Brian Carter wanted to start a business, he wouldn’t be lacking in products or ideas.

The key is, Brian Carter himself doesn’t have the ability to protect himself. Making a little money isn’t a big deal, but if he wants to make it big, that’s just wishful thinking.

If he crosses the line even a little, the most likely outcome is that his business gets taken away. Because China’s legal system is still relatively sound and there are countless powerhouses in official positions, others probably won’t take his life, but the business he built will most likely end up in someone else’s hands.

For example, right now, there’s still no WeChat in society.

If Brian Carter created it, there would only be two outcomes. First, it becomes someone else’s.

Second, it spreads within the city as a niche entertainment thing, but if it goes beyond the city, sorry—even if it makes a lot of money, it won’t be yours. As for who it ends up with, that depends on the power struggle.

Ordinary people just have to work regular jobs, or at best open some small companies or workshops and get by within their own city.

Even within the city, it’s not necessarily safe.

This kind of precarious, anxious life is even more restrictive than that of ordinary people in the previous life.

If Brian Carter doesn’t want to be a total nobody, then becoming a martial artist is a must.

Even if he wants to be a nobody, at the very least he’d want to be a nobody who’s well-fed, well-clothed, and safe, right?

Fortunately, the majority of people in this world are still ordinary, and society hasn’t truly abandoned them or cut off their hopes of moving up.

The college entrance exam is the hope for countless ordinary people to leap to success in one step, like a carp jumping over the dragon gate.

Nowadays, some prestigious universities have established martial arts departments specifically to train martial artists, so as not to cut off the hopes of ordinary people.

There are also some specialized martial arts schools that recruit students during the college entrance exam.

But as the saying goes, “the poor study literature, the rich practice martial arts.”

Martial artists possess great strength, but the resources they consume far exceed those of ordinary people. Training a martial artist costs a fortune.