Making Money

After breakfast, Li Qing lay bored on the bed in his rented apartment, staring at the ceiling. He pondered for more than ten minutes, yet still couldn't think of a way to make money.

Pretend to be a fortune-telling fraud, cover himself from head to toe, and cheat some rich people?

With his current telekinesis, was he supposed to perform by lifting a single strand of cotton in front of people?

Any one of a magician's superpower acts looked more like a superpower than this. Even he felt embarrassed to show this ability to anyone, let alone make a divine display before the public.

Then sell one of his sports cars?

After all, his garage was huge. If he brought out one of the microscopic-cell sports cars, he could definitely win the Nobel Prize.

The three Nobel Prizes awarded in 2016 had all involved primitive nanorobots. Compared with his own sports car, that nanocar with four wheels was worlds apart.

But what after he brought it out?

He was a psychiatrist who had suddenly switched careers to become a genetic technology research expert, a once-in-a-century genius? The focus of the entire world? Interviews, science magazines, and rapid fame?

That kind of reputation would be scorching hot to handle.

After carefully calculating everything, he found that neither of his two abilities, [Telekinesis] and [Awakening], could make money.

"Looks like only the third superpower can make money."

Li Qing seriously rubbed his chin and mused, "[Hormones] can indeed make money. They're highly attractive to women. I could seek sponsorship, find some rich old woman with a microbial colony, lie down, and the money would come pouring in far too quickly."

But after thinking it over, he ultimately knew too few rich women.

1. The rich old lady next door.

2. A lesbian who had no interest in him.

Still, for the dignified Outer God in the outer world to be reduced to seeking a rich woman's sponsorship just to support his church—the whole picture was a little too stimulating.

The more he thought about it, the more his head hurt.

Bored out of his mind, he could only observe the surveillance footage from the camera on his phone.

On the screen.

Microscopic lifeforms covered the ocean: coral reefs, marine forests, and shell houses.

The streets were packed with sea folk walking back and forth. Amid the rippling seawater and shafts of sunlight, the entire mythical underwater kingdom was immersed in colors of breathtaking splendor.

The Tower of Babel had been raised by another level.

It seemed they were building one level every half a day.

At this rate, with the whole nation working together and hundreds of billions of citizens united in purpose, they might finish this heaven-piercing tower in three or four days and prepare to make a move against him.

Li Qing watched the surveillance footage on his phone, then suddenly seemed to think of something. "Right. I could casually edit some camera footage into beautiful CG scenes and post it online. I could make money from the clicks and traffic."

Naturally, he couldn't make a living by producing videos forever.

Putting everything else aside, once he started treating cancer and shearing the rich like sheep, he might even become set for life after a single treatment. It would be safe, discreet, and convenient. He certainly wouldn't need to worry about money in the future.

"I only need to use this as a stopgap for a month."

Li Qing immediately got to work. He opened his laptop and brought up the surveillance footage.

"First of all, keep a low profile. The lowest profile possible!"

"I can't cut in any other footage and expose various kinds of information. I'll just make a beautiful long-distance CG shot of people walking along a city street. The main selling point will be the visuals, with a fresh and artsy style aimed at the literary-video crowd."

Li Qing thought about it and decided that, to conceal the information, using a novel or movie IP and making a fan video would be a good pretext for this underwater-city footage.

If viewers watched it with that assumption already in mind, they wouldn't easily notice anything wrong.

The online argument could go like this: [Yes! I'm a loyal fan of this IP! The video is a fan work! What? You say the scene doesn't look like it? Sorry, my skills are limited, and the modeling style went a little astray, but you have to believe me—I'm a true fan!]

After sorting out the basic logic, he began looking for a major IP that would let him make quick money.

The bottom of Harry Potter's lake?

It didn't really fit.

The underwater city from One Piece?

He felt a little flustered. The style didn't look right. Would he get savaged in the comments?

Naruto?

This was the Land of Water—a ninja world beneath the sea?

That would be putting up a sheep's head and selling dog meat.

He browsed through various famous IPs, eventually settling on a story that had been fairly popular lately: Cthulhu's sleeping underwater city, R'lyeh.

He had to admit that the bizarre, stitched-together microscopic underwater creatures here were quite suitable. The deep-sea creatures had a wonderfully strange aesthetic, and this IP was popular both overseas and in China.

And so.

Half an hour later.

Li Qing casually edited ten minutes of aerial footage of the underwater city from that morning's camera recordings.

The military patrolling the city and arresting cultists, street brawls, two soldiers fighting in the street while driving bizarre giant creatures, and neighbors chatting with one another.

He posted the video on both Bilibili and YouTube, making it bloom in two places, and gave it the title:

[A Day in R'lyeh, the Underwater City—Awakening Cthulhu!]

The cover was a beautiful picture of the underwater city, with a line of text written across it:

[I'm Dying Here! 197 Hours Spent Polishing Every Frame—the Century's Mythical Underwater City of R'lyeh Animated!]

He understood the current short-video scene.

To fit in more information, he also added explanatory text to the video image to attract clicks.

When people clicked on the video, the description below was a pitiful appeal:

[I worked on this video until my hair nearly went bald. In this age ruled by marketing accounts, I hope a video made with sincere effort can receive some likes!]

[Waaah, a small creator's month of blood-and-sweat effort—don't let it end up with only a few thousand views! The high-resolution video wouldn't upload, so I've left the link in the pinned comment for anyone to download.]

After selling a wave of pity, he uploaded it.

He wasn't worried that it wouldn't become popular. These painstaking, hundreds-of-hours craftsmanship videos were highly likely to go viral on Bilibili nowadays.

"Sure enough, when it comes to making money, there's always a path if you put in some effort." After finishing the task, Li Qing didn't give it another thought.

That afternoon, he went to work out again.

Since yesterday, Li Qing had stopped letting the fitness instructor—or even Susannie, who came to teach him—come over.

Some of his training volumes had already become inhuman.

His muscle density was now extremely high. His build wasn't bulky, yet he was far more formidable than some muscle-bound brutes with incredible explosive power.

And at this point, it was less a workout than a test.

"Weightlifting, long jump, high jump—I've already broken the human records. This is the difference between biological genetic forms."

Li Qing stepped off the treadmill and discovered that he was sweating less as well. He only wiped himself with a sweat towel.

"Humans really do have limits. This is the genetic ceiling. No matter how much a person trains, they can't run a hundred meters in nine seconds, but a cheetah can casually do it in six or seven."

"Tigers don't need deliberate training, either. They're born with smooth, well-developed muscles covering their entire bodies. Muscle makes up more than half their body weight. It's written into their genes."

"Human muscles, on the other hand, are naturally soft and flabby. Even a muscular man will quickly lose his muscles if he doesn't keep training."

From this perspective, individual training didn't have much influence. Genetic structure, racial lineage, and bloodline affected every aspect of life.

Because of environmental limitations, he still hadn't tested his hundred-meter sprint.

But he felt there was no need. His current self should be able to casually run a hundred meters in five or six seconds, breaking through the human ceiling.

"Feels like I've trained enough. This aspect can come to an end for now. I don't need to come to the gym for the time being."

Under the sunlight, Li Qing revealed a gentle smile, put on his sunglasses, and walked onto the street, slowly making his way home.