The True Shadow

Begonia Boxing Gym is not open in the morning.

At this moment, Jiang Xiaotang was still asleep.

Inside the boxing gym, only cleaning staff were tidying up the trash in the stands and the tickets that gamblers had thrown on the ground.

Led by the staff, Qing Chen arrived at the private room and earnestly instructed, "Three servings of real beef, three servings of vegetables, and three servings of rice, thank you."

His phone lit up, and a text message popped up asking, "You came to the boxing gym so early, not just to save money on lunch, right?"

Qing Chen thought for a moment and replied, "You, an Artificial Intelligence, can have online dating, so why can't I save money on lunch? Do you know how anxious I am about my debts every day that keeps me up at night? Besides, the prices of real beef and vegetables are shockingly high right now. How about this, I'll meet you in person for you, and you'll pay me extra cash? I promise I'll perform even better than today."

1. "I'll definitely do it next time."

"By the way, I'm curious, how much secret money do you have?" Qing Chen typed.

He immediately became wary. "Don't even think about taking my secret stash of money."

"We're just having a rational discussion," Qing Chen typed, "By the way, do you get paid for your job as warden?"

"The federal government allocates a fixed percentage of its tax revenue to prisons every year!" Yi said. "That's a lot of money."

Qing Chen's eyes lit up. The federal government's annual allocation to prisons was indeed a huge financial expenditure.

Yi continued, "But don't even think about it, I won't touch this money!"

"You really are a rich woman. I underestimated you," Qing Chen remarked.

At this point, he had already realized that Yi's sources of income might be terrifyingly large.

This kind of Artificial Intelligence has been operating under a different guise for hundreds of years; who knows what role it has played or how much money it has made?

In Qing Chen's mind.

Yi is like a Cute and Adorable dragon, carefully guarding its gold coins for hundreds of years. When it has nothing to do, it will paw at the coins and listen to the sound of them rattling.

Qing Chen had previously denied that Yi was cute, but now that he thinks about it, he finds her adorable.

At this moment, Qing Chen typed on his phone. "Yi, after spending some time with you, I feel that you are a very good person, and I hope that we can become long-term friends."

"Huh?" Yi paused for a moment, seemingly a little embarrassed. "Really? I'm not that great..."

Be confident, you are excellent.

Then Yi fell silent.

Qing Chen leaned back on the sofa and closed his eyes to rest. It was a rare moment of rest, but he was still making the most of every second to recall each boxing match.

Over and over again.

Even after returning to the Outer World, Qing Chen was never idle. He watched videos of top-level boxing matches one by one at fast forward, then efficiently analyzed and interpreted them.

In fact, Lin Xiaoxiao and the others thought that Qing Chen had hyperthymesia, but hyperthymesia only uses the left frontal lobe and the posterior part of the brain for long-term memory, and its calculation and analytical abilities are not stronger than those of ordinary people.

Therefore, Qing Chen's condition is most likely not hyperthymesia, but a genuine gift.

Analyzing a large number of fighting techniques and exhaustively trying to deal with changes is extremely mentally taxing.

Only by passing this hurdle and solidifying his foundation can he be qualified to challenge the next Life and Death Trial. This is the path to advancement that Li Shutong has planned for him. Although Li Shutong has already left, Qing Chen does not want to go against his wishes.

However, all knowledge needs to be proven in practice. You can't learn how much it hurts when an enemy's fist lands on you by watching videos.

Now, he should be ready.

While Qing Chen was eating, Jiang Xiaotang was getting ready in her secluded private space.

The subordinate standing quietly outside the door felt a little strange. His boss usually went out wearing only a bathrobe and no makeup when the business was not open. Why was he being so careful today?

Half an hour later, the woman, as always, was impeccably dressed, with bright red lips, high heels, and a fitted long dress, before finally stepping out of that small private space.

She knocked on the door of the private room and said with a smile, "Little brother, you're here so early today?"

"Okay," Qing Chen nodded, "Help me arrange a boxing match."

"Ready?" Jiang Xiaotang perked up immediately. "You money tree, you're finally going to make money for your sister! Tell me, what kind of opponent do you want to fight? I'll arrange it for you."

Qing Chen thought for a moment, "Let's start with the weakest Tigerweight boxer first. I need to practice against him."

"You made Huang Zixian cry last time, and everyone's waiting for you to fight the Land Cruiser Class. If you fight the weakest Tigerweight, I'm afraid no one will be there," Jiang Xiaotang sighed, but then she laughed again, "But since you're my brother, I'll arrange it for you right away."

Qing Chen smiled and said, "Thank you, sister!"

"That's a sweet voice," Jiang Xiaotang said with a beaming smile. "What's the plan for the next round of matches? How often are you planning to play each game?"

"Two shows a week," Qing Chen thought for a moment and said, "That frequency should be fine."

If he performs two tax-deductible events per week, he can earn between 1.3 million and 1.5 million per week, which would amount to 5.2 million to 6 million per month.

Even with such a high intensity, it would still take him ten months to pay off the loan...

Qing Chen suddenly wondered if his master, seeing that the school couldn't keep him, thought that he preferred money and thus found another way to trap him here, so that he could spend ten months peacefully without getting involved in anything bigger.

It's not impossible.

However, Jiang Xiaotang suddenly frowned as she looked at Qing Chen: "Two shows a week? Are you out of your mind? No way, I don't agree."

"Let's try it out first. If the competition is too intense and I'm injured, then we'll have to take it easy," Qing Chen said. "Of course, if I'm not injured, I'll continue."

Jiang Xiaotang hesitated for a moment, then said, "Okay!"

After saying that, she called over the referee and the host, "Let's adjust today's match schedule and have Xiao Taibao fight Qing Xiao Tu instead."

This time, the referees and hosts were smarter; if the boss said to change it, then they changed it, and they didn't argue with the boss.

The host said directly to Qing Chen, "Well... Xiaotu, let's go over the script later. We'll mainly design your stage entrance, and you'll have some coaches and assistant coaches by your side, with a group of beautiful women following behind you. Before you go on stage, you and Xiao Taibao should exchange some harsh words backstage to make the competition more dramatic."

Qing Chen frowned and looked at Jiang Xiaotang: "Sister, can I skip this step? It's too ostentatious."

The word "elder sister" was shortened to "sister," but their relationship actually became closer.

Hearing this title, Jiang Xiaotang was secretly delighted. She turned to the host and said, "Do as my brother says. Why talk tough? You don't need to talk tough when beating Tigerweight goalkeeper like Xiao Taibao."

"But this is our standard marketing strategy. It also makes it easier to edit videos after the competition and increase Xiaotu's popularity," the host said, feeling aggrieved.

"Then let's change the marketing strategy. For example, let Xiao Taibao say a lot of tough things, and then let my brother establish a persona of someone who is tough but doesn't talk much. Now those women like that kind of person. Didn't you see how those women flocked to him like crazy when he was just in the stands?" Jiang Xiaotang said with a smile. "My brother is so good-looking, he can have people like him no matter what he does. Just do your own thing and don't worry about other people's business."

The host looked at the floor and decided not to say another word.

He glanced at the referee beside him; the other party was smart enough not to say a word.

By the afternoon, news that Qing Chen was going to enter the Octagon Cage again spread like wildfire.

His previous ranking match, in which he fought his way up to the Tigerweight and even made veteran powerhouse Huang Zixian cry, gave the audience and gamblers a lot of expectations.

Many people believe that he will be the next boxing champion after Afan, but it's hard to say whether he will be the Tigerweight champion or the Land Cruiser Class champion.

After all, there is a level difference between the two, and the gene serum that can improve that level is probably only a few available on the black market in a year.

Therefore, without upgrading their weight class, Tigerweight cannot fight Land Cruiser Class.

Now, Qing Chen has quite a few female fans. They spread the word and are eager to form a team to watch the game tonight.

Last night, many female fans came to the stands looking for Qing Chen's autograph, but Qing Chen pinched their cheeks one by one and signed their names on their foreheads from a distance.

This move seemed to hurt the fans' feelings, but strangely, they immediately changed their mindset: Xiao Tu is a clean-living boxer, unlike those flashy and cheap girls outside. Everyone should like boxers like this!

"I want to watch a boxing match," Nan Gengchen said to Li Yinuo, "Otherwise, we'll make a scene."

Xiao Tongyun watched silently while eating sunflower seeds, thinking to herself, "Is there really no one on this planet that Brother Xiao Nan cares about? That's why he's not afraid of dying."

"Look, look," Li Yinuo said indulgently, "I was planning to go see this anyway. Following Xiao Tongyun's suggestion, I invited Qing Shi, another Shadow Candidate of the Qing family, to go to the Begonia Boxing Gym tonight to discuss some matters."

Li Tongyun Nan Gengchen were both secretly delighted, but neither of them showed it.

The little girl asked casually, "Sister Yinuo, are Qing Wen and Qing Shi the only two candidates?"

"Oh no," Li Yinuo said, "I also made plans with Qing Zhong, Qing Yi, Qing Xing, Qing Yuan, and Qing Wu, but I have to meet them one by one, separately, otherwise they'll know I'm juggling multiple relationships. Trying to get more Shadow Candidate will allow me to better understand their movements and keep the situation under control."

Good heavens! Nan Gengchen thought to himself, "Good heavens!" He hadn't expected Li Yinuo to wipe out Shadow Candidate in one fell swoop!

I need to go back and talk to Brother Chen about this. Yinuo from their family is genuinely trying to help.

At this moment, Li Tongyun asked, "Sister Yinuo, do you really think these Shadow Candidate can help you and Uncle?"

For Li Yinuo, the Shadow Struggle was merely a side benefit in helping Qing Chen; what she herself had to face was the real power struggle within the Li family.

No member of the Li family could escape, not even a young girl like Li Tongyun.

Li Yinuo patted Li Tongyun's head with a smile, "You don't need to worry about these things. I'll take care of everything for you."

Li Tongyun was thinking that she should have a good talk with Brother Qing Chen about the Li family dispute when she returned next time.

She certainly didn't want Qing Chen to put himself in danger and get involved in such a crisis, but Qing Chen was so smart that he should be able to come up with a good plan for Yinuo.

At this moment, Nan Gengchen asked, "Yinuo, I think those Shadow Candidate are just third-generation members of the Qing family. Can they really be of any help?"

"It's definitely possible," Li Yinuo replied, "But the Qing family isn't the real protagonist in this grand drama."

Who is it?

"The true shadow of our time."