It’s past eleven at night in Rome time.
Gu Bai has been in Italy for five days now, and it’s been three days since he purchased the Poison.
Under the arrangement of the Lamborghini Company, the Poison is already on its way back to China. It is expected that when Gu Bai returns to China, the Poison will also have arrived smoothly.
After paying the 6 million US Dollars for the car, Gu Bai still has a full 130 million in cash on hand. It seems like a lot, but now he’s hesitant to spend lavishly.
After all, once the car arrives home, the value-added tax, luxury car acquisition tax, and a whole series of taxes will total 143% of the car’s value. Although Principal Wang promised to help him manage reasonably, it’s estimated that the price will still double, meaning the actual landing price of this Poison will be 85 million RMB.
In his past life, Gu Bai had seen a Poison in Xiangjiang valued at 90 million RMB. Back then, he couldn’t believe any car could rival a private jet. Now he finally understands it was his poverty that limited his imagination.
Gu Bai sat by the window of the hotel, gazing at the night while sipping red wine alone.
As for Dasha Talan, she had long gone to bed, exhausted, after a fierce battle.
Suddenly, Gu Bai’s phone rang. When he saw the contact, he realized it was his mother, Xu Hong, whom he hadn’t heard from in a long time.
After hesitating for a moment, Gu Bai decided to answer the call.
But Xu Hong didn’t seem like she wanted to chat; her tone was very urgent.
"Son, where are you now?!"
Hearing her tone, Gu Bai figured that his family must have somewhat learned about his current situation. After all, with how high-profile he’s been, it was only a matter of time before his family found out. With that thought, Gu Bai didn’t hide anything and directly said, "I’m in Italy now."
"You’re really in Italy? Is the Gu Bai mentioned on Weibo really you?"
Gu Bai was a bit puzzled.
"Yes, Weibo! Today, the girl from the neighbor’s house next door, your middle school classmate, came over with her mom and told me that there’s a billionaire online with the same name as you. When I took her phone, it wasn’t just the same name; it was you! How could I not recognize my own son?"
It seemed her excitement was too much, and she couldn’t help but cough a few times.
Beside her, Gu Jian Country also urged her to speak slowly.
"Don’t be anxious, let me see what’s going on."
After saying that, Gu Bai picked up his phone and opened Weibo, which he hadn’t checked in a long time.
First, he looked at trending topics, and there was nothing about him. Then he entered "Gu Bai," and wow, there was a whole topic about him, with millions of reads.
After looking at the topic content, Gu Bai roughly understood what was going on. It was nothing more than the photos from the other day with Principal Wang causing the trouble. Gu Bai also found out he gained a National Heartthrob title, truly very high-profile.
Seeing this, Gu Bai didn’t need to look any further and continued to speak to Xu Hong: "Mom, there are some things I tell you that you might not believe, but they’ve genuinely happened to me."
"Son! You didn’t do something illegal, did you? How did you become a billionaire after just a short time in Shanghai?"
Hearing Gu Bai’s serious tone, Xu Hong’s heart was also on edge.
Of course, Gu Bai wouldn’t be foolish enough to explain the truth to Xu Hong. Could he possibly tell her: "You won’t believe it if I say it, but I’m no longer the me of now. Instead, I’m the me from four years in the future, reborn, and with a system. The money all came from the system!"
Once those words were out, Xu Hong probably wouldn’t think he was breaking the law, but rather that he had gone insane.
After organizing his language a bit, Gu Bai said into the phone: "Actually, I’ve been engaged in foreign exchange investments since last year. Over the year, I’ve made quite a bit, plus I’ve gotten to know a lot of friends with deep backgrounds, and together we’ve struck it rich. Everything online is true; now I estimate that my assets are about 1 billion."
After Gu Bai finished explaining, there was a delay without hearing Xu Hong’s response. Gu Bai couldn’t help asking, "Mom?"
"Son, tell me honestly, what did you really do? I know my own son, right? You’ve been weak in academics since you were little, still unable to get addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division right in third grade. How could you dabble in foreign exchange investments?"
A black line visibly slid down Gu Bai’s forehead.
This was unmistakably his dear mom, always pointing out his flaws without hesitation.
"There’s no point explaining to you, pass the phone to Dad. I’ll tell him."
He knew his mother well—a sentimental, timid, ordinary housewife. Explaining too much to her was of little use, better to explain things practically to his dad Gu Jian Country.
A steady male voice came from the phone.
Gu Bai was very scared of his father Gu Jian Country, although Gu Jian Country had never hit him since he was little, nor even scolded, yet still filled Gu Bai with fear.
However, now that he’d been through rebirth, the current Gu Bai no longer felt the same dread upon hearing Gu Jian Country’s voice as he did in his past life.
"What’s the situation exactly?"
Gu Jian Country got straight to the point.
Gu Bai repeated what he had just told Xu Hong.
"You’re saying you made money through forex trading, and now you have two companies with assets over 100 million?"
Again, there was a brief silence.
Gu Jian Country’s voice came back: "Alright then, Dad believes you wouldn’t do anything illegal. I thought I’d work hard so you could settle in Shanghai. Turns out, after working a lifetime, what I earned isn’t even a fraction of what you made in a year. These times really have changed."
Listening to Gu Jian Country’s sighs on the other end, Gu Bai couldn’t help getting a bit choked up.
Speaking of which, his family’s financial situation wasn’t bad at all. With Gu Jian Country managing things over the years, they at least had a few million in the bank. But within a year’s time, his dad got aggressive and put all the money into the stock market, just in time for the 2018 Huamei trade war to escalate, the RMB to keep depreciating, and the stock market to crash, losing all those millions.
Back then, he even blamed Gu Jian Country, otherwise, he wouldn’t have ended up without a place to stay in Shanghai later on.
But thinking back now, Gu Jian Country was already pushing 50, long past his ambitious years. Taking such a risk, wasn’t it still for his sake?
If he’s lucky enough to have a system favor him in this lifetime, naturally, he should let his parents live a better life.
"Alright, since you’re in Italy, have fun. When you get back to the country, take some time to visit home and explain things to your mom carefully. She’s been worried sick all afternoon and only dared to call you when I got back."
After Gu Jian Country finished speaking, there was a sound of argument, and the phone was handed back to Xu Hong.
After a repeated inquiry, Xu Hong finally felt at ease.
"Mom, let me ask you, did the girl next door say anything?"
Xu Hong thought for a moment and replied, "Didn’t say much; she didn’t even recognize you. She just mentioned you share the same name. This girl used to chase after you, but now she doesn’t even recognize your face."
Hearing Xu Hong’s answer, Gu Bai also felt relieved.
It must be the system’s protective measures taking effect, blurring him out. Otherwise, a neighbor he had known for years wouldn’t recognize him, especially given his fairly distinctive looks.
"I’ve seen on TV that things are quite chaotic abroad. Make sure to protect yourself in Italy, alright?"
Gu Bai responded with a smile, not tired of the question.
"You shouldn’t take safety lightly. There’s a 19-year-old girl in our neighborhood who went out for barbecue, got into an argument with the stall owner while paying, and got stabbed with a skewer. The stall owner got arrested!"
"Yes, the barbecue stall owner is named Wu!"
"Alright, I get it. I won’t eat skewered barbecue anymore."
After saying this, he listened to a few more reminders and then hung up the phone.
Right after hanging up, he picked up his wine glass, but before he could drink, the phone’s time jumped to October 6th, 0:00.
The long-lost system prompt sounded again.
"System has been upgraded, current level: Level 2."
After this, Gu Bai’s attribute panel appeared directly before him.
Confidence State: Beginner Divine Rich
Godly Rich Aura (Non-action): 10%
System Level: Level 2."
The attribute panel isn’t much different from the Level 1 System, the only change being the "Confidence Value" directly transformed into a "Confidence State."
Beginner Divine Rich?
Could it be that there’s Intermediate Divine Rich, Advanced Divine Rich, or something of the sort?
Gu Bai couldn’t be bothered to think about it, treating it as a game of abacus in the pants, taking it one step at a time.
Before Gu Bai could think much longer, the system’s voice came through again.
"Based on the host’s performance over ten natural days, the mainline tag has been established."
"Mainline Tag: High-Profile Life."
Upon hearing this tag, Gu Bai couldn’t help but feel a bit puzzled.
"This tag is based on the host’s specific behavior during the 10 natural days since the system upgrade. Although the host engaged in some small-scale commercial activities within these 10 days, it didn’t meet the business mainline as evaluated by the system.
Although there was intimate interaction with the opposite sex within these 10 days, no substantial relationship was established, thus not meeting the emotional mainline either.
In summary, the system evaluates the mainline tag for the host as ’High-Profile Life.’"
Gu Bai wasn’t particularly interested in understanding this "High-Profile Life," but asked, "Will the High-Profile Life tag affect the benefits of my Level 2 System?"
That’s what Gu Bai cared about. If the benefits of the Level 2 System were cut, the whole story would have to end.
Fortunately, the system quickly responded. The source of this content ɪs 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝⁂𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚⁂𝔫𝔢𝔱
"The mainline tag merely dictates the upgrade path for the Level 2 System based on the host’s big data behavior and does not impact the issuance of system benefits."
So this system is even collecting his big data?
Regardless, he couldn’t be bothered to care. The system was present even during his everyday life, meaning he essentially had no privacy in front of it.
Only after hearing the system’s explanation did Gu Bai feel at ease. As long as the benefits were intact, the mainline didn’t matter.