Chapter 641: The CEO Calls

Marcus hadn’t expected the numbers to add up to quite that much money.

Of course, he knew that while the figure was astonishing to an ordinary person, 3.2 billion dollars was still little more than pocket change compared with the truly wealthy in America, a country that had long since established itself as the world’s leading economic power.

Take his beauty Willow Moran, for example. The Moran family had already begun declining more than twenty years ago and had gradually been pushed out of the circles where America’s true elite gathered. Yet even after all those years, the family’s remaining assets were still worth close to a hundred billion dollars.

Marcus had only 3.2 billion.

He still had a very long way to go. In the eyes of the truly powerful, he had barely crossed the threshold of genuine wealth. Still, Marcus had no intention of being modest about it. With his current ability to make money and the astonishing speed at which his fortune was growing, he was confident that very few people could hope to keep pace with him.

Even Old Vine had been stunned by his ability to accumulate wealth. At the same time, the old man couldn’t help marveling at Dominion’s booming economy. He had finally realized that he had badly underestimated just how real Dominion was, as well as the enormous business potential hidden within it.

And really, Dominion was real.

It was explosive. It was filled with competition, struggle, ambition, and dreams. For hundreds of millions of people, it had already become a second world, almost like a second life.

According to the latest statistics, the US Region alone had nearly five hundred million players. With ambitious mega-guilds pouring resources into the game and countless companies scrambling to advertise inside it, the average player was now exchanging more than ten dollars a day into the system.

At that rate, it would only take a month or two before Dominion’s advertising revenue surpassed the combined advertising revenue of television and the internet.

Just think about that scale.

Dragonfly Corp, the state-backed giant behind Dominion, was practically drowning in money every single day. Compared with a company of that size, Marcus’s little fortune of a few billion dollars was hardly worth mentioning.

Of course, Dragonfly Corp wasn’t simply taking money without giving anything back.

Five days earlier, the system had issued a major announcement. In two days, on the day after tomorrow, Dominion would undergo a massive and comprehensive update.

With humanity’s most advanced intelligence technology and enormous resources at its disposal, state researchers and Dragonfly Corp’s scientists had finally managed to integrate cloning and genetic technology into the intelligent system known as Skynet.

Once the update went live, Skynet would spend three days analyzing and adapting to the new technology. After that period of growth, it would officially activate the cloning and genetic systems, bringing about the greatest transformation Dominion had ever experienced.

The official announcement was careful to explain that even the current cloning and genetic technology was still a considerable distance away from making Dominion completely indistinguishable from reality. However, after the update and Skynet’s subsequent intelligent evolution, Dominion would reach the pinnacle of what current technology could achieve.

One hundred percent virtual reality.

More specifically, once a player entered their VR pod, it would be like walking through a door.

On one side was reality, on the other was Dominion.

Aside from the differences in society, environment, culture, and customs, the player’s sensory experience would be exactly the same on either side. Sight, hearing, touch, smell, taste, and every other sensation would feel completely real.

It would be like actually living inside Dominion.

There would no longer be any meaningful difference in how reality and the game felt.

Naturally, players across the world were buzzing with anticipation for the day-after-tomorrow update. Everyone wanted to experience what true virtual reality would feel like.

With that settled, Marcus’s bros also became busy. They agreed that during the three-day system update, everyone would gather at Marcus’s city and celebrate their progress in Dominion together.

For the next two days, Marcus accompanied his girls through their Level 50 trials. They had all been sitting at 49.99% experience, and with his assistance, they successfully completed their trials one after another and reached Level 50.

Then, at noon the following day, while his girls were still at school, a familiar system notification suddenly sounded.

Ding! Player Stonehaven, you have an incoming call. Would you like to answer in-game or exit the system to answer?

Marcus was slightly surprised when he saw who was calling.

It was his boss, the new CEO of Mellory Financial, Vivian Sterling.

He immediately exited the system and accepted the call. A moment later, a stunning face appeared on the screen.

Her features were sharp and refined, flawless enough to seem as though they had been carefully carved by a divine hand. Her short black hair fell naturally around her face, framing an appearance that carried both elegant beauty and quiet confidence. It was none other than the beautiful CEO, Vivian Sterling.

Today, however, she wasn’t wearing the blue business suit Marcus had seen the last time they met. Instead, she was dressed in a simple women’s casual outfit, which softened her usual capable image while adding a touch of effortless elegance.

Compared with the formal business attire she had worn before, she looked even more captivating.

Marcus couldn’t help staring for a moment.

As expected of the CEO of Mellory Financial, and someone preparing to lead the company into the fashion industry, Vivian’s sense of style alone was enough to show that she understood clothing and presentation exceptionally well.

She was in no way inferior to any of Marcus’s own beauties, yet what made her particularly striking was the unique poise she carried. It wasn’t something that could simply be copied with expensive clothes or makeup. Vivian had the presence of a woman accustomed to being in control, and Marcus found himself staring at the screen like an idiot.

"Marcus..."

Seeing his dazed expression, Vivian waved a hand in front of the camera.

Her expression remained composed, but inwardly she couldn’t help thinking, ’So he’s just like every other man after all. The moment he sees a beautiful woman, he turns into a horny idiot.’

Then again, if a man didn’t stare at her at least a little, Vivian would probably wonder whether there was something wrong with him.

What she truly disliked was when a man completely lost his composure around her.

And Marcus was especially troublesome.

After all, there had already been that awkward "teacup incident" in her office, which had resulted in the two of them indirectly kissing. Whenever she thought about it, she felt a faint irritation and an urge to teach this man a lesson.

"Oh!"

Marcus finally came back to his senses. He coughed awkwardly, then gave her an innocent smile.

"CEO, to what do I owe the honor of receiving your call?"

"Save the flattery."

Vivian immediately shot him a sharp look.

"Marcus, you’re really something, you know that? Ever since we signed the contract, you haven’t come to the company even once. And now we’re approaching a critical stage. The new clothing line is about to launch, yet you haven’t shown the slightest concern. Do you really think that’s acceptable?"

Marcus was speechless. What was this supposed to mean?

The contract clearly stated that he didn’t need to work at the company or attend the office regularly. All he had to do was provide two advertising proposals a year. That was the agreement they had reached from the beginning.

It had only been half a month since they signed the contract, and the year wasn’t even remotely close to ending.

Why was she already chasing him down?

He couldn’t help protesting, "Beautiful, this really doesn’t have anything to do with me..."

He had barely started defending himself when Vivian cut him off, having clearly anticipated exactly what he was going to say.

"How does it not have anything to do with you? You don’t understand our clothing line, you don’t attend the product launches, you don’t know what our customers actually want, you don’t follow their feedback, and you don’t keep up with the latest market trends. Under those circumstances, how are you supposed to come up with an advertising strategy that actually works? How are you supposed to promote our clothing effectively?"

She paused, then narrowed her eyes at him.

"And stop calling me ’beautiful.’ Call me CEO."

Vivian fired off one point after another, and Marcus couldn’t find a single one he could reasonably refute.

Everything she said made sense.

He had originally thought that since his contract gave him considerable freedom, he could simply provide the required proposals when the time came and leave the rest to the professionals. But Vivian had a point. If he wanted to produce advertising that actually suited the company and its products, he couldn’t simply sit back and know nothing about the clothing business, the market, or the customers.

Looking at the beautiful CEO on the screen, Marcus couldn’t help sighing inwardly. This woman really was difficult to deal with.

But instead of making him dislike her, that sharp and capable attitude only made Vivian more impressive in his eyes.

And if he was being honest with himself, Marcus really did want to win this beauty over.