In mid-August, the summer vacation was already halfway over.
After the banquet that night, Shinra stayed overnight at Old Master Mori's mansion. The next day, he returned to Chiba with Uncle Li.
The main reason was that Old Master Mori had a very tight schedule and had to fly to another country the next day. Although Shinra had received special permission from the Old Master to stay as long as he wanted, in the entire mansion, apart from him and the service staff, there was no one else he knew. It was boring to stay alone, so he simply went back home.
In addition, regarding the strategic development report Shinra wrote earlier, Old Master Mori would convene a board meeting later to discuss it, and there was a high probability that a part of it would be implemented.
As for why only a part and not all of it would be implemented... that was because some of the remaining key industries had to be handled by their own people.
Although the Mori Conglomerate bore the Mori name, in reality, the conglomerate did not consist solely of members of the Mori clan; there were also external members.
As the saying goes: Outside the party there are no parties, that is imperial thinking; inside the party there are no factions, that is strange indeed.
In any organization of sufficient size, there can never be only one voice. Especially in an international conglomerate like the Mori Conglomerate, the forces involved could be described as intricate and complex, and these people were not necessarily of one mind with the Mori Conglomerate.
As the proposer of the plan, Shinra could secure a certain share, whether in the internal projects of the conglomerate or the internal projects of the family.
It was just that because Shinra was currently too weak, his share in the conglomerate would be handled by his great uncle on his behalf, while the family side could be handled by him personally, since he had the Old Master's support.
Or rather, Shinra had to handle it personally. The essence of this project was actually the family's cultivation of Shinra.
After all, an SSR-level talent had finally appeared among the younger generation of the family, and he was the direct grandson of his own younger brother. Old Master Mori would never allow Shinra to waste his time.
In fact, when Old Master Mori made this arrangement, there was considerable opposition within the family. The vast majority of the opposition felt that Shinra was too young to shoulder such a heavy responsibility.
Then, all these voices were suppressed by Shinra's biological grandfather, the Second Master of the Mori family... Er, rather than suppressed, it would be better to say they were scolded into silence.
Compared to the steady and prudent Old Master Mori, Second Master Mori's temperament was much more fiery. Having been a soldier in his early years, he couldn't tolerate any nonsense. He knew clearly that the opposition in the family claimed Shinra was too young for the responsibility, but in reality, they just felt that if Shinra took more, they would get less.
But these good-for-nothings didn't consider that without Shinra, they wouldn't even have the chance to take anything.
Therefore, after scolding them, Second Master Mori very bluntly laid down the law, saying that if they didn't support it, the second branch could go it alone.
Second Master Mori's original words were: "Giving you little punks a sip of soup, and instead of being grateful, you want to kick aside the pot to eat the meat? Go eat sh*t!"
It was only because they were relatives that there were many things Second Master Mori couldn't say. If this were outside, Second Master Mori would have long since launched a saturation strike centered on the family members with a radius of the genealogy book.
Even with half his vocabulary sealed, Second Master Mori still scolded the opposition within the clan until they were bloody (figuratively), so much so that as the clan head, Old Master Mori had to step in to smooth things over for the sake of internal unity.
Then, with one brother playing the bad cop and the other playing the good cop, the matter was settled.
And Shinra, the person involved, was actually the last to know the news.
Ridiculous.
Fortunately, considering his studies, Shinra currently only needed to review the work progress every so often and grasp the general direction; he didn't need to do everything himself.
And for a cheater player in Earth OL, this work was a piece of cake, with no pressure at all.
Overall, it felt to Shinra like playing a business simulation game. He was responsible for setting goals, and then someone would help achieve them.
However, compared to a game, the situation in reality was more complex and diverse. His instructions wouldn't be directly adopted and applied like in a game; they required further meetings and discussions to confirm their rationality before being implemented.
It is worth mentioning that because Shinra's strategic development plan was adopted, the Miura family's electric company was also held by Mori International, and Shinra himself truly became the direct superior of Yumiko's father.
Now Yumiko really has become the subordinate's daughter.
...
"Phew... Work is done. Next is the daily exercise session." Shinra closed his laptop and went to the gym next to the study.
Although called a gym, it was actually just a storage room for sundries before. After Shinra obtained the ability 'Current Control', he cleared it out to use as a gym.
After all, Shinra's way of exercising was different from normal people. Normally, people exercise by training muscle groups heavily, combined with various supplements to achieve fitness results. Some radicals even bring frequent bad news to the fitness circle due to improper drug use.
Shinra, however, didn't rely on exercise or drugs at all. He relied on electricity!
In previous attempts, Shinra discovered that when an external current passed through his body, an '↑' symbol would appear in the Physique column of his system panel.
This was the first time Shinra had seen this symbol since the car accident. It also meant that Shinra had mastered another method to improve his physique besides adding wish-power points.
Before this, Shinra had tried to improve his physique through external means, but whether due to problematic exercise methods or because ordinary exercise was no longer effective for his current physique, Shinra had tried everything and failed to make the '↑' symbol appear in the Physique column of the system panel.
After obtaining the 'Current Control' ability, Shinra connected to an external current through a transformer, ensuring his own safety.
During this period, Shinra would keep staring at his system panel. As long as a '↓' symbol appeared in the Physique column, he would immediately stop the test.
Shinra's original intention was to see where his limit was through this method, but he unexpectedly discovered a new path to improve his physique.
Although 'getting stronger by being electrocuted' sounded even more wicked than the Power of Nine Dragons, that was the situation.
In addition, Shinra also found that through electric shocks, his control over the current would also be correspondingly improved, and the effect was even stronger than simply discharging electricity.
After many attempts, Shinra finally established a unique training method for himself: getting shocked while discharging electricity. With this two-pronged approach, Shinra's control over 'electricity' could be said to be increasing day by day.
Even old electricians couldn't compare to him.
He dared to touch live wires that old electricians wouldn't dare touch!
How could that not count as being better than an old electrician?
After testing, Shinra found that the 110V voltage in Japan posed basically no threat to him. Apart from making him feel a bit numb, there were no adverse reactions. It wasn't until it was increased to 220V that Shinra felt obvious pain.
Currently, the voltage Shinra used during body training was maintained at around 220V. However, Shinra could clearly feel that as his training time increased, the pain brought by the 220V voltage was gradually weakening.
In the case where the Physique value did not improve significantly, this phenomenon indicated that Shinra's control over the current was gradually strengthening.
Because only by controlling the current could he limit the damage of the current to his body.
In a sense, Shinra had preliminarily developed a cultivation method unique to him.
Although a bit primitive, it was a leap from 0 to 1, from nothing to something.
Precisely because of this, Shinra had been living quite a fulfilling life recently. Almost every day after finishing his tasks, he would dive into the gym and not come out until his spiritual power was almost consumed.
Today should have been the same, but because he had a date with Mai-senpai, Shinra could only simply electrify himself for a while to warm up. As for further training, he would have to wait until he returned from the date.
Speaking of which, a hidden benefit of 'Current Control' had to be mentioned: even if Shinra didn't shower, he could keep his body in a fairly clean state.
After all, it was hard to imagine what kind of bacteria and viruses could remain active in such a high-intensity current environment.
However, clean as he was, Shinra was still accustomed to rinsing his body with water in the bathroom after every workout.
Changing into clean and tidy clothes, Shinra put his keys, wallet, and phone in his pocket, then went out for the appointment.
This seemed to be the first time Shinra had gone out in days.
Yukino had stayed at her family home since the end of the last training camp and hadn't returned. As for Sakurajima Mai, due to work reasons, she finally had free time today to date him.
Because of the hot weather, neither Shinra nor Mai really wanted to go out. Compared to going shopping, they preferred to sit in a cool place to read and chat, so the two decided to have the date at Mai's house.
Taking a taxi, Shinra quickly arrived downstairs at Mai's apartment.
Just as he walked into the apartment building, Shinra saw Miss Mai, whom he had only seen on his phone recently.
"Miss Mai actually came downstairs personally to pick me up, I'm so happy..."
"What strange things are you saying now?"
Seeing Shinra, Mai's expression became somewhat joyful, but one point needed correction: she wasn't waiting for him.
"Although it's true I came downstairs, it wasn't actually to pick you up."
"Taking out the trash?"
"No."
"Picking up a package?"
"Generally speaking, aren't they delivered to the door?"
Now it was Shinra's turn to be puzzled. Since she wasn't picking him up, and it wasn't an activity requiring going downstairs like taking out trash or picking up packages, why was Mai downstairs?
"To pick up a friend." Mai revealed the answer.
"So it's not a world for two?!" Shinra's pupils quaked.
"It is a world for two, but we have to wait until she leaves."
Actually, Mai didn't want their world for two to be disturbed either. But because she had agreed with the other party to meet up during the summer vacation, and due to work reasons, it had dragged on until today. Since she had to shoot a commercial tomorrow and had no time, they could only clash.
However, it was also a good opportunity to introduce her new friend to Shinra, to show this guy that she wasn't unable to make friends before, she just didn't want to.
"Who is she?" Shinra's tone at this moment was exactly like a wife discovering her husband's affair—resentful, yet mixed with sadness and helplessness.
Mai found Shinra's dramatic performance somewhat amusing and quickly replied, "My new friend, a junior at school. Like you, she's in her second year of high school."
"A student of Minegahara High School?"
"Yes. Speaking of which, it's related to you."
"Related to me?"
"Mm, we met through the scholarship you established. Her name is Futaba Rio."
Because of 'Eidetic Memory', upon hearing this name, the corresponding image immediately appeared in Shinra's mind.
"It's her." Shinra remembered this girl. Last time when he went to Minegahara High School to deal with Mai's Adolescence Syndrome, he had met her in the cafeteria.
At that time, because the student meals were sold out, Shinra used a teacher's meal card to treat her to lunch. Because of the meal card, she seemed to have mistaken him for a teacher.
Their interaction wasn't much; at best, it was a passing acquaintance. If Shinra hadn't kept 'Eidetic Memory' on at that time for fear of ignoring Mai's existence again, he probably wouldn't have remembered such a person.
Even though her figure was indeed somewhat exaggerated.
"You know her?" Mai hadn't expected Shinra to know her.
"Sort of. I treated her to a meal before," Shinra replied.
Hearing this, Mai narrowed her eyes. He even treated her to a meal? When did that happen? How come she didn't know?
"When was this?" Mai never hid anything regarding such matters and asked directly.
"That day I went with you to Minegahara High School to handle scholarship matters. At noon, because the student meals were sold out, I saw her standing pitifully at the food window, so I used the teacher's meal card to get her a bowl of ramen."
"If you really count it, I knew her earlier than you."
"Is that so..." Mai's expression relaxed slightly. So it was just because of that.
"What did you think?" Shinra asked back playfully.
"I thought you were acting on lust again."
Mai's worry was not unreasonable. Although Futaba Rio usually dressed 'plainly', her assets were substantial enough.
Men, they always like big ones.
Mai herself was actually considered big, but compared to Futaba Rio, it was insignificant.
That was a true 'baby-faced big-breasted' girl.