Chapter 227: Long-term Management

Soon, Yang Fan's consciousness exited the Virtual World.

Returning to reality, he let out a long breath and leaned back against the chair.

Only then did he realize that his mind was actually quite exhausted.

The pressure from chatting with Third Elder Gu Xuanting this time was indeed not small.

Every sentence felt like taking an exam.

Knock, knock.

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in."

Gu Shaoqing pushed the door open and entered.

Unusually, there was no playful grin on his face; instead, he appeared somewhat uneasy.

"Brother Yang…"

"Um…"

"How did your chat with the Third Elder go?"

Yang Fan glanced at him and quickly guessed what the other party wanted to ask.

He spoke directly: "Rest assured."

"Your uncle is fine."

Hearing this, Gu Shaoqing visibly relaxed, as if a great stone pressing on his heart had finally fallen.

Then, he became uncharacteristically serious and cupped his hands toward Yang Fan.

"Thank you, Brother Yang, for interceding on behalf of my uncle."

In fact, this matter was very serious.

No matter how sincere Gu Ming's attitude in admitting his mistake was, if it were truly brought out into the open, theoretically, he should have suffered the same fate as Rao Tianming.

But the problem was that Gu Ming's surname was Gu.

And as for punishment, in the end, it was just a word from those above.

Back then, to handle this matter, Gu Ming had used countless connections just to get Gu Shaoqing involved.

He had hoped to turn a big problem into a small one and a small one into nothing.

Who could have expected that the Third Elder would directly arrange for Yang Fan to come?

Although Gu Shaoqing was from the direct line, his Elders were simply not on the same level as Third Elder Gu Xuanting.

So along the way, he had to try his best to build a good relationship with Yang Fan.

There were many things, however, that simply couldn't be said explicitly.

Regardless, his branch of the family owed Yang Fan a favor.

Gu Shaoqing patted his chest and said earnestly: "Brother Yang."

"Although my talent isn't much, I have many friends."

"If you need anything in the future, just give the word; I won't refuse anything I can do."

Yang Fan gave a polite smile.

"Then thank you."

He didn't really care who Gu Ming was.

The fate of the Rao Family was already sealed; there was no need to make more enemies for the sake of unrelated people.

After marrying Gu Le, he did indeed have a powerful backing.

But that was no reason to go around making enemies.

Yang Fan had always felt that this world was very cruel.

In reality, everyone could only take care of themselves.

He wasn't some righteous judge, and he couldn't ensure fairness in everything.

Being able to hold his bottom line and not actively do evil was often already difficult enough.

So-called upholding justice was sometimes a luxury in itself.

Gu Shaoqing then added: "Brother Yang."

"Now that Xiling Star will be under your management, do you want me to help you introduce a professional team?"

"Managing a planet is something where an outsider can easily be taken advantage of."

Yang Fan shook his head.

"Thanks for the offer."

"But I already have a candidate."

"If it doesn't work out, I'll trouble you then."

Gu Shaoqing smiled.

"Alright, let's have a drink when we get back to Taichu City."

"Good."

Soon, Gu Shaoqing left, and the room became quiet again.

Yang Fan took out his communicator and sent a message to President Ma.

Managing a planet was a professional matter that should naturally be left to professionals.

And President Ma was the best candidate in Yang Fan's mind.

…Virtual World, the meeting place for the two.

President Ma arrived almost immediately.

"Boss."

"What instructions do you have?"

Yang Fan didn't waste words and said directly: "The Gu Family has invested a living planet in me."

"I've already sent you the data."

"You will be responsible for overseeing it from now on."

The air suddenly went quiet.

President Ma froze in place.

His mouth slowly opened wide, his face full of disbelief.

"A… a living planet?"

"Boss."

"Are you talking about… a living planet?!"

President Ma couldn't help but swallow.

Yang Fan frowned, "Doesn't Elephant Borrow have planets too? Is there any need to be so surprised?"

President Ma smiled bitterly.

"Boss."

"You are blessed but don't realize it."

"Those planets that Elephant Borrow has, strictly speaking, can only be considered resource planets or asteroids."

"Although they have been invested in to 'meet living conditions,' who would be willing to immigrate there?"

President Ma took a deep breath and explained earnestly: "The most valuable thing about a living planet is never the environment."

"It's the people."

"Those living people, those who have already formed an ecosystem, industries, and a civilization."

President Ma pointed to himself.

"People are money."

"A living planet is worth more than tens of thousands, even a hundred thousand dead planets."

Speaking of this, President Ma looked at Yang Fan, his gaze becoming complex.

At this moment, he was suddenly even more glad that he had chosen to become Yang Fan's subordinate back then.

Because even he himself had never owned a living planet.

And this was the foundation of the Gu Family, one of the Five Great Families.

A single living planet was enough to crush the entire assets of the vast majority of low-rank gods.

"Managing Xiling Star, you don't have any problems with that, do you?" Yang Fan asked.

President Ma nodded immediately.

"Rest assured, Boss."

"Planet management, in the end, boils down to one word—money."

"Most other processes are actually fixed templates; just leave them to intelligent life."

Speaking of this, President Ma continued: "The key lies in how the Boss wants to manage this planet."

"What do you mean?" Yang Fan asked.

President Ma thought for a moment and organized his words.

"If you pursue short-term returns, then raise taxes, strengthen management, increase the cost of population mobility, and concentrate resources as much as possible."

"The benefit of doing this is that short-term returns will be very high."

"But the cost is that the entire planet will become increasingly dead; people will decrease, Geniuses will be lost, and in the end, you can only keep squeezing the remaining people."

Speaking of this, President Ma paused, then continued: "The other way is long-term management."

"Lower taxes, reduce intervention, provide resource support, encourage population mobility, and cultivate more strong individuals."

"Short-term returns will decrease, and you may even need to continue investing in the early stages."

"But once it develops, the more people there are, the more strong individuals there are, and the more prosperous business becomes, tax revenue will naturally get higher and higher."

"Simply put, the former is treating the planet like a mine to be excavated, while the latter is treating the planet like an industry to be managed."

Yang Fan was thoughtful, then said directly: "I choose long-term development. Xiling Star is currently waiting to be rebuilt."

"If I keep squeezing it, I won't be able to squeeze out much juice anyway."

In fact, over the past two years, the Rao Family had almost drained the entire Xiling Star dry.

Those demigods had either died or fled.

What remained were basically Divine Beings.

And the tax revenue brought by hundreds or thousands of Divine Beings probably couldn't even compare to a single demigod.

Furthermore, Yang Fan was not currently short on divinity points.

He naturally understood the principle of draining the pond to catch the fish.

Xiling Star would be his base of operations in the future, so naturally, he had to manage it carefully.

"Yes, rest assured, Boss." President Ma immediately guaranteed.

"I'll arrange it right away."

"First, I'll move the Elephant Borrow headquarters there."

"At the very least, that will bring in quite a bit of commercial activity."