"Protest! Sky Combat Network is down!" "Protest! Sky Combat Network server capacity is too small!" "Protest! Sky Combat Network takes your money but delivers nothing!"

Dazzling headlines appeared across the one-star through seven-star forums one after another, instantly drawing massive attention.

The Sky Combat Network, by all accounts, was a colossal network established with significant Federal investment—it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it the Federation's premier network. Since its inception, a system bottleneck had never once occurred.

A flood of people, intrigued and suspicious, clicked on the threads, eager to satisfy their curiosity and see what unprecedented event could possibly jam the famously robust Sky Combat Network.

Soon, the crowds saw a name—a name they had just seen but hadn't paid much mind to: The Vampire of Money [Thirty-Six Hours].

In this world, everyone has their idols, or people they follow. Because of this, many who first encountered the post titled "The Vampire of Money Thirty-Six Hours Returns to the Jianghu" didn't pay much attention, nor did they log on to view it.

But humanity possesses an infinite well of curiosity. Curiosity drives the development of all human society; without it, humanity would never have achieved its current prosperity.

Those initially uninterested in Qin Fen began to wonder when they saw that one person could bring an entire network channel to a near-standstill. What kind of individual could cause a blockage on the Sky Combat Network, a system that had never before experienced one?

More and more people, driven by this burning curiosity, began converging toward Free Zone Eleven, Qin Fen's current location. The already congested Free Zone Eleven became even more packed.

"What? A network jam? How is that possible?"

At the headquarters processing center of the Sky Combat Network, the Deputy General Manager overseeing the Free Zones nearly vaulted out of his chair upon receiving the report from his subordinate.

As a high-ranking executive of the Sky Combat Network, Zhang Hao understood better than anyone just how enormous the network was. Many channels operated below five percent resource utilization.

There was a running joke among the Sky Combat Network's top brass: "Want to jam the Sky Combat Network? Fine! It's possible! Go invite the Earth Martial God, or perhaps a divine beast from another planet, into the network. Maybe people flocking to see the divine beast's splendor will finally clog the system?"

Zhang Hao braced his hands on the desk, looking at the sweaty Duty Manager before him. "Which major figure has entered the Sky Combat Network? Could a Divine Beast expert really have logged in?"

"No..." The Duty Manager, Feles, shook his head repeatedly, offering a bitter smile. "It's a martial artist who was quite famous in the lower-tier warrior circles a while back. When he disappeared, he was only Four-Star. Now he’s returned as a Nine-Star..."

"Nine-Star?" Zhang Hao narrowed his eyes. "A Nine-Star martial artist? A Comet-level warrior? That's impossible. Even a Stellar-level fighter would probably..."

Feles adjusted the black-rimmed glasses perched on his nose. "General Manager, this time is different. This person had extremely high popularity at the Two-Star level, and as he ascended to Three-Star, he accumulated massive followings in the Three-Star community. Then, only a few days after reaching Four-Star, he single-handedly took down the martial arts sects on an entire street on Planet Guard-Four in a single day. In the end, he fought six or seven warriors of his own rank simultaneously and defeated them all..."

Zhang Hao's dismissive expression faded slightly. In duels between warriors of the same rank, due to similar strength, fights were almost always one-on-one. Being able to handle two opponents was exceptional; managing a group placed one at the absolute peak of that Star level.

"That’s not all," Feles hurried on. "He disappeared for less than a year, and when he reappeared on the Combat Network, his strength had already reached Nine-Star..."

"What?" Zhang Hao shuddered. "He advanced five Star levels in less than a year? Is he even human? Is that true?"

"It’s not five levels in under a year," Feles explained seriously. "From the first time he entered combat until his reappearance on the Sky Combat Network this time, the total time hasn't even reached a full year. That means he’s advanced seven Star levels in under a year..."

Zhang Hao’s jaw dropped.

Advancing five levels in under a year was already inhuman! Advancing seven levels? Was he a monster? Even if this person was experiencing a massive growth spurt in strength, this was simply too monstrous!

"So you see," Feles sighed weakly, "Two-Star, Three-Star, and Four-Star warriors are the largest user base on the Sky Combat Network, right? When they hear Thirty-Six Hours has shown up, and then realize he’s Nine-Star strength after just a few days, what do you think their reaction will be? Naturally, they’ll rush straight to where Thirty-Six Hours is located."

Zhang Hao nodded slowly, muttering in amazement. "Yes! They are the largest demographic. Once they know about this, they'll naturally flock there immediately..."

Feles spread his hands, the corner of his mouth twitching. "Exactly. When these three massive groups get excited, they naturally start spreading the news everywhere. The Five-Star, Six-Star, Seven-Star, Eight-Star, and Nine-Star forums are all being taken over by their promotions. When those warriors see something so miraculous, they naturally have to log on to check it out."

Zhang Hao nodded again. Hearing this tale, even he, a man of vast experience, couldn't help but want to see who this young man was, let alone anyone else.

"So, how many people are jammed right now?" Zhang Hao recovered from his shock, instantly reverting to the highly efficient Deputy General Manager.

Feles checked the report in his hand. "Before I came in, over five million people were stuck in the network. Now..."

Feles pressed the communication device that was constantly linked to the server room. The female voice coming through was beautiful, but the numbers she reported immediately stripped Zhang Hao of any desire to appreciate the melodious sound.

Seven million, six hundred fifty-eight thousand, eight hundred sixty-six people... and the number was rising every second. Moreover, it wasn't rising by a few people per second; it was increasing by thousands, sometimes tens of thousands.

"Heavens!" Zhang Hao could no longer remain seated in his office. He rose and quickly headed toward the server room. Lingering here waiting for updates might mean receiving his termination notice by the afternoon.

The outer layers of the Sky Combat Network were in complete chaos, but Qin Fen remained oblivious to the outside situation. He was waiting for a reply from the Mountain and River Society. Fifteen minutes had passed since he sent the challenge message, yet he had received no response.

"Fight, or don't fight! There should at least be a reply," Qin Fen muttered, crossing his arms over his chest. He failed to notice that the fighting arena, usually hosting only two or three sparse cats, was now packed shoulder-to-shoulder.

Beep beep...

The communicator chimed precisely seventeen minutes after the challenge was sent. Qin Fen stared at the returned message, dumbfounded.

"Sorry, the server you are currently on is severely congested. No information can be transmitted externally."

"Network congestion?" Qin Fen thought he misheard. When had the Sky Combat Network ever suffered a network jam? Not even during the hosting of the Network Fighting Championships had there ever been a blockage.

That was true; there had been no blockages during the Network Fighting Championships. But Qin Fen didn't know that before every tournament, the Sky Combat Network's upper management would redirect server traffic.

In any case, at the start of every tournament, very few people used the other channels; allocating just ten percent of the bandwidth to those channels was more than enough, allowing the rest to be diverted to the special tournament channel.

However, the Eleventh Fighting Arena in Free Zone Eleven today was just a standard channel, one that had received no special allocation. The resources available there were wildly excessive for a place usually housing only a couple of lonely users! But today was different. Although the situation didn't compare to the Network Fighting Championships, it was still an unprecedented anomaly; it would be strange not to have a network jam.

Beep beep...

A private video call notification popped up in Qin Fen's system bar.

It was marked as Caller Pays.

Qin Fen naturally selected the Caller Pays function.

"What? He wants me to pay?" Zhang Hao looked at the returned notification with a wry smile of resignation. He's scrimping on a few yuan for a video call? This guy really is the Vampire of Money, just as the files say! This might actually allow the project to proceed smoothly.

When the video connection opened, Zhang Hao was surprised. The person who caused the first-ever network jam in the history of the Sky Combat Network had chosen to hide his portrait.

Is he ugly? Zhang Hao speculated maliciously before speaking. "Thirty-Six Hours, hello. I am Zhang Hao, the Deputy General Manager responsible for the Free Zones at the Sky Combat Network. You can call me Zhang Hao."

Qin Fen looked at the middle-aged man in the video feed with surprise. The Deputy General Manager of the Sky Combat Network? While these people might not have the authority of military generals, they were all incredibly wealthy. What was happening today? Was he calling to explain the cause of the network jam to the users? That wouldn't require a Deputy General Manager to handle it personally.

"Regarding this network jam, here is what happened..."

As Qin Fen listened to Zhang Hao's explanation, his eyes shifted between surprise and exasperation. He hadn't realized that his reappearance after all this time would cause such a massive stir.

"So," Zhang Hao focused intently on Qin Fen, "we have a temporary solution. First, I need to know what you plan to do by appearing on the Sky Combat Network this time?"

"I need to fight," Qin Fen paused before adding, "I need to battle the strongest warrior at my own Star level. I need to use combat to break through and advance my Star level."

Advance Star level? Zhang Hao's eyes twitched repeatedly. Advance Star level again? You’re planning to advance eight times in under a year?

After a brief, stunned silence, Zhang Hao stabilized his emotions and said, "That’s excellent! I heard you seem to be in urgent need of a large sum of money?"

Qin Fen shrugged, thinking to himself: Marrying the granddaughter of the Earth Martial God Song Wendong certainly requires a massive amount of money. If he couldn't even provide the most basic financial security for his own woman, he wouldn't have the face to marry her.

"That’s good then."

Zhang Hao nervously rubbed his hands together, secretly wondering why he felt this nervous now, something he hadn't experienced even when meeting Stellar-level masters. It felt as if he wasn't facing a Comet-level warrior, but a Martial Dao Grandmaster.

"Here is the situation," Zhang Hao tried to steady his voice. "Since you are here seeking opponents for combat, we believe this is a perfect opportunity for massive publicity and a commercial venture."

"A commercial venture?" Qin Fen keenly picked up on a hint of Zhang Hao's idea. "You want to charge?"

Zhang Hao was pleased that his conversational partner was intelligent. Charging for warrior duels was not new; every Federation-wide Fighting Championship held online always involved ticketing, and the fees were never low. Some high-level Star warrior battles also had set fees, though such instances were rare, and few people were willing to pay. As for Nine-Star warrior battles, implementing a fee structure had never been attempted before.

"Yes, charging!" Zhang Hao nodded repeatedly. "We can temporarily open a special channel. Anyone who wants to watch must pay a fee. As for the viewing revenue, we can give you fifty percent! How about that?"

"Not great."

Zhang Hao could hardly believe his ears. Did he mishear? Did Thirty-Six Hours just say 'Not great?' Did his tone carry a hint of disdain? Wasn't he short on money? Could it be that he also possessed some kind of master's pride?

"Why?" Zhang Hao blurted out. Fifty percent was a huge profit margin. How could this money-starved individual refuse it?

Qin Fen held up two fingers, his tone as calm as it was initially: "I want twenty percent of the revenue."

"What?"

Zhang Hao scrutinized Qin Fen from head to toe. Twenty percent? Had this kid gone completely mad for money?

"Cooperation is win-win," Qin Fen continued before Zhang Hao could speak. "No cooperation is double-lose. I can afford to lose. If this network jam cannot be resolved smoothly, I imagine the damaged reputation won't be mine, will it?"

Zhang Hao was forced to re-evaluate Qin Fen once more. This man, whose face was hidden, sounded quite young, yet he analyzed the situation with such accuracy. Mobilizing network resources wasn't simple. Given the current congestion, coordinating and allocating personnel would take significant time. Implementing a fee model would automatically screen out those unwilling to spend money, and resolving the issue by simply announcing, "The electronic tickets are sold out; you should have come earlier," would be easy.

Zhang Hao knew he couldn't afford to wait! If he dragged this out, the network might still be unstable by the time he was forced to step down.

Twenty percent... Zhang Hao's eyes spun rapidly. If he agreed, his own share of the profits from this incident would vanish entirely. A temporary special channel supporting five million concurrent users charging ten dollars each would yield one hundred million. Even after taxes, that would still be eighty million!

"Fine!" Zhang Hao ground his teeth and hissed out the word. "You truly live up to the name 'Vampire of Money'! I agree!"