Wang Zhuo’s speech was an astounding success; his charisma burrowed deep into the hearts of everyone listening. If the stage he commanded had not been a strip club offering sexual services, but rather the National Mall in Washington D.C., his address would have garnered wider influence and a more fervent applause than any candidate running for President of the United States.

Yet, for Wang Zhuo, this was merely dipping his toes in the water. Before this, even he himself hadn't known he possessed the gift for standing before a crowd of strangers and holding forth with eloquent confidence.

For a very long time, he had envied those sharp-witted debaters who could respond fluently to critics and audiences alike. Now, he realized he could do it too—perhaps even better.

In a surge of good spirits, Wang Zhuo immediately announced a special offer for all club members: the chance to purchase the Great Man Reinforcement Agent at a 32% discount, along with the privilege of skipping the queue for enhancement treatments without an appointment!

On the surface, it seemed Wang Zhuo was still making money, considering the item cost only tens of RMB to produce but sold for sixty-eight thousand US dollars. However, for these members, it translated to a discount of thirty-two thousand dollars. Coupled with the immediate, non-scheduled enhancement treatment, if they were to flip the reinforcement agent on the black market, they could easily profit by at least sixty thousand dollars.

Before this moment, the Great Man Reinforcement Agent had never been discounted! Furthermore, everyone knew that whether due to engineered scarcity or genuine supply shortage, it was currently a severe seller’s market. Wang Zhuo could hike the price and people would still scramble to pay. Therefore, this 32% discount was an exceptionally generous gift. This single offering alone compensated for all the club membership fees, leaving most members with substantial savings!

After the speech, Wang Zhuo gracefully descended from the stage, enthusiastically shaking hands, embracing, and posing for photos with his fans. He had no intention of remaining an enigma anymore; in fact, continuing to be invisible was no longer an option.

During his worldwide tours over the past six months, he had repeatedly been treated as an honored guest, appearing on top-tier national news broadcasts in multiple countries—the equivalent of CCTV's News Broadcast. Although he hadn't granted any exclusive media interviews, the constant barrage of camera flashes from the phalanx of cameras surrounding him whenever he shook hands with world leaders made evasion impossible. Consequently, countless news photographs featuring him were already circulating in the press.

When Time Magazine originally featured him, it was merely a silhouette overlaid with a large question mark. Now, his image had entirely transformed; countless presidents, prime ministers, and chairmen had posed intimately with him, appearing like the closest of old friends.

The inaugural meeting of the Great Man Club was an overwhelming success!

Wang Zhuo’s candid public appearance, in particular, drew a tidal wave of praise, immediately becoming a hot topic dominating multiple newspaper sections!

The financial pages, entertainment sections, social reports, and even the fashion columns all carried related news. The financial section focused on him as the King of Wealth. The entertainment section zeroed in on the dramatic impact the Great Man Reinforcement Agent was having on the adult entertainment industry. The social columns discussed the various societal phenomena being reshaped by the Dynasty Group. The fashion pages, meanwhile, seized upon Wang Zhuo's English phrase—“***…”—to drag numerous speculative celebrity rumors into the fray.

As for the sports section, the King of Wealth’s pool skills had long since become legendary. While other sections debated Wang Zhuo, how could this segment resist following suit?

It sparked another media frenzy. Pool masters scoffed at Wang Zhuo's legends, challenging his prowess outright; meanwhile, entertainment and fashion news compiled another comprehensive list of the women linked to him in rumors. Irene Top ranked first, naturally, followed by a string of names belonging to women Wang Zhuo hadn't even met in person. Only the astute noticed that Director Ning and Director Wang’s relationship seemed unusually intimate.

After attending the Great Man Club gathering, Wang Zhuo lingered in Las Vegas for another two days before flying to New York.

New York City, located in the state of New York, is the world’s largest city and commercial port, as well as one of the world’s economic centers, justly hailed as the capital of the world. The United Nations Headquarters resides in this city, and the famous Statue of Liberty stands guard at the mouth of the Hudson River.

“Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

This poem, written by an American woman for the Statue of Liberty, is inscribed on the granite pedestal of the monument. As Wang Zhuo gazed at this Poem of Liberty face-to-face, he felt as though the very air he breathed carried a tangible scent of freedom.

Meanwhile, the battlefield in Swaziland was raging. General Mann was gradually eroding the strength of other warlords in his conflict with the United States, and his cause was gaining momentum. The American military, constrained by domestic public opinion and internal conflicts within the high command, found its operations hobbled. Furthermore, with Wang Zhuo continuously providing strong and potent support to Mann, the Swazi rebels maintained parity with the US forces, slowly dragging the Americans into a quagmire.

Of course, if the Americans were to truly commit, eliminating the rebels would take only a few major battles, perhaps resolved within a month.

But politics is an incredibly complex entity. Even in an office, a deputy might secretly trip or undermine the superior. A nation as vast as the United States, if divided on a minor issue, can procrastinate endlessly.

To put it plainly, the interests of Swaziland were simply not worth a massive American commitment. Meanwhile, the King of Wealth could afford to spend money to play this war game. Coupled with cost advantages, Wang Zhuo could achieve ten units of work for one unit of currency on that land, whereas the Americans, operating thousands of miles from home, faced exorbitant labor and material costs—they might spend a hundred units and fail to achieve ten units of work. A classic case of futile effort.

Supporting the rebels against the US while simultaneously standing in the US heartland, shaking hands warmly with the Mayor of New York City beneath the Statue of Liberty, was certainly a wonderfully paradoxical situation.

The incumbent Mayor of New York was a "young" man with brown hair and blue eyes. Of course, the concept of "young" was defined by the age standards used for awarding outstanding young entrepreneurs domestically; Wang Zhuo recalled some recipients being over fifty, older than Wang Zhengdao himself, yet still earning that title. Mr. Thompson, aged forty-eight, appeared relatively youthful, clearly a rising star in the political firmament.

Although Thompson’s age could have made him Wang Zhuo’s father, he certainly did not look down on Wang Zhuo because of the age gap. As the Mayor of New York, he was acutely aware that the world contained numerous powerful and wealthy figures, and Wang Zhuo’s ascent was among the most rapid. Though the young man was not yet twenty-five, Time Magazine had already listed the King of Wealth among potential power players when ranking the world’s most influential people last year!

Thompson was a "seasoned" Republican senator with a rich background. He was young, and his time in politics was neither extremely long nor very short. Having witnessed the "precedent set by Obama," his credentials perfectly aligned with the requirements for running for president. In fact, he was already planning to do so, likely resigning his mayoral post soon to enter the presidential race as a Republican candidate.

This prospect was quite novel to Wang Zhuo: the white gentleman standing beside him might become the next President of the United States. In terms of systemic structure, such a trajectory was impossible back home; without forty or fifty years of political experience, how could one reach the pinnacle position in a system that shifted every three years, requiring steady, incremental progress?

By comparison, America, with its two-century history, seemed somehow more "aged" than China. Historically, the Qing Dynasty lasted nearly three centuries, the Ming was slightly shorter, and the Yuan Dynasty barely ninety-seven years. By this measure, America seemed overdue for its own decline in "mandate."

Yet, this nation displayed remarkable "youth" in many aspects. A president under fifty was an absolute impossibility in China, and a nationwide popular election was inherently more open and transparent. Conversely, the supposedly democratic China saw over half its citizens never exercise their right to vote in their lifetimes; upon hearing the news report of a convict being "stripped of political rights for life," they would perplexedly ask those around them, "What in the world are political rights?"

Naturally, every system had its merits and flaws; America’s way wasn't inherently superior, nor was China's necessarily inferior. But for Wang Zhuo, one thing was perfectly clear: regardless of which nation adopted which policy, he could always find an avenue to exploit.

The term "Mover and Shaker of the Age" could not be a more apt description for Wang Zhuo. Before he had even finished the warm-up round of his strategic game in the tiny territory of Swaziland, his gaze was already projecting forward, targeting the US Presidential Election scheduled for the following year!

Once, his hopes rested on Qin Xue. But he had eventually realized with a touch of resignation that under the domestic system, Qin Xue’s ascent faced considerable variables. Moreover, in terms of timing, Qin Xue’s pace of progress could no longer keep up with Wang Zhuo’s own development. By the time Qin Xue had accumulated sufficient seniority, the current administration would likely be re-elected. If the current "Little Qin" relied solely on time, even if his ascension were certain, he would be "Old Qin" by then.

How could Wang Zhuo afford to wait another decade or more? This impossibility was precisely what spurred his global strategy into being. As for influencing the US Presidential Election, Wang Zhuo possessed high self-regard, but he wasn't arrogant enough to believe he could unilaterally steer it. However, after engaging with Thompson, he suddenly felt a desire to "practice" on this particular politician.

Besides, Instructor Wang’s capacity for "ruining things" was notorious in the political circles of Jiangzhou. Thus, he felt entitled to believe that even if he couldn't elevate his allies, he certainly possessed the leverage to subtly sabotage individual candidates showing signs of suppressing his interests, chipping away at their vote tallies.

“Is the American Presidency that significant?” he had boasted that morning to Qu Jingyou before leaving: “If the election outcome is one hundred percent certain, I have the financial might to throw in ten billion dollars to install an American President! Let’s see who dares compete with me!”