The sound of raindrops falling noisily onto the ground outside the window could be heard clearly from within the room.
Inside the room, Lu Li sat at his desk as he continued to try and understand this new superpower he had
He took a notebook out, to write down all the bits of information that were floating about inside his head.
“Regarding buying and selling time. This power apparently stems from the supernatural forces that govern the universe and allows me to conduct a transaction which is sealed by an agreement. In this transaction process, I act as the merchant.”
Lu Li scribbled these words onto the paper with his pen.
From the information he had, he discovered that regardless of whether he was buying or selling time, he needed an agreement for each transaction in order to validate it. In other words, he had to draw up a contract.
And this contract was called a Time Contract.
The details of the Time Contract were decided by Lu Li. Once both parties signed this contract, it would be recognized by the supernatural forces governing the universe. Neither party was allowed to violate the terms of the agreement, even though Lu Li would be the one offering the deal.
He turned to a new page.
In the middle of the top of the page, he wrote: Time Purchasing Contract Template.
He paused for a moment to think, and then he started down writing several lines one after the other.
Lu Li stopped there.
He studied the extremely simple Time Purchasing Contract Template that he had written in his notebook.
According to the information in his head, even though the one who drew up the contract wasn’t allowed to violate its terms and conditions, he was allowed to decide on the details.
That was why he naturally set down terms and conditions that protected himself, turning this mutual agreement into an extremely unfair contract.1
But he didn’t think such an unfair contract was going to affect his business in the future at all. After all, he was the only one who was in control of the commodity they were trading here.
He then turned to a new page in the book.
In the middle of the first line of the page, he wrote: Time Selling Contract Template.
The details of this contract were essentially the same as the Time Purchasing Contract.
Once he was satisfied with this first draft of the contracts, he turned on his laptop to type out everything and printed a huge pile of copies.
He filed everything into two separate files and kept them in his drawer.
Then he turned to a new page in his notebook again.
After pondering for a moment, he wrote down the following thoughts he had earlier:
“Defining the value of time (for purchase)”
Even though some people believed that time was fair since everyone had the same amount of time, the value that each person created with that same amount of time was entirely different.
Some spent every day and year of their life doing meaningful things whereas some spent every day and year of their life doing boring and dull things.
Could he still assign the same value to each person’s time when he was buying or selling their time?
Lu Li didn’t want to upset the social order, so he couldn’t set values that were too high or too low.
He put his pen down to think carefully about this matter.
After a long period of time, he started writing again.
He started writing down the prices he had decided for buying time.
Ordinary people (scientists, educators, army personnel, doctors with excellent track records and the like are in a different category):
For sellers with an annual income of $100,000 or less, each year of their life is worth $300,000. Price is not negotiable.
For sellers with an annual income above $100,000, each year of their life is worth three times their annual income. Price is not negotiable.
Note: If the seller has other ways of increasing the value of his time, the price can be increased as well.
Lu Li turned to a new page.
In the first line of the page, he wrote:
“Defining the value of time (for selling)”
“I need strict controls over the selling of time…I also need to restrict how much time each person can buy.”
After he thought for a while, he started writing:
For wealthy businessmen (scientists, educators, army personnel, doctors with excellent track records and the like are in a different category):
Buyers worth $10 million and above shall use 20% of their entire annual income as the price of one year of time.
When he got to this part, he suddenly stopped writing.
A brand-new idea popped up in his mind.
The thoughts in his mind were the beginning framework of the making of an organization!
“The Eternal Club!”
That was what he wrote on the first line of a fresh page.
“The Club offers a plethora of benefits, including the gathering of the most brilliant, the most talented and the wealthiest of the world…”
“Club members shall be split into nine levels and will be classified according to how much money they spend.”
“Level 1 members must reach the $10 million level; Level 2 members must reach the $100 million level; Level 3 members must reach the $1 billion level; Level 4 members must reach the $10 billion level; Level 5 members must reach the $100 billion level; Level 6 members must reach the $1 trillion level…”
“Level 1 members can only exchange their money for 1 year of life; Level 2 members can only exchange for up to 3 years; Level 3 members can get up to 5 years; Level 4 members get up to 10 years; Level 5 members get up to 18 years; Level 6 members get up to 26 years…”
It only took a few moments and one of the most terrifying and mysterious organizations of the world to ever exist was slowly taking shape with every word that Lu Li wrote.