Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 566 - 120 - Corporate Culture

Chapter 566: 120 Chapter Corporate Culture

Superman Enterprise had started preparing for a grand sporting event over a year ago.

It was named the "Number One Martial Arts Tournament".

Yes, that was indeed the name. For this title alone, Superman Enterprise had paid a hefty sum to Weekly Shonen Jump for the rights to use terminology related to "Dragon Ball".

The inaugural Number One Martial Arts Tournament would be held in Connecticut, Federation.

And the content of the inaugural Number One Martial Arts Tournament was very... quite unconventional.

The inaugural tournament, sponsored by the Transhumanism International Corporation, appointed a "Champion" to defend his title.

After an initial selection round, Martial Artists from around the world could challenge him.

Moreover, the rules of the ring were set by the challengers.

For instance, a Boxer could specify boxing rules. A Kickboxing competitor could choose kickboxing rules. A Wrestler could opt for freestyle, classical, or even Central Plains wrestling rules.

Furthermore, "point system" or "fight to one party submits" could also be chosen by the challenger.

Moreover, this "rule-setting" did not limit the use of equipment.

Additionally, unless the challenger explicitly specified an "unlimited class" rule, the Champion’s prosthetic limb output would default to ninety percent of the maximum record of the challenger’s weight class.

This meant that the "Champion" might... no, had to defeat leading experts in all fields with less than dominant force.

He had to defeat the Boxing King under boxing rules, surpass a Sword Master in swordsmanship, and throw down the best Wrestler...

And the prize money for the competition was insanely high.

Superman Enterprise would cover the costs for the participants to travel to Connecticut, Federation. Just passing the preliminary selection would bring ten thousands of US dollars as a reward. And for each match in which they defeated the Champion, they would earn a whopping ten million US dollars.

The Champion’s reward was based on his performance. If the Champion remained undefeated, he would receive two hundred million US dollars and shares in Superman Enterprise. Each loss would proportionally reduce his reward.

And anyone who could win twenty consecutive matches under the Champion’s conditions would receive the Champion’s reward.

Moreover, Superman Enterprise also offered a series of additional rewards.

Promoting the winner’s school of martial arts, entry into the film industry, and more, were all at their disposal.

This was enough to stir up all the ambitious martial artists around the world.

Whether driven by the desire for money, fame, or simply to prove oneself, all motivations were valid.

Lu Xuanyu initially thought that such an event could never involve him.

But now, he was just one step away from "battling the world’s top experts".

This promotional video would appear in front of the whole world...

"Announcing... I am here..." Lu Xuanyu took a gentle breath, "It’s really incredible..."

"And this will also be your entrance music when you fight in the arena," Xiang Shan said with a wink, "Nice, right?"

Lu Xuanyu nodded, saying, "I feel it has that essence... of The Grandmaster."

In a meeting room next door, an old man named Bernard Dubois laughed and said in Chinese, "You really have an eye, Lu. This piece of music has a deep connection with a music piece called ’The Grandmaster’."

"Thirty years ago, there was a kung fu movie called ’Ip Man’. I think you must know it?"

Lu Xuanyu nodded respectfully. Wing Chun Ip Man was Bruce Lee’s teacher, and one of his martial arts ancestors.

Old Di continued, "The composer of that piece was Kawai Kenji..."

"Ah? A Japanese?" Lu Xuanyu was somewhat surprised.

"Yes," Old Di nodded.

Lu Xuanyu said, "Did you manage to hire Mr. Kawai... Mr. Kawai to compose this piece?"

Old Di shook his head, "No, Mr. Kawai is nearly ninety years old this year, he doesn’t have that much energy anymore. The boss bought out all of Mr. Kawai’s music pieces..."

—Ah?

Lu Xuanyu felt like his boss’s efforts were somewhat misdirected.

"...then, he handed it over to—what’s it called? A neural network? For deep learning. And let the computer analyze ’The Grandmaster’ based on its understanding, whether it’s the style or something else. Then it continuously refashioned the music according to Mr. Kawai’s style."

—Ah... Mr. Kawai is almost ninety, right? Won’t this upset the old man?

Lu Xuanyu was dumbfounded.

"Of course, most of the music produced was unbearable. The boss also hired a hundred music critics to continuously filter out the unbearable music and feed the results back to the program. Overall, it took a very long time..."

Xiang Shan nodded, "Mr. Kawai excels in creating a solemn atmosphere in music with human voices. To reflect our company’s corporate culture, I also specifically added the sound of machinery and the background noise of electronic devices to the ’instrument library’. ..."

Xinyu closed her notebook and waved her hands behind him, "No, no, no, that’s just your own love for white noise."

"There’s also a bit of electronic music style," Xiang Shan said, "It’s very close to Mr. Kawai’s own style, but it’s created by AI, a completely new form of music, even parts that are beyond human musical theory—perfectly fitting our corporate culture!"

Lu Xuanyu remarked, "As a publicity stunt... it’s rather catchy. But isn’t this too expensive?"

Hiring a hundred music critics for heavy manual labor, and then using the company’s supercomputer...

Even if Lu Xuanyu didn’t understand research, being immersed in it for a year allowed him to estimate the cost of this approach.

On the other side, the slightly stout David Klein shook his head, "No, no, no, this is a normal research activity. Do you know how many top journals Xiang Shan’s researchers have flooded because of this? The number of graduate students who can graduate smoothly from this, and the patents that have consequently emerged, what’s their potential value?"

"Oh, also, the company has invested a lot of money in cultural research because of cognitive science," Xinyu added, "This interaction between the brain and popular culture is also a major focus for the company. And Japan happens to be one of the most developed areas for pop culture. Spending money to build a network in Japan is a profitable business for the company."

Old Di revealed a helpless smile.

And David concluded, "Lu, remember, never trust a capitalist who says ’I’ve invested so much for you’. For such capitalists, spending money isn’t ’consumption’—it’s part of ’reproduction’."

Xiang Shan nodded, "You can profit, but I never lose."