Europe, United Kingdom, Merseyside, Northwest England, Liverpool, Anfield Stadium.
As the entire stadium sang the team anthem, welcoming the players onto the field, Qingshui, holding a cheeseburger, took his seat in the VIP box, accompanied by Peter Moore, CEO of Liverpool Football Club, and Michael Edwards, Sporting Director.
Cameras at the venue occasionally turned towards Qingshui.
Because he was now the team's new owner.
As of today, Qingshui's personal net worth in the DC Universe had surpassed 30 billion US dollars, ranking him over 300th on Forbes' global rich list.
This was his declared assets; in reality, the uncounted portion was only more than 30 billion US dollars.
While the Watt Group's influence in Gotham had grown, it hadn't yet reached its limit. However, further expansion would require time and gradual integration into the city, much like Wayne Enterprises, across all aspects of life.
But since existing areas like food, clothing, housing, and transportation were already within Wayne Enterprises' sphere of interest, the Watt Group was now focused on pioneering new fields, such as certain high-tech industries and the internet.
At the same time, this was also an important avenue for the Watt Group to expand its influence and reach externally.
Branch offices had been established in several major cities across the United States. While diligently expanding its sphere of influence nationwide, the company had also begun to set its sights on other countries and continents.
The UK was the Watt Group's first step into Europe, and acquiring a world-class football club was the first move in establishing a presence in the UK.
A broken ship still has three pounds of rotten nails. Though my Great Britain was quickly turning into a Little Britain, almost losing Ireland, and not much of a United Kingdom anymore, it still excelled in many fields.
And in this country, known for its football hooligans—despite the embarrassing incident where two thousand fans brawled outside a stadium and were beaten soundly by two hundred Russian fans—the nation's passion for football was, in any case, unparalleled globally.
Liverpool, moreover, was an old powerhouse in English football, and indeed, world football, with an uncountable number of championships.
However, the team's performance had hit a historic low in the past five or six years, now even falling to mid-table in the Premier League.
This presented an excellent opportunity to buy low.
No one knew that the scruffy-bearded man in the stands below, the team's new manager of only a few months, would lead this team back to the world's pinnacle in the coming years.
Now was the perfect time to acquire the team.
The team's manager, Jürgen Klopp, was someone who could achieve great things with little money. Qingshui would only need to periodically invest a certain amount of capital, based on the judgment of professionals, and this would continuously bring significant profits and external influence to the Watt Group for years to come.
At the same time.
Inside the British Museum.
A woman with distinctly defined features, radiating a unique charm like an ancient Greek goddess, held a camera to her chest, photographing the statue of Athena before her.
"Diana, come take a look! You're an expert in ancient Greek artifacts. Come see this Harpe Sword. It's said to be the sword Perseus used to behead Medusa."
An elderly professor wearing glasses, looking at the ancient short sword in the glass display case, called out to Diana.
"This should be a later imitation. While the period might be similar and the shape largely identical, look here: this mark appears on many ancient Greek artifacts from the same era. I personally speculate this might be the personal mark of King Archidamus II of Sparta at the time."
Diana took just one glance and recognized it as a replica.
"Is that so... I wonder where the original is now."
The old professor pushed up his glasses and said.
"Legend has it that this sword was later reclaimed by the gods and then bestowed upon Heracles."
Diana smiled faintly.
"Oh, you're truly well-informed."
"Family knowledge."
Diana tilted her head and walked towards another ancient Greek artifact.
After all, Heracles was her older brother.
Suddenly, the ground trembled.
"What's happening? An earthquake?"
The old professor steadied himself against the wall beside him, exclaiming.
"No..."
Diana steadied herself, turned her head towards the exit, and watched the fleeing crowd.
"This is nothing like an earthquake."
Liverpool.
After the game, as the fans were orderly leaving the stadium, the ground suddenly shook.
"Mr. Watt, we..."
"Jefferson, go out and ask what's happening outside."
Qingshui spoke to one of his assistant team members.
A few minutes later.
Without Jefferson needing to investigate further, the incident immediately hit the front page of internet news.
The headline image showed major coastlines worldwide piled high with mountains of trash.
This...
So, all the garbage humanity had dumped into the ocean for the past hundred years was now thrown back onto land, was it?
"The only ones capable of something like this would be those living under the sea, wouldn't they?"
What in Atlantis's name is going on?
Qingshui glanced at the text message notification on his phone.
"Tonight's dinner is canceled. Head back to the hotel first."
Qingshui stood up from his chair. After giving the order, he immediately left the stadium and took a car to a hotel.
This four-star hotel was near the stadium, and he had purchased it when he acquired the team. His intention was to build a commercial ecosystem around the stadium, and he would later bring in some master designers to upgrade the hotel.
Upon arriving at the hotel's presidential suite, Qingshui drew the curtains, turned on his phone's front camera and rear flash, and placed it on the table using a stand.
A few seconds later, several figures were projected in 3D.
Batman, The Flash, and Superman, still wearing his glasses and suit.
"Is this urgent meeting about the trash on the ocean surface? I was just writing a news report," Clark said, taking off his glasses.
Once he removed his glasses, he suddenly seemed like a completely different person.
Even though he had seen it several times, Qingshui still found it absurd, yet he couldn't find any fault with it.
His face was clearly the same face, but the difference made by whether he wore glasses was incredibly vast.
"This isn't a normal natural disaster. It was done by the Atlantean civilization from the deep sea. A long time ago, when I was traveling around the world, I once traversed the Sahara Desert alone. There, I found a lost Atlantean ruin and learned about the history of that ancient kingdom. Afterward, I also deployed unmanned submarines to explore various oceans around the world."
"Although I didn't find much useful information, just now, the last batch of destroyed unmanned submarines sent me a message."
"The Atlanteans are gathering their army, preparing to attack the mainland."
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