Almighty Coach

"27 years old. If I hadn’t gone to prison, I would probably have been strongest when I was 27 years old," Taylor answered after thinking for a long time.

27 years old! Dai Li began calculating in his mind.

Taylor is 32 years old this year, so if I use the age-reduction card, I will need to subtract five years for him to return to his body condition at 27 years old. The effective period of the age-reduction card for a five-year deduction is 240 days. Adding three cards together means 720 days. No, wait, it shouldn’t be calculated like that. As I use the age-reduction card, Taylor’s age will still increase.

As Dai Li reached this conclusion, he asked, "Kevin, when’s your birthday?"

"June 30th. What’s wrong?" Taylor looked puzzled.

Dai Li did not answer Taylor’s question. Instead, he took out his phone and opened his calendar before counting again.

If I use the first age-reduction card on Taylor, subtracting five years, the effective period of 240 days shouldn’t be a problem. But after the 240 days are up, Taylor will become 33 years old, so I will then need to deduct six years for Taylor to become 27 years old. That means that the second age-reduction card will only be effective for 210 days.

After 210 days, let me see... It’s not the 30th of June yet, so Taylor is still 33 years old. If I look at it like this, the third age-reduction card should also last 210 days. So the total time of effect for the three age-reduction cards is 660 days. Not even two years. Which means that I can ensure that Taylor will remain at his peak condition for two years. Two years later, Taylor will be 34 years, and it should be about time for him to retire.

Taylor looked at Dai Li, who was swiping left and right on his phone. Taylor couldn’t help himself, and he asked, "Li, what are you calculating?"

Dai Li still didn’t answer Taylor’s question, but simply said, "Kevin, if there is a method to help your body return to its peak. Would you be willing to give it a try?"

"Bullsh*t, of course I’m willing," Taylor replied firmly.

"Even if the time you remained at your peak was limited, such as two years?" Dai Li continued asking.

"Of course I’m still willing! Two years is more than enough for me to dominate the entire boxing world; I could obtain several championship belts," Taylor replied without any form of hesitation.

"Then I’ll do my best to help your body return to its condition from when you were 27 years old," Dai Li said.

Taylor, however, only widened his eyes. "Coach Li, you are joking with me, right?"

Dai Li shook his head. "I am not joking, I am really going to do my best."

"Coach Li, that’s impossible. People age, and no one can go back in time. The condition of the body will only worsen. The peak that I enjoyed while I was in my twenties is gone," Taylor replied.

"I have my resources." Dai Li put on a mysterious expression and continued, "Since I can make Phillip run faster than a normal healthy athlete, it is natural that I have special training methods."

"Coach Li, don’t tell me you know voodoo?" Taylor asked with bulging eyes.

"Hehe..." Dai Li did not answer. He deliberately put on a look of mystery, but in his mind, he was considering what price he should ask for the use of his age-reduction cards.

...

There are 200 age-reduction cards, just as there were 200 athlete’s patches. But I feel that the age-reduction card is more useful, and its range of use is much wider. Where there still a good number of athletes with body defects like Phillip, no one is impervious to the attack of time. Every athlete will age, which means that every athlete can make use of the age-reduction card.

And the time of effect of the age-reduction card is much shorter than the athlete’s patch. The effective period of the athlete’s patch is fixed at one year, whereas limitations are set on the effective period of the age-reduction card. The age-reduction card is more useful, and they will also be used faster, so the age-reduction card is definitely more valuable than the athlete’s patch. There’s no way I can only take 5%. I must increase the price.

The sound of water boiling on the kettle disrupted Dai Li’s thoughts. Dai Li picked up the kettle of boiling water and made himself a cup of tea.

He blew at the tea leaves in his cup. Dai Li suddenly came up with a different idea.

Why not just price them separately? 10 million dollars for one age-reduction card. That shouldn’t be too expensive. 200 age-reduction cards would be worth 2 billion dollars; that’s enough for me to return and wed Xiao Yunan. But in Taylor’s current condition, he might not even be able to fork out 1000 dollars.

Forget it, I should just continue using the revenue sharing model. Taylor is a world-class boxing champion, and if he’s more hard-working, earning 100 million dollars a year should be easy. Then should I just take 10% of his income? Still looks a bit too low, huh.

Dai Li frowned and pondered. He finally took out his phone and dialed the number of the law firm.

"Hi, I’d like to inquire about a revenue sharing contract..."

...

The men’s 400m sprint world championship final was being broadcast live on television.

All the representatives of the US team had made it into the final, and among them, of course, was "blade warrior" Barron Phillip.

Without a doubt, Phillip was the absolute focus of the entire stadium. A disabled person who had lost both legs was competing against normal people, and he even made it into the final. Reaching this stage was already considered a success for Phillip. It didn’t matter if he finished last; the applause he received would definitely be more than the first place winner.

In reality, Phillip was the weakest of the eight contestants in the world championship final. He was a disabled person after all, and no matter how much hard work he put in, there was no way for him to run faster than those able-bodied world champions.

The gunshot that signaled the start of the race boomed, and Phillip worked hard to accelerate, but he was still slower than the other seven contestants.

Phillip continued to lag behind, even during the latter stage of the race when his advantage was in full effect. He ran faster and faster, but the gap between him and the top three was still ridiculous.

In the end, Phillip was the last contestant to run past the finish line...

Phillip placed last. He was miles away from getting a medal, but he wasn’t sad. He looked contented. He had already surpassed himself by appearing on that racetrack.

The audience in the stands gave Phillip the most enthusiastic applause. Nobody paid any attention to the gold, silver, and bronze medal winners; those who had won medals were not that important. The focus of the stadium was concentrated on Phillip.

The contestant who won the championship shook his head in resignation. He knew that he had been reduced to a background character in Phillip’s story.

Since he’d already become a background character, he might as well find the main character to get himself some attention!

The champion walked towards Phillip to congratulate him with a big smile on his face.

The first place contestant congratulating the last place contestant could sound like a mockery, but the champion’s face was full of admiration.

Regardless of whether it was truthful, or if it was for the media, paying homage to Phillip was politically correct, at the very least. Even if he were a simple-minded big-mouthed athlete, he wouldn’t do anything that would insinuate that he was insulting or mocking Phillip.

"It’s over!" Dai Li let out a long sigh as if a heavy burden had just been lifted off his shoulders. Phillip was the result of several months of his training, and he had finally reaped its rewards.

Dai Li turned off the television and left the office after grabbing a file. He found Taylor.

"Kevin. Look at this contract." Dai Li passed the document to Taylor.

"What’s this?" Taylor took the document and frowned, and said at the same time, "I absolutely hate looking at these densely packed things. I get a headache whenever I see them."

"This is the training agreement of my place," Dai Li said.

"Haha, looks like I’ve got another debt. How much do I owe you?" Taylor said in a carefree manner.

No matter how good the relationship between two parties, their accounts were separated very clearly. Although Dai Li said that the training fee could be paid on credit, the credit still required an actual number. Taylor having no money was a special case, but if Dai Li didn’t bring up the topic of payment, their cooperation wouldn’t sound solid. That was why Taylor was very calm when he saw that formal contract.

"This contract of mine is a little unique, because the actual number isn’t written on it. What I want is a percentage, a percentage of your income." Dai Li continued, "I’ll explain it to you briefly. You currently owe the bank 20 million dollars, right? So according to the rules and conditions in this contract, over the next two years, 20% of your income from after you’ve paid off your debt will become your training fee. You can get a lawyer to help you review the details."

"You take 20% of my income, yeah?" Taylor looked at Dai Li with a silly look on his face. He then continued, "Li, I can’t sign this contract. Can’t you just put down an actual figure?"

"Why? Do you think you’re losing money?" Dai Li asked cautiously. He thought that perhaps Taylor felt that 20% of his income was too much.

"I think you will lose money!" Taylor shook his head. "I owe 20 million dollars! I’m no longer a boxing champion. There is no way I can repay all of the 20 million dollars in the next 2 years with my current condition! So when you say that in the next two years, 20% of what I earn after I’ve fully repaid my debt belongs to you, the result might very well be that you will not even earn a single cent. Li, even if you can’t make a profit from me, I don’t want to see you make a deal that will make you lose money."

"Hahaha..." Dai Li laughed. He had not expected Taylor to reject the deal for his sake. He couldn’t help but feel touched at that moment.

"Kevin, believe me. I won’t make a loss. On the contrary, by then, I fear that you will think that I’m making too much from you!" Dai Li said.

...

Dai Li was fully aware of the earning potential of the ultimate boxing champion. When it came to appearance fees, the highest amount Taylor had achieved was 20 million dollars per match, and that was the standard from ten years ago. In the present day, if Taylor were to return to his role as the ultimate boxing champion, it would be perfectly reasonable for his appearance fee to exceed 50 million dollars per match.

Apart from the appearance fee, there were match bonuses as well. The match bonus for a match between top class boxing champions would be several tens of millions of dollars. And if the attention of the match was high, the boxers could request all kinds of dividends, which would be another twenty or thirty million dollars’ worth of income. So, for a top-class boxer, if he were to fight in a match that garnered a lot of attention, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that he could earn 100 million dollars per match.

Based on this calculation, it would be entirely possible for Dai Li to earn several tens of millions of dollars’ worth of dividends from Taylor.

Taylor finally decided to sign the contract and shifted his focus back towards training. The end of his ban was gradually getting closer. The current Taylor could no longer wait to fight in his comeback match and to clear off his 20 million dollar debt.

...

"Li, I’m back! I just got off the plane," Stephen’s familiar voice said from the phone.

Phillip had gone to Europe for the world championship, and Stephen had followed him there. Of course, Stephen went at his own expense. Stephen knew that once Phillip appeared at the world championship, his value would soar. That was why Stephen decided to follow him to Europe to look for business opportunities.

Opportunity favored the prepared. Stephen found quite a number of advertising endorsement deals for Phillip in Europe, so after the World Championship in Athletics ended, Phillip did not return to the US with the national team. He only returned after finishing all the advertisement shoots there.

Stephen returned even later than Phillip. Phillip was already training when Stephen was just arriving at Los Angeles.

"You’ve returned later than Phillip, huh. I heard you’ve brought him another deal?" Dai Li asked.

"Yeah, a big business deal. It’s Adidas. They’ve agreed to especially design a shoe for Phillip, and it’s going to be named the ’Blade Warrior,’ so I went to Adidas’ headquarters in Germany to discuss that," Stephen said.

"Designing a shoe for Phillip, why does this sound ridiculous to me? He doesn’t even have legs..." There was a hint of mockery in Dai Li’s tone.

"But Adidas is willing to pay! This could earn us a lot!" Stephen continued, "Now that I think back about it, I get more impressed by the day. The earnings you’ve got from that 5% could probably buy your entire training center by now."

"You’ve moved into a bigger house too, isn’t that right?" Dai Li said while laughing.

"Yeah, we both have to thank Phillip." Stephen’s tone changed and he said, "I’m going home to drop off my luggage, then I’ll meet you at the training center. Do you have time this afternoon?"

"I do have free time, but don’t you have jet lag?" Dai Li asked.

"Every time I think about that huge endorsement fee, I’m so excited I can’t even sleep! Wait for me, I’ll be there very soon," Stephen said as he hung up the phone.

...

Stephen walked into the training center excitedly. The recently built boxing ring immediately attracted his attention.

It has just been a few weeks, and he’s already added new equipment. A boxing ring! I’d like to get up there and throw a punch or two, just for fun. Stephen looked at the boxing ring, but as he moved closer, he discovered that the man practicing on it looked incredibly familiar.

That’s Kevin Taylor! The Taylor who bit off someone’s ear! Stephen blinked several times to make sure he wasn’t mistaken.

It’s been a while since I last read any news on Taylor. I think he was match-banned. Counting the time, his ban is probably ending soon. Who would have thought that he would actually be training here? Coach Li found another big client! I think I heard that Taylor fired his previous agent, I wonder who Taylor’s current agent is? Stephen’s eyeballs couldn’t help but move around as he contemplated.