Fame

If Lin Zhen's earlier bar fight with the Dragon Slayer people had only earned him a little notoriety, and his 99% Gene Potion enhancement had shocked everyone, then his one-minute wagered fight with Zhang Huai today had truly made his name, letting people see exactly what kind of strength Lin Zhen possessed.

A Level Seven Warrior challenging a War General was practically guaranteed to end in defeat, yet he had actually won.

He had pierced Zhang Huai's shoulder with one spear thrust and smashed in his nose, leaving his face covered in blood, while he himself had emerged completely unscathed. No one believed Lin Zhen had lost.

The internet was silent for three seconds before erupting.

"My god! What did I just see? Lin Zhen is ridiculously strong. He actually beat Zhang Huai. Are students these days really this powerful?"

"Can someone tell me what Spear Art Lin Zhen used just now? Why have I never seen it before? Even through the screen, I felt like a gale was blowing straight at my face. That thrust was almost impossible to dodge. If Zhang Huai hadn't been stronger, Lin Zhen could have made him kneel with one strike."

"Compared to his Spear Art, I admire Lin Zhen's dodging even more. Zhang Huai launched one fierce attack after another and didn't even touch a hair on Lin Zhen's head. How insane must his Neural Reaction be?"

"You can't say he didn't touch a hair. Lin Zhen did lose a strand of hair, but it was useless. Losing a few hairs didn't affect his combat strength at all."

"Blood Hand's captain is disgusting. He actually blocked Lin Zhen's final spear strike. Otherwise, Zhang Huai would be singing 'Conquer' right now."

"Is the Demon Hunter Squad still recruiting? I want to be Lin Zhen's teammate."

"Am I the only one who thinks Lin Zhen's final slap across Zhang Huai's face was both incredibly fast and incredibly cool?"

"Lin Zhen, big brother, I'm a reporter at the Base City News Bureau. I'm seventeen, and my measurements are xxxx. Please take me down. I want to have your babies.."

However, most of those praising Lin Zhen were Martial Hall students. They had not yet gone out hunting and had plenty of time to surf the internet. The Martial Artists who were often out in the field did not think much of Lin Zhen. There were some dissenting voices as well, but they were quickly drowned out by the praise.

Ye Tiancheng waved his phone around in front of Lin Zhen. "Kid, you're really something. You're a celebrity now, and our Demon Hunter Squad got popular along with you. I made a post, and my account has already gained more than ten thousand followers."

Shi Lei was even more excited. "Come on, let's go out and celebrate properly today. We'll eat and drink our fill at Millennial Time to celebrate our squad gaining a super high-potential prospect like Lin Zhen. But I'm not paying. Lin Zhen won thirty million from two bets, so we're going to hit up the rich guy."

Lin Zhen had defeated Zhang Huai in a direct fight, easing much of the frustration he had carried from his previous life. He was filled with anticipation for the future, and in high spirits, he laughed. "Then I'll be the rich guy for once. Today, we won't go home until we're drunk."

The Demon Hunter Squad members shouted and piled into the car. They no longer had the seriousness and restraint they had shown at the beginning. They had clearly accepted Lin Zhen, and each of them was starting to show their true nature.

The two police officers drove away as well. As for the thugs Lin Zhen had crippled, no one spared them another glance.

Without Zhang Huai and the others to protect them, even if those thugs died, no one would come looking for trouble with Lin Zhen.

After a lavish meal, Lin Zhen had spent more than five hundred thousand. During the meal, he had even received star treatment. Quite a few students came over on their own to ask Lin Zhen for autographs and photos, making Ye Tiancheng roll his eyes repeatedly.

They drank from morning until night. Lin Zhen was a little dizzy from drinking, and only returned to the Jiangbei villa by taxi that evening, enjoying a rare full night's sleep.

The next morning, Lin Zhen woke up and had breakfast with his parents. They did not know about his fight, because they were not Martial Artists and could not log onto the Martial Artist Forum to see the posts there.

Early that morning, Lin Zhen received a call from Zhao Liang, telling him that he could rest at home for the day. At seven tomorrow morning, they would gather at the Martial Hall. The Demon Hunter Squad was heading out to the Wilderness Area.

Lin Zhen agreed. A Martial Artist's fate was to fight without end. At present, Martial Artists were at a disadvantage compared to monsters. Although the Base City was guarded by the military, the situation remained extremely grim, so the government encouraged Martial Artists to go out and hunt monsters.

Martial Artists also needed large amounts of money—for better equipment, better weapons, and a better life. Hunting monsters was the fastest way to make money.

Monster meat could be eaten and was highly nourishing. Their hides could be made into bulletproof clothing, their bones could be used in medicine, and teeth and horns could be turned into weapons. Some monsters even had crystals inside their bodies, essential ingredients for making things like Gene Potions, and they were extremely valuable.

Whether it was the military, Martial Halls, or the Base City, all of them would buy back monster corpses. Every type had a set price.

As Martial Artists, they generally went out to hunt once, returned to make money, then rested and trained for a period before heading out again, repeating the cycle endlessly.

There were roughly a thousand Martial Artist squads operating out of Ice City Base City. Among all those squads, the Demon Hunters were not particularly strong. In fact, they were relatively weak because their members' overall strength was on the low side.

Although Raging Wind belonged to the First Martial Hall, that did not mean every squad there was powerful. Every Martial Hall had elite squads with stronger members. A squad like the Demon Hunters could only be considered lower-tier.

For example, Dragon Slayer's Blood Hand Squad was not an elite squad either, but its overall strength was still slightly higher than that of the Demon Hunters.

After ending his call with Zhao Liang, Lin Zhen received another call from Meng Dong.

"Lin Zhen, I successfully took the Customized Potion!"

"Really? Then congratulations. How was the effect?" Lin Zhen was not surprised. In his previous life, Meng Dong had chosen Private Customization, which was why he had managed to make a name for himself as a Third Class Student.

"Of course, it can't compare to a freak like you, but it's still pretty good. My overall abilities increased by seventy-six percent. The Martial Hall has already signed me to a Second Class Student contract. Haha, I'm a Level Seven Initial advanced student now too!"

"That's great. It's worth celebrating. Where are you?"

"That's what I thought too. Today, I saw a newly opened restaurant beneath An Corporation called Flying Bird Wine Fragrance. Their specialty is mutated flying beasts. Let's go take a look."

"All right, I'll be there in a while."

After hanging up, Lin Zhen decided to give himself the day off and take a casual walk outside.

At the Martial Hall, students who had taken Gene Potions no longer needed to train there every day, because those students would all choose to join Martial Artist squads. The Wilderness Area was the best training ground.

However, he did not leave immediately. Instead, he first bought some things online.

The first things he bought were protective gear: Mutated Deer Hide clothing, long pants, and leather boots.

There were many things in the Wilderness Area that could threaten Martial Artists, and they were not necessarily large Mutated Beasts. Porcupines, snakes, rats, and the like either had long-range attack abilities or carried viruses, making necessary protection extremely important.

After spending more than a million on a set of protective gear, Lin Zhen ordered two more cars.

One was a Bulletproof Raptor Off-road worth more than five million, while the other was a Bulletproof Coupe worth four million.

He would drive the off-road vehicle himself, while the coupe would be for his parents.

Ordering cars was convenient these days, especially for Martial Artists. There were not many procedures required. Once you paid, they would fill the tank and deliver the car within half an hour.

Besides these things, Lin Zhen spent more money buying many small items, all of them things he would need when going out hunting. Lin Zhen possessed knowledge far beyond that of others, and with that alone, he could accomplish many things others could not.

Before long, the cars arrived, along with the large bag of miscellaneous items he had bought. Lin Liye and his wife were grinning from ear to ear. They had never expected to live in a villa and have such fine cars as well. Their son had truly made something of himself.

Of the thirty million, only twenty million remained in the blink of an eye. Lin Zhen did not intend to spend any more.

He needed to start saving money now, because he knew that an era-defining product would soon be released.

The Ministry of Science and Technology had spent years studying meteorites collected from the Meteor Shower. They had finally figured out one component inside a certain kind of meteorite. This meteorite was called Voidstone. After being refined by a Star Realm expert, it could actually be made into a Ring that stored items, known as a Space Ring.

The Ministry of Science and Technology had studied meteorites for years and gradually uncovered some of their secrets, developing high-tech products such as the Space Ring. However, they had not truly understood meteorites yet.

Only someone like Lin Zhen, who had returned from the future, knew how much wealth these meteorites contained and how much they could aid Martial Artist cultivation.

For example, a Space Ring contained its own independent space, maintained in a vacuum state, where lifeless items could be stored.

What the Ministry of Science and Technology had developed this time was a small Space Ring. Each one had three cubic meters of storage space. Even so, each ring was priced at two hundred million.

Once these rings hit the market, they sparked a buying frenzy. Later, their prices kept climbing, and it became difficult to buy one even for five hundred million.

Lin Zhen calculated the time. There was about one month left before the Space Rings were released. He had to obtain two hundred million within that month.

After informing his parents, Lin Zhen drove his Raptor Off-Road out of the Villa District.

He had barely gone any distance when Meng Dong called again. "Lin Zhen, where are you?"

"I'm on the road. What's wrong?"

"Hurry over. Guess who I saw at Flying Bird Wine Fragrance?"

"Who?"

"An Ning! Some man is shamelessly pestering her. Get over here quickly. I overheard their conversation too. An Ning seems to be An Corporation's Young Miss."

PS: If you do not understand the realm classifications in this novel, you can check the introduction in the work-related section.

Thanks again for everyone's rewards. Xin Ou has advanced to Hall Master. After the novel goes premium, there will be extra chapters for rewards. The preliminary plan is one extra chapter for a Sect Leader and two extra chapters for an Alliance Leader.