You Call This a Support System?

The upperclassman in purple was even more enthusiastic than Tang Ya, leaving Huo Yuhao at a loss for how to respond. Still, he accepted the other man's kindness. After all, this upperclassman's enthusiasm was practically overflowing.

A broad palm landed on Huo Yuhao's shoulder, nearly making him stumble. No matter how he looked at it, the other man had clearly already treated Huo Yuhao as a newly recruited little brother and was obviously planning to introduce his new buddy to his friends.

"Senior, I still don't know what to call you. My name is Huo Yuhao. What about you?"

Huo Yuhao tried to reclaim control of the conversation, but he quickly realized that his efforts were as pitiful as a lone canoe in raging waves—nothing but futile struggling.

"Ah, Chico, that's a great name. I bet your mom must've gone to school. My name is Jie Chu. Yeah, the word used to praise people. I told my mom it sounded stupid, but she immediately told me that my uncles' sons were named Gao Shang and Gao Ming. Compared to them, there wasn't a damn thing wrong with my name."

Jie Chu shook his head and looked at Huo Yuhao with great emotion. In a loud voice colored by an accent from another region, he continued, "I'll take you around my buddy's shop first, then maybe we can go have a drink at my mom's place. Seriously, Chico, your Grilled Fish was insanely good. If you'd had more than six fish at your stall, I would've planted myself there today and eaten every last one you had!"

Jie Chu's rapid-fire stream of words left Huo Yuhao struggling to keep up. If he had to compare it to the last time he had been this overwhelmed, he would have to go back to when Sword Saint Ashina Isshin had been fighting him, only to suddenly pull a repeating firearm from his robes midway through and fire six shots straight at his face.

"Brother Jie, eating too much Grilled Fish can get tiresome. It feels great to have it once or twice now and then, but if you eat until you're stuffed in one go, you'll feel sick just thinking about it for a long time afterward."

Huo Yuhao scratched his head somewhat bashfully, barely finding something in the other man's words that he could respond to.

"Hey, Chico, that's where you're wrong." Jie Chu raised a brow. "First of all, your Grilled Fish is so good that you can't get tired of it. And even if eating too much really does make me sick, that's a problem for later. What does it have to do with me right now?"

Huo Yuhao was stunned by Jie Chu's words. Come to think of it, they really did carry a touch of philosophy.

It was just that hearing such a thought-provoking statement come from a burly man with a gold bracelet on his wrist, a gold chain around his neck, and the appetite of someone who looked like he could eat several children in one meal made Huo Yuhao feel that something was off.

As though he had read Huo Yuhao's mind, Jie Chu laughed heartily. After packing away everything that remained at Huo Yuhao's stall, he said:

"'The greatest crimes often arise from greed.' That one's deeper than what I just said, right? Don't ask me what it means—I don't get it either. My buddy said it. I learned that line, and the one before it, from him. I'll introduce you two sometime."

The corner of Huo Yuhao's mouth twitched almost imperceptibly. Leaving everything else aside, he was now quite certain that meeting Jie Chu today might be his greatest gain. The help Jie Chu could bring him in the future might far exceed the nearly one hundred Gold Soul Coins he had earned selling Grilled Fish today.

After all, this guy's network of connections was fucking diverse!

After putting away the grilling equipment one by one, Huo Yuhao followed Jie Chu as they wound around from the East City Gate. They eventually turned into a cluster of narrow alleys, then proceeded deeper and deeper until they finally found a secondhand Soul Tool repair shop hidden in the depths. The six large characters on the sign—Muddleheaded Soul Tool Repair—had become somewhat blurred with age.

To be honest, Huo Yuhao had suspected more than once along the way that Jie Chu had tricked him. Perhaps the man had simply possessed sharp enough eyes to spot the immense value of Huo Yuhao's Grilled Fish seasoning and was planning to take him somewhere secluded to deal with him.

But when he saw Muddleheaded Soul Tool Repair, a place that could practically be described as buried beneath Shrek City, Huo Yuhao still turned to look at Jie Chu with a stunned expression. "How did you even find such an out-of-the-way place the first time, Brother?!"

At Huo Yuhao's question, Jie Chu showed an embarrassed expression for the first time. Scratching his head, he said, "Hahaha, a few years ago, I went drinking with my roommate. After I got drunk, I couldn't find my way back to school. I kept wandering around until I passed out in front of this shop. Luckily, my buddy spotted me when he came outside for some air and dragged me in to sober up."

Faced with Jie Chu's rough-and-tumble life story, all Huo Yuhao could do was silently admire him.

Jie Chu suddenly yanked open the half-closed rolling shutter at the entrance, then kicked aside the sign that had clearly been placed there to tell people the shop was closed. He grabbed Huo Yuhao and swaggered inside.

"Brother Jie, isn't this a little inappropriate?"

For a moment, Huo Yuhao's young heart was deeply shaken.

"Chico, don't worry. Old Ning and I have been through life and death together. Forget kicking over his sign—as long as I don't touch those Soul Tools he's only halfway repaired, even if I punched a hole through the sky, he'd have to help me hold it up."

"Oh, oh, oh. Why is there a dog barking in the middle of the day? Don't you know it's rude to disturb someone's nap, you damn mutt?"

A man wearing a greasy dark-blue short-sleeved shirt cursed as he walked over and punched Jie Chu. Then, almost at the same time, the two men spread their arms and slammed their solid chests together with a thunderous BANG, startling Huo Yuhao with how loud it was.

The man was only a little over 1.7 meters tall. Though the size of his muscles was not particularly exaggerated, every muscle on his body looked like a chunk of iron. Yet judging from the shockwave produced by their embrace just now, this man was probably a Power Attack System Soul Master on par with Jack.

Of course, what drew Huo Yuhao's attention most was not the man's muscles, but his Right Hand.

Though the man's hand was wrapped in black cloth strips, all five fingers were exposed. His pinky, ring finger, and middle finger all gleamed with a dark metallic sheen. Huo Yuhao was extremely familiar with such a sight. It seemed that the owner of this Repair Shop also had a past unknown to others.

"Yuhao, let me introduce you. This is my brother, Ning Ge, a Rank 51 Support System Soul King."

Just as expected. With such a sturdy build, Huo Yuhao knew this had to be a Power Attack—

Suddenly, Huo Yuhao sharply turned to look at Jie Chu.

What did you just say? Support System?

"The greatest crimes often arise from greed rather than poverty." — Aristotle

There won't be too many original characters. Jie Chu and Ning Ge each represent a faction that Little Yuhao will befriend later on. As a Child of Destiny, it isn't too much for him to receive this kind of treatment, right? (Sincere)