I Want to Become a Disciple

Seventh Galaxy, Fragment Star No. 5, Silver Belt Sea.

A three-masted ironclad sailing ship was making its way across the silver-rippled sea.

The old masts swayed in the gusting sea wind, bound by six or seven coarse ropes below so they would not snap just like that.

A group of people sat aboard the ship, all of them men.

They ranged from fifteen- or sixteen-year-old youths to balding middle-aged men in their forties or fifties.

Every one of them was filthy, carrying a stifling stench that refused to disperse, as though they had lined up to roll around in a reeking gutter.

Among them, a young man of seventeen or eighteen stood at an inconspicuous spot along the edge of the deck.

His short, messy black hair was unkempt, and his shorts and tank top were so dirty their original colors could no longer be seen.

His equally grimy face made his features hard to distinguish. Only his fairly bright eyes still looked spirited.

"Three months."

The young man let out a long sigh. That was how long he had been in this world.

The young man was named Wang Yu. Before transmigrating, he had been a game designer in his thirties.

One time, he had worked until three in the morning and fallen asleep. When he woke up, he had somehow transmigrated here.

The previous owner of this body had been a child laborer at a mine, also named Wang Yu, but his life had been far more miserable.

It seemed he had worked himself to death.

After their memories fused, Wang Yu had taken over this identity and spent three months mining in a mine shaft.

Only after completing the six-month term would he be qualified to leave the mine and return to hand over his shift.

The sound of the sailing ship cleaving through the waves was louder than he had imagined. Countless fish corpses rolled amid the swells, floating on the sea's surface and giving off a damp, salty fishy stench.

According to his memories, every half year or so, a deadly bacterium would breed in the waters of the Silver Belt Sea, capable of killing seventy percent of the creatures in the sea.

At such times, this sea would become a Poison Sea. If Wang Yu lost his mind and went for a swim now, it would be a one-way trip.

"Xiao Yu, when you get back this time, take a good rest and eat more. Don't come back next time still this skinny. You can barely work properly."

A muscular, bare-chested man walked over to Wang Yu and spoke.

The man's face was covered in stubble, clearly untrimmed for a long time. He leaned against the railing with a relaxed expression.

After spending so long in the pitch-black mine tunnels, even being above a deadly Poison Sea now felt pleasant and free.

"Uncle Meng, thank you for looking after me during this time," Wang Yu said gratefully.

Meng Lao Er waved it off. "You're about the same age as my son. It isn't easy for you here either. It's nothing."

Wang Yu said nothing more. He had never been much of a talker.

His days in the mine tunnels had nearly made him shut himself off completely. He merely remembered Meng Lao Er's kindness in silence.

"But if you get lucky and find some work outside, then whatever you do, don't come back," Meng Lao Er sighed.

Mining was no good job. Those who came here were basically people with nowhere else to go.

Working oneself to death in the mine tunnels was an entirely ordinary thing.

The sailing ship docked.

Once ashore, the miners immediately scattered in all directions, Meng Lao Er included.

He could not wait to return home and see his wife and children.

Wang Yu looked around. They had landed in an archipelago.

Ninety percent of Fragment Star No. 5 was ocean. Less than the remaining ten percent consisted of land and islands.

After excluding the many extreme environments that could not be developed, there were actually very few places on this Fragment Star where Humanity could live and develop.

It was therefore classified as a Semi-Habitable Planet.

Island Town No. 732.

The name carried no other meaning. This island had been named Natural Island No. 732, so the Town on it was also called Island Town No. 732.

All of the previous Wang Yu's memories were here.

An old, oversized iron truck came rumbling toward him, kicking up a vast cloud of dust from the ground.

Wang Yu calmly stepped aside.

The truck passed him, reached the shore, and dumped a whole truckload of foul-smelling garbage into the Silver Belt Sea.

Though it was his first time seeing it, it was a common sight in his memories.

Nearly all the garbage produced by the Town was simply and brutally thrown into the sea.

The enormous bacterial colonies of the Silver Belt Sea would devour most of the garbage, leaving only some hard materials to sink to the seabed.

As for whether it was environmentally friendly, that had never been something people on this Fragment Star needed to consider.

A crudely built stone road, paved with rubble, led along the coast into the Town.

Rat Street was a dilapidated old residential district, home to many destitute people living difficult lives.

By the time Wang Yu returned to Rat Street, the sky had already begun to darken.

He squeezed the wages in his pocket and carefully walked beneath the shadows between the buildings, feeling his way toward one of them.

He did not enter immediately. Instead, he looked around for a moment. Only after failing to spot the vicious thugs from his memories did he hurry inside.

His residence was on the fourth floor of this building, a small room.

He glanced at the window whose glass had been smashed by someone. His expression did not change as he opened the door and walked in.

No one had lived there for half a year, and the small room was already covered in dust.

Wang Yu immediately noticed a patch of footprints on the floor, along with signs that the bedframe and cabinet had been searched.

Combined with the shattered window, it was not hard to guess that someone had paid his home a visit during this period.

Fortunately, the previous Wang Yu had understood the character of people around Rat Street well enough. Before leaving, he had hidden nearly everything away, leaving behind only an empty room.

The thief who had visited must have been thoroughly disappointed.

Wang Yu could not be bothered to tidy up. He went straight into the bathroom to wash, grateful that some water still flowed from the tap.

It had been a long time since he had washed so comfortably. There was not nearly so much usable water near the mine tunnels.

After washing up, Wang Yu changed into a clean set of clothes he had carried with him and looked at himself in the mirror.

At seventeen, he was far more youthful than in his previous life. Perhaps from spending too long in the sunless mine shafts, the skin beneath the grime looked somewhat pale.

His face was not unattractive, but it was slightly gloomy, making him look less like a good person.

His body was gaunt. Mining had not made him stronger; instead, he looked malnourished.

He truly had not eaten well these past few months, and with the daily heavy physical labor, it was only normal that his nutrition could not keep up.

Wang Yu did not stay in the room for long before quickly leaving.

He came to a small wooded area on Rat Street. Once he had made sure no one was around, he overturned a large rock and a pile of fallen leaves and weeds, then began digging into the soil beneath his feet.

Before long, a small bundle from his memories appeared before him.

It was not heavy, but it clinked when he picked it up.

Seeing that the bundle was still there, Wang Yu's heart leaped with joy. He immediately opened it.

Inside was a crumpled roll of Star Tickets, along with several fingernail-sized crystals.

After a brief count, not a single piece was missing.

After conversion, the Star Tickets and the Crystal Fragments in the bundle totaled five hundred and sixty-five Crystal Coins.

This was all the money Wang Yu had previously saved through frugality and desperate effort.

Added to that was the pay from his half-year of work in the mine.

"Enough!"

Wang Yu's eyes lit up. After quickly putting everything away, he hurried from the small woods and walked briskly onward.

Qinggang Street. The fading glow of the setting sun spilled across its streets and alleys.

The people living on this street were dressed relatively decently, unlike the impoverished residents of Rat Street.

A few shops were still open along the street, selling firewood, rice, oil, salt, and other necessities.

Two or three people visited them, using the Crystal Fragments in Wang Yu's hand as their means of payment.

This was the universal currency.

Across from a small restaurant stood a relatively spacious courtyard compound.

A sign hung above it.

Shadowless Fist Gym.

Wang Yu looked up at it, took a deep breath, and walked inside.

In the courtyard, a group of men and women dressed in uniform training clothes were shouting as they practiced.

The youngest were only eleven or twelve, while the oldest looked to be in their twenties or thirties.

Some held horse stances while lifting huge stones that weighed at least fifty or sixty pounds, sweat pouring down their bodies like rain.

Others continuously struck wooden posts or iron posts, their hands flashing up and down. Two slightly older men moved so quickly that Wang Yu could barely follow them with his naked eye, seeing only faint afterimages.

Seeing was believing. This made Wang Yu even more determined.

What this gym taught was not the flashy, mystifying tricks he had seen in his previous life.

"Who are you looking for?" One of the slightly older men stopped practicing. Noticing Wang Yu entering, he walked over and asked.

"I came to become a disciple," Wang Yu said at once.

The man sized Wang Yu up, but he was not surprised.

Every few days, young people like Wang Yu would come to seek a master and learn martial arts.

These days, practicing martial arts was a visible, tangible path forward.

Of course, it was far from easy to achieve anything in it.

This was real kung fu. Besides enduring hardship, it also demanded innate talent from every person.

One's physique and comprehension could not be too poor. Otherwise, training would only be a waste of time, effort, and money.

"Master isn't here today. Come back tomorrow," the man said.

Hearing that it was so unfortunate, Wang Yu was about to leave it at that.

Then, somehow, a tall, thin middle-aged man with a small goatee appeared beside him.

He seemed to have just returned from outside, yet his footsteps had been silent. Only when he reached Wang Yu's side did the male disciple notice him.

The male disciple immediately said respectfully, "Master, you're back."

"Mm." Sun Chengshan stood with his hands behind his back, his narrow eyes sweeping over Wang Yu.

The male disciple promptly continued, "He came today to learn martial arts. You weren't here just now, so I told him to come back tomorrow."

Sun Chengshan examined Wang Yu. His expression remained calm. "Do you know the rules here?"

"I do." Wang Yu handed over a neatly arranged stack of Star Tickets.

Some had denominations of ten, while others were worth one hundred. Altogether, they totaled one thousand Crystal Coins.

More than a year ago, the previous Wang Yu had already inquired about every martial arts gym in the entire Town.

Every gym charged tuition to accept disciples. Among them, this Shadowless Fist Gym on Qinggang Street charged the lowest tuition—only one thousand Crystal Coins.

The previous Wang Yu had desperately saved money precisely to practice martial arts and find a way out.

The current Wang Yu wanted to try practicing martial arts even more. Not for any other reason, but because a small interface often surfaced in his mind.

Name: Wang Yu

Race: Humanity

Cultivation: None

Martial Arts Technique: None

As a former game designer, he was all too familiar with this tiny interface.

He wanted to practice martial arts to find out whether this interface in his mind was an illusion, or a small piece of the game interface he had not finished designing that had transmigrated with him.

Sun Chengshan had seen countless people come to become disciples over the years. With his discerning eye, he could naturally tell that this money was probably Wang Yu's entire fortune.

To hand over such a sum with such composure, his face calm and without nervousness or panic before him—this alone put him ahead of most people his age.

"Where do you live?" Sun Chengshan asked. Perhaps because of the money, his tone softened slightly.

"Baisha Street," Wang Yu answered respectfully.

Rat Street was naturally not really called Rat Street. Its official district name was Baisha Street.

It was only because the area later became increasingly filthy, chaotic, and rundown, attracting hordes of rats and ants, that people privately began calling it Rat Street.

"Mm." Sun Chengshan nodded. It was more or less as he had expected.

"Rest assured, I do not judge disciples here by their background. As long as you can afford the tuition, I will give you a chance.

"You have a fairly steady temperament. Come in."

Sun Chengshan spoke blandly, then slowly strolled into the courtyard with his hands behind his back.