The Fundamental Problems That Had Never Changed

What exactly was that power inside his body called?

Ling Wuyuan did not know.

After several hours of intermittent attempts and tests during the day, all he knew was that when he activated that power, his speed changed dramatically.

It became faster!

Faster in the literal sense!

His movement speed, attack speed, and reaction speed could all increase by roughly one to two times.

Though that might not sound like much, after being tempered by the [Spirit Awakening Ritual] during the day, his Physical Fitness had already become no worse than that of a normally developed fifteen- or sixteen-year-old. Once that enhanced speed increased another one or twofold, it far surpassed that of an ordinary adult.

One had to understand that in Ling Wuyuan's previous life, the difference between an ordinary college student who rarely exercised and a world champion in the hundred-meter dash was only around half.

Looking at it plainly—

It was merely the difference between nine seconds and ten-odd seconds over a hundred meters.

It might not have seemed like much.

But it was the difference between first place in the world and the several-billionth place.

Between that chasm lay who knew how many people, who knew how much effort...

Therefore.

Being able to double or even triple one's speed was, no matter how one looked at it, an outright divine skill.

When Ling Wuyuan activated that power.

In his eyes.

That beggar's every move could only be described as slow motion.

Not only did he have ample time to decide how to attack, he even had spare mental capacity to think about other things.

For example: I've only taken a few bites of my roast duck. It absolutely can't get blood on it...

Everything was so effortless.

And then.

There was that earlier realization.

That heartfelt realization.

Killing really is easy...

In just half a second.

He drove the sharpened wooden stick upward into the other man's brain, while still having enough leeway to protect the roast duck and sweep the man's legs out from under him.

It had all been absurdly simple.

He did not even need to gasp for breath.

Now.

After completing a perfect one-on-one solo kill.

Ling Wuyuan's foremost feelings were a little excitement, a little nervousness... and a great deal of satisfaction...

Satisfaction from the bottom of his heart!

Perhaps it could be described as the satisfaction of finally grasping his own fate!

From the instant his opponent fell.

Ling Wuyuan understood that, in this incomparably cruel world, he had finally escaped the very bottom of the food chain!!

He had escaped that very bottom of the food chain, where anyone could casually decide whether he lived or died!!!

As for the fear of killing someone.

He did not feel it at all.

After all, the iron law of the world was that the weak were meat and the strong ate.

That had been true in his previous world, and it was true in this one.

The greatest difference was only that the previous world had been a little more civilized, while this world was a little more direct.

"Kill the enemy, then claim victory..."

"What a wonderful feeling..."

Next.

After suppressing the excitement still lingering in his heart.

Knowing that he still had things to do, Ling Wuyuan simply sat atop the corpse and began eating his roast duck.

Although he had successfully KO'd his opponent, he still had to deal with the body. He had no desire to rot in prison...

Besides.

As a professional beggar who carried his entire fortune on him, the man had dropped quite a lot of equipment.

In a while.

Ling Wuyuan would definitely have to pick through the man's drops.

What if there was something good?

Right~

As a beggar, he was not picky anyway.

So.

He needed to finish eating quickly, then clean up the scene.

There was no helping it.

Life contained not only showing off and dreaming about the future, but also a great deal of grubby struggle...

Several dozen minutes later.

Ling Wuyuan finally finished cleaning up the scene.

The equipment the other man had dropped was truly plentiful and miscellaneous.

There was some unidentified liquid reeking of alcohol, strange canned grease dark in color, and some Dried Meat of unknown origin...

In short, Ling Wuyuan could not understand most of it.

Following the principle that anything he did not understand should be discarded.

He ultimately found the most useful things inside one jar.

A sum of money.

Several silver coins and nearly a hundred copper coins.

Mm... it truly was quite a lot.

At local prices, it was enough to buy over a hundred catties of rice along with some meat.

In other words, it was roughly enough for four ordinary people to live simply for one or two months.

Though he did not know how long the other man had saved to accumulate that money.

It all belonged to Ling Wuyuan now.

At most, it made him sigh a couple of times:

"Just as expected of an adult professional beggar—he had a bit of property to his name~"

"Murder and arson bring a belt of gold indeed. Didn't I just get gold coins from a drop~"

While sighing to himself.

He silently tossed the things he had not chosen—various messy dirty clothes, dirty blankets... all of it—into the dried-up well containing the corpse, completely covering the body.

To be fair.

Had it been a couple of days earlier, he really would not have thrown those things away.

They might have been smelly, rotten, filthy... and stained with blood.

But.

They could still have been used...

However.

He had now decided that he would report to the Pei Family first thing tomorrow morning.

Though the great leader had once said that working for others was shameful, that it was impossible to work for others, he had already fallen to such a miserable state that getting a job truly was a way out.

As for whether he would be a household servant or not, that did not matter.

As if working at those heartless companies in his previous life had been all that much better...

One had to know that working at those heartless companies required credentials, offered no social insurance or housing fund, did not provide food or lodging, and made it easy for them to dock one's pay...

Yet the Pei Family, a prominent great clan renowned throughout the surrounding villages, did none of that. Their household servants not only received food, lodging, and wages, but he had heard that they also received professional training. Servants who performed well would even be given basic cultivation methods!!

What did that mean?

Rounding it off, it was practically a school paying you to study while covering your food and lodging.

Especially considering that Ling Wuyuan was merely a filthy beggar, such treatment was enough to bring tears to one's eyes.

It was exactly like a trash-picker with zero qualifications, so impoverished that he could only rummage through roadside garbage bins for food, suddenly being hired by the largest and most reputable company in the area. Not only would they provide food and lodging, they would also offer professional training free of charge, allowing you to acquire a skill.

Touching!

Truly touching!!

What kind of providers of food and clothing were these!?

Thus, during the day, Ling Wuyuan had directly agreed with the Pei Family steward that he would report tomorrow.

If he had not needed to sort through the various bits of equipment he had picked up by the roadside over the years, clean himself up, and test the power he had awakened, he probably would have started work on the spot.

As for refusing the Pei Family?

Shouting that it was impossible for him to become a household servant?

That was impossible.

He had already ended up in such a pathetic state. Did he not have even the slightest fucking understanding of reality?

Though he had undergone the [Spirit Awakening Ritual] and successfully gained a little power, he had merely changed from a filthy beggar who was completely useless into a filthy beggar who was somewhat useful.

1. Completely illiterate.

2. Unable to afford food.

3. Too young.

4. A beggar.

These were, in the end, the fundamental problems that had never changed.

Before all those fundamental problems.

Serving as a household servant might sound like being beneath others, but for Ling Wuyuan, who had originally lived at the very bottom of society, it could truly be called crossing classes.

From a beggar whose status was like that of a stray cat or dog, someone no one would spare a second glance for even if he died in the street, into a [person]!!

A [person] who dressed properly, could eat and drink his fill, and would no longer be casually discriminated against by ordinary people!!