One Hundred Billion!

"Raise your hands high and look at me..."

The accompanying school doctor from No. 9 Middle School examined Gao Wu and confirmed that his sternum was neither fractured nor cracked. He then had Gao Wu perform several movements and confirmed there were no internal injuries to his organs either. The middle-aged doctor could not help clicking his tongue in amazement.

He had seen it clearly from beside the arena just now. Han Song's Tiger Fist chopping force had blasted Gao Wu's chest eight times in succession. Compared to fists, tiger claws were sharper and far more destructive.

A Tiger Fist chopping force weighing over a thousand kilograms should have been enough to break Gao Wu's sternum. Yet Gao Wu had been completely unharmed. His body was terrifyingly tough!

Coach Huang Hai watched silently from the side. He had long noticed that Gao Wu's physique was extraordinary, and this battle had merely confirmed his judgment once again.

Huang Long and the other Martial Arts Team members all watched Gao Wu with complicated expressions. Ordinarily, they should have celebrated Gao Wu's victory and the school team's win.

But they had never gotten along particularly well with Gao Wu. Seeing him defeat two Advanced Martial Artists in a row, they felt more envy and jealousy than anything else, and truly had no mood to go congratulate him.

On the other hand, they knew they ought to improve their relationship with Gao Wu. After all, Gao Wu was already an Advanced Martial Artist, and his future looked boundless.

But none of them could bring themselves to take the initiative and curry favor with Gao Wu.

Young people's thoughts were simpler, after all. Had they been adults, they would have long cast aside their pride and gone over to strike up a friendship.

Gao Wu could understand the awkward thoughts of these teenagers. They could not exactly be called bad people. It was mainly that he felt their temperaments did not match, so there was no need to force themselves together.

His strength had been advancing by leaps and bounds lately, while his martial arts skills were improving at rapid speed. His entire body and mind were devoted to training, and it was as though his whole person had ascended to another level. He no longer cared about that childish sort of awkward rivalry.

Huang Long forced out a smile. "Brother, that was fucking incredible. You took down two Advanced Martial Artists in one go. We only won this match because of you! You're even better than Han Yang!"

He had been a little stiff at first, but the more he spoke, the smoother it became. In the end, he even raised a thumb in admiration.

"Not at all. I'm still far behind." Gao Wu was not being modest. He had watched quite a few of Han Yang's battle videos. Dongjiang's number one high school student expert possessed formidable physical ability, but more importantly, his martial arts were superb.

Han Yang had always finished his opponents in a single round in the arena. Even against Advanced Martial Artists, he crushed them with overwhelming force.

Though they shared the same surname, Han Song was an entire tier below Han Yang. Gao Wu had only beaten Han Song by using his body to endure the attacks head-on. Against Han Yang, he probably would not have much chance of winning.

Still, he would soon get the Flying Squirrel Serum. It would surely greatly improve his agility. By then, he should be able to contend with Han Yang.

With Huang Long taking the lead, the other teenagers also gathered around.

Seeing everyone's beaming smiles and hearing their somewhat clumsy flattery, Gao Wu suddenly wanted to laugh for some reason—and he did laugh out loud.

Seeing Gao Wu laugh so happily, the teenagers did not know why, but they all laughed along with him. The atmosphere became extremely lively.

For Merit's sake, and out of courtesy, Gao Wu exchanged a few polite words with them.

Having gained Gao Wu's approval, the awkward feelings in the teenagers' hearts were suddenly smoothed out. The more they looked at Gao Wu, the more pleasing he became to their eyes. They even liked the kid a little...

After the match, Gao Wu received the Best Player award. Adding in the bonuses for knocking out two Advanced Martial Artists, he earned a total of three thousand yuan.

After taking a mid-sized bus back to school, Gao Wu hurriedly showered and changed into clean clothes before riding his bicycle to Cloud Lake Villa.

The fierce battle that afternoon had drained him tremendously.

Song Mingyue's dinner was simple, but every ingredient came from the Otherworld, brimming with source force particles and abundant nutrients.

After eating his fill, Gao Wu felt incomparably comfortable and satisfied.

He glanced at Song Mingyue, who sat across from him and ate slowly, then sighed inwardly. Too bad Song Mingyue was not his sworn brother. That took some of the fun out of it...

After Song Mingyue finished eating at an unhurried pace, she brought Gao Wu to the tea room. She then went alone to wash up and changed into a loose, comfortable training outfit before returning to the tea room.

Seeing Song Mingyue change clothes yet again, Gao Wu could not help asking, "Friend, why do you need to change clothes?"

"Clothes carry all sorts of food odors. They affect tea tasting and interfere with my sense of smell. It's also more hygienic this way," Song Mingyue explained seriously.

"Elegant!" Gao Wu did not really care about that. He merely thought rich people were awfully fussy.

Out of respect for his friend, he still offered a word of praise.

Song Mingyue took a small black leather case from the drawer of the tea table. She opened it and pushed it before Gao Wu.

Twenty vials of medicine lay inside. Gold and silver liquid gently rippled within sealed glass tubes, bright as mercury. The other half of the case held an embedded injection gun.

"Flying Squirrel Serum?" Gao Wu's eyes lit up. He took an instruction sheet from the case, which was filled with descriptions of the medicine.

"Neural Synapse Overclocking Agent, Yunguang Phase IV Model 909, Neutralizing Agent of the same model... Manufacturer: Taiji Pharmaceutical Factory No. 9..."

The instructions were densely packed with several thousand words. At the end, they stated that this product was an experimental drug, that the instructions were for reference only, and that the user bore all consequences arising after use.

A disclaimer—standard procedure for major manufacturers.

Gao Wu did not care about that. Curious, he asked, "How much per vial?"

"One hundred and fifty thousand. The Neutralizing Agent is fifty thousand," Song Mingyue answered.

"Wow..." Even though Gao Wu had prepared himself mentally, he could not help marveling at the price.

Twenty vials came to two million. Calculated by Dongjiang's average wage, an ordinary person would have to work fifty years to earn that much money.

To him, it was absolutely an enormous sum!

After thinking it over, he said, "I can't come up with that money for now."

Song Mingyue slowly shook her head. "This is our transaction. You don't need to pay."

"That doesn't seem right..." Thick-skinned as Gao Wu was, he felt a little embarrassed now.

He ate and drank for free at Song Mingyue's place every day. If it were truly calculated, that alone would be an expensive cost. Not to mention that Song Mingyue accompanied him in training every day, giving him meticulous guidance in every aspect.

The old man and Tie Dalong were both Warriors, but when it came to teaching others, neither came close to Song Mingyue. Gao Wu was absolutely certain of that.

Even now, he had not figured out why Song Mingyue could always spot his subtle problems and then help him solve them in such direct, simple ways.

"You saved my life and helped me restrain the Strange Spirit. If I must put a value on those two things, I think they're worth one hundred billion."

Song Mingyue glanced at Gao Wu, then lowered her eyes again. Calmly and seriously, she said, "Calculated at that price, what I've paid is negligible."

Normally, Song Mingyue should have emphasized their friendship, stressed that they were important partners and a community of shared interests, then looked toward the future on that basis and underscored how important their current cooperation was.

Yet Song Mingyue had made a cold, realistic, and direct calculation instead. It was very strange.

Then again, Song Mingyue had clearly grown taller during this period, and her spiritual power had also increased. Evidently, she too was improving rapidly.

Her future held infinite possibilities, so valuing herself at one hundred billion did not seem all that outrageous.

Gao Wu paused, then said with a sincere expression, "You're right!"

After realizing it, he found Song Mingyue's manner of speaking refreshingly straightforward, crisp, and even cool.

He was even a little envious. When he deliberately made jokes, he was only a clumsy imitator. Song Mingyue was the real natural talent—one casual sentence from her was enough for him to learn from...

Song Mingyue did not want to discuss the subject further. Pointing at the medicine, she said, "The Flying Squirrel Serum is most effective the first time it is used. The medicine acts directly on the nervous system and will cause some neural interference, triggering cognitive impairment. That is when the Neutralizing Agent must be used."

She paused, then continued, "Using the Neutralizing Agent will cancel out part of the medicine's effects. So if you can avoid using it, do so. The most troublesome part of this medicine is its addictiveness. You must pay close attention to that.

"If, after injecting one vial, you cannot resist immediately injecting a second vial, that is a sign of addiction. Then you must use the Neutralizing Agent..."

Gao Wu was not paying much attention to what Song Mingyue was saying. His attention was fixed on her pink lips. He did not know why, but today he suddenly found Song Mingyue's lips especially fresh, tender, fragrant, and soft.

How much would one kiss cost? Could it be deducted from the one hundred billion?

A wildly inappropriate thought suddenly popped into Gao Wu's mind, but he immediately suppressed it. Dead brain, don't think nonsense. We're decent people!