Gong Gong's Job Hunt

Nüwa's deep recovery lasted a full five days.

Throughout those five days, the atmosphere in the rental apartment remained quiet and tense. Nüwa sat cross-legged in a corner, as if she had become a genuine statue. A faint but unbroken stream of life-giving Dao rhythm flowed around her, intertwining with the "breath soil" and the other statues on the windowsill to form a small cycle. The pallor gradually faded from her face, and the weariness between her brows slowly disappeared. Her aura grew increasingly profound and restrained, as if she had undergone a transformation and gained new insights into her own power and its compatibility with this world's laws.

Tong Tian took on most of the guard duty. Though his divine sense was heavily suppressed by this world, the spatial patterns on the Cracked Wooden Tablet had inspired him, and he had continued adapting and pushing against the restrictions. His range had expanded from a few feet to encompass the entire apartment building and several dozen meters around it. No malicious spying could escape his cold, keen sword-intent perception, whether it came from the official Dragon Group or some other potential troublemakers. He still spent most of his time at the computer, browsing information even faster than before. Now and then, his gaze lingered on pages about global hydrological distribution, ocean currents, or water conservancy projects. No one knew what he was thinking.

Lin Fan seized every opportunity to cultivate. Nurtured by Nüwa's creation Dao rhythm and driven by his own unflagging effort, he had finally stabilized his Supreme Clarity Heart-Cleansing Mantra at the "First Glimpse of the Way" stage. He could now enter that clear-minded state with relative ease, and remain in it for much longer. Even more excitingly, after gritting his teeth through the soul-piercing pain brought on by the "seed of sword intent" time and again, he had somehow formed the faintest connection with it! He was still nowhere near controlling it, but at least he no longer nearly lost his mind the moment he came into contact with it. He could feel his spiritual power—or "divine sense," as it might be called—growing more condensed and resilient under the seed's refinement.

On the evening of the fifth day, the setting sun streamed through the window, bathing the room in warm golden light.

At last, Nüwa, who had been sitting motionless all this time, slowly opened her eyes.

For an instant, Lin Fan thought he saw the endless cycle of life in her gaze. Images of plants flourishing and withering flashed by, then vanished, leaving her familiar warmth and clarity behind. Yet her aura had become more harmonious than before, more attuned to nature, as if she had always been part of this room and this world.

"Lady Nüwa, you've recovered?" Lin Fan asked in delight.

Nüwa smiled faintly and nodded. Her voice was as gentle as jade. "Sorry for the trouble. I'm well again. Though this ordeal drained me greatly, it also gave me a deeper understanding of how life flows in this world."

Tong Tian turned and glanced at Nüwa, giving a slight nod in greeting.

Just then, an abrupt, muffled rumbling sound rang out in the room, like distant thunder on a summer day.

It had come from neither Lin Fan nor Nüwa or Tong Tian.

All three turned their eyes almost at the same time toward...the closed bathroom door.

Only then did Lin Fan remember that he hadn't paid any attention to the bathroom since Nüwa had begun recovering. Tong Tian's vigilance seemed focused mainly on external threats, so he hadn't paid much heed to this internal, harmless "anomaly."

The rumbling sounded again, louder this time, carrying an indescribable...hunger? Then came the unnatural rush of water from inside the bathroom, as if something were thrashing violently in the bathtub or toilet.

Lin Fan's expression changed, and he instinctively looked at Tong Tian and Nüwa.

Tong Tian furrowed his brows and instantly swept his divine sense through the bathroom. For the first time, a strange expression appeared on his stern face.

Nüwa tilted her head to listen. A flicker of surprise and understanding crossed her eyes. "This aura...violent and vast, resembling water, yet not water, and containing the ancient essence of the Primordial Era...Could it be..."

Before she could finish, the bathroom doorknob let out a sharp click and snapped off under a tremendous force from within! Then the heavy waterproof door burst open with a bang, and a figure stumbled out!

He was an extraordinarily burly, powerfully built man!

Nearly two meters tall, broad-shouldered and thick-waisted, he had bulging muscles that strained Lin Fan's spare T-shirt to the point of tearing. He wore a pair of equally tight sweatpants. His skin was bronze, his features rugged, with thick brows and large eyes. His short hair stood up like steel needles, and his whole body exuded the feral aura of a primordial beast.

Most striking of all were his eyes. They were bloodshot, filled with raw fury and...unbearable hunger! He looked like a mighty dragon stranded in shallow water, irritable and weak.

The moment he burst out of the bathroom, his gaze swept over the room like a starving wolf and landed on a bag of store-bought French rolls Lin Fan had left on the table, not yet put away.

"Food!"

He growled, his voice like muffled thunder, with an ancient, peculiar cadence. He took a single step, making the floor seem to tremble, and reached for the bag of bread.

"Wait!" Lin Fan shouted instinctively, trying to stop him. The burly stranger was terrifying.

But the man moved like lightning and ignored Lin Fan. He snatched up the bag of bread and, without even looking, shoved it into his mouth with the packaging still on. He chewed noisily, easily crushing the plastic wrapper like scraps of paper and swallowing it down!

Lin Fan stared, dumbfounded.

The burly man devoured the entire bag of bread in a few bites, without leaving so much as a crumb. But the fire of hunger in his eyes didn't fade; it burned even brighter. He abruptly turned his head and fixed his bloodshot gaze on Lin Fan as if he were prey. A low growl rumbled in his throat. "Hungry! Got more?!"

Stared down by that feral, oppressive gaze, Lin Fan felt his breath catch. It was as if a prehistoric behemoth had fixed its eyes on him, sending a chill racing from his feet to the crown of his head! He had no doubt that if he said there was no more, the man might swallow him as food instead!

Just as tensions reached a breaking point, Nüwa, who had been watching coldly from the sidelines, suddenly spoke. Her probing tone carried a hint of uncertainty.

"Could you be...Gong Gong, elder brother?"

The burly man's massive frame stiffened at once. He slowly turned toward Nüwa, his bloodshot eyes brimming with savagery and confusion. Tilting his head as if trying to recognize her, he mumbled, "You...who are you? How do you know...my name?"

Gong Gong?!!

Lin Fan felt as if he had been struck by lightning. His mind went blank!

The Water God Gong Gong?! The Primordial Era ancestral shaman who had crashed into Mount Buzhou?!

How had this great figure come out of the toilet too—no, out of the bathroom?! Was the drainage system in his apartment connected to a broken space-time rift in the Primordial Era?!

Tong Tian stood up as well. His gaze swept over Gong Gong, sharp as a sword, and his icy tone held a note of confirmation. "A wild, domineering aura, a muddled true spirit, divine power entirely gone, and only a trace of undying battle intent and the origin of water remaining...There's no doubt you're Gong Gong. You, brute, have wound up here as well?"

At Tong Tian's words, Gong Gong seemed provoked by the word "brute." He growled in anger and glared at Tong Tian. "Who are you? How dare you insult me?!"

Though he had lost his power and his memories were muddled, the pride and hot temper of an ancestral shaman remained undiminished.

The two primordial powerhouses looked ready to tear into each other in the ten-square-meter rental apartment. Lin Fan was scared out of his wits and hurriedly stepped between them. "You two, please calm down! Calm down! We're on the same side...Uh, the same gods! Let's talk it out!"

Nüwa stepped forward as well and spoke gently. "Elder Brother Gong Gong, Senior Brother Tong Tian, this is not the Primordial Era, and now is no time to fight. We have all washed up in this world, far from home. We should help one another."

Gong Gong looked at Nüwa, then glared at Tong Tian. He seemed to realize that this place was strange and his power had been suppressed. Besides, his hunger was unbearable, so he temporarily held back his anger, though he still spoke harshly. "Hungry! Find me food first!"

Seeing the tension ease a little, Lin Fan hurriedly said, "There's food! I'll make some right now!" He was afraid the man would tear the apartment apart if he got any hungrier.

He rushed into the kitchen area and pulled out everything in the fridge that could be eaten right away: more than a dozen packets of instant noodles, a pile of sausages, several eggs, and even a few bags of frozen dumplings. Forgetting all about proper cooking, he boiled what he could on the induction stove, fried what he could, and piled it all into several large bowls, which he carried over to Gong Gong.

At the sight of food, Gong Gong's eyes lit up. He didn't even care that it was hot. Grabbing it with his hands, he stuffed it into his mouth like a whirlwind. His appetite put Tong Tian's to shame by more than tenfold! Lin Fan even felt that Gong Gong wasn't "eating" so much as "devouring."

In just a few minutes, Gong Gong had swept away enough food to last Lin Fan several days. He didn't leave behind even a drop of broth. When he finished, he licked his lips, patted his still-flat but sharply muscled belly, and let out a thunderous belch. The bloodshot look in his eyes finally began to fade, and his violent aura eased a little.

"Not bad. That's three-tenths of a meal," Gong Gong said in a rumbling voice.

Lin Fan: "..." Three-tenths?! He could practically hear his wallet wailing!

Nüwa looked at Gong Gong and asked softly, "Elder Brother Gong Gong, how did you come to be here? And why did you...come out of the bathroom?"

At that, confusion and fury surfaced on Gong Gong's rugged face. He thumped his head hard, producing a dull thud, and growled, "I don't remember! Only that...the sky collapsed and the earth split...floodwaters surged everywhere...then...darkness. When I regained consciousness, I was in a cramped place full of 'water'"—he meant the toilet tank?—"and I couldn't breathe! I only just managed to break free!"

His account was jumbled, but given that he was the Water God, Lin Fan could roughly guess what had happened. When the Primordial Era shattered, a wisp of his true spirit or a fragment of his original body might have been swept into this world by some disturbance in the laws of water. Then, somehow, it had lain dormant in the pipes of Lin Fan's bathroom until today, when it had awoken for some reason—perhaps stimulated by the immense life-giving Dao rhythm Nüwa had emitted during her recovery?—and followed the path of the "water" out of Lin Fan's toilet...?

Thinking of the broken doorknob and the smashed door in his bathroom, Lin Fan couldn't help twitching at the corner of his mouth. The new "roommate" had certainly made a...distinctive entrance.

"The laws of this world are strange. They suppress our divine power," Tong Tian explained coldly. "You must adapt as soon as possible and keep your aura in check. Don't cause trouble."

Gong Gong disliked Tong Tian's tone, but he could also sense that something was "wrong" with this place. He tried to summon his power, only to discover that the force that had once been enough to overturn the Four Seas and shake the Heavenly Pillar was now so weak it could barely make the water in a cup ripple. His frustration only grew, and he growled, "Damn it! What kind of wretched place is this?!"

"This is Earth, a...land without spiritual energy," Nüwa explained gently. "Senior Brother Tong Tian and I also ended up here, and are staying with our young friend Lin Fan for the time being. Since you've come here too, Elder Brother Gong Gong, you may as well stay and take your time planning what to do next."

Gong Gong looked around the cramped, shabby room, then at Lin Fan, Nüwa, and Tong Tian. His memories were confused, but he understood that he was in a difficult position and needed their help. In his deep, rumbling voice, he said to Lin Fan, "Kid, you gave me food? At least you've got some sense. I'm staying here from now on! Make sure there's enough to eat!"

Lin Fan smiled wryly. Great, another ancestor to look after—and one with a huge appetite and a short temper. He hurriedly nodded. "Don't worry, Senior Gong Gong. I'll figure out the food." He could already see his modest stock market gains evaporating before his eyes.

A Primordial Era ancestral shaman had suddenly joined the household, making the atmosphere...even more complicated and crowded.

Gong Gong clearly wasn't the sort to sit still and meditate. He was incredibly strong. Even with his divine power suppressed, his raw physical strength far exceeded that of an ordinary person. Just moving around the room a little nearly had him knocking over the table and overturning the chairs, leaving Lin Fan on edge.

On top of that, he was dangerously curious about everything in modern society. He saw an electric light and wanted to crush it to find out why it glowed; he saw a faucet and wanted to twist it off to investigate where the water came from; he picked up Lin Fan's phone as if it were a toy and nearly squeezed it flat...Lin Fan was so alarmed that he quickly sat Gong Gong down in the only chair, turned on the TV, and switched to the sports channel, where a heavyweight boxing match was being broadcast. He hoped it would distract him.

Sure enough, Gong Gong was immediately captivated by the primitive brawl between the two muscular men on the screen. He watched with keen interest, occasionally offering a comment.

"So soft! No strength!"

"Bad angle! Idiot!"

"Hmph. Back in my day, I could've blown that thing apart with one punch!" He meant the boxing ring.

Lin Fan listened with a cold sweat, able only to nod along.

But they couldn't live off their savings forever. Lin Fan's meager funds had to support three saints—one of them a glutton—as well as himself, while also covering rent and utilities. The pressure was immense. He had to find a way to bring in more money.

He watched Gong Gong, who was rubbing his hands together as he faced the boxing match on TV, with his pent-up energy nowhere to go. A thought suddenly occurred to him—perhaps he could get the man to...find a job? With his build and strength, he should be more than qualified for manual labor—or maybe work as a bodyguard or fitness trainer.

It was a bold idea, but it seemed like the most direct way to solve their financial problems. And giving Gong Gong something to do might burn off some of his excess energy and reduce the risk of him wrecking the apartment.

After dinner, Lin Fan cautiously brought up the idea.

"A job? What's a job?" Gong Gong asked, staring at him with wide, round eyes.

"It means...going out to work and earn money, then using it to buy food," Lin Fan explained as simply as he could.

"Earn money? Buy food?" Gong Gong stroked his chin, seemingly understanding. "So...like hunting, using labor to exchange for food? That's not a problem! As long as I get enough to eat, I'll do anything!"

He agreed remarkably quickly. The ancestral shamans of the Primordial Era revered strength and labor. They had no objection to earning what they needed to survive through their own efforts; to them, it was only natural.

Lin Fan breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly said, "With your build, Senior, you'd be perfect as a trainer at a gym! Or...you could carry bricks at a construction site—uh, I mean, do physical labor. You could earn a decent amount."

"A trainer? Teaching people how to fight?" Gong Gong's eyes lit up. He was clearly more interested in "fighting."

"Something like that. You teach people how to train and get stronger," Lin Fan explained.

"Good! I'll go there!" Gong Gong slapped his thigh—nearly breaking the chair—and eagerly agreed.

So the next day, Lin Fan set about finding Gong Gong "a job." He first searched online for gym openings in the city, then put together an extremely "concise" résumé for Gong Gong. Name: Gong Gong (alias). Age: 30 (estimated). Special skills: tremendous strength, expert in all kinds of physical training (made up by Lin Fan). Desired position: fitness trainer or conditioning coach.

He picked a few gyms that looked reasonably large and offered decent pay, then submitted the résumé online.

But things didn't go smoothly. Gong Gong had no ID, no relevant certifications, and not even a decent photo—Lin Fan had taken one on his phone, but Gong Gong's fierce appearance made him look like bad news. His résumé disappeared into the void, and not a single interview invitation came in.

Lin Fan then tried contacting a few labor markets to find some manual work, but as soon as they heard Gong Gong had no ID, they shook their heads and turned him down.

After several days of hitting one dead end after another, Lin Fan grew discouraged. Gong Gong grew even more impatient. He paced around the apartment all day, his oppressive mood leaving Lin Fan on edge.

"The rules in this wretched mortal world are absurdly complicated!" Gong Gong growled irritably. "Why don't I just go knock down that...gym? Let's see who dares stop me from teaching there!"

Lin Fan hurried to dissuade him. "You mustn't, Senior! You mustn't! That would cause a huge mess!"

Just as Lin Fan was at a loss, an unexpected opportunity presented itself.

That evening, Lin Fan was walking past a recently opened gym near the Residential Complex with Gong Gong, whose spirits were still low after another fruitless day. Gong Gong was simmering with frustration. A crowd had gathered outside the gym, apparently for an event. A banner hung from the giant inflatable archway: "Li Wang Club Grand Opening! Strength Champions Wanted! Challenge Your Limits and Win a Cash Prize of 10,000 Yuan!"

The rules were simple: competitors challenged the limits of their bench press, deadlift, and other lifts. Anyone who broke the club's records would win 10,000 yuan in cash.

Lin Fan read the banner, then glanced at Gong Gong, who was tall and powerfully built, with muscles like coiled dragons. An idea came to him.

"Senior Gong Gong," Lin Fan said tentatively, pointing at the challenge, "would you like to stretch your muscles a little? And maybe...earn some prize money to buy meat?"

Gong Gong followed Lin Fan's gesture. At the words "stretch your muscles" and "buy meat," his bloodshot eyes lit up like two little lanterns.

"A challenge? Sounds interesting!" Gong Gong grinned, baring his white teeth. Then he strode toward the Li Wang Club. "Let me see how this world's 'King of Strength' measures up!"

Lin Fan hurried after him, feeling both excited and uneasy. With Gong Gong's strength, breaking ordinary people's records would be a piece of cake. But wouldn't that draw too much attention? Could it bring unwanted scrutiny?

Still, seeing Gong Gong stride ahead, itching for a challenge, Lin Fan knew he couldn't stop him now.

It seemed the Water God Gong Gong's job hunt was about to begin in the most direct and violent way possible.

What neither of them knew was that behind a one-way window on the second floor of the Li Wang Club, a middle-aged man in sportswear stood watching the noisy competition below. He had a lean, powerful build and eyes as keen as an eagle's. His gaze lingered especially on the promising "prospects" in the crowd. When Gong Gong—nearly two meters tall, striding like a dragon and radiating an astonishing presence—entered his field of view, the man's pupils abruptly contracted.