Promoted-Promoted at Lightning Speed

The pier, the warehouse.

"Brother Lin, are you sure about this?"

Wu Yong held a wooden staff, looking at Lin Fan, who had already taken off his shirt and revealed his lean, muscular upper body. He'd been patrolling the pier when Brother Lin came back and dragged him into the warehouse, handed him a staff, and told him to hit him with it.

He was completely baffled.

"Yeah. Come on—wait."

Lin Fan seemed to think of something. He took the staff and ran his hand along it. It was smooth and even, without any splinters. Then he handed it back to Wu Yong.

"Put your back into it."

After saying that, he drew a deep breath and stretched both arms straight out in front of him, as if channeling his energy. Then he looked at Wu Yong without saying a word. His eyes said it all: Go ahead.

Chen Niu's words had given him an idea. He'd learned Basic Staff Technique just by swinging a staff around at random. So if someone beat him with one, could he use the external force to learn a body-hardening method like Iron Cloth Shirt or Golden Bell Shield?

He couldn't get his hands on martial arts right now. All he could do was use his cheat-like advantage to build himself up first.

If it didn't work, he'd suffer a little, at worst.

But what if it actually did?

Wu Yong had never heard of anyone making such a request. But Brother Lin looked so serious that he gripped the staff in both hands. "Brother Lin, I'm really going to do it now. Don't blame me if it hurts."

"I won't. Hurry up."

"Okay, here I go."

"Come on."

"I mean it, I'm really going to do it."

Lin Fan impatiently turned around, about to ask if Wu Yong could stop dawdling, when Wu Yong let out a low growl and swung the staff with all his might at Lin Fan's back.

Holy crap!

The sudden blow startled Lin Fan. He hurriedly turned around, took a deep breath, and hunched his back.

Thwack!

The staff landed squarely against his back with a dull crack that echoed through the warehouse. Lin Fan's face flushed red at a visible pace, his cheeks twitching as he let out a pained groan.

It hurt. It hurt like hell.

It felt like every bone in his body had come loose.

"Brother Lin, how is it? Are you okay?" Wu Yong asked with concern.

"I-I'm fine."

Lin Fan gritted his teeth and stubbornly insisted he was fine.

He hadn't expected getting hit with a staff to hurt this much. No wonder Zhao Er had wailed for his parents when he'd beaten him back then. It really did hurt.

"How can you be fine? Look, it's swollen. That staff mark is so obvious." Wu Yong was genuinely afraid Brother Lin would get mad and snatch the staff from him to give him a taste of his own medicine.

No kidding.

Of course it was swollen.

He wasn't made of iron.

But when he checked his status panel, nothing had changed.

Was it useless?

Or was it not enough?

After thinking it over, it had to be that it wasn't enough. There was no way he could learn something from just one hit.

"Keep going. Come on." Lin Fan waited for the pain to ease, then told Wu Yong to hit him again. Faced with such a request, Wu Yong looked hesitant.

"Brother Lin, stop fooling around. If you get hurt, I'll feel awful. No matter what troubles you're facing, there's always a way through. There's no need to do this."

Wu Yong tried to talk him out of it, thinking Brother Lin must have taken some kind of blow.

The only reason a man would punish himself like this was heartbreak. But he couldn't remember Brother Lin getting close to any girl.

"Fooling around? This isn't fooling around. This is training. We're in a gang. Getting attacked from behind is an everyday occurrence. If you want to be tough, you have to suffer. Quit talking and hit me." Lin Fan urged him on.

Training?

Wu Yong sighed inwardly. He knew Brother Lin was always going on about martial arts, but that stuff only existed in storytellers' tales. There was no such thing as martial arts. It was all made up by people with too much time on their hands.

Seeing how determined Brother Lin was, he didn't say anything else. He raised the staff and swung it at Lin Fan's back again.

Thwack!

Thwack!

The dull blows echoed through the warehouse.

The gang members who heard the noise followed it over, puzzled. When they saw Wu Yong hitting Lin Fan with a staff, their expressions varied, but they all shared one thought: Had Lin Fan gone crazy?

"What are you doing?"

A stern voice rang out.

The gang members turned around. When they saw who it was, they immediately straightened up and greeted him respectfully. "Hall Master."

Wang Changhai frowned. "Why aren't you patrolling the pier? You spend all day slacking off. What will you do if the Fierce Tiger Gang comes looking for trouble?"

"Hall Master, it's not that. Look..." One of the gang members pointed toward the warehouse.

Wang Changhai glanced over, puzzled. He'd been about to ask what all the noise was, but when he saw what was happening inside, he froze in astonishment.

What on earth were they doing?

In his eyes, Lin Fan stood bare-chested, his face red, teeth clenched as he let one of the gang members beat him with a staff. Seeing the force behind each swing and hearing Lin Fan's muffled groans made Wang Changhai's teeth ache in sympathy.

Wouldn't that hurt like hell?

Thwack!

Crack!

A sharp snap rang out as the wooden staff, a good two fingers thick, broke in half.

Wang Changhai stared, dumbfounded. He'd never imagined anyone could be so ruthless with himself. He hurried over and asked what was going on.

"What are you doing?"

Wang Changhai was utterly confused. He just wanted to know what was happening.

"Hall M-Master." Wu Yong jumped and greeted him respectfully.

Lin Fan was breathing a little harder now, but his heart was filled with joy. It worked. It really worked. Just a moment ago, his panel had changed, and a prompt had appeared in his mind.

[Learned Beginner Body Refinement]

[Beginner Body Refinement proficiency +1]

[Beginner Body Refinement (not yet initiated 1/100)]

"Hall Master, Wu Yong is helping me train." Lin Fan suppressed his excitement and answered the Hall Master respectfully.

A Hall Master was a man of status. Face mattered most when he was out and about, and he especially cared about the respect shown by the underlings around him.

"Training?"

Wang Changhai's mouth hung open, his gaze bewildered. He'd never seen anyone train their body like this.

Lin Fan said, "That's right, Hall Master. As one of your men, I want to build a strong, muscular body so I can clear away every petty thug who stands in your way. If you ever find yourself in danger, I hope I can use this body of mine to buy you enough time to escape."

Sure enough, the moment he said this,

Wang Changhai's gaze toward Lin Fan changed.

"Good, good, good! I never thought I'd have a man like you among my men."

Wang Changhai saw the sincerity in Lin Fan's eyes. There wasn't a trace of pretense—he was speaking from the heart.

The gang members around them looked at Lin Fan differently.

Huh?

Brother, when did you get so good with words?

Now it sounded as if the rest of us were completely useless.

At that moment, Wang Changhai noticed Lin Fan's muscles. He couldn't help reaching out to feel them. "What solid muscles. A body like this is what gives you strength and fighting power."

Then he turned to the gang members beside him.

"Lift your shirts."

The underlings lifted their shirts. Some had potbellies; others were skin and bones.

Wang Changhai shook his head. "Look at yourselves, then look at Lin Fan. How can you expect to get by with bodies like these?"

He was thoroughly disappointed.

When he saw that Lin Fan's back was swollen and even beaded with blood, he hissed. "Good grief, that back of yours. You must have suffered terribly."

Lin Fan said resolutely, "Only by enduring hardship can I gain the ability to let you sleep soundly, Hall Master. I'm willing to brave fire and water for you."

"Ah..." Wang Changhai tilted his head back at a forty-five-degree angle. Moved by Lin Fan's words, he didn't want his tears to fall. He let out an exclamation. "Good! Well said!"

Then, as if he'd made a decision, his expression turned serious.

"From now on, you're in charge of Jili Pier. Everyone here will answer to you. Whatever happens, you only need to report it to me."

A promotion. He had to promote him.

Where else could he find a subordinate like this? And it was obvious at a glance that the kid had real ability.

Wang Changhai truly had no one he could use.

As a Hall Master of Loyalty Hall, he was the weakest of them all, without a single person by his side who could hold their own.

As the saying went, trust those you use and don't use those you doubt. He trusted his own judgment completely. This kid was definitely reliable.

An uproar broke out. The gang members stared at Lin Fan in shock. They couldn't believe he'd just become the person in charge.

It looked like he'd become one of the Hall Master's favorites, too.

Hadn't he been in Loyalty Hall for even two months yet?

That was a pretty fast rise.

At that moment, the gang members' eyes were filled with all kinds of emotions.

Envy, jealousy, admiration.