The entire test, from beginning to end, took less than forty minutes.
As the instrument's vibrating hum gradually faded, the cantilever rotated and the chamber opened.
Qin Shi leaped out and let out a long breath, then quickly pulled on a short-sleeved shirt and trousers.
"Just as I thought. The growth progress displayed on the panel and the precise data it gives back reflect my own Life Force level."
Fifteen points!
Close to the passing mark for amateur eighth grade!
Qin Shi closed his hand and clenched his fist.
Beneath his skin, deep within his flesh, each sinew lay coiled like a dragon, brimming with powerful strength.
He could clearly feel that the new phase after breaking the Sinew Gate limit hadn't fully ended.
He simply lacked enough energy to fill this mortal body, leaving it temporarily in a state of "dormancy."
"It's like an ordinary person who hasn't exercised needing to stretch to wake up their body and activate their muscle groups."
Yearning showed in Qin Shi's eyes as he thought of the high-energy food that only Elite Class students could afford.
"Nutritional Paste still falls short. It only makes you feel full and keeps you from going hungry."
Those Elite Class students consumed at most around 250 grams of high-energy food a day.
If he had the same food, with his [Overgrowth] Achievement Trait, he could eat until he was stuffed every day.
Then he could push his Life Force up another two or three points!
"The rich have their own way of training, and the poor dogs have theirs."
Qin Shi put aside his distracting thoughts. As long as he kept strengthening the foundations of Old Martial Arts and charged toward the Seven Great Limits of the Physical Body,
he would catch up with the Elite Class's top students sooner or later!
"Little Qin Assistant Teacher, are you feeling unwell anywhere?"
Lin Yunqing asked with concern.
In her eyes, Qin Shi was now a walking lode of immeasurable value. She absolutely couldn't let anything happen to him.
If her older brother Lin Xiaohan hadn't been messing with her, it was extremely difficult for a mortal body to possess both "spirituality" and "vitality."
If one increased, the other had to decrease.
A freak like Little Qin Assistant Teacher, who cultivated both body and spirit, might well become the next He Lanchán.
Even if he couldn't match the First Generation Ten Prodigies—the young Stone Buddha—marketing and a polished image would still be enough to make the public adore him.
"Anyway, he won't be any worse than Yu Li. That kid got to be the Stellar Cup's Rookie King just by being Flying Immortal Lian Yixing's closed-door disciple! Tens of millions in prize money every year, hundreds of millions in endorsements! He's raking it in!"
Lin Yunqing quietly considered that Qin Shi had far too many "selling points."
His humble origins, striking looks, and talent in both body and spirit as an Old Martial Arts prodigy—with the potential to pursue multiple paths, including Martial Artist, Mechanic, and Psionicist—made him a once-in-a-generation genius!
"I feel great. Nothing's wrong."
Qin Shi silently crossed off the time that the damned woman had tried to make him take the fall at the Youth Palace.
"I haven't thanked Teacher Lin for helping me with the test. Sorry for the trouble."
A comprehensive Life Force test at a high-end training club or large medical center would cost no less than a thousand yuan.
For Qin Shi, who believed that saving money was the same as finding money, this was an absolute windfall!
"No trouble, no trouble! We're colleagues. Helping each other is only right!"
Lin Yunqing's smile was harder to suppress than an AK's. She tried to rein it in, only for it to spring back up, leaving her beaming.
She touched her swollen eye and thought, That punch was worth it!
It led her to stumble upon Little Qin Assistant Teacher, a total catch among Old Martial Arts talents!
"Little Qin Assistant Teacher, it's getting late..."
Lin Yunqing dropped hint after hint.
The damned woman was so happy even after getting punched?
Had she awakened some kind of unusual fetish?
Watching Teacher Lin touch her face with a blissful expression, Qin Shi was baffled.
He tactfully picked up the conversation:
"Yeah, it's pretty late. Teacher Lin, I should head back..."
Lin Yunqing cut him off without hesitation and stepped closer.
"I mean, you might as well stay here.
"I can't cook, but I've got some canned food at home. It'll do for a meal.
"It's not safe for a young man like you to take a ride home this late."
Qin Shi instinctively stepped half a pace back, avoiding Lin Yunqing's ever-closer, exquisite face as he thought, Why does staying here feel even more dangerous? Is this damned woman lusting after me? She lost in a fight, so now she wants to get even some other way?
Before the Life Force test, Lin Yunqing had treated him with curiosity and admiration.
Now, though, her attitude had turned into a kind of excessive eagerness and attentiveness.
Like the ultimate simp who checked in with a goddess every morning and night and asked if she wanted milk tea!
Qin Shi couldn't help adding "masochistic pervert" to the labels "rich sister from Tai'an" and "damned woman."
"Maybe not."
He put on a polite, professional smile and declined.
Was she kidding? He still had a part-time job as a server at the Midnight Palace!
Why pass up two or three hundred yuan in guaranteed tips just to eat at her place?
Women?
Heh.
They'd only slow him down at work!
"You've been busy all day. You still need to eat."
Lin Yunqing knew Qin Shi was immune to her charms. Seeing that he still wasn't staying, she tried another approach.
"I'll open a few cans of high-energy food made by the United Group. After we eat, I'll drive you home."
High-energy food?
Qin Shi paused mid-step, like a student held hostage by a relative's red envelope over the New Year.
"Teacher Lin has a point. It's not like I have anything urgent to do. Since I'm already here, I might as well give it a try."
The corridor-style buildings behind No. 9 Vocational Middle School had once served as staff housing for teachers and employees.
Most of the residents had moved out by now, into the family housing complex with more space and heating.
The area had since fallen into disuse. From outside, only a few scattered lights flickered, unable to pierce the thick darkness of the night.
As usual, Old Liang carried a liquor bottle that was more than half empty. Through the glass, the label "Beicang" was faintly visible.
He held on to the stair railing and slowly hauled himself up.
The fifth-floor corridor was pitch-black, lined with a number of single-room apartments.
A cool night breeze blew through, making the clotheslines sway from side to side. At a glance, it looked like something out of an old ghost movie.
Old Liang pulled out his flattened Limin cigarette pack and took out the last cigarette. He lowered his head and held it between his lips, but didn't light it.
"I thought that, with your spineless nature, you'd never dare face me again for the rest of your life."
He spoke toward the man at the end of the corridor, hidden in the shadows.
"Teacher, I'm sorry."
Cheng Ze took a few steps forward, then stopped short.
This man, the boss of North Pass Street, looked like a student who'd done something wrong—awkward and uneasy.
"Sorry? Ha! Hahaha! After all these years, Cheng Ze, how come you're still as spineless as ever?"
Old Liang took the cigarette from his lips. His eyes stayed fixed on Cheng Ze in the shadows as he continued to laugh.
"What do you have to apologize to me for? You studied at No. 9 Vocational Middle School. You were strong and talented, so I was willing to teach you a few outdated tricks.
"You paid tuition, I taught you skills. It was just business. Later, you went down the wrong path and started hanging around with a bunch of punks. You got expelled for fighting. That had nothing to do with me, your PE teacher."
Cheng Ze lowered his head, his shoulders trembling slightly. Not a trace remained of the tough, fearsome air that usually made people think twice about provoking him.
"You never wronged me. Between us, it was just a cripple who'd once had his day spotting a poor kid from a similar background and foolishly hoping to raise him from a sapling into a fine man.
"The ones you wronged were your parents, who raised you. One drove a truck delivering goods, and the other got up early to set up a street stall. They put you through school.
"Then you relied on your fists, got into fights with those so-called punk brothers of yours, hurt people, and stuck them with thousands in medical bills."
Old Liang's face tightened, as hard and cold as cast iron.
"When you were detained, you never saw your parents kneeling and kowtowing to beg for mercy. While you were in the hospital, they came every day to feed you, clean you up, and bring you food, all to save money on hiring a nurse.
"You also never knew that your parents went to the principal with ingratiating smiles, carrying local specialties and waiting along the teachers' routes home, hoping to give them a gift so the school wouldn't expel you.
"Cheng Ze, your father used to be a foreman at a quarry. He was tall and strong, with plenty of strength in his arms. But for your sake, he knelt outside the principal's office and let his son break the back he'd kept straight all his life."
Cheng Ze's eyes reddened. He opened and closed his mouth, but couldn't force out a single word.
"Take down a whole street and win riches with guts! Boss Ze of North Pass Street—what a legend!
"You ran ships with your relatives, fought for a boss, got involved in a murder case, and went to prison... When the punks of Old Factory Street bring it up, who doesn't give you a thumbs-up? They praise Brother Ze for being loyal and brave!"
Old Liang held his liquor and cigarette, his gaze like a sharp knife carving into flesh.
"To support his family, your father went to work as a long-haul driver, staying awake for days at a time. His truck overturned in a ditch in Wuxiang.
"While you were in prison, your mother got up early to set up her stall, selling fried dough sticks and buns during the day, then gluing paper boxes at a factory at night. She coughed up blood in the freezing cold but wouldn't buy medicine. Every month, she took a passenger bus to visit you, bringing you clothes and food.
"Boss Ze, I heard you work security at the Midnight Palace, and you spend several thousand a night just opening bottles.
"If your parents could see how successful you've become, I'm sure they'd rest easy!"
Old Liang's eyes glowed like red-hot coals. Cheng Ze couldn't bear to meet them.
After a long while, all he could manage was a murmur.
"Teacher, if you're born here and want to get ahead, I had no other way."
The words slipped out before he could stop them. It was as if Cheng Ze had seized hold of his surging thoughts again; his voice grew urgent.
"I've been to Smoke City and Zhoucheng. They weren't like this! Do you know, Teacher? The guy across the hall from my family, Old Sun, burned his hand tending a boiler. There was no treatment, so they amputated it. He tried to make a living hauling coal, but got crushed to death!
"My dad was laid off. Every day, he went out with a sign in his hands and asked me to write on it! 'Cleaning!' 'Window washing!' 'Painting!'
"Neighbor Aunt Xu got sick. Her daughter went to work at a hair salon, and people gossiped about her. She took poison and died on New Year's Eve!
"I watched with my own eyes as they covered her with a white sheet, put her on a stretcher, and loaded her into a vehicle... Teacher, rich people in the Metropolitan Area could go to Central City for treatment if they lost a hand or a foot. They could get prosthetics fitted.
"They used touchscreen phones, their computers could connect to the internet, and there were cinemas on the streets that sold soda and popcorn..."
Cheng Ze clenched his jaw. Some light returned to his eyes as he stared straight at Old Liang.
"I wanted that kind of life too! I didn't want to keep struggling in the mire of Old Factory Street! In those years, I didn't just fight for the boss; I collected debts for him too.
"I burned down other people's houses. Those who wouldn't pay had their hands and feet broken. Those who couldn't repay their debts got beaten into concrete lumps... When you taught me to box, you told me the punks of Old Factory Street were like wild dogs, hoping to become house dogs and gnaw on scraps.
"But if you wanted to be kept, you had to know how to bite. The harder you bit, the more loyal you were, and the more your master liked you."
Old Liang sighed softly. The tension in his face eased.
"That's your way of being a dog. You don't need to explain it to an old cripple like me.
"I'd rather have a harder life. At least I can stand up straight for a while."
Cheng Ze retreated into the dark shadow and turned his head away, avoiding the limping man who had taught him, hand over hand, how to hold his guard and practice Standing Post.
He changed the subject.
"Teacher. I've seen A Shi. He's much better than me."
Old Liang nodded, as though he understood what Cheng Ze meant.
"He studied hard, got into a school in the Metropolitan Area, worked part-time to save up money, and signed up for my tutoring class. He learned how to fight, but had no desire to compete in the ring... A Shi is better than you, and better than me too.
"When I was learning the art, my master told me that people in Old Martial Arts had fiery tempers, as if they carried a blade in their chest and drew it at the slightest trouble, always needing to see blood.
"That was both a good thing and a bad thing. I couldn't control it, so I ended up crippled. You couldn't bear it, so you became a dog."
Cheng Ze gave a quiet "Mm" and didn't argue.
"Some time ago, after I returned to Old Factory Street, I kept thinking about seeing you.
"These years, I've run ships, fought in the ring, gone to prison, and gotten out. It wasn't as glorious as people make it sound. I've had plenty of desperate moments too, with enemies chasing me for blocks, trying to hack me to pieces.
"I'm not afraid of anything. I just worry that I'll die somewhere far from home, with no one to collect my body."
Old Liang rubbed the shredded tobacco between his fingertips and held it beneath his nose to smell.
"Don't worry. I ate plenty of free breakfasts from your mother back then. If that day comes, I'll take your urn to Changshan Cemetery."
Cheng Ze smiled silently.
"Thank you, Teacher. I know you look down on me. Not wanting to struggle and live in poverty isn't a reason to become a punk and bite people.
"But if I had to do it all over again, I think I'd still take this path. Maybe I'd do it differently, just to give my parents a few good days.
"When you're stuck in the mire and want to climb out and wash yourself clean, it's too hard."
Old Liang said nothing.
Cheng Ze moved to the other stairwell entrance.
"The Big Boss's son is planning to take over the redevelopment project in Old Factory Street. Turning No. 9 Vocational Middle School into a Sports Academy was his idea too.
"Brother Hao is a domineering man. Teacher, bear with him if you can and don't pick a fight. He may not be willing to do me any favors."
Old Liang gave a self-mocking smile.
"What can a cripple like me do against anyone? If he wants the school, he can have it. The Yancheng Qin Family is powerful enough to cover the sky with one hand. I've heard their name. I know better than to cross them."
Cheng Ze nodded.
"Brother Hao has big plans. He wants to build a Sports Academy to train his enforcers, then get into the shipping business and swallow up the entire industrial zone in the Dangyang Eastern Suburbs."
Old Liang sneered.
"Being the local king of Smoke City isn't enough for him? He's reaching this far, trying to take a bite out of the Metropolitan Area's pie? They say, 'Chen Lin half the world, Qin Zheng fill the streets.' The Qin family of Smoke City and the Zheng family of Zhoucheng are still overshadowed by the Chen and Lin families. With an appetite that big, he'd better watch out or he'll break his teeth!"
Cheng Ze lit a cigarette and smoked it in silence.
He bowed to Old Liang, then turned to leave.
"Goodbye, Teacher."
Old Liang's voice carried down the corridor, reaching the other end:
"You should retire if you can, A-Ze. I heard the old master say that in ancient times, wealthy families kept dogs to guard the house. Once they got too old to be useful, they were slaughtered and their meat divided up."
Cheng Ze didn't stop or look back.
A moment later, he climbed into the car waiting downstairs, its headlights piercing the darkness ahead.
"Where'd that high-beam bastard come from?"
Qin Shi glanced back at the speeding car and muttered under his breath, then headed toward the staff dormitory with his bag slung over his shoulder.
Thud, thud, thud—he took several steps at a time, racing upstairs.
"Master Liang! My Life Force went up again!"
In the end, Old Liang held back and didn't light the Limin cigarette.
Looking at Qin Shi, who'd come all the way here late at night, a genuine smile appeared on his face.
"Come inside and tell me."
Before you continue