Joining the Martial Arts Team

Shanhai High School.

In a classroom for first-year junior high students.

Lin Zichen was sitting in class, but his heart wasn't in the lecture, nor was he looking at his textbook; his mind was entirely occupied by yesterday's events.

He thought of the Rat God Cult and felt it was a security risk he would need to be careful about in the future.

He thought of the female Mechanical Cyborg's Laser Cannon and realized how weak he still was. Fortunately, he was young, and with the support of the three attributes—Use-Disuse Evolution, Heavenly Human Wisdom Root, and Survival of the Fittest—his growth potential was greater than anyone else's.

He thought of the Ghost Shadow Squid's illustrated handbook, pondering how to make money to fill the progress bar and unlock some of the Ghost Shadow Squid's abilities.

School scholarships?

Prize money from various student competitions?

What else?

Were there any other sources of income?

The price of Ghost Shadow Squid meat was too high; at his current rate of earnings, how many years and months would it take to fill the progress bar?

He had to find a way to increase his income.

Become a straight-A student influencer?

No, that would be too flashy.

Start a technical side hustle?

That didn't seem right either; he was already busy enough with his studies and training, leaving him no time to spare.

Was there any side hustle that could earn money without interfering with his studies and training?

Forget it, no use thinking about it. Three cobblers are better than one Zhuge Liang; he would ask the knowledgeable netizens.

With that thought, Lin Zichen took out his phone, opened the forum, and posted a thread.

[Seeking advice: How can a junior high student quickly earn 100,000 yuan without affecting their studies?]

Perhaps the title was too outrageous, as it quickly attracted a flurry of enthusiastic comments from netizens.

First floor: You can find anything in your dreams.

Second floor: I suggest studying the criminal law.

Third floor: You could join the school's Martial Arts Team and compete. I have a friend who earned nearly 300,000 yuan in prize money over his six years of junior and senior high; I was so envious.

300,000 yuan in prize money?

That much?

Lin Zichen was a bit surprised and immediately exited the forum to open his browser, searching for information on martial arts competitions.

He searched for local events in Shanhai City.

After browsing the results for a while, he learned that the city held various martial arts exchange tournaments during every winter and summer break.

These were primarily aimed at junior and senior high school students.

He looked up specific competition details and found that the netizen on the forum hadn't been bragging; the prize money was indeed quite generous.

There was a Junior High Nine-School League in the city where the first-place school could receive a prize of up to 50,000 yuan.

Even after it was split up, the core competitors could still walk away with at least several thousand yuan.

For a junior high student, that was already a significant amount of money.

The key was that the competition didn't last long, taking at most three days to a week.

Earning several thousand yuan in just a few days was practically like scooping up money with a sack.

Most importantly, practicing martial arts could strengthen his body; it was a win-win for earning money and evolving.

The school happens to have a Martial Arts Team; I'll go check it out after school this afternoon, Lin Zichen thought to himself.

Not long after.

With the ringing of the bell, the morning classes finally came to an end.

As soon as class ended, the students in the classroom left one after another to head to the cafeteria for lunch.

Some who lived nearby went home to eat.

Others who had signed up for nearby lunch programs went there to eat.

Lin Zichen and Shen Qinghan were a bit different; both of them brought their own meals from home and only needed to take their lunchboxes to the teachers' office to heat them up in the microwave.

This was one of the privileges Lin Zichen had earned after winning numerous honors for the school.

As his closest childhood friend, Shen Qinghan was fortunate enough to share in this privilege.

"Xiao Chen, try this, it's super delicious."

Shen Qinghan placed an egg roll into Lin Zichen's lunchbox, her expression natural; it was clear she was no longer dwelling on the embarrassing incident that had happened in the car yesterday.

Lin Zichen tasted the egg roll and nodded, "It really is delicious."

"Then take a guess, who made it?"

"Do you want me to guess if I'm going to guess?"

"Stop playing word games, just hurry up and guess!"

"You made it."

"You guessed right!" Shen Qinghan beamed, her smile as bright as a flower.

She then rested her chin in one hand, looking at Lin Zichen with watery, sparkling eyes as she asked:

"Xiao Chen, I've already started learning how to cook from my mom. How about I cook for you every day from now on?"

"Sure."

Lin Zichen smiled and replied.

Before long, the two finished their meal.

While heading out to wash their lunchboxes, Lin Zichen ran into the Martial Arts Team coach in the hallway outside the classroom.

"Student Zichen, what a coincidence?"

As soon as Guo Xiangyuan saw Lin Zichen, he walked over with a beaming smile to strike up a conversation.

He had been waiting by the hallway for a long time, specifically waiting for Lin Zichen to finish his meal and come out.

The reason he had gone to such lengths to stage a "chance encounter" was to avoid being as abrupt as he was yesterday, which might have left a bad impression on Lin Zichen.

He believed that for a sports genius like Lin Zichen, he had to take the initiative and recruit him into the Martial Arts Team as soon as possible, so as not to waste even a single day of martial arts training.

Every day wasted was a crime against nature, worthy of being struck down by lightning.

"Teacher Guo, I was just looking for you."

Originally, Lin Zichen had intended to head over to the gymnasium after school, but since he had already run into Guo Xiangyuan, he decided to just get the information about the Martial Arts Team out of the way now.

Upon hearing this, Guo Xiangyuan was taken aback for a moment, then his face lit up with excitement:

"Are you looking to learn more about the Martial Arts Team?"

"Yes."

Lin Zichen nodded.

Hearing this, Guo Xiangyuan stepped forward with great enthusiasm and said with a chuckle:

"Ask me anything you like. As long as I know the answer, I will explain it all to you."

And so, over the next while, Lin Zichen asked a series of questions.

About the city-wide martial arts tournament.

About the prize money for the competition.

About the strength of the various school martial arts teams, and so on.

Guo Xiangyuan patiently answered every one of these questions for him.

Shen Qinghan, standing to the side, saw that the two seemed to be in for a long conversation, so she quietly took Lin Zichen's lunchbox to wash it along with her own, choosing not to disturb them.

About half an hour later.

The two in the hallway finally finished their chat.

Lin Zichen verbally agreed to join the Martial Arts Team, saying he would head to Gymnasium Room C after school to take a look.

He then turned and headed back into the classroom.

It was currently the lunch break, and the classroom was mostly empty.

At a glance, there were only about a dozen students left who weren't napping and were instead studying hard.

The diligent and studious Shen Qinghan was one of them.

Lin Zichen walked to his seat, sat down, took out his headphones, and put them on. He searched for a bunch of videos on his phone regarding martial arts tournaments to get a feel for how the competition process worked.

Beside him, Shen Qinghan was hunched over, working through test papers, her brows furrowing and relaxing by turns.

About half an hour later.

Shen Qinghan finally finished the problems.

With a great sense of Achievement, she put away her test papers, turned, and tapped Lin Zichen on the shoulder, wanting to talk to him.

Lin Zichen took off his headphones and looked at her, asking:

"Finished the test papers?"

"All done."

"Not bad. You finished in under an hour this time; you're making progress."

"Well, of course. Even if I'm not as smart as you, Xiao Chen, I'm still pretty smart."

Shen Qinghan felt a little smug.

Then, she curiously asked Lin Zichen:

"By the way, Xiao Chen, are you going to join the school's Martial Arts Team?"

"Mm, I've already joined verbally."

"If that's the case, will I be able to watch you compete in the future?"

"I suppose so."

Hearing this, Shen Qinghan beamed, her beautiful eyes curving into crescents as she said, "Then I'll be your little fangirl from now on, cheering for you in the stands every day, okay?"

"Sure," Lin Zichen said with a smile.

No sooner had he finished speaking than Shen Qinghan let out a huge yawn, looking completely drowsy.

Seeing this, Lin Zichen went up to the podium, brought down a chair, pushed it against the one Shen Qinghan was sitting on, and said to her:

"There's still a little over half an hour left for lunch break, so take a nap if you're tired."

"Mm, then I'll sleep for a bit. Remember to wake me up when it's almost time."

After saying this, Shen Qinghan curled up like a little kitten, lying on her side across the two chairs, resting her head on Lin Zichen's lap, and fell asleep almost immediately with her eyes closed.

Lin Zichen grabbed a small blanket and covered her with it.

He then put on his headphones and continued watching the martial arts competition videos on his phone.

Whether it was a dream or something else, Shen Qinghan, who had only just fallen asleep, moved her rosy, cherry-like lips and murmured softly:

"Xiao Chen..."

"I got into the high school division of Shanhai High School through my own hard work..."

"And we're still desk mates..."

PS: Setting out my bowl, begging for monthly tickets and recommendation tickets!