Preparing to "Deal With" Zhang Haobai

The next day.

The sky was clear and vast, without a single cloud in sight. The unbridled midsummer sun acted like a furnace in the sky, scorching the South Bank Residential District, which was crowded with "concrete pillars."

Shi Fen had not slept all night. He had been hunched over the small table in his room, continuing to solve "Basic Secret Pattern" problems. Whenever he felt tired, he would sink his entire consciousness into the Image World to restore his soul's "energy."

"Thump, thump, thump..."

Urgent knocking came from the living room.

Shi Fen smiled slightly. He had been waiting for Luo Feng all night. He had expected him to come over in the evening, but he hadn't expected him to hold out until early morning before finally arriving.

As expected of the Child of the Plane, this temperament is truly excellent. If it were me back then, I definitely wouldn't have been able to hold back for a whole night.

Shi Fen put down his pen and paper, stood up, and went to open the door for Luo Feng.

"Brother Shi Fen, you really are my own brother! Did you know all along that joining the Martial Arts Hall came with special treatment, and that's why you provoked me like that yesterday?"

As soon as Luo Feng entered, he grabbed Shi Fen's shoulders and shook him frantically, "interrogating" him.

Shi Fen let Luo Feng shake his shoulders, asking back nonchalantly, "Heh, if I had told you before the college entrance exam, would you have been able to study properly?"

"Uh..." Luo Feng stopped "tossing" Shi Fen around, suddenly at a loss for words.

Shi Fen straightened his hair slightly, cleared his throat, and continued, "Cough, think about it. If you get a good score but choose to become a martial artist instead of going to college, wouldn't your former classmates admire you even more?

Besides, I didn't even take the college entrance exam."

After speaking, Shi Fen struck a cool, flashy pose.

Seeing his good brother acting like a clown, Luo Feng felt like he was going to vomit. "Alright, alright, I know you're a genius who looks down on the knowledge we study. Stop striking these weird poses to gross me out. If you keep posing, I feel like I'm going to throw up last night's dinner."

Shi Fen sheepishly retracted his pose.

As someone with a very mature mind, Shi Fen would sometimes do "childish" things based on the situation; he had been disguising himself very well all these years.

"Have you decided on your future plans?" Shi Fen asked Luo Feng with a mysterious smile on his face.

Luo Feng's expression turned serious. After a moment of contemplation, he replied, "I thought about it for a long time last night before deciding."

"Oh? Let's hear it." Shi Fen became interested.

Luo Feng smiled brightly, looking as if he were under no pressure, and said easily, "I've decided to become a martial artist! Although the future in a military academy is stable and safe, it's too hard to earn 30 billion within the military system.

Instructor Jiang Nian said my talent for martial arts is excellent. I only need to hone myself in the Wilderness Area for a few years to become a War General. By then, earning 30 billion will just be a matter of time."

"As expected of my brother, truly impressive! What spirit!" Shi Fen praised without reservation.

In reality, Shi Fen was overjoyed inside. He was standing from a "God's perspective," knowing every detail about Luo Feng's "martial artist life" on Earth.

Ever since his last mistake, Shi Fen had become much more rigorous in his speech and demeanor.

With a blessing smile on his face, Shi Fen continued, "Haha, brother, once you pass the martial artist assessment, I will gift you a blade forged by my own hands. This is my gift to you as a martial artist."

Luo Feng looked at Shi Fen in surprise, disbelieving, "You can also manufacture martial artist weapons?"

"Haha, the craftsmanship is the same; it's just a matter of changing the materials. I can't hammer Kro Alloy, but forging Blue Gold is no problem. With my skills, I won't brag about anything too high-end, but a weapon made of Blue Gold will at least last you a few years."

Shi Fen spoke as if it were an insignificant matter, unable to muster any real interest.

"Wow! That's great! I've been craving your craftsmanship for a long time. I didn't expect that becoming a martial artist would allow me to use a weapon made by your own hands. Once I earn money with it, I'll pay you back for the materials and treat you to a big meal, hahaha."

Luo Feng excitedly lunged at Shi Fen, giving him a big "bear hug." Caught off guard, Luo Feng squeezed Shi Fen so hard he couldn't breathe. Shi Fen pretended to be out of breath, which was naturally an act.

Shi Fen pretended to struggle, saying irritably, "If you squeeze any harder, you'll strangle your blacksmith to death!"

Luo Feng sheepishly let go, embarrassed, "Can you customize the patterns? I've been thinking about that for a long time."

Shi Fen rolled his eyes helplessly and said, "Wait until you become a martial artist. Customized weapons for martial artists are very complex, and it will be my first time doing it. When the time comes, go to the forging room, and I will tailor it to your usage habits."

Luo Feng's eyes shone like two bright lamps. The more he heard, the more excited he became, nodding repeatedly in his agitation, fearing he might "offend" the blacksmith, acting incredibly "respectful."

Customized martial artist weapons were extremely high-end items that ordinary martial artists could not access.

This kind of weapon was like a custom-made suit. It fit perfectly with one's own body; not only was it comfortable to wear, but the style and design were also to one's liking.

For Luo Feng, a customized weapon was the highest-grade "toy."

The thing most suitable for him to "play with."

Luo Feng quietly glanced at Shi Fen's desk. Seeing it piled high with data and calculation papers, he knew Shi Fen was busy, so he immediately said, "Brother, you're busy, I won't disturb you anymore. I'll head out first. I need to hurry to the Martial Arts Hall to fully master my recently surged strength."

"Mm, go ahead." Shi Fen nodded.

Having received Shi Fen's reply, Luo Feng got up and left.

Seeing that no one was around, Shi Fen drew the curtains and stored all the data on the desk into his World Ring. He hid the "Black Mirror" in the corner, entered the Treasure Refining World, and then entered the prefab house within his Inner World.

Adjusting the gravity, he continued to study the Basic Secret Patterns.

After a month and a half of adaptation, Shi Fen could now study and live normally under 3 times gravity. While comprehending the Basic Secret Patterns, his strength was also slowly progressing.

Shi Fen found the knack and officially began to comprehend the Basic Secret Patterns. In less than a month, he had fully mastered 546 types of "two-dimensional" Basic Secret Patterns and 1 type of "three-dimensional" Basic Secret Pattern.

There were 3,000 types of "two-dimensional" Basic Secret Patterns in total. Once in the zone, Shi Fen could now handle about 25 a day. He estimated that in at most 3 more months, he would be able to fully master all 3,000 "two-dimensional" Basic Secret Patterns.

The "three-dimensional" Basic Secret Patterns were merely "small upgrade versions" of the "two-dimensional" ones. Shi Fen had studied them; for the first and simplest "three-dimensional" Basic Secret Pattern, combined with the over one hundred "two-dimensional" patterns he had already mastered, Shi Fen had finished it in less than an hour.

Regarding this result, Shi Fen felt very strange. Because at this rate, he would be able to fully comprehend the Basic Secret Pattern diagrams in about a year.

This did not quite align with "common sense." The predictions made by his teacher should not have been so far off the mark. His teacher had given him a three-year "limit," a timeframe that must have been calculated with precision, making it unlikely to be wrong.

Shi Fen felt that the final 360 types of Secret Patterns must be the most difficult part, and they should be extremely time-consuming.

Regarding the simplest Secret Patterns, Shi Fen could only stare blankly, unable to do anything; attempting to comprehend them was completely impossible.

Knowing that the Secret Patterns might be difficult, Shi Fen studied day after day, casting aside everything he could in his daily life to focus frantically on comprehending the Basic Secret Patterns.

He entered a "frenzied" state once again, ignoring the affairs of the world and concerning himself only with the Basic Secret Patterns.

On the day the college entrance exam results were released, Shi Fen was particularly curious and checked Luo Feng's scores. Luo Feng's results were much higher than in the original story, a full 63 points above the undergraduate cutoff.

Shi Fen knew Luo Feng's strength well; his actual exam performance was even better than Shi Fen had estimated. This exceeded Shi Fen's expectations, and he felt quite surprised.

Shi Fen felt very proud of these results; after all, he was Luo Feng's tutor.

It was evident just how important a good tutor was for improving academic performance.

July 1st.

This was the day of Luo Feng's prospective martial artist assessment.

To prevent any accidents, Shi Fen stayed in his bedroom studying the Basic Secret Patterns rather than remaining in the shed within his Inner World. He knew what was going to happen today.

Yet, he could not prevent anything in advance.

He could only wait quietly for the situation to unfold and be ready to react at any moment.

At noon.

A text message from Luo Feng disrupted Shi Fen's "problem-solving" work.

"I beat up Zhang Haobai again, uh, plus a few of his bodyguards. They hurt my dad, and you know my temper. I'm cooperating with the police now and heading to the station."

"Don't worry about me, I passed the prospective martial artist assessment easily. I'm too embarrassed to trouble Instructor Jiang Nian and the others for help. Anyway, I've passed the assessment, so they can't do anything to me. I'll probably be out in a few days."

"Cough, cough, please look after my family for a few days. My dad was hurt pretty badly and should be at the hospital now. I'll leave it to you, brother."

Shi Fen glanced at the message and immediately replied to Luo Feng.

"Understood. Don't worry, I've got everything covered."

He then quickly left the house and headed to the hospital.

Upon arriving at the hospital, Shi Fen asked the nurse on the first floor for the room number where Luo Hongguo was staying. Lacking the patience to wait for the elevator, he dashed straight up the stairs.

Pushing open the door, he saw Luo Hongguo lying on the bed with his leg wrapped in gauze.

Shi Fen's sharp eyes caught the bloodstains near the gauze, and he asked anxiously, "Godfather, what happened to your leg? How is the wound?"

Seeing that Shi Fen was the first to arrive at the hospital, Luo Hongguo was startled, followed by a warm feeling in his heart; he truly was a worthy godson.

"It's nothing, just some scrapes, I'll be fine in a few days." Luo Hongguo naturally wouldn't tell Shi Fen the truth and brushed it off.

"Understood." Shi Fen replied, saying no more.

Shi Fen went to attend to other matters. He helped fetch water, bought food, and cared for Luo Hongguo alongside Gong Xinlan, who arrived later.

Shi Fen was not someone to be trifled with. He released his spiritual energy and scanned Luo Hongguo from head to toe. He discovered that his godfather had many bruises and soft tissue contusions, with the largest open wound being on his leg.

This was no mere scrape; the wound was both long and deep. It would not heal in a day or two and would require at least several weeks of recovery. This was something that had not happened in the original plot.

While caring for Luo Hongguo, Shi Fen had already decided in his heart to find a time to "educate" Zhang Haobai and his father. With the Eight Trigrams Reincarnation Mirror and his spiritual energy, he would not leave behind any evidence.

That afternoon, Zhang Haobai's father sent a "butler" who offered hypocritical condolences, left 3,000 yuan for "medical expenses," and left the hospital with an expression of extreme disdain after only a few words.

This 3,000 yuan in cash made Shi Fen feel incredibly disgusted, and he tossed it into the hospital's donation box. His godfather had been beaten like this, yet they hadn't even come personally, sending instead some snide person with a measly 3,000 yuan—it was like tossing scraps to a beggar.

"It seems that plan needs to be moved up on the schedule."

Shi Fen calculated secretly, deciding to take action as soon as the heat died down!

That evening, Gong Xinlan stayed at the hospital to keep watch, while Shi Fen returned home to look after Luo Hua.

At noon the next day, Luo Hongguo was discharged and returned home to recuperate.

On this day, Luo Feng, whose strength had greatly increased after awakening his spiritual energy, returned home. Luo Feng had seen his father's injuries before, but seeing Luo Hongguo again with gauze wrappings and a pale complexion, he was still enraged!

If not for Shi Fen holding him back, the furious Luo Feng might have gone to beat up Zhang Haobai again.

Shi Fen did not want Luo Feng to get into any trouble.

He would handle this dirty work himself.