Reason

"Put this meal on his tab."

Yu Feng wiped his mouth, gave the instruction to the cafeteria lady, and stood up to leave the cafeteria immediately.

Chen Chong didn't find Yu Feng's swift departure unusual; aside from teaching, he had no real interaction with them, and the fact that he had said so much today was already surprising.

Of course, he didn't know that Yu Feng had originally intended to treat him to the meal, only to change his mind shortly after.

The cafeteria lady glanced at the basins on and under the table, her eyelids twitching repeatedly. The amount of food Yu Feng had ordered was already double what he usually ate, but after serving the dishes, she had actually gone back to add more twice.

It could only be said that the calorie-dense nutrient paste had sealed away Chen Chong's true strength, especially since his consumption today had been high and he hadn't eaten real food in a long time.

Even for someone as unfussy as him, nutrient paste was a form of torture, yet he truly needed it. While the lady's cooking was objectively just average, today it gave Chen Chong the feeling of an unprecedented delicacy.

After finishing this meal, the full-body muscle strains caused by unleashing his Breathing Method during the fight and the subsequent reckless venting were already slowly recovering; he figured he would be back to full vitality by tomorrow morning.

And the progress before his eyes...

24%.

One meal was worth more than three days of gnawing on nutrient paste, and this wasn't even fully digested yet; he estimated it would increase by another two percent later on.

Just as Chen Chong was feeling satisfied with the progress picking up speed again, the cafeteria lady walked over with the bill.

His expression immediately turned strange.

This single meal had actually consumed a full month's quota for an Official Fighter.

The cafeteria benefits for an Official Fighter really weren't as good as they were cracked up to be.

Besides, Yu Feng had eaten a good portion of it, so why was it all on his tab...

Did this mean he would be stuck gnawing on nutrient paste for the next month?

Having just enjoyed a full meal, he found that hard to accept.

Chen Chong's eyes began to flicker.

This was not an era with smooth information flow, or at least, that was the case outside of Central City.

Yet, the news that Zhang Yao's head had been crushed by Chen Chong spread throughout the entire Fighter Dormitory before dawn.

The first reaction of many was to widen their eyes and ask if it was true.

The second question was, who is Chen Chong?

Upon learning he was a newly arrived Warm-up Fighter, their expressions became even more peculiar.

A Warm-up Fighter on his first time in the ring had blown up the head of a guy like Zhang Yao?

It was truly baffling.

Regardless of whether they were happy or not, most people in the Fighter Dormitory remembered the name, and a few hours later, they gained an even more intuitive impression of it.

Early morning, second-floor cafeteria.

A burly man with shoulder-length curly hair held a tray and rushed excitedly toward the hot food section:

"Big sister, serve me up! Sweet potato porridge! Fill it up!"

However, the lady glanced at him, her eyelids drooping:

"Your share is already gone."

"Huh?"

The man looked stunned:

"Gone? No, wait, isn't Zhang Yao already dead?"

The lady gestured with her chin toward the area behind him.

The man turned around and saw a stack of steamed buns, fried dough sticks, a basin of stir-fried meat, and a bucket of porridge in an inconspicuous corner.

Why was all the food over there? Was it an offering for Zhang Yao?

No, wait, there was someone behind it... oh, three people.

Only one was eating, while the other two looked extremely uneasy, especially as every fighter in the cafeteria cast their gaze, intentionally or otherwise, toward that side.

"That's Chen Chong..."

"Right, the one who killed Zhang Yao last night."

Hearing the faint, murmuring discussions around him, the man's face shifted for a moment before he threw his tray down in frustration and went to grab two tubes of nutrient paste:

"Damn it, it was like this before Zhang Yao died, and it's still like this after he died—doesn't that mean he died for nothing?"

"Eat up. If you don't eat, I'm going to finish it all. I'm not joking."

Chen Chong drank a bowl of hot sweet potato porridge, set the bowl down, and said to Wang Li and Liu Hetao.

"I—I'm full."

Wang Li hissed, then glared at the restless Liu Hetao.

Although he felt that Chen Chong had returned to normal today and no longer possessed that chilling aura from last night that made people afraid to meet his gaze, the problem was that this wasn't his spoils of war, and he felt embarrassed to eat more than his own share. He had already been saved once; was he supposed to freeload again? Chen Chong might be generous, but he had to know his place.

Furthermore, with those red eyes in the surroundings staring fiercely at this spot, he felt like he was sitting on pins and needles, unable to eat his fill.

Just as he was thinking this, a burly man at a table in the distance suddenly stood up and strode straight toward the corner.

The movements of everyone in the cafeteria slowed slightly, all thinking to themselves, "Here it comes."

Seeing who the first person to stir up trouble was, many fighters wore expressions of amusement.

Wang Li and Liu Hetao felt the man's aggressive momentum and their expressions changed; Liu Hetao, who was holding his bowl with both hands, even subconsciously shifted his butt to the side, moving further away from Chen Chong and the man's gaze.

Chen Chong, however, focused on his meal as if he hadn't noticed a thing. His expression was almost devout; after all, every bit of food here represented his own strength and could not be wasted.

The man with shoulder-length curly hair walked up to them, stood with his arms crossed, and looked down at Chen Chong from a height.

Yet, after a long while, Chen Chong still showed no intention of acknowledging him, continuing to eat as if nothing were wrong, which made the man unable to hold back any longer.

Bang! He slammed a fist onto the table.

The bucket containing the porridge rippled with white waves, splashing a bit out and landing right on Chen Chong's sleeve.

Chen Chong's hand paused, and he finally looked up at the man with the perm.

The man snorted and said in a strange tone:

"My bad, didn't think the bucket was so full—after all, one person usually can't eat this much."

"I can."

Chen Chong wiped his sleeve with a napkin and raised his eyes to look at the man opposite him.

The man was choked up for a moment. He subconsciously wanted to retort, "Are you a bottomless pit?", but looking into Chen Chong's eyes, he ultimately didn't say it.

He just curled his lip:

"But this isn't the portion you alone should have."

"This originally belonged to Zhang Yao, but now it's mine."

The man frowned:

"Zhang Yao took it from everyone else too. Since he's dead, you should return it to everyone now."

Chen Chong smiled:

"Why didn't you say that when he was alive? Don't tell me you think I'm easier to bully than him?"

The man paused:

"That's not what I meant."

"Good."

Chen Chong began to eat slowly and methodically again.

A flash of anger appeared on the man's face:

"I'm not done talking! Are you going to return it or not?"

"No."

"You! You're actually even more arrogant than Zhang Yao."

"Reason? What kind of reason?"

Chen Chong shook his head:

"I am a very reasonable person, it's just that I follow the reason of this place. Last night, Zhang Yao tried to reason with me and failed, which is why he died."

Last night, Li Xiaoguang had taught Chen Chong a lesson with his own life.

In a lawless place like the Wasteland, one cannot survive while holding onto the mindset of the city.

Yu Feng had told them the way of survival here on the first day of class, but unfortunately, it took a huge price for them to truly understand.

A strange look flashed in the eyes of the man with the perm; he hadn't expected this newcomer to have such a profound grasp of reality so quickly.

No wonder he was able to kill Zhang Yao.

However, the "reason" in the Wasteland was never something you could just talk out, especially since not many people were present last night; the people in this building all needed to see it with their own eyes. He nodded slowly:

"In that case, let's go to the training room. I want to see if you have the qualifications to say such things."

"Wouldn't it have been better to say your lines sooner? You went through such a big circle, and now my bun is cold."

Chen Chong put down his bowl, clapped his hands, and said to Wang Li:

"Ask the lady to heat this up, I'll be back to eat in a moment."

Wang Li was stunned and subconsciously asked:

"Heat it for how long?"

"Three minutes."

The people around them suddenly went quiet, and the man's face turned cold:

"Your tone is even bigger than your appetite. Be careful not to vomit up your yesterday's dinner later!"

Chen Chong just smiled, and soon he and the man walked toward the training room downstairs, with more than half of the people in the cafeteria following them in a stream.

Wang Li rolled his eyes so hard they nearly disappeared into his skull when he saw Liu Hetao sneakily pocket two more steamed buns while no one was looking.

He didn't have time to deal with that, though; he scanned the expressions of the people around him and began quietly asking questions, eventually managing to dig up some real information. He hurried over to Chen Chong, who was warming up as he walked.

"Chen Chong, this one's a tough nut to crack!"

"This guy is named Peng Wei, and he specializes in grappling. They say no one he takes to the ground ever gets back up. A long time ago, when Zhang Yao first started acting arrogant, the two of them had a match. Some say he won that fight... but after finding out about Zhang Yao's connection to the Second Boss, he didn't say anything more about it. You have to be careful!"

Grappling, huh?

Chen Chong looked at the long-limbed, burly man across from him and nodded.

"I will. Thanks, Brother Li."

Wang Li stepped back, still looking worried.

Although Chen Chong had displayed incredible strength, the opponent before him might be even stronger than Zhang Yao.

Besides, even if he wasn't stronger than Zhang Yao, a fighter who specialized in grappling was always dangerous. Even if you were stronger than such an enemy, a single mistake could mean you'd never get back up. Chen Chong had limited experience, after all, and had never faced an opponent like this before.

As he let his thoughts run wild, the fighters surrounding them, three layers deep, began to jeer.

"Peng Wei, wake up! Show the new guy what's what! Otherwise, he'll think everyone here is just like Zhang Yao."

"Go get 'em, Brother Wei! Whether the brothers are stuck eating toothpaste or get to eat real meat depends on you!"

Wang Li wanted to show some support for Chen Chong, but he didn't dare to amidst such a unified roar; it seemed everyone held a deep grudge against the cafeteria's nutritional paste.

He wanted to pull Liu Hetao in to help, but when he glanced around, he had no idea where that kid had run off to.

With no other choice, he could only cautiously pump his fist and mouth the words:

"Chen Chong, kick his ass!"