Sky

"You said you wanted to learn qigong?"

Shen Jianping took the flyer, glanced over it, then set it aside.

After all, it was the same flyer he'd brought home a few days ago.

"I'm learning boxing."

Chen Chong replied.

"It's the same thing."

Shen Jianping's brow furrowed.

Qigong was what people of his generation liked to call it.

These days, people more often called it combat arts—or, more traditionally, martial arts.

Thanks to the development of biotechnology in this world, along with its inherent strangeness, accomplished fighters could display a level of power comparable to the "qigong masters" of his previous life—

Except that most of those in his previous life were frauds. This world was different.

The renowned martial arts universities, the combat sports departments at prestigious schools, the martial arts halls and boxing clubs found everywhere, the action stars on television, and the gang enforcers—the Red Sticks who could smash cars with their bare hands—

They all showed that there was something real about the fighters in this world, something Chen Chong didn't yet understand.

Even frauds could become internet celebrities and rake in money. Real skill was worth even more.

Accomplished fighters here could open their own schools and take on students, teach at universities, or become combat stars. Any of these could be a career, and a pretty good one at that—

Of course, that was assuming they could make it.

Chen Chong hadn't planned on taking this path. Compared with studying, even the most basic cost of training in martial arts was substantial, let alone classes, tutoring, equipment, supplements, and all the rest. The poor could afford books, but the rich could afford martial arts. His circumstances weren't suited to it.

But social divisions in this world were even more pronounced than in his previous life. Even the college entrance exam had become a hollow formality.

Despite the decades of academic knowledge he'd brought with him, Chen Chong had found he couldn't break through that barrier.

The son of a laborer, no matter how good his grades, still had to go work in a factory.

But just now, he'd received a gift.

Shen Jianping hesitated, then said slowly:

"Chen Chong, I brought that flyer home to tease Dongzi."

A few days earlier, on his way home from work, he'd passed a newly opened boxing gym on the street corner. They were handing out flyers offering free room and board to the first ten students.

Shen Jianping had casually taken one. When he got home, he'd used it to scare Shen Dong, threatening to send him to the boxing gym as an apprentice to get beaten if he didn't study hard. Shen Dong had hit the books for one whole evening—just one.

Chen Chong nodded.

"I know, Uncle. But I want to give it a try. It's free, anyway."

"The first ten spots must have been filled already. Besides, look at you..."

Shen Jianping frowned as he looked at his nephew.

His complexion was fair, like the Chen family's. His face was unremarkable, but his eyes were bright and calm, giving him a composure unusual for someone his age.

He really was mature and sensible. Though the couple had never shorted him on food, he never ate more than his younger siblings.

Especially when Shen Dong had first been born, Chen Chong had given any nutritious food to his younger siblings and aunt. He'd only been seven himself.

That had left him a little thin, and he hadn't grown very tall. His jawline was sharply defined.

This frail-looking nephew wanted to learn boxing...

Shen Jianping lowered his eyes and picked up his cigarette pack again.

"I don't think—"

Click.

Chen Chong took the flint lighter and lit his uncle's cigarette.

He set the lighter down and said calmly:

"Uncle, you didn't want me to take the entrance exam, and I listened to you because I thought the same way.

"But this is my own business, after all. You should at least talk to me first.

"Like you said, I'm an adult now. From here on, I should make my own decisions."

Shen Jianping looked up at once.

Through the curling smoke, Chen Chong's face was slightly blurred.

Only his eyes remained clear and piercing.

Shen Jianping slowly raised his hand and took a deep drag on his cigarette.

Chen Chong smiled again.

"I'll go take a look in a bit. Winter break is still long, and there's no harm in trying. Uncle, you're not going to kick me out right now, are you?"

Shen Jianping kept a stern face.

"That's fine, then. But let me make this clear: if there aren't any free spots left, the family won't pay your tuition."

"Okay."

Chen Chong answered and went straight back to his room. He put on his gray padded coat, told Chen Liping in the kitchen he was heading out, then pushed open the door.

Clunk.

After the door closed, Chen Liping turned around, her brow furrowed into a deep crease.

"Jianping, you're really letting Chong'er learn boxing? It's dangerous. What if he gets hurt? My second brother only has one son..."

Shen Jianping said nothing. He just picked up the flyer again and studied it with a furrowed brow.

"Is there an easier job at the factory? Hurry and ask Old Li."

Chen Liping walked over and nudged Shen Jianping's shoulder.

He still didn't react. Annoyed, Chen Liping slapped him and snapped:

"What, you're not saying anything? Then I'll have him help out at the shop! And don't tell me a small shop doesn't need the help! Feeding one more person won't cost much."

"You'll ruin him if you do that."

Shen Jianping finally responded.

"Then what do you suggest? You want him to go to the boxing gym and hang around with those drifters? Join a gang and get beaten to death in the street? How am I supposed to explain that to my second brother and sister-in-law? Chong'er's been your child for fourteen years, too. Don't you care about him at all?"

Chen Liping's eyes reddened at once.

"Don't make a scene... The ten free spots are definitely gone by now. In this day and age, do you think he'd still get room and board? If we don't give him money, how's he going to learn boxing? He can't get into the gym."

Shen Jianping was starting to get a headache. He raised his cigarette to his lips, only to realize that the one his nephew had lit for him had already burned out.

He fell silent for a moment, ground out the cigarette in the ashtray, and sighed softly.

"They've all grown up."

Having made up his mind, Shen Jianping stood and walked over to the sofa. He took a breath.

At last, he picked up the phone receiver and dialed.

"Hello, Brother Zhang? It's Shen Jianping. No, I just wanted to ask how that loan you mentioned last time works. Right, the student loan."

Chen Chong descended from the apartment block and walked along the street. Old buildings no more than six stories high stood one after another on either side, packed tightly together. A tangled web of wires crisscrossed overhead, stretching between both sides of the street and ensnaring everyone who lived here.

The city looked much like the turn of the century in his previous life, just like the small town where he'd grown up back then.

In his previous life, Chen Chong had made it from a small town to a top university, stayed on for graduate studies, then worked for several years. During a visit to a museum, he'd seen a jade pendant carved with a hexagonal beast pattern.

It was said to have been made by the ancients in the distant past. Carved into it was Pao Xiao, a fearsome beast from mythology.

The moment he met its lifelike crimson eyes, Chen Chong's mind went blank.

When he came to, his aunt in this life, Chen Liping, was holding him in her arms and weeping.

He'd been four years old. His parents had died in an accident in the Wasteland.

It had taken him a while to accept that he'd crossed into another world, one that was similar to his previous life yet not quite the same.

The human world was made up of Central City, larger than any metropolitan area, the Satellite Cities surrounding it, and, beyond them, the Settlements.

Beyond the Settlements lay an absolute no-go zone: the mysterious, bizarre Wasteland.

Radiation, mutated beasts, catastrophic weather, supernatural events... They said every kind of strange and dangerous thing could be found there.

Once you left the highways connecting the Central Cities, the Wasteland became forbidden territory for humanity.

Chen Chong knew little about the Wasteland. Of course, he knew little about Central City, either.

All he knew was that Central City's technology was more than an era ahead of everywhere else. It was like humanity's shelter, humanity's beacon— the place everyone outside the cities most wanted to reach.

But he hadn't set foot outside Lichuan City in over a decade, let alone made it to Central City. Just like most people in the Satellite Cities.

He'd once thought that simply living a steady life here was already more than he could ask for. But now...

Chen Chong narrowed his eyes as he saw the number before him stop at "17%."

He rubbed his already sunken stomach and felt a surge of longing.

He really shouldn't have asked for more.

Chen Chong lifted his head.

The clouds were thin today. Through the gaps in the tangled wires, he could see the vast, distant sky.

On the day of his second eighteenth birthday, Chen Chong could feel that something had changed.