At that moment, Li Jinshui stood at the front of the group, staring down a dozen young men and women as they stared back at him.
After Huang Lichen called him over, he tossed him a yellowed old copy of the Lightning Pulse Step manual, then walked away without looking back.
Li Jinshui was sure he'd done it on purpose.
As the only trainee in this Youth Training Camp class receiving Grade A resources, Li Jinshui was already bound to make people jealous. And now he was making him class monitor and telling him to lead the group in reciting the manual?
Wouldn't that just make them even more jealous?
Old Huang, Old Huang, you've really done a number on me, class monitor.
Everyone here was a Grade B trainee, which meant they'd just graduated from martial arts universities. They hadn't yet been beaten down by society, and every last one of them was arrogant. Would they really listen to someone like me, who hadn't even graduated high school?
Li Jinshui never did anything unless he was sure of success.
As his gaze swept over the group, he could already read all sorts of emotions in their eyes: curiosity, disdain, amusement...
What if he started reading aloud and nobody followed along?
Wouldn't that make him look like a clown?
"Tsk..."
Li Jinshui shook his head, opened the manual in his hands, and began reading it on his own.
The Lightning Pulse Step manual wasn't very long. Besides its breathing method and circulation route, half of it was devoted to hardcore explanations of "how to choose a New National Standard battery," "how many volts of current to release at different acupoints," and "how to prevent current from damaging the meridians."
After flipping through it once from beginning to end, the Heaven Rewards Diligence panel reacted instantly.
[Lightning Pulse Step (Not Started 0/100) (Can Be Upgraded)]
"Huh?"
Li Jinshui paused. The information recorded this time was different; it now had an extra label: "Can Be Upgraded."
Was it because Supervisor Ye had mentioned the sixth-grade Aurora Pulse Step earlier?
Or could this martial art itself break through the limits of its grade?
Then what were the conditions for upgrading it?
Li Jinshui was suddenly very interested. Whatever the reason, this martial art was no ordinary technique and deserved a closer look.
"Hey, are you just going to stand there and read? The instructor told you to lead us. Why don't you read it aloud for us?" someone finally called out from the group, his tone exceedingly flippant.
The others didn't join in. They simply folded their arms and stood watching the show.
Interrupted, Li Jinshui raised his eyes and glanced at him. The boy was unremarkable-looking, his head cocked to one side and impatience written all over his face. His eyes held an undisguised challenge.
"First, my name isn't 'hey.'"
Li Jinshui spoke calmly, snapping the manual shut as he strode toward the boy. "Second, in class, you address people by their titles."
Whoosh!
Before the words had even left his mouth, the qi-blood force beneath Li Jinshui's feet surged!
He blurred into a shadow, the rush of wind accompanying him as he crossed several meters in an instant and appeared right in front of the boy like a ghost!
"What?"
Feeling the fierce gust sweep toward him and suddenly finding Li Jinshui right in front of him, the boy's face changed. He instinctively stumbled backward.
The other trainees looked stunned, too.
The burst of speed Li Jinshui had just displayed showed that he'd trained his Basic Lightness Skill to a profound level—not merely mastered the basics.
But their surprise soon faded.
After all, the people selected for the Youth Training Camp all shared one thing: they came from poor families and were desperate for money.
Without the endless nutritional supplements and medicinal supplements enjoyed by rich kids, they'd still managed to train their Stake Standing to minor mastery during high school. They'd fought their way through the brutal competition to enter martial arts universities and graduated successfully. That alone proved just how exceptional their martial arts talent was.
Although Li Jinshui was a few years younger than them and already had strength on par with theirs, they didn't believe that meant he had greater talent.
Talent had its limits. History had shown that without an enormous pile of resources, no one could achieve minor mastery in Stake Standing and initiate a martial art before the age of seventeen.
So they refused to accept it.
Everyone had an "if" in their heart. If they'd had good conditions back then, they could have done this with ease—and perhaps become even stronger.
In ancient times, scholars looked down on one another. Now, it was martial artists who envied one another.
Li Jinshui had become a Grade A trainee thanks to his age advantage, earning better top-tier resources than they did every week. Now Huang Lichen had appointed him class monitor with a single word, and they were even more disgruntled.
We're a whole group of outstanding university graduates, and we're supposed to take orders from a high schooler?
"Hey, want to compete?" a tall girl suddenly asked, lifting her chin at Li Jinshui with a challenging look.
"Sure." Li Jinshui met her gaze and gave a fearless, mocking smile. "Come out and compete with me in lightness skills!"
"Ha! What's the point of competing in lightness skills? When martial artists spar, they should compare their actual fighting skills," the girl sneered.
"Heh!"
Li Jinshui laughed, clasped his hands behind his back, and raised his chin. He looked every inch the arrogant young master who thought the world of himself. "You want to compare fists and kicks with me? Do you think you're worthy?"
"What do you mean?" The girl's face darkened at once. The insult felt all too familiar.
"Damn it, what's your problem, kid?" the other boys started cursing, too.
"What I mean? Do I really have to spell it out?"
Li Jinshui laughed even more arrogantly, pointing at them and hurling abuse. "You bunch of useless paupers! Do you know who my dad is? Do you know why I came to Daming Technology? Who gave you the nerve to shout at me like this?"
"..."
In an instant, the training hall, which had been seething with indignation, fell utterly silent.
Every trainee who'd been shouting seemed to have their throat squeezed shut, frozen in place.
They seemed to remember something, and a flicker of panic appeared on every face.
Right! To be this strong at his age, he must have been raised on a mountain of top-tier resources. So if he wasn't short on resources, why would he come to the Youth Training Camp?
Damn, they'd picked a rich kid who'd come here to pad his résumé.
His surname was Li, so his father...
They frantically searched their memories. Which senior executives in the Youth Training Camp or the branch company had the surname Li?
The more they thought about it, the more their hearts raced.
This young man seemed like someone they couldn't afford to offend!
"Looks like Old Huang did a good job keeping things under wraps. He didn't expose who I am. No wonder you idiots dared to act so cocky in front of me." Li Jinshui sneered darkly as he sauntered over to the boy who'd challenged him first.
"Smack!"
He arrogantly flung the manual straight into the boy's face, then grabbed him by the collar and pointed a finger at his nose. "Especially you! What the hell did you just call me? Say it again!"
"..."
The boy swallowed with difficulty, avoiding his gaze. Through gritted teeth, he called out in a humiliated whisper, "C-Class... class monitor!"
"So you're already cowering? Useless! Weren't you just telling me to read? You love reading, right?" Li Jinshui yanked him forward again and pointed at the manual on the ground. "Pick it up! I said pick up the manual. Start from the first page and read it aloud for me!"
"Okay, I... I'll read."
Completely cowed by Li Jinshui's arrogance, the boy bent down to pick up the manual, steeling himself.
"And you!"
Without missing a beat, Li Jinshui turned his fire on the girl who'd challenged him. "You're so fond of competing, are you? Come on! I'll give you a chance to compete all you want today. Let's see whose family is richer, whose connections are stronger..."
"Yours are stronger, yours are..."
The girl, who'd been arrogant just a moment ago, changed her tune faster than a page turning. She hugged Li Jinshui's arm and rubbed against it, her face full of ingratiating smiles. "Young Master Li, it was all a misunderstanding. I was only joking."
"Hmph!"
Li Jinshui yanked his arm back. What was the point of rubbing against him when there was barely anything there?
After putting two troublemakers in their place, Li Jinshui surveyed the room with a haughty gaze. He was ready to wrap things up with satisfaction when his eyes landed on another boy.
The boy stood in the front row, meeting his gaze with an unruffled expression.
"Hey, four-eyes, what are you looking at?" Li Jinshui said, nose in the air, and immediately picked a fight.
"Four-eyes?"
The boy paused, adjusted the glasses on the bridge of his nose, and smiled calmly. "It seems the class monitor has a deep-seated prejudice against people who wear glasses."
"That's right, especially gold-rimmed glasses!" Li Jinshui declared arrogantly.
"Li Jinshui!"
At that moment, Ye Mei came in through the training hall's doorway behind them, walking in high heels. Her gaze, cold behind her half-rimmed gold glasses, fixed on the back of Li Jinshui's head. "Come outside with me."