The venue fell completely silent, so quiet that a pin could have dropped and been heard.
Everyone's eyes converged on Li Jinshui. There was far less resentment this time. After all, the students present knew they couldn't possibly match a memory like his.
"What a shame. If you'd been born in ancient times, you'd surely have been a prodigy all the ancient martial arts sects fought to claim. They'd have poured the entire sect's resources into cultivating you." Huang Lichen looked at Li Jinshui with mixed emotions and sighed.
The environment for martial arts training in ancient times had been completely different from what it was now.
Back then, resources were limited. There weren't so many nutritional supplements or medicinal tonics. A martial artist's natural aptitude and comprehension were what mattered.
Things were different now. No matter how average your natural aptitude was, as long as you had an unlimited supply of nutritional supplements and medicinal tonics every day, even a pig could be fed into a master.
As for comprehension, that really did determine how high a person could climb.
But nowadays, no one would cultivate you regardless of cost just because you had good comprehension and the potential to become a grandmaster.
Times had changed, and people had changed too.
In ancient times, sects were held together by "lineage" and "righteousness." Disciples joined a sect and were cultivated into powerful martial artists, then naturally gave back to the sect, devoting themselves to its growth. Only a minority chose to betray it.
Nowadays, if the capitalists spared no expense cultivating a powerful fighter, that fighter would most likely turn their back on their roots at the first opportunity, and then refuse to eat beef.
Thanks for all those years of investment, capital. Now it's finally my turn to be the capitalist, right?
And then, what if they discovered a new martial arts prodigy? They'd be lucky if they didn't snuff them out. And they still expected to be cultivated? Cultivated so they could seize someone's position?
So nowadays, the capitalists only continued to exploit the world, keeping the resources for their own people.
A martial arts prodigy?
If you had money, you were a prodigy. If you didn't, you couldn't even catch up to the starting line of a rich kid.
"Li Jinshui, keep working hard. I believe in you." Huang Lichen patted Li Jinshui on the shoulder and offered a word of encouragement.
Then he took out his phone and transferred him eighty thousand yuan, directly paying him the equivalent of the two most expensive basic martial skills.
He even considered taking Li Jinshui on as a disciple.
But when he thought of all the trouble Li Jinshui had caused outside, his questionable sanity, and the diluted teacher-disciple bond in modern times, he eventually dismissed the idea.
"Thank you, Commander Huang! You're so generous! Classmates, did you see that? Hard work pays off!"
Li Jinshui was in high spirits. He hadn't forgotten his responsibility as class monitor, and used himself as a living motivational poster to encourage his classmates.
It turned out Huang Lichen's incentive plan worked.
For the rest of the time, everyone threw themselves into memorizing the manuals. They didn't even put their books down when they went to the cafeteria.
Li Jinshui was left in peace. Nobody bothered him anymore. Instead, he even gained a few lackeys, both boys and girls, who came to flatter him whenever they had free time.
Before long, the first week was over.
Li Jinshui had almost no time to practice martial arts. He might have seemed calm on the surface, but behind the scenes he had to commit the map and routes to memory by sheer force.
After all, "unforgettable memory" only worked on martial arts. The panel wouldn't record things like maps and routes.
Still, he passed the first week's general knowledge test without too much trouble.
He got nine out of ten questions right.
"Don't you have an unforgettable memory? How could you get even one of those damn route questions wrong?" Huang Lichen asked, baffled, when he saw the test results.
"I've been completely absorbed in martial arts these past few days. I haven't even looked at the map. I just answered based on what I remembered." Li Jinshui replied without a trace of shame.
"Fine, just be more careful next time." Huang Lichen accepted the explanation.
Second week's test.
"Li Jinshui, how did you get one wrong again?"
"I've been busy mastering Lightning Pulse Step lately. I feel like I'm about to get the hang of it, so don't bother me."
"What? You're already about to get the hang of it? Good, good. Focus on your training, then."
Third week's test.
He got lucky and guessed them all correctly. Huang Lichen nodded with satisfaction.
Fourth week's test.
"Li Jinshui, you got another—"
"Another what? I've already mastered Lightning Pulse Step. What are you supposed to say?"
"...You're a damn genius!"
Huang Lichen was genuinely stunned.
He knew exactly how difficult Lightning Pulse Step was to train. From the very beginning, a person had to withstand electric shocks. Before they got the hang of it, many people would be jolted into shrieking.
Only after their cells adapted to the current and they could skillfully guide it into their Qi-Blood circulation did they qualify to properly practice this martial skill.
Back then, it had taken him a full month just to learn how to guide the current.
After that, he'd relied on a mountain of Exotic Beast Meat and Supplement Potions and endured for nearly two more months before he finally mastered Lightning Pulse Step.
But Li Jinshui had gone from receiving the manual to mastering the technique in just one month?
That had completely shattered the Youth Training Camp's all-time record.
In fact, across the entire country, only a handful of people could master a Ninth-Grade Martial Skill within a month.
"This is huge! I need to report this right away. Maybe next year I can finally get rid of the word 'Deputy' in my title."
Huang Lichen ran off, visibly excited, without leaving behind any reward.
In reality, Li Jinshui had already mastered the skill in the second week.
He had taken the D-Grade Supplement Potion he received in the first week, which directly raised Basic Lightness Skill to the small success stage. He hadn't wasted the remaining potion either, using it all on Lightning Pulse Step.
It turned out Ninth-Grade Martial Skills were much harder to improve than basic martial skills. Even after using more than half a bottle of potion, he'd gained only a little over thirty proficiency points.
Li Jinshui had no choice but to use the D-Grade Supplement Potion from the second week as well. That was what finally allowed him to properly master Lightning Pulse Step.
He stored the remaining two doses of D-Grade Supplement Potion and didn't use them.
Besides that, he had received a total of four pounds of E-Class Exotic Beast Meat that month.
The E-Class Exotic Beast Meat most commonly served in the cafeteria came from Blood-Hair Worms, Hundred-Tendon Rats, and Poison-Tumor Frogs.
In appearance, the Blood-Hair Worm resembled a red caterpillar, but it was as large as a giant python, commonly three to seven meters long. It was agile and immensely strong.
The Hundred-Tendon Rat was as sturdy as an ox, its whole body made up of countless interwoven tendons. It was almost impossible to cut out even half a pound of pure meat.
The Poison-Tumor Frog was the size of a pig and covered in countless tiny poisonous growths. A professional chef had to extract the toxins inside each one before it could be cooked.
Li Jinshui tried all three kinds of meat.
After deep-frying, the Blood-Hair Worm's skin was crispy, while the meat inside was firm and springy. It wasn't greasy.
The Hundred-Tendon Rat was incredibly chewy, but it wore out your jaw. Chewing it for too long made your gums ache.
The Poison-Tumor Frog was his favorite. Its little growths were smooth, springy, and bursting with juice. They didn't stick to his teeth, and the meat slid down his throat, tender and sweet. Li Jinshui was ready to dub it "QQ-Nanny-Delicious-Miep-Tumor."
This level of Exotic Beast Meat could already trigger the Heaven Rewards Diligence feedback for Basic Stance Technique.
After a month, the four pounds of E-Class Exotic Beast Meat had raised his Stance Technique proficiency to 100/500.
At this rate, as long as the camp kept supplying resources for the next two months and he spent his own money to buy another eight pounds for extra meals, he could break through to the small success stage and reach proficiency.
But Li Jinshui wasn't in a hurry to advance. Mastering a Ninth-Grade Martial Skill had already attracted enough attention. If people discovered that his Stance Technique had improved too, he could easily end up being cut open for research.
That month, he had also frequently looked for chances to hit on Ye Mei, but with little success. Ye Mei seemed to be avoiding him, and every time she brushed him off by saying she was busy with work.
But the other students did give Li Jinshui a pleasant surprise.
They had often tried to curry favor with him that month. A few of them had even pooled their money in private to buy a D-Grade Supplement Potion and give it to him as a congratulatory gift for mastering Lightning Pulse Step.
The gift was worth twenty thousand yuan, enough to make Li Jinshui remember their names.
"Chen Dali, Liu Fugui, Zhang Yunyun, and Bai Chuyue, you're all excellent. You've got a great attitude, and I believe in you." Li Jinshui offered the four of them some encouragement and happily accepted the potion.
His assets were now quite different from what they had been before.
Three D-grade Potions were worth sixty thousand yuan. Add the eighty thousand Huang Lichen had given him, and he had the equivalent of one hundred and forty thousand yuan.
If he also counted the eight potions he would receive over the next two months, his total wealth would come to three hundred thousand yuan.
"Three hundred thousand. The future looks bright!"
Li Jinshui was extremely pleased with his decision to join the Youth Training Camp.
But Ye Mei, the human resources manager, was staring at the documents in her hands, deeply troubled.
Besides recruiting and training students, the Youth Training Camp had another task: assigning them to the various stations in Rong City.
Although only a month had passed, they had already made precise assessments of every student's future strength and performance, so the initial assignments had begun.
But there was a problem. The Class B students were highly sought after by the various stations, and quite a few station managers had their eyes on the Class C and Class D students too.
Only Li Jinshui, the Class A student, had no takers.
Some station managers had even sent word directly, asking the Youth Training Camp to make an exception and, whatever they did, not assign Li Jinshui to their stations.
"Commander Huang, we have a bit of a problem with Li Jinshui."
Ye Mei went to Huang Lichen and reported the matter. "The public relations department has spoken to Weihu Security Company several times, but they won't budge."
"Tsk. It was just some security guard who died. Do they really hold such a grudge?" Huang Lichen lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and frowned.
"On the surface, it looks like the guard's family won't let the matter go. They gave a lot of gifts to a vice president at the security company, but I suspect there's more to it than that. We haven't found any leads yet, though. Now the Drifter Gang has warned the station managers that whoever takes Li Jinshui on will have their food deliveries stolen."
Ye Mei lowered her voice and asked, "Should we report this to headquarters and ask the branch company to step in?"
"Hm? Your first reaction wasn't to suggest expelling Li Jinshui?" Huang Lichen asked, surprised. That didn't fit Ye Mei's usual way of doing things.
"I personally believe in Li Jinshui's value and potential." Ye Mei's expression remained impassive.
"That's exactly how I feel. I believe in the kid too."
Huang Lichen paused, then added with a worried look, "But even if we report it to the branch company, they might not agree to step in. Weihu Security is one of the local powers in Rong City, and I hear they have backing too."
"Then there are only two options," Ye Mei said. "Either transfer him out of Rong City and assign him to another city, or give him a special promotion and apply for an independent station so he can serve as acting station manager."
"Holy crap, you're going that far?" Huang Lichen's eyes widened. He didn't even entertain Ye Mei's first suggestion.
There was no way they'd transfer Li Jinshui. Their division had invested so many resources in him; they couldn't just send their talent off to another city for nothing. What was more, the Rong City branch would charge the loss to their division, and they'd have to answer for it later. It would be a huge hassle.
But a special promotion would be an even bigger gamble.
Li Jinshui was a complete rookie with no experience. Give him an independent station and make him acting station manager?
If the Drifter Gang wiped the station out, the losses would be even greater—not just financial losses, but damage to the company's reputation too.
"Ye Mei, this isn't a gamble we can afford to take. We've spent all these years keeping our heads down at the company. Even if you believe in Li Jinshui, surely you don't need to stake your career and your life on him?" Huang Lichen said, utterly incredulous.
"Keeping our heads down?"
Ye Mei slowly raised a hand and removed her half-rimmed glasses, then took out a silk handkerchief and gently wiped them.
"We both know how the performance reviews have been at the various stations and at our Youth Training Camp over the past two years. I've heard they're already preparing the year-end layoff list. Do you think either of us could end up on it?"
"Layoffs..." Huang Lichen's expression changed, his face clouding over.
"Commander Huang, Li Jinshui's situation may be an opportunity."
Ye Mei put her glasses back on. The light overhead reflected off the lenses, but it couldn't hide the fierce ambition in her eyes. "Since Weihu Security won't show us any respect and is pulling strings behind our backs, then I'll make sure they take all that respect of theirs... to the grave!"