Tonight, He Would Enter the Gate

By the time they returned to Green Osmanthus Garden, it was already close to midnight.

Captain Liu shot Li Jinshui several unfriendly looks along the way. Seeing the bandage stuck to Li Jinshui's forehead and how he acted as though nothing had happened, the corner of Captain Liu's eye twitched twice.

In the end, he said nothing. He merely ordered everyone to change shifts and hand over, then left with a livid face.

Ever since Li Jinshui had started this job, he had always been assigned the night shift.

Now that he was back, he had to immediately go stand guard. But he quickly discovered a problem: his Security Squad uniform had been left in the hotpot restaurant's restroom!

"Skipping a shift costs a thousand yuan, and a uniform costs eight hundred a set..."

Li Jinshui did the math and immediately knew which option to choose.

He climbed through a window into the shower room of the Security Squad dormitory building, picked out a stall where someone was showering, and efficiently swiped the uniform from the man's dirty laundry basket. Then he hurried to the community's south gate to change shifts with his colleague.

A moment later, Captain Liu came looking for him with a dark expression. His freshly washed hair was still dripping as he opened his mouth and cursed, "Li Jinshui, are you looking to die, you fucking idiot? You dared steal my uniform?"

"Captain Liu, I didn't steal it!"

Li Jinshui maintained his stance, looking upright and unafraid of crooked shadows as he said openly, "My uniform was left in a restroom. I'm just taking a uniform back from a restroom. How can that count as stealing?"

"Are those even the same fucking restroom?"

Captain Liu was furious. "Quit pretending to be mentally ill in front of me. I already asked around. You only spent two years lying in a neurology hospital—you're not mentally ill at all!"

As he spoke, he stepped forward to yank at Li Jinshui's clothes.

Li Jinshui stood as immovable as a mountain, his brow faintly furrowed. "Captain Liu, please conduct yourself with dignity!"

"Dignity?" Captain Liu laughed in rage, a vicious glint flashing through his eyes. "You stole my uniform, and now you're telling me to conduct myself with dignity? Don't tell me you think I wouldn't dare kill you just because we're in the community?"

"..."

Li Jinshui said nothing, his brow furrowing even deeper. Heaven Rewards Diligence had not triggered its blessing, which meant there was not the slightest bit of danger right now.

He eyed Captain Liu suspiciously. Could this old bastard really be all bark and no bite?

"You wouldn't... dare, would you?" Li Jinshui still gave a tentative reply.

"Heh!" Captain Liu was so angry that he laughed aloud.

[Persisting in stance practice in a dangerous environment, Heaven Rewards Diligence, Basic Stance Technique +1]

[Basic Stance Technique (Not Yet Initiated 91/100)]

There it was!

There was danger!

Li Jinshui's scalp instantly went numb. This old bastard was really going to do it.

"It's not that I don't dare. It's just not worth it." Captain Liu wore a savage grin. "What's your status? What's mine? Killing someone like you in the community and causing even the tiniest bit of trouble simply isn't worth it.

"But...

"Crippling you and throwing you out would be no different from killing you."

As he spoke, Captain Liu's huge hand reached for Li Jinshui's arm.

"Captain Liu, wait!"

Li Jinshui cried out in alarm, his voice cracking. Forgetting all about maintaining his stance, he retreated at top speed and ducked into the guard booth. With a bang, he slammed the door shut, then poked only half his head out the window and said in a trembling voice, "Captain Liu, must it come to this?"

"???"

Captain Liu was caught completely off guard by Li Jinshui's reaction. He inhaled half a breath in stunned silence, the skin around his eyes twitching wildly.

Fine, fine, fine. After being a security guard for so many years, he had only ever taken abuse from those esteemed residents. This was truly the first time a tiny ant had enraged him to the point of explosion.

Provoking him, then asking whether it had to come to this?

"Motherfucker, today I absolutely have to—"

"Captain Liu, I was wrong. It was my fault. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have stolen your uniform." Li Jinshui looked utterly sincere as he declared firmly, "Once this month's wages come in, I'll pay you eight hundred."

"Fuck, do you think I'm short on your eight hundred yuan?"

Captain Liu cursed, but he seemed to think of something, and his gaze turned mocking. "But what makes you think you'll even get this month's wages? With your current state of blood and vitality, you haven't even reached seventy percent of the threshold for entering Stake Standing. Yet you still dream of passing the end-of-month assessment?"

The employment contract stated it clearly: if he failed the assessment in the first month, he would not receive a single cent in wages.

Li Jinshui knew that very well.

But what surprised him was that Captain Liu judged his state of blood and vitality to be below even seventy percent of the entry threshold!

That made no sense!

The progress was clearly at ninety-one percent, a solid ninety-one percent. How could it possibly be below seventy?

"Captain Liu, is it possible... that I'm actually only ten percent away from entering Stake Standing?"

"Are you living in a dream?" Captain Liu spoke, yet he still gave Li Jinshui a careful look. In the end, he said with absolute certainty, "If you can enter Stake Standing before the end of the month, I'll walk out the door and get run over by a delivery rider!"

"It's a deal!" Li Jinshui's eyes lit up.

Bang!

Captain Liu slapped the guard booth's door hard.

"What deal? You think you can fool me with such a cheap trick?" His face was full of scorn. "Still, you did remind me. Once you're kicked out of the Security Squad at the end of the month, I'll have plenty of ways to deal with you. That'll also save the HR department from coming to hassle me again."

With that, he gave Li Jinshui a cold, vicious glare, turned, and strode away.

Li Jinshui's expression turned solemn. Captain Liu's threat this time was genuine. Heaven Rewards Diligence had activated again just now, and his proficiency had already reached ninety-two points.

Still, the property management company's internal penalty rules were quite effective.

That Liu bastard had gained very little from tonight's negotiations with the delivery station. He did not dare make a move inside the community now, worried that he would be fined heavily.

"But wait until the end of the month to kick me out of the Security Squad before dealing with me? Heh heh, keep dreaming."

The corner of Li Jinshui's mouth lifted. A drop of sweat slowly slid down from his forehead—not because he had been frightened, but purely because practicing his stance was too exhausting.

He was too weak right now. He did not want to slacken for even a moment. As long as he had enough stamina, he could not stop practicing his stance.

Moreover, tonight's several attempts had proven that the greater the danger, the faster the proficiency blessing increased. It could even serve as a danger-warning device.

As expected of Heaven Rewards Diligence. Heaven truly favored diligent, hardworking people like him.

The next day.

After changing shifts with his colleague, Li Jinshui headed straight to the hotpot restaurant from last night and retrieved his Security Squad uniform.

Over the following few days, he returned to his previous rhythm of life, and Captain Liu did not come looking for trouble.

But after experiencing the crazy surge in proficiency within a dangerous environment, Li Jinshui was no longer accustomed to such slow progress.

Still, there was nothing he could do. Captain Liu was too afraid of fines to lay a hand on him, but Li Jinshui could not go provoking him every day either. What if the old bastard had too much of a temper and suddenly could no longer bear it?

As for the other colleagues... forget it, forget it. Young people had even hotter tempers. If his little body took a punch, he would probably be bedridden for more than half a month.

Li Jinshui could only be patient, standing in stance practice quietly for ten hours every day without fail and gaining two points of proficiency.

Until the fourth day, when he was still on the night shift.

At the south gate of Green Osmanthus Garden, inside the guard booth.

"Huu—"

Li Jinshui slowly exhaled. His taut legs loosened slightly, sweat trickling down his cheeks, while a large patch of his Security Squad uniform had long since been soaked through.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked at the flashing line of light in his mind:

[Basic Stance Technique (Not Yet Initiated 99/100)]

"Tonight, I'll enter the gate."

A smile appeared on Li Jinshui's face.

If he continued practicing his stance for another hour, he would earn today's second point of proficiency and completely cross the threshold of initiation.

But his stamina was already severely depleted, and his muscles would not stop trembling.

Without nutritional supplements and sufficient nourishing food, forcibly squeezing his body dry would only damage his foundation. He could only stop for now and drink some water to recover his strength.

Just as he picked up his cup, two bright beams of light suddenly swept around the corner from the street in the distance.