Loan and Become Strong! (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

Seeing Lu Fei's resentful gaze, Xu Feng couldn't help but laugh. "Alright, alright, let's go Dutch, okay?"

"Dutch?" Lu Fei was deeply tempted when she heard this, but she refused out loud, "No, I said I'd treat you, so I'm treating you."

"Then thanks. Shall we go see Xiao Dan?"

Who would have thought that Xu Feng wouldn't be polite or decline at all, standing up directly.

Lu Fei took a deep breath and smiled reluctantly. "I'll go pay the bill first."

Soon, a pained-looking Lu Fei led Xu Feng out of the hospital, pushing the wheelchair toward an apartment building deep within the base.

"This place isn't with the residential area?"

Walking along the path, Xu Feng looked at the tree-lined trail beneath his feet and asked in surprise.

He had never been to this place.

He hadn't even heard of it.

"Yeah, these are student apartments. They're all for Martial University students. I applied for a temporary residence for you; you can stay for a week."

Lu Fei said, looking quite proud of herself.

Xu Feng said with an admiring face, "Impressive. This time, it's all thanks to you. I really don't know how to thank you. How about I..."

The four words "offer myself to you" were stuck on the tip of his tongue.

Xu Feng just couldn't bring himself to say it.

"How about I... how about I..."

But after struggling with the "how about I" for a long time.

Xu Feng realized he couldn't provide any help to Lu Fei at all.

The gap between them was simply too vast; they weren't even people from the same world.

For a moment, he felt somewhat dejected.

He only felt that all his previous thoughts were childish, laughable, and pathetic.

"What's there to thank between friends?" However, Lu Fei's words caught him quite by surprise.

"Are we friends?" Xu Feng asked, surprised.

"I suppose? At least that night you..." Lu Fei paused. "At least you're a decent person, a decent friend. Besides, you've raised Xiao Dan well, too. I really like this little girl."

Xu Feng understood.

Still, this wasn't bad either.

Inside the apartment.

"Daddy!"

When she saw Xu Feng, Xiao Dan excitedly lunged at him again.

But this time, Lu Fei caught the little girl mid-air.

"Your dad is injured, don't send him back to the hospital," Lu Fei teased with a smile.

"Daddy, how did you get hurt?" Xiao Dan asked curiously, sitting in front of Xu Feng. "You didn't get internal injuries from thinking about women too much, did you?"

Lu Fei: "."

Xu Feng: "."

Seeing the murderous look in Lu Fei's eyes, Xu Feng quickly straightened his expression. "Do you remember what I told you?"

"I remember!" Xiao Dan's little face immediately turned serious. "Daddy said that even if you think something, you shouldn't say it out loud."

Lu Fei's eyes narrowed immediately.

Xu Feng quickly said, "(ΩДΩ)?? That's not the one!"

"Oh, oh," Xiao Dan tilted her head and began counting on her fingers. "Kids should act normal, don't always talk like adults, say what's appropriate for your age!"

Xu Feng finally breathed a sigh of relief and glanced at Lu Fei, saying sternly, "You know that, yet you still talk nonsense? Am I that kind of person? I'm focused entirely on my career right now; I don't have time to think about my personal life."

"Oh, didn't you say the other day you were going to find me two stepmoms?" Xiao Dan asked, confused.

"Pfft!"

Xu Feng immediately spat out a mouthful of tea.

He realized it now; this little girl was definitely messing with him, so he pretended to stand up and said, "You brat! Taste my blade!"

"Hehehe!" Xiao Dan jumped up from where she was and ran outside. "Daddy, you're so silly! I'm going out to play!"

Xu Feng pretended to chase after her, but eventually, he just sat back down with a smile.

Lu Fei laughed at this, too.

Only then did she understand.

Xu Feng was afraid that Xiao Dan would worry about him, so he deliberately teased her.

"You two are really something else. Quite the odd pair."

She couldn't help but laugh as she spoke.

"I'll take that as a compliment." Xu Feng smiled slightly and glanced at the room's environment. "The conditions here are quite good, though they don't compare to our own dump."

Lu Fei rolled her eyes at him. "What are your plans for the future? It's a waste to have your combat power in the Maintenance Department. I never expected that someone as low-key as you could stir up such a massive incident."

Xu Feng coughed lightly, suppressing the faint sense of pride in his heart. "You're exaggerating; I only had the advantage of a sneak attack. They wanted to use Xiao Dan to threaten me, so they had to die!"

As he said this, Xu Feng's tone carried a hint of killing intent.

Lu Fei nodded in understanding.

Watching Xu Feng's cold expression, her heart couldn't help but skip a beat.

Xu Feng didn't notice the change in Lu Fei's gaze and just frowned. "But after clashing with Lurence this time, I realized many of my own shortcomings. Lurence's sword technique was strange; it produced electric sparks when he used it, and it even caused muscle paralysis. Do you know what kind of secret technique that is?"

Lu Fei said casually, "Just an ordinary C-rank offensive secret technique. It only costs a few million."

"A few... million?" Xu Feng's mouth hung open. What does it mean to be filthy rich? This is it!

Xu Feng stared, indignant. "No way. Can't a martial artist's gear start at a few tens of thousands? Then maybe a few hundred thousand, then a few million? Who starts at millions right off the bat!?"

Lu Fei rolled her eyes. "Why are you practicing martial arts if you have no money? 'Literary arts for the poor, martial arts for the rich' has been the way since ancient times; it's not like you didn't know. But having said that, most martial arts students are still quite poor when they are freshmen. That's why universities offer a 10% to 30% discount for students to purchase secret manuals. There are three types of manuals: cultivation methods, offensive techniques, and movement techniques. The basic genetic blood-energy cultivation methods provided by Sky Moon Martial University are free. High-tier ones cost money, but at a 30% discount. Offensive and movement manuals are at a 10% discount. So, for most martial arts students, the expenses are manageable. At worst, they take out a campus loan; they can always save enough to buy the manuals. Once they become official martial artists, they can earn the money back after a few missions, so having a C-rank manual isn't surprising. Besides, Lurence's family background seems quite good; his uncle is a high-tier warrior, so it's easy for him to get money."

Xu Feng asked enviously, "Are the benefits for martial arts students that good? Do you think someone like me, at forty, still has a chance to take the exam?"

Lu Fei rolled her eyes. "Take the exam, my foot. The best way for you to buy a manual now is to take out a loan. There are three types of martial arts loans at the Sky Moon Martial University base. If you're really thinking about it, you can go ask."

"Take out a loan to practice martial arts?" Xu Feng was momentarily speechless.

But Lurence's sword technique was truly strong. He could feel that the other man's mastery of the technique was mediocre—far worse than his own. Yet, the method of attack and the special power contained within it made Xu Feng extremely eager! If he could have the same sword technique as Lurence, that battle wouldn't have been so passive!

Take a loan to become stronger? Should he or shouldn't he?

Speaking of this, Lu Fei seemed to have unique insights, and she opened up like a chatterbox:

"I'm telling you, don't have such a heavy mental burden. When you take out a loan, you should look at whether it's worth it, not how much you're borrowing. Look at those people on Earth taking out loans to buy houses—aren't they foolish? Nowadays, many Dimension Realms in the Sky Pit World have been completely mastered by various human nations. Everywhere, they are building new cities and new buildings. Houses don't appreciate in value anymore; they are constantly depreciating. That kind of loan doesn't bring any value or improvement; spending money on that is just stupid. But taking a loan to practice martial arts? Once you become powerful in the future, won't it be easy to earn money and pay it back? This is spending money to improve yourself! That is what's worth it!"

Xu Feng nodded, feeling quite moved, and asked:

"But, but I don't know much about this. If I want to buy a manual, what are my options? Can you recommend some to me, Beauty Lu?"

Lu Fei sneered. "Now you know to call me a beauty? Don't worry, I'm very familiar with this."