The future is promising

"An award? You accepted it?" Lu Fei turned her head in surprise and asked.

Xu Feng lightly flicked his hem and said, "Sigh, although I feel unworthy of it, it was their good intention after all, so I accepted it."

Lu Fei immediately rolled her eyes at him and laughed, "If you're going to show off, just show off; why act so high and mighty? Look at how pleased you are with yourself."

After saying that, she turned around and walked away in her high heels.

Once the door was closed, Xu Feng finally chuckled.

"Dad, you look really sleazy like that."

Xiao Dan raised her head from behind the desk and retorted at Xu Feng.

Xu Feng mimicked Lu Fei and shot her a glare, "Sleazy my foot. This is just your old man showing off his excellence, do you know?"

Xiao Dan shook her head in disdain, not even bothering to reply.

She picked up her pen and wrote in her diary:

[Dad's injury is clearly much better; today he was showing off in front of Teacher Lu again.

It seems the day I get a stepmother is one step closer. Go Dad!

What a pity, Mom-to-be Liu Yu, it looks like you have no hope of being selected as the best stepmother candidate. Good luck.

Lastly, Dad's "illness" doesn't seem to be cured yet, but I actually think this is quite nice.

Am I rotten to the core?]

"Miss Liu, don't wait anymore, go back.

Old Xu hasn't been around for the past few days, and he even took Xiao Dan with him.

I don't know if there was some emergency or accident; Wang Long and I have searched a few times, but no one knows anything about him."

Outside Room 102 in the Shanty Town, Huang Sen sighed as he watched Liu Yu pacing back and forth while carrying fruit.

"Brother Huang, didn't Old Xu say anything before he left?"

Liu Yu asked worriedly.

"He didn't. Sigh, it seems... well, he didn't say anything."

A flash of surprise crossed Huang Sen's face, but he quickly shook his head.

"Alright then, I'll come back to check tomorrow. Sigh, his communicator isn't being answered either."

Watching Liu Yu leave in disappointment, Huang Sen turned and went back inside: "No way, no way. Old Xu said that day that I should have demanded those two million.

After that night, those people really went quiet, as if they had disappeared. Could Old Xu know some inside information?"

Just as Huang Sen was talking to himself, Wang Long's voice sounded from outside the door: "Old Huang! I have news!"

Huang Sen hurriedly opened the door and went out.

He saw Wang Long drenched in sweat and panting; his slightly chubby figure felt like he was wearing a cotton-padded jacket in the gradually heating early summer.

"What news?" Huang Sen asked with concern.

"I heard from someone in the Maintenance Department that Old Xu requested sick leave from the base, a week of sick leave!"

Fatty said excitedly.

"Sick leave? Does that mean Old Xu is hospitalized? Then he should be fine.

Wait, no, I saw him vomiting blood that night.

Aiya, if I had known, I would have asked one more question."

Huang Sen slammed his left fist into his right palm, annoyed.

"Ask what?"

Just then, a familiar voice suddenly rang out in the alley.

Huang Sen and Wang Long turned their heads to look.

They saw Xu Feng leading Xiao Dan, carrying big and small bags, standing on the street and looking at them with curiosity.

"Holy crap! Old Xu, you really gave me a heart attack, scaring the hell out of me!!"

Huang Sen immediately rushed over in pleasant surprise.

He wanted to give him a greasy hug, but Xu Feng blocked him away: "Go away, go away."

Although he rejected the hug verbally, Xu Feng actually felt quite warm inside.

He had heard them worrying about him from far away just now.

These two neighbors, he hadn't spent time with them for nothing.

"Uncle Huang! Uncle Fatty! Long time no see!"

"Aiya, Xiao Dan has grown taller in just a few days! And prettier too!"

"Hee hee, thank you, Uncle!"

"Come in, sit down. I still have a bunch of fruit here."

Xu Feng enthusiastically ushered the two into the house, then made up an excuse to gloss over his "week in the hospital."

At the same time, he learned from them that during this past week, many small organizations and teams in the Shanty Town had been broken up.

Quite a few people had been arrested, allegedly for colluding with foreign forces and attempting to steal intelligence from the base.

Meanwhile, for those who were "firm in their resolve," the base not only refrained from pursuing them but even offered rewards.

"I thought about it at the time and went to the Patrol Squad the next day," Huang Sen said with a look of deep emotion. "Luckily, I went in time; not only did the base not take my 500,000, but they even rewarded me with 50,000!"

Xu Feng and Fatty raised their glasses in unison: "Congratulations."

"Hey, congratulations to us all. A free 550,000!" Huang Sen laughed as he raised his glass as well.

Xiao Dan was too busy eating on the side to even find time to speak.

"Dad, Uncle Huang's cooking is still the best; it's much better than the food in the cafeteria!"

She proved Huang Sen's culinary skills with her actions.

After the meal, the three chatted for a while longer before Huang Sen and Wang Long stood up to leave.

"We're off. Since you're fine, we can rest easy. By the way, Liu Yu has looked for you a few times over the last two days; she seemed very worried about you. You should reply to her when you have time."

Huang Sen said after a moment of thought.

"Alright, I actually just changed my communicator since I lost the previous one. Let's add my new number, and I'll find time to go to the service center to recover my old one."

Xu Feng quickly raised his hand to say.

"Sure!"

After seeing the two off, Xu Feng finally had time to tidy up the house.

This past week had passed too quickly.

Having just adapted to life in the base and now returning here, Xu Feng felt that everything looked pleasing to the eye.

"It's still most comfortable at home!" Xiao Dan excitedly threw herself onto her little bed.

Immediately, she frowned and stood back up: "Oh no, I forgot to change the sheets and quilt cover. Dad, hurry up and let's do a deep clean!"

Xu Feng laughed and took Xiao Dan with him to clean the entire house.

Once Xiao Dan was tired and asleep, he finally had time to cultivate.

However, just as he stepped outside, a voice announcement rang out from loudspeakers all over the Shanty Town.

"Broadcast notice, broadcast notice!"

"Recently, certain foreign forces attempted to infiltrate and cause chaos during the preparation period of our Martial University Base, but were promptly discovered and neutralized by our comrades in the Security Department. During this period, Mr. Xu, a resident of the Shanty Town, disregarded his personal safety and braved great life-threatening danger to assist our base's martial artists in successfully completing reconnaissance and neutralization operations. Therefore, in accordance with the deliberations of the relevant departments, he is hereby awarded the 'Award for Outstanding Contribution' and a cash prize of 200,000 yuan as encouragement! We ask all residents and staff to heighten their awareness and actively monitor and report any criminals attempting to disrupt the stability of the base."

Listening to the broadcast outside, Xu Feng shook his head and smiled.

"Mr. Xu"? Why did that sound like he was a criminal?

"It's all in the past; there's no need to be smug about it. It's just an empty title—how can it be as practical as increasing one's strength?"

Xu Feng muttered to himself, his eyes narrowing as he raised his hand and slashed forward with his blade!

"Whoosh—"

The combat blade swept through the air rapidly, erupting with a strange, dull whistling sound.

"Not right, still not right."

After only a brief moment of reflection, Xu Feng immersed himself in cultivation once more.

After practicing his blade techniques, he moved on to footwork, and when he was tired, he practiced the Nine Star Body Refining Art.

As his body gradually recovered, Xu Feng began to increase the intensity of his daily cultivation.

Over the week he spent recuperating, although his progress in the three areas was not significant, the panel clearly reflected his gains.

[Name: Xu Feng]

[Qi and Blood: 270c]

[Age: 40]

[Skills:

Nine Star Body Refining Art [Official Version] · Proficient (1/300)]

Communicator Repair (13/500)

Secret Blade Art (1203/10000)

Wind Blade Triple Strike [First Four Layers] (20/50)

Shadow Sweep (5/200)

Mind Movement (175/500)

Pit Digging (3045/5000)

Butchery (3/10)

Because he had the foundation of the free version of the Nine Star Body Refining Art, the novice phase of the official version passed by exceptionally quickly.

However, once he entered the skilled level, his cultivation progress slowed down again.

Yet, the gratifying thing was that after the official version of the body refining art reached the skilled level, his blood-qi value could stably increase by 1 point for every cultivation session!

Given Xu Feng's current physical constitution, he could practice at most three times a day, resulting in a stable increase of 3 points.

Calculating based on this progress, Xu Feng only needed to train diligently for the next two and a half months.

He would be able to reach the blood-qi standard of an Intermediate Warrior without any surprises!

Anyone who learned of this cultivation speed would likely curse him for being a cheater.

Now, the future was truly promising!