From Igniting Talent to Becoming a Demon God Section 11

Gulp... gulp!

The thought flashed through Lu Chao's mind as he chewed up the food and swallowed it down.

A fresh warmth flowed into his limbs and bones. A few minutes later, he set down the empty meal box and patted his stomach.

[Potential Progress: 1%]

The panel notification appeared, and Lu Chao glanced at it.

Although the difficulty of accumulating Potential Progress had doubled, this nutritional meal had let him see new hope.

Then he drank the Blood-Qi Supplement as well.

After resting for a short while in the shade, easing the soreness in his muscles and bones and some of his physical fatigue, Lu Chao looked at the wide concrete training ground. Out of the corner of his eye, he swept over Zhou Cheng and the other two, who were still resting, as well as the other ordinary trainees.

Without the slightest hesitation, he quickly walked to the practice area.

"Get stronger!"

With only that one thought left in his mind, Lu Chao took up his stance again.

[Glutton] had given him hope, and Gold-Stone Martial Arts Hall had given him an opportunity.

And now was the moment to seize it all with everything he had.

At once, he repeated the movements again and again, letting fresh sweat drip down and soak the concrete ground.

Until the sun crossed the sky and set, and dusk appeared.

That day, six o'clock in the afternoon.

The afterglow of the setting sun stretched the shadow by the iron gate long and slanted as Lu Chao dragged his exhausted, hungry body out of the martial arts hall.

The abandoned school grounds were empty and quiet. Zhou Cheng and the other two had long since left.

The same went for the other ordinary trainees and official disciples. Without realizing it, he had actually become the last person to leave.

"Young man, you'll come again later, right?"

At some point, the old gatekeeper had appeared beside the iron gate. Holding a thermos cup with peeling paint, he spoke with a smile.

Lu Chao was slightly taken aback.

"Sir, what do you mean by..."

"Heh, you'll know later."

Smiling without another word, the old gatekeeper then closed the iron gate.

Clack!

Amid the sound of metal scraping, rust shook loose from the iron gate as it shut tight.

Lu Chao stood at the entrance and shook his head, not thinking too much about it.

A wave of intense exhaustion and hunger surged over him, spreading to every corner of his body.

His aching muscles kept sending greedy signals, stimulating his mind, craving nutritional replenishment.

Every movement of his body felt as if it had been filled with lead, abnormally heavy.

The physique-tempering effect of Gold-Stone Combat Arts was even better than he had expected. Of course, it was also inseparable from the boost of [Primary Resilience], which had allowed him to complete twice the training volume of others.

"Gurgle, gurgle..."

His stomach sounded with hunger again. Lu Chao could hardly wait to find a restaurant, settle dinner, and get a good night's rest.

Buzz, buzz!

However, just then, his smart wristwatch vibrated lightly as a message came in.

[#Cleaning Squad Group#]

[Team Leader Cui: @all members, emergency notice. Gather before eight tonight. Location: Ninth Street, Iron Ring District!]

[Seven bodies. The contaminated area at the scene is close to one hundred square meters. It must be cleaned up before midnight. Not even half a finger is allowed to be left behind!]

After reading the message, he saw it was from the Cleaning Squad work group.

Lu Chao fell briefly silent.

In the end, his finger tapped the wristwatch, and he could only give the same reply as his other colleagues.

"Received."

Night fell, and neon lights spread throughout every corner of the district.

Yellow warning tape sealed off an alley. A security vehicle and a cleaning vehicle were parked at the alley entrance.

"Move, move, move! Get your hands going!"

"The Patrol Bureau has already checked the place. There's no danger. Hurry up! Stop dawdling!"

A stream of curses rang out as Fatty Cui stuck out his beer belly, giving orders with a dark expression while walking toward the patrol officers by the roadside and smiling as he handed out cigarettes.

People could wear two faces at the same time. Lu Chao was used to it.

Their group of six had all already changed into sanitation uniforms, put on hard hats, and carried their tools into the street.

Seven bodies lay scattered across the dim street. The Patrol Bureau had already made a preliminary survey of the scene, ruled out any danger, and removed the firearms.

Sticky blood had dyed the ground red and splattered across the walls. Looking at the bullet holes in the corners and the empty shell casings, this was clearly another gang shootout.

"Goddamn it, they're like death itself breathing down our necks."

"I finally picked up a day-pay odd job at a restaurant tonight, and now look, I've got to turn it down again."

"Enough, say less. Don't forget they've been cutting jobs and wages lately. Keep your head down..."

Several coworkers were clearly unhappy with Fatty Cui's tone, but pressed by life, they still honestly divided up the work and began cleaning the scene.

Some sprayed disinfectant and used miniature instruments to test the radiation index.

Others put on rubber gloves and strained to drag away the cold corpses, their faces solemn as they dismantled prosthetic implants.

Amid the busy commotion, Lu Chao fought back his exhaustion.

Only after Old Cheng confirmed there were no issues did he drag a corpse into a body bag.

"You look pretty tired, kid. What were you doing during the day?"

Old Cheng glanced at him in puzzlement, clearly noticing how much effort he was having to put in.

"Found something to do."

Lu Chao casually made up an excuse and zipped up the body bag, not wanting to explain too much.

It would do him no good if word got out that he was practicing martial arts. There was no need to make it common knowledge.

"That so."

Old Cheng did not suspect otherwise and did not ask further.

After that, they cleaned up the second corpse, a pale-faced middle-aged man.

His black shirt was riddled with bullet holes and bloody gaps, and there was a hideous tattoo on his neck.

But his arm was mechanical, with a pitch-black metal casing and crisscrossing internal tubes connected to the muscle and nerve interface points at his shoulder.

"Tsk, tsk. Good stuff."

Old Cheng squatted down, his rough fingers reaching out to touch it. "A prosthetic arm made by Lianwei Heavy Industries... civilian Model II. At maximum output, it can unleash two hundred kilograms of force. It doesn't have bionic skin and it's secondhand, but it's still worth ten or twenty thousand yuan."

"If you sold it to some biological engineers or repair technicians who know their stuff, you might even get more for it. Too bad the people from these gangs probably won't give up claiming it."

Because he had been collecting bodies for many years, Old Cheng knew quite a bit about prosthetics, and Lu Chao had learned some of that knowledge from following him around during this period.

The manufacture and implantation of prosthetics often could not do without special experts like biological engineers or mechanical repair technicians. Afterward, stabilizing drugs also had to be injected to maintain the nervous system and reduce mental strain.

Looking closely, one could see a tiny circular submachine gun design on the mechanical arm. That was the logo of the megacorporation Lianwei Heavy Industries.

It ranked among the very top in the entire Alliance State and stood alongside Biotech Company as one of the five great megacorporations, especially leading the field in prosthetic weapons.

Then, amid their busyness, they cleaned up another corpse.

Hearing the low grumbling of some coworkers, Lu Chao fetched the high-pressure water gun and washed down the ground, watching as the stream carried dark red blood and filth into the roadside drain.

"Old Huang's compensation still hasn't come through?"

"Mm."

As if he had long since guessed Lu Chao would ask, Old Cheng stood in the corner mopping the floor and sighed.

"According to Xiao Luo, public order in the city hasn't been too good lately. Some more vicious criminals caused trouble, and several officers from the Patrol Bureau died in the line of duty. Their matters need to be handled first."

"As for Old Huang, sigh... the Bureau's short on funds. I guess it'll have to be put off a while longer."

Everything fell into silence. Hearing this, Lu Chao pressed his lips together.