From Lighting Up Talents to Becoming a Demon God Section 33

Sometimes fists and strength were certainly important, but without the right connections, perhaps...

"Hard to say."

Suddenly, Chen Junhao spoke.

Zhou Qiang was startled. Then he saw the other man give a soft laugh and say, "A batch of ruthless people has shown up in the city recently. The Patrol Bureau has lost quite a few men."

"This year's rules might be hard to say."

He shook his head lightly, and the brown genuine-leather chair beneath him turned with the motion.

Outside the bar window, the night was full of lights, and the office returned to its initial silence once more.

"Ten thousand yuan..."

Not long after leaving the private room, Lu Chao found an excuse to go to the restroom.

Once the hard stall door shut, he took out the small bundle of paper bills from his pocket.

The entirely blue Alliance Credits had the Arabic numeral 100 printed symmetrically on the left and right corners, while the center bore the image of a planet, symbolizing Earth Star's existence in the universe.

A rough count put it at around a hundred bills.

"Brother Hao really is generous..."

Lu Chao's eyes lit up. He was genuinely a little surprised.

That night, Zhou Qiang had mentioned in passing that Brother Hao would show some appreciation.

But since he had not been injured, Lu Chao had figured it might just be polite talk and not worth taking seriously.

And now.

A full ten thousand yuan.

Perhaps it was not much to Brother Hao, but to him, it happened to solve the urgent problem of his current shortage of funds.

"Beast meat, supplements, protein energy bars..."

Thinking of the nutritious foods he could buy, Lu Chao could not help licking his lips, his face full of anticipation.

Silently remembering this help, he finally stuffed the bills back into his pocket.

He would not forget anyone who had helped him.

If he had the chance in the future.

He would do his best to repay them.

A dozen or so days later.

Whoosh!!

A moving tram circled the city, its whistling sound shaking the air and carrying far into the distance.

The blazing summer sun was scorching and hard to bear, roasting the earth and making waves of distorted heat steam up from the concrete training ground.

Most of the ordinary students were drenched in sweat and panting. Feeling their strength give out, they stopped their squat frog jumps one after another and let go of the heavy tires they had been pushing.

Thud!

With a muffled sound, the black tire smashed onto the ground.

Under the green trees, gusts of faint wind drifted through the shade, and all the ordinary students went to find patches of shadow to cool off.

This scene was seen by quite a few people, but the official disciples inside the Training Building were long used to it.

Even they felt the weather was getting hotter and hotter, making it hard to keep going.

And yet.

Tap, tap, tap!!

The sound echoed on, continuous and unbroken.

Gazes followed the noise. In the corner of that training area was a section of metal hard posts half a meter high.

A nimble figure kept darting back and forth, as if stirring up sand and stones.

Drenched in sweat, Lu Chao was stepping across the hard posts, bitterly practicing his moves, trying to temper his physique this way.

Minute by minute, second by second, he did not slack off in the slightest.

The gray-white training uniform on his body had long since been soaked through, clinging tightly to him, so much so that the outlines of the muscles across his shoulders, back, and arms could be seen clearly.

No one knew how long this scene continued.

Until finally, near noon.

[Vitality: 18→19!]

The panel that no one else could know about appeared automatically. Lu Chao's eyes focused, and he leaped down at once, leaving the hard posts and landing on the ground.

"Whew!!"

He exhaled a mouthful of stale air, and beads of sweat the size of soybeans slid down his cheeks.

He slowly straightened, forcefully suppressing all his fatigue.

"Finally improved again."

So far, it was all thanks to the ten thousand Alliance Credits from Brother Hao.

For the time being, he had escaped his straits and once again had sufficient nutrition to replenish himself.

His Vitality had advanced steadily, breaking through four points in succession under the watering of sweat, leaving him only one final step away from Combat Grade.

His Potential Progress, too, had risen by a large margin under this quiet nourishment.

[Potential Progress: 91%]

"Almost there."

Lu Chao withdrew his gaze and nodded to himself.

He was getting closer and closer to Combat Grade, and his Potential Progress was about to reach completion as well, opening the way for his second transformation.

Rustle, rustle!

Soon, footsteps approached, and Lu Chao turned his head to look.

The newly arrived junior disciple, Li Dong, walked to his side, holding boxing gloves and pads, with a somewhat ingratiating smile on his face.

"Senior Brother Lu, after you've rested, could you practice a couple moves with me?"

He was drenched in sweat, and a trace of unease and anticipation flashed through his thick brows and large eyes.

Lu Chao fell briefly silent at this, his peripheral vision sweeping over the other senior and junior disciples around them.

Many were new faces, even rather unfamiliar ones he had never spoken to before.

Without realizing it, he had actually become an old disciple.

Counting the time, he had already been here for more than two months, with only the final ten days left.

Perhaps because he had still failed to break through to Combat Grade, Lu Chao could sense that the atmosphere inside the Training Building had changed subtly.

It was not that they were deliberately targeting him. It was more like the silent distancing people showed toward someone who was about to leave the Martial Arts Hall.

Over the past few days, only Senior Brother Zheng Wu had still been willing to accompany him in actual combat training and chat a little during breaks.

Apart from him, there was only Li Dong before him.

He merely had low-grade aptitude, yet he still gritted his teeth and insisted on practicing martial arts. Perhaps because his personality was straightforward, he had not noticed the subtle atmosphere in the Martial Arts Hall even now, and had continued to hover around Lu Chao.

"All right."

With a slight nod, Lu Chao ultimately did not refuse.

He did not lack this bit of time, and suppressing his strength to spar with someone would also help him better control his own power. This was somewhat beneficial to developing his Vitality as well.

"Thank you, Senior Brother Lu!"

His request was accepted, and the gloves in his hands were taken.

Li Dong's face filled with smiles as he hurriedly thanked him, then quickly ran toward the sparring area.

Watching him bustle about, then seeing Lu Chao's back as he walked over at an unhurried pace, quite a few disciples inside the Training Building swept their gazes over from the corners of their eyes and shook their heads to themselves.

Someone who was about to leave—why bother getting too involved with him?

"Senior Brother Zheng, I'm afraid you misjudged him."

In the area by the back door, Senior Sister Lin had her long hair coiled up as she gently shook her head.

Her calm gaze rested on Lu Chao's figure. She was not targeting him with her words; she had simply grown used to such comings and goings.

By now, nearly three months had passed.

If he had still been unable to break through the threshold, then even if he dragged it out for a few more days, it would not mean much.

This was something she had seen in countless examples at the Martial Arts Hall. At least so far, no one had ever broken it.