Borrowed It Fair and Square, Why Pay It Back?

"Beep, beep, beep—"

The other person had not even finished speaking before Li Zhengyang hung up.

"Pay back what?" he muttered. "Wasn't that money from selling my nude photos?"

A middle-aged woman passing by overheard him, turned to glance at him, and quickened her pace.

He had no intention of using even a single cent of this money to repay his debts.

Ten thousand yuan meant 100 points of Blood Qi. Wasn't that way better than paying back money?

But his top priority now was getting certified. Only with certification could he take missions independently; only by taking missions independently could he keep making money; only by making money continuously could he keep getting stronger.

He would spend five thousand first and get the certificate.

Li Zhengyang turned around and headed back into the agency lobby, making straight for the front desk.

Liu Ting was sorting through documents. When she saw him return, her hands paused for a moment.

"Certification testing. Five thousand. Where do I pay?"

"Second floor. Just go straight up."

"Can I pay by card?"

"Yes."

Li Zhengyang slapped a bank card onto the counter.

It was Zhao Hu's card. He had found the password in Zhao Hu's phone; it was written in the notes app—six eights. Pretty lucky.

Up on the second floor, the Testing Center was much quieter than the first-floor lobby.

A corridor stretched ahead, with sealed testing rooms on both sides. Process charts and fee schedules were posted on the walls.

At the end of the corridor was a reception desk, where a middle-aged man in uniform sat. His badge read, "Test Officer, Zhou Cheng."

He looked to be in his forties, with a crew cut and a cup of tea by his hand.

Zhou Cheng looked up at him. "Certification test?"

"Yes."

"Paid already?"

"Paid." Li Zhengyang handed over the payment receipt.

Zhou Cheng glanced at it, entered it into the system, then pulled a form from a drawer.

"Fill out your basic information. Name, age, years of cultivation, and your self-assessed strength level."

Li Zhengyang took the pen and quickly filled it out.

In the self-assessment field, he wrote Rank-Two Martial Master.

There was no need to hide his actual strength during certification. He had spent hard-earned money to build it up, and that was no worse than cultivating diligently.

Zhou Cheng glanced at it without much reaction.

He saw plenty of people come in for testing every day. Some exaggerated and wrote higher levels, while others were conservative and wrote lower ones. He only cared about the measured results.

"Come with me."

The testing room was not large. All four walls were covered in shock-absorbing material. A Blood Qi Meter stood in the center, with a Strength Detection Pillar and a Reaction Speed Testing Device beside it.

"The process is simple. Three tests." Zhou Cheng leaned against the doorframe. "First, Blood Qi measurement. Put your hand on it, and the machine will read it automatically. Second, strength testing. Throw a punch, and it measures the peak force. Third, combat simulation. Fight a testing Mechanical Puppet. Last long enough, and you pass. The three results are assessed together to determine your strength level, then you get the corresponding certification."

"How long until the results come out?"

"On the spot."

Li Zhengyang walked over to the Blood Qi Meter and pressed his palm against it.

The machine hummed, and numbers began jumping across the screen.

Zhou Cheng was holding his teacup, still drinking.

The number on the screen froze.

2248.

Zhou Cheng failed to hold his cup steady. Half the tea spilled onto his pants. He looked down and cursed, then raised his head to look at the screen again, rubbing his eyes.

"Was this machine calibrated today?" he scratched his head.

No one answered him.

He walked over, pushed Li Zhengyang's hand aside, and pressed his own hand against it.

The screen flickered a few times, then displayed 1887. First-Grade Martial Master—that was his own strength. Nothing wrong with it. The machine was accurate.

Zhou Cheng turned back to look at Li Zhengyang, his expression complicated.

Zhou Cheng looked over the form again. The cultivation period field said, "Two years."

A Rank-Two Martial Master after two years of training?

He had been a Test Officer at the agency for eight years and had only barely become a First-Grade Martial Master.

"Did you write too few years here? Rank-Two Martial Master in two years?"

"Not too few. Actually, I could have been faster."

Zhou Cheng fell silent for several seconds.

"Where do you study?"

"Martial Arts Junior College."

"...Junior college?"

"Yeah, vocational college."

A vocational college student? With this level of strength, he would not fall behind even among university students.

He set down his teacup and ignored his wet pants.

"Fine. Strength test. Throw a punch."

The Strength Detection Pillar was a metal column covered in cushioning material, with sensors inside that could precisely record the force of an impact.

Li Zhengyang loosened up his right hand and threw a punch.

The screen displayed: 2217 kilograms.

Zhou Cheng said nothing.

This was indeed the strength of a Rank-Two Martial Master.

He walked to the control console, brought up the combat simulation system, tapped several keys, and adjusted the Mechanical Puppets' difficulty from the default "Martial Warrior level" to "Martial Master level."

The wall on the side of the testing room opened, and a humanoid Mechanical Puppet walked out.

It stood two meters tall, covered in metal plating. Two red points of light on its head served as sensors, acting as eyes.

"Rules: defeat the puppet within three minutes, or last three full minutes without falling. Either counts as passing."

Before Zhou Cheng had even finished speaking, the puppet moved.

It was fast. Its metal fist came smashing toward him with a howl of wind, using a simple and brutal straight punch.

Li Zhengyang took a step back, dodged two punches, then threw a counterpunch.

One punch.

A large section of the puppet's chest armor caved in.

Two punches.

The chest armor cracked.

Three punches.

Its internal wiring snapped. Sparks flashed several times, and the puppet stopped moving.

The whole thing had taken no more than three seconds.

The pen in Zhou Cheng's hand fell to the floor.

He looked at the timer, then at the scrapped puppet, and finally at Li Zhengyang.

"That puppet costs one hundred and eighty thousand yuan."

"That has nothing to do with me, right?"

"...Nothing to do with you."

Zhou Cheng wrote on the certification form for quite a while before handing it over.

"Rank-Two Martial Master certification, effective today. This is your Martial Warrior Qualification Certificate. It is valid nationwide, and the agency system has already been updated."

Li Zhengyang took the hard plastic-sealed card. It had his photo, identification number, and strength level on it.

He slipped it into his pocket.

On his way downstairs, he detoured to the electronic screen in the first-floor lobby.

With certification, he could now take missions independently.

He no longer needed to beg anyone or watch anyone else's mood.

His gaze swept across the mission list on the screen. This time, he did not look at the E-Rank missions at the bottom.

He scrolled upward.

There were C-Rank missions and D-Rank Missions.

The Demonic Beasts corresponding to C-Rank missions were Third-Rank Martial Artists, at Great Martial Master level. With his current strength, he could not handle them.

He shifted his gaze to the D-Rank Missions.

[Mission ID: D017]

[Objective: Eliminate 12 Second Rank Demonic Beasts, Iron-Spine Lizards]

[Location: Outer perimeter of the North Suburban Wetland Reserve]

[Reward: 60,000]

[Risk Level: D]

[Note: Martial Masters or above are advised to form a team before proceeding]

Sixty thousand yuan meant 600 points of Blood Qi.

Not bad. Pretty sweet. Earning 600 points of Blood Qi through cultivation alone, without pill supplements, would take years at the very least.

Li Zhengyang walked to the front desk.

"D017. I'm taking it."