Day after day of studying theory nearly made Li Xingkong lose track of time. Only the ever-growing balance in his account proved that time was passing.
The first step was always the hardest, and for Li Xingkong, the hardest part had yet to officially begin. At most, he had just lifted his foot without even taking that first step.
"System, shouldn't we choose a place for the explosion next?"
With the money he had on hand growing from five figures to seven, it was time to put another factor in creating spiritual qi on the agenda.
The Divine Land had extremely strict controls on firearms and explosives. As an ordinary person, getting enough explosives in the first place would be a serious problem, and finding somewhere he could set them off without being discovered would be harder still.
As everyone knew, people from the Divine Land were everywhere. Even if you thought you were out in the wilds, a few anglers might pop out from who knew where.
Deep down, Li Xingkong naturally didn't want to break the law, and with his current abilities, he couldn't stand against an entire country.
So he was inclined to go abroad.
This country was the homeland where he had grown up, so he naturally followed its rules and restrictions out of habit. But he had never lived abroad, so when necessary, he wouldn't have to be bound by its rules.
The few places currently available to him were all fairly dangerous for ordinary people. They had to be sparsely populated yet convenient to reach, and finding a place that met both conditions was difficult to begin with.
First was Kunlun Continent. It was abroad, and the continent had plenty of deserts and vast stretches of sparsely populated land, making it fairly suitable for experiments. Its drawback was much the same: it was vast and sparsely populated, making transportation inconvenient. Besides, when the Black uncles started fighting, they didn't care where you came from, and there might even be cannibals roaming around.
Next was Prisoner Continent, a large island nation surrounded by water. The island also had plenty of desert, was similarly sparsely populated, and had convenient transportation. Its drawback was that it was a bit chaotic.
Then there was the North and South Polar Continent. Getting there was genuinely inconvenient. Who in their right mind would build a port at either pole?
After staring at the map for a long time, Li Xingkong leaned toward Prisoner Continent.
For one thing, it was close to the Divine Land. For another, Prisoner Continent was a developed country, at least, with much better transportation than Kunlun Continent, so his materials could arrive sooner. Third, he would inevitably have to deal with people, and at least they spoke that foreign bird language there, which he knew a little of.
Having chosen Prisoner Continent, Li Xingkong began preparing for his cross-continental operation.
The first step was naturally to make sure everything at home was taken care of. So he started by making sure his parents had everything they needed.
The economy hadn't been doing very well these past few years, so houses in Hedong weren't all that expensive. Besides, his parents both liked growing things. If they bought an apartment in the city, it would be like a birdcage, trapping them inside with nothing to do.
So Li Xingkong didn't look for a place in the city. Instead, he bought one in the village and moved his parents there. He also had the plot allocated to their family years ago, where nothing had yet been built, leveled off, fenced in, and planted with vegetables.
When it was hot and muggy in summer, they could stay in the courtyard house; when it was cold in winter, they could stay upstairs. It was much more comfortable for the two elders than moving to the city.
Once his parents were settled, Li Xingkong went to the local visa office and obtained a visa to travel abroad.
He planned to leave for Prisoner Continent three days later and begin his plan.
Three days later, Dragon City Airport.
There weren't many vehicles coming or going, just a few scattered here and there along the street. A taxi pulled away from the traffic and slowly stopped beside the airport.
Li Xingkong hopped cheerfully out of the car and retrieved his luggage.
He had dressed up especially for the occasion, buying a new outfit for the trip: a black shell jacket on top and a pair of thick jeans below. His looks were actually ordinary, but after years of practicing his cultivation lessons, his physique could be called practically perfect.
Dragging his luggage behind him, Li Xingkong took his ticket and started looking for the waiting lounge. It was his first time flying, and he couldn't help being intensely curious.
Inside the airport, Li Xingkong felt like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden. Everything he saw seemed wonderful, but when he stood before the elevator, he genuinely had no idea where to go.
He found an airport attendant and spent quite a while asking questions before he understood the boarding process.
There weren't many people at the airport either. Following the attendant's directions, Li Xingkong quickly passed through security and reached the departure lounge. Only a handful of people were there, leaving the enormous lounge looking rather empty.
Li Xingkong found a seat, put down his luggage, and sat. The way he kept looking around made it obvious to anyone that this was his first visit.
After sitting for a while, he became more familiar with his surroundings. Once he'd looked long enough, it really wasn't much different from a train station waiting room.
He lowered his head to look at his phone, and a voice suddenly came from across from him.
"Hey, handsome, is this your first time flying?"
Li Xingkong looked up to see who was speaking, only to find the speaker looking right at him.
Sitting opposite him was a very cute-looking girl with long black hair spilling down onto her chair. She wore a blue plaid skirt and black stockings over her long, slender legs, a stark contrast to his outfit, which looked ready for winter.
"Yeah, it's my first time at an airport."
Since she had struck up a conversation, Li Xingkong naturally couldn't ignore her and hurried to respond.
"It's easy to get airsick on your first flight. Here, I'll share some snacks. Eat a little if you feel sick later."
The girl smiled at the sight of Li Xingkong, took a handful of sunflower seeds from her bag, and shared them with him.
"Uh, all right."
Li Xingkong scratched his head and accepted them. The last time he'd spoken to a girl had been the last time.
There was no other reason: Li Xingkong was terribly socially anxious. Over all these years, the most he'd said to a woman was, "Ma'am, I want this one, and that one too."
"Uh, um, thanks. What's your name?"
Li Xingkong racked his brains, trying to recall how to talk to girls, but after all that, he found his brain was still a mess of paste. His knowledge in this area seemed to be a blank sheet of paper.
"Hahaha, that's so funny. You're really direct."
The girl found Li Xingkong's manner increasingly amusing. "My name's Guan Zhenzhen. What's yours?"
"Li Xingkong."
With her watching and laughing at him, Li Xingkong's face had long since turned red, but he used his control to force it back to normal.
"Xingkong, your name goes pretty well with flying, doesn't it? Maybe after this flight, you'll come to like it."
As she spoke, Guan Zhenzhen rose from the seat opposite and came over to sit beside Li Xingkong.
He instinctively wanted to move away from her, but unfortunately, the seats here were massage chairs, and the armrests on either side blocked him in so tightly that he couldn't move at all.
"So where are you headed? Judging by what you're wearing, somewhere north?"
Guan Zhenzhen smiled when she saw Li Xingkong's reaction. It was rare to meet someone so innocent these days, especially at his age.
"No, no, I'm going to Prisoner Continent," Li Xingkong replied.
"If you're going to Prisoner Continent, you're a little overdressed. It's still very hot there right now," Guan Zhenzhen said.
It was the first time a girl had been so close to Li Xingkong, and he could even smell the perfume she wore. The scent was strong-so strong that he rather disliked it-and he couldn't help twitching his nose.
"It's my first time going there, so I wasn't sure. I figured it was better to be prepared."
"What a coincidence, I'm going to Prisoner Continent too. Want to add each other on WeChat?" Guan Zhenzhen took out her phone, tapped it a few times, and showed him her WeChat code.
"Oh, sure." Li Xingkong had never encountered anything like this before. He obediently opened WeChat and added her as a friend.
The two chatted a while longer. Guan Zhenzhen was the one finding topics the whole time, while Li Xingkong stammered out responses.
Not until boarding began did Li Xingkong hurriedly find an excuse to leave ahead of her.
Although Guan Zhenzhen chatted enthusiastically and brought up plenty of topics, Li Xingkong was in a class of his own when it came to conversation: he could kill one dead in three sentences. As far as he was concerned, their long chat had been as awkward as it could possibly be. Most importantly, the awkward words had come out of his own mouth.
As soon as boarding began, he hurriedly escaped on the pretext of needing to pee. That was right, escaped. In his first battle with a girl, Li Xingkong had dropped his helmet and armor and fled in utter defeat.
He dawdled in the restroom for a while and even washed his face. He was still reviewing what had been wrong with the things he'd just said, hoping to do better next time, when he heard the second boarding announcement.
He hurried along the signs to the boarding gate and stepped onto the plane bound for Prisoner Continent.
The plane wasn't as big as he'd imagined. Once inside, it felt like a bus. Or perhaps he simply lacked any sense of sophistication, because he didn't feel that taking a flight was worth sharing at all.
Number 37 was written clearly on his ticket. Li Xingkong went down the rows looking for it. The aisle was narrow, only wide enough for one person, so people passing each other had to make way.
When he found his seat and looked, Li Xingkong's face turned pale-Guan Zhenzhen was sitting right beside it.