Chapter 14
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Chapter 14 Preparation and a New Job
Stationery stores near school gates always stock a wide variety of supplies students need.
The stationery store outside Songyang High School was no different.
In addition to various kinds of regular stationery, the Boss’s massive display cabinet behind the counter resembled a pharmacy. It was filled with all sorts of medications high school students might need, from sedatives and stimulants to mind-calming agents.
Zhang Yu leaned forward on the counter and asked, “Boss, do you have any nerve fillers?”
The Boss, who was scrolling through his phone, did not even look up. “Do you want the expensive ones or the cheaper ones?”
Zhang Yu replied, “I’m a student. Can you give me a discount on the expensive ones?”
The Boss finally raised his head and gave Zhang Yu a sidelong glance.
Zhang Yu continued nonchalantly, “I’m ranked tenth in the first year, from Class 1, and I’m a campus celebrity. If your medicine works well for me, my classmates will definitely follow my lead and buy from you.”
The Boss’s mouth twitched. He pulled a box of medicine from the cabinet and placed it in front of Zhang Yu. “Purple Cloud Corporation’s nerve fillers. Guaranteed to let you sleep for only twenty minutes a day. They’re five hundred a box, but I’ll sell this one to you for four hundred and eighty.”
Zhang Yu picked up the box and examined it. “Aren’t you going to throw anything else in?”
The Boss frowned, then pulled out a few painkillers. “Here, take these.”
Zhang Yu grinned and stuffed the painkillers into his pocket. “Thanks, Boss. In that case, can I skip the nerve fillers?”
Seeing the Boss’s face darken, Zhang Yu quickly scanned the payment QR code on the counter. “Just kidding! I’m paying right now.”
As he picked up the nerve fillers from the counter, Zhang Yu felt a painful sting.
A single box of nerve fillers would only last about a week, yet it had cost him a full 480 yuan. His account balance instantly plummeted to just over 1,700.
But Zhang Yu believed it was all worth it.
Since he had decided to compete in the Magic Power Competition, he was determined to give it his all. He would not sleep for the next week, dedicating himself entirely to cultivating the Cosmic Orbit Energy Gathering Method.
“Heh, my goal isn’t just to make it into the top ten in my year.”
Meanwhile, Zhao Tianxing walked into the stationery store behind Zhang Yu, watching as he left with the medicine. He wondered to himself, “Are those really nerve fillers?”
He trailed Zhang Yu out of the store and down the street. When they reached a corner, he was startled to find Zhang Yu already standing there, waiting for him.
“You… hello, Zhang Yu,” Zhao Tianxing said awkwardly. “What a coincidence, you take this route too?”
Zhang Yu looked at him and asked, “Why are you following me?”
Zhao Tianxing scratched his head, feigning ignorance. “Following you? I take this route home from school too.”
Zhang Yu said impatiently, “Please, just look at yourself.”
“You’re over two meters tall and weigh over three hundred pounds. I saw you the moment you left the cafeteria.”
“What do you really want?”
Zhao Tianxing could not possibly tell him that the Physical Education teacher, Wang Hai, had instructed him to get close to Zhang Yu and investigate his supply channels.
So Zhao Tianxing scratched his head again and said with some embarrassment, “Zhang Yu, I think you’re really outstanding. I want to follow you and learn from you.”
Looking at the shy expression on the eighteen-year-old, three-hundred-plus-pound teenager before him, Zhang Yu thought to himself, Seriously? Are your social skills still stuck at the elementary school level?
Zhang Yu considered for a moment, then said, “Alright. As long as you buy me fried chicken, you can follow me all you like.”
Feeling waves of chills coursing through his body and the countdown in his mind urging him on, Zhang Yu knew he could not linger any longer.
With a sigh, Zhang Yu began walking forward and waved Zhao Tianxing along. “Let’s talk while we walk.”
Zhao Tianxing followed behind, his face filled with hesitation. “You want fried chicken? That’s strictly forbidden for body refining. Teacher Wang told us not to eat it. Can we get chicken breast instead?”
“Relax, I’m not asking you to eat it. You’re just treating me.” Thinking of the taste of fried chicken, Zhang Yu could not help but wipe the drool from the corner of his mouth.
Since arriving in this world, Zhang Yu had been eating the same frugal, healthy meals at the high school cafeteria three times a day. It had been ages since he had last had anything like fried chicken.
The relentless daily cultivation had steadily built up pressure within him, leaving no time for relaxation and no room to spend a single extra cent.
Just the thought of eating fried chicken soon made Zhang Yu feel much lighter, as if some of the pressure had already lifted.
Zhao Tianxing followed Zhang Yu onto the subway and off again, watching as he stopped in front of a fried chicken shop. Curious, he asked, “You came all this way just for this place? It must be really good, right?”
Zhang Yu replied, “It was on the way.”
Unfortunately, the moment Zhang Yu stepped into the fried chicken shop, the damnable countdown in his mind began to sound again.
He could only turn to Zhao Tianxing beside him and say, “Get me a fried chicken combo. I’ll wait for you here.”
Watching Zhang Yu sit down on the spot and begin to meditate, Zhao Tianxing scratched his head, unable to make sense of the situation.
A moment later, as he watched Zhang Yu happily munching on a fried chicken leg on the street, Zhao Tianxing felt even more perplexed.
He’s so disciplined he uses even his time in a queue to practice his Breathing Technique, yet he’s eating fried chicken. What a weird guy.
As he continued to follow Zhang Yu, Zhao Tianxing was even more surprised to find that he was not heading to a cram school or a pharmacy. Instead, he arrived at a plaza to wait for temporary work.
“You’re going to work?” Zhao Tianxing asked.
Zhang Yu patted his stomach and comfortably settled onto a clean patch of ground. He waved his hand dismissively. “A single fried chicken meal isn’t enough for a chat. I’m going to cultivate while I wait for a job, so do whatever you want.”
Watching Zhang Yu begin his meditation and Breathing Technique practice right there on the ground, Zhao Tianxing was stunned again.
“You are absorbing…?” He glanced at the nearby sewage, listened to the noisy music blasting from the barbershop across the street, and surveyed the surrounding job seekers, who all looked like trouble. He could not help but ask again, “You’re practicing it here?”
But Zhang Yu had already begun to wholeheartedly practicing the Cosmic Orbit Energy Gathering Method, ignoring Zhao Tianxing this time.
Zhao Tianxing squatted beside Zhang Yu and observed him intently. After confirming that Zhang Yu was indeed practicing his Breathing Technique, his confusion only deepened. What’s the point of practicing it here? Is he just trying to cultivate on the side while he waits for a job?
After a while, Zhao Tianxing saw that Zhang Yu showed no signs of getting up. Just as he was considering leaving, his phone buzzed.
Seeing the inquiry from Wang Hai, Zhao Tianxing replied that he was approaching Zhang Yu. After a great deal of hesitation, he finally sat down beside him and began to practice the Breathing Technique himself.
Half an hour later, Zhao Tianxing could not help but open his eyes. He saw that Zhang Yu was still practicing his Breathing Technique.
An hour later, Zhao Tianxing could not resist standing up to walk around and stretch. He glanced back to see that Zhang Yu was still practicing his Breathing Technique.
After more than two hours, Zhao Tianxing had long since stopped his own practice and had begun practicing the Thirty-Six Forms of Body Strengthening, one move at a time and each of his movement precise and deliberate.
Throughout his intermittent observations, Zhang Yu remained completely still from start to finish. He made no small movements like scratching his head or adjusting his posture. His eyelids did not even twitch, and the rhythm of his breathing remained perfectly steady.
Zhao Tianxing could not help but marvel inwardly. “Such intense focus. No wonder he can maintain a zero percent distraction rate for days on end.”
But without a Spirit Root, a high-density spiritual energy environment, or any medicinal pills.. Is this Breathing Technique really worth it when the efficiency is so low?
As Zhang Yu continued his focused cultivation, his progress with the Cosmic Orbit Energy Gathering Method increased once again, reaching Level 4 (12/80).
Just then, another van pulled into the square. Hearing them ask for security personnel, Zhang Yu dismissed the thought and refocused on his cultivation.
As a first-year high school student, he was no match for the old geezers around him when it came to security work.
But soon he heard the recruitment requirements. They were looking for someone young and well-built, with a clean-cut appearance and good looks.
Zhang Yu’s eyes snapped open. He strode toward the van confidently raised his hand. “How about me?”
The driver’s eyes instantly lit up and he walked toward Zhang Yu. “Perfect, perfect! You’re exactly what we—”
Zhang Yu chuckled and was about to shake the man’s hand when he realized the driver had passed him by. The driver grabbed Zhao Tianxing’s hand instead, praising him. “Great physique, and a handsome face too.”
“What a chest!”
“What a waist!”
“And that back!”
The driver patted Zhao Tianxing’s body as he exclaimed, “Such perfect proportions! While your absolute strength isn’t yet formidable, your foundational framework is already flawlessly sculpted to perfection. You’re like an uncut jade, radiating boundless potential.”
“To achieve this level of physique would require relentless, grueling training, an incredibly disciplined lifestyle, guidance from a master teacher, and a near-limitless regimen of medicinal pills and enhancer injections. It’s simply impossible otherwise.”
“You’re the one, kid. I’ll pay you 800 an hour. Come with me.”
At that moment, Zhang Yu, who was standing nearby, was stunned.
He had not expected his own lean, toned physique, his handsome, aloof features, and his otherworldly aura to lose out to a muscle-bound monster like Zhao Tianxing.
“Boss, take a look at me! I can do it too!”
The driver glanced at Zhang Yu and shook his head. “No scrawny pups allowed.”
“You don’t inspire confidence for security work. You’d probably only block half as many Flying Swords as the others.”
Zhao Tianxing started to refuse. “Actually, I’m not here to…”
Zhang Yu quickly cut him off. “Boss, we’re brothers. We swore an oath that whether it’s a one-man job or a group effort, we do it together.”
The driver frowned, studying Zhang Yu and then Zhao Tianxing. Finally, he turned to Zhang Yu and asked, “I’ll give you 400 an hour for a total of four hours. Are you in or not?”
Zhang Yu nodded repeatedly. “I’m in! I’m in! I’m in!”
Zhao Tianxing was pulled toward the van by Zhang Yu.
Embarrassed, Zhao Tianxing said to Zhang Yu, “I didn’t come here to work. Besides, my mom will worry if I get home too late. I should go talk to the boss…”
Zhang Yu quickly said, “Didn’t you have something you wanted to tell me? Let’s go work this job together, and you can tell me whatever you want.”
Thinking of the task Wang Hai had given him, Zhao Tianxing could only reluctantly agree. “I need to call my mom first.”
The van drove them toward the city centre while the driver explained their task for the trip.
“Ms. Li Xuelian is holding an art exhibition at the Cloud Hall on the 999th floor. The security arrangements are not a problem.”
“However, Ms. Li isn’t satisfied with the appearance of the internal security team. She’s worried it will distract from the viewing experience and has requested that we find some young, handsome men.”
“Once you two get there, change into the security uniforms and follow all orders from the Security Team Captain.”
“And remember this. You absolutely, positively, under no circumstances can offend Ms. Li.”
Zhang Yu asked curiously, “This Ms. Li must be incredibly wealthy, right?”
“Wealthy?” The driver snorted, his voice filled with arrogance. “She’s far more than just wealthy. Ms. Li is the daughter of a Golden Core expert!”