At the other end of the city, a hundred kilometers away, amidst a cluster of buildings that resembled all kinds of monstrous creations,
A man who had gotten up early to brew himself a cup of coffee and changed into his workout clothes was about to pick up his water glass.
Suddenly, he sensed a tremor of another emotion stirring within him.
[What’s wrong, Fang Tian?]
{We’ve gained 9999.11N}
Lyu Bu’s body instantly stiffened. By the time he reacted, fine beads of sweat had already seeped through his undershirt.
Fortunately, he had made it a habit to clear out Chronos.
He gently set the teacup down on the table.
–So, this is your response, huh.–
Bang! His firm, powerful palms slammed heavily onto the rosewood table.
A mix of fury and faint fear flickered in Lyu Bu’s eyes.
……
Crack, crack, bang!
A thick tree came crashing down.
–Yosh, not bad, pretty sturdy.– Zuo Feixian gave the trunk a kick with his leg.
Yang Zicang watched this figure. Over these past few days, he had often thought back to that dream—what exactly was it waiting for, that existence behind Zuo Feixian?
–Once the vehicle is done, our Cargo Crew can set off. Heh, truly worthy of Lord Yang—every single engine has been snapped up by the merchants in Hubville.–
–With the Mayor’s help, there’s really nothing more I can do for now. Future focus is on selling products.–
Several jagged lines shot simultaneously towards the crowd.
{I’m Lu Xiang. I’ve spotted a few mutated beasts. Anyone want to invest in me?}
The person across on Syn-Link was a stranger in what looked like a quarry. Before him stood several sturdy beasts, seemingly having escaped from some off-frequency spectralscape into this wilderness.
–Wow, this is rare—someone actually seeking funding.–
–Must be a newly arrived spectralscape. These beasts haven’t even started to starve yet.–
[I invested 200N in Lu Xiang.]
{Oh, a VIP! Giving me that much. Thank you, thank you!}
Right after the man expressed his thanks, several ChronosInvest, each ranging from fifty to a hundred years, delivered themselves onto him—startling him silly.
{Hey, is there a big gathering nearby? Please forgive my poor showing today, ladies and gents. Just watch and enjoy.}
The man rose to his feet, grabbed a spear made from beast bones, activated his Moxel, and charged forward.
Several beasts, each twice the size of an ox, saw the human rushing in. From their nostrils, two blasts of hot air fired out. They pivoted, scraped the ground with their hooves, and came thundering forward, goring him and sending him flying to the ground.
The other beasts charged over, their massive hooves thudding as they trampled Lu Xiang, causing white foam to bubble from his mouth as he howled in pain.
–Hahaha.–
–How pathetic.–
Zuo Feixian chuckled as he wiped his eyes; the group sat by a tree stump, engrossed in the live-streaming spectacle of a hunt.
Hard to tell who was hunting whom.
Fortunately, the trampling was merely physical impact. After about ten minutes, the man, bruised all over, finally finished off the monsters and limped toward the rock edge.
{Thank you, gentlemen. I hope you’ll keep following my activities. I’ve been hunting nearby lately.}
In the projection, the man bowed respectfully to the void before starting to distribute his share of rewards.
–Why’s he showing us his back? This guy.–
[I’ve received 203.2 N from Lu Xiang.]
–That’s really scarce,– Yang Zicang mused inwardly.
–What a great day—made a year’s worth of Chronos without breaking a sweat.– Shiu Siuchuan nearly jumped for joy.
The other youths wore expressions of surprise and delight as well, each having earned Chronos equivalent to months or even a year.
Yang Zicang scratched his head.
Indeed, Chronos had been coming in too quickly lately. And this was basically riding on Morris’s coattails.
Several days later.
Time neared the end of the month.
Thanks to the acquisition of three hundred units of Virtual Zero Chronos this month, no one in the city suffered any loss from the deduction of Chronos.
At that moment, many people who had only appeared in this world this month realized they had just narrowly escaped death’s door.
[You have consumed 150N, proceeding to the next month.]
[** Virtual Zero Chronos deducted: 150N.**]
Chang Yang collapsed limply onto the small dining table.
[Virtual Zero Chronos 150N duration has ended.]
–Come on, usually you seem pretty calm, don’t you?–
Liu Ming, sitting beside him, hummed in a good mood.
–Calm? If a person calmly tries to understand this world, only to have something like this happen in the last two minutes of understanding, wouldn’t you be shocked? There’s simply no way to foresee this!–
–It’s not that big a deal. Xiaoxi already told us, didn’t he?–
Liu Ming leaned back in the wooden chair, his expression one of total resignation.
Chang Yang shook his head, his heartbeat calming down, followed by a wave of frustration.
This month has passed; what about the next month? One can’t keep relying on Yang ZiCang. They entered at the same time, and yet he has achieved nothing.
Liang Xi walked into the room, holding a plate of fragrant roasted meat in one hand and a candle in the other.
–Late-night snack is here!–
Mu Xiaoyu popped out from behind the door with a smile, pulling in a cart laden with roasted eggplant, grilled potato slices, cabbage and tofu soup, along with rationed pies and small cakes from headquarters.
–Come on, let’s celebrate making it through the first month!– The girl orchestrated with the poise of a hostess.
–Smells so good.–
Liu Ming quickly stood up to take the dishes from his hands, while Chang Yang also got up to help the girl pull the cart inside.
–Ready to dig in?–
–Wait!– Mu Xiaoyu raised a hand: –Hold on, there’s still someone coming.–
Chang Yang and Liu Ming looked over as Liang Xi asked, –Could the boss be coming back?–
–Mm-hmm.– Mu Xiaoyu nodded her pale chin firmly: –He also says he has presents for everyone.–
A few minutes later, the group sprawled by the window on the theater’s second floor saw two flashlight beams at the entrance. Voices echoed across the empty hall from the approaching pair.
–Hey~–
–Haha, hello—hello, beautiful!– Robin Lo waved his arm.
He and Yang ZiCang lugged large bags and suitcases.
–Ah, finally made it back—whoa, it’s a lot cleaner now.–
–Just killed time by cleaning up.–
–This is Brother Robin Lo,– Liang Xi introduced to the others, –the three of us took down this space back then.–
The situation at that time had been recounted by Liang Xi in their ears more than once over the past few days; the traces of battle in that room, along with the thunder that permeated the entire theater, had long given them an idea of what had happened.
–Why didn’t you just come straight over to me?– Mu Xiaoyu pouted.
–Hehe, the little beauty is angry. It’s just that our esteemed Master Yang was being polite.–
After taking their seats, they ate and talked about their experiences in the Shibin Wastes.
Liang Xi and Mu Xiaoyu both listened with great interest.
–Brother, what’s the gift?–
After the meal, Liang Xi, now familiar with everyone, took on a host-like demeanor and asked on behalf of the other three.
–First of all, there are these.–
Robin Lo dragged over a few luggage bags and opened them, revealing a small half-room full of daily necessities.
The four of them were happy yet showed a hint of disappointment—if disappointed, this was also something urgently needed.
–It’s, it’s pretty good, ahahaha.– Liang Xi awkwardly laughed, hands on his hips to ease the tension.
–No worries, these are just meant to represent a gift from our big client, the Zhu Cargo Crew.–
Yang Zicang silently covered his face.
–Big client?–
Liang Xi muttered the name out of curiosity, but then the skin on his face tightened with a forced tug.
–Let’s get down to business; I want you all to try to see if you can use this.–
Moxel flickered, and Yang Zicang opened his palm, where a translucent scroll materialized from the glow.
–What’s this?–
–You can think of it as a martial art you learn instantly from a power transfer in a wuxia world, or a skill book you slap to learn in a game.–
Yang Zicang handed it first to Chang Yang.
–Me?– Chang Yang hadn’t expected Yang Zicang to give the skill book to him of all people.
–Try it out—see if it works?–
Yang Zicang simply wanted to look after this –friend– he least interacted with, and compared to Xiaoyu and Liu Ming, Chang Yang was much calmer, making him the perfect test subject.
Chang Yang sensed the information within it.
–Boosting Contract—Lucid Sense, 95 years of cultivation experience.–
–A boosting contract? This, this really is just like a skill book. How surreal is this world? Is it magic?– Chang Yang asked.
Liu Ming was hopping with impatience, wanting nothing more than to shove the glowing contract into the kid’s mouth.
–Just use it already.–
–Ha, the emperor isn’t worried but the eunuch’s bursting his gut.– Chang Yang shifted in his seat, gripping the boosting contract tightly as Yang Zicang instructed. It slowly dissolved into beams of light, merging with his body.
Then, Chang Yang sat in the chair like a Chan meditator, motionless for a long while.
When he opened his eyes, the contours of them seemed even sharper than before.
–How did it go?– Liu Ming asked nervously.
–I feel like even ordinary injuries will heal quickly from now on, and even serious wounds can be nursed back.–
–This… it’s actually that good.–
Chang Yang was both moved and shaken in his heart.
This was a rare healing ability—one that didn’t belong to Moxel’s repertoire.
–Thank you, ZiCang.–
–You’re welcome. Let’s help each other out from now on.–
Yang Zicang distributed them one by one.
–These contracts are extremely rare. I’m giving them to you for another reason as well.–
–What reason?– Several of them looked at him.
–Based on my experiences and observations over these past few days, I have a guess about the quantity of Moxel’s lines.–
Robin Lo pricked up his ears.
He eyed those leveling contracts with intense envy. Even though Robin Lo believed his intelligence on Yang Zicang was already exhaustive, seeing the young man pull out these items still made him feel like his head had been slammed with a club.
How had he obtained them? How many did he have? Robin Lo had no idea—only a sense of reluctant admiration.
–From the QuadMoxel I know and the relevant information I’ve gathered, the owners of QuadMoxel all possess remarkable willpower or mental fortitude. So I’m thinking, after you practicing these skills and building up your body and spirit, if you try to accommodate a Moxel this month or next, there might be an unexpected pleasant surprise.–
Hearing this, the three of them were all intrigued.
Liang Xi remarked, –I just hope none of you end up with a Moxel like mine.–
He was quite dissatisfied with his own Moxel, but fortunately, he had now learned skills that compensated for some of its shortcomings.
Chang Yang nodded in deep agreement; a Quad Moxel was beyond his wildest dreams—merely becoming a triangular Moxel would be excellent enough. As for ending up with a zigzag Moxel like Liang Xi’s, that was a despair he didn’t even want to contemplate.
Robin Luo let out a long sigh: –If that’s the case, ZiCang, you’ve truly left a monumental gift for those who come after us.–
–That is, provided the three of us pioneers succeed first,– Yang Zicang said with a smile to the others.
A newfound sense of mission sparked within them, and brimming with joy, the three activated the proxy training contracts.
Leave a Reply