Chapter 96: What Got In?
“No need, my running speed isn’t slow,” Bai Zhenzhen said, waving her hand and starting to warm up, her long, slender thighs continuously tensing and relaxing, displaying curves honed by long-term training.
“My Sports Car Legs is already level 10.”
Then, to Bai Zhenzhen’s astonishment, a roar of magic power suddenly erupted from within Zhang Yu’s body. The next moment, he shot out several dozen meters, then zipped back in front of her with a gust of wind.
“My movement technique has now reached the level of a first-class delivery driver.”
What does it feel like to see your good buddy suddenly have level 10 Sports Car Legs, running faster than an electric scooter?
Bai Zhenzhen’s first feeling was, of course, surprise.
I’ve never seen Yu-boy practice Sports Car Legs! Is he secretly delivering food every night?
Her second feeling was like seeing a buddy buy a new car; she thought, your ride is so fast, can you give me a ride?
Bai Zhenzhen suddenly leaped onto Zhang Yu’s back, her arms wrapped around his neck and her legs clamped around his waist as she said, “Yu-boy, take me for a spin!”
In the next instant, Zhang Yu was already carrying Bai Zhenzhen as he shot off like an electric current, rushing towards the Dark Learning Gang’s campus amidst the whistling wind.
Bai Zhenzhen rested her face against Zhang Yu’s back, watching the surrounding streetscape fly past, and said with some excitement, “A’Yu, you’re so fast.”
“Am I?”
Although Zhang Yu had mastered many level 10 cultivation techniques, he had never dared to show them off easily.
Now, having a rare chance to show off his level 10 Sports Car Legs in front of Zhen, Zhang Yu’s mood became unusually cheerful.
Amidst the howling wind, Zhang Yu chuckled and said, “This isn’t even my full speed.”
“Really? A’Yu, you’re amazing!”
“Heh heh, look, am I faster now!”
“So fast, so fast! A’Yu, can you go even faster?”
“Haha, watch me accelerate again!”
With a loud bang, Zhang Yu activated Elevator Leap and flew across the traffic light ahead in a single bound.
Bai Zhenzhen smoothed down her golden wig, which was flying up and down in the wild wind, and watched Zhang Yu run faster and faster amidst her praise, thinking to herself, Riding a buddy is really exhilarating. No wonder so many people would rather hit a person than hail a cab.
Leaning against Zhang Yu’s back, feeling the rolling heat of qi and blood coming from his body, Bai Zhenzhen thought, It’s just that I can’t turn off this heater. I feel like my whole body is being cooked…
The next moment, with a light splash, a puddle of water exploded under Zhang Yu’s foot, drenching Bai Zhenzhen’s leg.
“Zhang Yu, are you trying to kill me! Why did you step in a filthy gutter!”
Zhang Yu said helplessly, “This stretch of road in the suburbs often has no streetlights, I can’t see clearly. Help me out with your phone’s flashlight.”
Bai Zhenzhen took out her phone and turned on the light to illuminate the road ahead for Zhang Yu.
On the dark path, the two of them pressed forward under the illumination of the faint light, moving farther and farther away from the neon city behind them.
Zhang Yu suddenly exclaimed, “Why is there something hard pressing against me from down there?”
For a rare moment, Bai Zhenzhen’s face turned red as she said irritably, “That’s the spiritual root!”
“It’s all because you wanted to borrow it to play with. I’ve been trying it out recently, which has caused this spiritual root to keep poking me in the stomach.”
Zhang Yu suddenly remembered something. “Right, don’t forget to request a concealment talisman.”
Seeing the constantly bobbing Bai Zhenzhen and the tattoos all over her face on the screen, Zhang Pianpian asked in confusion, “What are you doing?”
“Godmother, Zhang Yu is carrying me to the Dark Learning Gang campus. I’d like to ask you to cast a concealment talisman for me.”
After a moment of silence, Zhang Pianpian said, “It’s very good that you two can earn money by tutoring at a gang as a work-study program. But you two… are you planning to come to me every day from now on to have me cast concealment talismans on both of you?”
As she spoke, Zhang Pianpian asked again, “Doesn’t Zhang Yu have the Talisman Tome? Hasn’t he learned the concealment talisman yet?”
Zhang Yu took the phone and said while running, “I’ve just started tutoring to earn money, so funds are still a bit tight. I’ll be able to afford to learn the concealment talisman after a while.”
“But I still don’t know how to draw talismans remotely, so Zhen will still need your help, sis.”
Zhang Pianpian said flatly, “Why don’t you two just live together?”
“Find a place to rent together between the Dark Learning Gang and Songyang High School. You can save on rent, it’ll be convenient for school and work, and the two of you can share the Talisman Tome to cast talismans.”
Zhang Yu’s mind immediately started calculating the time and cost, and his eyes lit up. He realized that this was indeed a very cost-effective solution that could save a lot of money.
There was just one problem. Zhang Yu asked Bai Zhenzhen, “Zhen, do you rent your place?”
Bai Zhenzhen nodded. “Duh. If my family could still afford to buy a house, how would we have the money to support my cultivation?”
Bai Zhenzhen then continued, “Godmother has a point. If I can get a class at the Dark Learning Gang, let’s rent together. It’s indeed more cost-effective. My parents are working out of town anyway, so I’ve always lived alone.”
In the blink of an eye, the two arrived at the Dark Learning Gang’s campus.
Bai Zhenzhen was introduced to Black Crow by Zhang Yu to attend her interview, while Zhang Yu went to his own class.
Walking into the classroom, his eyes were met with rows of muscular men sitting in their seats. They were burly, with dark skin and faces that showed a weather-beaten weariness.
These were the students who came for the Excavator Palm course. Almost all of them were from construction sites, hoping to be more competitive in their job search, which was why they came to learn and improve their Excavator Palm.
Zhang Yu heard that as more and more high school students graduated each year, the competition for jobs on construction sites was becoming increasingly fierce. The recruitment requirements for positions related to the Excavator Palm… had been raised to level 6 or above just to get an interview.
Through a few days of teaching and casual chats during breaks, Zhang Yu had also gotten to know his students, who had an average height of 2 meters and an average weight of over 200 kg.
Some students had very large, round bellies like big rubber balls; Zhang Yu knew this was from undergoing gastrointestinal modification surgery, allowing them to survive on grass alone.
Some students had very large, dark, and round pupils; this was to compete for night-time construction site jobs, for which they had undergone night vision surgery.
Most of them had flushed faces, rapid breathing, and optimistic but low-IQ personalities—a side effect of long-term use of inferior stimulants at work.
It was said that when Purple Cloud Company found out, they had wanted to improve this defect in the stimulant, but it was kept because the drug was too popular on the market.
There was even a construction site that secretly put this stimulant in the employees’ drinking water, claiming that it could improve work efficiency while effectively preventing employees from running away and avoiding wage arrears. Although the supervisor in charge was fired and bankrupted, it was still cited by many companies as a classic case study in corporate management.
At this moment, as Zhang Yu walked into the classroom, many students were still talking loudly.
Some were complaining about the price increase of synthetic food. After all, the synthetic food they used to eat was disgusting, but at least it was cheap.
Some were discussing going to other cities to work. It was said that the corporate wars in the north had triggered a new wave of infrastructure boom, a place where everything was waiting to be rebuilt, jobs were easy to find, overtime was easy to get approved, and rent was free. It was a good place where everyone had a job and a place to live.
Others were excitedly talking about the high wages at the Oasis Tower construction site, saying that the Oasis Tower was going to be built to 1,111 floors, becoming the new tallest building in Songyang City, which caught the attention of a group of students around them.
But with a cough from Zhang Yu, most of the students in the classroom fell silent. Zhang Yu didn’t mind the few who were still talking foolishly.
Zhang Yu didn’t blame them. They weren’t stupid; their intelligence had just been worn down by work.
“Alright, be quiet, class is starting. Otherwise, if I have to wait for you to quiet down, the time missed will not be refunded.”
Zhang Yu knew that for these students from construction sites, money was the most effective motivator. After all, apart from their spending on Dao heart buffers, most of them were extremely frugal.
As expected, the moment he mentioned this, the room immediately fell silent, with only the sound of Zhang Yu’s lecture spreading through the air.
The quality of Zhang Yu’s lectures was naturally beyond question. Especially considering that these students’ intelligence had been worn down by work, he explained things in an even more simple and easy-to-understand manner. Combined with his deep understanding of muscles and sinews, the students gained a lot after each class.
After class, Zhang Yu went outside the small building and saw Bai Zhenzhen practicing her techniques while waiting for him.
Seeing Zhang Yu appear, Bai Zhenzhen said with a smile, “The teachers available for trial lessons happened to be here today, so they gave me a trial lesson. I can start teaching tomorrow. They’re paying me 2,000 per class.”
Although the pay was much less than Zhang Yu’s, Bai Zhenzhen was still very excited. After all, this was a long-term part-time job, and it was the highest-paying long-term meal ticket she had ever had in her life.
Zhang Yu was also happy to hear this. If Zhen could earn more money, her chances of improving her physical strength and participating in the sports competition would be greater.
On the way back, Zhang Yu once again carried Bai Zhenzhen as they ran.
Bai Zhenzhen had one arm around Zhang Yu’s neck and was holding her phone in the other, searching for rental information while leaning against his back.
She frowned and said, “It’s hard to find a place that meets the requirements.”
Zhang Yu asked curiously, “What are your requirements?”
Bai Zhenzhen listed them one by one, “First, it has to be small and cheap enough. After all, the place is just for storing things, and we won’t be spending much time there.”
“Second, it must at least have electricity and internet, otherwise it’s too inconvenient.”
“It would be best if it’s a basement, so it would be convenient for training without worrying about disturbing the people downstairs…”
“Damn it, these good places are too popular, it’s so hard to find one.”
Just then, the sky had unknowingly started to brighten. The sun gradually rose from the direction of downtown Songyang City, illuminating the road ahead for Zhang Yu and Bai Zhenzhen.
“It’s already dawn without us realizing… right, today’s tutoring session was later.”
Mortals also began to appear one after another on the roadside in the suburbs.
Zhang Yu saw the long lines in front of the stalls distributing synthetic food, and memories from this body’s past also surfaced in his mind.
His and Bai Zhenzhen’s figures flashed past the eyes of these mortals like a gust of wind, stirring a trace of envy in their eyes.
Zhang Yu thought to himself, If the original Zhang Yu hadn’t been admitted to high school, he would probably be like these people now, or like his former middle school classmates, living day by day receiving relief food and doing low-income mortal jobs, just waiting to die, right?
But as the images of mortals lining up for food flashed through his mind, he suddenly recalled the students in his class today, and for a moment, he couldn’t tell which group—these middle schoolers or those high school graduates from his class—was happier.
Bai Zhenzhen’s focus was still on finding a house, her mind occupied with what kind of requirements the house should have if she were to live and eat with Zhang Yu, go to school and work together in the future.
As she was constantly thinking about these things, she suddenly felt a sense of emptiness in her lower abdomen.
Bai Zhenzhen was suddenly shocked. What the hell! My spiritual root is gone!
At the same time, Zhang Yu, who was carrying Bai Zhenzhen and running at high speed, was also startled. What the hell! What just drilled into me from behind?