Qingjian City.
The fine drizzle of April sounds like silk being gently unraveled, turning the glass curtain walls of surrounding skyscrapers into a frosted texture.
Water pools on asphalt roads, reflecting a leaden cold light, traffic lights bleeding colors into the slick surface like patches of swamp. Busy pedestrians hurry by under umbrellas on bustling streets.
Fang Qingyu stands beneath the Jinggong Road signpost.
The pure black umbrella presses down to his brow, his gaze sweeps over the heads of people hurrying by on the street, passing the time.
"Didi driver, part-time bar night DJ."
"Legal consultant, part-time streamer."
"Blockchain developer, part-time kidney broker."
"... Duck."
These days, it's truly hard to survive without doing one or two part-time jobs.
Yet whatever part-time jobs others do.
You can never imagine it.
Rumble~
Thunder rolls from the sky, Fang Qingyu looks up; the weather's been strange these days...
Fortunately, the person he's been waiting for has arrived.
"Qingzi, sorry, sorry, I'm late."
A young man with a vest clinging to his muscled body comes jogging from afar.
"It's fine, I just got here too."
Fang Qingyu turns around with a smile.
The young man's name is Qi Hao.
His high school classmate, their only commonality being that both chose not to attend university after graduation.
Yet one became an official martial arts hall student, the other drifted into society.
Actually, Fang Qingyu could find many excuses.
For instance, his memory was naturally worse than peers; something memorized might be forgotten by the next day, or he'd occasionally suffer sudden severe headaches.
But as an orphan, saying these things held no meaning; not getting into college is just not getting in.
And Qi Hao recently found out about his interest in fitness, deciding to invite him today for a look at the martial arts hall where he usually trains.
"Come on, let's go in, I'll show you around first."
Qi Hao warmly calls out.
Fang Qingyu follows behind him, glancing up at the sign overhead.
Chenfeng Martial Arts Hall.
Carved in ancient-style script on a gigantic plaque hung at the top, exuding an imposing aura.
What's impressive is that there are no miscellaneous enrollment ads around.
It gives a very clean impression.
"How about it, impressive, right?"
At the entrance of the martial arts hall, resembling the doorway of a big ancestral house from ancient times, the first thing any visitor will see is the enormous screen inside.
Carved with the character "Martial".
Fang Qingyu nods in agreement.
The martial arts hall in this world is indeed quite different from what he imagined.
Passing by the screen.
The sound of the sudden rain outside is abruptly removed from his ears.
The field sprawling before his eyes is the size of two football fields, with a seven-meter-high dome embedding a honeycomb LED matrix, its cold white light spreading evenly like moonlight.
Dozens of punching posts are lined up in formation, each post in front stands an apprentice in black training clothes.
The students listen to the instructor's commands, slightly bending their legs to hold a horse stance, diligently striking the punching posts in front of them.
Uttering shouts of encouragement and effort.
It seems quite lively.
"This is the place to build your foundation. If you sign up, you'll also train here with them, starting with the Pile Skill training."
"How about it, not bad right?"
Qi Hao speaks with some pride on his face.
Newly enrolled students in a martial arts hall having this spirit and attitude can certainly be considered quite good.
Fang Qingyu listens without showing emotion on his face, instead looking first at the white words above their heads.
[Student], [Programmer], [Bank Teller]...
All of them are ordinary people.
Including that coach.
Their professional title was merely [Pile Training Coach].
The field here is indeed quite nice, but... it seems to be just an ordinary martial arts hall.
Fang Qingyu feels a bit disappointed.
After all, the enrollment fee here is eighteen thousand... equivalent to all his savings at the moment.
If it's just an ordinary martial arts hall, he might as well go home and work out.
"It's okay, let's keep looking around."
Seeing Fang Qingyu remain silent, Qi Hao suddenly grows anxious and pulls Fang Qingyu to another side.
He's one of the few who knows and believes Fang Qingyu has memory issues and a brain ailment.
Because he tried teaching Fang Qingyu some moves and basic force techniques before.
And Fang Qingyu's learning speed was surprising.
Though sometimes he forgot by the next day, practicing martial arts for a long time can form a muscle-engraved reflex.
Irrelevant to the memory in one's mind.
That's why he's so eager to bring Fang Qingyu here to enroll.
"This is the weapons area now. After mastering the basics, you can choose to learn a fist technique or various weapons. I'm learning fist technique."
They walked to another section.
The weapon area's metal racks spread out in a fan shape, hundreds of unsharpened steel weapons glint coldly in the white light.
A female instructor here is whipping a nine-section whip, coaching students.
"I've told you how many times! Hold with three fingers and relax two fingers to release strength!"
"She's our hall's Elite Class instructor, Coach Zheng, very formidable. She teaches both weapons and fist technique. I can't beat her at all."
Upon hearing these words, Fang Qingyu looks curiously at their physiques...
If Qi Hao wasn't deliberately exaggerating.
Then this instructor might indeed have some skills.
But not much.
Whether it was the weapon area or the punching area, the trainees and instructors all had quite ordinary professional titles.
One was a weapon instructor, another a combat instructor.
Perhaps they can be considered experts in combat.
But not enough to justify spending all his current savings to learn here.
"I'll think it over."
Though this area was large, there weren't many people. Once Fang Qingyu saw everything clearly, he planned to leave.
"Okay, you think it over, Qingzi. I honestly think you have the talent."
Since Fang Qingyu didn't show any interest from beginning to end, Qi Hao figured he probably wouldn't sign up.
After all, he understood Fang Qingyu's situation.
This fee was indeed a burden for Qingzi...
"I'll think about it."
Fang Qingyu nodded earnestly.
But that's only if he had money to spare in the future.
Qi Hao escorted Fang Qingyu to the entrance, where a mother and son seemed to want to enroll too.
"How about it, son, want to go inside and have a look? Don't you love martial arts novels the most? Practicing martial arts here could strengthen your body too..."
Fang Qingyu glanced over, just about to say goodbye to Qi Hao.
Another middle-aged man walked up outside the entrance.
Seeing him, Qi Hao quickly bowed and greeted him.
"Hello, Coach Lin."
Coach Lin nodded slightly and continued into the hall.
But before entering, he glanced at Fang Qingyu, who was still staring at him.
In that instant...
Fang Qingyu felt goosebumps explode all over his body!
As if he were standing on the very edge of an abyss.
As if the other could send him tumbling in at any moment.
"Who... is he?"
Only after a long time did Fang Qingyu snap back to reality, looking towards Qi Hao.
"We all call him Coach Lin, the trainer for our martial arts hall's Elite Class, super strong!"
"I personally saw him kick a 200-pound punching post seven or eight meters away before..."
While Qi Hao wasn't expecting much, hearing Fang Qingyu's voice, he quickly leaned in to explain.
Coincidentally, the mother and son nearby were also arguing.
"Martial Arts?? Not even a dog would..."
"Train!!"
Fang Qingyu suddenly dragged Qi Hao back into the martial arts hall.
"Martial arts is exactly what I want to train in, let me sign up."
Qi Hao was a bit dumbfounded at first.
Though unclear why Qingzi suddenly changed his mind, he was glad he wanted to enroll.
"You won't regret this, Qingzi."
Saying so, he led Fang Qingyu to the front desk to pay.
Eighteen thousand almost emptied Fang Qingyu's savings over the years.
Only 652 remained.
But Fang Qingyu truly wouldn't regret it.
There are two types of strong people.
One needs to constantly climb higher, to prove themselves.
But the other kind...
Just standing there is enough.
That middle-aged man was exactly like that.
Moreover, his professional title...
Fang Qingyu had never seen before!!!
[Martial Artist]!
And its color was red!