Chapter 14: Preparation and the New Job

Stationery stores at school gates always sell all sorts of things students need.

The stationery store at the entrance of Songyang High School was no exception.

In addition to various writing supplies, the massive display cabinet behind the owner looked like a pharmacy, filled with all kinds of medicines high schoolers might need, ranging from sedatives and stimulants to focus enhancers.

Zhang Yu leaned his hands on the counter and asked, "Boss, do you have neural fillers?"

The owner, who was busy scrolling through his phone, replied without looking up, "Do you want the expensive kind or the cheap kind?"

Zhang Yu: "I'm a student. Can you give me a discount on the expensive ones?"

The owner finally looked up and shot Zhang Yu a sidelong glance.

Undeterred, Zhang Yu said, "I'm ranked tenth in the first year, Class 1—a campus celebrity. If your medicine works well for me, my classmates will definitely follow suit and come buy it here."

The owner's lip twitched. He pulled a box of medicine from the cabinet and placed it in front of Zhang Yu. "Ziyun Company's neural filler. Guaranteed to let you function on only 20 minutes of sleep a day. It's 500 a box, but I'll give it to you for 480 this time."

Zhang Yu picked up the box and inspected it. "Aren't you throwing in anything for free?"

The owner frowned, pulled out a few painkiller tablets, and said, "Take these."

Zhang Yu grinned, stuffed the painkillers into his pocket, and said, "Thanks, boss. In that case, can I skip the neural filler?"

Seeing the owner's face darken, Zhang Yu quickly scanned the payment QR code on the side. "Just kidding! I'm paying now."

As he picked up the neural filler from the counter, Zhang Yu felt a pang of heartache.

One box of neural filler would only last about a week, yet it cost him a full 480. His account balance instantly dropped to just over 1,700.

But Zhang Yu believed it was worth it.

Since he had already decided to participate in the Law Competition, he intended to give it his all. He planned to stay awake for the entire coming week to focus solely on practicing the Zhou Tian Qi-Gathering Method.

"Heh, my goal isn't just the top ten in the grade."

On the other side, Zhao Tianxing followed him into the stationery store. Watching Zhang Yu walk away after buying the medicine, he thought to himself, *Is it really neural filler?*

He followed Zhang Yu out of the store and down the street. However, when they reached a corner, he suddenly discovered that Zhang Yu was already standing there, waiting for him.

"H-hello, Zhang Yu," Zhao Tianxing said awkwardly. "What a coincidence, you're taking this route too?"

Zhang Yu looked at him and asked, "Why are you following me?"

Zhao Tianxing scratched his scalp, playing dumb. "Following you? I take this road after school too."

Zhang Yu said impatiently, "Please, look at yourself."

"You're over two meters tall and weigh over 300 pounds. I saw you the moment you left the cafeteria."

"What do you want?"

Naturally, Zhao Tianxing couldn't tell him that the PE teacher, Wang Hai, had sent him to approach Zhang Yu to investigate his supply source.

So, Zhao Tianxing scratched his head again and said sheepishly, "Zhang Yu, I think you're exceptionally outstanding. I wanted to follow you to learn from you."

Looking at the shy expression of this eighteen-year-old, 300-pound boy, Zhang Yu thought, *Seriously... is your social skills level still stuck in elementary school?*

After a moment of thought, Zhang Yu said, "Fine. As long as you treat me to fried chicken, you can follow me as much as you want."

Feeling the waves of chill running through his body and the constant countdown ticking in his mind, Zhang Yu knew he couldn't linger.

He began walking forward helplessly, waving his hand. "Let's talk while we walk."

Zhao Tianxing followed behind him, looking hesitant. "You want fried chicken? That's a major taboo for body tempering. Teacher Wang told us not to eat it. Can we swap it for chicken breast?"

"Don't worry, I'm not asking you to eat it. You just have to treat me." Thinking of the taste of fried chicken, Zhang Yu couldn't help but lick his lips.

Since arriving in this world, he had been eating "poor man's healthy meals" in the high school cafeteria three times a day. He hadn't eaten something like fried chicken in a long time.

His daily bitter cultivation had caused constant mental pressure; he had no time to relax and dared not spend a single extra cent.

Thinking about the fried chicken he would soon eat made Zhang Yu feel much lighter, as if some of his stress had dissipated.

Zhao Tianxing followed him through the subway and off at another station. Seeing him arrive at the entrance of a fried chicken shop, he asked curiously, "You traveled this far for this shop... it must be because it's exceptionally delicious, right?"

Zhang Yu: "Because it's on the way."

Unfortunately, the moment Zhang Yu stepped into the shop, that damn countdown in his head started ringing again.

He could only say to Zhao Tianxing, "Buy me a fried chicken combo. I'll wait for you here."

Watching Zhang Yu sit down on the spot to begin meditating, Zhao Tianxing scratched his head, confused by the situation.

A moment later, seeing Zhang Yu happily gnawing on a chicken leg by the roadside, Zhao Tianxing felt even more bewildered.

*He's so disciplined that he even uses his queuing time for breathing exercises, yet he eats fried chicken... what a strange person.*

As he continued to follow Zhang Yu, Zhao Tianxing was even more surprised to find that the boy wasn't going to a tutoring class or to buy more medicine, but to a plaza to wait for temporary work.

Zhao Tianxing: "You're looking for a job?"

Zhang Yu rubbed his stomach, found a clean patch of ground, and sat down comfortably. He waved his hand. "I'm not here to chat while I eat. I'm going to cultivate while I wait for work. Do whatever you want."

Seeing Zhang Yu begin his breathing exercises right there on the ground, Zhao Tianxing was stunned again.

"Breathing exercises?" He looked at the nearby sewage, listened to the noisy music coming from the barbershop across the street, and glanced at the surrounding job seekers who clearly looked like they weren't to be trifled with. He couldn't help but ask again, "You're practicing *here*?"

But Zhang Yu had already devoted himself entirely to the Zhou Tian Qi-Gathering Method and ignored him this time.

Zhao Tianxing squatted beside Zhang Yu and observed him for a while. Realizing the boy was indeed practicing, more doubts welled up in his mind. *Practicing here... is there any benefit? Is he just doing it to kill time while waiting for work?*

After waiting a while and seeing that Zhang Yu had no intention of getting up, just as Zhao Tianxing was thinking about leaving, his phone vibrated.

Seeing the inquiry message from Wang Hai, Zhao Tianxing replied that he was currently approaching Zhang Yu. After much hesitation, he finally sat down beside him and began his own breathing exercises.

Half an hour later, Zhao Tianxing couldn't help but open his eyes, only to find Zhang Yu still meditating.

An hour later, Zhao Tianxing stood up to walk around and stretch, only to see Zhang Yu still meditating.

Two hours later, Zhao Tianxing had long since stopped breathing exercises and had begun practicing the Thirty-Six Body Strengthening Forms, move by move.

Through his occasional observations, he noticed that Zhang Yu remained motionless from start to finish. Forget small movements like scratching his head or his backside—he didn't even lift an eyelid, and his breathing rhythm didn't change in the slightest.

Zhao Tianxing couldn't help but marvel, *Such high focus. No wonder he's someone who can maintain a 0% distraction rate for days.*

*But there's no spiritual root here, no high-spirit environment, and he hasn't taken any medicine... with such low efficiency, is there really any point?*

Under Zhang Yu's focused cultivation, his progress in the Zhou Tian Qi-Gathering Method improved once again, reaching Level 4 (12/80).

Just then, another van drove into the plaza. Hearing them looking for security personnel, Zhang Yu withdrew his focus and returned to his cultivation.

As a high school student, he had zero competitiveness in security work compared to the old-timers around him.

However, he soon heard their requirements: young, good physique, clean and fresh appearance, and a decent level of attractiveness.

Zhang Yu's eyes snapped open. He walked toward the van with a confident, commanding stride and raised his hand. "How about me?"

The driver's eyes lit up instantly. He walked toward Zhang Yu. "Good, good, good! You're the one!"

Zhang Yu chuckled, about to shake the man's hand, only to find the driver had bypassed him. The driver grabbed Zhao Tianxing's hand and praised him, "Great physique, and a very handsome face!"

"Look at this chest!"

"Look at this waist!"

"Look at this back!"

The driver patted Zhao Tianxing's body, exclaiming, "Perfect proportions! Although his absolute strength isn't great yet, his foundational framework is perfectly built—like a piece of unpolished jade radiating infinite possibilities."

"To reach this level, without persistent bitter cultivation, an extremely disciplined lifestyle, guidance from a master, and near-limit doses of medicine and acupuncture, it would be absolutely impossible."

"It's you, kid. I'll give you 800 an hour. Come with me."

At that moment, Zhang Yu was shocked.

He hadn't expected that his lean, defined physique, handsome and cool face, and the aura of an outsider from another world would lose to a muscle monster like Zhao Tianxing.

"Boss, look at me! I can do it too!"

The driver glanced at Zhang Yu and shook his head. "I don't want skinny dogs. Security requires a sense of safety; a skinny guy would block half as many flying swords as anyone else."

Zhao Tianxing immediately tried to refuse, "Actually, I'm not here to—"

Zhang Yu quickly interrupted him. "Boss, we're brothers. We've sworn that whether it's one person's job or a group job, we do it together."

The driver frowned, looked at Zhang Yu, then at Zhao Tianxing, and finally asked Zhang Yu, "I'll give you 400 an hour for a total of 4 hours. Do you do it or not?"

Zhang Yu nodded repeatedly. "I'll do it! I'll do it! I'll do it!"

Zhang Yu dragged Zhao Tianxing toward the van.

Zhao Tianxing said to Zhang Yu with a face full of embarrassment, "I'm not here to work, and if I go back too late, my mom will worry. I should go talk to the boss..."

Zhang Yu said quickly, "Don't you have something you want to tell me? Let's work together; you can talk about whatever you want."

Thinking about the task Wang Hai had assigned, Zhao Tianxing could only say reluctantly, "I need to call my mom first."

The van drove them toward the city center, and the driver introduced the details of their job along the way.

"Ms. Li Xuelian is holding a painting exhibition in the Cloud Hall on the 999th floor. Security-wise, there shouldn't be any issues."

"However, Ms. Li isn't quite satisfied with the looks of the internal security. She's worried it might affect the viewing experience, so she requested we find some young, handsome guys."

"Once you two arrive, change into your security uniforms and follow the security captain's orders."

"And remember this: absolutely, absolutely, *absolutely* do not offend Ms. Li."

Zhang Yu asked curiously, "This Ms. Li must be very wealthy, right?"

"Heh, wealthy?" The driver snorted proudly. "More than just wealthy. Ms. Li is the daughter of a Golden Core True Person!"