Chapter 64 - Sign
Night.
Hotel restaurant.
Fang Ping was eating whilst talking on the phone.
On the phone, Fang Yuan chirped talkatively. “Fang Ping, if you’re still not coming back, I will finish all the snacks at home.”
“Also, do you still need the old textbooks at home?
“I plan to tear out the first pages of the textbooks with your name on it to sell as autographs. Once I have sold them we’ll split half of the profit, alright?
“Oh right, Zhang Ling told me that she would introduce her sister to you. All you have to do is take care of her next time…
“Also, can you come home on the 10th? Saturday the 10th. If you can’t, why don’t I go and visit you at Auspicious Sun instead?
“It’s so boring at home. If you’re still not home, I will not buy you Kentucky anymore…”
“…”
This brat was the only one talking the whole time. Mom and dad only spoke a few words in the beginning. Once the phone fell into the hands of this brat, there was no way of getting it back.
Fang Ping did not respond much. In truth, he could not contribute to the conversation because this brat had dominated all the topics.
When she grew tired from speaking too much, in the midst of catching her breath, Fang Ping chuckled. “Alright, I’ll be home in a few days. I’ll bring you good food and nice games.”
“Good food?” Fang Yuan’s interest was piqued once again. She asked excitedly, “What kind of good food…”
What followed was once again Fang Yuan’s one-man show. When she was finally done with her monologue, Fang Ping had already finished eating his meal.
Fang Ping beamed. After a moment, he finally spoke, “Alright, listen to mom and dad at home. I’m hanging up…”
Without giving her a chance to keep nagging further, Fang Ping hung up the phone swiftly.
After hanging up, Wu Zhihao who was standing beside him poked fun at him. “I think I heard something, is your sister introducing a girl to you?”
“Are you jealous?”
“I’m jealous?”
Wu Zhihao was speechless. Would this be a normal response from anyone at all?
When I say something like this, you should be infuriated and would deny it in a hurry, would you not?
Fang Ping did not care if he was feeling dreary. He said as he got up, “Let’s go shopping at the supermarket tomorrow. Are you coming?”
“Why are we going to the supermarket?”
“Buying something to bring home. In the next two days, we should be focusing on our revision. We will head straight home after general studies examination.”
Almost ten days away from home, Fang Ping wished the exam would finish soon so he could go home as soon as possible.
Wu Zhihao had no comments after hearing what he had said. He nodded and replied, “Sure, let’s go together tomorrow. I’ll get something too. I’m running out of socks to wear…”
Fang Ping scorned him. “Do you have enough undies?”
When this fellow came, he brought a huge luggage full of clothes to change into between washes.
He did not wash his dirty laundry as well. When he ran out of clothes, he would fill them up in a bag ready to bring home.
As Wu Zhihao had pointed out, time was precious during the examination period and should not be wasted on doing laundry. Every minute and second was to be appreciated.
Wu Zhihao was not the only person doing this though.
Faced with people like this, Fang Ping would usually treat them with total disdain…
However, he had also prepared to put off washing his dirty laundry for the next few days. He would leave Fang Yuan to it when he got home…
That brat had gotten her benefits, so she would be happily washing his dirty laundry. Fang Ping figured that he was giving Fang Yuan benefits in disguise. Such was the great love between them as siblings!
Wu Zhihao was impervious towards his ridicule and giggled. “I have enough undies. I brought ten of them.”
“Shameless!”
“I learned it from you…”
After an angry exchange, Wu Zhihao turned his head to a side and asked Yang Jian, “Yang Jian, are you going?”
“I don’t think I will be going. I am so nervous because I have not finished revising my notes for general studies…”
Yang Jian shook his head. His knowledge of cultural studies was considerably weaker than Wu Zhihao’s.
Even Fang Ping was better than him now.
Fang Ping’s knowledge in general studies was enough. On one hand, he had strong Mentality, powerful understanding, and memory.
On the other hand, it was because Fang Ping had mastered the Methods of Honing and pole-standing.
Knowledge for general studies was prepared in such a way that it helped students further understand martial artists.
While Fang Ping cultivated, he would also enhance his understanding of general studies constantly. It could be considered as a form of practice.
Even though time was short, his general studies were not weaker than everyone else.
Genuine knowledge comes from practice. Most students learned through rote memorization. Fang Ping on the other hand cultivated and at the same time comprehended. It was easier to remember.
Because Yang Jian did not tag along, Wu Zhihao did not invite Liu Ruoqi as well.
Liu Ruoqi was even more hardworking than Yang Jian recently. Once she had arrived in the hotel, she went straight into revising that even her dinner was untouched.
Upon deciding on a time with Fang Ping when they would leave the next morning, the lot of them went back to their rooms.
…
Day two.
Century Mart Supermarket.
It was as if Fang Ping did not want any of his money. He threw everything he saw into the shopping trolley. Wu Zhihao gawked and asked, “How much money did you bring?”
Did Fang Ping hit the jackpot?
From what he knew, Fang Ping’s family was not very well off, right?
Could it be that Wang Jinyang was even giving out pocket money now?
D*mn it. What was their relationship!
“Not much. Only a few million…”
“You…”
Wu Zhihao felt like he was being lied to again and looked unconvinced.
Fang Ping curled his lips. ‘I have said that I was honest, but someone always refuses to believe me. There is nothing I can do.’
His account balance currently sat at 2.38 million, with roughly 10 thousand cash on hand.
Claiming that he had a few million would not be considered lying, would it?
Wu Zhihao gave up on asking and started shopping for his own groceries instead. When he saw Fang Ping fill up on huge amounts of snacks, he could not resist himself from reminding him. “We should not be eating any snacks this time around. It’s unhealthy. We should eat more food that replenishes our Vitality…”
“It’s fine. My Vitality is sitting at 150cal or more. A little bit of snacks wouldn’t jeopardize anything…”
“Huh!”
Wu Zhihao felt somewhat exhausted. ‘There must be something wrong with my brain when I agreed to come shopping with this fellow!’
After that, Fang Ping continued going round. His shopping trolley was full, yet he did not stop there.
After he had filled up Wu Zhihao’s trolley as well, he finally stopped reluctantly.
With all the goods that he had purchased, Fang Ping spent roughly 3 thousand when he paid at the cashier.
Looking at Fang Ping spend his money without even blinking, Wu Zhihao had none other thoughts except feeling envious.
This time around, 3 thousand or more was still considered rather valuable.
His family was doing well financially, but to support his martial science examination had him injure his muscles and bones.
He brought 3 thousand this time. About 1 thousand had been spent the past few days.
If he were to buy so many things at once, Wu Zhihao would not be able to fork out that much money.
He recalled what Fang Ping had said just now — that he had brought a few million… Wu Zhihao shook his head violently. I would be an idiot if I believed him!
…
The duo took their bags of groceries and exited the supermarket. Someone stopped them in their tracks as they exited the door.
The person who stopped them was a middle-aged man wearing glasses.
He looked neither like a criminal, nor an idiot. However, when he opened his mouth to speak, Fang Ping and Wu Zhihao were rendered speechless.
“The demon has come, only true God can save the human race…
“2012, the end of the world!
“Only true God can save the human race. Join us, become part of our brotherhood…”
The tone of the middle-aged man used sounded rather fanatical. Without waiting for a response from Fang Ping and the rest, he went about declaring, “Natural disasters are brought on by the demon to punish the human race!
“Only true God…”
Fang Ping and Wu Zhihao took a detour. Even though it was uncommon to meet someone like him, that did not mean there was none.
In his last life, Fang Ping would occasionally meet people like this on the streets too.
Sometimes he could even see their propaganda on coins. They were usually a bunch of guys without any idea what they were up to.
It was best to avoid any form of exchange with people like this. If there was any exchange and they latched onto you, it would be hard to predict what kind of trouble would arise.
Faced with lunatics like this, Fang Ping would usually keep a respectful distance.
The guy did not continue pestering them, instead, he moved on to the next leaving supermarket customer to preach the religion of true God.
Wu Zhihao was just about to speak when he felt a gush of wind in front of him. Two shadows passed by in front of him at the speed of light.
Fang Ping noticed it earlier than him. He had one hand holding onto his shopping bags and another ready for defense.
However, it was not a robbery as they had expected. The two men who ran past them ignored them completely.
Soon enough, the angry bellow of the middle-aged man could be heard coming from the back. “You are profaning true God’s name!
“With the coming of true God, you will not be forgiven… wu wu wu…”
The middle-aged man was quickly detained by the two men. His mouth was also covered by one of them.
Fang Ping turned his head to catch a glimpse and saw one of the men with a tougher build speak in a deep voice, “Police. Did this guy distribute any propaganda flyers?
“Please do not keep it if you have any. Destroy it instantly…”
Most of the onlookers shook their heads when they heard that they were policemen.
A few other bystanders who were accosted by the middle-aged man laughed. “People like him deserved to be arrested. Behaving like a lunatic. My daughter was almost freaked out.
“True God my foot, when true God meets a Grandmaster, he would be dead with just a slap!”
“Exactly. Our country should ban all these religions…”
“…”
The onlookers had a lot to say about it. They gloated over the arrest of the middle-aged man. No one was interested in finding out which religion it was.
This year, everyone worshipped martial artists and Grandmasters. It was really rare to see the practice of religion anywhere.
Of course, not all religions were as crazy as this one.
It was not a big deal to see the policemen arresting someone. Once the man had been taken away, the onlookers dispersed gradually too.
When Fang Ping saw the policemen taking the man away, he could not help but exclaim, “That was really efficient!”
In his past life, the police would not usually arrest a man like that. If the arrest was to happen, it would be difficult to handle the case.
It was hard to imagine that policemen now were rather responsible. The arrest happened almost immediately.
Fang Ping was not too concerned about it. He continued walking to the hotel with Wu Zhihao.
Coincidentally, they saw another arrest on their way!
The distance between the supermarket and the hotel was not too far away. With two people arrested in such a short distance, Fang Ping was surprised. “These lunatics. How are they so crazy?”
The second man who was arrested even screamed out loud as he was being arrested. “The devil has come. Only true God can save the human race”.
His fanatical manner had Fang Ping thinking that he had perhaps met suicide bombers who were unafraid of dying.
In Sino Nation, it must be really rare to see such a fanatical believer, right?
Wu Zhihao shook his head. He was not really concerned about it.
Fang Ping thought that since the incident took place in front of him, it would be an eye-opening experience to see. However, when he was passing by the place where the arrest had happened, his eyebrows furrowed.
The plainclothes policeman had Vitality that was through the roof!
It seemed… it seemed like it was higher than his!
In other words, he would be considered a martial artist, right?
A martial artist arresting crazy missionaries on the streets?
Fang Ping wrinkled his eyebrows. The martial artists in Auspicious City were so undervalued?
Fang Ping did not put too much thought into it. When he had arrived at the hotel, Fang Ping was rather surprised once again.
At the hotel lobby, another man who had higher Vitality than him was reading a newspaper.
It was as if he could sense Fang Ping’s Vitality, the man who was reading the newspaper jumped up from his seat in a swift motion…
When he saw how Fang Ping looked like, the man sat down briskly, as if nothing had happened.
Fang Ping creased his eyebrows again. He thought for a while but did not stay for long. He went upstairs straightaway.
Once he had left, the man who was reading the newspaper spoke softly, “I met a student with a surging Vitality. Is it possible for this batch of candidates in Auspicious Sun to have such high vitality?
A person’s voice could be heard coming from an invisible earpiece beside his ears. “The location where you are at is teeming with exam candidates from Sun City. Rumor has it that there is a peak potential martial artist this year…”
“No wonder… I can feel that he is not much weaker than me. Is it possible for peak potential martial artists to have such high Vitality?”
The man mumbled something but did not continue saying much.
From the earpiece, someone could be heard saying, “Be serious, everyone. In the next few days, everyone will need to work harder. Something is not right. A number of people have been propagating doomsday on the streets. They are all a bunch of lunatics!
“Auspicious Sun has never experienced this before, so everyone please be on your toes at all times.”
“Roger that!”
“…”