Chapter 117 - Project 1024
Many of the students from society had noticed Meng Chao following, but when they saw that Gu Jianbo did not mind, they did not speak about it.
At that moment, a few pairs of fascinated eyes gathered on Meng Chao.
Some people rubbed their fists in eagerness to fight. They really wanted to vent all the energy they had not used up on Meng Chao.
“What are you doing?! Stop with the fierce looks! He’s just a freshman, don’t scare him off!” Gu Jianbo frowned.
“A freshman?” The student was stunned. “He beat up Big Bro Ma twice!”
“Oh yes, speaking of which, Ma Hong, come out!” Gu Jianbo pointed at the Red Dragon Army scout’s nose with anger. “I told you that I don’t mind you fighting. You’re free to treat these fights as your normal practice sessions. No matter how much you beat up those undergraduate students, I’ll protect you, but you have to fight with style and standard!
“The other students managed to perform well today and showed off their fighting standards along with the martial art spirit of never giving up. But you, Ma Hong, you were defeated twice by a freshman. Even if you and I don’t feel embarrassed, the Red Dragon Army would feel embarrassed!”
While the crowd laughed, Ma Hong walked out with a red face.
“Are you really a freshman?” He looked at Meng Chao with disbelief. “That’s impossible. While you were fighting, your muscles were tense, and it looked like you were ready to be injured at any moment so that you can get a chance to turn the tides. It’s a fighting move that’s almost instinctual to you, and if you haven’t been fighting for decades in the fog, how could you get that habit? Forget about a freshman, even an upperclassman would not be able to get that sort of instinct after their practices in the wild!”
“Big Brother Ma, I’m Meng Chao. I’m really a freshman. If you don’t believe me, you can look at my student ID.” Meng Chao smiled and extended his hand. “We’d have never gotten to know each other if we didn’t fight. My dad was also a soldier. Big Brother Ma, you’re not the type to hold a grudge, are you?”
“It’s just a sparring session, why would I hold a grudge? But you’re a vicious kid. My crotch is still hurting!”
Ma Hong was completely unbothered by what happened earlier and held Meng Chao’s hand. He thought about things for a while, then his eyes lit up. “Meng Chao? You’re the mad kid who killed a Bloody Moon Wolf King during the national college examination?”
Many of the students from society gasped.
The national college examination was the hot topic last month, and a lot of people watched the news as well as interviews. As they observed him, they found that he was really the kid from the news. They could not help but give Meng Chao a thumbs up.
“Not bad, kid, you’ve got guts! Big Bro Ma, you didn’t lose against him for no reason!”
“Yeah, I don’t feel like I lost for no reason against him anymore. I just feel a little gloomy. If I knew that you’re such a dangerous person, I wouldn’t have shown mercy.”
Ma Hong rubbed the bruise on his chest and said with a wry smile, “Bah, I was blind, and I deserve becoming the laughing stock. By the way, you’re an undergraduate student, so what are you doing here at the refresher course?”
“He’s blinded by stupid talk and insists on me being his tutor. This is a real mess.” Gu Jianbo sighed. “It’s my fault for being so outstanding on a daily basis. I’m just too brilliant. That’s why I always attract genii. They come crying and begging for me to be their tutor so that they can ride on my coattails. I just can’t chase them away.
“It frustrates me, you now. Come, help me persuade Meng Chao to change his mind and go to Ms. Li. Otherwise, when can I get together again with her?”
With that one sentence, he managed to make all the students from society laugh.
“Meng Chao, you heard that? That’s how Big Brother Huo is. Do you really want to have him as your tutor?”
“That’s right. He’s a four-star superhuman. Li Yingzi is a five-star superhuman, and Jiang Ming is a six-star superhuman. Any fool who makes the simplest calculation would know what they should choose!”
“We’re all uneducated people, and we’re not cultured people, that’s why we couldn’t get into proper universities and had no choice but to end up in his hands, but what about you?”
“Our Big Brother Bo is no good. Every time the martial arts course lecturers organize a competition among themselves, he is beaten up by Li Yingzi. All he has is numerous tricks when it comes to cheating, deviant fighting styles, and earning money. But if you train properly with an ace lecturer and become a high-class superhuman, you’ll definitely earn a lot of money anyway!”
They talked one after another and mercilessly revealed Gu Jianbo’s true situation.
Gu Jianbo could remain smiling in the beginning, but soon, his expression turned dark, and he coughed dryly before he said, “Hey, that’s about enough!”
“Weren’t you the one who asked us to persuade Meng Chao?” the students working in society said.
“But you have to do so in a reasonable manner. I’m not as horrid as you just said, right?” Gu Jianbo felt a little wronged.
“Don’t be so humble. You’re definitely that horrid.” Everyone smiled.
Ma Hong said seriously, “Meng Chao, this is how the refresher course is, and that’s how Big Brother Bo is. This is a class for superhumans who coincidentally awakened to supernatural powers. It’s a place that allows you to refine your skills superficially, exchange fighting experience, increase your connections, and teach you some basic knowledge about supernatural powers.
“This place doesn’t have any facilities, teaching resources, or cultivation resources. It’s much inferior compared to a proper undergraduate course. We might be reluctant to admit it, but we know that’s how it is.
“Most of us have been fighting in society for decades, and we’re injured. Even if we awakened to supernatural abilities, that’s all there is to us for the rest of our lives. Becoming Heaven Realm elites or peerless fighters is not our fate. We’ll be learning for about a year here to get a skill or two and become third-class fighters, and that’s enough for us.
“But you’re different from us. You’re young, and you’re a proper undergraduate student. You have a bright future ahead of you. Why are you mingling around with us greasy old farts?”
Meng Chao could hear the sincerity from the students working in society.
“Bros, uncles, you’re all broken-star superhumans, right?” He thought about it. “Did Mr. Gu… Big Brother Gu teach you the way to cultivate your branch meridians?
The ones who accidentally awakened in society most likely also had damaged main meridians, which made them broken-star superhumans.
During the chaotic battle, Meng Chao could tell that these students from society mostly used their spirit energy to strengthen one or two of their limbs, and their skills were rather monotonous.
They relied on their rich fighting experience and the advantage of the undergraduate students being unable to use major moves because there were hundreds of them stuffed in the canteen. That was why they could beat up the undergraduate students so thoroughly.
Before the crowd could answer, Meng Chao took the initiative to say, “I’m a broken-star superhuman too. I’ve only cleared four main meridians in my right arm.”
The students from society were shocked, then they put on sympathetic expressions.
“I understand why you came here now. We also heard that Big Brother Bo had been dealing with research related to using branch meridians to fight, but he seems to have failed a few years ago,” Ma Hong said in a tone as if he couldn’t bear to reveal this to Meng Chao.
“That’s right, Meng Chao,” Gu Jianbo said sincerely. “While I was young, I had indeed indulged in wildest fantasies and wanted to create a brand new fighting style with my friends. The articles you saw online were published at that time.
“But adapting theories into practical fights is a path full of hardships. The road is long, and the path is as difficult as trying to climb to heaven!
“Regardless of whether it is martial arts or research, most researches end up in failure, you know? This is very common. It means that this path is not possible, but that’s a good thing too.
“If you’ve clearly run into an iron wall but keep using eggs to hit it, then it’s not called persistence, but idiocy. You have to pay a harsh price for it, but in the end, it’s all meaningless.
“I’ve given up on Project 1024 for a long time. I really can’t help you when it comes to cultivating branch meridians to fight.
“Perhaps my articles have given you impractical thoughts and even affected you when you filled up your application… and I’m truly sorry.”
He took half a step back and bowed deeply to Meng Chao.
The people fell silent.
If it were anyone else, they might believe in him and become dispirited.
But Meng Chao did not believe it.
Because a few years later, Gu Jianbo would successfully create the Ultimate Style, and his name as the Blade Dancer would ring through all of Dragon City!
If someone truly gave up on a project, it would be very difficult for them to launch it again. It would be impossible for them to succeed within a few short years.
In other words, Gu Jianbo was definitely still continuing with Project 1024 and was researching the Ultimate Style despite all the difficulties he faced!
“Big Brother Bo, I don’t know the current progress for Project 1024, and I don’t know what sort of problems you’ve encountered, but I believe in the importance of this project and the risk to push it forward,”
Meng Chao gritted his teeth. “I’m a broken-star superhuman, and the other students in the refresher course are also broken-star superhumans. Most of the superhumans who awaken accidentally in society are also broken-star superhumans.
“The lucky children who have a lot of resources and easily become superhumans under the protection of peerless fighters and in cultivation rooms filled with spirit energy look down on us and think that our main meridians are damaged, which means we don’t have enough potential to progress further and our upper limits aren’t high. Even if we cultivate for our entire lives, we will only be third-class fighters.
“Indeed, with the current cultivation system, what they say is right. Only those who clear more than one hundred main meridians can reach the peak.
“But I think that those who have managed to break down the limits of life by sacrificing their lives in a frenzy during a life and death struggle and are willing to give up on everything to protect those worthy of protection are the ones who truly live up to the name of being a superhuman!
“It’s a pity that the superhumans who awakened through this method only have willpower and determination. Since their main meridians are damaged, they can’t cultivate fighting strength that is equal to their mental strength. Big Brother Bo, don’t you think it’s a pity? Everyone, are you willing to forever be third-class fighters?
“Also, you must have seen it. Lately, the fog has been appearing at an increasing frequency. The monsters’ attacks are also becoming fiercer. The war might become more intense soon, and we’ll need more superhumans. They’ll need to be stronger too.
“The full-time courses in universities can only bring up a limited number of superhumans. The blessed children who are born into cultivation families and have a large amount of resources are rare, while most of the normal soldiers who awaken in the battlefield damage their main meridians and become like us.
“We can’t win a war with just one or two peerless elites. How can we make a large number of broken-star superhumans bring out their greatest fighting strength? This is the key that will decide the fight and even our lives and deaths!
“Big Brother Bo, I truly believe that the importance of Project 1024 far exceeds your imagination. It is the hope of all broken-star superhumans and those who are fighting against fate because they’re not willing to be controlled by it!
“If you’ve run into any problems in your project, we can think of a way to solve it. If you don’t have enough money and resources, I can do my best to gain them from various areas. If you need volunteers to go through your experiments, I’m someone with a strange talent. The recovery ability of my cells is much stronger than that of a normal human, so I’ll be fine no matter what sort of experiment you throw at me. You can use me to conduct your experiments.
“Even if you’ve run into an iron wall, that’s fine. I believe that even the hardest metal in the universe isn’t as hard as a human bone!”
Meng Chao’s words filled all the students working in society with admiration for him.
Even Gu Jianbo had a contemplative look on his face.
He watched Meng Chao in silence for a while before he sighed and said, “Kid, you’re really good at heading to a dead-end. Alright, come with me. I’ll bring you over to take a look… at the results of Project 1024.”