It was already ten o'clock in the night, and the square in front of Xingfu Community was deserted. Only the faint lights from the nearby houses slightly illuminated some of the sidewalks in the community.
Shen Qian, who was carrying a backpack, walked among them with a calm expression. The fragments of light and shadow made his face feel more trance-like.
Suddenly, a mad dog jumped out of the grass nearby and rushed towards Shen Qian to bite him, but Shen Qian showed no reaction.
"Woof woof...ow!"
The wild dog was kicked away by a figure that rushed out of the thorn, and ran away with its tail between its legs.
"Shen Qian, why don't you hide? Ah, you...what's wrong with you?"
The girl was scolded at first, and then she saw Shen Qian's depressed expression, which was very different from before. She couldn't help being startled, and carefully observed Shen Qian's eyes again.
"You...you won't cry, will you?"
"It's just a little emotional."
Shen Qian finally came to his senses, glanced at the girl's pretty face, and asked curiously: "Why are you here?"
"I'm here... I came to play with you when I passed by. Didn't everyone in the school say you were back? You never replied to my message, so I was waiting downstairs. I was about to go home. I saw you came back, hehe!"
Huo Ling'er smiled silly, and Shen Qian noticed that her cheeks were a little white due to the night wind. He subconsciously raised his hand, but quickly held it back.
"Are you drinking?"
Shen Qian took out a handful of white beer from his bag and smiled.
"Walk!"
Huo Ling'er waved her hand boldly.
…
"...I told Captain Song the whole story. He was silent for a long time, but he didn't criticize anything. He only said that he had thought about this kind of scene countless times. As a man, shrouding the body in horse leather might be a good destination."
"But I knew that was not what he thought in his heart. When I left the mourning hall, I saw him sitting in front of the ice coffin, with his back to me."
Shen Qian, who was sitting on the edge of the rooftop, took a deep sip of beer, then took a long breath and said with certainty.
"He was crying and he just didn't want me to see it."
"At that moment, I felt like I was guilty, too."
"Yeah, even though it seems to have nothing to do with me, I can't help but wonder, if Principal Huang and the others hadn't thought about helping me clear the way, wouldn't it be... maybe that bastard wouldn't have thought about running away?"
"Maybe it's still a bit far-fetched, but when the snow collapses, how can there be innocent snowflakes?"
"At that time, we were comrades who should rely on life and death!"
"I still can't convince myself... I didn't kill Boren, but Boren died because of me. Maybe this is how it feels?"
"Maybe if I'm more awesome, no one will have to die."
Shen Qian crumpled the can in his hand and took another can of beer from Huo Ling'er who was listening quietly beside him.
"Ouyang Fei and Zifang...are the friends I just told you I met during the college entrance examination. They were singing at KTV, and I went to sit there for a while."
"I don't want to play, I just want to talk to them."
"But I forgot that their memories were hazy."
"They remember that Soong Ben was there, but they forget that he is dead."
"They were still releasing the pressure after the college entrance examination. I listened to them singing 'The Wind Blows, Blow', and I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time."
"Human beings' joys and sorrows are not the same. I just think they are noisy."
"I don't know if I thought they were noisy, or if they thought I was out of place. I couldn't sit still, so I took the wine and left..."
"I suddenly remembered this sentence, especially when they asked me if I was unhappy. The funniest thing is that they still thought I was upset because I didn't do well in the first two subjects..."
"Hold!"
Huo Ling'er nervously held Shen Qian's hand, and Shen Qian shook his head to indicate that he was fine.
"I also thought of the mother and son I saw on the street..."
"You know, this world is not peaceful. Captain Sun told me in the mourning hall that even if their commander's right battalion is an elite unit, the annual casualty rate is about 20%."
"That is to say, their battalion loses about 200 men every year. It is unstoppable."
"No one pays attention to these figures, and they are unwilling to publicize them. The saddest thing is that many military families will not mention them anymore. Some people have taken pensions and lived a new life, and perhaps even formed a new family. family……
"I don't understand. It seems to involve so-called human nature. I don't want to explore that much. It's very tiring."
Shen Qian's voice gradually became lower. He picked up another can of wine, opened the lid and stood up.
"I originally made an appointment with Brother Song to drink this glass of wine together when we returned to Jingcheng. Now, it can be regarded as drinking together..."
Shen Qian poured the wine down.
"Thank you for listening to all the nonsense I said."
The depression in his chest disappeared a bit, Shen Qian said with a smile.
"We are... friends, that's right." Huo Ling'er tilted her head and said, "Besides, I'm here to comfort you today, so it's not a wasted trip!"
"Have you known these things before?" Shen Qian asked in surprise.
"No, it's..." Huo Ling'er hesitated.
"Is there anything else?" Shen Qian raised his eyebrows and moved closer, "Tell me!"
"You, don't get so close, that's all I'm told..."
Huo Ling'er, who was leaning against the corner, was a little dizzy. She pushed Shen Qian away a little before she regained some of her thinking ability.
"Shen Qian, did you fail in the martial arts college entrance examination?" Huo Ling'er asked cautiously.
"Did you hear something?" Shen Qian probably guessed it.
"Just...there have been a lot of articles about you in Jingcheng's newspapers and forums recently, saying that you...failed in the exam, and some compared you with Wang Shuo, and even the city lord scolded you!"
Huo Ling'er said slowly, while observing Shen Qian's face, as if worried that what she said would irritate Shen Qian.
"That's it?"
Shen Qian took a sip of wine without caring.
After so many days, in RT-Mart... Bah, after seeing so many abuses and attacks on the bracelet, Shen Qian was not only heartbroken, but at least he was calm!
"No, what they said is ugly, much worse than what I said!"
Huo Ling'er was a little anxious and said seriously: "Anyway, don't listen to those people's nonsense. Anyway, no matter what, you are very powerful in my heart!"
Shen Qian looked at Huo Ling'er's face that was pretending to be serious to show her solemnity. After all, he couldn't hold back and pinched her tender face.
"Hahaha, stop talking about this and have a drink!"
Shen Qian handed Huo Ling'er a can of wine and blocked her mouth.
"Have you seen that clothes-drying pole? It's not an ordinary clothes-drying pole, but an alloy clothes-drying pole. I bought it for 500 yuan when I got rich. After all, I was the one who broke it in the first place. Yes, hey, at that time..."
Most men can't get rid of their tendency to talk too much after drinking too much. Even though Shen Qian was a young man, some of his instincts showed up and he began to talk about the past.
As the night sky in Jingcheng changed, stars appeared at some point, and a full moon hung high in the sky.
That night the boy held the bottle and talked a lot until late at night.
The girl sat next to her with her chin in her hands and her head raised, her face full of intoxication, but she didn't know whether it was because of the alcohol, the starry sky, or something else...
…
White beer is extremely powerful when drunk, far more powerful than ordinary beer.
As expected, Shen Qian, who did not use his energy to relieve his hangover, became drunk again.
Shen Qian opened his eyes, and his head still felt a little tingling. It wasn't until he ran through the "Hunyuan Divine Refining Chapter" that he felt refreshed again.
Beside the bed were the hangover medicine left by his mother and a bowl of cooled soup. Although he no longer needed it, Shen Qian still picked up the bowl and drank it all.
Last night, I sat with Huo Ling'er on the rooftop until about three o'clock. It wasn't until Huo Ling'er's driver came to pick her up that Shen Qian wandered back home.
Although drinking alcohol is not advisable, I have to say that it feels good to be hungover once in a while.
I walked out of the bedroom and looked around. It was already noon. Shen Liang went to work and Wang Xiaojuan went to dance class, but the house was empty.
After taking a shower, Shen Qian, who had finished his food, ordered another takeout for twenty people, then sat on the sofa and took out the bracelet that had been charged for a while.
The top chat box is still gray, and "It's Xiao Ding" is offline.
On the day Shen Qian set off from Jingcheng, Ding Yi left a message to attend the training camp and never went online again. It seemed that the training camp was not over yet.
Shen Qian has now roughly guessed that the training class Ding Yi participated in was probably prepared for the grand competition in autumn and winter.
Expanding my thinking, this year's early enrollment in domestic colleges and universities is generally more intense than in previous years, and this may also be the reason.
I'm really curious, what kind of event is that?
After closing Ding Yi's dialog box, Shen Qian continued to scroll down.
Many people had sent him messages, and even Chai Haotian had called him. Shen Qian scanned them briefly, but there was nothing particularly important. Almost most people's concerns included some inquiries.
Including Chai Haotian looking for him, Shen Qian guessed that it was related to the college entrance examination.
Shen Qian, who was a little annoyed, paid no attention to anyone and did not return Chai Haotian's call.
After thinking about it, Shen Qian opened the Jingcheng local forum that he had ignored for a long time.
To Shen Qian's surprise, the most popular post was not related to him as he imagined, but another piece of news.
"Comprehensive prediction of the annual ranking of Jingcheng cities (including useful information and revelations)."
The so-called annual ranking seems to be a competition conducted by the Chinese Executive Yuan every year. Shen Qian has read it in the newspaper before. It seems that this ranking is not just a paper honor, but has real interests.
With some curiosity, Shen Qian also clicked on the post and took a look.
The post is very long and lists various detailed data charts. It can be seen that it is indeed carefully written and the analysis is well-founded.
After reading it, Shen Qian looked a little complicated.
The annual city ranking is far more important to a city than imagined. For example, the living and production resources that each city can allocate each year have a basic value, but this basic value can only maintain the basic operation of a city.
If you want to get more resources, you need to rely on city rankings.
The higher the ranking, the more resources can be allocated.
These resources cover almost all aspects, including minerals, fruits and vegetables, manpower, transportation, military, etc.
This will lead to good cities getting better and better, while weak cities can only stand still.
It’s the classic 80/20 principle again.
Jingcheng's decline began ten years ago, and it has started a steep decline since seven years ago. Among more than a thousand cities across the country, Jingcheng has dropped from more than 100 at its peak to more than 600 today.
According to the speculation in the post, if the factor of Marquis Jingcheng was not included, Jingcheng would actually only be ranked over 900.
This year, Jingcheng is likely to fall out of the top 1,000.
Doing the math, the time of Jingcheng's decline coincides with the time of the decline of education. Although education is not the only reason, it is very much like the seed of the butterfly effect.
The reason for Shen Qian's complex expression is that, as expected, the end of the post inevitably mentioned this year's college entrance examination, and also mentioned Shen Qian.
"Don't wash what's underneath. Shen Qian was the last one to walk out of the will examination room. There are pictures to prove it!"
"Internal news, Wang Shuo was actually forced to leave by Shen Qian's tricks..."
"Does Shen Qian have to win the No. 1 pick? Why should he do what no one has done in the past seven years?"
"Haha, the 'Light of Jingcheng' is nothing if not the number one scholar. If it were that simple, I could call myself the 'Light of Jingcheng'!"
"It's been six days since the college entrance examination ended. The candidates from Jingcheng have returned a long time ago. Have you seen Shen Qian show up? He must be thinking that he failed the exam and is afraid of being beaten on the street!"
"..."
There are a lot of posts, and they are refreshed every second. Occasionally, some people help Shen Qian, but most of them are still critical and skeptical.
Shen Qian glanced at it briefly and didn't look at it any more. He was still afraid that his emotions would be really affected.
However, Shen Qian figured out a problem at this moment.
That's where his inexplicable "bad luck" comes from.
Chai Haotian had told Shen Qian before that by exposing Shen Qian's actions before he went on the expedition, it was equivalent to transferring part of Jingcheng's energy to Shen Qian.
And these fortunes are ultimately the reflection of Jingcheng's public opinion.
Perhaps Chai Haotian originally considered using his luck to help Shen Qian overcome obstacles in the college entrance examination, but after public opinion later reversed, these lucks became a source of bad luck, which was equivalent to public opinion turning into resentment.
Luck is really a double-edged sword.
In fact, Shen Qian has always been wondering, why does everyone think he failed the exam?
He obviously never admitted it.
It's impossible for him to take a loudspeaker and go all over the street shouting "I'm perfect", regardless of whether it has any effect, but that would be too low.
Besides, he couldn't tell the secret of perfect scores in the college entrance examination.
When the takeout was delivered, Shen Qian, who had eaten and drank, thought about it for a while and decided to go to the Kyushu Martial Arts Hall to do some iron training.
There are still three days until the college entrance examination results are announced. Since it is inconvenient to go out, then practicing in seclusion is naturally the best choice.
Although the 99th floor of the Babel Tower has been renovated, it still needs to be renovated and some furniture purchased. It is not suitable for habitation for the time being.
After calling her mother and saying that she was going out for a few days, Wang Xiaojuan seemed to understand Shen Qian. She didn't ask any more questions, but just implicitly said that if she went out with a girl, she should pay attention to safety.
Shen Qian pretended not to understand what his mother was saying, packed a few changes of clothes, put on a mask and sunglasses like a celebrity, and then went out and went straight to the Kyushu Martial Arts Hall.
Arriving at the martial arts hall, Shen Qian met Zhu Deyong, whom he had not seen for a long time.
Zhu Deyong was as enthusiastic as ever and personally helped Shen Qian arrange the diamond training room. He seemed not to be affected by external public opinion at all, but Xiaoxuan was unexpectedly absent.
"You haven't been here recently, so she took leave. It seems she has someone at home to take care of."
Zhu Deyong smiled and said: "You also know that she does not serve other guests. She has just passed the college entrance examination and it is the off-season. There is no need for anyone at the front desk. So I approved a long vacation for her. How about I call her to come back now?"
"That's not necessary, just leave it at that."
Shen Qian smiled and refused. After Zhu Deyong left, he first came to the simple simulator in the corner.
After blasting Lao Wang with one punch, a series of numbers popped up on the simulator.
"Explosive force: 1209 Kg
Instant speed: 2.1 s/100 meters
…”
This number is basically within Shen Qian’s prediction.
Shen Qian took a test during the college entrance examination, and his strength at that time was 1147. Although a week had passed, Shen Qian had not practiced much during this period, and the natural increase alone was not too large.
Shen Qian returned to the training area and took out a glass bottle from his backpack. The black energy lingered in it, like thunder clouds. It was the death energy that the boss helped him peel off from his body.
Strictly speaking, if so many people hadn't died in the battle in the valley, Shen Qian would have actually gained a lot.
Simply absorbing this death energy would be worth the many days and nights of hard work Shen Qian had to endure.
After all, the spiritual energy he needed to break through was too much, and it was difficult to satisfy his appetite through normal means.
In order to prevent waste, Shen Qian first went to the steam room that was almost unused. After sealing the doors and windows leaving only a vent, Shen Qian opened the glass bottle and called up the system.
After all, he himself does not have the ability to absorb death energy.
After the system's energy was consumed again in the valley, it had dropped below 40%, and the search for energy had to be put on the agenda.
But if it's just daily practice, it won't be too much of a burden on the system.
After setting the hang-up requirement, Shen Qian's vision soon went dark and he completely lost consciousness.
…
In the blink of an eye, three days passed by, and finally it was time for the college entrance examination results to be released.
Shen Qian had already greeted Zhu Deyong in advance, so in the past three days, except for occasionally waking up to order meals, no one disturbed Shen Qian at other times.
As for the bracelet, it was turned off directly by Shen Qian.
This is the best way to not be disturbed by the outside world.
Shen Qian also spent the longest training period this year.
For three days, apart from sleeping and eating, all I did was practice.
Shen Qian didn't even have time to sense the changes in his body before he was quickly dragged into the next training cycle.
By the time Shen Qian woke up, it was already the morning of the fourth day.
Shen Qian, full of energy and with sparkling eyes, stood up and glanced at the glass bottle on the table.
After three days of refining, there was still about a quarter of the dead energy left in the glass bottle.
After moving his hands and feet, Shen Qian felt that he was different.
The most obvious thing is that the vitality in the body has solidified a lot.
Judging from the quality, it should have passed the threshold for beginners.
"This is probably the time when I have made the most progress, right?"
Shen Qian clenched his fist, feeling that he could easily kill the liger with one punch.
After a brief rinse, Shen Qian couldn't wait to come to the simulator and summoned Lao Wang again. After getting used to the growing power in his body, he stepped forward and blasted Wang Yangming with one step.
After a few beeps of "Didi", a line of data jumped out of the simulator.
"Explosive force: 1703 Kg
Instant speed: 2.0 s/100 meters
…”
Shen Qian was very surprised.
The progress was even more exaggerated than he expected.
Normally, every time a beginning martial artist progresses, his strength will increase by about 100kg. Shen Qian is a perfect body. After excluding the loss of strength, the progress of each stage will be between 600 and 700, and then gradually decrease.
Based on this calculation, Shen Qian not only broke through the second level of the Beginner Warrior, but has even passed the early stage of the second level of the Beginner Warrior.
If the system takes action, the power will probably be close to the 2000 mark.
A normal middle martial artist starts at 1000Kg, and every time he breaks through a level, his strength increases by about 200 to 300Kg. Calculated in this way, the system's shots are almost equivalent to those of a fourth level middle martial artist.
In other words, in terms of strength alone, in less than a month, Shen Qian had already equaled Wang Shuo.
Among them, there is an improvement of more than 1000Kg.
It's a pity that death energy, which is essentially of extremely high quality, is rare. From now on, Shen Qian will still fall into the "slow" progress of 50kg a day.
But no matter what, Shen Qian's strength has been greatly improved.
After calming down, Shen Qian looked at the time and saw that it was just before eight in the morning. As for the Civil and Military College Entrance Examination, the results could not be checked until after ten in the morning. This was as long as the network did not crash.
Therefore, Shen Qian was not too anxious. He rang the service bell and called another cheongsam lady.
After relaxing his muscles and bones that were tense due to practice, Shen Qian put on the new suit Zhu Deyong bought and went out.
