Over a Year Now

Early in the morning, Han Qingyu woke up. His curled-up body slowly unfolded, with about a tenth of the pain rooted deep in his bones still lingering. Stretching his back and limbs was somewhat difficult, as if every single bone was being put back into place. The ache spread before finally easing a little. He had endured another night like this. Over the past half year, curling up in bed and enduring pain all through the night had happened more than once or twice. He seemed to have grown used to it by now, but pain was still pain. When it got bad enough and he was certain no one was watching, even Major The Qing would grit his teeth and shed tears in silence—the kind of ache that made him yearn desperately to be back with his parents. Before his eyes were even open, his left hand habitually reached for the blade at the inside of the bed, while his right hand pressed against his chest, silently counting the five Bones of Eternal Life held close. The Bones of Eternal Life had not diminished in number, though aside from the horn bone, the other four had all shrunk slightly overall. Nor had they increased. Over the past six months, riding on the Azure Dragon Gang's powerful rise in the City of Iniquity, they had tracked down two people from Zhu Jiaming's list, but had failed to find any Bones of Eternal Life. The rough guess was that someone else had likely beaten them to it. Last night, skin-shedding still had not occurred. Having gradually grown numb to the waiting, he didn't feel too disappointed. A metal block melted silently against his body... "Huh!" A sudden jolt of panic struck Han Qingyu. "What is this?!" For the first time, bone source had left his body, seeping thread by thread into the dead iron war blade. It was probably a breakthrough development, yet it happened so naturally and silently. "Incredible! Uh, but is there any point to this?" Han Qingyu pondered. "Doesn't seem to make any difference at all. My blade and sword are already the strongest and hardest in this world right now." Thinking of that, he actually felt a pang of heartache over those few threads of bone source. He tried to draw them back from the blade—the process was somewhat laborious, like coaxing back a lost cat, but in the end they returned. Han Qingyu let out a long breath, got out of bed, changed clothes, and opened the door... With a touch of helplessness, he leaned over and knocked on the iron noggin outside. Rusty Sister had fallen asleep sitting there. As usual, on the nights Han Qingqing endured the agony, she had sat by his door through the night. "Mmh." A drowsy, muffled sound came first. The iron head turned left, then right, then tilted backward to look up. "Qingzi, you're awake?" "Yep!" "How are you feeling?" "Pretty good." *Whoosh!* Even as the iron suit nodded, an armored arm shot forward, grabbing for his legs. This had become their restored routine lately. Han Qingyu swiftly seized her wrist in a counter-grip, stepped forward in the same breath, and—*bang!*—executed a crisp shoulder throw, slamming the iron armor onto the ground. "How should the Historical Records write it now?" he asked, looking down at her. "...Write your head, humph!" Rusty Sister scrambled up and stomped away in a huff. She couldn't beat him again. Sigh. If she had known, she should have beaten him a few more times a day back when she still could. In truth, Rusty Sister had also made considerable progress over the past half year. With source energy blocks consumed like three daily meals, every one of them had improved noticeably—except Wen Jifei. Helplessly, even though Han Qingqing still hadn't shed his skin, his actual combat strength had already surpassed his previous peak. Such an accumulation of quantitative change was bound to trigger something in the end. Roughly speaking, every one of them had unanimously thought of what that something would be. They merely held on to their anticipation, carefully avoiding discussing it, as if talking about it too much would make it deliberately tease them, staying hidden and refusing to arrive. "In short, when Han Qingqing was at top-tier, he chopped vegetables among top-tiers. Once he..." *Creak.* Wu Xu pushed the door open and stepped in from outside. Seeing Han Qingyu, his mind eased. He had already finished his morning personal training, having woken up at an unknown hour. Just like most mornings over the past half year, Wen Jifei, He Tangtang, and Zhu Jiaming were still asleep. Zhe Qiuhong came out of the kitchen carrying a steaming pot of plain porridge and set it on the table. "Call those three to get up," she said. "Oh, okay." Rusty Sister turned to go bang on doors. Zhe Qiuhong turned as well, about to head back to the kitchen. Wu Xu shifted his steps in front of her, hesitating for a few seconds. "Doctor Zhe, I want to borrow some source energy blocks." "...That guy actually isn't short of them," Zhe Qiuhong said. "Mm, but my allowance is used up. I'll pay it back," Wu Xu said softly and earnestly, looking quite uncomfortable. Even so, he had still asked to borrow—for perhaps the tenth or eleventh time. There was no helping it. Dreading the gap in their strength widening, Wu Xu was burning through source energy blocks at an immense rate. Qingzi gave him the same generous quota as Rusty Sister, but it still fell short. By that logic, Rusty Sister probably had a source of source energy blocks too—likely the same source—and she probably didn't need to borrow. This was a certain someone's shameless, open scheme. If it were that person himself coming to borrow, or Plague Chicken, He Tangtang, or Zhu Jiaming, Zhe Qiuhong would tell them to "get lost" without hesitation. Yet when it came to Wu Xu, you simply couldn't bring yourself to speak to him like that. "A hundred and twenty blocks. Is that enough? I'll bring them to you in a bit." Having agreed, Zhe Qiuhong turned around, glared at a certain someone, and ground her teeth. "Shameless. Despicable." "Now, you can't put it that way, Doctor Zhe. Have you forgotten how many fat sheep I've delivered to you over the past six months?" Han Qingyu gave a shameless grin. "And didn't I give you a cut?" Zhe Qiuhong retorted gloomily. "You did, but look at how much we consume! Unlike you, Doctor Zhe, who barely uses any and hoards them all. Speaking of which, why are you hoarding so many? Are you seriously planning to become the richest person in the world? In that case, I'd probably have to go chop my way through all Four Supers once... What do you say? For the sake of your grand ideal of becoming the richest, how about investing a little in me first?" "Get lost! Not a single one for you. I just like hoarding them to look at and feel happy—what's it to you?!" Zhe Qiuhong snapped furiously, then went back to the kitchen and brought out steamed buns. Wen Jifei and the other two finally got out of bed. Skipping brushing their teeth and washing their faces, they just rinsed their hands and sat down straight to eat. The whole group gathered around the table. "Hey, Richest Zhe, Richest Zhe..." Han Qingyu called warmly again and again. Zhe Qiuhong looked up. "What?!" "Nothing, Plague Chicken just wants to discuss a new business with you," Han Qingyu said with a smile. "...Speak." Zhe Qiuhong hesitated for a second, ultimately unable to resist the lure. "How about we take those source energy blocks you've hoarded and loan them out at high interest?" Wen Jifei asked, getting straight to the point while chewing on half a steamed bun. Soon, he noticed the shift in Zhe Qiuhong's expression... Seizing the moment to add fuel to the fire, he urged, "Don't worry. As long as we pick the right borrowers, with these guys around, there's absolutely no need to fear we won't get it back." "..." Zhe Qiuhong lowered her head in thought for a moment, then looked up at Han Qingyu. "If it can't be collected, you'll compensate me?!" "He'll compensate. If he can't, you can deduct it straight from his hospital cut. Reassured now?" Wen Jifei said. Zhe Qiuhong mulled it over. "All right then. I'll give you five... eight thousand blocks first to test the waters." "Sweet." Just like that, the matter was settled. Zhe Qiuhong ate in silence, waiting until everyone had finished before speaking: "By the way, you won't be fighting before the New Year, right? With the New Year right around the corner, should we buy some New Year goods too?" "Sure," Han Qingyu agreed cheerfully, though without the slightest intention of pulling out any money. "Then Rusty Sister and I will go out for a stroll in a bit." Zhe Qiuhong didn't press the matter either. Speaking, she stood up and began clearing the bowls and chopsticks. Rusty Sister went over to help carry the stacked pot and bowls outside. Outside the doorway, water splashed with a rushing sound... "It's almost the New Year already?" He Tangtang seemed to realize only just now. "Yeah. It's been over a year," Han Qingyu said.