CH 4

Shi Qingyang's mood was complicated after seeing Cheng Ran again.

Cheng Ran was his classmate from Spark Academy in his past life, and he was also the person he despised the most at the time.

Four-fifths of the population has rad-power. Despite the fact that there are very few highly skilled individuals in a third-tier city like Spark City, the Spark Academy only recruited students with Rad-tolerance and Rad-control at least C grade.

Both of his grades were C-, and he met Spark Academy's minimum entry requirements. But despite his efforts, he was always neglected by his teachers and peers, while Chang Ran an ordinary person with no rad-power to speak off, stood out.

Although there was no lack of students who came to Spark Academy after investing a lot of money, there was only one so shameless as Cheng Ran.

Shi Qingyang was ostracized at the time due his financial problems, while Cheng Ran was criticized because he shouldn’t be attending this school. They were incompatible with each other. Shi Qingyang despised Cheng Ran despite the fact that they both were outcasts. How can a young man who can't even fill his stomach like a young master who eats off silver plates?

Shi Qingyang couldn't help but feel dazed as he remembered what happened when he was sixteen. In truth, Cheng Ran was friendly to him on many occasions at the time. He was the only one who realized he wasn’t eating lunch and decided to share his meal with him.

However, both of his parents died at the same time, bringing a major difference in his life. He wanted to get ahead and become a successful rad-warrior of his own, but he also didn't want to be pitied by others...

Cheng Ran offered him half of his lunch, explaining "I don't like to eat meat."

The boy's generosity hurt his pride, therefore he unwilling to accept it. Faced with Cheng Ran's anticipation, he walked away without looking back. Cheng Run stopped attempting to be friendly to him after that.

He ran into Cheng Ran again at Grandpa Cheng Ran's funeral. He also learned at the time that Cheng Ran's grandfather actually turned out to be one of the strongest masters in Yangtze City's a first-tier city, as well as an eighth-level Rad-warrior.

Soon after his death, Chang clan fell.

Shi Qingyang didn't hear from Cheng Ran for a long time after that. Several years later, when he was already an eight-level Rad-Warrior and had even defeated Shang Yuhang, who once was known as the strongest person under the ninth level, he learned of Cheng Ran’s death from a former classmate who came to curry favor with him.

Cheng Ran died on the outskirts of the city. The official cause of death was a fight with a mutant beast, but he was a human without rad-power and he couldn't even leave the city without special permission. If he came into contact with the radiation-filled environment outside the city, he would become ill or even die.. Wasn’t this a joke? Cheng Ran's death was obviously suspicious.

He disliked Cheng Ran when he was younger, but since he had already attained recognition, his inferiority complex and excessive self-esteem had faded. Naturally, he no longer held ill feeling towards Cheng Ran. He intended to investigate circumstances surrounding his death, It’s a shame that he was secretly betrayed before he could do anything.

They were bleak and depressing memories.

Shi Qingyang was quite indifferent to what was going on behind the doors while he was at Spark Academy. The majority of his peers also kept their mouths shot to him. Cheng Ran was the one he disliked the most at that time and yet he was also the one who most impressed him.

Later, he heard a lot about Cheng Ran.

For an example, Cheng Ran became gravely ill after getting his rad-medicine injection. Not only did he not awaken his rad-power, but his health also deteriorated. Even after a long while, his body wasn’t well.

He used to think Cheng Run had been spoiled into a white round dumpling. He was now aware that he was in fact gravely ill.

Cheng Ran’s radiation protection suit was the latest model from the Yangtze River City’s Aocheng Company. The full set of equipment costs millions of credits. Many Rad-warriors who go out of the city to hunt mutant beasts can’t afford to buy one while he just wears it casually…

He would have been frustrated in the past if he had seen this, but now he felt nothing. Traveling a long distance from a first-tier city to a third-tier city would be unthinkable for Cheng Ran's frail body if he didn't wear such a high class suit. Even with it, he might be ill… Shi Qingyang felt even pity as he thought of it this way.

If the Cheng clan had really cared about him, they would have forced him to remain in Yangtze River City to learn a profession and recover from his sickness, rather than letting him go to this third-tier city to join Spark Academy, which specializes in training Rad-warriors.

It should be noted that, while not all humans are capable of awakening rad-power, they nevertheless account for one-fifth of the overall population. The majority of them chose to work in cities or do scientific research. Many others have also made contributions in their respective fields. Like this Cheng Ran could change his fate.

After the dive in the past’s memories, Shi Qingyang returned to his senses and greeted the new customers with a smile.

"Are you new to Spark City? Do you want me to take you to a resting place? If you are not in a hurry, we will scrub the tanks while you rest and return them perfectly clean, with no residual radioactive energy.”

Typically, residents in Spark City wash their vehicles sloppily and with subpar anti-radiation cleaning fluid. They can earn some money this way, but not much. But these people were different. They won’t mind paying extra for a better service.

Tao Rubao's had brought Shi Qingyang lunch, and he was naturally now eager to assist his boss in seeking more business

The newcomers were all foreigners who had just returned from combat and were taking their time acclimating. They hadn't yet communicated with anybody here. Shi Qingyang was first to attract their attention.

Cheng Ran looked at him with curiosity. The old man beside him smiled when he noticed that Shi Qingyang was about the same age as his young master.

“Then you do it.” As he said, he opened his communication terminal and send someone to pick them up.

Outside the city, the radiation interfered with the signal, so they could only notify others after entering the city.

The old man returned his gaze to Shi Qingyang after sending the notification. “Both the tanks and the security equipment must be thoroughly washed. We'll have someone come get them tomorrow."

“Yes, sir! We’ll do an excellent job!” Shi Qingyang answered immediately.

He initially thought Tao Rubao's car wash shop was too small for the whole job. If these people were pressed for time, they would have to delegate some of the business to the other tank washes. But if the tanks were to be picked up the next day, it was no longer an issue.

Except for the anti-rad suits of the people in Cheng Ran's vehicle, the safety suits of the people in the other vehicles were stained—these people had to have killed a lot of mutant beasts along the way.

Shi Qingyang felt even more sympathy for Cheng Ran after thinking about this.

Despite the fact that more cities were being built and roads between them, when humans are seen in the wild, many mutant insects will take the opportunity to strike.

As a result, city-to-city travel had always relied on mobile fortresses. Cheng Ran didn’t arrive on one, implying that the Cheng Clan wanted to keep his presence a secret. The Cheng Clan was one of Yangtze River City's most powerful clans. Cheng Ran’s grandfather was an eighth-level rad-warrior.

No one knows Cheng Ran's real identity as Cheng Clans young master for the two years he stayed in Spark City. He was even bullied at school. The secret was top notch.

Shi Qingyang was aware that there were many politics involved in the big clans, but none of this was his concern at the time.

He was just sixteen years old at this time. He had only recently awaken his rad-power. He can’t go outside the city. At present, he can only train his body.

Shi Qingyang calmed down as he reflected on this, and then worked on cleaning the tanks. He once watched a video on how they use to wash cars thousands of years ago.

His first thought was: how luxurious! Nowadays, not only was food expensive, but so was the water. A regular one liter water bottle cost five credits. He didn’t even drink one whole a day!

Shi Qingyang and Tao Rubao used a washing machine to roughly clean the shells of several tanks before manually cleaning the gabs on the tanks and the inner walls of the tanks.

While Tao Rubao had never owned or driven a tank, he liked them as a man. When he stared at the fancy tanks, his eyes gleamed. He wished to hug them. Shi Qingyang was much calmer then the boss. He's had owned a lot of high-class tanks, and it was way past time to be envious of other poeple tanks.

Shi Qingyang and Tao Rubao washed these six tanks for three hours until they were all cleaned. Tao Rubao was overjoyed in the afternoon for such a huge job.

In the evening, when most tanks had returned to their owners, Tao Rubao usually went home to eat dinner and Shi Qingyang bought a nutrient meal box on the way home from work. But today was different.

Tao Rubao again proposed to get Shi Qingyang a box meal.

"Qingyang, I invite you to dinner today!"

“No, Uncle Toa, I’ll buy one myself. You already invited me in the afternoon. It’s too much money.” Shi Qingyang declined right away.

He can’t keep accept his kindness. The biggest expense for ordinary person was food. If he really needed to do it, a day or two would be fine but any more and Tao Rubao would undoubtedly be unhappy.

Tao Rubao thought for a while and said. “How about this, Xiao Yang? In the future when you come to work uncle will pack you lunch and nutrient meal box.”

"Thank you, Uncle Tao!" Shi Qingyang expressed his heartfelt gratitude.

"Uncle Tao asked you to lunch today at noon. Here are the credits for the evening's nutrient meal box.” Tao Rubao said.

He earns two hundred credits for each advanced tank he cleans and maintained, six in total. Excluding expense, it was possible to make seven or eight hundred credits, plus the cleaning of the suits, with a net profit of one thousand credits. Shi Qingyang founded him this business.

Shi Qingyang quickly thanked him again.

He actually didn’t give damn about what he ate. Despite the fact that the nutrient meal was awful, it was nutritious and filling thanks to the variety of miscellaneous ingredients.

When he left work that day, Shi Qingyang felt very good because he was full.

The sun had long gone down, but some lamps were lit on the dome above, displaying the whole city very brightly.

Most of the entertainment places were on the ground, and the city was naturally stunning and vibrant at night, but Shi Qingyang did not linger here. He quickly returned to the underground settlement, and then to his residence along the long street; on the way, he also purchased a bottle of water and a nutrient meal box.

There was absolutely nothing in his tiny room. He discovered a shabby record board and started to plan his future.

He was now convinced that everything he had witnessed was real and he will never make the same mistake again!