CH 8

Updated: Apr 5, 2021

Shi Qingyang discovered that the old man was more sincere this time around. With a decent start, the subsequent events will go even more smoothly.

In fact, there were other choices. It's just that other patrons will give a lot a less for taking a lot more. In his last life, other contracts offered to pay his tuition plus 80,000 credits a year. And he'd work for them in exchange for 15 years... How many years does a Rad-Warrior have? Their bodies start to deteriorate on average by the age of forty.

The facts have since proven that he was right when he refused to agree. He often spent a day hunting after becoming a Level 4 Rad-Warrior, and he made tens of thousands. To work for 100,000 credits a year for fifteen years... Who's laughing?

Furthermore, he no longer had faith in others.

He was only eighteen years old when he was betrayed by his trusted instructor. He almost died in the ant colony... After that, he hesitated to return to Spark City. The main reason was that his life there wasn't very happy after his parents died.

After all the calculations, only Cheng Ran gave him the most assurance that he would at least not intentionally harm him.

"I'm really fine. I don't need to go to the hospital. It's just a minor injury." Shi Qingyang gestured with his hands, 'accidentally' rolling up his sleeves, exposing his bruises. This injury had actually been caused by him after Cheng Run and Gu Changjin drove inside the school.

"You've been hurt." Cheng Ran had always been a keen observer. He noticed the wound on Shi Qingyang's arm while sitting in the passenger seat.

"This little injury is nothing to me!" Shi Qingyang grinned at Cheng Ran before pulling out his contact terminal and touching Gu Changjin's contact terminal. His number was sent. "I'm going to the tank shop, uncle. This is my contact number. Come see me when the car needs painting."

At that, he smiled again and waved. "Uncle, young master, goodbye!" And ran off.

The cheerful mask slipped the second he turned away from them.

That trick should be called prideful stubbornness, shouldn't it? He really wanted to go back to them and have a meal, but he couldn't appear too eager. It's best to give Gu Changjin some time to double-check his records.

If he was lucky, Gu Changjin will take the lead to approach him. Even if he was unlucky, he will create another opportunity to reach out to him. For example, these days, he had been roaming around Spark Academy and discovered something.

A side job that had to do with food delivery.

Despite the prospect of relying on Cheng Ran for food in the future, Shi Qingyang he felt that he ought to earn his own money. Furthermore, the task of cleaning the tanks was tedious and time-consuming. Since he no longer planned to Rad-Power practice at the entrance of the city, there were no reasons to stay at the tank shop.

***

Cheng Ran eventually withdrew his gaze after seeing Shi Qingyang turn the corner and vanish, and glanced down to his arm. He wouldn't have been able to smile if he had suffered the same injuries as Shi Qingyang.

"Master, we'll meet him in class soon." Gu Changjin chuckled.

Cheng Ran hesitated for a moment before asking, "Grandpa Gu, can you help him?" He spoke in a slow manner.

He wasn't sure when he had started speaking in this way. When he became anxious or spoke quickly, he easily spoke the wrong words. They said this was a psychological problem, but no one asked him to treat it, and it had always been this way. Now he had a habit of speaking slowly.

"I'll help young master take a look." Gu Changjin replied in a hushed tone.

Cheng Ran nodded, then asked, "Grandpa Gu, is it alright if I go to school?"

"It's fine, Master; this is Spark City, no one knows you, and you can make friends at school." Gu Chang Jin reassured him.

His young master hadn't been to school since he had been attacked when he was eight, and now, despite his physical condition, he will attend a school that teaches Rad-Warriors...

Gu Changjin took a glance at the contact number Shi Qingyang that had just passed him and made a decision. He contacted the dean of Spark Academy that evening and requested more detailed information about Shi Qingyang.

There was a folder for everyone who was born. Shi Qingyang was going to study at Spark Academy, and they had already received his papers.

This year he turned sixteen, two months older than Cheng Ran. His father Shi Zhen and mother Zhang Lanyan were both born into simple families in Anhang City. They moved to Spark City after marriage, where they died in April this year...

Shi Qingyang's life story was straightforward. Since his birth, he had never left Spark City. Gu Changjin's opinion of him improved after reading the detailed information. At the same time, he understood Shi Qingyang's concern about school fees.

Gu Changjin pondered this as he read the news of Shi Qingyang's parents' death, and then sighed lightly - Shi Qingyang's parents had leased a plot of land outside the city and lost all their savings, but all the news here doesn't mention that.

After reading all the news on Shi Qingyang, Gu Changjin quickly saved it and put it aside while also deciding to visit Shi Qingyang in a few days.

***

Shi Qingyang had no idea that Gu Changjin had already planned to see him. He had just completed a part-time job as a food delivery man near Spark Academy through the contact terminal.

The part-time working location was a Butcher Shop chain store that sold raw meat and various processed foods. They accept Internet orders and distribute takeaway food or raw meat to Spark College students and locals.

This shop had always been the first choice for Spark Academy students looking for part-time jobs. Shi Qingyang worked here after being fired from the tank wash. Here he was paid depending on the amount of pieces delivered. The pay was even better than Tao Rubao. He also got a 20% discount when he bought groceries here. But he didn't like this job at the time because he couldn't absorb radiant energy or train Rad-Control. As for the 20% discount... The cheapest food here costs 30 credits. It was useless to him at that time.

Shi Qingyang deliberately chose the delivery task near Cheng Ran's villa, but Gu Changjin did not buy food from the store where he worked. This meant that he had to rush around that morning for his part-time work, which was mainly in the underground district. It's tough to detour to Cheng Ran's mansion and then all the way to the underground city, but otherwise the two of them wouldn't be able to meet.

Nevertheless, he was a patient guy, so he wasn't frustrated, and besides, he found a benefit for working here. The shop only sold the best parts of the insect, whilst the edible yet unpleasant-tasting organs and meat scraps were discarded and shipped to the nutrient meal box factory. This revenue, however, only covered the cost of labor.

If it weren't for the food waste law, the butcher shop would just throw these scraps away, and they wouldn't mind if someone took any away.

All of this was like a treasure trove to Shi Qingyang. Wasn't that the same as the nutrient meal boxes he used to eat every day? Furthermore, the internal organs of certain alien species, after being cleaned, taste pretty good.

China has long been a food-conscious society. Restaurants serve a wide variety of delicious food these days, but people still prefer the heftier and more costly exotic insects. The higher the price, the rarer and harder to capture the mutant beasts, the better. However, the more unusual the insect, the more difficult it was to butcher and process the sewage.

Shi Qingyang, on the other hand, had consumed a wide variety of mutants.

His former life began to change when he was eighteen years old, but he was still a low level Rad-Warrior at that time. For several years, he subsisted solely on hunting insects.

At that time, he had no hobbies. He just wanted to get stronger, kill more murtant beasts, avenge his friends, and liberate those who had died at the hands of munatnt beasts. The only other thing he was involved with was food.

As a result of his early struggle with starvation, he became particularly obsessed with food. Not only did he always carry food with him, but he didn't want to waste food while hunting mutant beasts; he ate everything clean, and he specialized in learning all culinary techniques...

While his craftsmanship was incomparable to that of chefs, but he managed to prepare something for himself with ease. It was a breeze to turn those leftovers into meals.

On the first day, Shi Qingyang requested for some scraps as he worked. As a result, after finishing deliveries, he assisted in organizing the minced meat in the kitchen. On the second day, the kitchen manager approached him personally and said that if he could help sort, he would not only give him some extra money, but he could also take any leftovers.

Shi Qingyang, of course, couldn't disagree, and so he began his busy part-time career. Every morning, he heads to the butcher's shop to participate in the delivery of takeaways. At lunchtime, he sorts through the morning's leftovers and takes home enough food for himself. At 2pm he arrives at Tao Rubao and works until 8pm, then returns to the butchery to sort the leftovers that were delivered in the afternoon. His schedule was packed, and his daily salary had reached 300 credits, not to mention that he no longer had to think about food.

This way of life seems very good, but Shi Qingyang was very clear that he must stop working if he wishes to regain his former greatness.

All Rad-Warriors must work out. No matter how much experience he had, he wouldn't have been able to become so powerful if he didn t train hard.

Shi Qingyang lived like this for many days, and when he was free, he went around where Cheng Ran lived. It was a pity that Cheng Ran and Gu Changjin were both humble and didn't go around.

The minced meat was specially sealed in a metal box to prevent any radiation contamination. Shi Qingyang had hunted and dissected plenty of mutant beasts, therefore, he wasn't afraid of radiation. At a glance, he could tell which part of the mutant beasts belonged to which insect. This enables him to do the work of sorting out the scraps with ease. He can complete everything in an hour after the takeout delivers at 11 o'clock.

After he finished sorting out, Shi Qingyang pretended as usual that there was enough food for two people for one day. Most of it was minced meat, and the other half consisted of internal organs of mutated insects. Most of the plants outside contained radiation. The shells, blood, and feces of the mutated insects also produce radiation, but most of them have the ability to filter it, so their meat was free of contamination. This was also why the mutant beast's viscera was unpopular. The internal organs typically produce more radiation than ordinary meat.

Of course, this was not without treatment.

"Shi Qingyang, how many people are in your family? Do you want to receive more?" Seeing that Shi Qingyang was about to leave, the chef inquired.

Most of the kitchen staff dislike the Spark Academy students who come to work part-time. There was little that could be done to mitigate the envy. After all, they never had the opportunity to become Rad-Warriors, while Spark Academy students had bright futures ahead of them.

But Shi Qingyang was an exception. He ate scraps. How could they be envious of someone who was so poor? Others even joined in. They weren't ashamed to do so. After all, food was pricey, and they themselves couldn't afford the nice pieces in the store.

"That's enough." Shi Qingyang chuckled.

He was the only member of his household. Tao Rubao may also prepare dinner. In reality, he couldn't finish it by himself. However, his former starvation had taught him to stockpile food, so these days he even made a lot of dried meat to stock, and also put some on his body so he could snack on it anytime.

Shi Qingyang left after bidding farewell to the people in the kitchen, and on his way home, he passed by Cheng Ran's mansion as usual.

This mansion was quiet, there was no one to be seen... Shi Qingyang was disappointed, but just as he was about to walk past, he noticed a slight movement. When he turned around, the windows of the first floor opened.

Cheng Ran came out from behind the window, his mouth open as if he wanted to say something. When their eyes met, he hesitated and closed his mouth, showing a flattering smile.

Shi Qingyang was no stranger to this expression. When he and Cheng Ran were bullied together on the Spark Academy, Cheng Ran often smiled at him like this, but he always ignored it.

Shi Qingyang smiled brightly, his face filled with curiosity and surprise, "Little Master, you live here!"