Chapter 196: The Dumb and The Genius

"I am staying." He accepted the cup of coffee.

"You are? But why?" Does this mean, she needed to try and impress him every day? What about her TV dramas? "What about the clubs? The restaurants?"

"I don't micromanage."

"…"

"Technology was a very powerful thing." He gave her a smug smile. "Ronan was pretty smart. He developed some software that could make me see everything, like a bird's eyes view of the business."

"But…"

"You don't want me here?"

"Of course I do. I just thought… you are a distraction. You know… When I'm trying to concentrate, and you approach me, then my mind would swirl and think about jumping on you."

"That— sounds too exaggerated." He laughed at her silly face. Then he finished his coffee before pulling Lyca outside so they could have breakfast. 

"Xi, just as you mentioned Ma Ping was indeed given some food by someone. Number fifteen received something too, but he gave it to his girlfriend. So he didn't have breakfast." Rue immediately reported when Lyca and Shen Qui approached their table. "I say that man is smart but dumb at the same time. His name is Gu Cheng. For a twenty-five-year-old guy, he is dumb when it comes to women. Yan Junqi should be his first girlfriend. She is twenty-two. Also, Ma Ping is twenty-three. I already checked their records. They have been with us for almost a year now. They always trained in martial arts every day. Ma Ping was really good with grappling while Gu Cheng excelled in gun handling."

"Thank you," Lyca uttered. Gu Cheng… knew about wood ash being like a baking soda. Tell me about his educational background?"

"He is pretty smart. I think. He was homeless before he joined us, and he loves to stay in the library in the downtown of Kong City. He graduated high school at fourteen but got into the wrong crowd. At fifteen, he went to a college University then he was accused of stealing the answer key of a final examination. Especially after he aced the exams. He came from a poor background, and the only reason why he got accepted for college was through scholarships. The school kicked him out without proper investigations. His mother, who raised him alone soon died because of pneumonia. And he ended up depressed and homeless." Rue clicked his tongue. "The guy's IQ is pretty good, but he was born poor. When you are the only poor person in a private university you tend to become the new target of bullying. I bet he didn't actually steal the answer key. He just aced it, but those rich kids couldn't accept it."

"So he was homeless from fifteen to twenty-four?" Shen Qui asked. 

"No sir, he found a job in the library when he turned eighteen, but the previous librarian died, and the new one didn't want him to continue working. He is smart, but he lacks ambition. After being kicked out, he just worked as someone who creates essays for college students, of course, it doesn't pay much so, he stayed homeless and just visited the library every day to write essays."

"Hmmm. Interesting background." Lyca said as she started eating. By now, everyone was already wearing their weights and was preparing to start running. "How about Ma Ping?"

"Don't you want me to tell you about the woman?"

"You can tell me everything about her once she showed me that she's worth it," Lyca said. In this world, being a woman was not a hindrance to being independent and strong. Yan Junqi needed to prove to Lyca that she was worth her attention before she could waste Lyca's time.

"Alright. Ma Ping's background is the opposite of Gu Cheng. He was not smart. The school kicked him out because he keeps on pranking the teachers and bullying the students. He graduated high school from another school at twenty." Rue gave a wry smile as she met Lyca's gaze. "I know… that's because he keeps on dropping out and coming back once he likes it. He was very friendly and loud. All the other trainees like him. But he often gets in trouble because of his false sense of justice. Every time one of his friends would end up in trouble, he wouldn't hesitate to help them, even to the point of fighting for them. He stabbed someone when he was twenty-one because one of his friends was bullied, and he got into a fight as he tried protecting that friend. His parents kick him out after the other party didn't want to file a case against him."

"Opposites." Lyca gave a mysterious smile. "So… Ma Ping knew about the sawdust purely because of experience while the other knew about the wood ash from his knowledge." She nodded before she finished her food. "I think we just found our two leaders?" She couldn't wait to see what would the two men do once they were put in a tight spot. Would they break under pressure?

"Miss Xi, everyone already started running to the mountain." Hogan's voice echoed behind them. He didn't hide the worry in his eyes. After all, each of them had to run while carrying twenty kilograms of extra weight. He couldn't help but wonder if some of them would finally collapse. "Last night, most of them didn't have enough rest. So I think letting them run with weights is not a very good idea."

"Hmmm." Cleo was the first one who nodded her head. Even she couldn't imagine herself running two kilometers with weights. How could those people run a twenty-kilometer distance in a very steep mountain with twenty kilograms of sand in their bodies? Isn't this… pure torture?

"This is for their benefit," Lyca said. Everything about this training would not only enhance their minds but also their brains and attitude about everything. If the ten-year-old her, survived in this kind of training, how could these adults give up? "Alright… you guys should call paramedics. In case someone collapses. Qui'er and I… needed to do something… Important."

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