Chapter 12  : A New Age Quietly Arrives

 J_Squared, Zenobys  Editor: J_Squared, Zenobys“I can finally continue my career in lining people up at the end of the barrel of my gun,” thought Fang Ning after he finished helping the System with something major. His gaming mood came back, and he returned happily to the System Cyber Cafe to check on the video game he had been playing before this. He was delighted when he found out that he somehow won the round; Luck really did flock to the joyous.

“What, who’s this guy? He charged in like a boss with only a dagger equipped, and he managed to kill 7 people, the enemies’ commander included? D*mn!”

He opened the battle report, deciding to admire how amazing the dagger pro actually was properly. He glimpsed at the username – Ursula Forever – and offhandedly clicked on the conversation tab to chat with the pro. It didn’t take him long to be dragged by the guy to another battle-oriented game. The worry that painted his face just minutes ago, disappeared without a trace.

‘Sir System would worry about everything anyways, I might as well just be an amateur strategist.’ Fang Ning thought as he played his games, moral principles long gone with the quick tap-tap of his keyboard.

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“Hold up, pro, you hold down the fort for a moment, I gotta go to the toilet real quick. Don’t give up, I’ll come back in a minute!” Fang Ning hurried himself off the new game not long after he started. The System Options popped up again, and of course he had to stop; he still knew how to prioritize his things despite his love for games.

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His body, controlled by the System, was now at a secluded bosket near the park. It was easy to obstruct line of sight here, and it was one of the places where lovers would frequent.

Now, his body was facing a gorgeous woman. Both of them did not speak.

[Qi Yan is asking for the compensation for her performance just now. Your options are:]

[Option 1: Here is an incomplete version of the Baopuzi. It is now yours, and you would most definitely obtain the true Daoist inner strengths after you practice it.]

[Option 2: Let her choose from 3 types of Martial Arts, and automatically transfer her the knowledge; Beginner Knife Art: Chaotic Mantle, Beginner Qinggong: The Rolling Donkey, or Basic Internal Strength: Half-step Jerk.]

[Option 3: Pay her RMB 10000. The other party will refuse.]

‘What’s the point of showing me an option that she would definitely refuse?’ Fang Ning lazily scanned the options, unamused that his gaming was interrupted. Without much thought, he picked Option 2.

The first option was indeed a genuine Daoist martial art, but the incomplete part the system talked about was fertility. Fang Ning was not as shameless as that yet.

“Hey, Vigilante A, you’re not thinking of running away, right? I, an honorable lady, actually sacrificed my beauty, reputation and image to act this scene with you. I wouldn’t have rushed here on my car if you didn’t promise to teach me beginner-level martial arts! Heck, I didn’t even have time to put on some makeup. Our deal is not only to teach me, but to teach until I actually understand everything, okay!”

Qi Yan, the beauty, shook one of her slender fingers at the man while she urged him. She was very anxious after she noticed how Fang Ning was responding extremely slowly. She thought, would this Vigilante A be similar to the elders in her family? To them, the martial art mantras were too valuable that they had a grip tighter than a vacuum over them. The last thing they would do was to allow others to learn them. Vigilante A wouldn’t be like that either, right?

It was nighttime when she had first met Vigilante A. He was hunting for thieves in her housing area, and she saw his abilities first hand. Her knowledge of his case-file serial number came from the old men from her family as they maintained contact with some of the people in the Special Affairs Liaison Office.

Just as the beauty Qi Yan thought that Vigilante A was going to go against his words, Fang Ning suddenly levitated in front of her, just an arm’s length away as he looked at her face to face.

“Ah! What are you thinking of doing? It’s still broad daylight-” Qi Yan cut herself off by covering her mouth with her hand. Why did she use his pet phrase even in her protests? It must have been his fault!

“Choose one from these three, and I will transfer the knowledge to you for you to understand the secrets within the martial arts. As a justice fighter, I always stick to my words!”

Fang Ning’s face was stoic. He recited names of the three martial arts.

The beauty’s face darkened with every name she heard. This dude must be messing with her! However, when she took another glance at his charming face that remained absolutely serious throughout the encounter, she found a hard time believing that he was was just fooling around. How did he manage to utter something so ridiculous while maintaining such a straight face?

“I choose Option 3.” Gritting through her teeth, the beauty finally gave in to the temptation that was martial arts. While she considered the numerous miracle products that were produced by some of the companies under her family after Internal Strength was introduced into the picture, she settled on Option 3 after a long minute of consideration.

Besides, the first two choices were too embarrassing for her to use that she couldn’t see herself using them even if she had managed to learn them. If she did, she would need to make sure that everyone present that witnessed the scene would never live to see the world, and she was not a murdering psychopath that would be able to do that every time.

Fang Ning was speechless as he listened within the System Space. Only the System would’ve had the audacity to pull something so heartless on such a beautiful lady. If it were him, he would never do anything close to that, even if she seemed to be asking too much for a small task. After all, a favor was a favor, and she did come to help the System.

Didn’t the System feel even a slight sense of guilt after it basically selling her out like that? Oh, of course it wouldn’t; the sense of morality was still Fang Ning’s, why would the System even care about it?

Good ol’ Sir System thoroughly ignored Fang Ning’s whining. After Qi Yan made her choice, it used Fang Ning’s hand and slapped his palm onto her forehead. The movement was identical to when it was farming. The fact that there was a beauty in front of him didn’t bother it at all. Thankfully, the System wasn’t farming bad guys just yet, and Qi Yan was still a beauty that remained standing. Before the rage bubbled from inside her, she suddenly felt an unexplainable warm stream of air flowing down from her forehead.

Her heart practically leapt out of joy. Seems like this Vigilante A could still be trusted, huh…

That breeze flowed from her hair to her toes, filling her with warmth. It halted right in her chest, and seemed to settle there. Something felt off to the beauty, but she could not pinpoint the exact cause. Then again, she only occasionally heard about the basic knowledge of martial arts cultivation from those old folk at home. They only briefly talked about the topic and never did teach her anything, only reason being that she was destined to marry herself out of the family. Somehow, that made her an outsider.

When the warm air had settled down, she saw Vigilante A turn tail and leave, and a book suddenly sat on her palms. On the cover of the book was the words ‘Basic Internal Strength: Half-step Jerk’, written in Simplified Chinese.

She immediately flipped open the book in excitement, but when she finished reading the first page, she froze while red crept towards her cheeks. Then, she faced the direction where Vigilante A took flight and bellowed.

“Vigilante A, I thank you for your kind teachings! My entire ancestry thanks you for this! Don’t you dare show your face to me again!”

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System Notification: [Qi Yan’s aggro has exceeded known limits. Begin immediate extraction. Current Aggro Bar status: Aggro Bar 1 is full. Remaining aggro will automatically go to storage in Aggro Bar 2. Aggro Bar 2 is now at 20%.]

It was amazing how they managed to accumulate that much aggro to fill up the initial 70% of Aggro Bar 1 and then start filling Aggro Bar 2, just by pissing off two women. It was no wonder people always spoke of not stepping on the tails of women. Only Sir System, the fearless System will titanium balls, would have the guts to challenge the tipping point of all women in existence.

Fang Ning shuddered. This was still a terrifying feat for a 28-year-old bachelor. Fang Ning decided that he shall remain single in the near future, until the System finally finishes cultivating its abilities.

Thus, Fang Ning continued to binge novels and video games happily in the System Cyber Cafe, while the System filled every minute with farming and cultivation. Fang Ning was only summoned occasionally to help accumulate aggro.

On the other hand, Qi Yan, who was quite cheated by the System, did not live her life as leisurely as those two.

The beauty came from a historical, large family, and just like other similar families, they were quite spread out and no longer maintain close contact like the old times. Families like hers would only gather once a year when they needed to pray to their ancestors. Those times were when all the boasting and showing off happened, and while it was about riches and power in the past, now it had moved to superpowers and martial arts.

Superpowers needed to be awakened before they can come into play, but no one really understood the pattern behind it. However, martial arts were here an entity since an eternity ago. It was just that their decades of training collapsed like dominoes in the face of a gun; a bullet was much more effective than any martial art. Thankfully, some martial arts still gave the cultivator an amazing physique, and maybe even a longer lifespan. That was something weapon handling could not provide.

The Qi Family was one of the few families that have a few martial arts that are taught from generation to generation, but they had not managed to acquire any outstanding achievements. Only the old folk in the family would see them as life-preservation skills to train; at least they was better than the commercial fitness regimes out there.

These few years however, some of the old folk had managed to obtain Internal Strength while training in those historical martial arts. It was unheard of in their family, and some of the intelligent young ones within had managed to combine the Internal Strength with modern technology. This pushed their family business to the highest peak it had ever managed to reach, and now, with the family’s business already at its new phase, the family members finally realized that a new age was about to arrive.

This was evident in one of the Chinese Medicine Clinics her family owned. It had been open since forever. Prior to this, it had been slowly replaced by modern medicine, as Chinese Traditional treatments only worked miracles on certain people due to age and niche.

That was, until that old Chinese doctor in the family could finally see the nerves and vital channels that were written in the ancient books after he cultivated his own Internal Strength.

One high-ranked officer managed to get his late-stage cancer controlled after the doctor combined the Golden Acupuncture Guidance and Internal Strength as treatment. The officer began recovering gradually, and the news was a hot topic in certain circles.

And that treatment? That was innovated by his grandchildren.