Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
The two wooden doors closed on the red-bricked building. A dozen or so eyes immediately focused upon Qin Fen’s body.
As others studied Qin Fen, he studied the others as well.
All sorts of people of the earth could be said to have congregated in this room. People with black hair and yellow skin. People with blue eyes, golden hair, and white skin. There were even people with brown hair and black skin.
As Qin Fen looked, his eyelids twitched over and over. The population of the Federation was numerous, and so, he was not the only person to be talented in martial arts. Looking at the appearance of the people before his eyes, Qin Fen knew that each and every one of them came from families circumstances that weren’t simple. They likely all came from wealthy and respectable backgrounds.
These people were given supplementary nutrition of all sorts since they were little. The quality of their bodies, compared to that of normal people, possessed innate superiority. In addition, they possessed all sorts of martial arts that were out of the norm in origin.
As long as they had the talent for practicing martial arts, they would easily surpass their peers on the road of the martial dao. Among their population, they would become gifted, talented, or even geniuses.
It wasn’t impossible to use piles and piles of giant sums of money to pile out a young expert.
Qin Fen looked around the crowd, and his eyebrows suddenly shot up. He saw the figure that he could barely consider familiar among the crowd. It was Ge Bing.
Back when Qin Fen was in the State of Korea executing a mission, he had met this Ge Bing, who was arrogant due to the resources he possessed.
Ge Bing had clearly discovered Qin Fen. His eyes seeped with an arrogant and lofty look. The corners of his lips lifted into a very disdainful smile. He shifted his gaze to a different spot, adopting an attitude where he completely ignored Qin Fen.
Qin Fen also shifted his gaze. He found it impossible to do things like flattery and fawning to rise up and social status. In addition, all the people who have come here today were all fighting for Song Jia. It could be said that Qin Fen’s relationship with these folks was that of enemies.
The other people revealed sneering looks after they sized Qin Fen up. How was such a man able to enter this circle of the selection process? He wore the military uniform of a recruit, and there was no hint of the powerful individualistic air that was usually nurtured by growing up in a prestigious house. Such a person was no true rival in this place.
Everyone retracted their gazes, placing them once more on to other people. They pondered just who was the most important rival among the people in this room.
As for Qin Fen, nobody stepped forth to provoke him or use him as a stepping stone to give themselves prominence.
Practically all the people who were able to enter this room were not that of new money. Everyone had received what was called high society instruction.
They understood things very well. If this was an ordinary day on the outside, stepping on this newly arrived kid would perhaps cause some other ignorant kids to feel reverence for them.
However, in this place, stepping on this destitute kid would not raise one’s own social status.
On the contrary, taking the initiative to step on this destitute kid was something that was extremely beneath their social standing.
Qin Fen found a corner to sit. He sat on the rug, and he quietly adjusted the state of his body.
“During times when you don’t know what sort of circumstances you might encounter in the near future, it is best to prepare to the greatest extent. Do your best to prepare in what you can prepare.”
This was something that Squad Leader Hao had once said. At this moment, Qin Fen revered it like words from the Bible.
Ge Bing couldn’t help but study Qin Fen some more during this time. It was impressive to be able to sit, meditate, and adjust oneself without regarding anyone else in this environment, where the children of rich and powerful families were all over the room, and everyone was a young and outstanding martial artist. This meant that he couldn’t underestimate Qin Fen’s mental quality.
Ten minutes. Fifteen minutes. Two hours….
Everyone part of the selection process remained just as they had in the very beginning. There was no one who was puzzled by waiting this long.
In fact, some of these people had already waited a day and a half.
In this place, one needed to learn to be patient. Those who enter the inner hall would walk out with happy expressions on their faces a few minutes later, as they completed the final test of the initial selection process.
Some people entered the inner hall and stayed there for two days in a row. In the end, they walked out of the inner hall with emaciated and sorry faces. They left in an ending where they were eliminated.
Nobody asked these people, who were either eliminated or made it through, just what sort of test they encountered. Powers like the Song Family certainly wouldn’t allow people to work together to take these tests. Asking would only reveal one’s stupidity.
The sun traveled to the west until it was about mealtime. Qin Fen’s body didn’t move a single inch from beginning to end, and Ge Bing’s assessment towards him increased a bit once again.
On the first day of Qin Fen’s arrival, he didn’t reveal the least bit of tension. He sat with such calmness and composure for an entire day’s worth of time. Ordinary people should not possess such emotional strength.
The door to the room of red brick opened once more. It was now time to eat. Of course, the Song Family wouldn’t handle meals. Everything had to be resolved by one’s own means.
“You have half an hour.” Butler Hou faced Qin Fen, who walked out of the room along with everyone else, and said, “If you’re not back into the room in half an hour, then it counts as your failure.”
“Oh Qin Fen.”
Lin Liqiang started the flying saucer model sports car. He descended into the courtyard once again, and he held seven or eight greasy roasted legs of lamb as he arrived before the door.
Qin Fen didn’t act courteously around Lin Liqiang. As he tore at the fresh meat of the roasted lamb leg, he looked at the other suitors in bafflement as they left.
“There are different from you. They need to go out to eat.” Lin Liqiang tore off a piece of roasted lamb. He smiled and shook his head very disdainfully. “They have accumulated face, this thing, to a certain degree. There are some things they have to do even if they don’t want to.”
Qin Fen passed Lin Liqiang a cup of fruit juice, indicating to him to continue his explanation.
“Using words that the majority of people can understand, these people are all people of influence.” Lin Liqiang downed the cup of apple juice. “Therefore, they need to constantly maintain their imposing air. For example, when it comes to eating, even though they only have half an hour, they choose not to stay here to eat. It is completely within their ability to wait here until the time has come to enter the room. However, if they were to do this, this would express to the others that they are scared. That they do not have guts. When that happens, the other people will likely immediately join hands to stomp on this person. This is to have that person lose the qualifications to take the test.”
“Isn’t it risky for them to go out like this?” Qin Fen gently furrowed his dense eyebrows. “If someone makes a move outside….”
“Smart.” Lin Liqiang snapped his finger. “Therefore, there have been several people eliminated in this fashion in the past few days. The moment they stepped outside to eat, there is a great possibility of them encountering the hidden attacks from other people’s assistants. All of these candidates have their own assistants by them, for protection. They think of ways to secretly eliminate the others ahead of time, and they casually choose who they feel to be the most threatening.”
Qin Fen smiled as he turned his head to look at the red brick building behind him. The person who designed this test was truly quite smart. The designer actually tested everyone during meal times as well.
An hour’s worth the time quickly past, and all the young people, who were gone for food, came back one after another. Signs of bullet marks could be seen on some of these people’s cars.
These young people, who had just eaten food, leaped off their cars. They looked at how leisurely and carefree Qin Fen was, eating his roasted lamb leg and drinking his fruit juice. This was the first time thoughts of envy were engendered in them.
There were many innate advantages of being a child of a rich and powerful family. However, they also lost some of the advantages because of their backgrounds. For instance, eating meals this time. This destitute kid could swagger around in this courtyard and eat without a care in the world.
After mealtime ended, Qin Fen returned to the corner where he last sat and meditated. He discovered that there was one less person in the room now. It looked like this person had been eliminated during mealtime, and had left.
In a span of two days back to back, Qin Fen spent each day repeating the same actions.
Eat and meditate.
And within the room, the number of people participating in the test grew smaller and smaller.
There were some people who passed the test and left happily, waiting for notification of the next test’s starting time.
There are some people who were eliminated from the test, with fate having them leave.
There are people more tragic. There were people who were eliminated by others during meal times.
“Ge Bing….”
At the front of the door to the inner hall, Cheng Wuxian was expressionless as he announced this name. He then turned around and returned to the inner hall. In this instance, a gaze of bitter resentment was thrown upon Qin Fen’s body.
This wasn’t the first time that Cheng Wuxian looked at him like this. Qin Fen was already completely used to it. If Cheng Wuxian hadn’t looked at him with those malicious eyes, Qin Fen would feel uncomfortable.
A short single minute passed, and Ge Bing walked out of the inner hall, carrying a smile of delight on his face.
He was the fastest one to pass! Qin Fen was shocked as well as he saw just how quickly Ge Bing had passed the test. Ge Bing was the quickest person to pass the test in the past few days, using approximately seventy-six seconds.
“Qin Fen.”
Cheng Wuxian’s eyes burned with flame as he stared at Qin Fen. He absolutely wouldn’t have humiliated himself in front of the young lady if it weren’t for this kid.
Qin Fen had long since stood up upon hearing Cheng Wuxian shout his name. He was the last person in this large lounge, and so, his name was the only name that Cheng Wuxian could yell.
The inner hall was clearly much smaller in area than the receiving room outside.
There was a rattan chair, a simple wooden desk, two teacups, and a Yixing clay teapot. There was a large word on the wall, “Martial”, and it caused one to feel a sense of attraction when looking at it.
Qin Fen stared at this word for two seconds in a daze. Countless information came pouring into his mind from the word in an instant. It was at this moment that he seemed to lose his entire self into the world of the martial dao.
Two seconds later, Qin Fen shook his head hard. He pulled his gaze away from the word, and he turned to look at the middle-aged man on the rattan chair. This man was holding a kifu book.
“Huh?”
The middle-aged man was a bit shocked. He put down the kifu book from his hand and raised his head.
Qin Fen also took the opportunity to study this man, as the man studied him. There was a golden pair of eyeglasses on the high-bridge nose. This made him give off an extra refined and scholarly sensation. In certain places, some of his facial features were faint with similarities to Song Jia.
Was this Song Jia’s father? Qin Fen speculated to himself, wondering the identity of this middle-aged man.
“I am Jiajia’s father..” Song Zhengting slowly took out a small book and pen from within his clothing. I’ve more or less heard about your business. You need money, don’t you?”
“I need it a lot.”
Qin Fen didn’t deny it. The power of the Song Family was considerable, and it was easy for them to investigate Qin Fen’s background. Denying the fact that he needed money would show that he was stupid.
The fountain pen in Song Zhenting’s hands quickly scrawled on the small book. Then he confidently tore off a page from the small book and casually tossed it toward Qin Fen.
This page was completely unfolded. It shouldn’t be possible for someone to toss this piece of paper a great distance. However, if flew just like the metal disc when thrown from Song Zhenting’s hands. They completely ignored the resistance of the air.
Qin Fen’s thumb and index finger clasped together, steadily pressing the flying piece of paper into his hand.
Qin Fen gave the piece of paper a glance. This piece of paper was a check, and this check was for a cash value of seven nines.
“Let us make a business transaction.” Song Zhenting spread his hands open. “Break up with Jiajia, and all of this will be yours.”
