Chapter 43: Becoming the Center of the Gossip

This time, Zhang Chu decided not to go to the Binzhou Martial Artists’ Center.

It had only been three days since he was certified as Level 4. If he went for the Level 5 certification today, he might just scare a whole group of people.

The Binzhou Martial Arts Authority was committed to creating a thirty-minute comfortable zone for martial artists, establishing martial arts centers in each of Binzhou’s five districts.

Zhang Chu belonged to the Home of Martial Artists in the West City District. It took just an eight-minute drive to reach the West City Branch of the Martial Artists’ Center.

The West City Branch didn’t have the grandeur of the headquarters—a small three-story building, with street vendors selling starchy sausages at the entrance.

His Thunderstorm L1 was parked in the courtyard, inevitably drawing a lot of attention and photo-taking as usual.

He put on his sunglasses, got out of the car, and entered the lobby.

“Hello sir, what business do you wish to handle?”

The receptionist was enthusiastic. After understanding Zhang Chu’s needs, she personally escorted him to the certification center on the second floor.

He filled out the forms and had his blood vitality tested.

Taking the blue martial artist card, Zhang Chu headed to the third floor, under the astonished gaze of the young woman at the service window.

Blue represented Level 5.

The third floor was the Martial Equipment Center. It didn’t offer as wide a selection as the headquarters, but you could use the electronic platform to order and have items delivered to your home.

“System?”

“Pull up my personal information panel.”

With a thought, Zhang Chu communicated with the system.

The system responded instantly, and a blue panel appeared before his eyes:

Name: Zhang Chu

Level: 5

Blood Vitality: 60,111/100,000

Martial Skill: Skyrocket Fist (Level 1, Intermediate)

Proficiency: Intermediate

Martial Skill: Iron Mountain Shield (Level 1, Intermediate)

Proficiency: Intermediate

Martial Skill: Thirteen Swords of Fire (Level 1, Intermediate)

Proficiency: Intermediate

In the past few days, Zhang Chu had secluded himself at the Covey Research Institute. Even when at home, he carried a handful of Essence Blood Pills, eating them like chocolate beans.

In three days, he had consumed 100 Essence Blood Pills, raising his blood vitality by 50,000.

Beyond the breakthrough to Level 5, all the rest was used to improve martial skill proficiency.

If it weren’t for the semi-finished Essence Blood Pills still needed for preliminary project experiments, Zhang Chu would likely have broken through to Level 6 by now.

Scanning the equipment on the electronic platform, Zhang Chu quickly logged into his personal center and selected “Sell Equipment.”

A Level 5’s blood vitality required the right gear to truly reach its potential.

“Damn, how did the value drop so much in just a few days!”

The Blacksteel Gloves, Level 1, Lower Grade—originally bought for 35,000, now had a buyback price of only 15,000. Outrageous.

The Blacksteel Greatsword, Level 1, Superior Grade—purchased for 960,000, Zhang Chu decided to keep, as it was still useful.

Lastly, the Nano Blacksteel Battle Armor, Level 1, Lower Grade—bought for 350,000, but now he could only sell it for 190,000, a painful loss.

Soon, his phone pinged with a bank notification.

205,000 credited, bringing his total balance to 3.35 million.

After deliberating for over ten minutes, Zhang Chu selected two pieces of equipment.

The Level 1, Superior Thunderstorm Gauntlets—ten automatic high-voltage charges, priced at 800,000.

The Level 1, Superior Firethorn Battle Armor—which, when activated by blood vitality, could deploy spikes to inflict passive attacks on opponents, priced at 1.9 million.

“Damn!”

“I thought two hundred million in shares would last forever, but it’s disappearing fast!”

He clicked to purchase, paid with facial recognition, and just like that, 2.7 million was gone.

While waiting in the lounge, a staff member personally brought him the two pieces of equipment.

Few people in the West City Branch ever bought such expensive gear—Zhang Chu was considered a VIP client.

Finding a quiet corner, he stored both items in his spatial ring.

Zhang Chu then headed to the second floor.

Besides the certification center, there was a pill sales area on the second floor.

Certification as a Level 5 martial artist entitled him to receive ten Level 1, Superior Essence Blood Pills, with an additional monthly quota of ten for purchase.

As for the mountain of coupons and discounts, Zhang Chu couldn’t be bothered to study them.

“Mr. Zhang, please wait a moment. We’re currently out of stock of Level 1, Superior Essence Blood Pills and are retrieving some from the warehouse for you. It should take about twenty minutes,” the hall manager at the pill center apologized, personally escorting Zhang Chu to the lounge, serving him tea and snacks.

A Level 5 martial artist and a tutor at the Martial Arts Research Institute—having the district director not personally attend to him was already quite something.

Bored, Zhang Chu took out his phone to browse the forum for interesting posts.

“Zhang Chu?”

Just as he began to feel drowsy, a striking figure sat down beside him.

“Ma’am, I’m sorry, but this is a VIP area. You can’t sit here,” the manager quickly interjected.

The VIP area was reserved for martial artists of Level 4 and above. Any disturbance, and if Zhang Chu filed a complaint, the manager’s performance bonus would be docked.

Huang Lili?

Looking at the person beside him, Zhang Chu was surprised to find it was indeed Huang Lili.

“We’re friends, good friends,” Huang Lili quickly explained to the manager.

She was here today to be certified as a martial artist, and, according to procedure, could collect three Essence Blood Pills after certification.

She hadn’t expected to see Zhang Chu in the lounge.

The manager looked to Zhang Chu for confirmation. Friends or not, only his word mattered.

Zhang Chu nodded slightly, and the hall manager left.

“What brings you here?” Zhang Chu glanced around, frowning. “There’s not much scalping business here, is there?”

“I only did that to make some money for Essence Blood Pills. Now that I’ve saved enough, I’m here to get certified.”

“Look.” Huang Lili’s eyes sparkled with excitement as she placed her martial artist card before Zhang Chu. “I’m a Level 1 martial artist now. Aren’t you jealous?”

“Jealous!” Zhang Chu replied firmly.

Huang Lili was something of a benefactor since his rebirth. If she hadn’t taken him to the suburban pharmaceutical factory to test drugs, he would never have recovered so quickly.

Besides, who could stay stern with a beautiful, shapely woman in an off-shoulder top sitting next to them?

Huang Lili chattered nonstop, full of admiration for Zhang Chu and endless questions.

For example:

How did you stand up after being a patient with ALS?

What’s your secret for becoming a Level 3 martial artist so quickly?

And how did you become a tutor at the Martial Arts Institute?

She would often answer her own questions, like an AI assistant.

Zhang Chu relaxed, drinking his coffee and checking the time, hoping the Essence Blood Pills would be ready soon—it was just too noisy.

“By the way, could that post be about you?” Just as Zhang Chu was about to lose his patience, Huang Lili exclaimed.

Her voice was so loud the whole hall turned to look.

“What post?” Zhang Chu was a bit embarrassed, gesturing for her to quiet down.

“You haven’t seen it?” Huang Lili immediately opened the “Martial Artists’ Gossip” board on her phone, finding a pinned post. “This one—it’s been trending since this morning, with over a hundred thousand reposts.”

Zhang Chu glanced at it—the title was boring enough: “Questioning the Martial Arts Institute: How much does it cost to become a teacher?”

As Huang Lili scrolled down, Zhang Chu took a look and was utterly dumbfounded.

So the gossip had come full circle—right onto himself.