CHAPTER 30: CHAPTER 29: ZHOU LI IS A WEAKLING

"I’ve already released my scent!"

Huai Xu sat on the upper bunk, her legs dangling and swaying unconsciously. Suddenly, she leaned down to look at Zhou Li, her long hair falling naturally. "How long do you think it’ll be before someone comes looking for me?"

Zhou Li lay flat. "I don’t know."

Huai Xu’s face was exquisite. After taking Zhou Li’s advice, her skin looked much more natural. Now, her eyes, sparkling as light from the floor reflected in them, were filled with anticipation as she gazed at Zhou Li. Zhou Li had to turn over to face the wall. She’s an old monster, he reminded himself.

His heart immediately calmed.

"Three days?"

"Don’t know."

"Five days?"

"...Remember to change back in the morning."

"Oh, are you asleep?"

"I’m asleep."

"Okay, okay... good night."

Huai Xu stretched out a hand, pointed into the air, and the room dimmed.

She turned over to lie down but couldn’t fall asleep. She tossed and turned on the upper bunk, careful not to disturb Zhou Li.

Fortunately, she wasn’t too demanding about sleep.

「The next day」

After breakfast, Zhou Li changed into running shorts and sneakers and left the house. The male version of Huai Xu followed him.

The two strolled out of the residential complex. Zhou Li found a small shop and bought Huai Xu two baked wheat cakes and a cup of soy milk. Noticing Huai Xu sneaking peeks at the neighboring food stall’s aluminum pot, Zhou Li also bought him two marinated eggs.

Not far after they left, Zhou Li suddenly ran into Brother Nan.

Brother Nan came around the corner from another street. She looked extremely worn, with obvious dark circles under her eyes, and moved sluggishly, reeking of an internet café. They bumped into each other. She noticed Zhou Li first, scratching her head and yawning as she greeted him. "What a coincidence... *yawn*..."

"Good morning, Brother Nan. Pulled an all-nighter again?"

"Yeah, what about it?" Brother Nan retorted, a bit defensively.

"Just saying you’re tough."

"I’ll only play a couple more games, then I’m done. I can’t afford it anymore; I’m out of money. I need to adjust my sleep schedule and go work on a construction site." As Brother Nan spoke, she yawned again, then glanced at the breakfast Zhou Li was carrying. "Where are you going this early?"

"Across the river."

"Catching a high-speed train?"

"Running."

"Running and still carrying breakfast..."

"Um, why didn’t you reply to my message yesterday?"

"You’re really going to count pennies over such a small amount!" Brother Nan rolled her eyes at him. "I’m going this way. Remember to treat me to taro chicken, okay? I’ll come find you once I’ve recovered."

"..."

Brother Nan turned onto another street.

Zhou Li, meanwhile, kept moving forward, leisurely passing through half the city as a form of post-meal digestion. After crossing the East Gate Bridge, he had largely left the urban area behind.

「Across the river」

Across the river lay the newly constructed Binjiang Road. It was spacious, with two lanes for vehicles in each direction, plus lanes for non-motorized vehicles. The road was mostly devoid of people and cars; pedestrians were a rare sight. Usually, only vehicles heading straight for the North Station used this road, and they rarely returned the same way. Moreover, because this road was quite flat, it was said that many people came here for night runs. Zhou Li hadn’t seen any morning runners yet.

Making a detour under the bridge, he handed the breakfast to Huai Xu. After some warm-up exercises, he started running along the non-motorized vehicle lane.

The early morning was cool, the road empty and quiet, allowing him to run freely.

Occasionally, he’d pass a car parked for who knows how long, or run into spiderwebs drenched in overnight dew. After about two kilometers, Huai Xu’s voice suddenly called out from above, seemingly from a lamppost.

"You’re running too slow!"

Zhou Li instantly left the lamppost behind. He slowed slightly to glance back, but the post was empty.

When he turned around again, Huai Xu was sitting on the next lamppost up ahead, swinging his legs. "With that speed, you could only outrun the rat in the complex. No, you probably couldn’t even beat that rat."

Zhou Li passed that lamppost, and Huai Xu appeared on another one further ahead, muttering.

"You’re not like others; you won’t injure yourself running. So why not go all out?"

"At most, you’ll just be tired. Go back, eat more, endure a sore back and legs for a couple of days, and once you recover, you’ll run even faster!"

"People like you have a lot of potential. If you’re willing to push yourself to the limit and unlock that potential, you still probably wouldn’t beat me, but becoming Spider-Man wouldn’t be a problem!"

"Right, if you want to become Spider-Man, I might have to catch a spider for you. Not sure if that would work, though."

"Hey, looking at you, I’d say you could take on two Li Daimaos at most!"

"..."

Zhou Li remained silent, quietly picking up his pace. He was very fit; he always had been.

"By the way, I’m coming to your house as a guest at noon!" Huai Xu continued.

"Should I change clothes?"

"Aunt Jiang will definitely ask me—’Are you and our Zhou Li from the same school?’"

"I’ll say yes."

"’Which class are you in?’"

"I’ll say I’m from the class next door."

"Hehe, your little brother often passes by your classroom. He must have recognized all the students in your class by now!"

"Huff..." Zhou Li stopped. "Xiao Shuang won’t be back until evening."

"I’m just imagining things. Why did you stop? Keep running! Run until you absolutely can’t anymore, until you can’t muster any strength and just collapse. That’s the way."

"With you up there putting on a one-man show, I really can’t run."

"Hehe..." Huai Xu grinned. "It’s my first time visiting your house as a guest. I’m a little nervous!"

"Just nervous?"

"And excited! I can finally eat Aunt Jiang’s cooking openly and without holding back!"

"..."

"Quick, run! Run! On your marks..."

"..."

They had reached the end of Binjiang Avenue. Here, a low red-brick wall with a gap in the middle marked the transition to a dirt path. Zhou Li slowed, crossed to the opposite side of the road, and headed back.

From under the East Gate Bridge to this point was four kilometers, making an eight-kilometer round trip. Zhou Li had been running at nearly a sprint.

On the way back, he finally encountered another person. He sped past like the wind, hearing their cry of alarm. After he’d gone some distance, he heard a second cry from them.

After two round trips, Zhou Li, gritting his teeth, reached the state Huai Xu had described: ready to collapse.

But Huai Xu extended a hand, and he didn’t fall.

"Can you still walk?"

"I can walk." Drenched in sweat, Zhou Li sat by the roadside, catching his breath. "I just need a little rest."

"Wow, impressive!"

"Do I still have to do strength training?"

"Yeah, just a light workout for now. The goal is to build up your body and health," Huai Xu said, tapping the back of his neck and smacking his lips. "Seriously, how did those ancient Heavenly Masters do it? Someone as weak as you, even if you trained for eight or ten years, would just be fodder for any moderately fierce demon. How could anyone with the combat power of a few dozen Li Daimaos possibly fight Great Demons?"

"...Stop it."

"Well, actually, there’s a terrifying spiritual power hidden inside you. I’ve sensed a tiny bit of it," Huai Xu nodded, trying to reassure Zhou Li. "So you’re actually very strong."

"..."

Zhou Li’s constitution was indeed formidable. He hadn’t sat for long before feeling much recovered, though he was very hungry.

Without protein replenishment, his muscles remained damaged. He needed to supplement the necessary nutrients promptly to achieve a better supercompensation effect.

He got up, dusted himself off, walked a short distance, found an electric scooter, scanned the code, and rode off.

Huai Xu stood behind, watching him blankly.

「Half an hour later」

Zhou Li arrived home.

As soon as he walked in, Aunt Jiang asked, "When’s your schoolmate coming? Tell him to come earlier, make himself comfortable at our place!"

Zhou Li could only say he would ask.

Back in his bedroom, Huai Xu was already there. Having heard Aunt Jiang, he turned and asked, "Should I come over early? I feel it’s not very polite to arrive just in time for the meal. Shouldn’t I at least come early to greet Aunt Jiang?"

"That makes sense."

"Then how should I address them? It all feels a bit weird."

"Whatever you like."

"Sigh..."

After a while, Zhou Li walked out of his bedroom. He glanced at the coffee table, laden with fruit and snacks. What will Aunt Jiang’s expression be, he wondered, when she sees the visitor isn’t Brother Nan?

"Aunt Jiang, I’ll go down and get him."

"Okay!"

「Ten minutes later」

Zhou Li brought Huai Xu home.

Aunt Jiang ran over enthusiastically, wiping her wet hands on her apron. "Oh, you’re here! It’s your first visit, so don’t be shy. Make yourself at home!"

Zhou Li watched Aunt Jiang, but her expression was unreadable.

Huai Xu quickly bowed his head, feigning bashfulness. "Hello, Aunt Jiang. I’m Zhou Li’s schoolmate. You can just call me Huai Xu."

"Huai Xu, huh? You’re really handsome!"

"You look very young too, Aunt Jiang."

"Such a sweet talker! Please sit down. Auntie is still cooking. You and Zhou Li can relax and play. Help yourselves to anything on the coffee table, don’t be polite!"

"Alright."

Huai Xu then sat down in the living room with Zhou Li.

He looked around. Even though he had been staying at Zhou Li’s place for a month, being there now in this capacity felt new and slightly awkward.

Zhou Li picked up a grape and popped it into his mouth. "Eat up. Weren’t you looking forward to this?"

"I was not!"

"Try one, they’re really sweet."

"Really...?"

After trying one, Huai Xu couldn’t stop himself.

The TV was still broadcasting news about the college entrance exams: a candidate’s off-the-cuff ’Xiu’er’ remark during an interview; a taxi driver forgiven for running five red lights to get a student to an exam. These kinds of stories came out every year. Once the exam results were released, there would likely be tales of quirky top scorers, or of family hopes dashed by failure, sometimes leading to tragic choices.

"Eating so much dried beef, don’t your jaws hurt?"

"Nope." Huai Xu was focused on the battle.

"Too salty?"

"Not salty."

"Too spicy?"

"Not spicy."

"Tasty?"

"Tasty."

His replies were muffled through mouthfuls of food.

「As noon approached」

Old Zhou also came home from work early.

He paused for a moment upon seeing Huai Xu, then quickly smiled and greeted him, explaining that he had decided to come home for lunch spontaneously because there wasn’t much to do at the office.

Zhou Li silently watched their mutual charade.