This Curse Is Just Awesome

The next few days, Chen Yu led life as usual, following the daily routine that he was accustomed to.

During the day, he worked at the cigarette store.

While at night, he headed to the Foreign Realm for cultivation.

It was as though nothing had happened.

Lewei Group, on the other hand, also didn’t show any exaggerated reaction to the situation.

After all, a warrior spending around a dozen days to half a month’s time exploring the Foreign Realm was nothing unusual.

But somehow, Chen Yu vaguely felt that this matter wouldn’t be kept under wraps for long…

He wasn’t afraid of the government’s criminal investigation detectives.

He was more worried about whether there were personnel from Lewei Group who knew the “inside story.”

Those people were the ones who knew Lewei’s true purpose for entering the Foreign Realm, which meant they would shift their focus on him and treat him as a likely suspect.

As of now, Chen Yu only hoped that the college entrance examination would quickly commence.

When the examination was over, and he had emerged as top performer, all his worries would be gone.

The top performer had special privileges.

They were a core talent that the whole country and even the entire human race would focus on training. As such, a mere local consortium absolutely wouldn’t dare to “stir up trouble and create a mess.”

And this encounter was also a good wake-up call for Chen Yu.

A highly militarized world was dangerous.

Every single moment, he always had to plan well before making a decision…

This was why he gave up the idea of continuing to increase his strength.

And chose to maintain his level of internal strength at 0.7.

This was because since he was in middle-high school, the level of his internal strength had always been recorded.

In as short as one month’s time, an increase from Level 0.3 to Level 1 was indeed truly astounding.

On the other hand, an increase from 0.3 to 0.7 seemed “slightly more normal”…

Anyway, his current strength was more than enough to win him the position of top scorer. Transcending beyond the norms of an ordinary human was really not wise at all.

There was nothing for Chen Yu to worry about with respect to his physique.

He was already in his third year of middle high education, yet the school had never organized any physical examination to assess the students’ physique. So, no one knew how high or low his physique used to be.

After getting to the ring, so long as he insisted that he’d been born with divine strength, he wouldn’t even arouse suspicion.

Therefore, Chen Yu would spend the entire day learning various kinds of combat techniques.

That battle with the Level 3 warrior had made him realize that technique and internal strength were equally important.

High schools that merely focused on students’ levels of internal strength could only produce a bunch of expendable cannon fodders…

……

June 27th.

According to the calendar, there were just ten days left until the national college entrance examination.

Nighttime, on the second floor of the cigarette store.

“Gulp.” Downing the last mouthful of red wine, Sister Qi tossed her wine glass aside and stared at Chen Yu, who was seated across the table. Then she said, “You still have ten more days until the college entrance examination.”

“That’s right,” Chen Yu said around a mouthful of food, his speech slurred.

“How’s your progress with increasing your strength?”

“I don’t think I’ll have any problems winning the position of top scorer.”

Sister Qi raised her brows and commented, “Can you be a little more serious?”

“This is me taking things very seriously, alright.” Chen Yu picked up a piece of meat, put it in his bowl, and gave it a little shake. Then he wrapped it around a bite-size ball of rice and stuffed it into his mouth while saying, “Look at my figure, looks, and disposition. The word ‘scholar’ (or what you all know as ‘top scorer,’ ‘performer,’ etc.) is simply tailor-made for me in my entirety.”

“Tsk-tsk…” Sister Qi curled her lips and said, “If you can make it into a university, I will really see you in a different light.”

“Then let’s make a bet.”

“Ok.” Sister Qi nodded and said, “If you can make it into a university, I’ll help you bid farewell to your virginity.”

“…” Chen Yu’s mouth stopped moving as he stopped chewing. He was silent for three seconds, then said, “Forget it. It’s not good to gamble, and besides, I’m still a student…”

“What I meant to say was that I’m going to find you a beautiful woman to help you say goodbye to your virginity.”

“Sometimes, it’s not a bad thing to take part in a little gambling. You can take it as a way of cultivating temperament and sentiments.”

Sister Qi went on to say, “… That beautiful woman is me.”

Chen Yu said, “But more often than not, human beings are insatiable and tend to ask for a mile when given an inch. So, something like gambling, if you can refrain from dabbling in it, then it’s best to stay away from it…”

“Bang!”

Sister Qi suddenly slapped the tabletop and exclaimed, “Chen Yu! What do you mean?! Do you despise me?”

“No, no, no…”

“Is my figure not alluring?”

“You have charming eyes.”

“You’re too much! Why don’t you leave, run away from here!”

“I can’t bear to part with you,” Chen Yu said as he ate.

“You can’t bear to part with the food that I put in front of you.” Sister Qi sneered and said, “Kiddo, you still don’t know the beauty of a mature woman. There will come a time when you’ll regret what you passed over.”

Chen Yu’s reply: “…Good lord.”

“Come.” Sister Qi suddenly stood up and pulled Chen Yu to his feet as well, then said, “Follow me.”

“… Don’t! Sister, you’ve got to calm down!” Chen Yu was panicking. “I admit it,” he said. “You’re beautiful and amazing, alright?…”

“What do you think is going on here? I just want to bring you out and find a place to show you the power of your Sister Qi’s charms.”

“You’re already very charming…”

“Still eating?!” Sister Qi slapped the chopsticks out of Chen Yu’s grip and asked, “This is food that’s provided to you when you’re living off a woman like me. Is it that delicious?”

“The food tastes average. I’m mainly eating it because it’s not a tiring chore to eat it…”

…

Subjected to Sister Qi’s strong, authoritative power, Chen Yu was left with no choice but to follow her downstairs. When they reached the first level, the two of them headed in the direction of the commercial street.

There were red lanterns lining both sides of the sidewalk, and they were all brightly-lit.

Banners, graffiti, hot air balloons, advertisement billboards… Every corner was filled with the atmosphere of the upcoming college entrance examination.

“It’s that time of year again.” Walking in her pair of high heels, Sister Qi squinted and looked at the many red lanterns along the way and said, “Mmm… still the same batch of gourds from previous years. Being re-used again.”

“Sister Qi, the college entrance examination is only ten days away. In truth, you just wanted to bring me out to relax and unwind, right?” Chen Yu yawned and said, “It would also be relaxing if we just stayed home for a chat.”

“You don’t understand.” Sister Qi waved her hand and said, “I’ll bring you to a good place in a little while. Let you see for yourself what it really means to relax.”

The two of them walked together for a while, one in front of the other.

Sister Qi, however, was walking more and more slowly. And finally, she stopped in front of a large camphor tree in a small garden.

“Why have you stopped?” Chen Yu subconsciously took a step back and looked around before saying, “Are you… in this wilderness, thinking of… This is not relaxing at all.”

“…”

Sister Qi didn’t bicker with Chen Yu. Instead, she quietly looked at the bark of the large camphor tree and whispered, “Once upon a time, I had a wish.”

“What wish?”

“To personally send my kid to the college entrance examination.”

Detecting the change in atmosphere, Chen Yu’s face registered its due solemnity again.

Reaching out, Sister Qi stroked the ash-stained tree bark and smiled. “Your brother-in-law and I, we met on the ring of the college entrance examination. We got into the same university, studied the same major, and eventually got married.”

“We came back to this hometown together. Just before the college entrance examinations, right here at this camphor tree, we carved and engraved all these lines.” Pointing to the faintly visible scratch marks on the tree bark, Sister Qi asked, “Know what this is?”

“I don’t know.”

“This is a chart to track height. One stroke is ten centimeters. There’s a total of twenty strokes.”

Chen Yu went up closer and observed the marks carefully. “Mm… seems like there are two additional strokes?”

“Those two strokes are special.” There was a dazed look on Sister Qi’s face as she said, “That is the height we imagined our child would be when he or she took the college entrance examination. I thought that he or she would grow up to this height, while your brother-in-law felt that he would grow up to there.”

“And then?” Chen Yu asked.

“And then… that night that he carved these markings, he went on a mission. And ended up dead in the mouth of a foreign beast.”

Chen Yu said, “… my condolences.”

“If he hadn’t died that night, today, my child would also have reached the age for taking the college entrance examination. Or maybe…”

Sister Qi raised her hand and pointed to the marking that she had once carved and said, “Maybe my child would have been this tall.”

Chen Yu instantly froze.

Because that marking was positioned at exactly his height…

“I’d guessed correctly.” Sister Qi smiled so brightly that she looked just like a flower in bloom. “Seems like… my wish can now be fulfilled.”

“…” Chen Yu felt a slight warmth in his heart as he said, “Then congratulations to you.”

“Let’s go.”

Sister Qi held Chen Yu’s hand and said, “I’m taking my child out to relax and unwind!”

…

Ten minutes later.

Sister Qi led her child, Chen Yu, to “Clearwater” Foot Bath City on Red Lantern Street…

Chen Yu exclaimed, “… What the m*therf**ker.”