Chapter 6 First steps

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Updated: Apr 2, 2021

Shi Qingyang kept planning while he scrubbed his body with the cheapest detergent and then lay down in his bunk.

Although he already had some prior experience in developing social connections, they all arose from the period when others approached him for his power and social prestige.
Many people tried to recruit him because his potential seemed limitless.
He still remembers buying his first tank when he had just become a 7th-level Rad Warrior.

As a result, he was shot three times even before he left the city to hunt.
The culprits apologized profusely for “the accident” and offered to pay for a new tank, glossing over the fact that his tank only had a small scratch.
At first he believed that this wealthy middle-aged guy had accidentally struck him, but when the scene kept repeating itself, and as the beauty who had hit him slowly leaned on him, he knew something was wrong…
These people were just trying to get to know him by crashing into his tank.

As a result, he was exposed to a slew of ruses from those attempting to approach him, which he could now use on Cheng Ran.

He'll catch him in his web!

The only concern was that Cheng Ran might be living somewhere remote…
However, they can still meet when school starts.
Shi Qingyang had always been patient.

Shi Qingyang's mood improved after he scribbled down his thoughts, but he couldn't help but sigh again as he glanced around the room's sparse furnishings.

In fact, he possessed quite a bit of knowledge that could be sold for significant amounts of money, such as some pharmaceutical knowledge that he had later acquired in that research institute.
These things were twenty years ahead of their time!

It was just a pity that he was too poor.
His touch terminal was the only thing at home that could connect to the internet.
If he really used it to go online …
others could track him in minutes!

In terms of his current strength, he chose to be humble and wait until he had someone to back him up…

He set an alarm on the communication terminal to allow him to wake up on time.
Shi Qingyang closed his eyes and slowly started to absorb the meager radiant energy in the room.

 

 

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In the morning, after rubbing his brow and devouring a nutrient meal box, he rushed to the city's west entrance.

The few tanks Cheng Ran's housekeeper had left behind yesterday gave him a way to reach Cheng Ran.
He planned to approach his housekeeper when he'll come to pick them up!

Shi Qingyang had a good idea, but the scheme couldn't keep up with the changes.
When he arrived at work, there was no sign of the expensive tanks in front of Tao Rubao's shop.

“Uncle Tao, did they already take the tanks away?”

“Oh, yeah! Those people came as soon as I opened the door, but they paid a lot of money.” Tao Rubao couldn't help but grin as he tapped the contact terminal on his wrist.

Fine, since the first plan failed, only the second plan could be executed.
He's been obstinate since he was a boy.
To raise money for tuition, he starved himself for two years.
He won't give up until he succeeds.

In the morning, there was nothing going on in the shop.

Shi Qingyang accompanied Tao Rubao washing all the tank wash appliances.
After that, he sat on the car mat and used the communication terminal to connect to the network.
In the wild, the signal cannot be transmitted, but in cities, the network covers every dark corner.

When a nation constructs a new city, it can also pull optical cables from neighboring higher-tier cities to link to each other so that all cities in China can communicate with each other.
The optical cable that connected Spark City to the secondary city Anhang City was very thick, and there were two replacement cables of the same design.
These three optical cables were hidden deep underground and provided the fastest contact connection between Spark City and the whole world.

The contact terminal was always connected to the network.
People in the city rely on the network to communicate with each other.
However, the majority of users do not use the touch terminal to browse the Internet.
After all, the touch terminal was too small and very inconvenient.

Regrettably, he could only use this thing.

He signed into Spark City's housing network and started investigating the rental situation over the prior two days.

These days, there was no need to buy a house.
If you know what kind of house you want to move into, you just need to call the city's housing office and then find the house you want.
In the underground city where Shi Qingyang lives, you don't even have to pay rent.
It was enough to cover the monthly electricity bill.

The majority of the houses in each city can be leased directly through the housing network.
There, you can also see which houses in this section were available for rent and which ones were already occupied.

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Shi Qingyang spent his time studying this.

Since Cheng Ran's group has settled in Spark City, they will have to rent a house unless they plan to stay in someone else's home.
Based on Cheng Ran's wealth, most of them will rent a house in Shangcheng.
And he would most likely choose one that was closer to the academy.

Shi Qingyang diligently checked the records near Spark Academy, and eventually, he found six houses.
They were all newly rented villas.
Cheng Ran's residence should be one of them.
As for the others…
Despite the fact that traveling was inconvenient, some wealthy people still did it.
They would even rent a mansion near Spark Academy if their child was admitted in there.

After checking the news, Shi Qingyang stopped staring at the contact terminal.
Instead, he took the opportunity to do his work – Tao Rubao paid him by the hour, but he didn't want to see him laze around.

Shi Qingyang did a simple scrubbing job, but he wasn't focused on it.
Instead, he started to arouse the surrounding radiant energy by controlling the Rad-Power in his own body.
Sadly, even here at the city’s entry radiant energy was low.
Even if Shi Qingyang was an intermediate Rad-Warrior, he could only induce subtle fluctuations in the radiant energy surrounding him by doing so.

'I'm far too weak now!'

Shi Qingyang frowned briefly and continued to train.
He had previously mastered the simplest method of inducing Rad-Power in order for it to become a subconscious action.
This time around, he'll need re-adjust his body back to how it was before.

To attack without thinking!

Such a realm would inevitably necessitate a great deal of work.
Although he was someone reborn, his body was the same as when he was just sixteen years old.

Tao Rubao saw Shi Qingyang's finger motion, but he only grinned and shook his head.
Everybody was aware of the method of using Rad-Power inside the body to induce radiant energy in the air, but many people have no way to get outside the city throughout their lives.

As long as you can make the surrounding radiant energy fluctuate, you can be called Rad-Warrior.

You can count the number of sixteen- year olds who were Rad-Warriors before the academy's systemic education on one hand.
They wouldn't even be able to do it in the specialized practice halls, let alone here.
Shi Qingyang could train at the entrance for a lifetime and accomplish nothing.

Tao Rubao, a first-level Rad-Warrior, didn' t perceive even the sightless fluctuations in the air.

Many Rad-Warriors would leave the city in the morning and return in the evening.
The tank wash was bustling at this time.
Tao Rubao wasn't picky about business.
When any visitor arrives, he washes their tanks.
So, while he can make money, he can't make much.

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When Shi Qingyang was this age, he never cared about improving his business, just doing enough to make a living.
Now that his mindset had changed, he aided Tao Rubao in selecting.
He had good eyesight.
He noticed who wore protective gear and who had nice tanks, and he could also roughly guess who would be willing to pay more.

“Brothers, the Locust Beast you hunted was enormous.
Hey, is your tank the brand new VI steel tank type!? I've got a lot of posters of that tank! This tank, big brother, needs to be well maintained.
Please, come to my tank wash.
I'd love to clean it!” Shi Qingyang stood next to a group of young people in their early twenties, while affectionately touching the tank.

Older people tended to support their families and were usually frugal, but that was not the case with the young people.
Some spent as much as they earned and were willing to spend even more on their tank.
For some people, praising their tanks was enough, and they were willing to do so with gusto.

Sure enough, after Shi Qingyang complimenting them, these people immediately parked the tank in front of Tao Rubao's shop and asked Shi Qingyang, a fan of this tank, to wash it.

Tao Rubao's car wash washed the same number of cars that day as usual, but he made much more money.
When Tao Rubao discovered this, he became even more impressed Shi Qingyang.

Shi Qingyang noticed it even more and worked harder.
After washing the tanks that day, he helped Tao Rubao clean up the utensils in the shop.

In the past, he hardly paid attention to all these things and left after he finished his tasks.
Besides, he didn't like to chat while working and forgot to set the time after he had began reading.
Tao Rubao eventually dismissed him.
He didn't think he did something wrong when he was fired, but he didn't understand how people could be made to like him at the moment.
When he was at the Research Institute, he never hesitated to assist those scientists, even when they didn't need it.
When he did, certain people had a much better attitude towards him, and he had also gained a lot of information…

Why not? Certain benefits can be gained by any means.

“Uncle Toa, there is almost no work in the morning.
I'm thinking about not coming so early anymore.” Shi Qingyang found Tao Rubao, after he finished all his tasks.

Tao Rubao calculated pay by the hour.
Shi Qingyang used to spend the whole day here to earn more money.
But now he requires more free time to get to Cheng Ran sooner.

Tao Rubao was a little puzzled, ''You won't be here tomorrow morning? You will be paid less.”

“Uncle Tao, there's really nothing to do in the morning and I don't want to just stay here…” Shi Qingyang put on a guilty look.
“…
And get paid for being lazy.”

“It's nothing; just accompany Uncle Tao.”

“Uncle, you're really kind to me, but I'm sorry, and I'll be off to study soon.
Before that, I'd like to read some books.”

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Taking time to read books before school starts? How many people did that?

Tao Rubao had always had a favorable view of Shi Qingyang.
This impression was reinforced when he saw the young man in this manner .

He paused before saying, “You're a good kid…
Well the afternoons are hectic.
You get a little more pay than usual in the afternoons and evenings will have the usual rate; Work starts at twelve o'clock and the wrapped lunch will be turned into dinner.”

“Thank you, Uncle Tao!” Shi Qingyang thanked him wholeheartedly, “I'll definitely work hard!”

What a joke! Scheming like this wasn't so bad.
If he had simply told Tao Rubao that he wouldn't come in the morning, Tao Rubao wouldn't have offered this extra money.

 

 

Shi Qingyang left Tao Rubao.
He stopped to get a nutrient meal box to fill his stomach before driving to Spark Academy.
He set out to find the villas he had marked on the map.

He was hoping for a chance encounter with his future Patreon.

It's a shame he didn't meet Cheng Ran, but after going through them all, he excluded two – tanks that had been in the gardens of these two mansions that had been in use for many years.
These tanks were not the same as the ones Cheng Ran had come in.

He stopped when it got late and returned the next morning.
He stood in front of the remaining four mansions for a while before shutting out two of them.

One was empty, and Shi Qingyang watched two young girls walk out of the other.
They were his former classmates, whom he hadn't seen in years.
As far as he could remember, they weren't very close to Cheng Ran.　　

Shi Qingyang spent the next few days familiarising himself with the situation in Spark City.
In the afternoon, he went to Tao Rubao's workplace.
After a few days, he discovered Cheng Ran's address and met his housekeeper.
Regrettably, he didn't have a chance to talk to him.

The butler beside Cheng Ran was obviously not a dolt.
His schemes will be greatly affected in front of this butler.

Opportunities, on the other hand, were always reserved for those who were prepared.
Shi Qingyang spotted a pale face leaving the villa with the housekeeper around noon on the eighth day after Cheng Ran's arrival in Spark City.