Chapter 17 - A Bold Idea (2)

There's a big problem!

You f*ckin call this not smoking?

How do you explain those smoke rings, then?

The middle-aged man's hand that was holding the cigarette quivered slightly. "You… don't seem like you don't smoke."

Chen Yu shoved some rice into his mouth with chopsticks and smoked while munching. "Well, maybe I have talent in this. Who knows?"

"…it's good to not smoke. Not smoking makes you healthy."

In order to get discounts for buying cigarettes in the future, he could only bite the bullet and get closer to Chen Yu. "Kid, how old are you this year? Why are you working here?"

Chen Yu didn't answer and instead grabbed his phone and looked at the time. "The law stipulates that people who buy cigarettes can't stay in the cigarette shop for more than ten minutes."

"Don't be like that! Let's chat. Neither of us has anything to do anyways."

"You have four minutes left."

"Yo, kiddo! That's really un-cute of you!"

"Three minutes." Chen Yu unlocked his phone and asked, "What's the number to call the cops? Is it 110?"

"…"

Sighing, the middle-aged man left bitterly.

As he walked away, he muttered to himself, "Like boss, like employee… no doubt about that."

"Bam."

The middle-aged man left, shutting the door behind him.

Chen Yu curled his lips and continued to eat.

For those doing business, it was best not to be too friendly to old "street wanderers" like the middle-aged man. It was best to follow the official rules as closely as possible.

Otherwise, those people would exploit your friendliness and try to take advantage of you.

...

After breakfast, Chen Yu cleaned up the dishes and chopsticks.

Then, he lay down on the boss's chair, put on a movie, and continued to pick up the cigarette butts Sister Qi had left behind.

There were still 31 days until the College Entrance Examination.

Gotta train harder…

If he didn't zip across the horizon in the much-anticipated College Entrance Examination, how would he have a bright future?

How would talents be born in the motherland?

[Subjected to an attack by malignant gases: Vigor +17]

[In the process of being lazy: Vigor +1]

[In the process of being lazy: Vigor…]

Less than two hours later, Chen Siwen called.

Chen Yu pinched out the cigarette and asked, ""Sis, what's up."

"How are you? You okay with life in a dormitory?"

"Yeah, it's really comfy. This place is literally heaven."

"Nice," Chen Siwen said joyfully over the phone. "The effects of the Qi-Boosting Elixir should almost be over. I'll bring you another pill tomorrow morning."

"Uhm…" Chen Yu hesitated. "I'll go home and get it."

"It's alright. Don't delay your training. I'll give it to you on my way to work."

"Uhm… alright then. I'll wait for you at the main gate."

"Will do."

"I'm hanging up."

"Bye."

Chen Yu hung up the call, his head hurting slightly. "How troublesome. Now I have to go to No.2 Middle School tomorrow morning. I can't let my family know that I was expelled..."

"Creak——"

At that moment, a gust of cold wind blew over.

The door of the store was pushed open.

And three tall, burly young men walked inside.

Their expressions were solemn, and their attire was strange. Wisps of intense Vigor fluctuations gave away their identity.

Street Warriors.

In official terms, mercenaries.

"What kind of cigarettes do you want to buy?" Chen Yu stood up and said cautiously.

"Two packets of Furongwang," the young man on the left said.

"Furongwang as well. Three packets," the young man on the right answered, then turned to look at the man in the middle. "Boss, what do you want?"

"Two packets of Huazi." The voice of the man in the middle was hoarse.

"So, a total of five Furongwangs and two Huazis, right?" Chen Yu took seven cigarette packs from the counter.

"Yes."

"That'll be 44500 dollars. Cash or online payment?"

"Alipay." The young man on the left grabbed his phone and scanned the QR code on the counter.

[Ding!]

[Payment received: 44500 dollars.]

"Thank you." Chen Yu nodded and handed over seven cigarette packs.

The young man on the left took them, kept two Furongwang packs for himself, and distributed the rest to his pals.

But the three didn't leave.

Instead, they leaned against the wall, opened up their packs of cigarettes, took out a stick, and started smoking on the spot.

This was a habitual behavior of many smokers.

After purchasing their cigarettes, they would smoke a stick on the spot.

To avoid discovering that the cigarettes were fake after leaving the shop.

After all, luxurious items like cigarettes were too expensive…

"Puff…"

The young man on the left exhaled deeply. Confirming that the cigarette was real, he nodded contentedly and then looked at the man at the center. "Boss, what should we do now? No. 341B Space Portal is a big a*s hoax. We came for nothing."

"Yeah," the young man on the right interrupted. "We wasted so much money in traveling here."

Chen Yu was still standing in the same exact spot at the counter, eavesdropping with his ears pricked up.

"That can't be helped." The man in the middle made a heavy puff. In that hoarse voice of his, he said, "Who would expect that the other side of this Space Portal would be brimming with deadly radiation. With my power, I can last at most an hour in there."

"Then, are we still gonna stick around in Green City?"

"We'll stay for another few days." The man analyzed, "I heard that the city's local government ordered factories to speed up their production of radiation protective clothing. If the price is reasonable, we'll get three sets and head into the portal."

"The radiation will still hit us for sure." The young man on the right sighed.

"Still, we have to go in. That's a new Space Portal, after all. The treasures in there are untouched…"

During the conversation, the three left while puffing on their cigarettes.

Leaving behind Chen Yu, who was absorbed in thought.

"No. 341B Space Portal…"

He remembered that when he first crossed to this world of Martial Arts, he had seen banners about [No. 341B Space Portal] in his classroom.

Yesterday, Sister Qi had also mentioned it.

And today, he heard about it again…

Without hesitation, Chen Yu immediately grabbed his phone and searched [No. 341B Space Portal] on his browser.

In an instant, hundreds of items came into sight.

The more Chen Yu looked, the more surprised and joyful he was...

A Space Portal, as the name suggested, was a transmission channel created by the distortion of time and space.

The "world" within a Space Portal was referred to as a Foreign Realm.

After years of research and exploration in the scientific community, there was no reasonable explanation for the appearance of the Foreign Realms.

But one thing was certain: every Foreign Realm was extremely dangerous!

Under normal circumstances, humanity classified Space Portals into two categories.

Accessible

And Inaccessible.

As for the former, anyone courageous and powerful enough could go in for "gold hunting." They wouldn't have to worry about any of the goods they retrieved not selling.

As for the latter, it was simply a place where death was inevitable…

The [No. 341B Space Portal] that Chen Yu had looked up on his browser had been classified as Accessible by the authorities before it had even opened.

But unexpectedly, after its opening, people discovered that the [341B] Foreign Realm was full of lethal radiation!

In a fraction of a second, people would receive a radiation dose of 8000mSv and above!

Usually, a radiation dose over 2000 mSv was enough to cause cell tissue destruction, internal bleeding, hair loss, and even death.

8000mSv… even a Warrior couldn't withstand it.

Even though high-level Warriors could withstand it, nobody knew what kind of hidden and irreversible damage to the body such intense radiation would cause.

Therefore, Warriors from all over the world withdrew one after another in disappointment.

Naturally, the Green City local government was reluctant to let these "Gods of Wealth" go. Thus, their only option was to rush the production of radiation protective clothing and sell them at cost.

Hoping that the Warriors would go in for "expeditions" and bring out some good stuff…

"…"

Putting away his phone, Chen Yu squinted his eyes.

"Elevated levels of radiation, huh…"

Lowering his head and looking at his own body,

He gradually came up with a bold idea…

....