Forbidden Zone of the Human Race

Li Bu watched as Wu Rui left, deep in a dilemma. He saw great potential in Wu Rui, but as a war veteran, he understood that combat was the only way to quickly accumulate experience and strengthen oneself.

He himself didn’t trust tier seven masters who only sat in management rooms and earned their cultivation through resources. Based on his investigations, Xiang Ning was a frequent user of recovery capsules, the first time due to injury from challenging the young master of the Fang family as a tier one martial artist, and the second time apparently from a beast encounter. When he read Xiang Ning’s details, he realized that such a crazy person would obviously become incredibly powerful. Li Bu was one of the many who had investigated Xiang Ning, which was not surprising as the kid was a high-profile case.

Based on his understanding, every major academy now had a file on Xiang Ning. Third School apparently even used it as material to inspire their students; other schools had also begun doing the same.

But regardless of the circumstances, Xiang Ning was a person worth learning from.

Wu Rui walked out of the headmaster’s office, then out of the administration building. There was a crowd of Hanwu students waiting for him.

“Brother Wu, I want to go too, can you go with me?”

“Yeah, we want to become stronger too! And then we’ll beat Qiling Academy!”

As he looked at his teammates, Wu Rui shook his head. “It’ll be dangerous, and none of you have reached tier two, four-star. If you get to that level, you can go.”

“But if you go alone, it’ll be very dangerous. What if something happens to you?”

Wu Rui was a god in his peers’ eyes, a hero, a pillar. News of them being sent to the front lines in three months’ time had spread. Many students were excited since they had trained very hard for it.

“The military will separate us into groups when we get there. Don’t worry, I’ll meet you all in three months.” After saying that, he left.

The crowd looked at each other.

“Xiang Ning, let’s see who’s stronger in three months’ time!” Wu Rui smirked. After that incident, his family had finally given him their approval and passed many martial skills and breathing techniques to him. Participating in the battle would make him progress much faster—especially with their breathing techniques, which was why the Wu family had a tier eight master.

......

On the other side, Xiang Ning was content with being in the research facility. Wanting to take a break from the boring theories and laws, Xiang Ning decided to draw a few raffle tickets.

He had gained many Fury Points from the time he’d challenged Hanwu Academy. He immediately spent six thousand Fury Points to upgrade his Mental Power to tier two, nine-star. If he focused on controlling just one weapon, it would be powerful enough to kill an early-stage tier three Beast Soldier. Then he upgraded his Shadowmist Ghost Step to Peak Mastery, too.

That alone almost wiped out his Fury Points, leaving him with just about three thousand points left.

“Sigh, forget about real money, I don’t even have enough Fury Points to spend. I don’t feel secure at all.” He stroked his chin and entered the raffle. Although he knew his luck had been bad lately and he would probably only get a few tiny pills from it, was it wrong to dream a little?

Ding. Congratulations! You received Disguise.

A melodious voice chirped, which surprised him. His dream came through! But that was unexpectedly quick.

Disguise: Hides user’s aura and allows assimilation into one’s environment. Disguise has various settings, including magnifying the user's emotions and other specific details. (Note: most effective when used with Taunt)

Xiang Ning was speechless. Oh, no—he felt like he was trudging deeper down the path to being an actor. Disguise was perfect for him. Now he could use the Disguise skill to earn more Fury Points; who would know?

This called for a celebration.

But then….

“System, remind me not to praise you again!”

He had drawn empty lots twenty-nine times in a row. For every time he heard the ‘thank you for participating’ chirp, his glowing smile gradually darkened to a frown. Looking at his remaining one hundred and sixty-six Fury Points, Xiang Ning closed his eyes and entered the raffle one last time.

Remaining Fury Points: 66

Ding! Congratulations! You gained Comprehension.

Xiang Ning drew in a sharp breath. Recently, he had only been winning healing pills or nothing at all from the raffle. What was in the air today? Was it because he helped an old lady cross the road this morning? This was awesome!

Comprehension: Quickly comprehend and master knowledge, tools, and other matters via spending Fury Points

“System, I take that back! You’re awesome! You treat me so well!” He grinned. This was even better than Disguise! Comprehension in exchange for Fury Points. It was a great deal.

He happily went to his books, giving them a condescending look.

“I’m Xiang Ning, a genius! This is nothing to me!”

He picked up the Quantum Theory textbook, then froze.

Fury Points needed to master Quantum Theory: 15,000

Insufficient Fury Points

Hehehe… as they said, knowledge is power. Ten thousand Fury Points would be enough to upgrade a basic skill to Peak Mastery.

No, he had three days left before school started. He must earn some Fury Points on the front line within these three days, or how will he live with himself?

At noon, he arrived home. His sister had dinner ready for him.

“Did you hear? Wu Rui from Hanwu Academy is already heading for the front. Some people say it’s because of you.” She picked up a piece of roasted pork and placed it on his plate. This was a new recipe she had recently learned.

He picked up the piece of pork and took a bite, his eyes lighting up. “This is delicious!” Ever since his return from the wilderness, the living standards of his tiny family had gradually risen both materially and spiritually, although they had managed to survive without much in the past. But now that things were better, they could buy whatever delicious food they hadn’t been able to afford in the past. Although money wasn’t all-powerful, sometimes it could still buy happiness.

After swallowing some rice, he said, “He’s a good person and we’ve resolved our misunderstandings. If it wasn’t for him, my reputation would still be terrible.”

“Oh, I understand.” Xiang Xiaoyu nodded. She blushed as she awkwardly asked, “Right, I’d like to go out this afternoon, could you give me a little money to spend?”

Xiang Ning paused, then beamed. “Of course!” To tell the truth, he had waited ten years for her to ask. Yesterday, she had asked him for something for the first time and he couldn’t fulfill her request. Today, his biggest wish would finally come true.

His wish was for his little sister to live a worry-free life, to truly live like other kids who could ask their parents for money. Although he couldn’t give her the same love as a father or mother, as long as she asked for it, he would do his best to grant her wishes.