Chapter 76: Is Someone Trying To Hurt Me?
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Once Su Ze remembered Master Cheng who had reached the rank-seven boundary of grandmasters, he was overflowing in confidence by a hundredfold. He would not be intimidated even if he faced Jiang He directly!
Still wearing his suit, he puffed his chest as he entered Jiang He’s yard, but did not find him after looking around. Since all he saw were a bunch of laborers going about their work, he cleared his throat and shouted, “Who is in charge here? Where is Jiang He?”
One of the workers, having been sitting over the wall he was supposed to tile, tapped his safety helmet with his trowel before saying in irritation, “Our contractor went off for his awakening. And why are you are looking for Little Jiang?”
“Little Jiang? I have some business with him... hold on, what did you just say?”
Su Ze’s eyes widened at the plaster worker, asking as if he doubted himself. “Where did you say your contractor went?”
“I say, aren’t you an annoying one?”
The tiling worker slammed his trowel and cursed, “Everyone had the same meat. Why is Big Onion w.a.n.g the only one who gets to awaken?”
A chorus of laughter broke out in the yard.
The other workers also joined in the fun. “Old Liu, you’re really hard to please. Everyone here is already basking in Little Jiang’s limelight, and even I could feel my lifting capacity increasing by a hundred catties, not to mention how spirited I feel. Aren’t you the same, Old Liu? Hadn’t you been bothering your other half over the last few nights?”
“Bleh, what nonsense are you spouting?”
“Am I spouting nonsense now? You think I wouldn’t know what goes on in your house? We share a wall, and all the squawking in the middle night almost left me sleepless!”
As a matter of fact, the tiling worker had only wanted to vent a bit.
Everyone there were colleagues who worked alongside each other year in, year out and belonged to the same village. Therefore, a little banter would not be concern for the tiling worker, who actually folded his legs smugly on the wall and laughed. “You don’t have to tell me. I felt over a dozen years younger, and while I wouldn’t last minutes before, I could go hard at it for more than an hour now.”
“...”
Ignored, Su Ze opened his mouth.
He felt his mind left in an utter mess.
What was going on?
Was he hearing things?
There’s another Awakened in Jiang He’s village, and it has to do with Jiang He himself?
According to statistics, Awakened were quite rare. While quite a few of them had came to be following the recent overflow of Spirit Qi, that ratio was less than one of ten thousandth, meaning that only one out of ten thousand individuals of the population could be an Awakened.
And yet, this village had a handful?
Focusing his mind, he only spoke again after a while, asking, “What is the address of your supervisor? And where is Jiang He?”
That was when Li Fei entered the yard.
There was no telling where he went after he got off the car, and he did not hear the conversation in the yard.
Still, most of the laborers there knew him, and Old Liu, the tiling worker sitting on the wall pointed at Li Fei, saying, “Two Doggie over there knows where Big Onion’s house is. You could find Little Jiang there too.”
Li Fei scratched the back of his head, chuckling. “Could you not call me Two Doggie, Old Liu? I’ll have a son soon, so it’s not right to use nicknames.”
“Rascal! You’re not letting us use nicknames now that you’re an Awakened?” Old Liu glared. “I even remember the days when you were a kid...”
Knowing that the old thing was about to mention the glory days, Li Fei fled.
When he and Su Ze returned to his BMW, Su Ze suddenly asked, “Li Fei, is there something... abnormal about your village? For example, was there an emperor or important figure born here before? Like, someone so distinguished the entire village itself became distinguished.”
“What?” Li Fei was a little taken aback.
Then, after Su Ze told him what had happened at Jiang He’s yard just now, Li Fei’s eyes sparkled as he exclaimed, “Big Onion Bro has awakened? If he really did, he would be the fourth Awakened in our village!”
Soon, they arrived at w.a.n.g Siyu’s house.
On the way, Su Ze learnt from Li Fei that w.a.n.g Sizhen was w.a.n.g Siyu’s elder brother.
As they stepped through the front door, they ran headlong into Jiang He, w.a.n.g Siyu and w.a.n.g Sizhen who were coming out. Li Fei quickly approached them, asking, “Big Onion Bro, I heard that you’ve awakened. Is that true? What is the superpower you’ve awakened?”
Incidentally, w.a.n.g Sizhen was sulking.
He glared at Li Fei, scowling, “I awakened a hammer!”
“Oh. So, you didn’t?”
The delight in Li Fei’s eyes hence faded, leaving him a little dispirited.
After all, wouldn’t it be a little proud to mention to others that there was more Awakened in your village?
“I did awaken!” w.a.n.g Sizhen seethed through clenched teeth.
Li Fei blinked, taken aback. “Big Onion Bro, didn’t you said you awaken a hammer?”
“Yes, I awakened a hammer.”
“Doesn’t that kind of mean you didn’t awaken in dialect?” Li Fei was at a loss of words at that.
So did you actually awaken or not?
Beside them, Jiang He had been holding his hand over his mouth to hold back his laughter, and started shaking uncontrollably after hearing the other two men’s conversation, and ended up laughing out loud.
w.a.n.g Siyu was holding her hand over her mouth as well, while her shoulders shook uncontrollably.
Meanwhile, w.a.n.g Sizhen scowled even harder.
Su Ze’s gaze shifted when he realized something then, and he took a step forward and asked, “The superpower you’ve awakened is a hammer?”
w.a.n.g Sizhen nodded.
Su Ze’s eyes brightened and he laughed, “Mister w.a.n.g, you don’t have to be so disappointed. We have another elderly man at the Martial Arts Department (MAD) who had awakened the superpower of hammer as well, and his superpower is so formidable that he could forge the awesome weapons.”
“I know!” w.a.n.g Sizhen said bitterly—both w.a.n.g Siyu and Jiang He had told him that when he realized that his superpower was a hammer.
At the time, he had been quite curious...
The old man was a blacksmith who hammered away on metals, which made sense that he awakened a hammer. On the other hand, why would w.a.n.g Sizhen awaken a similar power when he worked as a builder?
Moreover, when he focused on sensing the hammer... instead of a divine hammer like the old man’s, his was a rubber mullet?
And what’s that, you ask?
Large rubber mullets are used to break walls, while smaller ones are used for hammering bricks in place.
Hence, when w.a.n.g Sizhen materialized his rubber mullet, even Li Fei was laughing.
He really did awaken a hammer!
Meanwhile, Su Ze stared at Jiang He for heartbeats before saying, “Mister Jiang, may I talk to you for a second?”
“Oh?”
Jiang He grinned. “Do you have business with me?”
He followed Su Ze out of w.a.n.g Sizhen’s house, where Su Ze went straight to the point once they were outside. “Master Cheng has completed his ascension in seclusion, and finally reached the realm of grandmasters. He has stepped out of his seclusion since!”
“What?”
Jiang He lifted his brow.
Why did it feel like Su Ze’s tone was rather unfriendly?
Could he be nursing an itch?
***
At the same time.
The MAD, Lingzhou City.
Cheng Dongfeng was feeling disconcerted.
“What’s going on?” He muttered while he rubbed his temples.
“My eyelids had been twitching the whole day, and its like each side would take turns after the other was done. Is someone trying to hurt me?”