Chapter 3 [Sweet and Sour Ribs]

Compared to the shock of Lu Li when he saw the skeleton of the giant beast, Jiang Xu was much more indifferent.

After all, Jiang Xu had seen this "Scenery" since he was young.

The bones of the giant beast were very rich in nutrients. When placed in the field, these nutrients could allow the crops to grow healthily.

The effects were hundreds of times stronger than those of fertilizers like urea.

The vegetables and fruits grown were not only delicious, but their nutritional value was also higher.

Similar examples of putting the corpses of exotic beasts and Spirit Beasts to good use could be found everywhere in this small Rao Shui town.

Almost every field and every vegetable garden had similar scenery.

Along the way, Lu Li saw several giant beast skeletons that were twenty to thirty meters tall. He also saw some workshops that specialized in the processing of exotic beast materials.

After seeing so many of them, Lu Li gradually became accustomed to them.

The two of them soon arrived at their home.

After following Jiang Xu to the Chengnan market to buy some cooked meat, the two of them gave their farewells to each other.

Before they left, Jiang Xu seemed to have thought of something, he said to Lu Li, "Oh right, Li, don't forget to bring money when you go to the Spirit Alliance for a physical examination tomorrow. Last time, it was because you didn't bring money that I had to accompany you home to get it. In the end, we waited in line until late in the night to finish the physical examination."

"Spirit Alliance? Physical examination?"

Lu Li was slightly stunned when he heard these two unfamiliar words.

Jiang Xu looked at Lu Li's confused look and couldn't help but frown. "No Way? Did you forget again? Tomorrow is the 23rd. It's almost the end of the month. The Spirit Alliance's physical examination!"

"Oh, I remember, I remember."

Lu Li sweated and thought to himself, 'remember my ass.'.

However, at a time like this, he had to pretend to remember even if he didn't.

"I have to hand it to you!"

Jiang Xu was speechless. He felt that Lu Li was a little different today, and kept making silly statements.

Anyhow, he still reminded him again and again, "Don't forget this time! The last time I came home so late, my dad thought that I went to the internet cafe to play until late at night. He almost wrung me out onto a clothes rack!"

"I will remember this time."

"Seriously, don't forget!"

Jiang Xu felt that when Lu Li said "I will remember this time.", there was a strange smile on the corner of his mouth as if he was saying "I will forget next time". He didn't know if it was just his misconception.

Thinking of this, Jiang Xu still reminded him again and again before he felt relieved and left.

As soon as Jiang Xu left, Lu Li immediately took out his phone and began to search for information about the Spirit Alliance and the physical examination on the web.

Soon, he found the answer he wanted.

It turned out that the so-called Spirit Alliance was the abbreviation of the "World Spirit Cultivator Alliance".

The Spirit Alliance had branches all over the world.

They set up a lot of equipment to serve Spirit Cultivators.

Among them, there was a device to check the Spiritual Power Index, also known as a physical examination.

And this kind of spiritual power testing device was very expensive. Normally, a Spirit Cultivator's physical examination would cost 10,000 Huaxia Dollars!

10,000 dollars was undoubtedly a huge expense for an ordinary family with a monthly salary of 3000 plus.

The Spirit Alliance naturally had this in mind.

Therefore, on the last five days of each month, the Spirit Alliance would open a limited-time discount for high school students.

With a high school student card, they could enjoy a Spiritual Power test that only cost 500 dollars.

10,000 dollars to 500 dollars is a huge discount, to say the least!

However, it was only limited to high school students.

The reason why it was only limited to high school students was that in the 'Great era of spiritual energy' it was mentioned that when humans are 16 to 22 years old, the Spiritual Power Index would grow faster.

The Spiritual Power Index was often different every month during this period.

And at the age of 16, it's the age when students just entered high school.

Therefore, the test costs 500 dollars a month. Although it was not cheap, most parents were still willing to pay for the test. After all, it was related to whether their child could get into a Spirit Martial University in the future.

For ordinary people, getting into a Spirit Martial University was the best way for their child to jump into the upper class in society.

Of course.

Even if the Spiritual Power Index did not meet any Spirit Martial University's standards, other ordinary universities would still give priority to students with higher Spiritual Power Index when they admitted students.

After understanding all this, Lu Li returned to his house.

The door to his house was wide open. Someone was already home.

However, Lu Li was a little hesitant and did not dare to enter.

Looking inside from the door and seeing the familiar furnishings, he could confirm that it was indeed his home.

Perhaps it was because he was homesick, or perhaps he was worried about the parallel world situation. The person in the house might not be his parents, that would be awkward.

If his parents and sister were not familiar faces, it would be a little scary.

However, Lu Li soon realized that he was worrying too much.

He saw his mother carrying a basin full of vegetables while walking out of the living room.

Lu Li looked at his much younger mother and suddenly felt a little distracted.

When his mother saw Lu Li standing at the door with his school bag on his back, she could not help but ask in confusion, "Why are you standing at the door like a fool?"

"Uh, no, I'm just looking."

"Looking at what?"

Mother Lu looked around in confusion. There was nothing special in the alley, only a few children playing around.

She looked for a long time but couldn't figure out what was going on. Hence, she didn't pay much attention to it. She just poured the excess water from the basin into the drainage ditch casually. She then returned to the house and walked to the kitchen.

Lu Li followed her through the door.

He looked around the living room and found that the furnishings in his house were not much different from eight years ago. There were some posters of celebrities on the wall, but they were unfamiliar faces.

Looking at all this, Lu Li couldn't help but feel a sense of nostalgia.

Because he knew that in another year, the living room would be renovated, and it would change greatly in appearance.

For example, the refrigerator that was placed in the living room currently.

Since the refrigerator was placed in the living room, Mother Lu frequently went in and out of the kitchen and living room when she cooked.

She saw that Lu Li had been sizing up the furnishings in the room and couldn't help but tease him, "What? Don't you recognize your own home? You keep looking around here and there."

"No, I just suddenly feel that our living room looks quite pleasing to the eye."

After seeing that everything was normal, Lu Li felt much more relaxed.

"You went to someone else's house to play today, right?"

The first thought that came to Mother Lu's mind was that Lu Li might have gone to someone else's house and seen the decoration of someone else's living room. Then, he made a comparison with his own house. Otherwise, why would he suddenly have such a feeling?

How would she know that her son had returned eight years later from another world?

To Mother Lu, she had only not seen her son for a few hours.

"I guess so. What's for dinner tonight? Sweet and sour ribs?"

Lu Li saw his mother take out pork ribs and pineapple from the fridge and instantly guessed that his mother was going to make sweet and sour ribs tonight.

After the college entrance examination ended, Lu Li went to the big city to study at his university. After that, he worked in the big city and only went home during the holidays. When he was outside, he often missed the taste of home.

What he longed for the most was his mother's dish of sweet and sour ribs.

"Yes, I know you like it. Go and sit down first. It will be ready when your father and sister come back."

People in Feng City usually had an early dinner. Dinner is usually served at five o'clock in the evening.

"Is there anything I can help you with?"

Lu Li followed his mother to the kitchen.

As he spoke, he took the initiative to pick up a kitchen knife and cut the carrots on the chopping board into slices, then into shreds.

His mother, however, looked at Lu Li in surprise. She smiled and said, "You even took the initiative to help. When did you become so sensible?"

"You make it sound like I was very insensible in the past."

Lu Li pretended to be dissatisfied.

It made Mother Lu laugh. "Alright, Alright. You're being solicitous for no reason. What do you need?"

Mother Lu thought that Lu Li had something to ask of her. After all, Lu Li was someone who only cared about eating and did not care about anything else meal-wise.

Lu Li didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this. He said, "It's nothing. I just saw that you and dad worked too hard and wanted to help."

These words made Mother Lu smile with some relief.

"My silly son has become sensible, huh?"

Seeing that Lu Li cut the carrots into shreds, Mother Lu couldn't help but shake her head and smile. "Okay, okay. You're cutting too slowly. Let me do it."

Hearing this, Lu Li couldn't help but feel awkward.

It was awkward that after a rare attempt to curry favor with her, he was criticized for his poor knife skills.

Mother Lu took the kitchen knife. Then, she took the slices of the carrots that Lu Li had cut and began to shred them on the chopping board.

It was fast.

When Lu Li went to work, he often learned how to cook from the videos on the Internet.

Now that he saw that his mother's knife skills were not much different from those of the chefs on the Internet, he could not help but be impressed. His mother's knife skills were amazing.

Seeing that Lu Li was standing at the side foolishly and did not even put down his bag, his mother could not help but urge him, "If you are bored, go and study. There are still three months before the college entrance exam. Try to get into a good university. Mom and dad will be happy."

"Don't worry, I will get into a good university. The best Spirit Martial University in the whole country!"

Lu Li patted his chest and promised.

With the System, he had the confidence.

When Lu Li's mother heard this, she could not help but laugh.

"You always learn from your father. Always bragging."

She knew her son's learning situation better than anyone else.

Although Lu Li often did not show his exam results to his family, he could not escape showing the results of the midterm and final exams every time.

She shook her head and smiled. "All you have to do is to get into a good university and find a good job in the future. It will be great if you can live happily for the rest of your life."

Lu Li could not help but fall silent when he heard his mother's words.

"All you have to do is be happy for the rest of your life."

In his previous life, when Lu Li had just finished his college entrance exams, Lu Li's father had also said something similar.

He remembered this sentence in his heart.

This sentence didn't mean that he could be reckless at the beginning of college. It was just that at that moment, he truly understood that behind his parents' strictness from elementary school to high school, it was only hoping that he would have the capacity to live happily in the future.

Thinking that behind this sentence was the bitterness of his parents' struggle for more than ten years, Lu Li couldn't help but feel a little teary-eyed.

"Don't worry, Mom, I will definitely get into the best Spirit Martial University!"

Lu Li said seriously.

He could not help but become more determined.

...

After helping Mother Lu peel a pineapple, Lu Li got up and went upstairs.

He returned to his room and closed the door.

After putting down his bag, Lu Li once again flipped through the 12th Grade geography book that he had not finished reading in class today.

However, he wasn't in a hurry to open it.

Instead, he called up the System interface in his mind.

He opened the [Card Bag] and found the [Consumable card: Memory Potion]!

[Do you wish to use this card?]

Looking at the notification box that popped up, Lu Li didn't hesitate and directly answered 'Yes' in his heart!

As Lu Li responded in his heart, the card in front of him instantly turned into a burst of white light particles.

The white particles hovered in the air and finally fell into Lu Li's hand.

When the light particles faded, Lu Li felt his hand sink, and a plastic bottle filled with orange-red liquid appeared in his hand.

He shook it, the bottle was still bubbling.

"Plastic bottle?"

"A System produced item...so cheaply made?"

Lu Li had thought that it would be a high-end glass bottle of chemical reagents like those in sci-fi movies, but he didn't expect that it would be a so...plain plastic bottle.

Those who didn't know better would have thought that it was some kind of orange-flavored soda...

Moreover, the bottle cap was blue...

This felt familiar. Could It be Fanta?

Lu Li couldn't help but unscrew the bottle cap.

"Chsshh!"

When the soda cap was opened, the unique sound of soda was heard.

The fragrance of orange-flavored soda assaulted his nose.

Lu Li was too familiar with this smell.

"It can't be, it can't be true, right?"

Lu Li couldn't help but take a small sip.

Gulp Gulp Gulp!

The sour-sweet bubbles popped and spread throughout his mouth.

The taste, this feeling of a specific carbonated drink...

"Isn't this Fanta?"

Lu Li's eyes widened.

Did the System make a mistake?

Where's the memory potion?

Why did it give me a bottle of Fanta?

Just when Lu Li thought that the System had a bug, he suddenly felt the soda he had just drunk turn into a cooling sensation that shot straight to his head.

Then, he saw an orange buff icon pop up in front of him.

[Memory enhancement buff: memory increased by 100%. Effect Lasts 00:59:58]