Whose Internship Salary Was That?

'When Jiang Lulu bought me a meal, the system gave a prompt: First time visiting a restaurant alone.'

'A restaurant is different from a hotel.'

'There is no difference in ratings, just a difference per capita. Hence, no matter how much I eat, I can't get any Individual Value anymore. First-time experiences cannot be repeated after all.'

Tang Hong finally remembered.

He chugged down the bottle of iced black tea, stood up, and paid the bill.

Then, he decided to return to school to do some self-study.

'Beep!'

'Student card!'

Tang Hong took the public bus.

Since it was not peak hours yet, most of the seats were empty.

He found a seat beside the window and enjoyed looking at the passing scenery. As time passed by, he gradually got used to the shaky public bus and the occasional stops.

He stared blankly as pleasant winds blew across his cheeks

Tang Hong rarely used the car that Fang Nanxun lent him. He did not feel like using it.

Having a guilty conscience, he had no confidence to use it.

He felt that all of these were surreal.

He felt as though he was floating above the clouds and that he could not see the ground underneath.

'Individual Value…'

He called up the system interface.

Mortal: Extremely small and weak creature.

Willpower: 69%

Strength: 41%

Realm: 0.00

Individual Value: 11

These Individual Value Points were not enough. It wasn't enough just yet.

In the past few days by exchanging text messages with Fang Nanxun and Fan Yu, Tang Hong gradually realized the importance of Willpower.

Willpower was the foundation of a Transcendent being itself.

It was the only thing that made humans qualified to fight against the gods.

It was an arduous task to break through the limit of Willpower. Some could break the limit by simply drinking water, some can only do it after traveling tens of thousands of miles against the wind and endure long-term hunger.

There was no fixed pattern to it…

There was no definite method either.

If one got stuck and their willpower reached its limit, it was possible that they would not be able to make any further progress in their lifetime.

That was terrible…

To be so near yet so far, accessible yet unattainable.

"Oh, that's right."

"That day at the entrance of the teahouse in that alley, the Zhang Jing I met who was affiliated with the Tiansheng Organization was exactly in this same situation." Tang Hong remembered.

At that time, Fan Yu spoke about having a good potential to become a Transcendent.

Those words were not for Tang Hong but for that young man of short stature called Zhang Jing.

Zhang Jing was only a step away from being a true Transcendent.

But even after two years, he still hadn't broken through.

This had distorted his mental perception and formed a deep-rooted obsession in his heart.

Just last month, he suddenly injured someone.

He seriously injured a true member of the Tiansheng Organization.

Fan Yu had heard of it.

When she met Zhang Jing, she instinctively got worried that he would suddenly go mad.

'Zhang Jing.'

Zhang Jing's appearance and characteristics flashed past Tang Hong's mind.

His face was gloomy. His haircut was a buzz cut. He did not have any accessories except for the black cloth tied around both of his wrists. His appearance was somewhat scary.

After the recent increase in his Willpower, Tang Hong became more objective when recalling past events.

'Zhang Jing was like a gambler who lost till his eyes went red…'

'He is indeed a little pitiful.'

'I should take this as a warning. It's better to save enough Individual Value before breaking through the limits of Willpower…"

'If it doesn't work the first time, I'll try it a second and a third time.'

'Through this way…'

Tang Hong closed his eyes and quietly calculated.

Assuming that the percentage value of his Willpower finally reached the limit of 100%, he still had two chances to test out his theory.

Right…

He needed to find out whether there was an incremental limit or not.

Was there a limit for increasing the value of his Willpower in one go?

If there was no limit, would he be able to endure the unspeakable pain that inevitably followed after an increase in his Willpower?

69% then 31% to hit 100%.

He had to break the increase into two halves since the limit of his endurance was a 15% all-in increase in his Willpower. But if he could get used to that kind of pain, then he would have to save at least 20 Individual Points, then after reaching 99% Willpower…

He would try to break the limit of Willpower in one go.

'But…'

Tang Hong opened his eyes. His eyelids were a little heavy.

'Sigh…'

Tang Hong frowned.

He sighed in his heart.

He felt regretful.

'I may have to wait until next month to attempt in breaking the limits of my Willpower.'

Tang Hong pulled out his phone from his trousers' pocket and looked at it.

It was already June 9.

If he wanted to obtain more Individual Value, he had to look for more first-time events or find another method that guaranteed him long-term gains. Long-term gains and first-time events were two main triggers that Tang Hong had decisively concluded so far.

'The first sentence upon waking up every day.'

'What else can I do every day that's of great difficulty?'

Tang Hong vaguely understood that being single was a great difficulty in itself.

But the effects were starting to weaken, sometimes, it would take about twenty-four hours before the increase in Individual Value could be triggered.

Recently, Tang Hong would try everything he could more than once.

It was understandable, however, for it was very difficult to find another stable method for long-term gains.

But it didn't mean that it was impossible.

If he mastered that Transcendent Technique—that could quite possibly be his second method for long-term gains.

"It's a pity that I deviated. I'll try it again next time."

The bus reached his stop and Tang Hong returned to the campus.

From time to time, he heard a few people laughing and he could see a few couples displaying their affections in public.

Then, he suddenly realized that there was no place for him on this huge campus anymore.

He no longer lived in that dormitory room.

He no longer participated in club activities.

He woke up alone, studied alone, laid on his bed alone, and slept alone.

"This…"

"Is the price that I have to pay to become stronger?"

Welcoming the sunset afterglow, Tang Hong walked aimlessly.

At the same time, in the counselor's office.

The class monitress responsible for checking the proof of internship and other documents picked up an original copy of a particular proof of internship.

She stared closely at the scribbled marks on the piece of paper.

The class monitress touched both the front and the back side of the proof of internship with her fingertips.

It seemed like the scribbled lines were added on after the printing process.

The class monitress hesitated.

She was uncertain.

She called over the sports representative—Xuan Lizheng—who was helping her organize all of these.

"Take a look at this."

The class monitress pointed to the black smear marks on the line of salary on the proof of internship. "Is this added on after the document was printed?"

"Let me see…"

Xuan Lizheng had the intention to pursue the class monitress.

He hastily took the piece of paper.

He gave it a good look.

"Tang Hong."

Xuan Lizheng stared at it. He especially liked fitness but also particularly admired those with strong bodies. He especially admired the ten or so people who could do the bench press beyond 100KG in the entire campus.

Recently…

There was an addition to the list of people he admired…

It was his classmate—Tang Hong—who could bench press as if it was as simple as eating and drinking water.

Xuan Lizheng's blood couldn't help but burn.

He had been wondering if Tang Hong could set a new record by coming to the fitness center a few more times.

The Fitness Center of the University of Finance and Economics was just built last year.

It was only opened for the students on campus at the end of the previous year.

Hence, the record for bench presses wasn't that high.

He remembered that the record must be at 160KG.

"Why are you in a daze?"

The class monitress asked softly.

The class monitresses of the other classes were also in the same office.

Her voice was soft yet it caught Xuan Lizheng's attention.

"Impossible…"

"It's not impossible!"

Xuan Lizheng shook his head without thinking.

The class monitress did not expect Xuan Lizheng to be so decisive in his judgment.

"Why? Have you been to the work address of this internship? How do you know it's not fake?"

"Because this is Tang Hong's proof of internship. He won't falsify it."

Xuan Lizheng blurted out but his explanation lacked substance behind it.

It was just his gut feel.

People who were that strong in bench presses must be steadfast and capable enough.

Just a few credits were not worth Tang Hong's effort of falsifying documents.

"Alright."

The class monitress frowned.

Actually, she thought so too.

However, the proof of internship indicated the Institute of Finance and Securities and the position listed was also a core position. She has been a class monitress for two years now and even served as the Vice President of the university's Student Council…

But even she could not get in there…

She did not even get a response from the resume that she submitted. What's worse was that she couldn't find any other internship that was better than the Institute of Finance and Securities.

'Who was Tang Hong?'

"I'll ask."

The class monitress was ready to retrieve the proof of internship and call the number listed on it for confirmation.

"What do you want to ask?"

Xuan Lizheng's expression couldn't help but change.

On the other side was the class monitress whom he had fallen in love with, while on the other hand was his bench pressing Big Brother whom he truly admired from the bottom of his heart. In an instant, he seemed to have resisted the charm of this class monitress.

His impression of her underwent an abrupt change.

"You can call the number if you want, but let me make it clear to you that the counselor only asked us to input the information. We're not authorized to do any verifications."

"Even the counselor didn't think that there is a problem."

"I'm leaving."

Xuan Lizheng turned around and left.

"Aiyaaa."

The class monitress was startled.

She glanced at the other monitress in the office.

She hesitated for a moment before she hurriedly chased after Xuan Lizheng.

"What's the matter? It's not that I don't believe you."

"I'm just curious. I won't call them, okay?"

Xuan Lizheng lowered his head.

Actually, he was shocked.

He did not expect that the cool and stern class monitress to come after him.

At this moment, Xuan Lizheng seemed to have figured out something.

…

The next day, a screenshot spread out from an unknown QQ group chat.

It shocked everyone whose eyes landed on the screenshot.

The screenshot was a picture of the proof of internship document that paid out 30,000 Hua dollars per month.

The QQ group chat exploded.

Even the middle-aged female counselor was confused.

She was the one that verified that same proof of internship, yet she didn't know about it.

She was tempted to ask whose student had such a ridiculous internship salary.