Locked and Loaded

At night.

Not long after Wang Jinyang left, Fang Ping began to power himself up.

Soon enough, the statistics before his eyes began to change.

Wealth: 2370800

Vitality: 124cal

Mentality: 140Hz

…

After spending more than thirty thousand of his Wealth, Fang Ping increases his Vitality and Mentality to their highest capacity.

With a Vitality of 124cal, he could already feel his blood vessels being pushed to their limits.

With a Mentality of 140Hz, the initial sensation of light freshness had morphed into a headache and dizziness.

Fang Ping knew that this was as far as he could go for now, so he did not dare to increase his statistics any further.

Since he was feeling slightly dizzy, Fang Ping decided against testing his Mentality again at night. Instead, he chose to retire to bed for the night.

…

The next day.

12 April, Saturday.

When he woke up, Fang Ping did not feel groggy at all. His head was clear and his spirits high; even the air felt fresher.

Rather than lazing around in bed as usual, right now Fang Ping did not remotely feel the urge to stay in bed.

He jumped out of bed and cleaned up.

Once he was all freshened up, Fang Ping hammered on Fang Yuan's room door, shouting, "Wake up, you're gonna be late!

'"Fang Yuan! The longer you sleep, the rounder you'll get!"

After a bout of Fang Ping's violent knocking, Fang Yuan yawned and opened the door with her eyes half-closed.

The little girl glanced at Fang Ping grumpily and then walked toward the washroom as she always did.

When she was freshening up, Fang Yuan felt something was amiss through her groggy daze.

However, she could not immediately figure out what was wrong.

Once she was done cleaning up, she returned to the living room and saw Fang Ping eating there. Fang Yuan took a seat opposite him and rested her chin on her hands as she said with a yawn,

"Fang Ping, I think I forgot something…"

"What is it?" Fang Ping feigned complete ignorance and replied half-heartedly.

"Yeah, what could it be…?"

The girl fell into deep thought. Did she forget to get an autograph from Wang Jinyang?

Or did she forget to do her homework?

Her homework…

That was right!

Fang Yuan seemed to remember something, and she looked at Fang Ping with hostility, saying through gritted teeth, "Fang Ping!"

"Yeah?"

"What day is it today?"

"I forgot."

"It's… Saturday!" 

Fang Yuan was so mad her cheeks even puffed up. Frustrated, she yelled, "You have class on Saturdays, but I don't! So why did you wake me up?"

Fang Ping admitted it openly and said casually, "I said I forgot, didn't I? Besides, waking up early is good for you. I'm doing this for your own good."

"Gah, you piss me off!"

The little girl pounced on Fang Ping, claws bared and ready to fight to the death. 

…

A few minutes later, Fang Yuan held her cheeks, red from how hard they were pinched. She glared at Fang Ping angrily.

She was not as strong as him, so far from taking revenge, she ended up with even rounder cheeks than before!

After a round of teasing Fang Yuan, Fang Ping was in a much better mood, and he finally decided to stop getting in Fang Yuan's hair.

Taking a hundred yuan note from his pocket, Fang Ping handed it to her amidst her wide-eyed shock. "You have the day off, so don't just stay at home.

"Have some fun with your friends and blow some steam."

He still had more than 220 thousand in cash at home, so Fang Ping took slightly more than two thousand with him.

 The remaining 200 thousand yuan was still in his room.

He was worried that if the girl spent too much time at home with nothing to do, she would end up exploring his room. In that case, it was better to lure her away in advance.

Once he had the day off tomorrow, he could deal with that cash. He could buy a place or keep it in the bank, but no matter what, he could not keep it at home forever. The 100 bucks he had taken out was truly a measly sum to Fang Ping.

To Fang Yuan, however, 100 bucks were more than she had ever received as an allowance.

Aside from New Year's, she had never owned 100 bucks at once.

Her big brother, who was usually so stingy, was actually giving her 100 bucks and telling her to go play today?

"The sun must've risen from the west!"

Fang Yuan's expression was that of utter shock, and then she could not help but say, "Fang Ping, you were sick yesterday, right? Are you still sick?"

 Fang Ping's expression darkened, and he said angrily, "Do you want it or not?"

"I bet you did something bad, then. Are you trying to bribe me?"

"If you don't want it, I'm taking it back!"

"I want it!"

Fang Yuan grabbed the note from Fang Ping's hand hurriedly, her expression overjoyed. Immediately after that, she continued to chatter, "Did Mom give it to you?

"Mom always likes you better. She gives you more every time.

"Is this really for me, Fang Ping?

"You won't ask for it back later, will you? 

"Do you want me to give you 10 bucks for lunch later?"

"..."

Fang Ping ignored her and continued to eat his breakfast at his own pace.

Once he was done, Fang Ping took his backpack and stood up as he said, "Go out for a spin and relax a little. Have a fancier lunch.

"Also, I forbid you from going out with boys. You can only go with girls."

"Tch, in that case, I'll only go with the guys!" Fang Yuan's expression stated that she was going to go against everything Fang Ping said. 

Fang Ping did not particularly care, pouting as he said, "I was just mentioning it.

"I bet none of the boys in your class would wanna go out with Round Face anyway.

"It'd be too embarrassing!"

"Fang Ping!"

Everyone had some landmines that must not be stepped on.

However, Fang Ping had deliberately stomped on her landmines, angering Fang Yuan so much that she just wanted to pummel him over the head.

After teasing Fang Yuan for a while longer, Fang Ping took his bag and left the house cheerfully just before the little young miss exploded properly.

…

No. 1 High School.

Year 3 Senior (4).

It had to be admitted that students taking the Martial Science Examinations were quite dedicated to their cause. At the very least, they were always at school especially early.

Fang Ping noticed that every time he came to class, the other Martial Science Examination candidates were already there. 

As soon as he arrived, he heard the loudmouth Zhang Hao say excitedly, "Zhou Bin went for a Vitality check yesterday. He has 125cal now!

"That's amazing!

"We might actually have someone from No. 1 High School enter the Big Two this year.

"The acceptance benchmark for the Big Two last year was also 125cal, right?"

Zhang Hao asked a question, and big-bearded Yang Jian nodded hurriedly. "Last year, the minimum entry requirement for Magic City Martial Arts University was 125cal."

Zhang Hao knew that, of course. He had only asked so he could have someone confirm his claim.

As soon as he heard that, he hastily said with a laugh, "There's still quite some time before the physical assessment, so he could eat another Vitality Pill before the test.

"If he does, I bet Zhou Bin's Vitality test results could come back as high as 128cal!

"Goodness, could Zhou Bin really make it into the Big Two?

"If he does, then No. 1 High School will become famous…"

Zhang Hao pranced about, so excited it almost felt like he was the one with 125cal.

Of the other Martial Science Examination candidates, some were envious and others nervous.

Most of the regular social sciences students, on the other hand, were simply jealous and not nervous. After all, it had nothing to do with them.

As for Fang Ping, who had just stepped into the room, he barely felt anything at all.

Zhou Bin was the student with the most potential in No. 1 High School, but even his Vitality was no more than 125cal. Fang Ping's, on the other hand, was 124cal.

The difference between the two of them was only 1cal. It was practically negligible.

Fang Ping had a ton of Wealth, too. If it were not for the fact that his body could not keep up, he could surpass Zhou Bin in an instant.

In truth, Fang Ping did not consider these students his competition at all.

He was aiming for Wang Jinyang. Wang Jinyang was only one year older than him, but he was already on the verge of breaking through to Rank-3.

Compared to Wang Jinyang, it did not matter how high these third years' Vitality was. They would be hard-pressed to catch Fang Ping's attention.

Ignoring their discussion, Fang Ping picked up a book and began to read.

He was too tired last night, so he did not check the effects of increasing his Mentality.

For his martial arts university application, he was not worried about his Vitality at all. Fang Ping's biggest challenge lay in his cultural studies.

If the increase in his Mentality really had an effect, he would be banking on that to pass the Martial Science Examination.

Fang Ping did not want to join the discussion, but Yang Ping, who sat in the row in front of him, could not help but turn around and say, "Fang Ping, how high is your Vitality now? How many cal?"

"No idea, I didn't check."

Yang Jian was burning inside. In truth, he did not really want to ask about Fang Ping's current count.

As soon as Fang Ping said that, Yang Jian immediately said with a silly smile, "Last night, my dad insisted on taking me to the hospital for a check.

"I just went along with my dad, but then we found that my Vitality had increased by 1cal! I'm at 113cal now!"

Fang Ping rolled his eyes. He was clearly showing off, so what was the point in smiling like a goody-two-shoes? 

"Fang Ping, if I take some more pills during the physical assessment, do you think I can reach 115cal?

"Fang Ping, yours should be higher than mine, right? Why don't you go for a check tomorrow?

"Fang Ping…"

"..."

Fang Ping's head was starting to hurt. This Big Beard sure was a chatterbox.

Ignoring his meaningless chatter, Fang Ping lowered his head and began to read, experiencing the effects of the increase in his Mentality.

…

After the reading session in the morning, Fang Ping closed the book and fell into deep thought.

The effects were pretty decent!

Fang Ping did not know if 150Hz in Mentality was any good.

Regardless, it had a pretty obvious effect. His mind was exceptionally clear and active.

Fang Ping had learned the high school curriculum once before, and his results were pretty decent in the past too. This was something of a revision.

Even so, it had been several years since he graduated, so even this revision was a process that required a fair bit of time.

Now, however, when Fang Ping looked at this familiar knowledge, it was several times easier for him to comprehend it, as compared to his learning pace a few days back. He could recall a great deal of the knowledge he had forgotten before.

This was at 140Hz, too. After a few more days, once he had gotten used to his current Mentality, he could increase it again.

When that happened, it should make things even easier.

Fang Ping felt like he was already halfway past his last roadblock on the road to the Martial Science Examination.

…

Throughout the entire morning, Fang Ping absorbed all of the new-old information like it was water in the desert.

During lunch break, Fang Ping made an excursion out.

He used 10 bucks to get a bank card made.

He then used another 1,200 to buy a phone and 100 for the sim card.

Not having a phone made a lot of things inconvenient.

When he finally had the phone and the card was working, the first thing he did was send Wang Jinyang a text.

…

Nanjiang Martial Arts University.

Wang Jinyang had just arrived at school, and when he saw the long string of digits on his phone screen, he could not help but laugh. "What a fascinating kid!"

Fang Ping had been so polite yesterday, refusing to accept the million!

Even if he had to take it, he said, there was no rush. Brother Wang could wire it over whenever he had the time.

In other words, he ticked all the right boxes.

Less than a day later, however, he had sent Wang Jinyang his bank account number.

After having a good laugh at that, Wang Jinyang had no intention of going back on his promise. He headed to the bank in the school and completed the transfer.

A transfer of a million was not much at the Martial Arts University. The bank inside the Martial Arts University's compounds regularly dealt with transactions adding up to billions.

Once the money matters were settled, Wang Jinyang sent Fang Ping a package, including within it some of his lesson materials and a basic cultivation method manual.

He did not worry about the package getting lost in the mail. It did not matter if it did, because if anyone tried to cultivate anything without the right basics, they would just be signing their own death warrant.

At the most, he would just send Fang Ping another package.

…

Far away in Sun City, Fang Ping was waiting for his message notification tone.

When it arrived, he was instantly overjoyed. "Straight to the point, nice!"

Old Wang was pretty direct with his generosity, even though he may very well have earned even more than Fang Ping had this time.