Chapter 235

With his physical senses restored, the first thing Wang Yan did upon opening his eyes was to tense his body and look around.

The floor was reasonably clean, and the air he breathed was mixed with a musty, rotten smell; it was somewhat stuffy. There was a dilapidated cabinet, a double wooden bed, a row of shelves piled full against the wall, a set of table and chairs that had already leaked wood shavings, kitchen utensils covered in oil stains, and on the cabinet and in the kitchen stood a television, a refrigerator, and an electric fan that was humming as it turned—all of which had a sense of age but were different from the surrounding environment, clearly just off the assembly line.

Of course, while it was divided into bedroom and kitchen functional areas, in reality, there was just a wooden partition in the middle, visible at a glance. Estimating it, it was probably about twenty square meters, and there was no separate bathroom; he had to go outside to a public one.

There was an open window by the bed; looking out along it, not far away were high-rise buildings—it was facing north. Looking down, it was about the tenth floor. Looking up, there were still more than ten floors, estimating it to be over twenty floors.

Returning to the bed and sitting down, Wang Yan inadvertently glanced at his body. Because he was shirtless and only wearing a pair of large boxer shorts, this glance almost made his eyes pop out.

He saw that on his naturally flowing muscles, which looked like they had been carved by a knife and axe, starting from his shoulders, there were birds and beasts, dragons and tigers, occasionally embellished with some flowers and plants—it was a complete picture of a hundred beasts, including his arms and legs, everywhere. And they weren't just elephants, tigers, lions, or little sparrows; they were all fierce beasts like the Qiongqi, Bifang, Yinglong, Tengshe, Hundun, Taotie, and so on. The key was that they weren't ordinary tattoos; they were colored, all bright and colorful, truly intimidating.

Wang Yan pulled at his skin to look for a while, then cursed as he got up and walked to the large mirror at the door to check his back. He saw a five-clawed divine dragon hidden in the mist covering his entire back, with a vast, blood-red eye looking at him through the mirror. Rolling in the mist, faintly visible, were other fierce beasts. Pulling down his boxer shorts, Wang Yan looked back at his buttocks in the mirror; unsurprisingly, they were also bright and colorful.

"This damn..."

Pulling up his boxer shorts, Wang Yan returned to the bed and sat down, opened the system panel, selected the operation, and received the system message.

Wang Yan, twenty-five years old, 1978. When he was eight, his life was tough, and his parents brought him to smuggle over to make a fortune. When he was fifteen, both his parents passed away, and he had been drifting on the streets, cheating, swindling, and stealing to survive until now. Last year, he applied for public housing, which was low-rent housing. Because he spent some silver, he was assigned to a three-person room in Ma'anshan by himself. Otherwise, on his own, he could only have applied for a small single room of five or six square meters, where even stretching his legs would be difficult.

Besides that, there were fifty thousand Hong Kong dollars and his ID card, all in the space.

This money was probably the average annual salary in Hong Kong at this time. As for the monthly average salary, it was about four or five thousand dollars. Of course, average is average; there were plenty who earned more, and plenty who earned less.

Most importantly, the system's "living father" gave an explanation for his bright and colorful tattoos. When this world ends, they will be fixed as a reward. He can retract and release them at will, everything follows his heart; he can have them if he wants, and make them disappear if he doesn't, so he doesn't have to worry about being discovered when he returns to the real world.

Knowing he could retract them, Wang Yan felt relieved, although they were useless except for looking good. In the previous few worlds, when he was a big gangster, he felt something was missing on his body; the "two-brained" people said that a big gangster like him had to have something. And in reality, he wasn't a good sort before, and the people he came into contact with weren't good sorts either; they all had dragons and tigers tattooed.

With his mindset back then, of course, he wanted to get one—not because of any faith, preference, or culture, but purely to show off. It was just that, firstly, he didn't have that much money, and secondly, he was afraid Wang Dong would kick him. Don't look at his father as an honest man who was easygoing; his father really didn't tolerate his bad habits in this regard, and when he got anxious, even pulling him wouldn't stop him.

Of course, Wang Yan later reflected on himself. Although he was a bit of a bad sort, overall, he hadn't done anything evil. He knew clearly that his day-to-day posturing was just his own inner weakness; essentially, he was still a coward. But then again, if he really weren't a coward, he would have been "harmonized" long ago. It would either be a reformatory or prison. He wouldn't have muddled through a crappy junior college, wouldn't have a future, wouldn't be favored by the system's "living father," and wouldn't be where he was now.

Wang Yan was fortunate—fortunate that he hadn't grown up crooked and was still a flower of tomorrow under the red flag...

Of course, for now, Wang Yan didn't care for that stuff; it was useless. If it had some attribute bonuses, that would be fine, but it was only good for intimidating people, not practical at all—it wasn't even worth two attribute points.

However, the system's "living father" making it so flashy could also be considered pointing him in a direction. As for what the direction was, of course, it was to be a big gangster.

He had been to Hong Kong twice. Once in *Infernal Affairs*, where he was an underground emperor, a Southeast Asian big shot, and a world-class gangster boss. And in *The Grandmaster*, he was a true Hong Kong big brother, the controller of Southeast Asian order, a world-renowned figure, and a big shot hidden behind the scenes.

This time, being a big shot was impossible. After all, he didn't have that iron-blooded army that had fought its way out of the flames of war back then; he could only continue his gangster career. As for the stock market and financial turmoil that the original drama mainly focused on, it didn't matter at all; it was the same inside and outside the market. Moreover, Ding Xie's four sons were gangsters, called the Zhongqing Society. Judging from their performance in the drama, their overall strength was about the same as the Ni family back in *Infernal Affairs*.

The current time was 1985. According to Wang Yan's understanding of the system's "living father," it was probably when Luo Huiling brought the Fang family to live in public housing.

In fact, this was considered late. If it had been over ten years earlier, when Fang Jinxin was still alive, he wouldn't have said a word and would have just killed Ding Xie directly to save himself the trouble.

Shaking his head and not thinking about it anymore, Wang Yan got up again and went to the mirror to look at the bright and colorful tattoos on his body, boredly identifying what species they were—it was quite fresh. Produced by the system's "living father," it must be a high-quality product; it looked quite good while baring fangs and brandishing claws...

"Miss, just one word: are you going to pay the tea money or not?"

"If you don't pay, that's fine. We won't move the things if they're left downstairs. If you find someone else to move them, you'll have to pay too."

Wang Yan hadn't looked for long when he heard a burst of conversation outside. He had just watched the TV series not long ago, and instantly, Wang Yan remembered that this was when Luo Huiling brought the three Fang sisters, and Ruan Mei brought the old lady, and they had just moved in.

He immediately opened the door and walked out, just in time to see four men at the corner elevator gesturing and asking Ruan Mei for money. A leading man clapped his hands and reasoned: "This is the rule of the trade; you must pay tea money when moving."

Luo Huiling, the Fang family's eldest daughter Fang Ting, and the third daughter Fang Min had just stood still, listening to those men talking with Ruan Mei.

Ruan Mei tightly gripped her small purse: "We agreed on three hundred for everything before, and now you're changing your mind?"

Hearing this, a slightly chubby man stepped forward and gestured: "Miss, we know where you live."

Fang Ting hugged Ruan Mei's arm and chimed in: "She knows which company you're from."

Just as the leader was about to speak, Wang Yan, who had sauntered over, spoke up: "What rule did you just mention?" He had hung out in Hong Kong for decades, and Cantonese had long since become his mother tongue.

The man's words were interrupted, and he turned his head to look at Wang Yan, opening his mouth to curse. But upon seeing the person clearly, he very wisely closed his mouth and even subconsciously took a step back.

They were indeed bullying people, but that was only because they saw Ruan Mei with an old lady and thought they were easy to bully. Now that a flashy guy had come over, even if he lived in public housing and looked like he wasn't doing well, those sturdy muscles made them afraid to provoke him.

"This big... uh, big brother, you might have heard wrong. What rules do we have?"

The other women tilted their heads to look at the shirtless man standing beside them with nice tattoos, a side-parted oily hairstyle, and an ordinary face. They had no other thoughts; their first reaction was to move aside and make space. They were probably wondering why they were so unlucky to live on the same floor as a gangster...

Wang Yan knew at a glance that these women had no good thoughts about him, but he didn't care. He stared at the leader in front of him: "Move the things into the room and organize them well. Any problems?"

"No, no..." The men responded hurriedly.

"What are you waiting for? Get going."

"Yes, yes, big brother, going now, going now."

Watching the four men take the elevator downstairs with satisfaction, Wang Yan glanced at the women beside him, took out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it, exhaled a long puff of smoke, and said to Ruan Mei, who was staring at him with wide eyes: "Buy me a roast chicken and some beer in a while."

Ruan Mei nodded blankly, then reacted. Ignoring her fear, she stuck out her neck and stepped forward: "Hey, can you eat something cheaper? Roast chicken is so expensive. And also, drinking is bad for your health."

How bold she was! For the sake of that little bit of money, she dared to bargain with someone who looked like a bad sort? She was known as "Little Jew," and she was indeed stingy.

Wang Yan chuckled, took a puff of his cigarette, and nodded at her: "Then I'll let them leave." As he spoke, he turned around and was about to go downstairs.

"Hey..." Ruan Mei hurriedly stepped forward and grabbed Wang Yan's arm. She had a heart condition and an old lady to take care of; how could she move so many things? After weighing the pros and cons, she pouted: "Fine, I'll buy it for you. It's really cheap for you."

"I'll go help you watch them so they don't slack off. You've made a big profit."

Shaking off Ruan Mei's hand, Wang Yan glanced at Luo Huiling, Fang Ting, Fang Min, and the old lady who were watching him. He walked to the trash can, extinguished his cigarette, and sauntered off to take the elevator downstairs.

Seeing the elevator door close, Luo Huiling said to Ruan Mei: "You're so pretty, be careful. He must be harboring evil intentions toward you."

Ruan Mei was just stingy, not brainless, and was quite confident in her own conditions. Besides, she had been pursued by so many people since childhood, and it wasn't like no one had ever teased her before, not to mention that this one lived so close. She was a weak woman with an illness and an old lady; even if she was careful, what could she do?

"Aren't you guys the same? Three beauties," Ruan Mei said irritably: "Really, it was so hard to apply for this public housing, how did we end up living on the same floor as such a person?"

Fang Ting pulled Ruan Mei's arm: "Don't worry, we have plenty of experience dealing with gangsters after all these years. And also, there are so many people here, he wouldn't dare to act recklessly."

Ruan Mei nodded. Just then, the moving men came up: "Alright, thank you. I still have to tell them where to put things. Bye-bye."

Fang Min, who had been hiding in the back, said: "Sister, do you need our help?"

"No need, I can do it myself. Thank you." Ruan Mei helped the old lady toward the room, not forgetting to direct the men: "Be careful, there's glass inside that breaks easily..."

Because he was flashy and not a good sort, Wang Yan's meeting with the Fang family women wasn't very pleasant. However, it wasn't a big problem; after all, he had no relationship with them.

Wang Yan, shirtless and colorful, was showing off downstairs. Passersby basically stayed far away, and only a few who looked like even worse sorts would greet him, politely and slightly cautiously calling him "Brother Yan."

Come to think of it, this time it was quite different. The system's "living father" hadn't done any serious business and just made him look flashy and useless. This time he only had seven or eight lackeys, and nothing else—not like back in *Infernal Affairs*, where he had a whole street.

His lackeys were basically twenty-something, idle sorts who, like him, lived in this public housing.

Speaking of gangsters, except for a few top figures who had the money to buy houses, most of the bottom-tier lackeys lived in public housing. Still the same saying: it was good enough if they didn't have to pay out of their own pockets. So in the public housing where he lived, there were quite a few factions, and this gang or that sect all had a few people.

Of course, everyone was a bottom-tier lackey and lived together, so at most they just didn't like each other. It wasn't that there were no fights, but those were extremely rare "two-brained" people, generally not seen often.

And the reason Wang Yan was quite intimidating was naturally because his martial arts were high, and there was no one here who could beat him. Moreover, he didn't just have a reputation in Hong Kong and Kowloon; his name was loud enough in this vicinity. Overall, small characters didn't dare to provoke him, big characters didn't bother to pay attention, and he played quite well on his own.

The four movers made three trips back and forth, sending all of Ruan Mei's bags up. Only then did the leader smile and walk up to Wang Yan: "Big brother, finished moving, finished moving."

"If you're finished, get lost. What? You want me to treat you to a meal?"

"Don't dare, don't dare. Then big brother, we'll leave first."

Gangsters were annoying even if they didn't bite, let alone Wang Yan, who looked like a small leader.

Watching the men drive away quickly, Wang Yan sauntered to the elevator and went upstairs. He had just taken a look; this was the twelfth floor, and the building was twenty-four stories high.

Arriving at the twelfth floor, Ruan Mei's door was open, and she was chattering away while tidying up things. As arranged by the system's "living father," Wang Yan lived right across from her.

Leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed, Wang Yan said: "Hey, when will my roast chicken and beer arrive?"

"Hey, hey, hey." Ruan Mei looked up at Wang Yan with dissatisfaction: "I have a name, okay? Listen carefully, I'm Ruan Mei."

"Okay." Wang Yan nodded, then asked again: "Ah Mei, when will my roast chicken and beer arrive?"

"Don't you see I'm tidying up? I'll go buy them for you in a while." After saying this irritably, Ruan Mei started muttering: "Really, so much trouble moving..."

"I live across from you. Send them over when you've bought them."

Ignoring her grumbling, Wang Yan left a sentence, turned around, walked into his room, and slammed the door shut with a bang.

Back in the room, Wang Yan lay on the bed and calculated what he needed to do.

The task was easy to handle. Now that he had talked to Ruan Mei and made contact, there was basically no problem. Moreover, he had already looked at Ruan Mei's face earlier; after taking her pulse properly and going to the hospital for an X-ray to study it, that would be it—no big problem.

What he was thinking about was what he should research this time. He focused on two things: secret drugs and artificial intelligence. As for secret drugs, he had been researching for nearly a hundred years before going to *Brotherhood of Blades* without any progress, so he had long since stopped expecting any breakthroughs in the real world. As for artificial intelligence, overall, his current technical level was a weak artificial intelligence. Wanting to reach strong artificial intelligence was truly indefinitely distant. Moreover, in terms of weak artificial intelligence, his current technical level was definitely the leader, including various laboratories and companies of various major powers in the real world.

At the current stage, wanting to upgrade artificial intelligence relying on existing technical means and hardware levels was basically impossible. Because he himself was an explorer, and he didn't even have a direction; how long would he have to wait to get lucky?

The problem facing him was the same. He was a technical expert who had read plenty of data and papers, and the paths he could take currently were just a few: research new materials, research balanced ternary computers, optical computers, or quantum computers.

New materials were a must. Current chips were silicon-based materials, and the physical limits were about reached, and on this basis, the development of computers was also progressing slowly. Furthermore, if he wanted to develop other computers, he would inevitably have to find a better new material.

As for the other three types of computers, they existed one way or another, but they hadn't been thoroughly established. The Soviet Union's ternary computers didn't survive, and the other two were still in a laboratory state and couldn't be kept running continuously; he would have to build them to know the truth.

Although he had plenty of time and was not short of money or resources in this film and television world, his energy was limited. Concentrating resources on one direction was most beneficial to him.

But the problem was, even if he really succeeded and made a big breakthrough in one direction, turning some imagination into reality, how would he bring this out, and how would he explain it? This was a fatal problem. Even if he reached the level of wealth and resources in the real world that he had in the film and television world, he still couldn't explain it. After all, the whole world was developing and breaking through, and they hadn't reached his level in just a few short years after decades of work—wasn't that a joke?

His resume was there. If he were really gifted, how could he have such a life experience? Geniuses really existed, but if he really had that ability, with that brain, he would have been at Tsinghua University even if he didn't study, and he would have had to skip grades, the kind who got in at fourteen or fifteen...

Thinking back and forth, Wang Yan didn't think of a proper method. He could only research first, and worry about the rest later.

"Clang, clang, clang."

Just at this moment, a knock on the door sounded. Wang Yan raised his hand to look at the watch on his wrist; unknowingly, he had been lost in thought for over an hour.

"Coming." Wang Yan got up and went to the door to open it.

"Here, roast chicken and beer." Ruan Mei held the things in her hand up to Wang Yan: "I don't owe you anymore."

Wang Yan didn't say anything, took the things, turned around, and said: "Do you want to come in and sit for a while?"

"No way, who knows what evil intentions you have." Ruan Mei curled her lips, saw the red eye of the dragon on Wang Yan's back, and couldn't help but shiver: "And also, please put on some clothes in the future. You look very bad like this."

Placing the things on the table, Wang Yan casually picked up a short-sleeved shirt and put it on, teasing: "Aren't my muscles sexy? Aren't my tattoos beautiful?"

He still quite liked Ruan Mei; she was a good girl.

Hearing this, Ruan Mei instantly blushed. After all, Wang Yan's muscles were indeed good-looking, and she wanted to touch them...: "You gangster."

"I'm fully dressed now, what else can I do to you?" Wang Yan said: "Come in, I'll check your illness."

"How did you know I'm ill?" Ruan Mei looked at Wang Yan in surprise, then thought he was guessing, and continued to ask: "Then tell me, what illness do I have?"

"Heart disease, right?"

Ruan Mei subconsciously walked into the room and stood in front of Wang Yan: "How did you see that?"

"I know traditional Chinese medicine, and it's the very powerful kind. You've had the luck of eight lifetimes to run into me." Wang Yan tore off a chicken leg and handed it to her: "Sit down and eat together. I'll take your pulse in a while to see specifically."

Ruan Mei still couldn't believe it, staring with wide eyes: "Really? You really know TCM? You're not lying to me?"

It was normal for her not to believe it. He was all flashy and colorful; no one would believe him.

Wang Yan nodded: "Of course, if I didn't know, how could I see you have heart disease? Sit down, come, eat meat." As he spoke, Wang Yan pulled Ruan Mei to sit down and stuffed the chicken leg into her wide-open mouth.

"Ah." Ruan Mei hurriedly took out the chicken leg, momentarily forgetting Wang Yan's identity, and slapped him irritably: "It would be better to give it to Grandma, really..."

"Here, leave these two chicken wings for her, eat yours." Wang Yan picked out two wings and drank beer leisurely.

"I'll take them to her first, and come back in a while."

Ruan Mei took the chicken leg in one hand and the two chicken wings in the other, and ran back to her room.

Wang Yan knew she was taking the chicken leg back to save it for leftovers. She was afraid that if she suddenly died, there would be no one to take care of her, so she ate leftovers every day and saved money, and even contracted cholera because of it.

By the time Wang Yan had leisurely finished a chicken and two bottles of beer and was sitting there having a post-meal cigarette, Ruan Mei ran over.

She was in a hurry earlier and didn't look at Wang Yan's room. Now that she came in and saw the shelves full of books against the wall, she looked at Wang Yan, who was puffing smoke behind her, in disbelief: "Are these books yours?"

"Doesn't it look like it?"

"Doesn't look like it."

Wang Yan didn't argue with the silly girl: "Come over and sit down, I'll take your pulse to see how your condition is."

Ruan Mei walked over and sat down, looking at Wang Yan full of hope: "Can you cure it?"

"I haven't even looked yet, how can I cure it? Give me your hand."

"Oh."

Ruan Mei obediently placed her hand on the table, carefully staring with wide eyes at Wang Yan, who was placing his hand on her wrist, not even daring to breathe...