Chapter 30: Peeping and Following

9 AM.

The 205th failure.

Overall, the frequency of increase slowed down, meaning each attempt took longer on average, each time getting closer to success, which made him even angrier.

There were even two times where the streak exceeded 95 consecutive times, then it broke, making him so angry he coughed up blood.

The last time Feng Mu was this angry was when the system activated a mission that was forcibly interrupted, and he beat the culprit Zheng Hang to death.

This time, he couldn't kill himself to vent his anger, making him even angrier.

"Calm down, calm down, today must succeed, the more anxious the more likely to make mistakes, slow down first, calm your mood."

Feng Mu took several deep breaths in a row, controlled his finger bones to return to their original state, and retracted his fingertips.

When carving the finger bones last night, Feng Mu discovered that his bones seemed to have a bit of a memory function.

After shaping them into a certain form multiple times, the next time he shaped them the same way, he didn't need to think too much and could just shape them out, somewhat like muscle memory.

For example,

Last night carving ten finger bones took him nearly four hours; today doing it again might only take half an hour to restore them to exactly the same.

Go to the restroom and wash his face with cold water, sit on the toilet, and flush out the bad mood along with the poop.

Feng Mu, sporting slightly drunk-looking dark circles under his eyes, finished breakfast, went out, and went to the Black Zhensuo two streets away, buying several injection needles.

The reason he went to the Black Zhensuo was because he was a Blank Citizen, and going to formal medical institutions required waiting in long lines.

Even if not seeing a doctor, just buying some syringes required waiting at least one month, and he might not even be able to buy them.

When Wang Xiuli cut her finger cooking last time, going to the hospital to buy gauze required waiting one month, of course she couldn't buy it; by the time she bought it back, the scar would have healed, so finally Feng Ju got some from the Patrol Bureau to bring home.

The medical items available at the Black Zhensuo were relatively limited, and the price was at least three times higher, the more bought the more expensive.

Even more ridiculous was that the Black Zhensuo had always been doing very well; the lower-class people cursed it fiercely with their mouths but actually didn't want it shut down, while the people above issued three orders and five commands in the news to investigate, but in the end, it was all thunder and no rain, just a light fine and done.

The Black Zhensuo's owner and doctor was named Ge Qingming, in his fifties, balding, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, and liked to look at people with one eye slanted.

Usually in the clinic, he wore a white coat same as the hospital's, the collar very dirty, but the cuffs very clean; paired with his outfit, although Feng Mu had only come twice, his impression of his incongruous temperament was quite deep.

On the clinic door hung a rag doll with a red string, with only one eye, the other eye's thread had come loose, its mouth split open, spitting out a long tongue from inside.

"Hanging a strange rag doll on the shop sign, truly a strange doctor with strange taste."

Feng Mu roasted in his heart, pushed open the door, and walked in.

He didn't notice that at the moment his hair accidentally brushed against the rag doll, the tongue the doll had spat out moved a little, as if blown by the wind.

"Doctor Ge, I want five syringes, do you have them?"

Inside the clinic, two patients were receiving IV drips; Ge Qingming sat in his own seat, his eyelids slightly lifted, just as he heard Feng Mu walk over to ask.

Ge Qingming: "New ones or recycled ones? New ones are 150 each, second-hand ones are 50 each."

Feng Mu's face twitched; he clicked his tongue at the price of syringes—the kind of syringe from his previous life actually sold for so much, and this thing even had second-hand goods with clear price tags, simply ridiculous.

Feng Mu took out his wallet and didn't haggle: "New ones, five, plus one bottle of disinfectant alcohol, how much?"

Ge Qingming took out the things Feng Mu wanted from the cabinet, piled them on the tabletop, and pushed them over: "1000."

Such an exaggerated price; no wonder the phrase most often on Blank Citizens' lips was: Better to meet Black Yama than to see White Death God.

Black Yama referred to the Night Watchman's black robe; seeing that black robe meant you had mutated into an E Corpse or been contaminated by Evil Contamination.

White Death God referred to the white coat.

Black Yama could kill you, White Death God was even more deadly.

Feng Mu didn't want to waste more words with Ge Qingming; he paid, took the goods, put the things into his shoulder bag, and left.

The previous schoolbag had been burned together with the ashes; this cloth bag was issued to Feng Ju by the Patrol Bureau, but Feng Ju disliked its small capacity that couldn't hold much, and Feng Yuhuai disliked its ugliness, so it ended up in his hands.

Two hours later.

More than a dozen patients came in and out of the Black Zhensuo one after another.

When it was time for lunch break, Ge Qingming cleared out the patients, walked to the door, and raised his hand to pull down the rolling shutter door halfway.

Suddenly, the half-bent waist froze, his bald head tilted back until it bent 90 degrees, the back of his head touching his back, only then did his two slanted eyes look straight up at the hanging rag doll.

"Eh?"

The voice was old and heavy yet somewhat clear, like an old voice leaking from a neck bent backward like a bow, and also like a doll voice spat out by the rag doll wagging its tongue.

At the same time, Feng Mu took three buses and got off at Wuguan Yitiao Jie.

Just like gyms in his previous life liked to cluster together, Wuguan Yitiao Jie was stationed with more than a dozen martial arts halls of all sizes.

No investigation needed; anyone with a bit of brain understood that those who dared to open a martial arts hall here and could keep it running, the hall master more or less had some real skills.

Of course, whether they passed it on to you, and whether you could learn it, was another matter.

Feng Mu wasn't here to become a disciple and learn martial arts; he simply wanted to find a martial arts hall with many disciples, so that in his free time he could go up and spar with them, testing his fists and feet.

Winning or losing wasn't important; what was important was having a fixed venue that could let him frequently brush combat experience packages.

To be honest, he didn't know much about the martial arts halls in this world; because he was short on money, he had never stepped into one.

"???"

Feng Mu, rejected at the door by Canglong Wuguan, had a head full of black lines.

Can you imagine going to a gym to get a membership card, only to be turned away because you're too thin or have too high body fat?

You can't imagine it, but Canglong Wuguan rejected his membership application because his bone quality didn't meet the standard.

Feng Mu didn't believe in evil; he walked into several more martial arts halls in a row, without exception all rejected at the door, only the attitudes varied—some contemptuous, some polite.

"Such small martial arts halls actually set up thresholds; fine, I, your humble self, can't afford to aim so high."

Feng Mu gritted his teeth, turned around, and walked toward the end of the street, stopping in front of a martial arts hall with the most dilapidated decoration and the sparsest, coldest figures inside.

Feng Mu was still not reconciled; making up for his combat shortcomings and accumulating pseudo-real combat experience was very important to him.

He looked up, seeing a somewhat peeling signboard—Dou Qiong.

"Dou Qiong, right? Such a chuunibyou name; I'll give you a chance, hope you don't fail to appreciate the favor." Feng Mu took a deep breath, full of momentum, and walked in.

If this martial arts hall still wouldn't accept him, he would only be able to think of a way to forge a bone quality detection form.

15 minutes later.

Feng Mu walked out clutching an ordinary membership card, his expression a bit dazed.

Done.

They didn't ask about bone quality at all; the staff member handling the card only registered his basic information, and a fleeting look of surprise flashed across his face when he registered that he was an incinerator worker.

Other than that, they just collected 5000 yuan in ordinary annual fees and gave him a membership notification slip.

It went so smoothly it was unbelievable, forcing Feng Mu to reflect on whether he had been scammed.

So people are just cheap hides; too hard or too easy both make you suspicious.

Feng Mu looked back at the signboard once more, then put away the membership card and left; today he had only come out to get a card, and incidentally clear his head, change his mindset.

"In a couple days when I have free time I'll come back to brush the Dou Qiong experience package; for now, go back first, tonight I must get the 【Crane Claw Technique】!" Feng Mu thought to himself.

Transferring to a bus for the return trip, taking 1 hour.

When he returned to the residential compound, the upper city's butt lamps had gone out one after another, and the night sky followed, dimming by half.

Walking to the stairwell entrance, his phone vibrated in his trouser pocket; Feng Mu paused his step, suddenly turned his head to look back, and discovered a sneaky figure following him from afar.

"Being followed?" Feng Mu pretended not to notice, turning his head back around.

He walked up the stairs while swiping through a text message.

——Boss, been a bit busy today, haven't found a suitable chance to reply.

——Zheng Laoda relies heavily on Bin Ge's brains, but seems to also be somewhat wary of Bin Ge; however, regarding this recent investigation, Zheng Laoda seems to completely trust Bin Ge to handle it freely.

——Right, this is the new list Bin Ge circled.

Not a photo, but a text edit, so there's just a long string of name information, separated by commas.

Dong Jia, Li Gan, Luo Ji, Xiang Shuren, Gong Yi, Feng Mu, Sun Xuanang, Jiang Erniu......

Feng Mu expressionlessly turned off his phone screen, stuffed it back in his trouser pocket, pulled open the living room door; the light spilling out cast a slanted long shadow in the corridor.

Happy Qixi, dear readers.

Single dogs, don't worry, Feng Mu will accompany you all, mwah~

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(End of Chapter)