Chapter 22: Rebellious Subject, Heavenly Net

The view is filled with the colors of iron-blue mixed with flames; a single giant tree stands upon the earth, its withered branches extending in all directions, weaving a dense net that supports the cracked and shattered sky.

Beside the giant tree is an iceberg as tall as a pillar supporting the heavens, and at the summit of the iceberg is a throne cast from steel.

Clad in armor and helmet, Lu Mingfei draws his long sword; scalding fresh blood drips down, rising into blood-colored vapor.

The "King" on the throne is watching him, His majesty beyond compare, yet at this moment, it is continuously slipping away along with His life.

"Rebellious... subject."

The "King's" voice is low and hoarse, "Why do you betray Me?"

"I want to become the strongest and most badass man in the whole world."

Lu Mingfei answers flatly; he blows the last remaining drop of blood from the tip of his sword, sheathes it, and then turns around to overlook the giant tree that supports the entire world.

"You were blocking my path."

The air is already slightly thin at this altitude, and a wild wind howls, mixed with snowflakes; an ordinary person would find it difficult even to stand or breathe in such a place, but for the two of them, it has no effect at all.

"Just... because of this?"

The "King" on the throne raises His head in astonishment.

"Yes." Lu Mingfei nods.

"But..."

The "King" is so angered that He nearly spits out a mouthful of blood—no, wait, He actually does spit blood, questioning angrily while spitting.

"I'm not even human! What does it have to do with me that you want to become the strongest and most badass man in the world? We aren't even on the same track!"

"Huh?"

Hearing this, Lu Mingfei's dashing silhouette stumbles, and he hurriedly turns around and trots over with small steps.

"Then... is there still any saving you? I really didn't mean it, I'm sorry... but actually, you're a bit responsible for this too, you should have said so earlier!"

The "King" rolls His eyes, no longer moving—He originally still had one breath left, but now...

He was angered to death.

The scene shifts; he has returned.

Long, fair fingers descend, and the piano keys drive the hammers to strike the strings.

Amidst the elegant piano music, Liu Miaomiao by the window looks back and smiles.

But Lu Mingfei, lying on a comfortable lounge chair, is distracted by a piece of pineapple held out before his eyes; it was handed to him by Chen Wenwen.

She is wearing that white cotton dress from when they first met, looking at him with a gentle smile.

"I should have added a time limit to your request back then!"

Su Xiaoqiang's complaint comes through; she is doing yoga, her form-fitting yoga clothes outlining curves so perfect they make one's heart stir.

A line of characters appears out of thin air—

【Congratulations, you have become the strongest and most badass man in the whole world! The Schedule will stop creating new plans from now on.】

Lu Mingfei laughs wantonly, feeling that everything is so wonderful...

【Warning, it is now the time for the 【Get Up】 plan, please execute the plan immediately.】

Another line of characters appears, overlapping with the previous one.

"What the hell?"

Lu Mingfei is stunned.

"Is there a bug?"

【Warning, electric shock countdown, three...】

Lu Mingfei's whole body tenses; just as he subconsciously wants to jump up, he is blocked by the pineapple Chen Wenwen holds before his eyes.

"Eat it, why aren't you eating?" Chen Wenwen asks with a smile.

【Two...】

"It was just soaked in salt water, it won't bite your tongue."

Chen Wenwen says, her pretty face slightly flushed, as if thinking of some indescribable, romantic scenario.

Lu Mingfei cannot help but feel his heart ripple; naturally, he cannot refuse. Besides, hasn't he already succeeded? That countdown might just be a visual or auditory hallucination!

So he chooses to bite down on that fresh, tender piece of pineapple—

【One, Electric Shock Release!】

"Ahhhhhhhh!"

Lu Mingfei trembles, as if pain piercing through his soul surges through his entire body; his body instinctively begins to spasm and convulse!

He curls up on the bed like a cooked shrimp; only after the electric shock stops does he manage to relax, looking at the still somewhat unfamiliar ceiling with dull eyes.

The sleepiness that should have been there from waking up early has long since vanished under the electric shock.

"Pineapple... is poisonous..."

Lu Mingfei mutters, the images from the dream just now flashing through his mind, and he shudders uncontrollably.

【Warning, please execute the 【Get Up】 plan immediately! Otherwise, you will be shocked again.】

"Got it, got it! Can't even let a guy finish a good dream after finally having one..."

Lu Mingfei, having come to his senses, grumbles a few words of annoyance, but his body crawls up very honestly.

Although he still has some uncontrollable slight twitching and numbness, he persists in walking toward the washroom.

The Schedule doesn't care about such things; if you don't execute the plan, it really shocks you!

While hurriedly washing and gargling, Lu Mingfei takes apart his phone on the side.

Except for when 【Learning】 type plans are being executed, which require full concentration and no distractions, theoretically, Lu Mingfei can still be distracted enough to do "a little" something else during other plans.

Really just a little bit.

There is a saying that "time is like water in a sponge; if you squeeze, there is always some," but the Schedule is not a sponge.

Judging by the settings that allocate time based on physical fitness and current status, that thing gives you a brick; not only is it hard to squeeze any water out of it, but if you aren't careful, you'll get hit by a brick!

The one Chu Zihang bought for him was a brand-new Nokia N96, black, with a market price of over five thousand.

In the past, Lu Mingfei would have had to be extremely careful even just touching it, and he would have had to keep the box to collect as a "precious memory."

Now, however, he just unpacked it while washing and gargling, inserted the SIM card, turned it on, and shoved it into his schoolbag; even if he had the urge to study and fiddle with it, he could only suppress it in the bottom of his heart.

"Schedule, oh Schedule, look at you, look at what you've forced me into!"

Lu Mingfei muttered indignantly, though he could only be a giant in words; while muttering, he nimbly dug out a change of clothes and stuffed them into his schoolbag.

When the characters 【Warning, the 【Morning Run】 scheduled time has arrived, please execute immediately】 appeared before his eyes, Lu Mingfei had already gone downstairs, locked the door, and started jogging under the sky that was still as dark as ink.

He took light steps, feeling that this level of morning run was already well within his capabilities.

Then, Lu Mingfei saw new characters appear—

【Time has been automatically allocated based on current physical fitness and real-time status, countdown, twenty minutes...】

"Screw you!"

Lu Mingfei's eyes nearly popped out, and he almost stumbled and fell.

Twenty minutes, it seemed no different from the time quota allocated yesterday, but the problem was huge!

Lu Mingfei no longer lived at his aunt's house; he was at California Sunshine.

The distance from California Sunshine to Shilan Middle School was, compared to starting from his aunt's house, only further, not closer—at least five kilometers!

Five kilometers versus three-plus kilometers, a difference of nearly two kilometers, yet the result was the same time quota?

You can't play like this!

"Schedule, are you bad at math? If you're bad at math, I'll teach you. I have 【Super Speed Calculation】, this problem should at least be given thirty-five minutes!"

The Schedule Plan, as always, did not respond.

Or rather, the countdown ticking down second by second without the slightest pause was its response.

There was absolutely no room for negotiation!

Lu Mingfei was, of course, well aware of this; he was just habitually spouting nonsense, and his speed had already increased the moment he realized it.

The relaxed and effortless situation vanished once his speed increased, replaced by the familiar pounding of his heart and rapid breathing.

Of course, with the posture mastery and breath control brought by the gradually improving 【Running】 Proficiency, Lu Mingfei was not yet at the point of losing his breath, belonging to the level of "barely able to maintain a steady pace."

"It's impossible for you to give me a break..."

Lu Mingfei wailed in his heart, his brain gradually going blank.

The youth ran, passing streetlamp after streetlamp, racing toward the distance, toward that hint of fish-belly white gradually appearing on the horizon.

The third day had begun.

Lu Mingfei, who was maintaining his running speed with all his might, did not notice that in the shadows outside the streetlamps, a figure as ethereal as a ghost was following far behind him.

Compared to his all-out effort, that phantom appeared incomparably relaxed, like a leisurely stroll, elegant yet wicked, but its speed did not fall behind by even half a bit.

But what she said was not so elegant.

"I ended my vacation early, flew back on a plane from so far away, didn't even have time to adjust to the jet lag, and you have me doing this job that any private investigator could solve?"

The Long-legged Girl said, lowering her voice fiercely, the camera in her hand perfectly steady, firmly locking onto Lu Mingfei's running back.

"No choice, we need to pay attention to every move of the little white rabbit right now, even if I need accurate data on how long he spends in the bathroom, and this data must be kept from being discovered by others as much as possible!"

The Potato Chip Girl sighed in the headset, the "crunch crunch" sound of chewing potato chips incessant.

"The matter came too suddenly, I've already purchased the equipment, but it will take some time to arrive; for now, I have to wrong you a bit, you can't expect me, this logistics manager, to follow him on a morning run, right?"

"What equipment?" the Long-legged Girl asked curiously.

"Ever heard of 'Sky Net'?"

"The one from 'The Terminator'? I seem to remember watching it, saying it was some intelligent computer launching nuclear missiles to destroy humanity..."

"Not that one, I'm talking about the 'Sky Net Project', a national-level project that China began piloting in 2005; you can simply understand it as a video surveillance system covering every area."

The Potato Chip Girl explained, "I've calculated that this project was originally expected to be promoted nationwide starting next year, but we really need it now, so I pushed it a little..."

"Hey, hey, although I don't know much about this, is a project of this level something we can influence?" the Long-legged Girl was shocked.

"I just spent five hundred million US dollars to buy a Swedish surveillance camera factory, and then invested in this city under the guise of 'expanding the overseas market', supplying high-quality surveillance cameras and solutions at cabbage prices!"

The Potato Chip Girl said lazily, "Who doesn't want free money and merit? Special matters get special approval, it's very fast."

"Then aren't we losing a fortune."

The Long-legged Girl was a bit suspicious, "You can do this kind of loss-making business?"

"That's not necessarily true; do you know how big China is? The Sky Net Project is a scale that will be rolled out nationwide, and the follow-up is a big business."

The Potato Chip Girl said triumphantly.

"I've shown so much sincerity, you have to let me have a bite of the cake; it's guaranteed to break even!"

"I don't understand business."

The Long-legged Girl had little interest in making money, "But this little white rabbit, do you have any leads now? I still don't see anything special, it feels like there's no problem..."

"That's where the huge problem lies."

The Potato Chip Girl, who had just been talking about hundreds of millions of dollars, suddenly sounded full of resentment, as if to her, Lu Mingfei's affairs were even harder to understand than a national-level project.

"The speed at which this guy improves is just not human!"

PS: Three thousand words in this chapter, there will be another update later~

The sky outside is still a bit bright, I did it!

Well, my sleep schedule is half-adjusted... I woke up at two in the afternoon now.

Maybe, possibly, I can adjust to waking up in the morning tomorrow?

In short, there will be another update later.

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(End of chapter)