Chapter 337: Passionate Civil Engineering

Zhang Yu switched to the Qi Vein Long Flow, feeling his mana rapidly recover, and said nonchalantly, "It's fine, just focus on improving your mana quality."

"You should be able to feel it—the mana inside you is about to break through a bottleneck."

Le Mulan nodded. Recently, she felt the mana in her body growing increasingly yin-cold. Though it didn't harm her, it sometimes leaked out uncontrollably, causing various strange phenomena in the outside world.

Le Mulan had a feeling that if she continued at this pace, in another week or two, her mana would undergo a qualitative change.

And this rapid increase in mana quality was inseparable from Zhang Yu.

The improvement in mana quality also made her cultivation more efficient, accelerating her progress and prompting the Le family on the second floor to invest a bit more resources in her.

Thinking of this, Le Mulan looked at Zhang Yu and sighed inwardly—she hadn't expected that the money she'd spent on him would return to her in doubled form like this.

Just then, Zhang Yu handed another measuring cup to Le Mulan: "Oh, by the way, here's this batch for you."

Le Mulan nodded and said, "Once the spirit coins come in, I'll transfer them to you."

Feeling the warmth from the measuring cup, Le Mulan immediately judged from her extensive experience, "It was produced not long before I came, right? That's fast."

"Zhang Yu's production efficiency has been so high lately… Is it because of all the supplements he's been taking?"

After recovering his mana, Zhang Yu wasted no time leaving the dorm and heading back to the construction site.

The cemetery restoration was mostly complete, and he needed to make the most of the remaining time, trying to breathe in spiritual energy as much as possible at the cemetery site.

"It's a pity that Boss Wang won't be with me for the time left."

Walking through the familiar underground passage, Zhang Yu arrived at the work site assigned to him today.

Then, as usual, he activated the detection ritual within him and swept his gaze over the positions of nearby cameras.

With so many secrets on him, Zhang Yu had gotten into the habit of checking and memorizing camera positions to avoid unnecessary trouble.

But this time, feeling the feedback from the ritual inside him, Zhang Yu looked at a wall on the left and frowned slightly. "Is there a hidden camera here?"

"Could it be specifically aimed at me?"

Thinking this, Zhang Yu activated the power of his monitoring ritual, trying to take control of that camera. The next moment, he acquired the camera's monitoring perspective.

"This is…"

Looking at the contents in the surveillance feed, Zhang Yu discovered it was a multi-angle camera that could simultaneously show the construction site and a hidden tunnel behind a wall.

"There's a hidden tunnel here?"

Controlling the surveillance camera, Zhang Yu looked at the chaotic pit behind the wall and thought to himself, "This doesn't look like a proper project—more like someone dug it secretly."

Zhang Yu grew curious—who dug this tunnel?

But after thinking it over, he decided not to bother with it.

Who knew what secrets were involved, what interests might be at stake, or what dangers there could be?

So over the next few days, Zhang Yu pretended not to have noticed the tunnel and continued working and breathing in spiritual energy as usual.

That day, he received a message in the class group from True Person Jiao Lei, addressed to everyone.

True Person Jiao Lei: Students who want to participate in this year's Architecture Competition can sign up now. If you're interested, let me know.

Seeing this message, Zhang Yu's eyes flickered. He knew that with the start of various competitions, students had more ways to improve their comprehensive scores.

So relying solely on academic grades wouldn't keep him at the top of the school rankings.

Thus, Zhang Yu sought out True Person Jiao Lei to learn more about the Architecture Competition.

He found out that it was an annual major competition for architecture and civil engineering students, consisting of two parts: architectural design and civil engineering.

As for the competition arrangement… first, there would be an internal selection round within Wanfa University's college, and then the selected teams would be sent out to compete against representatives from other universities.

"This year's finals are at Tianyao University, at the end of the year."

"But the internal selection within the department will start in the second half of the year."

"Even though the formal competition isn't until next semester after this term's final exams, sign-ups and team formation are happening now, because the competition team needs time to mesh after forming."

Soon, Tulishan also sent Zhang Yu a message.

Tulishan: You know about the Architecture Competition, right?

Tulishan: There's a team recruiting; you could give it a try.

Tulishan: After all, you're only a freshman—don’t worry about the outcome; just focus on gaining experience.

So, on Tulishan’s recommendation, Zhang Yu set aside some time the next day and went to the construction site on the 667th floor.

When he arrived at the meeting spot, he saw a tall, slender girl doing warm-up exercises.

Looking at her less robust physique and her ranking, Zhang Yu thought to himself, "Does the Civil Engineering Department have girls with this kind of build?"

Cong Na, a Foundation Establishment student in her senior year of Civil Engineering and ranked fifth in her class, said flatly, "You’re Zhang Yu, right? Here’s the situation..."

As she explained, Zhang Yu learned that the competition team had already gathered five students and needed one more from Civil Engineering to handle the engineering work.

Cong Na twisted her wrists and ankles, producing a series of crackling sounds. She chuckled lightly and said, "Me? I’m here to give you a test."

"Although you were recommended by Teacher Tu and are ranked second in your class, you’re still just a freshman."

Though not stated outright, in Cong Na’s view... having a freshman on the competition team was nothing but dead weight. At best, they’d do odd jobs and might even try to ride on the team’s coattails for a good ranking.

Even if the freshman was genuinely skilled, given two students of equal ability, Cong Na would prefer the upperclassman because they had more construction experience.

So Cong Na’s idea was simple.

"Make him back off," she thought to herself. "Let this kid understand that competitions aren’t something freshmen should be joining."

Zhang Yu nodded and asked, "How will the test be conducted?"

Cong Na sent Zhang Yu the blueprints, then pointed to a scaffolding and said, "I’ve already sent you the blueprints."

"If you can finish laying the rebar on the blueprints within ten minutes, you pass the test."

"But, just like the competition simulates a wartime environment, while you’re laying the rebar, I’ll attack you from time to time to disrupt your work."

"Any problems?"

Zhang Yu glanced at the blueprints and thought, "Damn, another test where I’m just free labor, right? Figures, since this team was recommended by Tulishan—same old routine."

Even so, Zhang Yu nodded and said, "No problem."

Then, with the countdown of 3, 2, 1, Zhang Yu’s figure flickered, and he charged forward with surging Qi.

With a single palm strike, he swept the rebar from over ten meters away, sending them flying toward the scaffolding one by one.

Next, he gently flicked his fingers, and waves of Qi flashed by, causing the binding wires a few meters away to spring up one after another, wrapping themselves around the rebar.

Watching Zhang Yu’s swift movements, Cong Na nodded slightly. "Not slow."

"Then let me add some pressure..."

With a step forward, Cong Na struck toward Zhang Yu’s back with her palm—the Tendon-Severing Palm, which could twist most steel bars.

With the Tendon-Severing Palm force contained in that strike, she was confident that a single hit would twist all the rebar Zhang Yu had set up, rendering his work completely useless.

In fact, if she hit Zhang Yu a few times, Cong Na thought she might even twist his bones.

With his Third Eye ability, Zhang Yu had been watching Cong Na’s movements. The instant she moved, he struck back with his own palm, sending layers of spiral Qi surging toward her.

With a loud bang, Cong Na’s palm dispersed Zhang Yu’s Qi, and she continued closing in without hesitation.

She sneered inwardly, "His Qi transmission rate is too low. This little force... can’t even slow me down. Freshmen really are unreliable."

With another sneer, Cong Na was already beside Zhang Yu, sending a flurry of palm shadows toward him, forcing him to turn around and parry.

Zhang Yu thought, "Is this competition like 'Passionate Civil Engineering'? Construction and combat at the same time?"

But under Cong Na’s interference, Zhang Yu found it hard to continue his construction work.

As an outstanding senior, her strength and speed were above his. Once the fight started, even if Zhang Yu used his Fifty-Fifty battle method to mimic her moves and clash head-on... he could only parry, not maintain his work, let alone drive her back.

At this moment, Zhang Yu exposed a flaw in his combat system.

"He sure can take a hit," Cong Na judged inwardly as she suppressed him. "But in a competition, just being able to take a hit isn’t enough."

Seeing that his work had come to a complete halt under her assault, she thought, "Just a few punches and kicks, and his work stops? The real competition is far more dangerous than this."

Cong Na thought, "The gap is too big. Time to back off, right?"

Just as Cong Na was thinking this, a humanoid Qi construct flashed before her eyes and lunged at her fiercely.

"With this level of Gang Qi conductivity, what use is turning it into a humanoid form?"

Just as Cong Na was about to casually break apart this humanoid form of Gang Qi, she discovered that this humanoid Gang Qi had actually executed a move identical to her own.

"Imitating my moves with Gang Qi?"

"Ridiculous."

With a loud bang.

Cong Na's palm collided fiercely with the palm of the humanoid Gang Qi, and then she was astonished to find that not only were the moves identical, but even the force unleashed within the Gang Qi was exactly the same—both were Tendon-Severing Palm Force.

"Hmm?"

After that single strike, however, this humanoid Gang Qi dissipated into the air.

But the next moment, just as Cong Na was stepping forward, another humanoid Gang Qi rushed toward her, blocking her path.

Boom!

As one humanoid Gang Qi dissipated, another humanoid Gang Qi struck at her.

Amidst Cong Na's bewildered gaze, each humanoid Gang Qi executed moves identical to hers, with palm force exactly the same, and thus managed to block her completely.

And under the protection of the Gang Qi, Zhang Yu turned around and continued working, both hands leaving behind layers of afterimages as he swept back and forth across the steel rebar.