Chapter 4: ; Visiting Luofeng

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye half a month had passed.

Luofeng still, just as in the original timeline, fainted in the college entrance exam hall due to the burden of his mental power.

Over the past two years, Chén Chén has maintained good relations with Luofeng, giving him plenty of combat advice; although Luofeng's combat experience has improved by more than one level compared to the original plot, his physical fitness has remained at roughly the original normal level.

Chén Chén is confident he can cultivate planetary-level, realm lord, even immortal, venerable, master of the Universe……

But to become the strongest in the Universe, even an eternal true god…… the entire Earth may not have a second person with such potential and fortune.

And this exam faint directly caused Luofeng to give up the military academy and instead choose the path of entering the martial hall, which can be said to be a particularly important turning point in his early life.

Chén Chén does not want to overly interfere with Luofeng's growth trajectory, because that would be the troubled Earth mother, which is also Chén Chén's most important life-saving card.

Not only because of that starry sky beast that wants to swallow him; if Chén Chén wanted, he could even fish it out of the sea before it hatches and have Jiāng Jiāng fry it into scrambled egg fried rice.

Most important, however, are humans—more accurately called the cosmic human race; the attitude of the humanoid races in the Universe toward him is especially important.

The Solar System he inhabits, even the Milky Way, is merely an extremely tiny corner of the Universe ruled by humanity.

In the Universe ruled by the human race there are countless mysterious places, countless lands and worlds holding secrets; but if they are not on good terms with the cosmic human race, they are either destroyed or sealed off as secret realms for genius trials.

Therefore, whether Chén Chén still identifies as human or has already become the spirit of Earth,

he must maintain good relations with humanity in order to preserve his life.

And Luofeng, after leaving Earth, will advance all the way, becoming the top bigwig of one of humanity's greatest powers, the 【Virtual Universe Company】, as an Earthling and as a good friend of the human Chén Chén.

Thus the inheritance of the Yìn Mò Star Lord must be reserved for Luofeng, and the Golden Horn Giant Beast must be fed to his mouth; besides Luofeng, no one else could reach that height even if they possessed this body.

Of course, Chén Chén also doesn't think much of that body and inheritance.

As possibly the Universe's sole living being, Chén Chén's starting point may not be at divine beast level, yet he has the potential to approach it infinitely; according to theoretical racial talent, that makes him a unique existence in the primordial Universe.

As long as Chén Chén possesses sufficient strength and maintains a friendly attitude toward humanity, humanity will not easily form ill thoughts about him.

The biggest hurdle, however, will be after the relationship with the Mountain Sitter is exposed, when the cosmic human race learns of his secret talent boost for Earthlings and begins to scrutinize him.

That will also be the greatest crisis he must face in the future.

Looking even further ahead, things like the Universe's demise are temporarily not something Chén Chén can consider.

As of now, Chén Chén's strength actually already exceeds that of Earth's number one strong warrior, "Hong", by a little bit; but if he wants to improve further, the timing hasn't arrived yet.

Or rather, Chén Chén fundamentally doesn't lack this one or two years of time, since in the later stages a single seclusion can easily span millions of years.

Moreover, devoting part of his energy to the human incarnation does not mean the progress of Earth's main body has stopped; it's merely slowed a bit. And Chén Chén's human incarnation, relative to his true self, is not just a role of action but a contingency for breaking through the ultimate life level—of course, all that is for later.

For now, the top priority is still to send Luofeng out of Earth smoothly along the original trajectory.

And take the opportunity to buy, preferably, this nearby star field for himself; after all, once his body is discovered by the cosmic human civilization, nominally "Earth" would not belong to him.

Also, he must seize actual control of Earth's planetary body and the lifeforms breeding on it, grasping it thoroughly in his hands.

The current situation of a divided world with warlords standing everywhere is not what Chén Chén wants. Earth needs a master, not just a nominal Earth lord like Luofeng in the original timeline, but one who can integrate all of Earth's resources and life, truly becoming a race and planet that looks down on the Universe. (Of course, the latter is most important.)

The timing for unification is when that Golden Horn Giant Beast beneath the sea hatches.

While weakening the various major powers of humanity, he will push his own prestige and that of the World Tree to their peak.

———

"Brother, I don't care what dubious friends you make, why do you have to drag me along when visiting the sick?" Jiāng Jiāng was reluctantly pulled out by Chén Chén.

"What are you saying? This is my dearest kin, my sworn brother."

"And my younger brother can be said to be invincible under heaven; if you get on good terms with him early, later when you become a martial artist you'll have extra support."

Regarding Jiāng Jiāng's temperament, Chén Chén is quite worried; Jiāng Jiāng is not the cold type, and in conversation she observes propriety, completely unlike the temperament expected for her age.

The downside is that Jiāng Jiāng's vigilance toward others is too strong, which is why she has never had a friend.

To Chén Chén, this is ultimately just a "tool person"; he cannot afford to meddle, and given Jiāng Jiāng's nature, her walking alone would be quite dangerous.

As the saying goes, it's good to enjoy the shade under a big tree; getting to know Luofeng, that future bigwig, in advance is also beneficial for Jiāng Jiāng.

——South Bank Residential Area

Speaking of residence, Luofeng's home and Chén Chén's current dwelling are roughly similar.

Many simple character buildings are packed tightly together, as if they wanted to stick all the houses together; from the outside they have no aesthetic sense at all, just like gray cement pillars thrust straight into the sky.

There is no property management or security at the gate, and entering the residential area requires no inspection.

Having found the unit where Luofeng lives, they start climbing the stairs.

A building over thirty stories high, without an elevator; if placed in the previous life or before the "Great Nirvana", the architect who designed this building could truly be called a contemporary "brainless" master of architecture.

However, in this world at this time it is quite ordinary.

Ordinary civilians may not become martial artists, but their physical fitness is far higher than before the Great Nirvana. Even an ordinary old man has the level of a professional long-distance runner from before the Great Nirvana; climbing thirty floors is therefore not particularly difficult.

Arriving at the thirty-second floor, they find Luofeng's door.

Bang bang bang—

Not long after, someone came to open the door—it was Luofeng himself.

"Chén brother? And Jiāng Jiāng, welcome welcome!"

Having invited Chén Chén and Jiāng Jiāng inside, the thirty-plus square meter apartment's living room is less than ten square meters, and with all the old furniture placed inside, having three people in the room would feel a bit cramped.

On the small balcony, a youth sitting in a wheelchair turned his wheelchair toward Chén Chén and greeted: "Chén Chén brother."

Immediately afterward he turned his gaze to Jiāng Jiāng: "This is… sister-in-law?"

Luofeng beside him quickly explained: "This is your Chén Chén brother's… younger sister, called Jiāng Jiāng elder sister."

When mentioning the sister, Luofeng hesitated a bit, because according to what he knows, these two are more like childhood sweethearts than siblings, and they even started cohabiting early; if you said they might marry someday, that would be entirely possible.

He then turned to Jiāng Jiāng and introduced: "This is my younger brother Luó Huá."

"Jiāng Jiāng elder sister, hello!"

Jiāng Jiāng also smiled and replied: "Mm, Luó Huá hello, I'm Jiāng Jiāng, the 'Jiāng' of general."

Incidentally, she corrected her name once more.

Luofeng poured a cup of hot tea for each of the siblings.

Chén Chén said in a teasing tone: "Ah Feng, I heard you failed the college entrance exam?"

Jiāng Jiāng beside him rolled her eyes, wondering whether she should help if Chén Chén got beaten later—it didn't seem right, or should she start crying first? That way, when others arrived, they could turn black and white.

However, things certainly wouldn't develop as Jiāng Jiāng thought.

Luofeng merely replied with a feigned dejected tone: "Alas, my luck is bad."

Such acting would make even the Grand Marshal call it exaggerated, and Luo Hua could see that her brother was not upset at all.

Chén Chén lifted his teacup but hadn't taken a sip yet, continuing in a teasing tone: "Tsk tsk tsk, I heard someone went to the Martial Hall early this morning to take the test—I don't know who."

Luofeng's failure in the college entrance exam venue was due to the awakening of mental power stimulating the body; the body's quality caused fainting. However, such stimulation also had a benefit: it could accelerate and trigger bodily growth. Luofeng, who was originally only a hair's breadth away from the martial artist standard, directly surpassed the quasi‑warrior standard by a considerable margin, and went to the Martial Hall early that morning to take the test.

Luofeng couldn't help but lightly punch Chén Chén, laughing: "Damn, your news is spot‑on!"

"How about it, figured it out?" Chén Chén wore an expression of having expected this all along. (This was truly something he had anticipated.)

Luofeng let out a long sigh and said:

"Hmm, I've figured it out—I'll be a free martial artist."

What Luofeng meant was not becoming a mercenary, but rather a free martial artist affiliated with the Martial Hall, enjoying a certain degree of freedom while relying on the Martial Hall to guarantee his family's livelihood.

"Even if you pass the martial artist assessment and could choose the military, you wouldn't?"

"No." Luofeng said with a hint of heroism.

After experiencing the ups and downs of the college entrance exam. After finishing the test early that morning, he encountered two martial artists, and Luofeng first came into contact with a bit of the martial artists' world.

That heroism, that vigor, made Luofeng recognize his true inner desire.

"The sky is high and the sea wide; as a man, one must carve out his own piece of heaven and earth."

"Hahaha, I said it all along—waiting for you to take the quasi‑warrior test together for so long, you've finally figured it out." Chén Chén patted Luofeng's shoulder and said.

"Then we'll go for the test together on the first of next month."

"Okay." Luofeng nodded and said.

"Right, by "we" I mean the three of us."

"You, me, and Jiāng Jiāng."

Luofeng: "???"

Jiāng Jiāng: "!!!"

So I'm not here to slack off, am I!