Chapter 4: Finding a Job, and, a Turn of Events

In the end, Zhao Lingyu still walked out of the house. Just thinking at home wouldn't come up with any good solutions. If he went out for a stroll, maybe he would run into some rich second-generation beauty who would fall for his looks and insist on marrying him. People, after all, have to have dreams; what if they actually come true, right?

He strolled for half a day but didn't see any good jobs that could make money. With his current high school diploma, he could only apply for jobs as an apprentice at a roadside barbershop, a waiter at a restaurant, or go to the suburbs to find a factory to screw in bolts. If he really couldn't find anything else, he would truly have to go to those places.

After strolling for half a day, he hadn't thought of a job, but his stomach was hungry first. Besides the five hundred yuan reserved for next month's rent, he only had two hundred yuan left in his pocket.

"Forget it, I'll just spend this two hundred yuan on a meal. Anyway, pinching pennies won't last me many days. I'll just blow it all today. It's been days since I've had meat; I'll satisfy my cravings first. After spending it all, if I can't find a job today, I'll be drinking the northwest wind later. People are forced into things; if you don't push yourself, you never know how many solutions you have."

He found a small restaurant and ordered braised pork, preserved vegetable steamed pork, braised pork ribs, and boiled meat slices, then added two vegetable dishes. He spent exactly two hundred yuan and ate to his heart's content. After paying the bill, he left dashingly under the restaurant owner's gaze, which looked at him like he was a bottomless pit. You ask what was dashing about that? Zhao Lingyu felt it was quite dashing anyway. Spending his last budget like it was his last meal, he just felt it was very satisfying.

After eating, he walked along the road, slowly strolling while fantasizing about his future glory when his divine arts were perfected—kicking the Nanshan Kindergarten and punching the Beihai Nursing Home. Without realizing it, he walked further and further until he reached a noisy construction site. After snapping back to reality, his eyes lit up as he looked at the site before him.

"Right, why didn't I think of this? Carrying bricks at a construction site is perfect. The pay isn't low, and they don't look at diplomas or anything like that. Some sites even offer daily pay. Before, when I went out to buy food, I only wandered around the neighborhood, and plus, my body was too weak before I transmigrated, so I subconsciously didn't think of this kind of manual labor. Now it's different; I'm no longer that weakling I once was."

After finding the foreman and explaining his intentions, he expressed his desire for daily pay, and the foreman agreed. However, there were only a few types of daily-pay jobs, and unsurprisingly, they were all heavy manual labor. But for the current Zhao Lingyu, the one thing he didn't lack was strength.

After putting on the safety helmet provided by the construction site, he started working. First, he began moving cement; each bag weighed 50 kilograms. With Zhao Lingyu's current strength and physical fitness, carrying five or six bags at once wasn't a problem. However, to avoid being too conspicuous, he only carried two bags at a time. Even so, this had already drawn side-glances from many fellow workers on the site. Although it wasn't as if there were no workers on the site who could carry one hundred kilograms of cement at once, it was truly rare to see someone like Zhao Lingyu who was so efficient and could work for over an hour at a time without resting. And this was even with Zhao Lingyu holding back, resting for ten minutes every hour and a half.

Finally, when he went to the foreman to settle up in the evening, he received three hundred and fifty yuan directly. He had started working after lunch, and in one afternoon, he had earned three hundred and fifty yuan. If he worked a full day, he could get about seven hundred yuan.

Of course, with Zhao Lingyu's stamina, this was far from his limit, but there was no need to be that eye-catching. Moreover, for the current Zhao Lingyu, having enough money to spend was enough. If he really wanted to be a millionaire or something, it was more practical to keep exercising. Once he could withstand a nuclear bomb with his physical body in the future, he could have as much as he wanted. By then, he could perform things like breaking a skyscraper with his chest or two-hundred-meter bungee jumping without a rope, and then take on a few wealthy disciples to teach them things like the Lightning Five-Combo Whip; those people would be rushing to hand him money.

Yeah, eight hundred yuan a day from now on will do. After all, his build is right there—a big guy at one meter eighty-one, with a solid frame. It's normal for him to have more strength and do more work than others.

After getting off work, he found a restaurant to eat and packed some extra to take back as a late-night snack. Now he could be considered to have a certain stable income.

He didn't need to go back and waste time cooking for himself anymore. Mainly, his cooking skills weren't good, and what he made didn't taste very good. When he had no money, he could just be frugal, but now that he had an income, he didn't need to save that much money.

After returning to the rented room and finishing his workout, Zhao Lingyu thought for a moment. His exercise routine would need to be adjusted in the future; after all, he had a job to do now, and he had to earn money to eat.

"Yeah, from now on, I'll get up earlier every day. After a morning workout, I'll go to the construction site to work and grab breakfast on the way. There's a break at noon at the site, and the requirements for daily-pay workers aren't that strict, so I'll do a session during the noon break, then eat after finishing the workout. Anyway, the work at the site isn't too tiring for me. I can reduce the meditation time a bit and make up for it by meditating more when I get back at night. Still three times a day, perfect."

This pattern continued for several days. Although it was a bit busy, it was fulfilling, and Zhao Lingyu didn't feel annoyed. It wasn't until the seventh day of working at the construction site that a change occurred.

On this day, Zhao Lingyu was the same as usual, eating out after work before slowly strolling home. By the time he was close to the residential area, it was already getting dark. When he walked to the entrance of a small alley near the neighborhood, he vaguely heard some sounds coming from inside. This was only because Zhao Lingyu's current physical fitness far exceeded that of an ordinary person; his ears were sharp, his eyes were clear, and his vision and hearing were greatly enhanced. If it were an ordinary person passing by here, they wouldn't have heard anything.

When Zhao Lingyu was strolling nearby, he had been inside this alley. It looked like an alley, but it was actually just a shortcut. On the right was the perimeter wall of the residential area where Zhao Lingyu lived, and on the left was the wall of another residential area. There were no streetlights in the path, and behind the walls of both residential areas were lawns and greenery. The buildings were some distance away from the walls, so once it was night, it was pitch black inside, and generally, no one would pass through. At most, some people who drank too much at the barbecue stall at the entrance of the residential area would go inside to take a leak or something. Of course, there were also some young couples who, after drinking too much, couldn't help but want to play something exciting in the alley.

Thinking of this, Zhao Lingyu chuckled and didn't think too much, intending to walk past the alley entrance to go home. "It's not even completely dark yet; young people these days, they really play big." However, as he got closer to the alley entrance, Zhao Lingyu heard something different. "Holy crap, it sounds like two men talking in there. Damn, time to slip away."

Then, Zhao Lingyu quietly hid at the alley entrance, preparing to eavesdrop. Hehe, after all, this kind of exotic spectacle was the first time he had seen it in real life outside of the internet. And it was so close to the residential area; maybe it was someone from the neighborhood. He would listen to see if there were any familiar voices. Even if there weren't, he had to memorize the voices so he could stay far away if he met them in the future. After all, with his current face and this physique, if they happened to see him, it would be hard for them not to covet him.

A slightly flippant voice sounded from the alley:

"Officer Li, did I dig up your ancestral grave or sleep with your wife? Why have you been hounding me endlessly for this period of time? How many times have you dragged me into the station this year alone?"

Then, another steady male voice came:

"Zhang San, you're young and have hands and feet. Instead of thinking about working properly, you spend your days staging accidents, fighting, and stealing things. As a police officer, you're out here committing petty crimes in my jurisdiction every day; if I don't keep an eye on you, who should I watch? What are you doing here today? Are you trying to sneak into someone's residential area to steal things like last time? After I caught you last time, the security guards of that neighborhood remembered you and won't let you in, so you're thinking of coming here to climb the wall, right?"

"Yo, Officer Li, you really know me well. I just had the thought, hadn't even implemented it yet, and I was caught by you. You bastard, are you really a roundworm in my stomach?"

"Since I've caught you, come back to the station with me. Stop thinking about those nonsense things. Also, if you let your mouth run wild again, you'd better prepare to stay inside for a longer time this time. Insulting a police officer is also a crime."

Hearing these words from Officer Li, the young man named Zhang San, who shared the same name as the "outlaw," had his expression darken. He spoke with a hint of anger: "Officer Li, I was just teasing you earlier; I didn't actually climb the wall to steal anything. And even if I wanted to, I hadn't implemented it yet. To catch a thief, you need the stolen goods; I haven't done anything, so on what grounds are you making me go to the police station with you?"

Officer Li, who was opposite Zhang San, spoke: "Even if you haven't done anything yet, I have the right to make you come back with me to assist in the investigation. The glass of the supermarket at the intersection was broken two days ago, and a lot of things were stolen. I'm now asking you to come back with me to assist in the investigation."

"That damn well wasn't me! If it were me, could you have waited until today to catch me? You remember my house number better than I do. If you suspected I did it, you would have brought people to my house to catch me that very night, right? Do you need to wait until now? You're purely looking for an excuse to drag me back to the station, right?"

"Heh, as long as you know. You had your eyes on the residential area tonight, planning to go in and steal. Even if I discovered you now, you would still go in and steal after I left, right? Just honestly come back with me."

Officer Li, who was opposite Zhang San, walked toward Zhang San while speaking, preparing to make an arrest.

At this moment, Zhang San's expression became calm, as if he had made a decision in his heart.

"Li Si, you bastard, if you had pretended not to see me earlier, or if you had just left after lecturing me, you might have been spared. Since you insist on forcing me today and insist on seeking death, then damn it, go die. It just so happens to avenge the grudge of you hounding me and arresting me every day during this period."

The more Zhang San spoke, the more ferocious his expression became. While talking, he raised a hand and slapped it toward Officer Li.

Officer Li himself had been vigilant when approaching him. Although everything Zhang San did were petty crimes, he was still a criminal after all, and one couldn't be sure if he would jump over the wall in desperation and do something impulsive in a fit of rage. After hearing Zhang San's arrogant words, he accelerated and rushed up, intending to subdue him quickly. After all, in Officer Li's view, Zhang San would at most pull out a knife or a screwdriver to fight him to the death, so subduing him quickly before he pulled out a weapon was the best choice.

In a flash, Officer Li seized Zhang San's left hand, intending to twist it behind his back to restrain him. However, Zhang San's right hand also slapped onto Officer Li's shoulder. Officer Li had long seen Zhang San trying to slap him, but he didn't take it to heart at all. At worst, he'd get slapped in the face and beat it back when he brought him back to the station later. Besides, Zhang San was a skinny little guy, looking like he was just over a hundred pounds, with arms as thin as stalks; it wouldn't even hurt if he got hit.

And yet, if nothing unexpected happened, something unexpected was about to happen.