Chapter 90: I Can Understand That

My roommate actually won.

Bad review.

Chen Shu picked at his ear, ignoring the deafening cheers around him, watching as many people rushed to the edge of the circular Arena, pulled cash from their pockets, and threw it into the black zone representing Jiang Lai, while others shouted for Jiang Lai to take good care of his injuries, use the money to buy food and clothes, and fight fewer matches.

The vibe was quite unique.

Generally, those who watch combat sports don't care how badly you're injured; some are even more excited the worse you are hurt.

They even wish you would fight a few more matches.

As for caring about your food and clothing? That's so magical.

It really is "mom-fan" behavior.

But looking at so much money scattered in the Arena, Chen Shu became puzzled again and said to Meng Chunqiu beside him, "Brother Meng, tell me, Brother Jiang's appearance fee for each match plus the share of tips from the spectators shouldn't be a small amount, right? But why is he so frugal?"

"Perhaps Brother Jiang is trying hard to save money. The further a Martial Artist progresses, the more expensive it becomes. Maybe Brother Jiang also wants to buy a house in Yujing or something, who knows."

"Possibly."

The referee and the host announced Jiang Lai's victory.

Specialized personnel took both parties away, and the Arena's side provided a professional medical team that had already begun treating their injuries.

Someone went onto the stage to clean up the money and bloodstains.

Meng Chunqiu leaned closer to Chen Shu again: "Brother Chen, shall we keep watching? Or go backstage to find Brother Jiang?"

"Let's watch a bit more."

The segment with the long-legged girls dancing was coming up soon, and Chen Shu didn't want to miss it.

Meng Chunqiu, however, was not interested in this; he felt that most of these girls were not as good-looking as he was, but he still feigned a look of great interest—as a romantic poet and scholar, if one didn't know how to appreciate female beauty, it always felt like something was missing.

The second duel began.

Chen Shu was still watching intently, thinking as he watched.

He had occasionally been researching this over the past few days and had even followed an authoritative expert in this field on a short-video app—a real-life expert—listening to him explain the relationship between Martial Artist Runes and Martial Artist combat.

Especially regarding Defense Runes—

Understanding a Martial Artist's fighting style, fighting habits, and most frequently used attack types is very important for designing Defense Runes.

To forge a sturdy shield, one must inevitably have an understanding of the sharp spears in the world. By the same token, a spear that is sharp enough to be indestructible must also have been forged to counter the sturdy shields that generally exist in the world.

The previous set of Runes was actually mainly functional; it possessed attack effects only because Chen Shu had pushed it to the limit, so it couldn't be counted as a spear.

At most, it counted as a hammer.

Chen Shu recorded notes while watching the fight.

The Roommate Cultivation Plan is in progress...

He is serious!

Three hours later.

It was already dusk.

Chen Shu and Meng Chunqiu followed the bandaged Jiang Lai back to the surface and hailed an unmanned vehicle.

Meng Chunqiu was wearing more elaborate clothing, so he sat in the front, while Chen Shu and Jiang Lai sat in the back.

Chen Shu turned his head to examine the injury-covered Jiang Lai, and unable to help himself, he reached out and poked Jiang Lai's arm; if he remembered correctly, it was injured there too.

"Hiss..."

"Does it hurt?"

"It hurts..."

"I thought you didn't feel pain." Chen Shu withdrew his hand. "Your body is truly monstrous; taking such heavy hits and still being able to walk out on your own. Other Martial Artists don't have your monstrous self-healing ability."

"Maybe it's because I was beaten a lot since I was a child," Jiang Lai said weakly. "Other Martial Artists have strong self-healing abilities too."

"Beaten by whom?"

"Beaten by my companions."

"How miserable."

Chen Shu withdrew his gaze and looked ahead.

This was an unmanned ride-hailing vehicle; over half of the ride-hailing vehicles in Yiguo's big cities were these types of unmanned cars.

Due to the difference in civilization types, this world's artificial intelligence technology was very advanced, and strangely enough, it had both chips and program code, as well as a simple, artificially synthesized Spirit Soul as the other half of its core. The strength of this soul was about the same as that of an ordinary piece of poultry—very weak—but after being exquisitely combined, it could provide the cold artificial intelligence program and processor with a great intelligence boost, making its thinking and judgment more flexible.

It was a bit like the result of an ancient Divine Weapon Spirit combined with modern technological bonuses.

"Buzz buzz!"

Chen Shu's Mobile Phone vibrated.

He opened the message to look.

It was a Feixin netizen with the nickname "Humanoid Waste," tagged as "Client." If he remembered correctly, it seemed to be someone looking to commission him for Runes. They were probably stunned by the performance of the Runes on Jiang Lai today and couldn't wait to send him money.

Humanoid Waste: Little brother, are you done with your exams?

Humanoid Waste: /haha

Humanoid Waste: Have you considered the previous matter?

"Emmm..."

Chen Shu looked at the message and fell into thought.

They were indeed here to send him money.

But earning money requires labor, and as a salted fish, Chen Shu didn't want to labor.

A moment later, he began to type.

Chen Shu: Done with exams, going home for the New Year.

Humanoid Waste: It's good that you're done, you're free now, right?

Chen Shu: Yeah.

Humanoid Waste: Then can you take on Rune work recently? I only need the set of Runes on Jiang Lai, just need to modify them according to my requirements.

Chen Shu: Going home for the New Year is quite busy, and I'm not really short on money lately, so I want to give myself a break. Let's talk about it later.

Humanoid Waste: This shouldn't take much time, right?

Chen Shu: /sighs

Chen Shu: I'm too tired lately.

Humanoid Waste: Alright, get some good rest. Feel free to find me when you want to take orders.

Chen Shu: Okay.

He closed Feixin and slumped into his seat.

His heart felt so tired.

Jiang Lai, who was beside him, had been watching the whole time and couldn't help but ask, "Brother Chen, why didn't you take it?"

Chen Shu answered listlessly:

"No motivation..."

"Why?"

"I'm a salted fish, and I'm not short on money for the time being. When I'm short on money, I'll dig them out and use them." Chen Shu said, tilting his head, "Besides, if I leak your set of Runes, wouldn't you lose a lot of your advantage in the Arena?"

"It's fine!"

"Tsk."

This roommate is truly a good kid.

Returned to the Dormitory.

Chen Shu did not go look for Qingqing, but instead walked into the bedroom, turned on the computer, and continued tinkering with Jiang Lai's Runes.

The most common effect types for Defense Runes used by Martial Artists are roughly these four:

First is the Rigid Effect that makes the body hard.

This is the most common.

Simple but very effective, with high cost-performance.

Second is Counter-Attack Defense.

For example, covering the body with effects like high heat or lightning, so that while the opponent strikes you, they also take damage, making them afraid to strike easily, which indirectly improves defense.

Also relatively common.

Third is Spirit Power Defense.

Similar to a super-simplified version of Protective Divine Light, it is a layer of defense with Spirit Power properties. Like Protective Divine Light, it is good at resisting energy-oriented attacks such as Spirit Power, high heat, freezing, and electric shocks, but it is not good at resisting impact or piercing.

This one is not as common.

Fourth is Force Distribution.

Through special Spirit Power coverage, the attack received at one point is dispersed to other places as much as possible, which has a very obvious effect on reducing damage.

The technical difficulty is high, and it is very rare.

Common Defense Runes for Martial Artists are single-effect, but if they are high-level Defense Runes, they usually possess multiple effects.

If Chen Shu is going to do it, he will do it well.

It just so happens that Brother Jiang also likes to get beaten up, so he cannot be sloppy in this regard.

However, Martial Artists themselves have limited conditions and cannot use Runes as flexibly as Cultivators; their own Spirit Power is also low in both quantity and quality. Dancing in a narrow space is bound to have limitations. If a Rune possesses multiple effects simultaneously, how should it be designed? When multiple effects are activated at the same time, how should Spirit Power be allocated, and which aspect should be prioritized?

There is a lot of learning in this.

Zhilan Garden.

Zhang Suannai rode a shared bike, twisting back and forth along the way, sometimes fast and sometimes slow. She nearly ran a red light three times, almost hit a stray dog once, cursed at two drivers who drove too fast past her while crossing the street, and finally followed the navigation to arrive here.

Her roommate was standing quietly at the entrance of the residential complex waiting for her, with a white cat at her feet earnestly licking its paws.

"Hey!"

Zhang Suannai shouted loudly, made a sharp turn and headed straight for the sidewalk, pulled up on the handlebars, and the shared bike easily went over the twenty-centimeter curb.

This was Zhang Suannai's second time coming here.

She had been here once before, back when winter hadn't arrived yet.

Entering the small courtyard, Zhang Suannai looked up and saw the persimmon tree covered with lanterns and two birds on the tree. She grinned and said, "There are still so many persimmons, why don't you pick them and eat them? It's such a pity for them to be eaten up by the birds!"

"Let them eat."

"You're quite generous." Zhang Suannai said, her tone inexplicably a bit sour, "You give so many persimmons to the birds, but only give me one dried persimmon."

"It's enough."

"Tch!"

Zhang Suannai followed her inside, asking as she walked: "When are you going back?"

"In a few days."

"Why not go home earlier?"

"Because it's in a few days."

"Oh, that's right!" Zhang Suannai nodded repeatedly. When she reached the entrance of the living room, she stopped and peered inside. Seeing the wooden floor was very clean, she looked down again and found two pairs of slippers at the entrance, with distinct male and female styles, "Do I need to change into slippers?"

"No need."

"Then why do you keep two pairs of slippers here?"

"To wear."

"Who is this pair prepared for?"

"A boyfriend."

"Tch! Forget it if you won't say!"

Although Zhang Suannai had already determined that Ning Qing was not like a proper Heavenly Human, she was still certain of one thing—

Given this roommate's personality, she would not fall in love.

There was no one who could make her like them.

Not even if they were outstanding.

Or rather, this wasn't a matter of being outstanding or not; the reason she wouldn't fall for anyone wasn't because her standards were high, nor because she hadn't found someone outstanding enough, but because she simply wouldn't like anyone at all, having nothing to do with whether they were outstanding or not.

Zhang Suannai was an extremely intelligent person with keen intuition, and she was absolutely certain that the things she had concluded could not be wrong!

She walked to the middle of the living room and sprawled out on the sofa.

"Soft!"

Zhang Suannai beckoned toward Taozi: "Little cat, kitty, psst psst psst, come here quickly and let me pet you!"

Taozi looked at her, then turned its head to look at Ning Qing.

Ning Qing pursed her lips.

Seeing this, Zhang Suannai was stunned; she looked at Taozi, then at Ning Qing: "What are you two communicating about? I have a feeling it's something unfavorable to me..."

Ning Qing did not answer, only pointed to the few plates of fruit on the coffee table and said to her:

"They were just washed, don't be polite."

"Oh..."

Zhang Suannai leaned forward and pinched a strawberry.

This strawberry was slightly larger than an ordinary egg, perfectly shaped, pink all over, and smelled of a very rich strawberry aroma. As Zhang Suannai ate it without ceremony, she said: "I knew you were a rich kid; Tianshan Strawberry, over two hundred yuan a jin, and you're willing to buy it."

Ning Qing did not answer.

They were originally bought for Chen Shu, but today she heard Zhang Suannai was coming over to hang out, so Chen Shu didn't come.

Zhang Suannai lay sideways, half-reclining with her legs crossed, eating a Tianshan Strawberry while eyeing Taozi, who was sitting upright on the coffee table observing her. Suddenly, she bit off the stem of a strawberry, spat it into her palm, and held it out to Taozi's mouth.

"Here, eat."

Taozi watched her in silence.

"Forget it if you won't eat!"

Zhang Suannai tossed the strawberry stem back into her own mouth.

Taozi looked at her and pondered for a moment, then turned and walked toward the fruit plate. It picked out a strawberry from the plate itself and held it to gnaw on as well.

"Ning Qing! Your cat stole a strawberry!"

"Meow?"

Taozi looked at her blankly, smacked its lips twice to swallow what was in its mouth, then carried the strawberry to the edge of the coffee table, stretched out a small paw, and pointed at the trash can in front of Zhang Suannai, which contained over a dozen strawberry stems.

"Let it eat."

"It even said I eat more than it does!"

"Yes."

"This cat is almost becoming a spirit!" Zhang Suannai exclaimed with a click of her tongue, "If one day it really turns into a monster, according to the regulations of our country and Dongzhou, will it have to be extradited to Dongzhou?"

"Yes."

"Is this the only cat you keep at home?"

"Mm."

"Why didn't you keep a dog?" Zhang Suannai said while eating, "Wouldn't it be great to have both a cat and a dog?"

"I kept one before."

"Was it also kept by you?"

"My younger sister kept it."

"What about now? Didn't you bring it over?"

"It ran away."

"How did it run away?"

"It ran away on its own."

"Why would it run away on its own?"

"It almost bit someone, my younger sister was very angry, so she gave it a beating, and it ran out."

"It ran out after one beating? This dog is no good then."

"Mm."

"What happened later? Didn't it run back?"

"It went missing."

"Oh, oh, oh..." Zhang Suannai nodded repeatedly, "I'm afraid it was beaten to death by dog thieves as soon as it went out."

"Possibly."

Ning Qing sat calmly.

Taozi lay on the coffee table, holding the strawberry with its two small paws, gnawing away happily. From time to time, it turned its head to look at Zhang Suannai or its owner, as if it, too, had remembered that little companion who had spent some time with it.