SWDnovel Chapter 16 is a hit!
Chapter 16 is a hit!
Minfu Jiayuan residential community.
The stairwell was filled with the damp smell unique to old houses, mixed with a faint smell of cooking.
Sun Donglai, carrying his schoolbag, climbed the stairs to the sixth floor.
Pushing open the door, you'll find a cramped yet neatly tidy two-bedroom apartment. The furniture is an old style from over a decade ago, and the floorboards are worn and bulging with age, creaking in some places when stepped on.
Everywhere you look, you see signs of financial hardship.
"Donglai! You're finally back!"
Mother Li Xiulan immediately jumped up from beside the dining table, her face still showing lingering fear: "I saw the video. You encountered a bone-cracking dog. How are you? Are you hurt anywhere?"
"It's nothing," Sun Donglai said in a muffled voice.
"Why didn't you answer the phone? Mom was terrified!"
Li Xiulan was on the early shift today. After returning home, she scrolled through short videos for a while and saw the story of the fractured bone dog. She immediately started frantically dialing her son's number, but none of the calls went unanswered.
Sun Donglai wasn't unaware of the message; he simply didn't want to answer it.
He knew the video had already spread in the group chat, and he knew what Li Xiulan was going to ask... Were you hurt? Were you scared? Was that dog very close to you?
He didn't want to answer any of these questions.
"Ugh, are you kidding me?!" Sun Donglai interrupted irritably, throwing his backpack onto the sofa. "I'm fine, what's the point of asking me all this?"
Li Xiulan's worried expression froze for a moment, then softened: "It's good that you're alright. Eat quickly, I specially saved some for you."
Several takeout containers were piled high on the table, filled with meat and vegetables—all leftovers she had carefully selected from the restaurant. Li Xiulan worked at a self-service fast food restaurant in the south of the city. The boss knew that Sun Donglai needed to eat a lot to cultivate his gluttonous eating technique, so he would pack up the leftovers for her to take home every day before closing.
Sun Donglai ate his food, but his heart was heavy.
He was thinking about how to ask for money to upgrade his mecha. The Xuan Turtle-style upgrade was too slow. If he wanted to improve the mecha's level, he would have to spend money to upgrade it... This was what Meng Rui said, and it was also a fact that he had confirmed after checking a lot of information.
But his mother worked as a waitress and table wiper at a fast food restaurant, and his father, Sun Dayong, worked as a construction worker, carrying concrete and mortar. They earned their money through hard work and still had to pay a mortgage of 3500 yuan every month. He wanted to ask for money to modify his mecha, but it felt like a wet cotton ball was stuck in his throat.
The door clicked, and Father Sun Dayong returned.
His overalls were covered in cement dust, his trouser legs were splattered with mud, and he smelled of construction site dust. His face was covered in dust and fatigue.
"I just saw the video; you encountered a bone-cracking dog?"
When Sun Dayong entered the room and saw his son, he immediately asked him a question.
Sun Donglai nodded without saying anything.
"It's good that everyone is alright."
Sun Dayong glanced at his son, sat down beside him, and sighed to himself.
"Look at Wang Xing, he can fight a level six abyss monster without hesitation, tsk tsk tsk."
Sun Donglai's hand gripping the chopsticks tightened suddenly.
He had heard similar words from his father since he was a child, but today they sounded particularly jarring to him, making him feel uneasy.
After finishing his meal, Sun Dayong slumped on the sofa and scrolled through his phone.
The algorithm seemed to be deliberately working against him; after a few swipes, it popped up another video of Wang Xing fighting the monster.
"Wow, Wang Xing is really amazing."
Sun Dayong showed the video on his phone to Li Xiulan, who was standing next to him, and couldn't help but sigh, "His family is even worse off than ours, but he got into the mecha university purely through his own hard work..."
Then he said to Sun Donglai, who was eating, "Donglai, you should learn more from Wang Xing and get along well with him. Xing will definitely be successful in the future."
Li Xiulan kicked Sun Dayong, interrupting him.
"Even scrolling through your phone can't shut you up. No matter how capable Wang Xing is, what does he have to do with Dong Lai?"
"dad!"
Sun Donglai shoved the bowl onto the table and stood up: "I want to modify my mecha, give me some money!"
The couple were both taken aback.
"Didn't you just finish modifying some kind of cannon this month?" Sun Dayong asked, his voice filled with doubt.
"That's the Blood Abyss Nuclear Cannon."
"But those modifications aren't enough!" Sun Donglai gritted his teeth. "The college entrance exam is coming up soon, and I want to give it my all and get into a good university! If the Xuan Turtle Mech isn't upgraded, I'll always be just a punching bag!"
Li Xiulan glanced at Sun Dayong, rubbing her fingers together on her apron.
Sun Dayong was silent for a moment, then slowly nodded: "Okay, the construction site will settle the wages in the middle of this month. Go to the modification shop first and ask around. Pick one with good value for money, don't spend money recklessly."
"I'll go check it out right now." Sun Donglai set off immediately; all he wanted to do was escape this house as soon as possible.
"I'll go with you and help you check it out." Sun Dayong also got up from the sofa.
Sun Dong glanced at his father, who was covered in construction mud, and then blurted out, "Don't go, Dad. You don't understand mecha."
Then, he pushed open the door and strode out.
.........
Wang Xing's family's side.
Mother Yang Xiaoxia returned, clutching two exquisite medicine boxes.
"Two Abyss Blood Pills, that's exactly 40,000. You can keep the remaining 10,000."
Wang Xing had just finished his stance training and steadied his breathing when he opened the two boxes and glanced inside. Two Abyss Blood Pills lay quietly on the velvet lining, their entire bodies a deep crimson.
He closed the box and pushed the money back: "Mom, keep this money. Buy some good food to nourish your body. Your blood and energy aren't good either. Don't be too frugal. Take better care of yourself."
Yang Xiaoxia's eyes warmed, and she carefully put the money away: "That's fine, then Mom will keep it for you to buy Yuanxue Rice."
Subsequently, Wang Xing took a Blood Pill.
The same rusty and bitter taste exploded on the tip of my tongue, and the warm medicinal power spread through my limbs and bones, and the speed of blood circulation increased significantly... but there was no breakthrough or upgrade.
night.
Wang Xing was afraid of making too much noise and waking his mother, so he didn't practice stance training too much. He mainly logged into the Beidou Yuan Universe to practice with his friends, and in between, he took out his vocabulary book to memorize words.
Overnight, his cultivation level steadily improved.
Before four o'clock the next morning, Wang Xing left home on time and headed straight for the school's training room. After practicing a set of sword techniques and movement skills, he was filled with emotion.
"In yesterday's actual battle, my movement technique increased by five percent. Such speed has never been seen in battles within the Beidou Metaverse... After all, there is less pressure of life and death in the Metaverse, so the improvement is naturally limited."
In reality, however, there aren't that many opportunities to fight against monsters from the abyss.
"I still need to push my way up in the Beidou Yuan Universe. Reaching the Gold rank will grant a 50,000 bonus, so I must climb that rank as quickly as possible."
After finishing his training, Wang Xing left the Trial Building.
"Wang Xing!"
As they exited the trial building, a shout came from behind them; it was none other than Lü Mufei.
"Wang Xing, you're amazing! That was a level six abyss monster, and you actually suppressed it all by yourself!" Lu Mufei said with shining eyes.
"It was just lucky; it was already badly injured."
Wang Xing smiled.
"It's not luck at all."
Lu Mufei tilted her head to look at him, "My uncle forwarded your video in the family group yesterday. He rarely praises people in the family group."
"Family group chat..."
Last night, the video of him fighting the bone-cracking dog circulated in the class group.
Wang Xing's classmates kept tagging him, but Wang Xing didn't dare to respond.
He just didn't expect... that Lü Yun would actually send the video to his family group chat!
The impact of this matter seems to be greater than he imagined...
"Let's go back to the classroom together."
"Um."
.........
The two walked towards the classroom together.
Just as I reached the front of the teaching building, I ran into Duan Peng.
"Brother Xing, you're amazing! Even a level six abyss monster can't do anything to you."
Duan Peng greeted him with a smile.
Wang Xing was somewhat surprised: "Wait, even this little thing has reached your Yuanpei Class?"
"It's not just the Yuanpei Class."
Duan Peng pushed up his glasses. "I heard that even the first and second year students are sharing your videos. You're a celebrity in the whole school now."
"Is it really necessary...?"
The two chatted for a few minutes and then parted ways; Wang Xing continued walking towards the classroom.
At this moment, several students who didn't recognize Wang Xing looked at him.
Some people were whispering to each other, while others were secretly raising their phones.
A younger girl ran over and asked, "Senior, are you the person in the video?"
Wang Xing nodded, and the girl excitedly said "So handsome!" before running away shyly.
Wang Xing gave a bitter smile to himself.
Even the younger students know about him.
It seems I've really become famous throughout the whole school this time.
……
As soon as I entered the classroom, my classmates started making a ruckus.
"Hey, our great hero is back!"
"Wow, Xing-ge, you're a celebrity now!"
"I tagged you in the group chat tonight, why didn't you reply?"
"Not even replying to private messages, are they acting like big shots now that they're so powerful?"
"Stop fooling around."
Wang Xing was completely speechless.
Last night, my messages in the group chat and my private messages exploded.
Wang Xing knew it was these guys stirring things up, so he didn't reply.
I walked to my seat and put my backpack on the table.
His gaze swept across the classroom and landed on Sun Donglai.
The chubby boy was sitting in his seat with his head down, clutching a flyer for mecha modifications in his hand.
In the viral video of the bone-cracking dog, Wang Xing was dazzling, but the scene of Sun Donglai being tackled by the bone-cracking dog and having no chance to fight back was equally clear.
The news is now spreading like wildfire throughout the school, and he must be feeling incredibly ashamed.
Just then, the front door of the classroom was pushed open.
Class teacher Lü Yun strode in, her expression serious. She walked straight to the podium and said in a deep voice:
"Classmates, I have something important to announce!"