Chapter Eighty-Seven: Modest Progress

Three days passed quickly. Wu Hua stayed at the Cloud Dream Training Center the whole time, and Rainy gradually changed her opinion of him. She realized that he had truly come here to train, and that he was exceptionally hardworking and stubbornly persistent. She could not help feeling a little admiration for his willpower.

As they chatted more and more, Wu Hua learned that Rainy was not merely a coach. Her profession was actually that of a gene warrior. She had met Dragon Battle Starfield on a mission, and later he hired her here at a generous salary to work part-time as a trainer.

"Most of the coaches in the training center are part-time, and they’re all fighters," Rainy explained. "After training each student, they’ll go out and grind for a while before coming back."

"I see." Wu Hua nodded. He knew that it was hardest for fighters to get equipment. Gene warriors were powerful, but to put it bluntly, they were also among the poorest, even poorer than gunners.

Everyone had to spend money to level up, but gene potions were especially hard to get. When a gene warrior ran into a master or a giant monster without potions, it was nothing but waiting to die, no matter how strong his fighting skills were.

"No more nonsense. Keep training. Starting tomorrow, I’ll teach you some judo and climbing techniques." Rainy’s expression turned stern again.

Wu Hua had no choice but to continue enduring it honestly.

On yet another evening, the two of them walked out side by side from the center gate. In the parking lot by the entrance stood a Lincoln stretch car. Such vehicles were rare in the game; it was probably bought by some wealthy playboy with money to burn.

But at the edge of the street outside the gate, a handsome man in an all-white suit was approaching them, holding a bouquet of blazing red roses.

"For you." The handsome man was all smiles, elegant and suave.

Rainy gave him a glance of disdain and walked around him.

"Rainy. Rainy. Wait." The man hurried after her. "I’ve been waiting here all day. Don’t be like this, all right? I’m sincere."

Rainy had no interest in him at all. She turned, waved down a taxi, and got in. The handsome man was left there grinding his teeth.

There were quite a few onlookers around. Wu Hua could not help asking the man beside him, "Hey, brother, who is that pretty boy?"

The man said, "You don’t know? He’s a top player from the martial arts TV station in Moon Illusion City. His name is Wind With a Smile. He’s been chasing after Teacher Rainy for half a month now, waiting here every day. Quite the romantic, too."

Wu Hua let out an "oh" and thought to himself, another person from that martial arts station. He made a note of the name first. He could deal with revenge slowly later.

"A top player? What profession is he?" Wu Hua asked.

The man lowered his voice. "I heard he’s a level 32 controller, and he often does publicity work for the martial arts station."

"Ah." Wu Hua answered. In Star War, it was not strange for TV stations to have experts of their own. Whenever there was any event, those reporters would swarm in. Non-combat professions going out of the city was dangerous, so they needed a group of people to protect them. The Strange Arts Company also had combat figures like Motorola and Flying MM.

The handsome man stood there with the flowers for a while, and could only climb back into his car in frustration.

"Teacher Rain, that Wind With a Smile seems very enthusiastic about you." Wu Hua asked this the next day in the training center.

Rainy frowned. "That fellow is truly like a lingering ghost."

"Really?" Wu Hua asked curiously.

Through Rainy’s explanation, Wu Hua slowly understood the cause and effect of the matter. Wind With a Smile was shameless enough; in order to chase a woman, he actually activated hunter missions every month to hunt Rainy down. The hunter missions had a restriction: if the target was inside the city, they could not be activated; they could only be used in the wilderness.

Of course, he was not really trying to kill her. He used the hunter mission to learn Rainy’s coordinates, then led a large group of people there. Whenever Rainy was out leveling, he would rely on his high level to kill off the male players in her party, then stick to her like a fly. Rainy had no choice but to hide back in the city, and from then on he came here every day to harass her.

"That guy really has no professional ethics," Wu Hua sighed.

"These things have nothing to do with you. Focus on your training." Rainy frowned.

Fifteen days later, Wu Hua completed all of the training courses ahead of schedule.

Golden VIP Member, No. 001, Physical Attributes

Physical Specialization: 25 points

Strength Specialization: 3 points

Agility Specialization: 3 points

Ranged Specialization: 3 points

Body Flexibility: 15%

...

Wu Hua was somewhat dissatisfied with the result. "That’s all? Physical, strength, and agility each went up by only 2 points, and body flexibility by 10 percent."

Rainy said, "You should be satisfied. Fifteen percent body flexibility is enough to protect yourself barehanded; you could even brawl with a gene warrior. And you’re the fastest student I’ve ever trained. From a training standpoint, you’ve been indirectly learning my fighter skills, so your close-combat ability has been greatly enhanced."

Wu Hua said, "That’s still better than nothing. Anyway, thank you, Teacher Rain."

Rainy said, "No need to be polite. It’s my job."

Wu Hua had a sudden inspiration. "Teacher Rain, if you go out leveling in the future, call me. That way that brat won’t come bothering you."

Rainy smiled. "Thank you for your kindness. Next time you come here, you can ask for me by name."

"No problem." Wu Hua gathered his things and headed toward the hall.

During his more than ten days here, he felt a little regret that he had not seen the two big bosses, Dragon Battle Starfield and Shoot You Without Mercy. They were probably still out in the wilderness and had not returned.

"I’ve been delayed long enough. It’s time to leave the mountain." Wu Hua switched on his receiver. His machine had been off for more than ten days, and there were countless messages waiting.

Single Life Forever had messaged him that the Gale Battle Blade had already been sold, and Wu Hua could receive 120,000 credits. The money had already been transferred into his account.

New reporter Iron Man had left a message saying he had important matters and wanted to meet him.

Yu Jialing’s messages were all asking where he was.

Among them, the message from Earth Tuber made Wu Hua the most excited:

"Brother, I got myself a gun. Interested?"

Wu Hua hurriedly asked back, "What kind of gun?"

Earth Tuber was actually online. "Interested in a purple-quality one?"

Wu Hua said, "Where are you? I’ll come find you."

Earth Tuber replied, "At the General Affairs Hall in the city."

Wu Hua froze for a moment, then quickly hailed a taxi and went there.

At the Federation General Affairs Hall’s resurrection point, Earth Tuber and West End had indeed been sent back after being killed.

Those two were always inseparable, like a scale that would not be without its weight and a hammer that would not be without its scale. Earth Tuber’s first words warmed Wu Hua’s heart: "You motherfucker, you got killed by the Blue Company boss and didn’t even tell us? Motherfucker, you just vanished on us, huh? Playing dead?"

Wu Hua gave a wry smile. "I was training. Don’t you understand?"

"Get lost." Earth Tuber stared at him. "Your receiver kept saying you were unreachable. I messaged you every day, and you were hiding like a goddamn turtle!"

West End said, "Shut the hell up and show the stuff to Brother Mad."

Earth Tuber laughed. "I’ve had this thing for seven or eight days. I think it suits you. I heard you got taken out by that bitch boss from Blue Company, so let’s not pretend with each other, brothers. Just give me back the more than ten thousand credits you cheated out of me last time, and this gun is yours." With that, he opened the trade window and hit confirm first.

Wu Hua looked down and could not help exclaiming, "Where the hell did you get this gun?"

Earth Tuber grinned. "Pretty damn good, right?"