The White Mountains.

　　While these mountains were not particularly famous or anything, they traversed two provinces.

　　The range within Sun City could only be considered as an offshoot of the main backbone and they were not particularly steep.

　　Wang Jinyang was currently in the mountains.

　　He still had his backpack. By contrast, the obstacle-clearing knife in his hands was a new addition.

　　Wang Jinyang’s brow furrowed while he hacked aside the weeds blocking his path with broad strikes. He said into the military-issued tri-proof mobile phone in his hand, “Director Zhang, are you sure that he’s already in the mountains?”

　　The rich and smooth voice of a middle-aged man sounded from the other side of the line. “After Huang Bin eluded our monitoring system, he took a taxi to the 3rd entrance of the White Mountains.

　　“This is the result that we got after evaluating the schedule of the taxi service company. The driver saw him enter the mountains.

　　“He had a backpack with him, which was full of rations and drinking water…”

　　“Don’t you know to take action ASAP, especially seeing that he had rations and drinking water prepared?” Wang Jinyang was slightly pissed. Even if the mountain range in Sun City was comparatively smaller, it was hard to search for a person there.

　　If the authorities in Sun City had delayed the target a little longer, he could have apprehended the target directly, which could have saved him a whole lot of trouble.

　　The person on the other side of the call was unperturbed. He said, “This decision is made in consideration of the civilians’ safety.

　　“Huang Bin is a Rank-2 martial artist gunning for Rank-3, after all. He could’ve wreaked serious havoc on Sun City if we took action yet failed to apprehend him.”

　　Wang Jinyang was not in the mood to hear his explanations. He took a deep breath and said, “I’ve scoured the area near the entrance but I didn’t find any trace of him.

　　“As a Rank-2 martial artist, he won’t find it hard to not leave any trace.

　　“Plus, it’s hard to search for him when the area’s so packed with people.

　　“I’ll go deeper into the mountains in search of him. Director Zhang, I’ll need to ask for your full support. Please delegate some of your men to stand guard in front of all entrances.

　　“I’ll have to forfeit this mission if I don’t find him in three days.”

　　Wang Jinyang did not want to waste too much time here.

　　The final exams would commence in a few days. Although he would have no problem passing the tests, he still had to fight for the first place, so that he could obtain more resources.

　　Director Zhang did not object to his demand. He agreed. “Okay. We’ll contact you as soon as we have information.

　　“Just let it be if you can’t locate the target.

　　“I’ll report this to Ruiyang if we can’t find the target this time, so that they can join efforts with Subei to catch him.”

　　Despite him saying that, he felt some regret.

　　It was a pity that Huang Bin was too cautious. They could have captured him after Wang Jinyang’s arrival otherwise. Capturing a fugitive Rank-2 martial artist was no small feat.

　　Although he too, was a Rank-2 martial artist, he had not fought a single battle for ten years since his move to Sun City.

　　If he had mobilized to capture someone, he would most likely be the one who would be killed.

　　They could have used firearms — even a Rank-2 martial artist was not vulnerable against them — but the target was desperate. If he had escaped to a civilian-populated area, it would spell trouble for them.

　　Most times they would rather give up the recognition accomplishing the feat would bring than attempt it and screw up massively.

　　Capturing a criminal was an impressive feat, but it would be considered as a huge f*ck up if they accidentally killed a few civilians in the process. Even the successful apprehension of the criminal could not make up for it.

　　That was why the authorities in Sun City chose to monitor Huang Bin instead of taking action.

　　They did not expect a sudden deviation from the norm on the last day; maybe it was because Huang Bin had somehow got wind of the real reason for Wang Jinyang’s arrival in Sun City?

　　Director Zhang could not figure this puzzle out. Wang Jinyang should only be small fry in the eyes of those civilian martial artists, should he not?

　　He was only a freshman in Nanjiang Martial Arts University; he probably would not have employed that junior of his if he himself did not graduate from the university and knew of his talents.

　　The two of them exchanged several brief sentences before Wang Jinyang hung up the phone and ventured deeper into the mountains with his backpack.

　　Three days. That was the limit.

　　He would not need to stay for three days, probably; the target would probably leave Sun City after a day. It would be hard to say if he could get a reward even if he succeeded by then.

　　—

　　Sun City.

　　Lakeview Gardens.

　　Fang Ping no longer vegetated in his room like he had done the past few days. He was still shaken when he remembered the incident previously, in which his body had not been strong enough to contain the sudden increase of his Vitality.

　　So he went to the backyard to train his body.

　　He did not go outside. There were few gymnasiums in the old residential area, and the small parks were occupied by old men and women. Plus, Fang Ping did not fancy being a source of entertainment for the others.

　　Luckily, they had a backyard. He would not have a place to train otherwise.

　　Fang Ping could only do some simple exercises without the necessary apparatus: push-ups, sit-ups, and squats.

　　Noting that the yard was still quite spacious, Fang Ping decided to ask his father to set up a wooden frame so that he could do pull-ups too.

　　The effect of an increase in Vitality was clear.

　　The Fang Ping from the other world would have been exhausted by 30 push-ups.

　　Now, he was not as tired as he had imagined after 50 push-ups.

　　He felt that he should be able to do 100 reps with ease every time.

　　If he persevered and continued exercising once every morning and night, his body could probably accommodate the increase in his Vitality.

　　Fang Ping exercised in the yard for a while. As he did his sit-ups, he noticed that the lights in the unit above theirs were lit up. He found himself glancing towards that direction a few times.

　　It was quiet upstairs. Aside from the lights, there was no sign of a tenant.

　　Fang Ping did not dwell on it after a fleeting glance, continuing his training.

　　—

　　The second floor.

　　Huang Bin was actually standing by the window, but he had hidden behind the wall without thinking, a result of his immediate reflexes.

　　Glancing below, at the teenager exercising downstairs, Huang Bin currently adopted an indescribable expression.

　　Long ago, he had worked hard for a chance to be admitted into a martial arts university too, just like those teenagers.

　　Reality was merciless. He did not even manage to get admission to a decent social science university.

　　He had attended a school that was atrocious even by those standards then and entered the workforce of a state-run factory after graduation.

　　After years of hard work, he had saved a bit of money. He was not content to work in a factory for the rest of his life, so he spent all his savings and enrolled in a martial arts training course.

　　Maybe it was finally his turn to enjoy good luck; he had learned a lot from the course.

　　After that, he worked for a few years more. At the age of 30, he had finally acquired all the resources needed for a breakthrough and stepped into the realm of martial arts formally.

　　He had assumed that everything would change after becoming a martial artist and that he could finally lead a life fit for a martial artist.

　　But then reality hit him hard again.

　　He did not come from institutional agencies, so his status was naturally lower than those of students from martial arts universities.

　　He had only reached Rank-1 at the age of thirty, a late-bloomer.

　　He was still a martial artist, though, so he was a little better off than before.

　　If he had been content with that in the past and had chosen to work for a corporation or something, he would not find it hard to accumulate millions of yuan.

　　He had opted to advance upwards, though, and only realized how difficult it was when he had embarked on the path he had chosen.

　　He did not graduate from a martial arts university, did not belong to any governmental agency or to a big corporation.

　　There were some resources that could only be purchased by special means for a steep price.

　　Cultivation needed money.

　　Equipment, cultivation resources and methods, pills…

　　His income could not sustain his expenditures at all. He lived in poverty while he worked and cultivated at the same time.

　　He had achieved a breakthrough after a few years of cultivation and thus became destitute once more.

　　Huang Bin became desperate as he thought of the millions of yuan he would need to spend if he wanted to ascend into Rank-3.

　　He was already middle-age. 40 years old, in fact, but Rank-3 was still unattainable. Some of the resources he needed were limited in the market, too.

　　Huang Bin had also considered joining a governmental agency or a renowned corporation. They would not turn away a Rank-2 martial artist.

　　When he thought of the background checks he would need to go through and the missions he would need to complete if he had joined any agency or company, he felt that it would waste too much of his time.

　　He had robbed a man that came to trade with him once and never stopped.

　　He could acquire the resources he needed quick.

　　He had gotten a million’s worth in a day’s time when he would have needed at least a year before.

　　After he had enjoyed the advantages of robbing, the easiness of earning without hard work corrupted him. He had robbed people a few times more after that.

　　The result was obvious. He was listed as a wanted man soon after…

　　Huang Bin was lost in his memories at the sight of the young boy downstairs. He shook his head and sneered under his breath. “Here’s another boy that’s going to walk on a path of no return!”

　　Was getting admission into a martial university that easy?

　　It only meant hardship if one failed and refused to give up.

　　He himself was the best example of that!

　　Judging from his residence in this area, his family’s situation was evident.

　　It was ideal to nail the basics down during one’s adolescence. Could the young boy’s family provide enough nutritional food and medicine for him, judging from their financial situation?

　　“God is unfair!”

　　Huang Bin cursed God lowly. Why should some people deserve to be born wealthy, so wealthy that millions seemed like nothing to them?

　　Why should he be treated as inferior compared to those university graduates even after becoming a martial artist?

　　Even in Sun City’s jurisdiction, he was confident that he could beat the Director of Investigation Services to death in just ten minutes!

　　The weak director of the Department of Investigation Services. If he joined the Department, he would have to work under him.

　　He would need to work five years or more to be promoted to that position.

　　In Huang Bin’s opinion, everything was unfair!

　　He no longer had interest in the happenings downstairs at that thought, so he walked back to his room.

　　As for the young boy downstairs… Huang Bin sneered. He hoped that the boy would not lose all hope after the inevitable happened.

　　—

　　Fang Ping would not lose all hope, naturally; he had never entertained the possibility of him failing to get in a martial arts university.

　　Fang Ping did not sense the presence of the man upstairs. Although his Mentality was higher than the average person, Huang Bin’s was stronger. It was only natural that he did not sense anything.

　　After an hour of exercise, Fang Ping did not continue for fear of injury. He returned to his house to clean himself up before retreating to his room for revision.

　　It was silent upstairs, as always, to the extent that Fang Ping had forgotten that someone lived there.