Chapter 4

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Nightfall, in the Green City with its bright and magnificent lights...

Chen Yu was walking home with a sad expression on his face.

His life after transmigration was just about to begin, and yet a major enemy had been introduced—the homeroom teacher.

“How about dropping out of school?”

With his head lowered, Chen Yu racked his brains for a counterplan.

In his current situation, it wouldn’t really make a difference whether he went to school or not.

Lazing around at home for two years’ worth of games, two years’ worth of movies, three years’ worth of watching drama series, and three years’ worth of reading novels—by the time he gave up his status as a greenhorn and made it to the outside world, he would almost be a big brother.

“But to make my family provide for me for so many years, that seems pretty unrealistic.”

“Well…”

Stopping in his tracks, Chen Yu picked up a small stone and began writing and drawing on the pavement, thoughts running through his mind.

“Let me do the math.”

“With this poorly talented body of mine, usually cultivating for a day can only bring about a minute increase in internal strength.”

“Now, with the penetration of my soul and being cursed, no less, cultivation will only decrease my internal strength. But again, with such a poorly talented body, it won’t decrease too drastically either.”

“So…”

“If there are 32 days left and I continue to maintain the intensity of today’s cultivation, my cultivation will at most be…”

“…at most regress to the standard I was at when I had just entered high school.”

Chen Yu stood up and tossed the small stone away. Then, he clapped his hands and said to himself, “Doesn’t seem that bad either.”

“I just have to find a way to replenish myself with that bit of internal strength that the ‘cultivation’ doesn’t allow me to gain. That’s all I have to do.”

“As a student, learning is not easy, but degenerating is ever so easy, isn’t it?”

Thinking up until now, Chen Yu took out his phone and quickly typed into the Search Bar of an open browser,

[How to reduce a warrior’s cultivation level?]

Then, he clicked on “Search.”

Rows of information appeared.

[Turn it off! Turn it off! The only way for warriors to have a better tomorrow is to turn off these online games!]n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

[The latest research has confirmed that the cultivation of warriors who indulge their sexual desires through prostitution degenerates faster.]

[Warriors do not need love.]

[Horse God of War: I don’t fancy internal strength. I’ve never even touched it before. I just don’t know why it’s increasing. The one thing that I regret most in my life is becoming a warrior.]

The search gathered results from all over the place.

Excluding those advertisements and nonsensical reports, Chen Yu quickly found an answer.

How to lower a warrior’s cultivation level?

Poison!

Lust!

Smoking!

One, poison.

The poisonous medicines that specifically targeted the Sea of Qi were the most effective.

A severely poisoned warrior could even become an ordinary person like he was before liberation.

But this kind of thing was considered to be a fairly “serious” contraband item. Just having it in your private possession, let alone selling it, was a felony that could get you a death sentence.

Human civilization was at stake, and in times of turmoil, it’s common for there to be heavy penalties and punishments in place!

No one would doubt the level of severity set by the various official state departments.

Any foreign organizations who dared to research such poisonous medicines were quickly eliminated and eradicated.

Two, lust.

Regardless of gender, for both men and women warriors who “indulged” in lust, their cultivation would inexplicably regress.

Even now, the reason for this was still unknown.

There were all kinds of different hypotheses in the scientific community, like hypotheses about hormones, hypotheses about the exchange of internal strength, and hypotheses about how humans had yet to genetically evolve.

Usually, the “deeper” one sank into one’s “indulgences,” the faster his Sea of Qi would dissipate.

This had once brought about a wave of fear in the warrior community, and most of them had developed a phobia about marriage.

Only when an official announcement was made to inform all warriors that normal man-and-woman relationships had minimal “effect” on their Sea of Qi did the nation manage to avoid the “extinction” of warriors.

Three, smoking.

Cigarettes contained carbon monoxide alkaloids that would slightly affect the flow and cohesion of internal strength when subjected to interaction with heavy metal elements. It was currently the main culprit behind the degeneration and decreasing number of warriors.

But because most of the warriors needed to take risks and the meals they had were hard-earned by putting their lives on the line, they were constantly under great mental stress—hence the need for things like cigarettes and alcohol, which could provide them with a placebo effect. There was no way official departments could prohibit such things, so they could only continue to increase taxes, limit sales, and increase the purchase threshold.

...

Out of the three cultivation methods, Chen Yu, being an honest guy who did not fancy secretive talk, openly expressed his liking for the second one.

But obviously, that wasn’t realistic.

At present, he could only choose the last choice, smoking.

He put away his phone, took out his wallet, and flipped it open.

There was a hundred-dollar bill, three ten-dollar bills, one five-dollar bill, and a few coins inside.

“Should be enough to buy some cigarettes.”

After looking around, he found a small supermarket and walked in.

“What would you like to order?” a shop attendant asked.

“Cigarettes.” Chen Yu fished out the hundred-dollar bill and said, “Give me a pack of cigarettes.”

“Cigarettes?” The shop attendant froze for a moment and then looked Chen Yu up and down with a strange look before saying, “Why would we sell cigarettes here?”

“Oh, right.”

Chen Yu slapped his forehead.

He had just crossed over to this world not too long ago, and his memory fusion was still incomplete. He forgot that cigarettes were controlled goods and were only sold in special cigarette stores.

It was a felony for a store to sell cigarettes without a license.

After exiting the supermarket, Chen Yu turned on the map navigator on his phone.

[Welcome to wicked map.]

[Wicked map shall continue to guide you.]

[Please state the location you desire to reach.]

“Cigarette store.”

[The nearest cigarette store is 300 meters away from you. Do you want to start navigation?]

“Yes.”

[Wicked map is now guiding you to your destination. Please walk 65 meters ahead and turn right at the intersection.]

Under the guidance of the map navigator on his phone, it didn’t take long for Chen Yu to arrive at a cigarette store.

The store’s display windows were wiped so clean that they looked shiny and polished.

Two floors.

Inside the store, there was only a female lady boss.

Numerous boxes of cigarettes were placed on the counter in plain sight.

Putting away his phone, Chen Yu adjusted and straightened his school uniform, pushed open the door, and went inside. Then, he said, “Boss, I want to buy a pack of cigarettes.”

“Not selling.” The female lady boss didn’t even look up.

Chen Yu, “???”

“You’re a student. You should be diligently practicing martial arts. What business do you have smoking?” The lady boss raised her head and looked at Chen Yu, her face devoid of expression.

“I’m buying it for my dad.”

“Then ask your dad to bring his identification card here himself.”

“My dad’s injured. He’s in the hospital. It’s not convenient for him to walk here himself.”

“Injured, and yet he still wants to smoke? Just ask him to inhale more oxygen.”

“Can’t we discuss this a little more? What if I gave you more money?”

“Get lost, get lost, get lost!”

Chen Yu was very unhappy about being thrown out of the store.

So he went to buy a box of Red Spider Matchsticks. After lighting up two matchsticks, he took aim at the second floor of the cigarette store and threw them over.

“Bang!”

“Bang!”

The two loud explosions scared the lady boss, causing her to jump in shock. She hurriedly ran up to the second floor to check the situation.

“Heh.”

Chen Yu quickly reacted. Without further ado, he slipped into the cigarette store, threw ten dollars onto the counter, and “bought” a pack of Red Pagoda cigarettes before running off.

After he ran for as far as a hundred meters straight, he hid in a small alley.

“What are you using to fight with me?”

With a sneer, Chen Yu tore open the packaging of the cigarette box. Then, he pulled one out, put it in his mouth, and swiped a matchstick to light it up. Using the jet of flame, he lit the cigarette and took a deep breath.

“Hiss…”

“Bang!”

The firecracker exploded in his hand.

[Hurt inflicted: Qi and blood +16]

“Puff…”

He slowly exhaled streams of smoke.

[Subjected to an attack by malignant gases: Internal strength +12]

“Oh my god!”

Hearing the electronically synthesized voice reverberating in his ears, Chen Yu was startled. But shortly after, he was overjoyed.

[Subjected to an attack by malignant gases: Internal strength +16]

“Puff…”

[Subjected to an attack by malignant gases: Internal strength +13]

“Ha ha ha! Hiss…”

[Subjected to an attack by malignant gases: Internal strength +14]

“Awesome, awesome!”

[Subjected to an attack by malignant gases: Internal strength +15]

“Awesome,! Oh, d*mn it!”

[Subjected to an attack by malignant gases: Internal…]

He could feel it.

He could clearly feel the “boiling” Sea of Qi beneath his energy center!

His internal strength was churning. It was filled with vitality!

It was like every bone, every drop of blood, every single cell, was full of power.

“This rate of growth…”

Chen Yu closed his eyes and said to himself, “At least I won’t be the lowest-ranking student in class tomorrow…”