Chapter 21: Toilet Duel!
After the anomaly space-time event ended, Yuan Zhu proceeded safely the rest of the way, encountering no other strange incidents, and smoothly arrived downstairs at his own building.
He looked up; it was a four-story red brick building, familiar yet carrying a touch of strangeness. The architectural style resembled the Soviet-era Khrushchevka, with a cramped layout, densely packed windows outside which extended laundry poles tied with iron wire.
His home was on the third floor. Entering from the pitch-black stairwell, a damp and unpleasant strange smell immediately assaulted his nose. Ascending the steps, the walls were mottled and peeling, covered in moss. Entering the cramped and narrow corridor, the walls and roof were all marked with black grease stains from cooking.
A few foraging live mice were startled and hid in the corners, secretly eyeing the relatives hung on the door. Why do you all smell so fragrant, while we get chased and beaten on the street? Someone, hang me the mouse up too.
Yuan Zhu shook his head repeatedly. The living environment was too poor; this rundown place wasn’t much better than the slums. And he was still a top high school graduate, yet living in such a place? Where was the money he earned?
Following his memory and instinct, he identified his own room door. He pulled out a loose wall brick, dug out the spare key from inside, smoothly unlocked it, then ran his palm along the threshold to find the dangling lamp cord and pulled it hard.
Snap!
The limited space in the room was immediately illuminated by dim yellow light. In the small living room, there was a table, a few chairs, a shelf cabinet, and the other areas piled with daily sundries and metal mechanical parts, mostly defective products Yuan Zhu brought back from the factory.
In the center of the roof hung a lamp furnace the size of a leather ball. The upper half was a complex metal structure, the lower half a transparent glass cover, with alchemy element injected inside the container, which could release light and heat through the filament.
Filling it once cost only 1 yuan, enough for about a month. The steam factory where Yuan Zhu worked produced these things.
The room wasn’t large, two bedrooms and a living room, over thirty square meters total. No toilet, kitchen, or balcony… Cooking was done in the corridor, washing and relieving oneself in the water room, and in winter they lit their own stove.
Thus, the probability of fire and winter CO poisoning was very high. He had moved twice before, both times due to neighbors upstairs and downstairs catching fire. No need to panic then—just pack up valuables, push open the window, and jump out; he wouldn’t die from the fall anyway.
“Big Brother?”
The boy resting inside was startled, rubbed his eyes, pushed open the room door, and looked at Yuan Zhu dressed in ill-fitting clothes, asking with concern: “Why are you back so late? Did you run into any trouble?”
The boy was named Yuan Su, who also took his mother’s surname; he was his half-brother from the same mother but different father. He was 14 this year, but looked like 15 or 16.
He had short black hair, eyes with wine-red pupils, fair skin, slender build, delicate features, gentle personality, excellent grades, very popular with female students, often having bold girls come to the door with food. He had the look of someone else’s perfect child.
Yuan Su had shown top-student potential since childhood, with an introverted and gentle personality, stable emotions, and proficiency in housework. He had excellent relationships at school, won scholarships every year; even if he changed gender, it wouldn’t feel out of place.
From childhood, Yuan Zhu had focused investment and cultivation on him toward becoming a university student. While Yuan Zhu shared the same surname and pupil color with his younger brother, he differed in every other aspect.
He was 187cm tall, weighed 85kg, tall and healthy, a full head and a half taller than his slender younger brother. Just one punch from him could make his younger brother cry for a long time.
Yuan Su had soft and handsome looks, while Yuan Zhu had black seaweed-like curly hair past his ears, a straight and prominent nose bridge, prominent brow bones, deep-set eye sockets, slightly narrow eyes, sword-like brows and thin lips, giving a wildly feral appearance with the look of an eagle eyeing a wolf, overshadowing his decent appearance.
Whenever he made eye contact with others, it was seen as a provocative glare, leading to outbreaks of physical conflict. Over time, he grew accustomed to this way of making friends. Thus, he practiced boxing from childhood, as it helped with communication, letting others feel his moral level. (Winning with virtue)
After adulthood, he seamlessly transitioned into an underground black boxing career for extra income. This was the classic case of appearance determining fate: sharp gaze and standout eyes from childhood led to passively developing an “aggressively friendly personality,” ultimately walking the path of an underground part-time martial artist.
In academics, he was somewhat uneven, not as all-around talented as his younger brother the top student, but he respected knowledge and always shouldered the high tuition for both brothers. Unfortunately, in his final high school semester, he was persuaded to drop out after a fair fighting duel with the principal in the toilet, forced to leave school early.
Incidentally, the principal ended up hospitalized with concussion and fracture, then got backstabbed by the teaching director who stole his achievements, left disheartened, and finally returned to his hometown to raise honey badgers.
And afterward, the teaching director not only gave Yuan Zhu a special belated graduation red envelope, but also helped him connect to his current steam factory job as a senior technician.
In personality, Yuan Zhu had been positive, optimistic, and outgoing since childhood, especially extroverted due to single-handedly raising his younger brother, with a strong drive for advancement. He deeply desired wealth, power, and status… ultimately forming a roll-up striving personality.
Since he had no plans to attend university (tuition too expensive), he straightforwardly accepted the teaching director’s underground employment offer, landing a pretty good job with remuneration.
To earn an extra 0.5 in salary, he took on 3 jobs at the factory.
Craving more income, he moonlighted in the underground boxing ring and occasionally threw fake boxing matches, with questionable professionalism.
Wanting to access supernatural powers and become someone superior to others, he proactively joined [Fire Fang], eagerly heading to sacrifice venues on weekends to send off heads.
The reason the brothers worked so hard stemmed from their mother, who from childhood tirelessly instilled the brainwashing directive: ‘We Yuan clan are of great noble lineage, with prominent family history, cauldrons ringing with food and poetry books passing rituals. Now fallen into a foreign land with the family in decline, you brothers must strive to rise, bring glory to the ancestors, revive the family business, and let your mother live well.’
Unfortunately, their mother was unreliable, coveting glory and wealth but unwilling to marry a steady man. After her second marriage failed, she insisted on a long journey to a foreign land to fight for inheritance despite illness, and ultimately died on the road.
Though orphaned at 10, a decade of brainwashing had imprinted Yuan Zhu with the “bring glory to ancestors, revive family business” ideological steel seal, step by step living into his current striving mold, and enjoying it tirelessly.
Facing his younger brother’s concerned gaze, Yuan Zhu waved casually: “No problem, ran into a minor issue, already handled. I’m late today—how did you eat dinner?”
Yuan Su: “I made it myself and saved some for you.”
“Good. Here’s 20 yuan, take it for living expenses. Next few days, I have personal matters to handle, irregular hours home—you eat out, no need to wait for me.”
As he spoke, he pulled out a genuine leather wallet left by some believer, opened it to reveal a stack of various-sized paper money, then drew out four 5-yuan banknotes. This was already a normal adult’s hard-earned weekly salary, more than enough as living expenses.
Seeing the bloodstains on the banknotes that seemed not yet dry, Yuan Su looked worried: “Big Brother, where did this money come from? So much, and I’ve never seen this wallet. You didn’t get tired of work being too hard and too low-paying, so take up some illegal profession, did you?”
“Get lost! I do think work is too tiring and pays too little, but this money is clean and upright—even the Security Bureau can’t touch me, at most just some bloodstains. How many red days have I seen? Take it and use it boldly, no worries. Your brother has achieved enlightenment at Dragon Field, sudden enlightenment clearing the fog, planning to change how I live. Our good days are ahead— you just study hard and steady. Don’t worry about the rest.”
Seeing his brother’s clearly anomalous temperament and mental state, Yuan Su nodded helplessly, asked no more, but pocketed the money. At the same time, he noted his brother’s changes, worrying some mishap during the day had caused such a drastic shift in mindset.
That thick stack of paper money in the unfamiliar wallet was probably the root of the problem. Had Big Brother really joined some crime gang?
He vaguely remembered someone once hinting and pulling Big Brother into underground employment. Even the toilet duel between Big Brother and the principal had smoothly gotten him through middle school without any school bully daring to mess with him.
Big Brother had a criminal record! Had he finally had enough of honest labor for wealth? Would the White Harbor Fist, arduously cultivated for years, finally be used in the wrong domain?
At this moment, the younger brother Yuan Su was deeply worried.
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