Chapter 39: Digging Holes Can Make People Happy
“Fang Zhen?”
“Did you just join Storm Shadow?”
Chen Ya could not help taking a closer look, a hint of surprise in her beautiful eyes. She had thought it would be a young and promising talent, but she had not expected a middle-aged uncle.
At this age, no matter how you looked at it, it was the age to retire. Even if someone simply looked older than they were, they were already on the verge of retirement.
But for such an expert on the brink of retirement, she had actually never heard of him before.
“No, I have always been a member of Storm Shadow.”
Seeing Chen Ya at the entrance of the game pod, Fang Zhen was also startled. He had not expected the renowned Blood Flame Spear Princess to come directly to seek out an unknown nobody like him and ask questions.
“Always in Storm Shadow? Why don’t I have your information in my hands?” Chen Ya became even more puzzled.
For an expert who had mastered triple micro-operation, it would not be excessive for every club to record his details thoroughly. Yet Fang Zhen’s name had never appeared.
This suddenly made Chen Ya feel that in the future she must have deeper communication with the staff in charge of investigations.
Otherwise, at the National Competition, they would not even know which top experts the other teams had gained, and it would end up like today, being caught completely off guard.
While Chen Ya was filled with doubt, the Storm Shadow players present, especially the coaches in the coaching staff, could not help feeling ashamed.
It was not just that Blue Enchantress lacked the data; even their own Storm Shadow Club did not have complete information.
They had even planned to have Fang Zhen retire directly today and let a selected reserve player replace him.
“Forget it, this is not important.” Chen Ya stopped digging into the details and looked straight at Fang Zhen. “Your gun technique is very good. I look forward to your performance at the National Competition. Next time you will not be able to hit me as easily as you did today.”
As she spoke, Chen Ya turned to look at Li Ranxing, who still had not recovered his wits.
“The result of this clash, let us settle it in the individual competition at the National Competition.”
“No problem.”
Li Ranxing nodded to accept Chen Ya’s challenge, planning to defeat her openly in the National Competition individual event.
Then Chen Ya led the members of Blue Enchantress away from the Storm Shadow Club, with no intention of lingering.
“Captain, were you planning to recruit that person just now?” Zi Lan looked at Chen Ya walking out the main doors and could not help asking in a low voice.
Zi Lan, as Chen Ya’s friend, knew well what kind of person she was; she would never, for no reason, inquire about a Storm Shadow player’s background.
Since she was willing to inquire, it meant she had taken a liking to that person’s talent and strength.
And Blue Enchantress’s goal had always been the championship. If a top-tier expert joined them now, their chances of taking the title would rise significantly.
“I did consider it, but forget it.” Chen Ya shook her head. “He is getting older. It will be hard for his reactions in all aspects to stay at their peak for long. The National Competition team event is best-of-five, and it is rare to end in just three games. We should save this money for the originally planned genius.”
“What a pity.” Wang Yi Dao beside her sighed a little. “At his age, this is probably his last year competing. If he joined us, maybe he would still have a chance to win the championship.”
“What is there to pity? His potential is already exhausted. Even if he came to Blue Enchantress, he would be surpassed by newcomers. It is better to leave the spot to other geniuses.” Chen Ya rolled her eyes at Wang Yi Dao. “As for you, kid, even two-on-one you could not manage a one-for-one trade. Whether you can take part in the main event this time is very hard to say.”
Storm Shadow Club first floor lobby.
“Fang Zhen, based on your performance today, our coaching staff has unanimously decided to upgrade your contract level from the original B level to S level, and renew for three years. If you have no objections, we can sign the contract right now.” A middle-aged coach with graying hair walked up to Fang Zhen, extremely excited, and directly produced an electronic contract.
As soon as “S level” was mentioned, the Storm Shadow players present all looked at Fang Zhen with envy.
Within the entire Storm Shadow Club, only Li Ranxing had an S-level contract, and the guaranteed minimum annual income was five million. According to the results in the national league, it could keep increasing. It was basically a step to the heavens.
Of course, Li Ranxing’s S-level contract base income was even higher. After all, last year Li Ranxing placed sixth in the individual competition. Although Fang Zhen was a veteran player, he had only shone in this simulation match. It was impossible for him to get the same pay as Li Ranxing.
Even so, this was the kind of contract countless professional players in Mecha Continent dreamed of.
“Coach, if I sign this contract, for my future daily training, can I train independently?” Looking at the contract in front of him, Fang Zhen could not help asking what was, for him personally, the most important question.
The power of the game High Martial Arts Descend had far exceeded Fang Zhen’s expectations. He had not expected that playing High Martial Arts Descend every day could bring such improvement.
This made Fang Zhen feel that in the future he had to spend more time playing High Martial Arts Descend, and could not waste time on ordinary daily training.
“Of course.”
“S-level contracts are very free. You only need to come to the club every day to check in.”
All the coaches nodded. They were not surprised by Fang Zhen’s request. Many professional players had their own lives, and the game was not everything. It was only because of Li Ranxing’s demands that the whole team had been doing special training every day.
But for someone who also had an S-level contract, that kind of restriction had no meaning.
“Alright, then I will sign.”
Once he was sure there was no problem, looking at the S-level contract in his hands felt like a dream to Fang Zhen.
He had thought that with less than half a year left this year, he would have to retire. His contract was expiring, and he knew very well there was basically no chance to play in the National Competition.
The club needed to cultivate newcomers. How could they let an old guy compete? At best, the best treatment would be going to the National Competition to warm the bench.
That would be worse than retiring early and focusing fully on game live streams.
Now with the S-level contract in hand, the guaranteed annual income was five million, and for three years, a guaranteed total of fifteen million. This made far more money than doing game live streams.
“Brother Zhen, can you tell us how you trained? That triple micro-operation was just too cool!”
“And that bizarre footwork, this is the first time I have seen a ranged mecha move as fast as a melee mecha. It was insanely strong!”
After Fang Zhen signed the new contract, the veteran players who had a good relationship with him rushed up one by one to ask how he trained. Considering his age, for his skill level to improve so dramatically was absolutely a miracle.
“I will not hide it from everyone.” Seeing that both veteran players and newcomers were all staring at him, Fang Zhen had no intention to conceal anything. Or rather, he could not hide it. He said directly, “Recently I have been playing a combat game called High Martial Arts Descend. I learned quite a lot in it, so I reached my current level.”
“A combat game?”
“Indeed. Playing different virtual games, because each has a different focus, can have unexpected training effects.”
“Brother Zhen, what kind of training do you usually do in that game?”
“Ever since I started playing, I have just been digging holes and chopping down trees. Recently there is a new task: repairing houses.”
As soon as Fang Zhen said this, everyone present looked at him with contempt and speechlessness.
What kind of combat game was this? Instead of fighting monsters on a daily basis, all you did was dig holes and chop trees. Were they sure this was a serious combat game and not a laborer game?
Many people present even suspected Fang Zhen simply did not want to tell them, afraid they would catch up to him.
“Digging holes?” Not far away, after hearing this, Li Ranxing felt that Fang Zhen was probably not lying. After all, Fang Zhen had mentioned before that he was digging in the middle of the night. He had thought it was a joke, but it turned out to be true. “Maybe I should try that game too?”
Li Ranxing felt he had hit a bottleneck. No matter how crazy his daily special training, his skill level no longer improved. At this moment, switching to a different training method might not be a bad choice.
Obsidian Martial Arts Hall, sunset falling.
“Brother Zhen, what is with you today? You are digging so diligently.”
Twilight of the Gods watched as Fang Zhen did not even use the alloy shovel, just kept throwing out Crushing Stone Fist strikes. Once a bag of soil was full, he would carry it away like a treasure without even panting.
He was as industrious as a little bee.
“I am in a good mood today, so I plan to dig more.” Fang Zhen said with deep emotion. “Besides, have you noticed? This game progresses according to our advancement. In the future there will definitely be a huge number of players coming in. If we do not hurry and dig now, everything will be dug up by others later. We have to dig as much as we can while we can. Otherwise someday there will be nothing left to dig.”
“Brother Zhen, that makes so much sense. How did I not think of that?” Twilight of the Gods suddenly had a feeling of sudden realization. “The underground area of the hall is only so big, and the plantable space is limited. The more we dig now, the more planting land we will own in the future. With enough planting land, we can earn more than the newcomers even while lying down!”
“Uh, I did not think that far.” After hearing this, Fang Zhen also felt enlightened. “But you are right. Let us hurry up and dig!”
“Right!” Twilight of the Gods picked up the shovel excitedly and started working like crazy.
Meanwhile, in the hall lounge, Lin Qi’s expression was a bit gloomy.
“Are these players all crazy? Is digging holes really that fun?”
Lin Qi watched as all ten players ignored the work of repairing the hall and focused solely on digging, becoming more enthusiastic the more they dug. He had no idea what they were thinking.
He had already increased the rewards for the hall repair task, but the ten of them were as stubborn as turtles that had swallowed iron weights, wholly fixated on frantically improving Crushing Stone Fist and Leopard Shadow Steps. In just half a night, their proficiency had risen by more than seven percent, with each of them passing fifty percent entry-level.
And after extracting from them, his own proficiency directly soared, with Crushing Stone Fist reaching 79 percent entry-level, Leopard Shadow Steps reaching 82 percent entry-level, and the Breathing Technique rising to 43 percent entry-level.
Strength: 4 kilograms. （apprentice 200 kilograms）
Speed: 2 meters per second. （apprentice 12 meters per second）
Meditation technique: Stellar Explosion Meditation Technique （entry-level 5%）
At this point, in terms of pure strength, with the control and reaction of his spirit and will over his body, even without using martial skills, he could probably contend with a beginner apprentice level expert.
“No, I have to think of a solution, or the time needed to repair the hall will be delayed again.” Looking at his own growth, Lin Qi was pleased, but increasing the staff in the hall was still the top priority.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
The sounds of charging completed echoed one after another, causing Lin Qi to look at the mechanical dolls that had been cleaned earlier that day.
“Power is fully charged. Power on?”
