After adapting to his new self for a while at home, He Mu gradually regained the feeling of moving normally like in his previous life.
At that moment, it was nearing noon.
A weak, breathless voice came from outside the door.
"Big Brother Mu, I'm here."
Hearing this voice, He Mu walked to the door and opened it.
Standing at the door was a young man of 18 or 19 years old. He had dyed green hair, held a lunch box in his hand, and wore the fancy clothes of an energetic lad. However, he looked depressed.
His name was Zhou Yue, the child of the restaurant owner at the entrance of the military district. He Mu's lunch was basically delivered by his family.
"What?! Big Brother Mu… Y-You're standing up?"
Zhou Yue was still sleepy-eyed, but after opening the door and seeing He Mu on his feet, he jumped up in shock, almost hurling the lunch box in his hand.
"Yeah, come in and take a seat."
He Mu concealed the sadness in him, forced out a smile, and made a gesture of invitation.
Zhou Yue carried the lunch box in and carefully entered through the door, as if he was afraid of accidentally touching He Mu and turning him back into his previous state.
"Big Brother Mu, I thought you were congenitally disabled, but I didn't think it could be cured!"
Hearing these straightforward words, He Mu's face stiffened slightly. Despite that, he didn't get angry.
Zhou Yue was a tactless person who always shot his mouth off. But he was kind-hearted in nature and whenever he delivered food, he would always speak to He Mu for a while before leaving.
Once, He Mu asked him why he initiated conversations with a disabled person like him every day, and he replied that he was instructed by He Feng to do so for an additional five yuan.
Over time, He Mu became accustomed to it.
"My big brother left behind a special drug. I injected it and instantly got better."
He Mu calmly explained, taking the lunch box from Zhou Yue's hand and placing it on the dining table.
Hearing He Mu mention He Feng, Zhou Yue's face instantly stiffened.
Then, he actually choked up.
"Big Brother Feng… What a pity. I grew up idolizing him. There's no one in Nancheng who doesn't know what kind of person he is.
"But that group of people on the internet just refuses to believe his character. I quarreled with them all night yesterday… Big Brother Mu, you may not believe this, but they made me cry my eyes out! Damn it! Guess what they said…"
He Mu hurriedly interrupted: "I will figure this out. But more importantly, how did you do on the college entrance exam?"
The college entrance exam also existed in this world, but it was more demanding, focusing on practical subjects. In addition, a separate exam for admission to become a Red Mist Fighter was added.
It was currently July. This year's college entrance exam had already ended, and it was time for the results to be released.
Of course, due to physical reasons, He Mu didn't participate in the college entrance exam.
Zhou Yue sniffed and wiped the corners of his eyes. After taking a few deep breaths, he quietly opened the lunch box.
Apart from vegetables and rice, there were two chicken drumsticks and two eggs at the side.
A normal lunch only had one chicken drumstick and one egg, and the extra egg was a special treat from Zhou Yue's parents.
But today, he couldn't believe that he had gotten another chicken drumstick. What had this got to do with the college entrance exam?
"Heh, the exam was a mess. Instead of attending vocational school in this city, I would rather head home and inherit the restaurant. Big Brother Mu, I am the young boss, so I added another chicken drumstick for you.
"You can rest assured that you won't be getting any less than this extra meat in the future. You've just recovered, so you must eat more to make up for your strength!"
Zhou Yue said while patting his chest. A stranger might think that he had inherited a multinational company.
He Mu was caught between laughter and tears, but felt his heart warming on the inside.
Unfortunately, he couldn't eat such an ordinary meal for long. After becoming a Red Mist Fighter, his body would continue to strengthen. This process, in addition to the consumption of red mist to produce Strengthening Peptide, would also require food rich in nutritional value and calories.
The most important source of such nutritious food was the flesh and blood of various mutated monsters.
This was also one of the reasons why Red Mist Fighters needed to spend a lot of money to become stronger.
The reason why his big brother could afford to spend so much money before he joined the army was because of the financial support from the Tengyun Foundation in Nancheng.
Upon mentioning the Tengyun Foundation, one had no choice but to mention the concept of "Guardians" again.
Decades ago, a mysterious meteorite landed on the moon, and the explosion of bizarre red mist rippled to Earth. From then on, it was the start of the era of monsters.
But thanks to technological support and coupled with a strong government, social order didn't crumble.
After decades of war, human society formed a stable defensive system.
This defensive system consisted of the Guardians, Special Operations Unit, and Red Mist Alliance.
Among them, the Guardians were officially assigned. The Special Operations Unit was approximately equal to the rank of a city's garrisons. The Red Mist Alliance was a free social organization formed by Red Mist Fighters who didn't want to be bound.
The Red Mist Alliance would be able to deal with the usual and ordinary monsters.
Whatever the Red Mist Alliance couldn't handle would be assigned to the Special Operations Unit.
And whatever the Special Operations Unit couldn't deal with would be taken on by the Guardians.
A Guardian was certainly the strongest person in a city, and was also the spiritual icon and soul of all citizens to rely on.
In the event of a powerful monster or even a monster group raid, the Guardian had supreme control of the entire city. Be it the Special Operations Unit or the Red Mist Alliance, both had to follow the Guardian's command.
There were strong and weak Guardians, and because of human nature, over time, a loophole in the appointment rules of the Guardians formed.
Rich people in big cities were willing to pay more to invite stronger Guardians to protect their safety, and stronger Guardians, in turn, could attract more rich people.
Thus, the Guardians in smaller cities were getting weaker and weaker.
After all, even the official had to respect the views of the powerful Red Mist Fighter as to who they decided to protect.
But small cities weren't completely helpless either. Even though they couldn't talk about treatment, they could still talk about feelings.
That was how a city fund like the Tengyun Foundation was established, and most of the money in this city fund was voluntarily donated by citizens.
There was only one goal—to train young prospects in the hometown and bet on their future achievements that they would be willing to come back to protect the hometown.
He Feng was the young prospect selected by the Tengyun Foundation in Nancheng.
If he didn't face any accidents, he would return to his hometown after serving as a Guardian in the Tianmen District for three years and become the Guardian of Nancheng.
Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned.
It was due to this reason that his posthumous letter expressed his indebtedness to his hometown.
"Thanks a lot, Yue."
Looking at the food in the lunchbox, He Mu thanked softly. Then, he started eating as usual, only this time, the food went down his throat much smoother.
Next to him, Zhou Yue also bragged as usual, planning a grand scheme for the future and conceiving the idea of building a five-star hotel.
As he spoke, he somehow brought up He Feng again, and all of a sudden, he buried his head in the table and cried.
Looking at him, He Mu's determination to head to Lingzhou City became even stronger.
But in this world, it was extremely difficult to travel far, especially from small cities to big cities. It was far more difficult than going abroad in the previous world.
On the one hand, it was that big cities had stronger Guardians and defensive systems. If there weren't restrictions, big cities would surely be overcrowded.
On the other hand, it was because of the difficulty of transportation.
In this world, the only option for long-distance transportation for civilians was the railroad.
As for airplanes and long-distance buses, they had been discontinued decades ago because of frequent accidents.
From the map, the journey from Nancheng to Lingzhou City was a distance of 1,000 kilometers in a straight line. But by train, it would take 3,000 kilometers.
It wasn't for the sake of connecting more cities together, but because there were a large number of monster nests and monsters that frequented in between them.
In order to avoid these places, the railroads were built to meander.
But despite that, the railroads were often destroyed by some passing monsters.
Trains suddenly stopping in the middle and waiting for the construction ahead to be completed was a daily occurrence. Even if people were to encounter monsters, it was also nothing but common.
That was why each train trip would not only have to coordinate with railroad repairmen, but also with a small team of Red Mist Fighters responsible for security.
This way, the cost of rail travel was imaginable.
For instance, a round-trip train ticket from Nancheng to Lingzhou City sold for as much as 100,000 yuan!
It was fine if it was just money involved, but the key was to apply to the relevant units to purchase the ticket.
After the application was approved, one had to buy a round-trip ticket and return before a designated date.
And the vast majority of private applications would be rejected.
For a loner such as himself who had no family to worry about and also lacked guarantors from his workplace, he definitely wouldn't get his application approved.
As for walking along the railroad… He would need to show proof to enter Lingzhou City, not to mention whether he would encounter danger along the way.
Of course, people in small cities weren't unable to get out for life.
He Mu knew there were two ways to go out openly, and even stay in the big city if he had the opportunity.
He could either join the army or go to college.
Either way, they would make him board a special train and be personally escorted to his destination by Red Mist Fighters who were stronger than even the Guardians of small cities.
Unfortunately, due to health reasons he didn't participate in this year's college entrance exam.
As for joining the army, there was an important criterion of "no major illness within two years", and his current self didn't qualify either.