Chapter 16 - Nangong Xu

After looking at his stats, Ning Qi sighed a bit. Just a day ago, his speed was only around 80 m/sec, but now it's already 90 m/sec.

He marveled at the growth of his own in just a day for a moment before proceeding to check on the cafeteria.

He kept thinking of ways to recruit disciples but was unable to come up with a suitable idea. He shook his head and opened the cafeteria section, which has the biggest change of all.

That hall has a marble counter, almost the same as the one he found on the first floor of the sect hall.

He also found 2 big arenas that are almost twice the size that he usually finds in TV shows, and they are open arenas. If you stand on the edge of the stage, you will easily fall off.

He also found racks of weapons, ranging from swords to spears, neatly arranged. Finally, he saw a big banner at the top of the roof, with big words written in black, saying 'Martial Arena'.

Ning Qi slowly made his way toward Arena One and stood on it, trying to check the material used to make it, but he was surprised that he had never seen a material of this type.

It is quite firm but has a smooth feel too, and at the same time, it is not slippery. He lifted his leg and gave a big thud... but it didn't even shake, not to mention have any cracks.

In that thud, he expended all of his 1100 kg of strength. But all it gave back was a big sound and nothing else.

"Ahhhh!!! Ghost, T-There is a ghost here... I have to get away quickly. B-But why am I unable to move? Please move my legs. Don't give up on me. Ahhhh!!!"

A hysterical scream came in between both arenas, giving Ning Qi a big scare, and he almost fell on his buttocks.

He quickly walked to the other edge of the arena and saw a young man, around 20 years old, who looked to be sleeping and talking to himself, or probably saying something that he had wished to say a long time ago.

"Ghost!!!! Ahh... Please save me, God! Oh, Lord Jesus, please save me from this ghost. I don't want to die yet! Oh, mother.. please don't kill me, waaahhh."

As soon as Nangong Xu saw Ning Qi, his entire spine shivered, and he thought it was a ghost that had come to kill him.

He is still in the last night and hasn't woken up, so Ning Qi appeared when his mind was filled with ghost thoughts, causing him to lose his s*** and begin praying and wailing.

There is even a bit of yellow liquid flowing from his legs, making Ning Qi disgusted. He approached him slowly and gingerly.

He controlled his strength to that of a normal guy and gave him a tight slap. It is one of the effective treatments for those who were terrified by something, stimulating them with just the right amount of pain to bring them back to reality.

Nangong Xu obviously felt the pain in his cheek, and slowly he got a clearance in his eyes.

He looked at himself, covered in piss and mucus, then at Ning Qi, who was looking at him with disgust and couldn't help but lower his head in shame.

"Who are you? Why are you on private property? Don't you know that it is illegal to cross into private properties without permission?"

Ning Qi asked questioningly, as he already guessed the reason why this guy was frightened out of his wits. If he were in this guy's situation, he would probably have had the same reaction or done slightly better.

"Sorry! I am a student from Nanfang Secondary Technical School, where I am in my final year. I was out trekking near reed flute rock mountains, my drinking water is out...so, I came to check if I can get some water. But, But...after I came here, I heard weird sounds coming from buildings..."

Nangong Xu explained to Ning Qi.

'What bad luck that you have to visit on the same day that the system begins to change.' Ning Qi reflected.

"Wait! I definitely saw that this hall didn't have any of these constructions last night! How come they are here suddenly?"

Nangong Xu exclaimed after looking around a bit and seeing the strong arenas that were built from the depths of the ground, which wouldn't be possible to make in a night.

He even saw a marble reception area and weapon racks. Suddenly he remembered the last night again, exactly at these locations only, where he heard those sounds.

"What are you talking about? You are not making any sense... They have been there for quite some time. Leave here first or else I will call the police and file a complaint against you for trespassing on private property."

Ning Qi complained as he felt a headache coming on. He scolded the system for making all the obvious sounds. 'can't just hide the sound too, if you can hide the items already ' Ning Qi thought.

"No! I'm damn sure about that. I was frightened in the first place because of that. Brother! Don't fool me. Tell me what's happening here, alright?"

After getting out of his frightened state, Nangong Xu knows that something is wrong with this brother in front of him. He is giving him a very mysterious feeling.

His inner instinct, which is an adventurous spirit, lit up and told him to dig or else he would miss something that would make him regret it in the future.

"Aren't you afraid anymore? Don't you want to leave here as soon as possible and get away from this place? Maybe... I'm the ghost that you felt last night."

Ning Qi spoke quietly and solemnly, a departure from his usual demeanor. He looked at the spirited Nangong Xu with a bit of surprise, and he suddenly remembered the system mission.

He instantly wanted to recruit this guy, but first, he wanted to test this guy's mental state because the first impression this guy gave him was pretty bad.

As the first disciple under his sect, this guy should have at least a bit of courage to face a lot of things, that may occur in the future. That's why Ning Qi tried to scare him a little to see how he would react.

"Brother! Stop joking with me. If you are a ghost and want to do something to me, you would have already done it, and I wouldn't have been able to do anything. Also! Don't think I am a person who is scared of his wits just because you want to scare me..."

He paused for a moment to check whether the anger on Ning Qi's face was true or not. But because he couldn't find anything, he assumed that this guy was just acting angry. Otherwise, he would have been in big trouble.

"Yesterday's matter is another thing entirely, as there are multiple reasons for that. My entire class says that I am one of the bravest people in the school. Hmph!"

Nangong Xu obviously got frightened by Ning Qi's sudden change. But he isn't as afraid as last night.

He is really a brave person, or else he wouldn't go out trekking at night without anyone else with him. Most people don't even want to go out in the middle of the night without anyone with them, not to mention the mountains or trekking.

"Alright! You surprised me a bit! I thought you were W*** at first. But it appears that you still have some bravery left in you. First of all, before I say anything, let's go to the main building. We can talk there."

Ning Qi said and walked away without giving that guy a chance to respond.

On the other hand, Nangong Xu suddenly felt something outside of normal people's world opening up to him.

His inner instincts are screaming at him, telling him to latch on to Ning Qi, no matter what. He even felt absurd at that thought and shook his head before following Ning Qi slowly with a myriad of expectations.

"Do you believe in God?" Ning Qi asked as they walked, surprising Nangong Xu a bit. This question, after all, came out of nowhere.

"Nope! I'm 'kind' of an atheist, I guess."

Nangong Xu responded with a bit of confusion on his face.

Ning Qi rolled his eyes at this fellow as he heard this guy screaming for Jesus to save him. People are like that. They will believe in anything that will help them feel better, regardless of their initial beliefs, once the situation arises.

But once they get out of trouble, they will revert back to their original selves as they won't need that 'belief' anymore.

Ning Qi isn't criticizing him, as he is the same as this guy and, most importantly, an atheist too.

He just thinks it's an interesting way to look at human behavior because they adapt to their surroundings very quickly depending on the situation.