The next day, Lu Er finally grasped the return of his own happiness.
"Lu Er, somebody has sent some money for you, come sign and receive it!" shouted the instructor, with a medium-sized leather box in his hands, towards Lu Er, who was busy doing push-ups.
Looks of envy are thrown towards Lu Er; to have money delivered now means that the money in the leather box must be no small amount.
Their envy was not unexplained; because of the terrible service at the canteen here, the majority of people who had entered early had already long spent all the money they had brought with them or had gotten delivered to them. They now lived their lives eating free bland buns and soup.
This sudden awakening of power had caused a lot of them to be depended on by their family and relatives to earn big money. However, most of them entered this center not just without earning any money, but also with major debts on their shoulders. With shame hanging like a cloud over them, most couldn't ask for money from family members anymore.
The envious looks fell on the leather box instead as the people around Lu Er started guessing how much money it contained. It wasn't big enough to contain five hundred thousand, but it could definitely fit a hundred to two hundred thousand, which was more than enough to get decent food here for three months or so.
The canteen here was a canteen that could produce any type of food, as long as the ingredients could be obtained legally. The rehabilitation center was emphasizing the importance of living by the rules, you know.
Under the envious looks of the rest, Lu Er walked towards the instructor with his chest outwards. As he enjoyed the envious looks he was getting, he thought to himself: There's no point in being envious, not everybody has two sworn brothers living the life on the outside. I can finally eat some good food today, and I finally don't have to suffer by watching that live broadcast again.
"Lu Er reporting, Instructor," spoke Lu Er aloud, his tone clear as day and loud as thunder.
"Receive your leather box after signing!" Without batting an eye, the instructor passed a piece of paper and a pen towards Lu Er after putting the leather box down.
"Yes, Instructor," Lu Er obediently signed his name onto the paper, purposely taking his time while doing so.
After the instructor had left, he immediately opened the leather box. Nobody would dare commit robbery here anyways.
The opening of the box was only met with thunderous laughter, however. The few that had wanted to "borrow" some money from Lu Er were of course disappointed…
"F*ck!" exclaimed Lu Er in disappointment as he looked at the clothes in the leather box, which included a thick wool jacket for winter. After sifting through the clothes, Lu Er finally saw the small stack of bills at the bottom of the box. He counted the bills to calculate the amount, which only made him angrier.
"Ma Da, say goodbye to our sworn brotherhood! When I told you to send some money, I wasn't asking for a mere a thousand! Why did you send so many clothes instead?!"
Lu Er was furious. While he berated Ma Da, his tight grip on the stack of bills never loosened.
A thousand wasn't a lot. If Lu Er was outside, he could survive a month or so on fast food using a thousand. Qi City was just a second-tier city after all.
But in this rehabilitation center, the canteen was practically committing daylight robbery, charging around fifty for just a plate of stir-fried vegetables. If they wanted something slightly better, it would cost two hundred to three hundred a day. If they wanted to upgrade even higher, Lu Er's one thousand would be gone in a day. It wouldn't even give him a full table of dishes like he would get outside, but rather only a few plates of dishes.
In short, Ma Da had only given him enough for a day of lavish spending! Lu Er still had to spend the next three months in here, and he had no idea when he would be getting his next phone call. This meant that he would still be eating his plain buns and drinking his bland soup with only the occasional extra plate of stir-fried vegetables…
...
"Wow, boss, you're quite thoughtful. Now that the weather is getting colder, you've purposely bought so many clothes for Lu Er to survive the winter. With a whole box of clothes, you've really helped Lu Er be prepared for anything. I can't do that much, all I can do is give him some money. Lu Er would definitely feel touched after seeing this. Although we've both lost our parents and Sanmei who sacrificed herself saving us, at least we still have you, boss!"
Under Niu Si's touched gaze, Ma Da waved his hand in dismissal of Niu Si's words. He then said, "What's with all that. If I don't take care of you lot, how am I to explain myself to Sanmei when I pass away? Since that center is used for rehabilitation and education, I'm sure he won't starve to death. But who would care about what he was wearing when awakened individuals have a better physique that won't allow freezing to death? That doesn't mean that they have to endure the chill."
"You're right, the chill in Qi City is no joke. But now that we've bought so many clothes for Lu Er, the money we have left won't be enough for us to keep eating meat. Do you think we should…" asked Niu Si hesitantly.
"No, I'm sure that Vigilante A is still waiting for us. I think it's better if we go check out what clean jobs Feng Niao has to offer…" Ma Da was still quite scared of Vigilante A, being that he was quite cruel.
Ma Da had never seen someone like that before in his life. They didn't know each other beforehand, and the three of them have, one, never attacked innocent women, and two, never took a life. They only ever acted as Robin Hoods who stole from the rich to aid the poor. Weren't they doing something noble, as the warriors have been doing since ancient times? So why did he have to chase them nonstop?
Out of the three of them, it was no doubt that Lu Er's legs were the strongest. He was just acting as bait to let his brothers escape, but who would've expected that Vigilante A to actually take the bait. Not only that, the whole fiasco had caused Lu Er to be arrested and shipped off for rehabilitation by those goons from the Special Affairs Department, who had been following Vigilante A the whole time. With no idea what torture was going through, they could only hope that this leather box would provide a bit of comfort…
...
Ma Da wasn't the leader of the three of them just because he could be. He was stronger than Lu Er in his aspirations and experience. The Vigilante A he had mentioned, which was also the System, was still farming mobs to earn experience points, so it would make sense that he would be waiting for Ma Da and Niu Si.
With how Vigilante A could only farm common criminals despite the large amount of experience points he needed, Ma Da and Niu Si's reappearance was his best bet, as most of the other awakened individuals that he had defeated again and again were all laying low.
As compared with the System's hard work and dedication, Fang Ning himself was still spending his days playing video games in the System Cyber Café…
Right after he had finished farming a boss, a QQ notification popped up on his computer. To a homebody like him, phone calls were his worst enemy, and the only person that he would pick up a call from, would never be calling him again.
"President Fang, where are you earning money now?" This was a message from a good friend on QQ that rarely messaged him – President Zhao of Qi City's Xingsheng Group, who was a foodie and also one of the franchisees of his restaurant chain.
Fang Ning glanced at his resource management online; the boss that had exploded a while ago gave him three thousand worth of weapons that he could sell, so Fang Ning simply typed a reply: "I found a good opportunity, President Zhao. Managed to earn three thousand in a minute."
"Congratulations, seems like a good place," answered the other in a dismissive reply, before they sent another message that conveyed their real reason behind the conversation. "Fang Ning. Recently, the oldest son of the Qi Family sent out a massive invitation to all the influencers in the city. He apparently has a miracle medicine that can prolong your life, heal all your ailments and strengthen your body. He's inviting all of us to the exhibition. They were afraid that you would miss the invite and wouldn't attend, so they had asked me to present you the invitation personally."
If it were something else, Fang Ning would've probably rejected it. He was busy with playing video games and reading novels, so he didn't have the time to mingle with the upper class at some banquet... There were some of the invitees that made Fang Ning seriously consider going however, but the System would never allow such a long Relief Time.
However, Fang Ning had to attend the exhibition. It would be easy looking for a reason to bluff the System anyways; he could just tell the System that he would attend the exhibition to prepare for the Celestial Weapon's revelation.
If the Qi Family's miracle medicine really worked, Fang Ning would buy a few pills, just in case. Without even taking into consideration other aspects, it would be important for him too. What if they needed emergency care after being fatally wounded? The System would definitely agree to spending the money on such an item.
Fang Ning would find out however, that the System had considered more aspects than he had expected, to avoid any more actions that would curb whatever what-if's that would come up…
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