Chapter 25

A rather sharp-tongued person stood up to refute, "Enough, maybe it was just a coincidence. What year is this? Still believing in feudal superstitions? That person is just a fraud, and the other two were probably his plants. They left when they saw no one was taking the bait. Let's eat, come on, cheers..."

Furrowing his brows, the man said irritably,

"Coincidence?"

"Why don't you have a coincidence? Cheap bastard, with your face, even if the master was here, you wouldn't get any divine aura!"

His colleague, who was drinking with him, looked annoyed. If the young master hadn't left, he would have also wanted to seek a fortune. ...

"Coincidence?" Back at the Linzhou villa, an elderly man with white hair, Zhou Shunzhang, did not scold his bodyguard Jin Mingzhe, who had just returned.

"Today, the most unfortunate thing for me was losing that lucky bead. That bead... forget it, even if you were there, you might not have been able to stop the person who took it from me. But the most fortunate thing today was that I spontaneously decided to eat dog meat at that restaurant and unexpectedly met a true master! It was fate! Your task is to find that young man. No matter how much it costs, I want to invite him to help me."

"Uncle Zhou, that person is very young and has been in the military. I feel he has been on missions and has been to the battlefield. He has strong anti-reconnaissance and anti-tracking abilities. Could he be someone sent by a certain party?"

"Jin Mingzhe, you're overthinking it. And you're talking too much. Go. Just do what I tell you, understand?" The elderly man surnamed Zhou put down his cup with some anger, and his imposing presence immediately made Jin Mingzhe shut up.

...

Zhao Zhiqiang spent 110,000 yuan to quickly replenish his mental energy using the method of "spending a fortune to regain one's spirit." His energy was much better than in the morning. He felt that his current physical condition, in terms of strength, speed, and perception, was better than his peak period in the military before he was injured. Of course, this was on the premise that the spiritual energy could circulate normally. The result of the one percent blood conversion made him look even paler and weaker, but in reality, it was not the case.

He walked against the wind for a while and arrived outside Building No. 1, about 400 meters away. The guard only let him through after seeing his discharge certificate. His ID card was still being processed and wouldn't be ready until after the New Year. It would take at least two months to get it back.

He entered the courtyard and walked directly to the door of the small building. The door was slightly ajar, and just as Zhao Zhiqiang was about to press the doorbell, he heard a hearty laugh from inside, "Haha, Lin Shoushan, you quack!"

"Haha, so what if I'm a quack? Why did you ask me to come over? Just to play chess with you? When that guy comes, I'll go back this afternoon, and you can play by yourself."

"Old man."

Zhao Zhiqiang, wearing the slippers given by the attendant, entered the living room. The two elders stopped talking and looked at him. Lin Shoushan briefly introduced how he met Zhao Zhiqiang, the bet, and his skills.

"Hehe, you were also in the military?" An unfamiliar, tall, balding elderly man with white hair, wearing a white shirt and old military pants, sat in the main seat. Lin Shoushan sat on the sofa, looking at the newly arrived Zhao Zhiqiang.

Zhao Zhiqiang smiled, "Yes, I was, in the Western Border Military District."

He stood respectfully and bowed. His hands hung naturally at his sides, standing in a standard military posture, showing genuine respect, especially for the elderly Mr. Lin.

"Hehe, Western Border Military District? Oh—your military posture looks good. I heard from Old Lin that your family is quite poor, yet you donated 50,000 yuan to someone else? I didn't believe it at first, so I had someone investigate. Indeed, that family is not related to you. Young man, you have a good heart. Good, come, come, sit down. Don't be nervous." The elder's voice was loud and clear, speaking quickly.

Lin Shoushan also smiled, "Little Zhao, this is Li Desheng, also an old soldier. You two are quite a pair; he is two years older than me. Look, this old man's body, except for his head disease, is as strong as a bull. He's been coming to play chess with me these past few days."

Zhao Zhiqiang didn't dare to sit and quickly saluted the elder sitting in the main seat, "Greetings, sir."

"Ha ha!"

The elder laughed, "Little brat, you must have been a clever one in the military. You don't seem like a wooden block. Old Lin said you have good skills. Why did you retire so young? And why did you go to the Western Border?" Li Desheng's gaze was sharp.

Zhao Zhiqiang felt a bit uncomfortable under the intense stare. This old man's eyes could definitely scare off new recruits in the military.

"Oh, that year, someone came to Linzhou to recruit soldiers, and my father sent me to that unit. I served there for three years, made a small mistake, and came back as a first-term non-commissioned officer." Zhao Zhiqiang didn't hide anything, speaking frankly. After all, he had done nothing to betray his country or the people.

"What did you do?" The old man's face darkened.

"During a mission, to save my comrade, I acted without permission and disrupted the original plan." Zhao Zhiqiang felt frustrated. This was the thing he least wanted to bring up, but he knew he couldn't lie to this elder, nor did he need to.

"Oh... did you go abroad? It seems you were in the Divine Falcon Special Forces?" The old man was surprised.

"Yes, but I was a special service soldier, responsible for logistics and equipment. I also cooked and assisted in missions when the front-line personnel were short."

"Quite an experience—saving a comrade? Do you mind telling me about the situation at the time?" The elder seemed particularly interested in military matters, looking at Zhao Zhiqiang meaningfully.

"Sorry, old sir, a comrade's life is only once. A failed mission can be retried. It was just a routine ambush to catch a fugitive, not a matter of national importance. I don't want to talk about it anymore. I have already paid the price for my mistake. Please forgive me." Zhao Zhiqiang answered somewhat unhappily.

"Hmm—I understand you..." The white-haired elder sighed, "During the war, I also faced a situation like yours. Whether to save a person or execute a mission, I thought I was right at the time, but now, the older I get, the more I regret it... Ah, let's not talk about it. Ouch..."

The elder suddenly cried out, lying on the sofa and holding his head, gasping for air!

Lin Shoushan quickly came over and held him, "Don't move!"

He opened the acupuncture box nearby and quickly started needling.

"You, every time you get emotionally excited, you get sick. This illness needs to be nurtured, not stirred up. I didn't expect this young man to bring up your painful memories!" Lin Shoushan kept shaking his head.

The acupuncture was quite laborious...

Zhao Zhiqiang came over and noticed that the points Lin Shoushan was needling on the head and arms seemed similar to the flow of his spiritual energy. He could see that the elder was in severe pain. What if he tried using his spiritual energy?

This sudden idea made Zhao Zhiqiang's heart race.

Each time he circulated his spiritual energy, he could see its path and direction clearly. His perception of the spiritual energy was as flexible as his index finger.

When he was a new recruit, he had learned some massage techniques from a friendly old military doctor, which were used to relax and relieve stress after training or long-term ambushes. A head massage technique he learned was quite effective for headaches. He wondered what would happen if he used his spiritual energy with it?

"Old sir, Mr. Lin, I learned a special massage technique to soothe the brain nerves in the military. Can I try it? My comrades used to come to me for head massages after missions."

"Oh? Really? You know this technique?"

The lying Li Desheng immediately perked up, "In the military, we didn't have much training. We even learned to shoot on the battlefield from veterans. Back then, people were multi-talented. They could do first aid, cook, wash clothes, repair military equipment, and even Chinese medicine, like Mr. Lin. There was a young comrade in our unit whose family had a tradition of Chinese medicine. He was always busy saving people, but he knew a soothing massage technique. Come on, I'll be your test subject!"

"What test subject? I've already tried it on others in the military!" Zhao Zhiqiang laughed.

Lin Shoushan was also curious. Acupuncture was slow in treating headaches, and he was old, lacking the energy to persist for long. It would be good to see what this young man could do. "Ha ha, Little Zhao, if you can make Old Li's headache better, I'll take you as my last disciple!"