Chapter 10

About an hour after returning from Dragon Mountain, Zhu Shishou, whose emotions had gradually returned to normal, was led by Yang Chen to a bustling barbecue stall on the old street in Xibu District.

The two, who were already famished, ordered thirty skewers of mutton, twenty skewers of pork kidney, ten chicken wings, and several servings of leeks and tofu, along with a plate of Sichuan-style shrimp. After ordering a box of cold beer, they found a corner to sit down.

Zhu Shishou looked at Yang Chen with eager eyes. Everything he had experienced today made him feel as if he had discovered a new continent.

Imagine this: a classmate who had been expelled from school actually had an incredibly powerful identity and abilities... Such things could only be found in fantasy novels in the past, but now it was happening to him!

It was absolutely impossible for him not to have some thoughts.

Zhu Shishou had even thought about it: once he learned some real skills from Yang Chen, he could go back to school and show off a bit, which would surely make the girls scream and the boys go wild. He would then be surrounded by beautiful women...

Hormones were still being secreted wildly, but unfortunately, Yang Chen looked at him seriously for a long time and finally shook his head, "You? No way."

"Damn! Why can you do it and I can't?!" Zhu Shishou was furious.

"You're not good at your studies, especially in math, physics, and chemistry, right? That's your weakness," Yang Chen pointed out bluntly.

"..." Zhu Shishou was stunned like a wooden stick, and after a while, he asked hesitantly, "What does this have to do with academic performance?"

"Who says it doesn't?" Yang Chen thought of the countless top scientists in the future being recruited by various forces to conduct research in laboratories, solving equations and formulating complex spirit art structures. He looked at Zhu Shishou with disdain and shook his head, "Study math, physics, and chemistry well, and you'll have no fear in the world... Haven't you heard this before?"

Yang Chen wasn't lying to Zhu Shishou or just making up an excuse to brush him off.

The fact was, the higher the level of the spirit art, the more complex and massive the particle equations needed to support its release.

After 2019, with the massive eruption of the Earth's core energy, the energy particles on Earth became unprecedentedly active.

As various transcendent forces rose, more and more spirit martial cultivators found that the skills they once relied on were being phased out at an incredible speed.

In 2027, the European Church led the way by incorporating spirit art research into the daily work of ordinary scientific researchers.

Less than a year later, the energy particle research institute named 'mk893' developed a new, nearly satellite-level energy particle equation structure, which was successfully deduced and inscribed into the mental space by a cardinal of the Church.

This event shocked the world, and people realized that the development and research of spirit arts didn't necessarily require spirit martial cultivators to spend a long time deducing and calculating. As long as there was the right direction, ordinary people could conduct the research!

Since then, hundreds of 'Particle Equation Development and Application Research Institutes' sprang up like mushrooms after the rain, and the Earth truly entered the fast lane of spirit martial development...

In the previous life, the planetary-level spirit art 'Purple Sun Descends' that Yang Chen mastered was developed based on his hypothesis, with the efforts of nearly a hundred researchers over seventeen years and an investment of over a hundred billion dollars.

The Chinese Daoist Alliance's investment in particle equation development and application was second only to the European Church and the American Congress, ranking third globally! The annual research funding was in the tens of billions of dollars, accounting for more than 40% of the Chinese Daoist Alliance's total annual income!

As the development and application of energy particles entered a rapid development phase, more and more new technologies and materials were continuously developed.

Yang Chen still remembered that a year before the Trojan Federation invaded Earth, humans had already mastered and could implement the complete extraction, preservation, and release of energy particles.

The elimination of low-grade energy sources like oil was already on the agenda of various governments. In the future, they would be replaced by various new spirit energy products engraved with particle equations, which would greatly improve the Earth's living environment.

After all, in the vast universe, spirit energy, or spirit force energy, also known as spirit energy particles, was inexhaustible and endless, completely eliminating the worry of energy depletion.

So, in summary... the future still belonged to the top students, while the underachievers could only look up to the great figures of the top students, enjoying the convenience and benefits brought by the new technologies, materials, and products provided by the top students, while muttering to themselves, "If I had studied hard back then, I could have done this and that..."

So! What Yang Chen said to Zhu Shishou at this moment was all true...

However, Zhu Shishou's nerves were quite thick, and he wasn't too affected by this. As he drank his cold beer, he looked at Yang Chen with the same disdainful eyes.

After downing a cup of beer, he smacked his lips and said disdainfully, "Weren't you a slacker yourself back then?"

"..." Yang Chen was taken aback and then laughed bitterly...

Zhu Shishou's words weren't wrong...

The two, who hadn't seen each other for nearly two years, had a lot to talk about. After temporarily putting aside the idea of becoming a superhuman, Zhu Shishou's topics became rich and varied.

For example, the Chinese literature major girl whom Yang Chen had pursued in college and who ultimately got him expelled, had slept with someone last year and got pregnant, forcing her to take a leave of absence.

Another example was the department head who had been punished and suspended for academic fraud, which they both found annoying at the time.

And then there was how many girlfriends he had had since Yang Chen left school, and how many he had slept with.

He chattered on like an old woman, yet he proudly called himself the prince of gossip and was quite pleased with himself.

As they drank more and more, Zhu Shishou's voice also grew louder.

In the end, he slammed his cup on the table and, with wide eyes, sang loudly...

"You don't believe me? I'll sing it for you! Listen carefully... This song goes like this... La la la Demacia..."

"Damn! Where did this lunatic come from?" A few young men at another table nearby started cursing, "F*ck, can't even drink in peace... If you dare to howl one more time, I'll crack your skull, got it?!"

Yang Chen glanced back but didn't say anything, as Zhu Shishou's singing was indeed quite nerve-wracking.

But when Yang Chen turned his head, one of the young men at the other table frowned and, while flicking ash, whispered, "Hey, look at that guy... Doesn't he look familiar?"

"Which one?"

"The one sitting opposite the guy who was howling just now..."

"Let me see... Yeah, the background looks familiar, like I've seen him somewhere..."

"Isn't that the guy we beat up at Mengqing Road last night? Hey, we didn't hit him hard enough... It's only been a day, and he's already out drinking and eating skewers like nothing happened?!"

"Right, right... I remember now, that's the guy... He's the son of some group, right?"

"What son of a group? Hengyang Group is bankrupt, a fallen tiger is worse than a dog... Otherwise, would Da Ge have called us to beat him up last night?"

"Hey... So, in a way, this guy is actually treating us to dinner tonight?"

A young man with a dragon and tiger tattoo on his arm, wearing a camouflage tank top, stood up with a wicked smile, nodded toward Yang Chen and Zhu Shishou, and said maliciously, "Guys, let's go thank him?"

"Absolutely!"

The five or six young men burst into laughter, then stood up and walked over to Yang Chen and Zhu Shishou, slinging their arms around each other...