Start with push-ups to gain experience

Feihong Road, Midnight Forest Bar.

The VIP lounge on the second floor was dimly lit.

The sun was shining brightly outside the window.

Here, however, heavy curtains are drawn, blocking most of the sunlight out of the glass.

On the marble coffee table, several empty beer bottles lay scattered haphazardly, and the ashtray was already overflowing with cigarette butts.

An unpleasant odor lingered in the air, seemingly a mixture of tobacco, alcohol, and foot odor.

Snoring—snoring—

On the large leather sofa, a young man with a buzz cut was lying on his back, fast asleep.

He was shirtless, wearing only a pair of floral beach shorts.

His two arms, covered in tattoos, were wide open, revealing a fierce tiger tattoo on his chest.

One leg was dangling precariously from the edge of the sofa, and a suspicious trace of water clung to the corner of his mouth.

Clearly, I partied all night and was exhausted, so I slept until now.

Ring ring—

A cell phone ringing suddenly broke the silence of the room.

Xu Hao smacked his lips twice, made a muffled sound, and turned over, wanting to go back to sleep.

But the ringing continued unabated, showing no sign of stopping.

He frowned, closed his eyes, and groped aimlessly on the coffee table with his right hand.

With a loud crash, an empty wine bottle was overturned.

Then he leaned down halfway and reached under the sofa to touch the floor.

After searching for a long time, he found nothing and his hands were still empty.

Hearing his phone ring again, he scratched his head in annoyance, picked at a piece of sleep from the corner of his eye, and slowly sat up.

After looking around, he finally looked down and found that his phone was firmly pressed under his buttocks.

"what--"

He squinted, yawned, pulled out his phone, which was burning hot from being pressed, and groggily pressed the answer button.

"Xu Hao!"

As soon as the call connected, a familiar and steady voice came through the receiver.

The sound wasn't loud, but it seemed to carry a high-voltage current.

Xu Hao, who was half asleep just a second ago, suddenly sprang up from the sofa as if he had a spring in his butt.

He snapped his feet together, straightened his back, held the phone in both hands, and his tone instantly became extremely respectful:
"President, I'm here!"

"What are you doing right now?" the person on the other end of the phone asked.

Xu Hao's eyes darted around, and he blurted out:

"Boss, I practiced the Great Sun Burning Body Technique that you taught me all night last night! It felt really good, but it was a bit mentally draining. I just closed my eyes to try and strengthen my foundation."

"By the way, did you call me because you have some important task to complete?"

Before Fang Cheng could delve deeper, he smoothly steered the conversation away from the topic and solemnly declared his loyalty:

"Boss, just say the word! As long as you give the order, I'll do whatever you say, even if it means going through fire and water!"

"Yes, there is indeed a task I'm going to assign to you."

Fang Cheng paused slightly in his speech.

He then lowered his voice and carefully explained the specific details of the task over the phone.

"Yes, yes, I understand..."

Xu Hao listened, nodding vigorously.

His initially relaxed expression turned to surprise, and then slowly became strange.

After Fang Cheng finished speaking, he responded repeatedly and respectfully:
"Don't worry, boss, I've remembered everything. I promise I'll handle this perfectly!"

"Do a good job, I have faith in your intelligence and talent."

Fang Cheng offered a final word of encouragement.

With a "beep," the call ended.

Xu Hao held his phone in his right hand and scratched his messy buzz cut with his left, muttering to himself, somewhat bewildered:

"What did the boss want me to do, go to Xishan to be a village guard? And also find out the details of an old zombie?"

Hearing the terrifying words "zombie" and "ghost" sent a chill down his spine, even on this hot day.

But then she thought about it again, and realized that the president, that god-like man, was standing behind her.

Who cares about vampires or ancient zombies? They're all just little karaomis in front of the boss!

If they really piss me off, I'll just make a phone call and call in reinforcements.

When the boss arrives, won't he scatter all the ashes of those demons and monsters?

This self-comfort was very effective.

Xu Hao immediately perked up and felt full of confidence.

After this unexpected event, he was no longer sleepy at all.

Xu Hao didn't go back to the sofa to lie down, but instead turned his head to look at the desk in the corner.

On the table sat a large, rectangular computer with a relatively new casing, but the keyboard gaps were filled with ash.

He bought this metal thing to keep up with the times, originally intending to use it for playing games. He even practiced typing with pinyin on the keyboard.

As a result, his gaming talent was so bad that he got beaten every day, and eventually he simply became a tool for watching porn.

Xu Hao walked over, tossed his phone onto the table, and pressed the power button on the computer case.

The fan was making a buzzing noise.

The screen then flickered twice before gradually lighting up and displaying desktop icons.

He first opened the browser, and as Fang Cheng instructed, he stretched out his two thick index fingers and tapped the letters on the keyboard in a "one-finger Zen" style.

The typing speed was very slow, and the sound of typing was intermittent.

After more than half a minute, a "talent recruitment website" finally popped up on the screen.

He then entered related search terms such as "Dongdu Xishan" and "village guardian".

The page refreshed, and a large number of irrelevant entries popped up.

Xu Hao squinted and slowly filtered through the results, eventually leaving only a few.

He gripped the slightly slippery mouse and clicked on the link labeled "Guhuai Village".

The webpage froze for a few seconds, and after a series of icons finished scrolling, a poorly formatted job posting appeared in the center of the screen.

The recruiting company was listed as "Xishan Folk Culture Protection Company".

Position: Village Guardian.

Work location: Xishan Ancient Locust Village.

Number of positions available: Several.

Xu Hao's gaze shifted downwards, and upon seeing the salary and job requirements, his eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but read it aloud:

"Annual salary of one million, with a bonus of two million after five years. Requirements: strong and healthy, bold, unmarried, with no ties, orphans preferred."

"My daily work involves staying in the village and conducting regular patrols..."

Seeing this, he smirked and gave a sneer:
"Is this some kind of windfall? If I weren't a gang leader now, back when I was still hanging around on the streets two years ago, I would have crawled to apply for the job."

He scrolled the mouse wheel, his gaze settling on a real-life photo of the work environment at the bottom of the page.

The photo shows a dusty old village.

Due to a technical limitation of the cathode ray tube, the screen flickered slightly, making the skewed shadows of the houses in the photo appear to be slowly writhing. An indescribable chill crept up his retina and into his mind, and Xu Hao felt inexplicably uneasy, goosebumps rising on his arms.

He pursed his lips, banishing the random thoughts from his mind.

He then picked up his phone from the table and dialed the number listed on the webpage.

Beep, beep, beep—

After a few rings, the call was connected.

A somewhat rigid male voice came through:

"Hello, this is the Xishan Folk Culture Protection Company. Who is this?"

Xu Hao pulled up a chair and sat down, his long legs crossed and propped up on the edge of the computer desk. His tone carried a strong sense of江湖 (jianghu, the world of martial arts and outlaws):
"Stop with all that nonsense. I see you're recruiting village guards online, right? I'm interested in this job. Send me the address, and I'll start tomorrow."

Manager Wu on the other end of the phone visibly hesitated for two seconds.

I've obviously seen arrogant people before, but I've never seen someone so arrogant when applying for a job.

"Sir, we have a strict recruitment process and need to verify your basic information first..."

"Check my ass."

Xu Hao interrupted him impatiently:

“You’re just hiring someone to watch the place? I have over ten years of experience, and I can bench press 150 kilograms. I can take on ten guys without even breaking a sweat.”

"Is this physical condition good enough to guard the gate? What, do you need to test my calculus skills to hire a security guard?"

Manager Wu took a deep breath, suppressing his anger and trying his best to maintain a professional tone:

"This job is special, so we need to confirm your identity. What is your age? What is your family background? We give priority to people with no family ties."

Xu Hao grabbed the half-pack of cigarettes on the table, shook one out, put it in his mouth, and said lazily:

"Twenty-four, a single dog. My husband's long gone, my mom's living like a widow, she treats me like I'm dead. Does that count as being an orphan?"

Then, as if remembering something, he changed his mind and made a request:
"By the way, do you provide meals there? I have a big appetite, so there has to be plenty of meat. If the food is too bad, I'm going to flip the table."

Manager Wu's breathing became noticeably heavier, but he still patiently answered:

"During the work period, all meals and accommodation are provided."

He paused briefly, then inquired about the patient's condition:

"Do you have any hidden illnesses or a family history of mental illness? Our work environment is relatively closed, so we will not consider candidates with poor psychological resilience."

"Mental illness? Who are you calling a lunatic!"

Xu Hao spat out his unlit cigarette and slammed his hand on the table:
"Get to the point! Do you need any people or not? Stop beating around the bush. If you don't, I'm hanging up. I have over a dozen places under my control waiting to be inspected. It's an honor for me to visit your places!"

There was a brief silence on the other end of the phone.

Only a faint electrical hum could be heard in the receiver.

Manager Wu seemed to be frantically weighing in his mind whether he should hire this kind of hotheaded young man who was all brawn and no brains.

Seeing that the other party remained silent for a long time, Xu Hao thought that the matter was going to fall through.

He quickly adjusted his posture, pulled his legs back from the edge of the table, and cleared his throat.

Then, looking at his phone, he continued to enthusiastically escalate the situation, adding fuel to the fire:
"Hello? Hello? Manager Wu, can you even breathe?"

"Let me tell you, it's only because I've recently seen through the illusions of the world and want to find a quiet place to cultivate my mind and body. Before, I wouldn't have gone to a run-down mountain village like yours, not even if you carried me in a sedan chair!"

"Don't underestimate me just because I didn't have much schooling. When it comes to guarding the place, nobody in the underworld is more professional than me. Back in the day, I carried a broken water pipe all the way from the south of the city to the east, chasing down dozens of punks without even breaking a sweat!"

Xu Hao got more and more excited as he talked, and even stood up, put one hand on his hip, and paced back and forth in front of the computer desk:

"If I ever run into any petty thieves or wild boars and wolves while working for you, I'll take them all down with one punch!"

"I don't have many other strengths, but I'm strong and brave. As long as you pay me properly, even if the village is haunted in the middle of the night, I can still flip the coffin lid off with my bare hands, drag out the ghost, and slap it twice across the face!"

"Let me tell you, just last month, some fool dared to cause trouble on my turf, and I..."

"Okay, okay... come over here."

Manager Wu finally lost his temper and quickly spoke up, forcefully interrupting his endless boasting.

They seemed afraid that Xu Hao would reveal some shocking story about how he grew up as a street thug.

Manager Wu took a deep breath, his speech noticeably quickening, and then began to explain the onboarding process:
"Bring your ID. Meet me at the entrance of Guhuai Village at 2 PM on the 13th of the lunar calendar this month. You can take bus 304 to the terminal station first, and then walk two kilometers of mountain path to get in."

beep--

After the other party finished speaking, they hung up the phone impatiently.

Hearing the busy tone on his phone, Xu Hao grinned, revealing a set of white teeth.

He smugly tossed his phone onto the sofa:

"Hey, I didn't expect that I would be such a sought-after talent. These people are really eager to find someone talented."

Thinking of the chairman's instructions and the objective of this mission, Xu Hao showed no fear whatsoever.

He abruptly pushed back his chair, stood up, puffed out his broad chest, and assumed a fighting stance.

Immediately afterwards, aiming at the air in front of him, he suddenly exerted force from his waist and hips, and his arms slammed out in succession, unleashing a series of powerful punches.

Jab, left hook, right hook, jab, low kick, high kick...

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Hah!"

The thick arm tore through the air, the fist whistling through the air, creating a series of dull, piercing sounds.

With a final, powerful, aerial chop, his leg hovered steadily in mid-air.

Xu Hao put away his moves, rubbed his wrists, and looked excited and eager to try again.

"I've been practicing the Great Sun Burning Body Technique with the boss for so long, but I haven't had a chance to practice it in real combat. This time, it's time to take down those blind ghosts and monsters and test the results of my cultivation!"

....................................

The evening breeze flowed into the bedroom through the half-open glass window, dispelling the sweltering heat accumulated during the day.

Fang Cheng stood quietly by the window, holding a water glass in one hand.

In the afternoon, he and Cheng Jiashu made a special trip to Xishan Ancient Locust Village.

The two circled the perimeter of the lifeless, deserted village, getting a clear picture of the terrain and road conditions.

They then finalized a detailed plan to have Xu Hao act as an undercover agent infiltrate the village and gather intelligence, and temporarily evacuated from Xishan.

Before sunset, Fang Cheng successfully returned to Wanghu Town.

Dinner was already prepared at home.

His mother asked him why he was so late.

Fang Cheng made up a random excuse to get away with it, and then, after eating and taking a shower, he felt completely relaxed.

At this moment, he swallowed the warm tea, his deep gaze passing over the scattered rooftops of the town and landing on the silent mountain shadows in the northwest.

The ancient locust village is located there.

The straight-line distance from my maternal grandfather's home in Wanghu Town to the village is about ten kilometers.

If any unexpected situation were to arise, given his current physical explosive power, he could cross this mountain range and forcefully enter the battlefield in a very short time if he were to run at full speed.

If you choose to fly, it's even more convenient, taking only ten minutes or so.

Although it is slower than running and takes longer, the advantage is that there are no obstacles along the way.

Fang Cheng put down his water glass, raised his left hand, and glanced at the calendar on his wristwatch.

6 month 29 number.

The eleventh day of the fifth month in the lunar calendar.

There are only four days left until the full moon night of the fifteenth day of the lunar calendar, when the village guardians will hold their sacrificial ceremony.

All preliminary arrangements have been completed.

Next, all that's left is for Xu Hao, that hothead, to sneak into the village, find the way to open the inner world, and locate Jiang Chen. (End of Chapter)