In the 90s, you could acquire max-level skills every 14 days.

There are still six days until the tasting event.

On the first night after putting the fighting game into the AFK slot, Zhang Yong slept for less than five hours, feeling like his brain was fighting in his dreams.

It's not the routines Coach Yang taught, but something deeper—distance, rhythm, and that intuition before the opponent makes a move.

The system panel appears before your eyes:

[Fighting Lv.1: Progress 87% (AFK... 30x speed)]

One night equals thirty nights. Five hours is equivalent to one hundred and fifty hours of combat training.

Zhang Yong rolled out of bed and performed a series of punches in the bedroom. The sound of his punches whistling through the air and his clean, decisive retraction of his fists showed he was completely different from yesterday.

Awesome! Let's keep it running.

……

Over the next few days, Zhang Yong spent his days practicing with Coach Yang and Da Zhuang at the gymnasium, and his evenings writing articles.

My combat skill level skyrocketed.

The next day, Lv.2.

Day 4, Lv.3.

Coach Yang noticed something was wrong. This kid came every day, and every day he seemed like a different person. On the first day, Da Zhuang was beating him up, but by the fourth day, Da Zhuang couldn't even touch him.

"Did you go home and eat cornbread tonight?" Coach Yang rubbed his ribs, which had been jabbed by Zhang Yong's knee, and grimaced.

"He's getting stronger every day, he doesn't know when to stop."

"Coach, I really did accept it."

"Fine! I'll let you have it!" Coach Yang cursed, but in his mind he was already thinking about how to talk to the district team.

Zhang Yong didn't dare explain. He couldn't explain it.

……

The evening of the fifth day.

The phone rang in the gatehouse, and Grandpa Chen shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Zhang Yong! Phone call!"

Zhang Yong came downstairs and took the receiver.

"It's me, Liu Jianguo."

"Brother Liu, what's up?"

"I have some good news for you." Liu Jianguo's voice was low, but he couldn't hide his excitement. "Editor-in-Chief Zhou has taken care of most of the work at the institute. Lin Xuechang's file has been officially put on the proofreading team, and the finance department has even reduced salaries."

"Chen Ping took all the articles that were supposed to be with our newspaper back with him."

"Oh dear, I happened to be there that day, and I saw him dressed very warmly, with a hat and mask on. He didn't seem to mind the heat, even in this sweltering weather."

Zhang Yong leaned against the wall of the guard room and nodded with a smile.

"Also, Editor-in-Chief Zhou asked me to ask you—how far have you gotten with 'The Kingdom on Wheels'? He said the front page is reserved for you, and it can be published anytime."

Zhang Yong thought about it.

"It's finished, a little over 40,000 words."

"When will you send it over? Editor-in-Chief Zhou said the sooner the better, the next issue's layout is all about your piece."

Zhang Yong understood immediately; Zhou Deqing had finished dealing with his internal problems and was now extending an olive branch to him.

Send it over? Riding a motorcycle across half of Beijing, being watched on the road, what if something goes wrong with the manuscript…

"I'll send it by registered mail."

"Registered mail? Aren't you coming over? Editor-in-Chief Zhou really wants to see you."

"I've been busy lately, I haven't had a moment to myself. I'm learning something new, I'm always busy," Zhang Yong said calmly. "The post office is only 300 meters from my house, it only takes two or three days to send something there, it won't delay anything."

Liu Jianguo didn't ask any further questions. "Okay, then you go ahead with your work. I'll tell Editor-in-Chief Zhou how you've been lately?"

"fine."

"That's fine. Call me anytime if you need anything."

It's over.

Zhang Yong stood at the entrance of the gatehouse, watching the bicycles and pedestrians coming and going on Jinsong Road.

He was absolutely certain.

These past few days, the person tracking me has changed locations several times, but the distance between me and the car has always remained between 60 and 150 meters. That's professional. It's not something street thugs can do.

But the other party never made any move near the doorstep, no code words, no markings.

It's probably because Jinsong Community is only a five-minute bike ride from the Chaoyang District Police Station.

In addition, Zhang Dewang and Liu Gui had just been imprisoned, so they didn't dare to cause trouble here.

Zhang Yong went through the patterns of the past few days.

When I go out, I either go to the stadium, the cotton mill, or the post office—all crowded places, all on the main roads of the city.

The other party's only chance is the day after tomorrow.

Tasting event. Tongxian County.

From Jinsong to Tongxian Winery, it's a one-way trip of over 40 kilometers. Once you exit the Fourth Ring Road and head east, past Baliqiao, you'll find vast stretches of farmland and woodland.

The road is narrow, there are few cars, and it's in the middle of nowhere.

And the other party must have guessed that he would have to drink a couple of glasses at the tasting event.

Riding a bike after drinking, on unpaved roads, makes it easy to make a move.

Zhang Yong's lips curled up slightly.

It's a beautiful idea.

……

The day of the tasting event. Saturday.

It was 5:30 in the morning, just as dawn was breaking.

Zhang Yong glanced at the system panel in the bedroom:

[Fighting Lv.3: Progress 41% (AFK... 30x speed)]

[Driving Lv.6: Progress 6% (fixed)]

enough.

With Lv.3 combat skills and Lv.6 driving ability, if you encounter trouble on the road, you can at least escape unscathed.

He got dressed and went out. Li Guilan was already up, and the aroma of sesame seeds and sugar wafted from the kitchen.

"The honey-glazed sesame cakes are ready. They're a bit stringy, so I've put them in your lunchbox for you." Li Guilan handed over an aluminum lunchbox and a cloth bag.

"I bought the pastry shop yesterday: peach shortbread, mung bean cake, and glutinous rice strips. Is two catties of each enough?"

"That's enough, Mom, thank you."

"Okay, ride slowly on the road, and drink less alcohol, it's bad for your brain."

"Someone from your dad's workplace got drunk and fell into the river. Don't go into the river."

"understood."

Zhang Yong carried his things downstairs and started his motorcycle.

The exhaust pipe roared loudly, particularly jarring in the early morning air of the neighborhood.

The curtains on the fourth floor moved slightly.

……

Sun Lei stood behind the window and watched Zhang Yong ride his motorcycle out of the community gate and turn east onto Jinsong South Road.

His palms were sweaty.

He had been clutching that piece of paper in his pocket for days; the ballpoint pen marks on it were almost smudged.

He mechanically walked to the living room, picked up the phone receiver, and dialed the number.

It rang twice, then I answered.

"Feed?"

"He...he went out." Sun Lei's voice was dry. "He just left, riding his motorcycle eastward."

"Okay." The other end only said one word and then hung up.

Sun Lei put the receiver back, his hands trembling.

He stood in the middle of the living room, stunned for an unknown amount of time.

What did he do?

The middle-aged man said "trip someone up," but he wasn't stupid. Why would he need to ask about the departure time or intercept someone on the road to trip someone up?

What if... what if something goes wrong?

"Lei Zi? What are you thinking about? I'm going downstairs to buy two steamed buns. What kind of filling do you want?"

Sun Lei was brought back to his senses by his father's question. He looked up and saw that it was already past six o'clock. Zhang Yong had been gone for almost forty minutes!

The roads to Tongxian are in bad condition, but it only takes a little over an hour to drive to the county seat!

He has to do something.

Sun Lei rushed into the room, pulled out the address book his father had issued from the Education Bureau, which contained the switchboard numbers of various departments.

He flipped through the pages frantically, finally landing on the page for "Tongxian".

There is no phone number for the winery.

He flipped through it again, but still nothing.

Sun Lei was sweating profusely with anxiety. He ran out of the house, downstairs, and headed straight for Old Zhou's house in the next building.

"Lei Zi, why are you running away! Aren't you going to eat?!"

......