Cold sweat instantly poured down Jiang Nan’s face!
I got cocky!
I’m properly done for now!
What bloody hidden test?
This act of kindness nearly cost the old grandpa his life!
The expressions on Zhong Yingxue and the girls’ faces all froze. What do we do now?
Jiang Nan: “Leg it! Run! Just pretend nothing happened!”
Thank heavens I didn’t tell him my real name just now, otherwise the interview would be off the table.
Yu Qingqing: ???
But the grandpa is still lying flat on the ground!
What happened to all that talk about love and responsibility?
Wu Liang patted his chest and laughed: “No worries, Nan-ge must be worried it’d be awkward to go down and help the grandpa up!”
“Relax! Leave it to me! I’m not afraid of awkward! We have to see good deeds through to the end!”
With that he took a massive leap down the steps, carving a graceful arc through the air before landing with a heavy thud!
Jiang Nan’s face darkened. He grabbed Zhong Yingxue: “Go go go! Move it!”
He hurriedly dragged Zhong Yingxue and the girls inside!
Wu Liang beamed, reached down with one huge mitt, seized Xiao Chuihuo by the scruff of the neck, and hoisted him up like a chick!
At this moment Xiao Chuihuo’s padded trousers and down jacket had several fresh holes rubbed through them!
White cotton and feathers were poking out everywhere!
There was even a massive lump on his forehead!
[Resentment Points from Xiao Chuihuo +1000!]
The lad certainly has a sense of responsibility!
But could you please pick me up in a slightly more dignified way?
Do I mean nothing to you?
Wu Liang’s enormous palm worked like a giant fan, smacking the dust off Xiao Chuihuo’s body!
Thump! Thump!
The impacts made Xiao Chuihuo cough violently and bug his eyes out!
He couldn’t help saying: “Young man! You’ve got some strength in those hands!”
Any harder and you’d slap me straight into the next life!
Are you dusting me off or beating me up?
Wu Liang: “Thanks for the compliment, grandpa! Really sorry about just now! You all right?”
Xiao Chuihuo: ……
Do I look all right to you?
Are you sure that was a compliment?
Wu Liang plonked Xiao Chuihuo back into the wheelchair!
Then he lifted the entire wheelchair and slung it over his shoulder!
Xiao Chuihuo: !!!
Instantly a terrible premonition rose in his heart!
“Grandpa! I’ll carry you straight up! Hold tight!”
“Oi! No need! Don’t don’t…”
“No trouble at all! Why so polite with me!”
BOOM!
With a huge bang, Wu Liang leapt skyward from a standing start!
Wheelchair on his shoulder, grandpa on the wheelchair!
Xiao Chuihuo once again experienced the thrill of extreme speed!
[Resentment Points from Xiao Chuihuo +1000!]
[From…]
You lot are definitely doing this on purpose, right?
Taking the piss out of me, are you?
You’ve hauled me all the way back up again? Doesn’t that make my earlier crash completely pointless?
Aaaaaargh!
Yet he narrowed his eyes and smiled: “Young man! What’s your name? Tell grandpa, yeah?”
Wu Liang remembered Jiang Nan’s earlier teaching, turned solemn: “My name is Wu Good-Man!”
Xiao Chuihuo: !!!
You don’t look anything like a bloody good man!
Only now did Wu Liang realise Jiang Nan and the others had already gone inside. He hurried to catch up!
Xiao Chuihuo rubbed the huge bump on his forehead, gritted his teeth, and wheeled himself towards the compound.
“D…Director? What on earth happened to you? Weren’t you just going to check out the new students?”
A woman with a bun hairstyle, black-rimmed glasses, and a folder clutched to her chest stared at Xiao Chuihuo in shock!
Not only was she stunned, the staff handling interview registration were stunned too!
What the hell happened? Did a big wolfhound maul him?
“Xinyi? Quick! Push me to HR! What kind of legendary newbies have we recruited this year?”
Tao Xinyi looked blank: “Sh…shouldn’t we go to the medical office first?”
“No way! HR! Now!”
Wu Liang jogged after the group, face glowing with happiness!
As expected, doing good deeds really does put you in a great mood!
Jiang Nan: “Big lad! The grandpa’s all right, yeah?”
“All good! He was even smiling and thanking me, asked my name!”
Jiang Nan shuddered: “You didn’t tell him, did you?”
“Course not!”
“That’s good! That’s good!”
The group crossed the plaza. Behind it stood six small buildings arranged in a C-shape!
On the open ground were lots of outdoor fitness equipments you’d find in parks!
Things like parallel bars, high bars, uneven bars!
Plenty of grandpas and grandmas strolling downstairs!
But in the next moment!
Crack! A sharp sound echoed!
Drawing everyone’s attention!
Two old grandpas sat on a stone bench, both baring teeth, eyes red!
“Rock! Paper! Scissors!”
“Haha! I win this round!”
One grandpa threw his head back and roared with laughter, raised his palm and swung it hard!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
From point-blank range he actually produced three sonic booms!
Smack!
A crisp slap landed on the other grandpa’s face, sending his head sideways!
“You old sod, didn’t have breakfast? So weak? Again!”
Jiang Nan and company were completely dumbfounded!
Over on the other side, two grandpas who had each lost their left arms were arm-wrestling on a stone table, grimacing ferociously!
Veins bulged on their arms, biceps thicker than Jiang Nan’s waist!
Jiang Nan’s eyes nearly popped out!
Just how brutal must the training have been to forge a right arm that massive!
On the high bar, a grandma was doing abdominal circles round the bar! Seventy-eight revolutions per minute!
She’d practically turned into a phantom!
On the parallel bars, a grandpa with no legs was doing Russian push-ups. No idea how long he’d been at it, there were three centimetres of snow piled on his back!
And another grandpa whipping a spinning top made from a gas cylinder!
That sport looked fairly normal!
Except the top was a bloody upside-down gas canister!
Jiang Nan: =͟͟͞͞(꒪ᗜ꒪‧̣̥̇)
“Can someone tell me… is this actually a nursing home?”
Do these grandpas and grandmas really need looking after?
They’re straight-up retired immortals!
Wu Liang’s face darkened: “I reckon any random grandpa in here could kill me with one punch!”
Qin Shou swallowed hard: “Are nursing homes all this hardcore nowadays?”
Zhong Yingxue looked lost: “I can’t even read their ranks…”
The scene really was too shocking!
Ye Xinghe led his team up from behind and smiled: “They are the Pioneers! Pioneers of this era!”
“Quite a few were comrades-in-arms with my grandad!”
“Nan-shen! Fancy seeing you again! Still silver rank? Enjoying the stay?”
Jiang Nan rolled his eyes: “Keep chatting like that and you’ll get a smack!”
Ye Xinghe laughed: “Come on! The interview’s about to start!”
“Not joking, everyone from our high-school batch is at a disadvantage. The rest of the candidates are second- and third-year students from top universities!”
“We’re behind in age, experience, and rank! Five hundred slots won’t be easy to grab!”
“Interview, medical exam, attack power test, and final comprehensive assessment…”
“No idea how many of our hundred-plus will make it through in the end!”
Even Ye Xinghe sounded worried!
Yet Jiang Nan looked guilty as sin: “I’m more worried about the interview itself…”
The group passed through the nursing home area and finally arrived at the real Pioneer Academy!
In the centre was an enormous grass sports field!
The buildings were on a massive scale, far surpassing even top-tier spirit martial universities!
Row upon row of teaching blocks and student dorms, plus some bizarre-shaped structures whose purpose was anyone’s guess…
On the field, students stood around in small groups!
Senior students were guiding the new interview candidates towards the interview area!
“Oi oi oi! Heard yet? Among this batch of newbies there’s a proper beast! The second he arrived he gave our director a massive lump on the head!”
“What? That reckless? How’d he do it?”
“Dunno, but the director’s got a huge bump on his forehead! Apparently slid seventy-odd metres on his knees! Even his padded trousers got shredded!”
“This newbie’s a bit savage, innit? What’s the story? Picking on the director because his legs don’t work?”
“We daren’t ask! Heard the director’s tearing through HR looking for someone called Jiang Good-Man…”
“Jiang Good-Man? Hard name!”
The group listened to the seniors chatting over there, and their expressions all turned strange. One by one they looked at Jiang Nan!
Ye Xinghe, puzzled: “Nan-shen? Why are you sweating buckets in the middle of winter?”
Jiang Nan swallowed: “I… I’ve got a guilty conscience!”
Super guilty!
Xia Yao, curious: “Hmm~ Xiao Nan, what are you looking up on your phone?”
Jiang Nan: “I’m booking tickets back to Jiangcheng for tonight…”
