novelraw Chapter 598: Where There Are People, There Is Jianghu
Chapter 598: Where There Are People, There Is Jianghu
The Go competition at the base began in the evening.
There were a total of 68 participants, almost all men wearing black cloaks joined the competition.
The result of the competition was not important, as everyone treated it more as a form of Cultivation. They would play against each other to refine their spiritual power even when there were no competitions.
Spiritual power is a hidden attribute outside of the four major attributes of Genetic Evolution, but it is vitally important.
Simply put, a body without spirit has no fighting power.
Strength, Agility, Defense, and Wisdom can all achieve significant effects through direct Evolution training, but spiritual power is an invisible Cultivation, a cultivation of willpower. There is no particularly direct method, nor can it be accomplished in one fell swoop.
Decades before the Witch Star people attacked Earth, they had begun various studies of Earth's civilization.
At that time, the frequent appearances of aliens and UFOs, a small part of them came from Witch Star.
The Witch Star people accidentally encountered Go from Xuanming Country and found that playing Go was very good for training spiritual power.
Thus, they incorporated their own Spiritual Power Technique into Go play and gradually developed this special method of spiritual power Cultivation.
Luo Meng easily defeated his opponent in the first round tonight and moved on to the next round.
His subordinate Yuri also made it to the next round.
Moreover, coincidentally, the two were matched against each other in the next round's draw, which meant that Luo Meng would face Yuri in tomorrow night's second round.
Luo Meng suddenly remembered something, hurriedly left the competition venue, and ran towards Yang Xiao's room.
It was just shortly after nightfall, Yang Xiao was Cultivating the Body Refining Stage of the Genetic Transformation Technique using the Surging Waves Hitting Shore Technique. Standing outside the room, Luo Meng could feel the airflow caused by Yang Xiao's Cultivation and hear the sound of surging waves.
Luo Meng was immediately startled.
He had also Cultivated the Surging Wave Hitting Shore Technique, but with his current Cultivation, the airflow he generated didn't seem to be as strong as Yang Xiao's. Was this guy really yet to break through to the King-Level Evolution?
Luo Meng stood outside the door, quietly waiting for Yang Xiao to finish Cultivation, also sensing the powerful aura emitted by Yang Xiao during his Cultivation.
Once Yang Xiao finished his Cultivation, he called out:
"Is that Captain Luo? I've finished Cultivating. Please come in."
Luo Meng pushed the door open and entered, laughing:
"Young Master Yang, your Cultivation of the Surging Waves Hitting Shore Technique is quite impressive!"
"Haha, Captain Luo flatters me. I have a poor Innate physique and my Genetic Evolution is slow. I learned the Genetic Transformation Technique back on Earth and have to constantly practice in hopes of improving my Innate physique and making further progress on the path of Genetic Evolution. I can't compare to your Innate exemplary physique."
Luo Meng laughed heartily. He agreed with what Yang Xiao had said - in terms of Genetic Evolution, the people of Witch Star innately had much stronger physiques than those on Earth, so their achievements tended to be much greater.
"Young Master Yang, as long as you diligently Cultivate, you will definitely make progress sooner or later."
Luo Meng's words carried a sense of superiority due to his status.
"Um, thank you for the encouragement, Captain Luo. Did you need something from me?"
Luo Meng chuckled awkwardly and closed the door behind him.
Yang Xiao sat down at the table and poured a glass of water for Luo Meng.
"Captain Luo, have some water. Please, whatever you have to say, go ahead."
Luo Meng sat down next to Yang Xiao, with a pleasing smile on his face, and said softly:
"Young Master Yang, as you know, our base is currently holding a Go competition,"
"Uh-huh,"
Yang Xiao nodded.
"You're a Go expert, in your opinion, between me and Yuri, whose Go skills are superior?"
Yang Xiao laughed upon hearing this.
In terms of Go, Luo Meng was never Yuri's match. The two had been learning from Yang Xiao simultaneously, and Yuri had a slightly higher talent for Go. Plus, recently Luo Meng had been playing Go often with others, which had wasted quite a bit of time.
On the contrary, Yuri had been seriously following Yang Xiao in playing chess, and had made considerable progress.
"You want to hear the truth or a lie?"
"Of course I want to hear the truth."
"The truth is, Yuri's chess skill is better than yours; you are no match for him."
"Ah!"
Although he had already known this deep down, to have it stated by Yang Xiao, a master, still made Luo Meng feel somewhat bitter, as if his fate had been pronounced.
Seeing the dejected look on Luo Meng's face, Yang Xiao said with a smile:
"Do you really want to win first place in the base competition?"
"I wouldn't dare think of winning first place in the base competition, I have some idea of my own level in chess. At the very least, it's quite hard to beat our station manager. But,"
"But, if you encounter Yuri in the competition, you very much want to defeat him, right?"
Luo Meng gave an awkward smile and said:
"I just drew Yuri's lot, and I'll be facing him tomorrow night.
Not to hide it from you, this guy Yuri is very smart, his Genetic Evolution Level has already caught up with mine, and he's been coveting my position as the team captain for a long time. If I can defeat him in the Go competition, not only would it make the station manager appreciate me more, but it would also crush Yuri's arrogant confidence. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"Understand, understand, understand, of course I understand!"
Yang Xiao said the word 'understand' three times in a row.
Where there are people, there is Jianghu; where there are benefits, there will be contention,
This is an iron law in both Earth society and in other civilizations across the universe.
"Do you want me to help you defeat him?"
Yang Xiao looked at Luo Meng.
Luo Meng immediately said:
"I wonder if you could teach me some killer techniques to catch him completely off guard,"
Yang Xiao was silent for a moment, then said:
"Yuri has expressed the same sentiment to me."
Luo Meng's heart skipped a beat as he watched Yang Xiao anxiously.
"Of course, I didn't agree with him. After all, you're Captain Luo, and you've always been the one looking out for me, haven't you? How could I betray you and not show loyalty?"
"Thump!"
Luo Meng slammed the table and gave Yang Xiao a thumbs up.
"Young Master Yang, I admire your loyalty; rest assured, if you can help me, I'll never forget your kindness. I'll propose to the base manager to officially promote you to the manager of the mining field and grant you a temporary identity card of Witch Star."
"A temporary identity card?"
Yang Xiao was taken aback; this was the first time he had heard of it.
"Young Master Yang, let me tell you the truth, the more than five hundred people who came from Earth this time are all assigned the status of miners or slaves. Even if you escape from our base, on the entire Purple Origin Planet, you would have nowhere to go, and anyone could capture you to be treated as a slave.
But having a temporary identity card is different; it's equivalent to being half a Witch Star citizen. Outsiders can't just capture you or enslave you at will,
Moreover, you could qualify for some lower-level jobs and positions. If you wait a bit longer, you could even become regularized and obtain formal citizenship of Witch Star. By then, you would become one of us, enjoying all the rightful benefits."
Yang Xiao, utterly baffled, only began to roughly understand the identity system of this planet. It was just like on Earth, where people from other provinces who went to work in Magic City faced discrimination with their non-local hukou, preventing them from enjoying a range of benefits such as social security, healthcare, education, and even making them ineligible to buy a house.
It seems that other planets also have the same sort of system.
F*ck, all systems for managing people are fundamentally the same!
(Thanks to book friend 'Supreme Judge Immortal' for tipping 1000 Qidian Coins, thank you all for your support!)