Chapter 13: Step-Siblings
Translator:
CKtalon
Editor:
CKtalon
After leaving Yu Qiubaiâs office, Zhou Wen took out his phone and tried to call his dad, Zhou Lingfeng. No matter how he thought about it, it was impossible for him to offend a figure like An Tianzuo.
For An Tianzuo to know him, a high schooler from a tiny city, and then criticize him by name was truly inexplicable.
This time, the phone call connected as Zhou Lingfengâs voice sounded. âSon, missing daddy so soon?â
Zhou Wen was already used to Zhou Lingfengâs character. Unmoved, he directly asked, âDad, do you know a person named An Tianzuo?â
âTianzuo? Of course.â Upon saying that, Zhou Lingfeng exclaimed in surprise. âHey, how do you know that Tianzuo is your elder brother? I donât think Iâve introduced the two of you.â
âMy elder brother?â Zhou Wen was left somewhat stunned.
âThatâs right. Tianzuo is Little Lanâs son. I married Little Lan, so heâs naturally your stepbrother. By the way, you also have a stepsister named An Jing...â He had slipped effortlessly into addressing his fiancĂ©e by an affectionate diminutive.
Zhou Wen didnât manage to hear the rest of what Zhou Lingfeng had to say. It was because he was so shocked. The development had exceeded his imagination. Zhou Lingfeng had actually married such a woman.
âDad, howâs your relationship with An Tianzuo?â Zhou Wen tried probing.
âGreat. Tianzuo and Little Jing honor me greatly. We have a very good relationship,â Zhou Lingfeng answered without much thought.
Zhou Wen understood his fatherâs character. It was unlikely that he was lying. However, he couldnât help but feel bitter deep down. If An Tianzuo and An Jing really have a good relationship with Zhou Lingfeng, why would they be treating me this way? Could it be that they arenât agreeable to dadâs marriage with Ouyang Lan?â
Zhou Wen could sense Zhou Lingfengâs good mood and how happy he was about his impending wedding. He didnât wish to affect Zhou Lingfengâs wedding because of his matters, much less be a burden on him.
If An Tianzuo and An Jing had treated him that way because they didnât want Zhou Lingfeng to marry Ouyang Lan, he didnât want his problems to affect Zhou Lingfengâs wedding. Otherwise, he would fall into their plans.
Although he hadnât met An Tianzuo before, nor did he know what motives An Tianzuo had, Zhou Wen had a terrible impression of him.
Regardless of how powerful the An family is, it has nothing to do with me. I have no plans on benefiting myself through the An family. This family is really going too far.
Although Zhou Wen now knew the underlying reasons, it was meaningless.
It wasnât as if he could tell others that An Tianzuo was pissed off because his dad had hit on his mom, thus also making him a sore sight to An Tianzuo, right?
Not only couldnât he say it, but even if he said it out loud, it wasnât going to change the situation he was in.
An Jing was able to defeat me with one strike. An Tianzuoâs one sentence nearly made me lose the qualification to take the combat test. At the end of the day, itâs because Iâm too weak. I can only be bullied when I lack strength. If I were an Epic stage expert, would they dare do this to me?
Zhou Wen wasnât someone to bemoan his fate. He quickly put the matter aside and focused on grinding on the mysterious phone.
Guide High Schoolâs former principal once commended Zhou Wen for being the most focused person he had ever met.
Focused sounded like a very ordinary commendation, but to truly be focused was an insurmountable feat.
Humans werenât saints. They had all kinds of desires and emotions that made them prone to enticement and disturbance. Even gods were no exception. Buddha suffered the temptation of Mara the demon, so what chance did mere mortals have?
Many people claim studying to be difficult, but that was because they were unable to fully focus on their studies, nor did they have the ability to maintain that focused state.
However, Zhou Wen was different. No matter what he did or no matter what the environment was, it was very easy for him to enter a focused state as he put a hundred percent into it. It was very difficult for him to be influenced by external factors; thus, the reason the former principal had made such a remark about Zhou Wen.
In-game, Zhou Wen summoned his Companion Beast, the Mutated Vigor Ant. Although it also had 9 for Constitution, this fellowâs carapace was hard and its defense was much stronger than Zhou Wen.
The blood-colored avatar rode on the Mutated Vigor Ant, storming through the Ant Nest. Even a horde of Vigor Ants besieging him was no longer a worry.
When the Mutated Vigor Ant struck with its front pincers, it killed ordinary Vigor Ants with one strike. With its hard carapace, it remained invincible amongst the hordes.
âIf only I had a spear.â Zhou Wen discovered that by riding on the Mutated Vigor Antâs back, the blood-colored avatar could hardly hit the Vigor Ants around it due to the distance. It had to jump off the Mutated Vigor Antâs back and fight alongside it.
Ever since he had obtained the mysterious crystal, Zhou Wen had never had such a good time grinding. The man and ant basically wiped out everything in their path as they stormed through the map. Whenever they met Mutated Vigor Ants, they could quickly kill them with their combined forces.
In the past, Zhou Wen was only able to grind in the opening area, dying before he could reach deeper. Now, he was able to storm all the way in, quickly allowing him to enter areas he had never entered before.
With so many Vigor Ants killed, two dimensional crystals dropped, but they were of very low values. Zhou Wen only replenished some of his energy after absorbing them.
Ding!
After killing another Mutated Vigor Ant, Zhou Wen heard a familiar sound. On careful look, he was delighted. This time, it was a dimensional crystalâa Vigor Ant Crystal at Rank 9.
Zhou Wen got the blood-colored avatar to pick it up, instantly feeling a jolt of electricity surge into his body as it blasted through his circulation.
His Vigor Divine Fist instantly rose from Rank 7 to Rank 9.
His Vigor Divine Fist might raise once again at Rank 9. However, the amount of Primordial Energy drained increased as well. Each usage expended 5 Primordial Energy. With only 9 Primordial Energy points, he was unable to use Vigor Divine Fist twice in short periods of time.
With this new addition, Zhou Wen lost himself to grinding. The man and ant slaughtered through the Ant Nest, leaving a wake of destruction as they forged deep into the nest.
The Ant Nest was like a huge underground maze. After nearly two hours of killing, he finally saw its end. The cave ahead seemed to become broader as the passageway became wide as though he was entering a large warehouse.
As he was storming through the horde of ants, he suddenly saw a silver glimmer of light. All Zhou Wen saw was a strange ant with silver wings sweep above the blood-colored avatar, and the next second, the latterâs head flew into midair. The game screen then went black.