"Gao Jie, step forward!" He Xiaotian could only offer a moment of silence for his disciple’s brother’s death. Birth, old age, sickness, and death were unavoidable for humans. Roger, standing beside him, looked a bit awkward.
’What kind of shitty luck is this?’
’I just got here, and the next thing I know, his disciple loses a family member.’
"I won’t disturb your training any longer. There’s still some business to take care of at headquarters, so I’ll be heading back now." As soon as the words left his mouth, Roger turned and walked away.
Gao Jie, his eyes red, stepped forward.
"Go on. As your master, I won’t offer you any empty consolations." He Xiaotian patted his shoulder and waved him off, gesturing for him to leave with the soldier.
Throughout the entire process, not a single person’s movements on the training grounds paused for even a moment.
They continued their synchronized cultivation, not daring to slack off.
"Watch them closely for me."
He Xiaotian gave the order to his trio of lackeys and then headed to the communication office.
Because it was closed-door training, the registered disciples’ cell phones had long been collected and stored by the soldiers standing guard at the gate.
The news of Gao Jie’s brother’s death had made him a little sentimental.
So he was going to make a trip, retrieve his disciples’ phones, and let them call their families to report that they were safe.
It would be a reward for three weeks of hellish training.
A short while later, He Xiaotian returned, carrying a box of cell phones.
"Stop. Take an hour’s break. You can call your families, but you must remember not to reveal any information about your cultivation." As soon as he finished speaking, cheers erupted from the training grounds.
Unfortunately, the students from Tang En’s group next door were all lying in the intensive care unit, so they couldn’t hear a thing.
Otherwise, they would have just assumed that the big muscle-freak was torturing his disciples again.
Although the group was happy, they didn’t break discipline. They obediently lined up to receive their personal phones.
Then, they each found a corner to talk with their families.
Inside the box, the only one left was the phone belonging to Gao Jie, who had just left.
It should be noted that when they started the three-month closed-door training, they all left their families with the number for the Medical University’s communication office.
So it was normal that Gao Jie hadn’t taken his phone before he left.
He Xiaotian sat on a small stool, staring blankly at the sky to pass the time.
His Experience Points system had a new notification.
This was a prompt that had appeared after he shattered the copper plate with a stomp and intimidated Tang En.
[Copper Statue Skill - 500/700+ (Beginner: Strength +1, Hardness +1.)]
It was worth noting that he hadn’t used any Experience Points.
Instead, he had relied on his own training to reach the beginner level of the Copper Statue Skill, and while teaching his disciples, the Experience Points had also been slowly increasing.
In the past, He Xiaotian would have been thrilled by this.
’But now, am I really short on a few measly Experience Points?’
’Who do you think you’re looking down on!’
’Of course, I should still save what I can. I’ll just train with the disciples when I have nothing better to do.’
He estimated that by the time of the assessment in two-odd months, he could probably get the Copper Statue Skill to max level.
"?I rule the world, I roam free, admired by all. I rule the world, I never need to look back. I turn the world upside down, I write my own laws of dignity~~~This fierce, wild wolf with the glint in its eyes~~~"
The sound of Chen Xiaochun’s singing rang out, interrupting He Xiaotian’s thoughts.
He turned his head and saw that it was coming from Gao Jie’s phone.
’Heh, so this kid likes *Young and Dangerous*?’
’Kids these days. All that fighting and killing is a bad influence on the youth. What’s so good about it?’
He didn’t stop to think that he was the one running around with a hammer looking for ghosts, and had even demolished a Daoist temple, yet he had the nerve to lecture others.
’Unknown caller ID?’
There was only a phone number on the screen, with no contact name saved.
In modern society, personal information leaks were all too common.
You fill out a form, and ten-odd minutes later, a bunch of people selling insurance, second-hand apartments, or even from a street-side stall would call you to push their products.
CLICK!
He Xiaotian hung up directly. ’A master secretly answering his disciple’s phone? What would people think?’
A few minutes later, the ringtone sounded again.
"?I rule the world, I roam free, admired by all..."
CLICK!
"Call again and I’ll have the information department track you down," He Xiaotian muttered. Spam calls were so annoying. He couldn’t even sunbathe in peace.
"?I rule the world, I roa—"
This time, He Xiaotian chose to answer. He’d never seen such a persistent spam caller.
"..."
Before the other party could speak, he cut in.
"Why are you making random spam calls for no reason? The owner of this phone just had a death in the family. Aren’t you afraid he’ll come over and beat you to death as a sacrifice?"
CLICK!
Then he immediately hung up.
The other side: "???"
"?I rule the world, I roam free, admired by all..."
"Feng Yu!" He Xiaotian, now furious, called over his underling.
’Is this ever going to end? You think I can’t deal with you, is that it?’
"?I rule the world, I never need to look back. I turn the world upside down..."
The song blared wantonly, as if provoking him.
"Boss, what’s up?"
You had to admit, the sight of Feng Yu, carrying a ghost-head blade while bowing and scraping, combined with Chen Xiaochun’s "Superstar in a Turbulent World" and He Xiaotian sprawled on his chair like a king, gave the distinct impression of a major underworld boss.
"Take this to the communication office. Have them trace the owner of this phone number."
Feng Yu took the phone and jogged toward the courtyard gate.
A moment later, he returned with the phone, which was still singing.
"Well? Did you find anything?"
"No, they can’t find it."
Feng Yu shook his head and handed the phone over.
He Xiaotian frowned. ’That’s impossible!’
’With the capabilities of the relevant departments, how could they fail to trace a simple phone number?’
’Unless... there’s something wrong with the number itself.’
"This is getting interesting."
He took out his own phone, found Liu Nan in a group chat, and asked her to run a check.
’For a computer whiz, finding a phone number should be easy, right?’
A few seconds later, Liu Nan sent him a message.
[Number does not exist.]
He Xiaotian placed Gao Jie’s phone on the table and sat motionless.
He was determined to see just how long this thing could ring.
Half an hour passed. The song was still blaring.
An hour passed. The tireless Chen Xiaochun continued to sing.
If this were a real person, he would’ve collapsed from exhaustion long ago.
But He Xiaotian was very patient and continued to wait.
He didn’t even pay attention as his disciples gradually returned and resumed their cultivation.
Two hours. The phone’s battery was down to one percent.
Three hours. The one percent battery was still holding strong.
’This is definitely a supernatural incident.’
He Xiaotian, who had been extremely bored lately, had a glint in his eyes.
He picked up the phone and pressed the answer button.
"Hello! What kind of ghost are you? A communication ghost? A cell phone ghost? Or a spam call ghost?"
The other side probably hadn’t expected that He Xiaotian’s first words would be to ask what kind of ghost it was.
"Fir—"
It only managed to get out the word "fir-" before He Xiaotian decisively hung up with a CLICK.
’You think I’m stupid?’
’I’ve seen who-knows-how-many "ghost call" movies back in school. As if I’d let the other side finish a complete sentence!’
And you know what? Messing with this spam call ghost had actually improved his mood quite a bit.
The trio of lackeys, who had been standing by his side the whole time, witnessed the entire event.
They were instantly freaking out.
’Boss, that’s a ghost on the other end!’
’Is it really okay to mess with it like that?’