Bang!
Lu Yang showed Sun Cheng zero mercy and smashed the basketball straight into his face.
One second ago, Sun Cheng was still thinking about copying Kobe's cool, unflinching pose.
The next second, he was clutching his face and howling in pain.
"Bro, seriously? I passed you the ball—why'd you catch it with your face?" Lu Yang said this with mock concern as he casually picked up the basketball from the ground.
But he didn't return it.
Instead, he grabbed it in his hand, took a step back, and delivered a powerful kick—sending the ball flying clean over the wall and out of the court.
"And… that's game," Lu Yang said casually.
After finishing all that, Lu Yang dusted off his hands and turned toward Ye Kener, who was covering her mouth in shock.
To be fair, as the acknowledged school beauty, Ye Kener really was quite pretty.
No wonder the old Lu Yang had liked her so much.
But he wasn't that Lu Yang anymore.
"We may have had some misunderstandings before," Lu Yang said calmly, "but I hope this ends here. From now on, let's treat each other as strangers. No involvement, no ties."
After dropping those words, he slung his backpack over his shoulder and walked away.
Ye Kener stood there, staring at his retreating figure, her emotions tangled and complicated.
She had never heard Lu Yang speak to her like that before—nor had she ever seen that kind of look in his eyes.
Unconsciously, her mind replayed the image of him that afternoon on the rooftop, standing freely in the sunlight.
Before she realized it, her long legs had already started moving after him.
"Wait!"
Just as Lu Yang reached the school gate, he was stopped.
Ye Kener bent forward, hands braced on her black skirt at the knees, breathing lightly before speaking.
"Sun Cheng and I have known each other since childhood. He dragged me here—I didn't know he was coming to cause trouble for you. I'm not that kind of person."
After saying that, she turned and walked out of the school gate, getting into a waiting black Mercedes.
Lu Yang yawned, already thinking about how many eggs he should crack into tonight's tomato-and-egg stir-fry.
Elsewhere.
On the sports field.
Sun Cheng, who had taken a direct hit to the face from the basketball, finally recovered enough to open his eyes and look around.
Ye Kener was gone.
Lu Yang was gone too.
All that remained were a few students on the court, quietly smiling at him with barely concealed amusement.
"What the hell are you looking at?!" Sun Cheng roared in embarrassment and rage.
To be fair, being over 1.9 meters tall still carried some intimidation. The students quickly looked away.
Just as Sun Cheng was about to head home, something felt… off.
After thinking for a moment, he suddenly threw his head back and yelled:
"Where's my ball?!"
Longjing Convenience Store.
At a dining table, Lu Qiangqian was holding a massive bowl, eating dinner like a whirlwind.
"Bro, you still want the tomato-and-egg?"
"No."
Clatter.
She poured the entire dish into her own bowl.
"Bro, how about the spicy tofu—"
"No."
"The meatballs—"
"No."
In the blink of an eye, every dish was dumped into her bowl. She buried her head and ate with obvious satisfaction.
Lu Yang didn't interfere. At first, he'd worried she might gain weight eating like this, but later realized that concern was completely unnecessary.
Lu Qiangqian was the kind of person who simply never got fat, no matter how much she ate.
"Alright. When you're done, wash the dishes. And keep the store open tonight," Lu Yang said, putting down his chopsticks and burping.
"Huh?" Lu Qiangqian peeked up from her bowl, her black-and-white eyes staring at him suspiciously.
She didn't mind washing dishes—the food was cooked by Lu Yang, after all.
What she did mind was him dumping the night shift back onto her.
Ever since the appearance of the so-called 'Wheelchair War God,' people had been riding up Longjing Mountain constantly.
Business at the convenience store was booming, and nights needed someone on duty.
"I've got something important to do," Lu Yang said.
"What?" Lu Qiangqian asked through a mouthful of food.
"Some life-or-death stuff, you wouldn't understand."
Lu Yang stood up and walked away, leaving Lu Qiangqian at the table, rolling her eyes.
In her opinion, this was obviously just another lazy excuse.
Back in his room, Lu Yang shut the door tightly and sat on his bed, taking a deep breath.
He wasn't lying.
Now, it was literally a matter of life or death.
The number on his life countdown had dropped to—
[ 40 hours. ]
Earlier, because he hadn't completed the physique mission, he couldn't accept a new life-extension mission.
But after walking the railing on the rooftop, he finally qualified.
Before confirming it, Lu Yang deliberately turned on his phone and played music out loud.
🎵 "Good luck comes, wishing you good luck~ Good luck brings joy and love~" 🎵
Luck was absolutely essential.
'Please, just give me an easy mission,' he prayed silently.
With a thought, Lu Yang accepted the new life mission.
[ Life Mission ]
[ Who says only cars count as vehicles? The host must pilot a non-motorized, two-wheeled vehicle on Longjing Mountain and overtake 50 cars ]
[ Reward: +1 month of life ]
"…What kind of nonsense is this?" Lu Yang frowned.
A two-wheeled vehicle overtaking cars?
First, Longjing Mountain had both uphill and downhill sections.
Uphill was immediately out—even pedaling himself to death wouldn't let him outrun cars.
So the only option was downhill.
On downhill sections, with all the curves, cars couldn't go very fast. With gravity on his side, overtaking them was possible.
Route chosen—problem solved.
But then he hit another issue.
He didn't have a bike.
The wheelchair obviously wouldn't work for this mission, and his old bicycle had been smashed to scrap after the crash.
Buying a new one? Impossible. His wallet flat-out refused to cooperate.
Sure, the convenience store had been making some money lately…but that money was co-managed with Lu Qiangqian.
With her miserly personality, touching that money would mean certain death—long before he could even begin his plan.
So using store funds to buy a bike was unrealistic.
A man really did need his own private stash.
Then—
Wait.
Public bikes!
Lu Yang suddenly remembered them.
Sure, public bikes were basic as hell, but beggars couldn't be choosers.
Once he had an idea, he acted immediately.
He got dressed, put on his cycling helmet, and added a face mask.
He used to cycle regularly, so the helmet was old gear. The mask was because—after the wheelchair incident—he felt hiding his face was just safer.
Fully prepared, Lu Yang stepped out of the Longjing Convenience Store…and was hit by a cruel reality.
There were no public bikes at the top of Longjing Mountain.
After all, who the hell rides a public bike up the mountain and then leaves it there?
Realizing this, Lu Yang had no choice but to head downhill, take a public bike, and pant heavily as he pedaled his way back up the mountain.