Chapter 20: I am a Gentleman
Cillin was immersed inside the book while he copied all of the information into his brain. He didn’t care about the gazes of the other two people at the display area at all. As long as there was no danger, Cillin would not exit that state.
After flipping through the books that he thought were useful on the bookshelves, Cillin chose ten of them and turned around. He immediately saw the two people looking at him with strange looks. After smiling towards the duo and nodding his head, he then said to the store clerk, “These ten books, please.”
“Oh… right. Right, please wait for a moment.” Finally the store clerk came around, and he scanned and demagnetized the ten books Cillin had chosen before stamping a ‘Book Store Centenary Quiz First Prize’ stamp. Then he returned the books to Cillin, “Please receive your VIP member card at the main service desk.”
“Alright, thank you.”
After Cillin had left, the store clerk was still struck with some amazement, “Jincheng, did he really read everything?”
“He should have remembered all of the books he read.”
“Is he even human! I’ve heard a long time ago about people with eidetic memory, but it’s scary to even hear about someone who can scan things like a machine.” While he was speaking, the store clerk had even shuddered a little in response.
“It appears that there are a lot of hidden dragons* this term.” Ci Jincheng closed the book and put it back on the bookshelf, “I’m leaving too. I’ll come back after registration if I have the time. That batch of new books will arrive two days later; I will have someone contact you then.”
[*T/N: The full Chinese idiom is crouching tiger, hidden dragon. Not to be confused with the movie, the idiom is used to portray exceptional people who keep a low profile.]
“Kay, I’ll let the manager hear about this. I’ve submitted the graduation application; it shouldn’t be long before there is a reply. When that happens, I’ll be relying on you to arrange things.”
Ci Jincheng gestured him to relax before leaving the display area as well.
The ten books Cillin had chosen were all hard covers, and it wasn’t a good idea to carelessly put them into his subspace at this place. He could not risk exposing his ring’s secrets, but it was also too strenuous to carry them at his back. Therefore, Cillin had arranged for the books to be put in a trust. He would contact a store employee later to send them over after he had finished registering and tidying up his living quarters. Since he was the quiz’ first prize winner, the store did not charge him extra for the deposit.
Cillin was stopped just as he walked out of the book store.
“Cillin Douance, please wait for a moment!” Ci Jincheng walked swiftly towards him while holding a book in his hands.
“What’s the matter?”
“I just want to remind you that the winners would be announced in the store’s big display. It doesn’t display a picture, but someone will still pay attention to it. It is very common for high grade students to bully a newcomer, and if you do not have conclusive proof the police will not be of too much help.”
Cillin let out a smile upon hearing this, “Thank you for the reminder. May I know who you are?”
“I’m called Ci Jincheng. I’m also a new student this term. But I do know some understanding about Seven Lights University. If you have need of anything then you can always try me.”
After giving it some thought, Cillin said, “Are you familiar with the Trade Zone? Do you know which store sells a more affordable hoverboard?” Since Ci Jincheng had expressed his good will, there was no reason for Cillin to reject it. This was a new and complicated environment after all; the more friends he had, the better.
“I know of a hoverboard store that is pretty affordable; it is admission season now so it should have a lot of special offers. The production quality of their hoverboards is pretty good as well. I bought one at that place before.”
The store Ci Jincheng had led Cillin to had discounted hoverboards on display at the store’s entrance. Cillin took a look at the real thing and found that they were pretty good and, as promised, pretty affordable. They even came with two complementary open air tea house coupons at the top floor of a commercial building.
In order to express his thanks to Ci Jincheng, Cillin used the two complementary tea house coupons right away.
There were many different-sized round or square tables on top of the commercial building. There was even a huge parasol at the top. Groups of people would often take a lift straight to the top floor to enjoy some tea and snacks after they had finished shopping at the mall.
It wasn’t peak hour at the moment, so there were a few empty tables. Cillin and Ci Jincheng sat there and drank tea while they took the time to chat a little about Seven Lights. But they didn’t sit for long before eight people came up and surrounded them.
“Yo, so this is where you guys are hanging out, eh? What kind of friends are you to not invite us to have tea with y’all?” One of them greeted them warmly as if they were close brothers.
Cillin and Ci Jincheng exchanged glances. Here comes trouble.
The eight men surrounded the tiny table, and the person who greeted them pulled a chair and sat beside the duo after he walked closer. He grabbed a snack and put it into his mouth while saying leisurely, “They say the two of you just got some money. What good, studious kids you are to be able to answer all those crazy questions correctly.”
That’s what he said, but there were obvious sarcasm brimming in his eyes. To these people, those who could answer that kind of questions were all bookworms, and bookworms were very easy bully targets. They had always looked down upon these sickly scholars.
Cillin had changed out of his clothes after he left the port, and Ci Jincheng’s attire was not showy as well. They were both dressed in modest clothings so their identities did not look profound. It was no wonder that these people had picked them up so quickly; they were sure that neither Cillin nor Jincheng had the background to back themselves.
However…
The person’s hand holding the snack froze in mid-air and even began to shake – a gun barrel was propped right at his head.
Other than Cillin, these people did not even notice Ci Jincheng’s actions. They just felt that out of nowhere a gun had appeared just like that, and it was only when the gun was pressed against the head did they realize that their target had taken out a gun since god-knows-when.
Gun control was very strict in Seven Lights. Most people did not have the qualification to equip firearms, so they had not expected that one of these two very easy looking targets to actually have a gun. Moreover, this scholarly-looking guy was most definitely powerful!
All eight people was frozen in place. It was obvious that this was the first time they had run into such a target. They did not dare to escape, and they were even scared of speaking aloud. Even their breathings had turned cautious. Their numbers meant nothing against a gun. The air felt like an icy hand grabbing them by their throats as a cold chill instantly spread throughout their entire body.
Cillin was surprised for a second during that instant Ci Jincheng had taken out his gun, but besides that no discernable emotions could be seen from his appearance. He continued to drink tea and enjoy his snacks; it’ll be a waste not to finish the food he paid.
Ci Jincheng held a tea cup with his other hand and drank his tea leisurely, “I am a gentleman. I dislike solving problems through violence.”
Like hell you’re a gentleman!
All eight people shouted inside their hearts. WTF, if this doesn’t count as solving problem through violence then what is? A high-energy laser cannon?!
“W… we…” The guy with a gun to his head stuttered for so long he nearly bit his own tongue.
“Out.” Ci Jincheng did not plan to listen to an explanation at all. A so-called explanation in this situation would be pure bullshit. His fingers moved, and the gun vanished. Ci Jincheng withdrew his hands and continued to drink his tea. From the beginning to the end, he did not look at the person even once.
They knew that it wasn’t that the gun had disappeared into thin air. It was just that the other party’s movements was too quick, and they could not capture it at all.
Even a fool would have realized that Ci Jincheng was not to be trifled with the moment he took out a gun. Anyone who continued to stay here would be an idiot!
Without even looking at the escaping buffoons, Ci Jincheng continued to wear his scholarly smile, “The best way to solve problems in Seven Lights is absolute domination.”
Cillin lifted his cup and toasted, “Great idea.”
After they finished their drinks, the duo exchanged numbers and Cillin rode his new hoverboard and headed towards the global train station. There was special slow lanes in the air specifically for slower flight transportations like hoverboards and the like. As for the faster vehicles like flying cars, they had their own lanes.
Cillin bought some instant snacks and put them inside his bag, so he wouldn’t need to look for a store when he got hungry. It was a special kind of feeling to ride a hoverboard in mid-air while looking at the skyscrapers on his two sides and the pedestrians below. Cillin did not use the hand controlled rudder because it would deplete more energy. Energy ores and batteries weren’t cheap, plus Cillin was confident that he could control the hoverboard without relying on the hand controlled rudder.
When he reached the station, the next train was still twenty minutes away. Therefore Cillin put away his hoverboard, bought a newspaper and waited while sitting on a platform not too far away.
The advantage of a hoverboard was that it wouldn’t take up too much space after it was retracted. The more than a meter long hoverboard was less than twenty centimeters after it was retracted. Since he kept food inside his bag, Cillin had set the hoverboard at a side.
“Hey, the child over there!”
No one answered.
“Hey, the child reading a newspaper over there!”
Still no one answered.
“Hey, the child over there reading a ‘Seven Lights Weekly’ with a hoverboard on his left and a bag on his right!”