Chapter 40: Grand Morals Food
Shu Han examined Chen Chuan. The young man was quite handsome and had clear eyes.
He’s quite the looker, this one, he thought.
Shu Han decided to warn him. “Be careful. I’m skilled at infighting. I’ve also learned things you haven’t.”
Chen Chuan nodded. This was his first meeting with Shu Han, and he did not know what was really on his mind. Was he revealing this bit of information to mislead him or was it the truth? There was no way of knowing it. But no matter what sort of person Shu Han was, Chen Chuan was going to fight at his own pace.
After some thinking, he said, “I don’t have any specialties, aside from being more fit than the average person.”
“Being more fit?” Shu Han nodded seriously.
He believed it. From what he had heard, Zhong Wu’s brain was almost turned to mush. The only thing keeping him alive was medicine. For its reputation’s sake, the university refused to let him die, but he was practically brain dead and no longer had any hope of waking up.
If Chen Chuan was able to reduce someone of Zhong Wu’s size to that state, he had to have a certain degree of raw physical power and technique.
After telling each other their specialties, they exchanged fist and palm salutes, took a few steps back, and got ready to fight.
Shu Han had a strong sense of pride, so as an upperclassman, he would not launch the preemptive strike. Hence, he just extended a hand to put on a challenging stance and waited.
Chen Chuan was not one to stand on ceremony. If Shu Han was not going to approach him, then he was going to do it. He lunged forward.
Shu Han was not tall and immediately felt a suffocating pressure bearing down on him. If he avoided Chen Chuan, the freshman could just follow him. While the training hall was big enough for him to move around, that would be embarrassing. He couldn’t act like that as an upperclassman. Hence, he did not step back. Instead, he curled up his body and took a step forward.
Chen Chuan saw him shoot in front of him. Shu Han moved in without any noticeable buildup of energy. He clearly had used some sort of technique.
In a fight, everyone had an inkling where attacks would land and where their opponents were. If their opponent was suddenly not where they predicted them to be, then their rhythm would be thrown off.
In this situation, Shu Han could very likely throw Chen Chuan. His best choice was to jump back and lower his center of gravity, but this could also be exactly what Shu Han wanted him to do.
So Chen Chuan decided to do the exact opposite. He took two steps forward instead of retreating and shifted his weight forward. An ear-grating screech came from the floorboards, and Chen Chuan used Major Sanshou’s Mountain Crash.
The martial artists used the strength of their body during a charge to knock down their opponent in a classic show of raw power trumping skill. After all, no matter how brilliant and ingenious a technique was, if a person did not have the power to pull it off, it was useless.
Shu Han had indeed been waiting for Chen Chuan to step back. If the freshman fell for the trick and shifted his weight backward, all Shu Han would have to do was grab Chen Chuan and yank him back, and all the energy that had been building up in Chen Chuan would become useless. By then, he could easily grab the young man’s head, and the fight would be over.
But just then, he realized that something was off and noticed an overwhelming force charging at him. He lost his footing and was knocked off his feet, but rolled and got back on his feet the next moment. He appeared to be unharmed.
Yet Shen Shao said, “Xiao Shu, you lost. If Chen Chuan had kept pressing forward, you would have suffered an even more devastating defeat.”
Shu Han fell silent for a moment before he calmly admitted it. “You’re right. Chen Chuan, you won.”
“You let me win, Shu Han.” Chen Chuan shook his head.
He was not being humble. He noticed Shu Han begin a subtle movement at the last moment but stop himself just in time. If Chen Chuan had to guess, that attack would have heavily injured him. Since they were just sparring, Shu Han did not use that attack.
So, Chen Chuan won the spar, but if it were a fight to the death, it would not have ended so decisively.
Shu Han became much friendlier after that. “You haven’t had lunch, have you? Let’s go.”
“Hey, I haven’t eaten either! Let me join!” Shen Shao shouted.
“I didn’t invite you. Eat by yourself,” Shu Han shot back with a jab.
“If you can reject someone after they rejected you, then I can totally reject your rejection and join you for lunch anyway!” Shen Shao threw back cheekily.
Shu Han felt an irresistible urge to introduce his fist to Shen Shao’s face.
Chen Chuan chuckled and took the elevator down with the two upperclassmen. On the way, he explained why he was absent from the opening ceremony. When they heard that he was out on a dispatch mission, they exchanged surprised looks but said nothing about it. They did, however, give him meaningful looks.
Martial Valor University’s cafeteria was located at the southwest side of the campus, because most of the second-class students stayed there. They also studied at the old lecture buildings.
When it came to food, the recommended students had their personal chefs, but the first-class and second-class students ate together in the same cafeteria. They were just separated within the cafeteria itself.
The three headed straight to the passage leading to the first-class students’ dining area.
Just then, the speaker in the cafeteria came to life, and a gentle female voice came through.
“Grand Morals Food rejected the inherent rigidity and constraints of conventional food, broke traditional concepts, and gave food a brand new expression and interpretation. Grand Morals’ wish is to restore food to its most primitive state.
“The main ingredient of Grand Morals Food’s products is the funengalgae. It’s high-quality, high energy, easily digestible, and easily absorbed. It provides balanced nutrients and all the minerals a human body requires.”
Chen Chuan could see that some people were completely numb to the announcement, while others, who were clearly freshmen, sighed.
“This again?” they grumbled.
Most people acted as if they did not hear it.
“Grand Morals Food enforces strict sanitation processes in a completely sealed and controlled environment to prevent contamination from external pollutants, thereby solving the safety issue that traditional food has always faced. Grand Morals Food’s products can be preserved for more than 150 years even in extreme weather conditions.”
Shen Shao smiled. “This is the first time you hear it, right? We’re better off. We just need to listen to it once, but the second-class students have to keep listening to it, because they can’t leave their area unless they pay for their food and come to our area to eat.”
Chen Chuan could understand it. Listening to it once or twice was okay, but if he had to listen to it every time he came to eat, he would get brainwashed. Yet the company provided the nutritional paste to the university for free, so it was not crossing any lines by doing such aggressive advertising.
They picked a table for four near one of the walls. Shu Han took out a meal order form attached to a clipboard and a pen before pushing it to Chen Chuan. “Order whatever you want. Everything on the menu is free. If you want something not on the menu, the cafeteria can make it for you, but you’ll have to pay for it.”
Chen Chuan did not hold back and picked a few items on the menu. He was not a picky eater and could eat everything. After Shu Han and Shen Shao picked their orders, they tore off the meal order form and handed it to the waiter, who came to their table.
Chen Chuan looked around. Despite it being lunch time, there were not many people around.
Shen Shao smiled. “More than two thousand people might have enrolled into the university, but less than two hundred people passed the follow-up exam. Still, that’s way more than the past years. You want to know what it used to be? It’s forty on the lower end, and around eighty on the higher end. So, more than twice the number of people passed the follow-up exam this year, and I heard that it’s somewhat related to you.”
Chen Chuan was quite surprised. “Me?”
Shen Shao leaned forward and looked into his eyes. “Exactly. Did you know that after word got out that you defeated Zhong Wu, many of the students in charge of the follow-up exam no longer dared to be rough. They were worried that if they cornered the students too much, another one like you would show up and kill or cripple them.”