Bai Mo jogged slowly along the street, his heavy gear making his steps particularly arduous. Sweat soaked through his T-shirt, but the street was unusually quiet; not even a strange person could be seen.
"What a peaceful day..." he muttered to himself, panting. "I'll just consider it exercise."
When Bai Mo reached the park, his legs felt like lead. Seeing Saitama doing push-ups in the distance, he breathed a sigh of relief—at least he was safer near Saitama.
Staggering to the vending machine, Bai Mo took out coins from his system space and bought two bottles of marble soda. He leaned against the railing to catch his breath, and waited for Saitama to finish a set of training before going over.
"Here you go." Bai Mo handed over the soda, the condensation from the bottle wetting his fingers.
Saitama took it, tilted his head back, and gulped down most of the bottle: "Thanks!"
"I should be thanking you," Bai Mo said, wiping his sweat. "Thanks to you for pointing me in the right direction, I was able to find that tailor shop."
Saitama asked疑惑地问道, "What tailor shop?"
Bai Mo quickly corrected himself, "It's nothing, it's just a clothing store."
After resting side-by-side on a bench for a while, Bai Mo suddenly stood up and began doing squats. Seeing this, Qi Yu's eyes lit up: "Oh? You're training too?"
"I can't keep relying on luck to fight monsters..." Bai Mo gritted his teeth and persevered, the weighted rings making every movement extremely strenuous.
Saitama suddenly became determined: "Okay! I'll join too!" and started training.
After training, Bai Mo asked breathlessly, "Qi Yu... are you going for a run later?"
"Okay, run 10 kilometers."
"Can I... run behind you?" Bai Mo asked, panting heavily.
Saitama wiped his sweat and readily agreed, "Sure, let's go together."
Bai Mo immediately followed, but the scorching summer sun quickly gave him a rude awakening. After running only one kilometer, his steps began to become heavy, and sweat dripped down his face like beads from a broken string.
But Bai Mo gritted his teeth and persevered, while noticing that Saitama ahead of him wasn't running with much ease either—his breathing was heavy. It seemed that Saitama didn't yet possess the monstrous physical abilities he would have three years later.
After finishing the ten-kilometer run, the two collapsed onto a park bench as if they had been pulled out of the water. Bai Mo's legs were trembling, and he was panting heavily, supporting himself on his knees; Qi Yu wasn't in much better shape, and was desperately chugging water with his head tilted back.
"Are...are you alright?" Saitama asked breathlessly.
Bai Mo didn't even have the strength to speak, so he could only give a thumbs up. He glanced at the darkening sky, waved weakly, and dragged his leaden legs slowly home.
Back home, Bai Mo collapsed onto the tatami mat, limbs outstretched, panting heavily. Staring at the ceiling, he suddenly burst out laughing: "Hahaha... I'm exhausted... but it feels pretty good..."
He struggled to his feet, first making himself a cup of Nissin instant noodles and then munching on some salty bread. After a hot shower washed away the sweat and fatigue, he finally sat down at the small table and slowly ate the slightly bloated instant noodles.
Bai Mo frowned as he swallowed the last bite of bread: "It's still terribly salty... Oh well, I'll get used to it."
"System, display my properties."
[Personal information loading...]
[Name: Bai Mo]
[Age: 18]
[Strength: 5.3 (+0.3)]
[Speed: 5.3 (+0.3)]
[Endurance: 5.6 (+0.6)]
[Ability: Time Stop Lv.1]
[Energy: 418/418 (affected by Endurance)]
A few days passed peacefully like this. Bai Mo repeated his daily routine of working and training, gradually adapting to this rhythm.
One week later, he had just left the supermarket after work—
[Warning: Weird reaction detected]
Bai Mo jumped in surprise: "Where? Quickly, show me the way!"
[System: ...Do you think I'm a navigation system?]
[Target location marked]
Bai Mo thought to himself, "Tsundere."
When Bai Mo arrived at the scene, he saw a strangely shaped creature making noise—it had a huge horn on its head and was covered in crude metal armor, looking just like a walking sound system.
"System, scan it!"
[System scan in progress...]
[Test complete]
[Target: Noise Monster]
[Threat Level: Wolf (Intermediate)]
Bai Mo immediately asked the system, "Can a Glock pistol penetrate this thing?"
[System: Normal bullet damage greatly reduced]
[Recommendation: Use armor-piercing rounds]
"Buy two armor-piercing rounds!"
[Purchase Confirmed]
[Armor-piercing rounds x2]
[Points consumed: 8]
[Remaining points: 97]
Bai Mo quickly loaded the bullets into the magazine and hid behind a tree, waiting for his opportunity. The moment the strange man turned to attack the citizens, he suddenly rushed out.
Initiate [time stop]
"Bang! Bang!"
Two gunshots rang out almost simultaneously, but the monster's sonic attack had already begun. The ear-piercing noise caused Bai Mo's eardrums to bleed, but fortunately, two armor-piercing bullets were delivered to the connection between the monster's vocal organs and torso.
[Successfully defeated: Noise Monster]
[Points earned: 35]
[Current Score: 132]
[Injury Assessment: Mild eardrum injury, slight internal organ concussion]
[Treatment cost: 5 points]
Bai Mo shook his buzzing head, his fingertips touching the bloodstains near his ear: "Hiss... this sonic attack is really ruthless..." The constant tinnitus in his ears made him extremely irritable.
"treat!"
[Under treatment...]
[Current Score: 127]
A soft green light flashed, and the tinnitus stopped abruptly. Bai Mo touched his perfectly healed ear, and even the lingering pain in his internal organs had disappeared.
"Phew—" he breathed a sigh of relief, "Finally, I can hear you clearly..."
Bai Mo glanced at his points balance: "Only 35 points? This isn't a good deal..." He shook his head and left the scene.
When Saitama returned to the park, he had already finished his warm-up exercises, and fine beads of sweat clung to his forehead. "I'm a little late today."
"Just dealt with that noisy freak." Bai Mo wiped his sweat and put Glock back into the system space.
Saitama nodded: "I see." He stretched his shoulders, not paying much attention.
After completing their usual high-intensity training, the two said goodbye. Bai Mo dragged his tired body to a convenience store. He bought two rice balls and a sports drink, then turned into the "Yukihira Ramen" shop in the alley.
This is a shop that Bai Mo discovered while fighting off blue-haired and green-haired thugs. Because the food was delicious, Bai Mo temporarily became a regular NPC at this shop.
"Boss, a bowl of soy sauce ramen, with char siu." Bai Mo ordered with practiced ease. After finishing the steaming hot ramen, he finally felt alive again.
Back in her rented apartment, Bai Mo put the rice balls she bought from the convenience store into the small refrigerator and took a hot shower.
Then I lay down on the bed and stared at the ceiling.
Bai Mo lay on his back on the tatami mat, staring blankly at the ceiling: "System, display my status."
[Personal information loading...]
[Name: Bai Mo]
[Age: 18]
[Strength: 8.2 (+3.2)]
[Speed: 8.8 (+3.8)]
[Endurance: 9.6 (+4.6)]
[Ability: Time Stop Lv.1]
[Energy Points: 492/492]
[Note: Consistent training yields significant results]
Bai Mo touched his well-defined abdominal muscles with satisfaction, and the corners of his mouth unconsciously turned up.