The Human Gundam and the Sisters’ Antics

A few minutes later.

Chen Ran, having redonned his school uniform, carefully brushed away the specks of dust that had clung to his clothes before slinging his backpack over his shoulder.

As the only person still standing, the alleyway was now littered with burly men and high school youths sprawled across the ground, groaning and writhing in agony, as if they had just endured some unhealthy ‘battle.’

In truth, the process had been quite healthy, and there had been no grand battle at all.

At this moment.

Nishiki, the short, blond-haired boy who had seized the opportunity to huddle in a corner and feign death, secretly peeked at Chen Ran standing not far away, feeling as if the guy was an absolute monster!

Who could just bend a solid steel pipe in half?

Who could kick a two-hundred-pound brute seven or eight meters into the air?!

Who could punch straight through an adjacent courtyard wall with a single blow?!

What the hell.

A human Gundam (TL Note: Gundam – iconic Japanese robot anime series, implying a powerful, almost robotic human), is that what he is?!

Terrifying.

Nishiki couldn’t fathom what Chen Ran was, yet the sheer display of power he had just witnessed was enough to fill him with dread.

Beneath those eight-pack abs lay nothing but pure, unadulterated “power.”

As for Chen Ran…

He keenly sensed Nishiki’s gaze at that moment and met his eyes directly.

!!!

Nishiki nearly peed his pants in fright!

‘No… a few drops had already escaped…’

Nishiki thought, still trembling with fear and confusion, he managed to stammer out.

“You freak…”

‘Who was he calling a freak?’

Chen Ran pursed his lips, thinking to himself, ‘I’m as normal as they come, thank you very much.’

“Your purity is simply too low.”

???

Having dropped such an enigmatic remark, Chen Ran simply turned and walked away, disinclined to bother with the small-time thugs any further.

Truth be told.

The decision to prioritize raising his Strength to 15 points had been absolutely brilliant.

A week had passed.

His Strength now stood at 15, and Agility at 13. Watching the movements of those brutes and punks just now felt like observing snails – incredibly sluggish.

And when he beat them…

He had to hold back his strength, for if he unleashed a full punch, he could smash through a wall. What would happen if he truly struck a person, he couldn’t even imagine.

He felt as if he had truly been “punching the South Mountain Nursing Home and kicking the North Sea Kindergarten” (TL Note: A humorous Chinese internet meme referring to bullying the weak or acting overly powerful against defenseless targets) just now…

Chen Ran found it utterly uninteresting.

Now.

He had more or less figured out the functions of the five core attributes.

[Strength] enhanced his physical fortitude.

[Agility] boosted his speed in various aspects, including reaction time, brain processing speed, and the speed of his punches or running.

[Endurance] likely increased his defense – just now, when Chen Ran was beating the thugs, the only pain he felt was the recoil from punching through the adjacent courtyard wall.

Presumably, this was because his Endurance remained at 10 points, lagging behind.

[Intelligence] was self-explanatory: it made him smarter and improved his learning capacity.

[Spirit] probably boosted willpower? Or memory? And using some “King’s Game” APP skills required high Spirit to maintain.

For instance.

The “Invisible Man” skill he had learned, after his Spirit reached 10 points, had increased from its initial duration of a few seconds to roughly one to two minutes.

During his subway ride back to Linshi City.

Chen Ran’s mind was consumed by these thoughts. He planned to raise his Endurance to 15 points once his Agility also reached 15.

This would balance his physical attributes. Afterward, he would focus on improving Intelligence and Spirit, which represented his “inner” qualities.

Perfect.

****

After exiting the subway station, he, as usual, stopped at a nearby cake shop and bought identical cream cakes for Jiang Zilin and Jiang Lengleng as snacks.

Having been delayed for a while, it was now past five in the afternoon.

The September sun was gradually setting.

A warm summer breeze swept through, stirring the brilliant clouds across the sky.

Chen Ran soon arrived outside the Jiang family’s convenience store, where he saw Jiang Zilin behind the counter, still clad in a loose hoodie, wearing a hood, and even a face mask despite the hot weather, her head bowed as if she wished to remain unseen.

“Sister Lin, I’m back.”

“Oh!”

She seemed to have been startled by him.

The young woman had been engrossed in her phone, apparently messaging a friend.

“Who are you messaging, hmm?”

“None of your business!”

She huffed, but then, cautiously, tugged at his sleeve and whispered.

“It’s a girl, so don’t be mad, Xiao Ran~”

‘Why would I be mad?’

Chen Ran’s words immediately made Jiang Zilin puff up her cheeks, her expression turning indignant, before she playfully thumped him a few times with her soft fists.

“Hate, hate, hate, I hate Xiao Ran the most!”

“I bought you a cream cake.”

“Love you, Xiao Ran!! Come here and let your big sister give you a kiss, *prprprprpr*!!!” (TL Note: “prprprprpr” is an onomatopoeia often used in internet slang to represent licking sounds, usually in an exaggerated, playful, or suggestive way, here implying an overly enthusiastic ‘kiss’)

“…”

‘Women’s moods truly changed faster than flipping a book.’

Chen Ran mused.

He quickly completed the shift change with Jiang Zilin, though the somewhat unreliable older sister had actually been egging him on to close the store and go home right then.

While Chen Ran also wanted to join Jiang Zilin, close the store, buy groceries, and cook dinner at home.

But…

“We can’t just not earn money, I still have to support Sister Lin and Sister Lengleng.”

“Xiao Ran actually wants to have both sisters?!”

“…”

“What does not speaking mean? Oh… Xiao Ran isn’t thinking of having Mom and us two sisters, the whole mother-daughter trio, is he!!!”

“…”

Chen Ran raised his hand, feigning a slap to Jiang Zilin’s plump backside.

This made the young woman shriek, and she immediately dashed out of the convenience store, completing their shift exchange.

He casually ate some Oden and two grilled sausages at the store to tide him over.

Subsequently.

It wasn’t until around nine in the evening that Chen Ran finally closed the store and headed home.

By this time, Lengleng had also returned from school. The three of them were only just having dinner at home – though, in reality, it was more like a late-night snack.

They had all grown accustomed to it, however.

Chen Ran and Jiang Lengleng quietly ate their noodles, while Jiang Zilin, eating her cake, kept eyeing her sister’s portion, clumsily attempting to coax Jiang Lengleng into handing it over.

The result, naturally, was only her younger sister’s icy “death glare.”

And then, she continued her video call with Jiang Ruohua.

After a week of travel, the beautiful woman had journeyed from the original Shikoku region to Kyushu, the easternmost part of the country.

“There’s nothing fun here, just vast stretches of countryside everywhere. Ugh, I’m getting tired of the countryside.”

Jiang Ruohua remarked, sighing.

She then issued a supreme directive regarding Chen Ran attending school.

“Lengleng! Make sure you keep an eye on Xiao Ran at school, don’t let fertile water flow into outsiders’ fields (TL Note: “肥水不流外人田” (fát shuǐ bù liú wài rén tián) is a Chinese idiom meaning ‘don’t let benefits or resources go to outsiders,’ implying that Chen Ran should be kept within the family.)!! Look at your sister, she’s so useless, she probably won’t find another man in this lifetime!!!”

“Besides, even if you don’t want a husband like Xiao Ran, don’t you want a father like Xiao Ran, hmm?”

“…”

To this, Chen Ran, long accustomed to such remarks, simply continued to quietly slurp his noodles.

He pretended as if he hadn’t heard a thing.

After eating, he showered and returned to his room to sleep.

Just as Chen Ran was about to lie down, a knock suddenly sounded from outside his door.

Then.

The door was simply pushed open.

Chen Ran looked quizzically at the girl in the cute little bear pajamas, wondering why Jiang Lengleng would come to his room so late at night.