Weapon System 5: Maidenhood

After finishing the incense offering and kowtows to the ancestral master, Zhang Mingjing hurried off to school, leaving half an hour earlier than usual—he simply couldn’t contain his excitement!

But the moment he stepped outside, he instantly realized the world in his heart was utterly changed from the day before.

He stood by the roadside, head tilted back and eyes closed. He could read the information of the flowers, grasses, and trees, including the scent of every blossom; he could read the cacophony of sounds, from the roar of engines to the nuances of human conversation—including the whispers about his oddness; he read the wind, the clouds, the sunlight... Now, his perception of the world seemed entirely dependent on reading.

At that moment, he read a young girl riding her bicycle past him—he could sense her heartbeat, pulse, body temperature, and the workings of her internal organs. Suddenly, the girl turned her bike toward him and stopped at his side, curiosity in her voice as she asked, “Big brother, what are you doing?”

“Oh!” Zhang Mingjing opened his eyes and smiled. “I was just thinking.”

“Do you always think like this every day?”

“Yes! Why?”

“It looks a bit silly.” With that, she rode off.

Zhang Mingjing neither felt angry nor surprised, because he seemed to have read what the girl was about to say in advance, so he was prepared. In truth, he might one day possess such abilities, but for now, he did not.

He hadn’t ridden his bike today, because he had just read that both tires were punctured—probably damaged during yesterday’s ride.

So, he rented a smart electric scooter for his commute.

There was one time—just once—when he had spent thirty-one yuan on a rental, and, short on funds ever since, had not rented again.

But today was different. He hadn’t brought all twenty thousand yuan with him, but his wallet held a full two thousand—what did a scooter rental fee matter now?

He thought, “Starting today, I should begin to let myself go a little, and one day, truly let myself soar.”

He followed his usual route and passed a noodle shop he knew only from the outside. His classmates often praised its chilled beef—renowned for its flavor. He’d longed to try it for ages, but at ninety-eight yuan a plate, it had always been out of reach; for two years now, destiny and he had not crossed over that plate of beef.

“I can’t believe I’ve been tormented by that plate of beef for two years. Today is the day of reckoning.” But he stood outside the shop, unable to make up his mind, thinking over and over, “I’ve already had breakfast. Do I really need to be this extravagant? Ninety-eight! It’s too expensive!”

The trauma of a thirty-five-yuan splurge still loomed over him—he finally gave up and continued on, head bowed.

But after walking thirty meters, he glanced back at the noodle shop, muttering inwardly, “It’s not about the money—it’s about dignity! I can’t let that thirty-five yuan weigh me down all my life. Today, I must break the shackles it’s placed on me.”

He turned back at once, strode confidently into the shop, and declared, “Boss, a plate of chilled beef, please!”

Unexpectedly, the owner replied, “Hey there, young man, we’re not serving breakfast right now.”

“Uh...”

Zhang Mingjing walked out, unwilling to accept defeat, and muttered softly, “Zhang Yidao, Xiao Nüxia, look at what you’ve done! Your son can’t even conquer thirty-five yuan.”

When he reached the school gate, he checked his e-scooter bill, and was surprised to feel a sense of loss: “What? Only ten yuan? What’s going on? That little?”

“Zhang Mingjing!” Suddenly someone called out to him—he didn’t even need to look back to know who it was.

This girl was Zhao Ya, nicknamed “Chubby Girl.” In truth, she wasn’t that heavy—just heavier than he was. He weighed one hundred and six jin; she weighed one hundred and forty.

She was the class’s legendary “different” girl in relation to him.

Like all the boys at the school, Zhang Mingjing had first fallen for the school beauty, then the grade beauty, and finally the class beauty. When each of these “flowers” found their own admirers, he reluctantly searched for someone else to admire. But his affections always stayed internal; he never acted on them—largely because he was so short on money, which he blamed on Zhang Yidao and Xiao Nüxia.

Eventually, he unwillingly joined the ranks of boys rejected by early romances.

But he didn’t smoke, drink, or fight, his grades were average, and he had a melancholy face that inspired girls to show him kindness. In theory, he didn’t really belong to that group; all he needed was a girl to vouch for him.

Chubby Girl, at that time, was one of those girls for whom no boy had yet shown a protective inclination—and who knew when one might? But she was lively and outgoing, and as class monitor, she attracted plenty of attention, though most of it had nothing to do with adolescent romance.

One day, for reasons unknown, she developed a crush on Zhang Mingjing, and quickly pulled him out of that rejected-boys cohort.

But Zhang Mingjing didn’t feel grateful—rather, he was bewildered by the attention.

Chubby Girl’s overtures were gentle; sometimes she’d invite him to a movie. But even if he’d had the money, he’d have declined without hesitation.

She assumed he didn’t like watching movies, so she often treated him to sausages or grilled chicken wings. Zhang Mingjing wasn’t keen on being treated, but he did enjoy eating—these were rare opportunities for him to indulge in meat, which he couldn’t miss.

Eating was, naturally, Chubby Girl’s passion as well, so she was convinced she’d found her first crush.

Yet, apart from these shared snacks, they barely spoke—making their classmates feel they were a strange pair. Their academic gap was also wide, and high schoolers had begun to be shrewd in their social judgments, so few believed in their “relationship.”

Zhang Mingjing never bothered to explain that he wasn’t dating her, fearing it would hurt her feelings. Luckily, he’d always been a background character in class, so none of it affected him much.

He greeted Chubby Girl, and she suddenly remarked, “You’re different from before today!”

“Huh? What’s different?”

“The deep melancholy is gone. Instead, you have a new confidence I’ve never seen!”

“You noticed that?” Zhang Mingjing thought, suddenly a little afraid, but he continued, “Isn’t that a good thing?”

“It is! You look even cooler this way.”

“Heh.” In truth, Zhang Mingjing wasn’t listening to Chubby Girl’s words—he was reading her. The experience was ten times more subtle than hearing.

He read her gentle affection and couldn’t help but shiver inwardly, growing even more uneasy.

At this point, Chubby Girl’s words grew hesitant.

“Is she about to make some ambiguous confession?” Zhang Mingjing grew exceptionally nervous. Suddenly, he picked up on his good friend’s presence—his lifeline now.

“Wang Dalu!” he called, then turned to Chubby Girl with a smile. “I need to talk to Dalu about something. See you!”

Chubby Girl was left with a face full of unspoken complaints.

Relieved to have dodged a bullet, Zhang Mingjing felt immensely grateful. But Chubby Girl hadn’t been about to confess—she’d just wanted to say goodbye to him alone.

In class, the homeroom teacher finally announced, “Our classmate Zhao Ya’s application to join the army has been approved! And thanks to her mathematical talents, she’s been selected for the special forces—she won’t be coming to school tomorrow.”

A thunderous round of applause erupted from the class.

Zhang Mingjing clapped especially hard—he was particularly happy, not for Chubby Girl’s enlistment, but for his own “release.”

The teacher went on, “We wanted to give her a grand farewell, but with college entrance exams coming up and it being dangerous to go out at night, we’ll have to make do with a simple celebration—right now, in fact!”

Zhang Mingjing thought, “She’s leaving, so she really was planning to confess earlier. If she seeks me out later... it’ll be awkward whether I refuse or not. What should I do?... I’ll just spend break time in the bathroom and run home as soon as school’s out. But what if Zhao Ya calls me? I can’t just ignore her, can I?”

He set his phone’s AI to reply to all calls with a voice message: “Sorry, my owner forgot his phone. I’ll let him know as soon as he returns.”

But the next morning, when Zhang Mingjing checked his phone, he found no calls or messages from Chubby Girl.

Suddenly, he felt a pang of guilt, thinking, “I should give her a call. Otherwise, I’d be a terrible person.”

After much deliberation, he still didn’t call her. Instead, he sent a short text: “Safe travels!”

He worried she might call back, but instead, she sent an eleven-character text with three exclamation marks: “Thank you! Good luck with your exams! I believe in you!”

And so, Zhang Mingjing and Chubby Girl parted ways. He would never have believed that years later, their paths would cross again, and they would fight side by side.

At that moment, Zhang Yidao called from the doorway, “Zhang Mingjing, take a day off from school today—tell your teacher there’s something at home.”

“What is it?”

“You’re coming with me and Xiao Nüxia to a client’s house.”

“Why?”

“To catch a demon.”