96: I'll support you

Kaiyue Hotel, 8808.

A few delicate, gold-stamped characters reflected a cold, ambiguous light in the morning sun.

Wang Fugui held the black card, his mind a little blank. He had heard of the Kaiyue Hotel; it was the most expensive hotel in the city, where one night's stay cost him several months' wages.

What is this for?

Just as he hesitated, a fair, slender hand, swift as lightning, snatched the card from his fingers.

Wang Fugui was startled. He turned his head and met Chen Yun's open eyes. She showed no trace of sleepiness; her eyes were perfectly clear, even carrying a hint of coldness that saw through everything.

She hadn't been fast asleep at all; she had been pretending!

"Heh."

Chen Yun pinched the thin card and lightly scratched the number "8808" with her fingernail, letting out a cold, mocking laugh.

"That Old Woman, she certainly moves fast."

Her voice was soft, yet it carried a chill that seemed to lower the temperature of the entire room by a few degrees.

This sound also woke Lin Xiaocao on the other side. She sat up, rubbing her sleepy eyes, and when she saw what Chen Yun was holding, she instantly bristled.

"What is that thing!"

She snatched the card, took one look, and her pretty face, which had been sleepy moments ago, instantly turned pale.

"Kaiyue Hotel? 8808?" Lin Xiaocao's voice was strained. She suddenly looked up and glared at Wang Fugui, looking frantic, like her own cabbage was about to be devoured by a pig.

"Brother! You can't go! This... this isn't a good place!"

She was so anxious she was nearly crying, gripping Wang Fugui's arm and shaking him desperately.

"Did that old fox spirit give this to you? She wants to keep you! This is selling your body! If you go, you'll be tainted! Did you forget you promised me you'd uphold male virtue?"

Wang Fugui felt dizzy from the shaking, but his mind was exceptionally clear.

He looked at one woman whose face was covered in frost and another who was on the verge of tears. Two women were ready to fight over a small card. They didn't care how much money the card represented; they cared about him.

A simple yet fervent emotion surged up from his chest.

He reached out, his movement not fast, yet carrying an unquestionable strength, and took the black card back from Lin Xiaocao.

Then, in front of the two women, he held the card vertically between his thumb and index finger.

He didn't use much force, just slightly tensed his muscles.

"Crack!"

A crisp sound.

The hard, high-grade plastic card, durable enough to last years in a wallet, instantly splintered between his fingers, turning into a pile of meaningless fragments that rustled down through his gaps.

The entire room instantly fell silent.

Chen Yun and Lin Xiaocao were both stunned. They looked at the pile of fragments, then up at Wang Fugui.

Wang Fugui scratched his head, revealed an honest smile, and said something that could make any woman's emotional defenses collapse.

"I'm not going."

He looked at them and added seriously.

"I have hands and feet. I can support myself, and I can support you two as well."

Boom!

This sentence was like a thunderclap on flat ground, setting off massive waves in the hearts of the two women.

Chen Yun's perpetually tense, icy face completely thawed at that moment. She suddenly turned her head away, but her shoulders were subtly shaking.

Lin Xiaocao, meanwhile, was completely stunned. She tilted her small face up, tears swirling in her eyes but refusing to fall, only staring blankly at Wang Fugui and murmuring unconsciously.

"Brother..."

~

On the way to the workshop, the atmosphere became extremely strange.

Wang Fugui walked in the middle, with Chen Yun and Lin Xiaocao flanking him, looking like two protectors. But what was stranger were the female workers around them.

Their gazes were no longer the simple curiosity they used to reserve for the Silly Big Guy; instead, they carried a look that was... how to put it—like selecting the strongest, freshest ingredient at the market, filled with assessment, appraisal, and unconcealed fervor.

The earth-shattering kick outside the bathroom door last night, coupled with Liu Big Head's hysterical slander, not only failed to ruin Wang Fugui's reputation but, at light speed, cemented a brand new "legend" throughout the female workers' dormitory area.

A legend about his exceptional talent and astonishing physique.

"Oh dear!"

A female worker in a floral shirt passed by Wang Fugui, and the new handkerchief in her hand "accidentally" dropped to the floor.

She bent down to pick it up, but her movements were slow and deliberate, and she even winked at Wang Fugui.

Wang Fugui didn't understand why, thinking she had simply dropped something, so he bent down, picked it up for her, and handed it over.

"Here you go."

"Thank you, Brother Wang~" The worker took the handkerchief, and her finger intentionally or unintentionally brushed against the back of his hand.

Wang Fugui felt completely uncomfortable.

Just then, Liu Big Head and his two lackeys hobbled toward them. His face was still bruised, and when he saw Wang Fugui, flames of malice practically shot out of his eyes.

"Everyone stay away from him! Don't let him touch you!"

Liu Big Head pointed at Wang Fugui and shouted at the top of his lungs.

"He messed around in the bathroom yesterday and caught a dirty disease! Anyone who gets close to him will be unlucky! It's contagious!"

As soon as he said this, a commotion did indeed start around them.

But before Liu Big Head could gloat, a bold female worker giggled in a high-pitched voice.

"Oh, Liu Big Head, how would a big man like you know about women's diseases? Did you catch it too?"

"Exactly! How could Brother Wang, who is so strong, be sick? I think you're just suffering from kidney deficiency and seeing things!"

Several female workers chimed in, making Liu Big Head's face turn red and then pale.

Even more brazenly, a plump older woman squeezed through, pulled a box of cooling balm from her pocket, and enthusiastically shoved it at Wang Fugui.

"Little Wang, don't listen to his nonsense! If you really feel unwell, I have medicine here! Come to my dorm tonight, and I'll give you a good rub—guaranteed to cure whatever ails you!"

Watching this ridiculous scene, Liu Big Head was so angry he nearly spat blood. He had intended to isolate Wang Fugui, but instead, he had created more opportunities for others to approach him.

~

In the workshop, Chen Yun used her supervisor authority to directly move Wang Fugui's post right next to her quality inspection desk, under the pretext of "key observation to prevent him from working while sick."

Wang Fugui began moving the goods. His evolved body was filled with inexhaustible strength. Heavy material boxes felt as light as foam in his hands. Sweat streamed down his bronze skin, soaking his vest and outlining his explosive muscle contours.

"Wipe your sweat."

Chen Yun, at some point, handed him a clean tissue, her eyes shimmering, and gently wiped the sweat from his forehead right in front of everyone.

The meaning of staking her claim was intense and completely undisguised.

Lin Xiaocao, at the other end of the assembly line, gritted her teeth but also found her own way to fight.

When a gossiping woman nearby started speaking ill of Wang Fugui again, Lin Xiaocao stopped holding back.

"Say that again?"

She stopped her work and turned around. Her face, which had been constantly covered in dust and grime, was washed clean by sweat, revealing an astonishing snow-white complexion. That beautiful, cold face, paired with her unprecedented sharp demeanor, actually scared the gossiping woman into shutting up.

She even learned to use her advantage. Holding a cup of water, she walked up to the Line Leader and looked at him with her large, watery eyes.

"Brother Li, the work my brother is doing over there is too heavy. Could he take a break and drink some water?"

Faced with this sudden beautiful offensive, the Line Leader, who was in his thirties, instantly lost his mind and nodded repeatedly.

"Yes, yes, yes! Of course he can!"

While undercurrents surged within the factory over Wang Fugui's ownership, a few hundred meters away, near the factory wall, sat a black sedan.

The Black-Clothed Butler lowered the high-powered binoculars he was holding.

The lens had just been focused on Lin Xiaocao's fair neck—so delicate it seemed out of place—which was inadvertently exposed when she splashed water on her face, revealing a peerless beauty identical to the one described in the files, now that her disguise was washed away.

"Miss... she has been found," he reported respectfully into the car phone.

Inside the factory, a new storm was brewing.

The Factory Director's Wife, rejected and burning with love-turned-hatred, quickly passed down her instructions through the Workshop Director.

"Wang Fugui!" the Director shouted haughtily, pinching his voice. "The Factory Director's Wife has commanded! This truckload of newly arrived raw materials must be completely unloaded and moved to the warehouse by you alone, within two hours!"

Everyone gasped.

They followed the sound and saw a huge sixteen-wheel heavy truck parked at the unloading bay, piled high with goods covered in tarpaulin—a veritable mountain.

That amount usually took a team of ten people an entire afternoon to unload!

Now, Wang Fugui was required to complete it alone in two hours.

This wasn't a task; this was clearly intended to kill him!

"That's impossible!" Chen Yun was the first to object.

"It's an order!" The Director completely ignored her.

Facing this impossible task, and facing all the sympathetic, pitying, and gloating looks, Wang Fugui calmly walked up to the heavy truck.

He looked up at the mountainous pile of goods, feeling the surging, immense power within him, restless due to his transformation.

This strength was just looking for a place to be used.

He chuckled, and under the astonished gaze of everyone present, he reached down, grabbed the hem of his vest, and ripped hard.

"Tear!"

The already tattered vest was torn in half and casually tossed onto the ground, revealing his back muscles, which looked as if they were cast from fine steel and shone with a terrifying luster in the sunlight.

He stretched his shoulders, causing his bones to crackle like popping beans, and then he turned and reached out toward the first box of raw materials, which weighed at least two hundred pounds.