Chapter 5: Infinite Loop (5)

5 - Infinite Loop (5)

"You're absolutely right about that," Wang Anquan said to Old Man Huo.

Lin Xun: "..."

As soon as Wang Anquan finished speaking, Zhao Jiagou chimed in again: "Our Lin Xun has exceptional talent in algorithms, and of course, his innate spiritual constitution is outstanding."

His Chinese proficiency was indeed quite high, even understanding what "innate spiritual constitution is outstanding" meant.

After Zhao Jiagou finished, Wang Anquan continued: "He does have Qi inside him, and recently, he's been angry about lions."

The two of them were going back and forth, almost like they were performing a crosstalk routine. However, Lin Xun knew that Old Man Huo definitely didn't mean it that way.

This must be related to the crawler program inside Old Man Huo. If Old Man Huo had a program running inside him, then he certainly wasn't an ordinary old man.

Old Man Huo's beard seemed about to bristle, his gaze stern as he glared at Wang Anquan and Zhao Jiagou: "Ignorant children! Nonsense!"

Then, he beckoned to Lin Xun, softening his tone: "Little Lin, come here."

Lin Xun walked over to the old man.

Old Man Huo stood with his hands behind his back, scrutinizing Lin Xun carefully from head to toe again, stroking his beard as he said: "Truly a once-in-a-century genius..."

Then, the old man abruptly changed the subject: "Little Lin, which sect or school do you belong to?"

At this, the expressions on Wang Anquan and Zhao Jiagou's faces turned into great confusion.

Lin Xun: "I... don't know what you're talking about."

Old Man Huo's eyes suddenly widened: "That's impossible!"

Lin Xun: "I really don't know."

Old Man Huo frowned: "Then... have you never cultivated?"

Lin Xun furrowed his brow, realizing that the old man's topic might indeed be related to his experience last night.

Then perhaps he could gather some information from Grandpa Huo.

So, he tentatively asked: "Is there something special about me?"

Old Man Huo replied: "I just released my Divine Sense to examine your body."

Lin Xun thought to himself, he probably used a crawler program to extract information from me.

Old Man Huo continued: "Your innate spiritual constitution is a rare genius among our kind, and there is faintly lingering Qi within you, clearly having undergone Qi Induction—do you truly know nothing about this?"

The mix of classical and modern phrasing made Lin Xun uncomfortable, but he still understood the old man's meaning and replied: "I truly know nothing about this."

"Without cultivation, you've already reached the Qi Refining Stage—truly a prodigy!" Old Man Huo praised greatly: "All my disciples have already made their mark and established their own schools. My knees have been empty for a long time. Would you be willing to become my disciple?"

Lin Xun: "Become your... disciple?"

Old Man Huo nodded: "I, Huo Qingshan, am the nineteenth-generation sect master of the Limitless Sect, known as Azure Peak True Lord, at the Nascent Soul Realm. Little Lin, our meeting is fate. If you follow me, your cultivation will advance by leaps and bounds—wouldn't that be wonderful?"

Lin Xun: "Wait a moment."

He brought over his laptop, typed "turboc" into the search engine, got a screenshot of that blue interface, and pointed it to Old Man Huo: "Do you recognize this?"

Old Man Huo squinted and leaned closer: "What is this? This old man doesn't recognize it. You young people are always fiddling with these strange things, wasting time on cultivation!"

—Old Man Huo didn't recognize the program interface.

Lin Xun closed his laptop, took a deep breath: "Then, Grandpa Huo, you said I have Qi inside me—where did you see it?"

He thought to himself, there's no Qi in my body, only a "helloworld."

Just then, Old Man Huo said in a matter-of-fact tone, "Of course the Qi is in your Dantian."

Lin Xun looked over at Wang Anquan and Zhao Jiagou, who were staring in their direction with bewildered expressions, clearly a sign of their materialist worldview being challenged.

Lin Xun asked, "Then how do I start Cultivation?"

"It's simple. Since you've already achieved Qi Induction, as long as you become my disciple, I'll immediately pass on the Foundation Establishment Method to you. Once you establish your foundation, you'll truly step into the world of Cultivation, leaving your Mortal Body behind."

Lin Xun realized he had encountered something that contradicted the materialist worldview...

If that blue space from last night hadn't existed, he wouldn't believe such things and would have thought Old Man Huo had lost his mind.

But at this moment, the progress bar that had stubbornly stuck at eighty-five percent flashed through his mind.

Lin Xun said, "Greetings, Master."

Old Man Huo laughed warmly, "Good child! Good child!"

He reached into his pocket and, somehow, pulled out a blue-bound book. Its binding was extremely crude, resembling a cult propaganda pamphlet. "Take this and devote yourself to Cultivation! The day you achieve Foundation Establishment is the day you officially become an Inner Sect Disciple of our Limitless Sect. In my judgment, it won't take more than three years for you to accomplish this. If you have any doubts, just call me, and I'll guide you!"

Lin Xun took the little blue book and saw four large characters written on its slightly yellowed cover: "Thousand-Day Foundation Establishment."

Everything felt too surreal. Not only was his materialist worldview threatened, but he had also inexplicably gained a master. After a moment to collect himself, Lin Xun finally said, "Thank you, Master."

Old Man Huo laughed heartily, "I take my leave! Today, I've actually taken on a disciple!"

With that, forgetting about the rent collection, and without needing Zhao Jiagou's support, he straightened his back and strode out the door with vigorous, imposing steps, descending the stairs.

Suddenly, Lin Xun remembered something. He opened the window and called out to Old Man Huo, who was just emerging from the stairwell, "Master, what about our rent?"

Old Man Huo replied, "Beloved disciple, now that you've joined our Limitless Sect, what does this shabby room matter? Consider it yours!"

Lin Xun said sincerely, "Thank you, Master!"

Watching Old Man Huo walk away, Lin Xun closed the window and turned to his two roommates.

They exchanged glances.

In the awkward silence, Wang Anquan picked up his phone and dialed a number.

"Hello, is this Brother Huo? This is Xiao Wang, Wang Anquan from Building C in Chaoyang Community."

"Well, it's like this... Your father just came to collect rent from us... Yes, that's right... Grandpa Huo, his mental state... has it... has it... developed some issues?"

"No? Ah... Brother Huo, when you have time, maybe you should take him to the hospital—"

The next moment, Wang Anquan fell silent.

He waved his phone at Lin Xun. "He hung up on me."

Zhao Jiagou scratched his head. "Has Grandpa been reading too much Cultivation fiction?"

Wang Anquan asked, "At his age, would he still read Cultivation stories?"

Zhao Jiagou replied, "Did you hear the things he said..."

Lin Xun coughed.

The two of them turned to look at him and the "Thousand-Day Foundation Establishment" in his hand.

"It's like this," Lin Xun stacked "Thousand-Day Foundation Establishment" on top of "C Primer Plus," sat down on the sofa, interlaced his fingers on the table, and thought for a long time before speaking: "Grandpa Huo might have some mental issues, or maybe not."

Wang Anquan: "How is that any different from saying nothing?"

Lin Xun ignored him and continued: "Recently... I've also encountered some rather unrealistic things."

Zhao Jiagou: "What things?"

Lin Xun: "It's hard to explain. I haven't fully figured it out yet. I'll tell you once I understand."

Wang Anquan scratched his head: "Related to what the old man said?"

Lin Xun: "Somewhat related."

He put away the two books: "I'll get to the bottom of this. For now, let's forget what happened before."

Wang Anquan stared blankly: "Alright, I've forgotten."

Zhao Jiagou chimed in: "Me too."

"Good." Lin Xun picked up his phone: "Now I'll call Dong Jun to confirm the contract."

It was 9 a.m. Normally, Dong Jun should already be at Galaxy by now and not too busy.

Lin Xun pulled up the contact saved as "Male God" in his phonebook.

—Not Galaxy's number, not Assistant Ruan's number, but Male God's personal contact.

Looking at those two words, his fingertip hovered over the screen, unable to press down for a long time.

After... a long while, Lin Xun still couldn't bring himself to press it. He moved his finger away, tossed the phone aside, leaned back on the sofa, and began to wallow in self-pity.

Wang Anquan mocked: "Look how scared you are."

Zhao Jiagou questioned: "What's the difference between you and a salted fish?"

Lin Xun: "I can't help it."

The next moment, in a flash, Wang Anquan suddenly snatched the phone from the table with agility that didn't match his build!

Lin Xun: "You!"

He rushed over to wrestle it back from Wang Anquan, but it was too late. Wang Anquan held the phone high, his thumb poised right above the call button, just waiting to press it.

"Algorithm, you're an adult," Wang Anquan said earnestly. "Next time, you should learn to make your own calls."

The next moment, he pressed the call button and placed the phone back in Lin Xun's hand.

Lin Xun took a deep breath: "...Just you wait."

In the receiver, the ringing tone lasted four seconds.

Dong Jun's voice sounded in his ear: "Hello."

"Hello, Dong Jun, I'm..." Lin Xun was a bit nervous, his voice faltering slightly.

"Is this Mr. Lin?"

"Yes, it's me, Lin Xun."

"Good morning." Perhaps due to signal processing, Dong Jun's voice in the receiver sounded gentler than in reality: "Has Mr. Lin made a decision?"

"We've discussed it and decided to accept your help." Lin Xun relaxed a little.

"I'm glad to be working with you." Dong Jun said calmly: "When is Mr. Lin available? We can sign the contract."

"I can come anytime that's convenient for you."

"My schedule is full this afternoon, so it will have to be in the evening. Is that alright with you, Mr. Lin?"

"That's fine."

"I'll send you the location and time later."

"Okay."

"If Mr. Lin has any other requests or opinions regarding funding, please feel free to bring them up."

Lin Xun originally intended to reply, "I have no objections," but seeing Wang Anquan and Zhao Jiagou frantically signaling him, he finally changed his answer: "I'll consider it."

"Then I won't disturb you any further, Mr. Lin. Looking forward to working with you."

"Pleasure working with you," Lin Xun replied.

After hanging up the phone, Lin Xun noticed that Wang Anquan and Zhao Jiagou were both staring intently at him.

Wang Anquan lowered his voice and said, "I can go over anytime."

Then Zhao Jiagou added, "Whatever is convenient for you."

"I don't mind."

"Alright."

"I'll consider it."

"Pleasure working with you."

Lin Xun remained expressionless. "Do you have any objections?"

Wang Anquan: "I dream of the day Lord Xun would talk to me like that."

Lin Xun: "If you develop a language on the level of glax, I could talk to you like that for a lifetime."

Wang Anquan: "Hiss."

After ending that topic, they began their day's work.

Wang Anquan and Zhao Jiagou each opened their computers.

Lin Xun, meanwhile, looked at the two books, picked up the one Old Man Huo had left for him—"Thousand-Day Foundation Establishment"—and opened it.

As soon as he opened it, the dense classical Chinese text made his eyes glaze over.

He confirmed it was in simplified characters, horizontally arranged.

But even so—what difference did it make?

He started reading from the first line, and after a few lines, his eyes began to lose focus.

He looked up at Wang Anquan but immediately dismissed the idea of asking him for help—Wang Anquan's literary level was about the same as his own and had significantly declined over the years of intense coding.

Finally, he said, "...Jia Gou, come over here."