Everyone’s eyes suddenly lit up.
"Brother Yong is awesome!"
Shi Yong smiled calmly and waved his hand, saying,
"I saw that their family is going to have a private auction after a while, and we can go check it out then."
A group of youths longing for excitement immediately started discussing fervently, all of them sighing in relief that after so many days of hard work, they had finally found a clue about that mysterious person.
If Zhang Xiaoman had been there, he would have been surprised to discover that the place they were planning to visit was in fact the home of one of the inactive members listed in his gang’s directory.
The sun rose and the moon fell, and a day and night quickly passed.
Today is August 22nd, which for Zhang Xiaoman, is also a somewhat special day.
If one were to calculate by his actual age, then today would be Zhang Xiaoman’s 25th birthday.
When it comes to celebrating such minor birthdays, he doesn’t normally make a big fuss; usually he would just cook some extra dishes at home, or maybe go out for a barbecue or hot pot meal with Brother Hero.
Originally, he had planned to spend his birthday just like that since there were many more tasks waiting for him to complete.
After teleporting back from the Original Realm, Zhang Xiaoman planned to rest for an hour before going back to continue practicing. After two days of training, he was surprised to discover something.
As he consumed Dark Energy multiple times with his skills, his own Dark Energy channels unexpectedly widened—in other words, his energy limit had increased!
Now if Zhang Xiaoman equipped a cloak with 5 points of spiritual power, he would have a total of 161 points of Dark Energy limit.
Though it had only increased by 1 point, it was undoubtedly great news for him, showing him another way to increase his energy limit, which so far seemed to be the simplest.
Zhang Xiaoman guessed based on his experience that to increase the limit of Dark Energy through training was not something that could be achieved by using a Skill sporadically.
It required continuing usage and consumption of skills, and the time needed to do so had to be at least 5 hours or more for it to improve.
It’s like how people need to exercise continuously for a certain duration before achieving any noticeable benefits from their workouts.
He estimated that, given his current intensity of training, if he was lucky, he could potentially increase his Dark Energy limit by 1 point each day.
Of course, there might be more scientific methods for enhancing Dark Energy that he was not aware of yet.
But even just this rate of progress was very significant for his current level.
Together with the Enlightenment Kaleidoscope, which on average increased 1 point of spiritual power every ten days, he could nearly achieve a daily increase of 2 points in his limits.
Of course, all of this was in an ideal situation. In reality, he might not have the time to train continuously like that, and during his monster Hunts, he must retain a certain amount of Dark Energy for himself.
The improvement of his Dark Energy was undoubtedly good news. As for his proficiency with the Enlightenment Array Technique, he could now almost complete the entire arrangement of the first 216 Sequence.
That afternoon, Zhang Xiaoman made use of the free time to catch a short nap, but not long after, he received a phone call; it was from Lin Sisi, the girl.
It turned out she shared the same birthday as him. Judging by her actual age, today marked the last birthday before she turned twenty.
Zhang Xiaoman accepted the young girl’s invitation to go out for dinner together. When the girl spoke hesitantly over the phone, he could even imagine her embarrassed appearance on the other end of the line.
Although he was busy with the Enlightenment Array, he still had time for a meal out. Besides, he didn’t have the heart to turn down an invitation from such a pitiful young girl.
Strictly speaking, however, this was Zhang Xiaoman’s first time going on a date with a girl.
That evening, Lin Sisi, dressed in a bright red dress, walked down the city’s pedestrian street with Zhang Xiaoman, her small hand held by his, as she followed behind him with her eyes closed and matching his steps.
The passersby around them cast curious glances at this sight, some filled with sympathy and others with well-wishes.
This was also the first time in over a year that Lin Sisi had come to such a place. Although she always had a guide dog to lead her, she never dared stray too far from home.
Inside a restaurant, the two sat facing each other. Zhang Xiaoman intended to get up and secretly pay the bill but was told that Lin Sisi had already paid online in advance.
Reluctantly, Zhang Xiaoman returned to his seat, never expecting that the girl would treat him on their first meal out together.
It wasn’t that he adhered to any machismo. He just didn’t want to spend Lin Sisi’s money.
Because the funds she had for daily living expenses were compensation from the party responsible for the accident she was involved in.
It was money he couldn’t bear to use.
The other diners around them couldn’t help but observe the situation at their table, partly because a beautiful yet blind girl was a novelty, and partly because the bright red dress that Lin Sisi was wearing was very eye-catching.
"Sisi, do you really like red? I’ve heard that girls who like red tend to have passionate personalities..."