Celestial Human Diagram-Chapter 49 - 40: Longde Foods

Shu Han looked at Chen Chuan. He just stood there, looking quite handsome and sharp, his eyes clear. Shu Han couldn’t help but mutter to himself, ’This kid’s got the looks, at least.’

He reminded him, "Junior Chen, you’d best be careful. I specialize in close-quarters combat and have mastered techniques you have yet to learn."

Chen Chuan nodded. It was his first time meeting Shu Han, so he had no idea what the man was thinking. ’Is he telling me this to throw me off, or is it the truth?’ He couldn’t be sure. But no matter what, he would fight at his own pace.

He thought for a moment and said, "I don’t have any particular specialty. I guess my physical conditioning is just a little better than average."

"Physical conditioning?"

Shu Han nodded, looking surprisingly serious.

He was inclined to believe it. According to the reports he’d received, Zhongwu’s brain had supposedly been beaten to a pulp. He was only being kept alive by medication. To manage the fallout, the academy was preventing him from dying, but he was practically a vegetable with no hope of waking up.

And for Chen Chuan to inflict that much damage on someone with Zhongwu’s build with just his bare hands, it was impossible without considerable strength and technique.

With the pleasantries out of the way, they saluted each other with cupped fists, took a few steps back, and prepared to begin.

Shu Han had his pride to consider. As the senior student, he naturally wouldn’t attack first. He extended one hand in an inviting posture and waited.

Chen Chuan didn’t stand on ceremony. ’If you won’t come to me, then I’ll come to you.’ He strode forward.

Shu Han wasn’t a tall man, and as Chen Chuan came straight at him, he immediately felt a wave of pressure. If he dodged, his opponent could simply pursue him. The training ground was large enough for him to evade, but that would be too unsightly. As a senior, he had his pride to maintain. So, instead of retreating, he coiled his body and lunged forward.

Chen Chuan saw the man blur and suddenly appear right in front of him. The movement felt jarring and abrupt, as if he had covered the distance without any visible effort. Chen Chuan immediately realized Shu Han must have used some sort of special technique.

In a fight, one anticipates where a strike will land and where an opponent will be. If that prediction is wrong, your rhythm can be thrown into disarray.

’He’s most likely going for a Wrestling Takedown. The best counter is to leap back and lower my center of gravity, but that might be exactly what he wants me to do.’

So he did the exact opposite. Instead of retreating, he advanced. Stamping his feet in rapid succession, he shifted his weight forward and charged. An unsettling, ear-piercing screech of friction came from the floorboards as he executed the "Mountain-Crushing Body" from the Great Scattering Hand!

This technique relied on the attacker leveraging their superior physique to forcefully shatter their opponent’s stance during a charge. It was the epitome of the saying, "brute force trumps skill." No matter how exquisite a technique, it was ultimately useless if not backed by power.

Shu Han had indeed intended to bait a reaction. If Chen Chuan had been deceived by his feint and shifted his weight backward, Shu Han could have withdrawn, causing his opponent’s force to find nothing but air. At that moment, he could have easily seized Chen Chuan’s head, ending the fight instantly.

But now he realized something was wrong. He felt an irresistible force slam into him. Unable to hold his ground, he was sent flying sideways. However, he used the momentum to perform a smooth roll and sprang back to his feet, seemingly completely unharmed.

Shen Shao said, "Xiaoshu, you’ve lost. If Chen had pressed his advantage just now, there’s no way you could have won."

Shu Han fell silent for a moment before admitting frankly, "Yes, Chen. You won."

Chen Chuan shook his head. "You were holding back, senior."

This wasn’t just polite talk. He had sensed Shu Han make a very subtle move at the last second, only to immediately pull it back. He suspected it was a technique designed to cause injury, but Shu Han hadn’t used it because this was only a friendly spar.

This was a victory in a spar, nothing more. A real life-or-death battle wouldn’t have ended so cleanly.

Shu Han’s attitude was much more polite now. "Junior Chen, you haven’t eaten yet, have you? I’ll take you."

"Hey, I haven’t eaten either! Count me in," Shen Shao hollered.

Shu Han shot back, "You have your own legs. Do you need someone to lead you by the hand?"

Shen Shao said with a cheeky grin, "What, just because he rejected you, you get to reject me? And since when is ’having legs’ a reason not to be invited?"

Shu Han immediately felt the urge to punch him.

Chen Chuan chuckled to himself. He rode the elevator down with the two of them, explaining on the way why he hadn’t shown up that morning. When they heard he had been on an off-campus assignment, they exchanged surprised glances. Neither said anything, but they both gave him a look full of profound meaning.

Wuyi’s main dining hall was located on the southwest side of the campus. This was because Class B students made up the majority of the student body, and their classes were all held in the old building complex.

As for food service, the A-class and Class B students all ate in the same place, while the Recommended Students had their own private chefs. Within the dining hall itself, however, there was still a clear separation.

The three of them entered and walked directly toward the A-class student dining section.

Just then, the dining hall’s broadcast system crackled to life, and a calm, gentle female voice began to speak:

"Longde Foods discards the rigid and restrictive nature of conventional food, shattering traditional concepts to offer a completely new expression and interpretation of what it means to eat. The Longde philosophy is a return to food’s most primitive state..."

"Our products use energy-rich algae as the primary ingredient. High in quality and content, they are easy to digest and absorb, providing balanced nutrition and all the essential substances for the human body..."

Chen Chuan noticed that some diners wore numb expressions, while a few obvious freshmen sighed, muttering, "Here we go again." The majority, however, seemed to not hear it at all.

"...Longde Foods undergoes a strict sterilization process and is completely sealed, eliminating the risk of external contaminants. The safety issues of traditional food have been solved. Longde Foods can be preserved for over one hundred and fifty years, even in extreme temperatures..."

Shen Shao chuckled. "First time hearing that? It’s not so bad for us A-class students; we only have to listen to it once per meal. In the Class B student section, it’s on a constant loop. You aren’t allowed to leave, either. Your only choices are to pay for your own food or come over to our section to eat."

Chen Chuan considered this and found it understandable. ’Hearing it once is fine, but listening to this every single day is basically brainwashing.’ Still, he knew this company provided the academy’s Nutrition Paste for free, so running ads like this every day wasn’t really that unreasonable.

The three of them found a four-person table near the edge of the dining area. Shu Han pulled a clipboard menu with an attached pen from under the table and slid it over. "Order whatever you want. Anything on this list is free. If you want something with a unique flavor, the kitchen can make it, but you’ll have to pay extra for that."

Chen Chuan accepted it without ceremony and ticked off a few items with the pen. He wasn’t a picky eater; he’d eat anything. Once Shu Han and Shen Shao had made their selections, they tore the order form off the clipboard and handed it to a server who had walked up behind them.

Chen Chuan glanced around, noticing that for a peak mealtime, the hall wasn’t very crowded.

Shen Shao chuckled. "Junior Chen, don’t let the two-thousand-odd new students at the start of the semester fool you. Fewer than two hundred of them made it past the second round of evaluations. And that’s already far more than in previous years. How many did we usually get? Forty or fifty in a slow year, maybe seventy or eighty in a good one. The number has more than doubled this year, and I hear you have something to do with that."

Chen Chuan was taken aback. "Me?"

Shen Shao leaned forward slightly, fixing his gaze on him. "Yes, you. You know, after word got out that you took down Zhongwu, many of the instructors responsible for the student evaluations got scared. They didn’t dare to be so ruthless anymore. They were afraid if they pushed the new students too hard, another monster like you would show up and kill or cripple them."

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