Starting from Zero

Book 3, Chapter 10

Strange Package

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I found nothing in the room. Then Wayne came back from outside.

"Boss! You're out?"

"Yep." I'm still looking for snacks. "Where were you off to?"

"Military drill of course! Nobody just lies in the dorm from day to night like you, at this time! I haven't played for days, I wander how many levels people have got beyond me." Wayne complained, "Hey Boss, what about you?"

"Me? I'm only 220." (The EXP reward from recruiting Phiona and Night Shade pushed me there.)

"That's...not what I expected from you. What are you doing all these days?" Wayne must have noticed my slow progress.

"Just...don't ask. You know what I got myself into? Remember that quest I told your before?"

"I do. Why? Wait, you're still trapped in there?"

"Bingo! I'm still in that place. I got some pretty awesome gear and companions, but that place won't allow me to level much. The worst part is that I've come into another big problem. A hall, with a thousand doors, each with a bunch of monsters in it. Aside from my final target they won't drop ANY stuff, or EXP!"

"Man this quest is insane." He drew a cross in front of his chest and said, "God bless you, my poor child."

"Oh screw you." I kicked him out of the room. "I gonna go eat. You coming with me?"

"Sure. Someone is paying so why not?"

"No no I'm not paying for you." We walked outside while chitchatting. "We go dutch."

"Oh come on! You're richer than the whole nation and you're being stingy on a meal?"

"Don't give me that. You're not any less yourself!"

"Well I may have a lot but that's like totally nothing compared to you! Why don't you donate that endless pocket money of you and treat me something?"

"Forget it!"

We "quarrel" 'd all the way to the college dining hall. I came here on purpose. Since Wayne wants me to treat, I chose here -- the worst place you can come up with. Otherwise I was planning to eat out actually!

"Ok this place is good enough. Fill yourself up! It's on me!" I grinned at Wayne.

Wayne gave me an offended face. "Fill up?? I feel bloated just by smelling what's in here! Come on, let's go to the Fortune Grand Hotel!"

At last we started towards the hotel anyway. The main reason is that I can't stand the school dining hall either! But when we reached the gate I saw two men in black suits walking over me.

"Young master."

I know the one walking in front. That's one of the chief manager in my father's company, and his trusted man too.

"Mr. Wang. Why are you here?"

"Got some work to do around, and the president asked me to give you something along the way."

Then he took over a silver case from his follower.

I instantly realized this is a lockbox produced by our company. I pressed my finger on a small screen and the case clicked open. The case is pretty big but there's only a watch in it. I took the watch and checked around it, without noticing anything special about it.

So I looked at Mr. Wang. "This is...?"

"That's a key. You have another delivery tomorrow noon, I don't know what exactly either. But the president mentioned that it will be something you've been waiting for a while. Okay then, I'll take my leave. Mr President is still expecting me."

Then he left in a flash, just like how he appeared.

A man of actions.

Wayne snatched the watch from me. "It looks familiar! I've seen it somewhere!"

I grabbed it back. "Just stop. There's no way you'd have seen it."

"How do you know that?"

I showed him the "00000" steel imprint on the back of the watch. "It's a prototype product fresh out of the lab. Someone's gonna be seriously damned if you really saw it before."

We went over the meal with jokes and shoutings as usual. Then we returned to the room and rested. I got up early the next morning, and decided to go to the training and get to know my classmates. I am the loner type but at least I should meet them for once. Besides, I don't think I can concentrate on my game while waiting for my father's "surprise".

So I dragged Wayne to the training site. While he kept asking me if I feel ill.

Dang it.

Though I must admit, this is something rare for me.

When the session started, the students around me just kept glancing at me with various expressions, causing me to goose bump. Even the instructor stared me for a while. Then he walked to me.

"Are you Sairin?"

"Yes sir!"

"You, um," He looked me up and down. "Did you took the wrong form by any chance?"

"Form?" No idea what he's saying.

He passed me a roster, with information of the class written on it, like name, gender, age... I found my entry and checked, everything is fine.

With no response from me, the instructor asked: "Are you sure you're 'Male'?"

...Shit.

"Sir! I'm certain, male from the moment I was born, and not gonna change in the future!"

Wayne spoke on the side: "Sir! I have known Sairin since childhood. I guarantee his maleness. He'd go at any hot girls too, just like other dudes!"

If I can kill people with mere eyesight I'd already done that on Wayne. Is that supposed to be helping me??

Somehow my killing intent affected the instructor as well. "Oh don't worry about it. I'm just making sure."

Then he walked away quickly, while mumbling: "Male? For real?" (*)

Wayne is laughing his tears off now. He patted my back: "You're as fun as ever! Hahahaha! Oh my stomach-- How many times this happened again?"

I grasped his collar and lifted him off ground, then aimed my right hand at where his "little member" is supposed to be.

"Still laughing?"

Since he grew up with me he must know how my father raised me while supporting me with various special treatment. My muscle power is already beyond ordinary people. I don't look big, but my body can produce some serious force. My right punch can easily exceed 300 kilograms. It will kill anyone with a head-on hit, and let's not imagine what would happen if I hit "there". (**)

"Nooooo! Boss! Don't! I won't laugh next time!" His terrible screaming drew the attention of the instructor.

And the instructor obviously flinched upon seeing the scene. He can't understand how someone with my body build can lift Wayne (about 70 kilograms) with just one arm. He wouldn't guarantee he could do that himself.

"Stop it!" The instructor tried to press my arm down, to see how strong I am. And totally out of his expectations, my arm didn't move an inch.

But I still let Wayne go. "Since the instructor ordered. Make fun of me again and I'll make sure you won't 'sweat it' anymore in the future!"

The guys all understood what I meant and began to laugh. That helped clarify my gender as well.

After putting the students under order, we started training. This is no real military training. All we did was just turning around, walking and so on. This is meant to train students' mind rather than their body anyway.

It's noon break. There are too many people so I didn't get to leave soon.

Somehow the crowd began to move backwards. A big truck moved into the training ground. The five-clawed golden dragon emblem instantly gave out its identity as Dragon Fate Corporation's porter truck.

It stopped in the middle of the area, two men dressed as expressmen jumped off. One of them told something to a nearby instructor, who in turn pointed at my direction. Then they ran to us. One asked our instructor: "Excuse me, is this Platoon Two, Seventh Squad?"

The instructor nodded.

"Have you done training? We have a package for Sairin."

"Oh. No problem. We're finished, just waiting for the crowd to clear." Then he called me: "Sairin!"

"Yes sir!"

"Stand out! Go get your package! The rest of you, attention! At ease! Dismissed!"

I asked the delivery: "What kind of stuff did you bring in such a big vehicle? Furniture?"

"We don't know. It's from the company HQ, a really big container. You can just open it here. We're wondering what's inside as well."

Wayne caught up with me. "What's that thing? Is that what they mentioned yesterday?"

"No idea. Maybe?"

Wayne is not the only one following me though. The whole class gathered, all curious about the fuss.

The delivery crawled back into the cab and opened the trunk. Three layers of safes slowly drew open, revealing a big container. What's the deal with all these tight wrap-ups?

"Our duty ends here. You need a special key to open that thing, they said you already got it yesterday."

"Key? Oh. Yeah I got it. Almost forgot it's a key." I moved up my sleeve and revealed the strange watch.

"But, where's the key hole?"

We circled around the container for a while, not finding anything. Some classmates helped searching but came up with no result either. Someone even suggested try climbing on top of it.

Is that even possible?? Who in their right mind would put key holes up there?

I still climbed just in case. It's plain flat, nothing.

Finally Wayne reminded us. "Try checking the watch for a button or something. Maybe it's remote?"

Good idea. I should have thought about that earlier.

I fiddled around the watch. It's not like I can't find any buttons, the problem is, there are too many buttons! I don't know which one is the correct one, it's even possible that I will need to press a combination of them.

I was planning to give up when I received a call from my father.

His face appeared on the screen with a terrible grin.

"Hey dad!"

"You got the delivery?"

"Yeah. But--"

"But you can't open it?"

...I smell a set-up.

"Come on! Just tell me!"

"Hold your horses. Take a guess what's in there. I'll tell you how to open once you get the answer."

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(*) Just a note, most instructors are other students from military collages, usually the same age as the trainees.

(**) This is strong but not superhuman, according to some records of pro boxers.

Q: Is the MC being too harsh on Wayne?

A: No. That's their daily playstyle. No one's offended.

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By the way I saw another website with my translations on it, without referring to this forum. Should I be worried?