"1, 2, 3... 79, 80..."
"Subtract the cost of flour, lard, meat, and firewood..."
At night, his sister counted on her fingers, occasionally scribbling on a piece of paper.
Without a doubt, Tang Wen and his sister were literate.
There was a free school in the camp. Children under fifteen could attend for three to four hours every afternoon, free of charge for three years.
But very few children went.
In the eyes of the camp's adults, a six or seven-year-old kid could help watch the younger siblings. A couple of years older, and they could be weeding the fields and doing manual labor.
'What's the use of learning to read?'
"I've got the total!"
Beneath the dim oil lamp, Tangtang's eyes shone.
Tang Wen wasn't sure if it was a trick of the light, but he could have sworn her eyes were gleaming with a golden glint.
"Is it 100 Copper Coins?"
"Ha! We sold 210 meat sandwiches and you think we only made 100 Copper Coins?" Tangtang stood up, crossed her arms, and looked down at her brother.
"200, then?"
"Hmph! 210 meat sandwiches, and you guess 200 Copper Coins?" His sister struck a pose as if to say, 'You know nothing of power.'
Very few people in the camp ran small businesses.
And those who made a living purely by running a stall were unheard of.
In terms of the business environment, it was like 1980s China.
As long as you had a source of goods and dared to set up a stall, you could make a profit selling just about anything.
Tangtang lifted her chin and declared, "330 Copper Coins! A whole 330 Copper Coins!"
Tang Wen clapped along. "Congratulations, Sis, you're raking it in. But this is just the beginning while it's still new. In a few days, maybe..."
"Ah! I'm not listening, I'm not listening, I'm not listening!" Tangtang glared at her brother, covering her ears.
"We're using Sister Bing's house and her name. Don't you think you should give her a cut?"
Tangtang lowered her hands. "Of course. Sister Bing's place is so big, we could totally pay her rent and move in."
"Huh?" Tang Wen was surprised. Houses in the Inner City weren't cheap, yet his sister had agreed so readily.
Just as Tang Wen predicted, after a few days, the novelty wore off and the meat sandwich business declined quite a bit.
Still, they were earning over 100 Copper Coins a day. That added up to a few taels of silver a month, which was a very decent living.
「Seven days of training passed in a flash.」
That evening, the quartermaster sent someone to inform Tang Wen that he was to go and study the Visualization Image first thing in the morning.
「The next day」
Tang Wen reported to the quartermaster, carrying the Kraft Paper, a freestanding clothes-drying rack, and a large bucket of water.
"What's all this?"
"A personal quirk. Am I not allowed to bring it?"
The quartermaster shook his head in confusion. "That's not it. As long as you don't damage the Visualization Image, you can bring in whatever you want. But if you make a mess, you have to clean it up yourself."
Tang Wen nodded repeatedly.
The quartermaster instructed, "Comprehending the Visualization Image is mentally draining. Don't be impatient, and don't push yourself. If you start feeling dizzy or get a throbbing pain in your temples, take a break immediately, maybe even a short nap. It's not too late to resume Visualization once your spirit has recovered."
Tang Wen mentally noted this and cupped his hands in thanks.
He arrived at the gate of a tightly guarded courtyard.
Tang Wen presented his identification Token, which the Guard inspected carefully before leading him alone into the courtyard, stopping before the only door within.
"The Visualization Image is inside." After speaking, the Guard glanced at the things in Tang Wen's hands and added, "You are not allowed to damage the Visualization Image."
Tang Wen nodded in agreement and pushed the door open.
Sunlight streamed in, falling on the wall directly ahead, where a series of red murals were carved.
The Guard closed the door and left.
The room was lit by several bright kerosene lamps. There was a man-high black Wooden Man Target, a stool for resting, and nothing else.
Tang Wen didn't rush to look at the Visualization Image.
First, he set up the drying rack on the floor and hung the Kraft Paper on it.
Then he placed the bucket full of water on the stool.
Next, he settled into a horse stance, performed the Embrace the Origin and Guard the One technique, and entered Meditation through the Earth Fire Stance.
He waited until the restlessness in his heart dissipated and he was completely calm.
He opened his eyes, walked forward, and focused his gaze on the largest mural in the center of the wall.
That was the Core Power Visualization Image for the Mountain-Opening Cannon Fist.
BUZZ!
Tang Wen's vision blurred. Light and shadow flowed as the Visualization Image on the wall seemed to come to life.
The earth was a stretch of cracked land, with fissures so deep their bottoms were unseen.
WHOOSH!
Flames erupted forth!
'Danger!'
Tang Wen scrambled back, slamming his back into the stone wall with a THUD. Startled, he realized he was still in the stone room.
"What a powerful technique!"
After a few minutes of Meditation to calm his mind, he approached again.
The flames erupted, coalescing into a Fireball that shot diagonally into the air, crashing straight into a towering mountain. A fiery light soared to the heavens as a violent explosion occurred!
A wave of dizziness washed over Tang Wen. Unable to steady his mind, he was once again ejected from the scene.
'The Visualization Image is truly magical,' he thought. 'It's clearly a carved mural, yet it can display a dynamic scene like a film.'
'But how do I use it?'
He entered Meditation again to adjust his mindset and watched with concentration.
The scene repeated over and over: a Fireball slammed into the mountain, erupting in a sky-filling blaze.
After several viewings, a thought suddenly struck Tang Wen: 'People in this world almost never get a chance to see an explosion. Could the purpose of the Visualization Image be to show a Martial Artist what a fiery mountain bombardment, what an explosion, truly is?'
'In other words, is this repeating scene of the Fireball hitting the mountain the very scene I'm supposed to visualize?'
He immediately adopted a horse stance, breathed to enter Meditation, and began to visualize the scene in his mind.
A Fireball shot out from underground, violently smashed into the mountain, and the fiery light engulfed it as it shook and collapsed.
"Phew!"
Visualization succeeded, Meditation failed.
'The scene I need to visualize is too long.'
'I can't maintain Meditation, can't link the images together.'
Tang Wen tried again and again.
Because his Spirit Attribute was much higher than an ordinary person's, he didn't experience the dizziness that others might.
After failing countless times, he took out his pocket watch.
He found that four of his twelve hours of comprehension time had already passed.
'Time is tight. I need to change my strategy.'
Tang Wen sat on the floor, deep in thought for a long while.
Suddenly, a key word came to mind—flipbook animation.
This led him to recall how, when he was a student, he would secretly draw little stick figures in the bottom right corner of his books.
He'd draw a different pose on each page—a punch or a kick—and after drawing a dozen or so pages, he could flip them quickly to make the little man move.
This happy childhood memory gave Tang Wen an idea: 'Since the scene is too long to visualize, I'll just visualize one image at a time, or rather, one frame at a time.'
'For example: the Fireball shoots out.'
'That can be broken down into: a red glow in the fissure underground;'
'The fiery light bursts through the ground;'
'It's revealed to be a Fireball;'
'The Fireball flies diagonally into the sky...'
He deconstructed every part of the scene like this.
'Once I'm proficient, I'll string them together and play it in my mind.'
Two hours passed. The "flipbook animation" in Tang Wen's mind successfully visualized the scene up to the second before the Fireball was about to hit the mountain.
But as soon as he stood up, he felt his mind grow heavy and his temples began to throb.
He quickly stopped the Visualization, went to a corner, wrapped himself in his greatcoat, and fell asleep.
When he woke up, he immediately fumbled for his pocket watch. Thankfully, he had only slept for an hour and a half.
He got up, went over to the bucket, and splashed his face with cold water.
The water was bone-chillingly cold. He shivered involuntarily, but it instantly woke him up.
He continued the Visualization: the Fireball hitting the mountain.
Once, twice... Visualization successful!
BOOM!
Tang Wen felt as though a roar had echoed in his ears.
Then, a warm current filled with heat emanated from the crown of his head.
Subconsciously, he threw a punch.
BANG!
CRASH! SPLASH!
The wooden bucket shattered into pieces, and the water inside splashed all over the floor.
Tang Wen was stunned. Just now, his fist had clearly been some distance away from the bucket.
'How did I make the bucket explode?'
It was at this exact moment that the Panel suddenly began to flash.