Step Back! Master is Here! - Chapter 42
Chapter 42: Hidden Business Talent
Several sets of clothes had white as the main color, and some parts had been modified according to Tang Luo’s requirements.
The clothes were elegant and graceful, and would not inhibit his movements. They were very “Amazing Monk, Wu Hua[1]”.
Of course, after being modified, it was much more gorgeous than the usual monk robes.
It gave people a feeling of a master and not just a handsome young monk. This was the effect Tang Luo hoped to achieve.
He prepared one set and kept the rest away as spares.
The Jade Lotus of Virtuous Merit hung suspended above, sprinkling bits of golden light.
Blessing—Gorgeous Edition!
That’s right, Tang Luo was blessing his suit and adding BUFF to it.
Its toughness had been greatly improved.
He strengthened his shoes as well. He was trying his best to avoid damaging them due to his excessive power output.
In addition, he added the effects of hygiene, self-cleaning, dust-proof, and bloodstain prevention, so that he could avoid the embarrassment of washing his clothes in the mission world.
After trying on his clothes, Tang Luo lay on the sofa, thinking about his future life.
To be precise, he was thinking about how to gain more power of virtuous merits.
One source would be to punish evil and advocate good in the Game of Gods And Demons.
What about the real world?
Its power must not be reduced.
“Why not create a ‘Blessings · Monster and Demon Subduing Society’, which will provide people with blessings and help them get rid of demons, monsters, and ghosts? I could even make some money.” Tang Luo had a bright idea.
Although the real world’s vital energy was thin, it did not mean that there were no such things as demons and evil spirits.
If the scope was expanded, then Employees of Gods and Demons like Sun Ang also belonged to the category of demons and evil spirits in Tang Luo’s eyes.
They were an existence that he would subdue.
Tang Luo did not think he had the kind of little death-god student quality that Conan[2] had, where death followed him everywhere.
There were many problems with the journey to the west, but physical fitness was not one of them.
Physical fitness was, at most, a part of the problem.
After analyzing deeper, it was actually physical fitness.
He was going to be like Sherlock Holmes.
Whenever something went wrong, people would come to Master Xuanzang to solve the problem.
The prerequisites to achieve this was to have a reputation that reached far and wide.
This was actually very hard.
After all, blessings, subduing demons, and killing monsters did not seem very credible. They gave people the feeling that he was a con artist like Qigong Masters.
“I can go online to find some trouble-seeking supernatural enthusiasts and join their investigation. If we encounter something, I could save people and gain merits, and perhaps gain some fame too?”
After thinking about it, Tang Luo felt that it was impossible to make money at the beginning. He could only do it for free and use his good looks to make money.
Everyone loved free stuff, as there was nothing to lose, whether they tried it or not.
In this way, he could make some sales at the start. After this, Tang Luo could do whatever he wanted.
“I should get a business card as a convenient way to introduce myself.”
Tang Luo opened his browser and found an online shop to customize his business card.
He would use it as a form of greeting. Once he achieved a certain level of reputation, he could sit at home and wait for the business to come.
Earning money and merits.
Power of virtuous merits: +999.
Money: +999
His plan was sound. He was indeed a hidden talent in business.
Since Tang Luo had planned his future, he happily began to search for competent trouble-seeking experts, such as supernatural enthusiasts.
In real life, they may be hard to find. But when one looked online, they would discover there were plenty of them. Some were even quite active too.
If they found something interesting happening at a certain place, they would not be able to resist and would investigate it.
Tang Luo had never been in contact with these people before. Thus, he was like a headless fly flying around on the Internet. When he saw anything that looked like a supernatural investigation, he would join the group without hesitation.
Some were unresponsive, while others required assessment. Some did not say anything and allowed Tang Luo to join.
Without saying, “Welcome new joiners”, they would immediately throw out a bunch of links.
There were all kinds of online shops selling all sorts of outdoor equipment. They also talked to Tang Luo in private, one after another, as if they were sharks who smelled blood.
This caused Tang Luo to withdraw from such groups.
Was the online store business so bad now?
After bustling for several hours, Tang Luo finally determined a direction.
What he needed was undoubtedly more active enthusiasts.
For groups who were just chit-chatting online, Tang Luo could also obtain intel from them. Regardless of whether it was true or false, he would jot it down and make a record first. In case he could use it later.
As for those who came with other purposes—such as selling films, asking for likes or votes, giving product recommendations, selling tea or hard-working writers looking for materials, they were all ignored.
Only the truly active enthusiasts were Tang Luo’s target customers. Such people were either too rich or had too much free time.
The best was when they were both rich and idle.
Rich people, as well as those who were rich and idle, could not be found easily on the Internet.
However, the idle ones were easier to find.
That’s right—university students!
“Shu University Supernatural Society, Li Hua Strange Phenomenon Interest Group, Li Hua Supernatural Interest Group, Dong University Non-Scientific Phenomenon Research Society… At a glance, one can see these were frivolous clubs. Good, I can target these.”
Tang Luo chose the frivolous clubs formed by university students in the surrounding area and applied for membership.
It was late and close to midnight now. But being university students, they would still be up.
Soon, they responded one after another.
Several of them directly rejected Tang Luo’s application, stating that they were serious clubs and only accepted students from their schools. They sounded as if people outside of their schools were bad people.
However, there were also two clubs. One of them directly agreed to Tang Luo’s application. The other allowed Tang Luo to join a probation group and would allow him to join the club properly after he was assessed.
The one that agreed to his application was called Li Hua Supernatural Interest Group. There were 23 people in the group.
When Tang Luo entered and said hello, there were a few people who welcomed him, the new joiner. After that, it was quiet.
Tang Luo remembered that Li Hua University used to recruit girls and only started recruiting boys a couple of years ago.
The ratio of men to women was very different.
Upon clicking on the information of the group members—Wrong, there were 15 guys and only 8 girls.
It was supposed to be nine girls out of ten people. Where were all the girls?
Could it be that Li Hua Supernatural Interest Group was an all-men sub-branch of Li Hua Strange Phenomenon Interest Group?
He did not care about that at the moment.
Tang Luo went to join the probation group of Dong University Non-Scientific Phenomenon Research Society.
As soon as he was added, Tang Luo was shocked.
This group had something.
Tang Luo recalled that Dong University was a medical university!
These medical students were bold and were more open to seeking out trouble than most people. They would definitely go out of their way to look for it.
‘I’ve decided on you, my mobile merit provider!’
However, Tang Luo failed his assessment and was eliminated.
This was what happened.
There were five people on the assessment panel, the group owner, and four administrators.
Four guys and one girl.
Not long after Tang Luo joined, the female administrator asked whether his avatar and photo belonged to him.
Tang Luo’s account was used for work. Hence, it was professional.
He had especially taken professional photos in suits and used them as avatars. He had also posted a few on the photo wall.
It gave people a feeling that he was cosplaying, But it did not matter to him, as long as he looked handsome enough. He needed to rely on his looks and his free services to open the market during the initial phase.
Tang Luo’s plan was very clear.
Hence, he answered, “Yes.”
He could reveal his monk identity after they were familiarized with each other.
“Sure!”
Tang Luo saw that the female administrator typed a word and an exclamation mark.
The next moment, he was kicked out.
???
What had happened?
Tang Luo joined another probation group and was quickly rejected.
The reason for rejection was as followed.
“Brother, there are 8 girls in our larger group. You are a cosplayer, and yet you are here to snatch our girls. That’s very unkind. Don’t let me see you again!”
‘Little brats, you actually know how to protect your food?’
The question was whether Master Xuanzang was here to pick up girls?
‘Master Xuanzang is here to save your lives. You have no idea of the mistakes you’re making.’
Beep, beep, beep.
It was the sound of a message. Someone from the 23-person group that Tang Luo had just joined spoke.
When he opened it, a person, named World’s Number One Blood Cell, posted a picture of a dog with the caption: “Newbie get out, there are only gays here.”.
A series of messages followed.
Disgusting Otaku said, “Do you like to pick up soap[3]? No, I mean, do you have any nude photos?”
Staying Late Is Bad For Health, Recommend To Stay Up The Entire Night said, “Does the newbie prefer Sadako or Kayako[4]?”
Sadako Is My Wife said, “Hehe, how can Kayako compare to my wife?”
The atmosphere suddenly became lively.
They were indeed supernatural enthusiasts. The things they liked were much more hardcore than your average person.
World’s Number One Blood Cell paled in comparison, giving off a weak aura.
Probably the people in the group were not to be trifled with.
Someone suddenly asked, “Is that you in the picture of your avatar and on your photo wall?”
Tang Luo thought for a while, and answered truthfully, “Yes.”
Sooner or later, he would have to meet them face-to-face. There was no need to hide.
“!!!”
“Since you are a cosplayer, could you not join this group?”
“That’s right. This is a group of supernatural enthusiasts, and you don’t seem to be a student of this school either.”
“Well, @World’s Number One Blood Cell, kick him. He doesn’t feel like a good person.”
“Kick, kick.”
World’s Number One Blood Cell was the administrator.
The group member XXX was banned for 23 hours and 59 minutes by the group owner, Mistress Cutie.
Group member…
Group member…
…
With the speed of a quick knife slash, there was silence.
“Oh, someone wants to rebel?” said Mistress Cutie with an aura of a queen.
“@Xuanzang, are those pictures of yourself?”
“@Xuanzang, you are cosplaying a monk?”
“It’s me, but I am not cosplaying. I’m a secular disciple.” Tang Luo used a relatively different identity.
“Master!”
“Little monk!”
“Wu Hua!”
Mistress Cutie said, “Don’t be horny in the middle of the night. @Xuanzang, are you a local?”
“Yes, I like investigating supernatural phenomena. If you have activities, I am keen to go along.”
“Good, good,” answered Mistress Cutie.
Then, the topic went off course.
They were talking about everything under the sun. To be honest, apart from their names, Tang Luo could not see anything that was supernatural-related.
After a while, he muted the messages.
It was time to spread a wide-cast net.
When one traveled at night long enough, they would run into a ghost sooner or later. Actually, even without running into a ghost, exploration was also a little dangerous.
As long as Tang Luo could make money, he would do it.
Tang Luo hid his identity for the next period as he surfed the Internet, joining the more active groups among supernatural enthusiasts.
At least, he became familiar with them so that they would call him if there were future activities.
Apart from sometimes being mistaken for selling talismans, it was pretty much uneventful.
As for the first group, he was more familiar with them.
Unfortunately, no one had formed a group to seek out trouble.
The business cards had arrived. He was just waiting for the official opening.
Tang Luo’s Jade Lotus of Virtuous Merit was unable to endure its hunger anymore!
[1] A character from the Chinese Wuxia novel, The Legend of Chu Liuxiang. He is a monk from Shaolin who is very good-looking and considered as one of the top talents of Shaolin.
[2] Conan is the main protagonist of the manga series Case Closed.
[3] Gay slang for bending over.
[4] Sadako vs. Kayako is a horror movie where two evil spirits were pitted against each other.
