Chapter 182: The Strange Old Man

After getting into the back of the taxi, Zhang Lisheng placed his hand into his pocket from time to time to stroke the Island Dragon and wyrm dragon that had shrunk into a size less than 30 centimeters and was only as thick as a pencil and as soft as rubber, grabbing onto his grey casual lining well. Unwittingly, a cautious expression crept upon his face.

It was fortunate that nothing happened along the way, so he managed to reach the terminal of the John F. Kennedy International Airport more than 30 minutes earlier before eleven o’clock.

Since Edward booked the first class ticket for him, the young man went through the VIP passage smoothly and successfully brought the two wizard gu that looked like toys with him.

Half an hour later, the American Airline TU098 direct flight from New York to Johannesburg, South Africa glided on the runway and took off to the sky, throwing Zhang Lisheng’s worries on the ground as it quickly ascended into the sky.

After Zhang Lisheng rode on the wizard gu and flew for several days and nights in the supernatural realm, he found that he no longer liked to stare at the clouds through the window anymore.

Sitting in the spacious and comfortable first class seat of the aircraft, he boringly watched a movie and ordered a Coke. While drinking and putting his seat down so he could shut his eyes to attain mental composure, he spent the remainder of the long journey in contemplation and finally arrived at Johannes International Airport.

Johannesburg was the most bustling city in the Republic of South Africa. It might be somewhat far-fetched to describe the city located in the world’s largest gold mining area with the phrase ‘international metropolis’, but if the word ‘international’ was replaced with the word ‘Africa’, then Johannesburg that had a population of nearly four million could be said as a nation that lived up to its name.

When the young man exited the plane, it was already night time. However, the all-year warm South Africa that had most of its countries located in the subtropical zone was not cold at all. Taking a deep breath of the warm and humid air unique to the winter in Africa, the young man took out his phone and turned it on to send a text to his mother and Tina, before switching it off again and walking towards the bus that transported the passengers in the airport.

Riding on the bus towards the outer channel, Zhang Lisheng inadvertently found that there were no ATM machines on both sides of the spacious passageway. Touching his pocket that only had less than 1000 dollars in cash, he pondered about it before proceeding to take out 5000 dollars in cash using his US Wachovia Bank credit card that could be used worldwide.

After walking out of the airport, the young man did not look for a hotel to stay in. Instead, he called for a taxi and asked, “Is there any nice apartment nearby here that has great rental conditions?”

English was Johannesburg’s main language. The young man’s English sounded a little off when it fell on the obese square-faced black driver, who showed off white teeth when he smiled, but it was not hard for him to understand.

The driver answered enthusiastically, “Sir, from your accent, I can tell that you’re American! Get on the car, I know exactly what kind of place you need.”

“Oh? Then I’m really in luck, I suppose,” Zhang Lisheng entered the taxi.

The driver turned on the car. “Oh, I can’t tell the age of foreigners at all. Are you here for work or to study abroad, sir?”

“Do people come here to study too?” Upon hearing this, Zhang Lisheng blurted out in astonishment. “Erm, I don’t mean that! Really, you know. I just…”

“It’s alright, I understand! I completely understand. In the eyes of most Americans, the US is the center of the world economy, culture, and technology, so of course, Americans will not come to study in South Africa. Not only that, the University of Witwatersrand that is the best in Johannesburg is not much on par with an internationally famous university.” Even though the driver said so, it was apparent that his expression had turned sour. He no longer said anything more after that, all the way till he drove Zhang Lisheng to a street close to the bustling main road of the city. The driver parked the car in front of several high-rise apartment buildings that were connected together.

The driver ignored him, so, of course, the young man would not bring more contempt upon himself, much less explaining that he was actually a Chinese and bring shame to China. After the taxi stopped, he threw out a 50 dollar bill before exiting out of the car.

Stepping into the streets of an African city for the first time, Zhang Lisheng looked around and found that the street he was on was actually a secondary street. It was still brightly lit, which appeared to be completely like a modern city.

There were many pedestrians on the street, many of whom were blacks, but they were not as vulgar as he thought they would be. Other than some differences in the way they dressed, their manners were almost the same as the blacks in New York City or might appear to be more well-mannered in comparison.

“What a civilized city. This doesn’t look like Africa at all! However, come to think of it, it makes sense. This is Johannesburg after all, the window of African civilization.” Zhang Lisheng muttered to himself and walked into the apartment building that had a signboard reading Antelope’s Nest beside him.

The space inside the building was very narrow, there was nothing inside except for a front desk that could only accommodate one person sitting behind it, completely unlike the front lobby of the high-class apartment the young man had in his memory. If it was not for the fact that he could see elevators at both corridors beside the front desk, he would most likely have pushed the door open and left directly.

“Do you need to rent a room, mister?” Upon seeing a customer coming in, a girl with big breasts, big eyes, thick lips, curly hair, and black and shiny skin stood up from the wooden chair and leaned against the front desk before asking.

“I want to rent an apartment, but I wish to see your room first.”

“I promise that you’ll be satisfied with our room! Not only that, if you stay in our room, you can also enjoy the special service of the front desk lady with a special discount,” the black girl licked her lips and replied.

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“I don’t need any special service. I just want a clean single room that has a large bed with an attached bedroom.”

“Attached bedroom and a large bed? In that case, it’ll cost at least 900 Rand for such a room. I can tell that you’re an American from your accent, so you can also pay in USD too. It’ll cost 45 Rand per day for daily rates…”

Such a room rent was definitely not cheap in Johannesburg, but Zhang Lisheng nodded without hesitation. “I’m okay with it, but I want to look at the room first.”

“How stiff and inflexible! I really wonder if you really are an American or a German? Do you think I would lie to you?” The black girl reluctantly took a few room cards at the front desk and took the young man to see the room.

The layout of the rooms was roughly the same. The best single room had an area of ​​nearly 20 square meters. It had a large bed, bedside table, wardrobe, and computer, as well as a small bathroom with a shower as the only accessory within it.

However, the interior decoration was very exquisite, from the seemingly fashionable blue ceiling-mounted chandeliers to the African-inspired thatched carpets.

When Zhang Lisheng, who did not choose to live in a high-class resort in order to disappear completely, saw such an environment in this apartment room, he immediately paid for a month of rent in advance and checked in into the innermost single room on the west side corridor.

From then on, he settled in Johannesburg. Every day, other than cultivating, he would either pay attention to the movements of the mysterious armed forces fighting against the government forces in the Cape Town of South Africa on his computer, or he would go to the small park near the apartment building to practice breathing exercises together with the Five Element Shapes—Chop, Drill, Crush, Explode, and Cross. Just like that, he spent two to three months of leisure, comfortable days.

The season gradually entered spring. Even though the temperature difference in Johannesburg was not significant, the weather was still inevitably warming up.

When Zhang Lisheng first came to South Africa, he did not bring any luggage, so all of his clothes and shoes were bought on the spot. After several dozens of days of influence, his accent could already imitate the locals closely. At this time, if he put on thick yarn loose breeches and short-sleeved shirts, he had completely shaken off the shadow of a New York tourist.

On this day, the young man cultivated the entire night with the secret technique. After he had awakened, he read the news on the Internet and found that the South African government army was still at war with the mysterious intruders in Cape Town. Finding it boring, he shut the computer off.

“It’s so obvious that it’s the invasion from the supernatural realm, but no big country is intervening at all. It seems like everyone is irrevocably committed. Everyone needs to take care of their own affairs first…” the young man muttered as he hummed on his way to a hot shower.

After walking out of his apartment building, he bought a few calf hooves from a fast food restaurant that specialized in a local specialty called the African Hut on the street. While eating at the same time, he walked towards the street garden and started to practice his martial actions in the morning sun.

In the morning, quite a few local people with various color of skins exercised in the small park too. Some of the black men, who were even influenced by Zhang Lisheng these few months, were imitating the way he stretched out his legs as they practiced martial arts.

From an inexperienced person’s point of view, the way these people wielded their fists were very powerful and even looked more exciting than his, but in fact, in the eyes of an experienced person, they were both completely different.

After the young man dexterously posed a few forms in repetition and then displayed Chop, Drill, Crush, Explode, and Cross in combat form, he proceeded to leave. However, he was suddenly stopped by applause as he heard a cheer in Mandarin, “Good! Very good! Your form is pretty good!”

Zhang Lisheng was stunned, before turning to look at the direction of the voice. He saw an old man, who was in his sixties with a dark face, who looked as though he had been through the hardships of his life. He was wearing a tailored suit with a very good texture and was shooting up a big thumbs up at him.

“Uncle, you know martial arts?” Seeing that it was an old man who came from the same homeland as him, Zhang Lisheng politely asked in Mandarin filled with a Western Sichuan accent.

“Oh, you can speak Mandarin! From your accent, you seem to be from Western Sichuan. Are you Chinese?” the old man asked in surprise.

“I’m a native of Western Sichuan! I’m here traveling in Johannesburg.”

Upon hearing this, the old man looked at Zhang Lisheng and said while curling his mouth, “Traveling? Would a person who comes to travel dressed like you practice martial arts early in the morning in the park? Just say that you’re coming here to work if you really are! This is labor export anyway. What’s so embarrassing with relying on your strength to earn your money?”

Zhang Lisheng froze before chuckling without denying. Lifting up the calf hooves he placed beside his feet, he replied, “Whatever. I’ll take my leave first, old man.”

“Don’t go first! Both of us came all the way from China, and we actually met here in Africa. This is destiny! Stop chewing on that calf hoof, it doesn’t even have any meat on it at all! Come on, let me treat you to a better meal.” The old man clasped his rough hands on Zhang Lisheng’s wrist.

“Oh! I didn’t expect this old man to be a person who trains martial art as well,” Zhang Lisheng was slightly taken aback as he spoke in his head. Subconsciously, he stamped his feet on the ground and snatched his hand back from the old man, “Thank you. but, I’ve fallen in love with this calf hoof ever since I came to town. I’m completely fine with it alone.”

“That can’t be done! I must treat you a meal!” The eyes of the old man looked straight into the young man’s eyes as it flashed a gleam of mysterious yellow brilliance while replying in a speed that was neither too fast nor too slow.