Weapon System 12: The Eccentric Family (1)

Zhang Mingjing waited anxiously in the living room, worried that Zhang Yidao might change his mind. He thought, if Zhang Yidao backs out, he’d just offer him a thirty percent discount and see if he’d give in. One way or another, he was determined to fulfill his dream of cultivating the Dao—and to collect a handsome reward.

To his surprise, ten minutes later, Zhang Yidao and Xiao Nüxia emerged from the room beaming with joy.

“Deal!” Zhang Yidao declared grandly, the force of his words seeming to shake Zhang Mingjing’s very soul. He had never seen such boldness from him before.

“What’s gotten into you today? So manly!” Zhang Mingjing laughed.

“Why so much chatter?” Zhang Yidao retorted, flicking him lightly on the head this time.

Zhang Mingjing grinned from ear to ear, visions of stacks of cash filling his mind.

“When do we start?” Zhang Yidao asked.

“Right now, of course.”

“Now? Excellent! If this works, I’ll treat you to a feast.”

“No problem.”

Zhang Yidao immediately sat cross-legged, eyes closed, while Zhang Mingjing performed a series of strange, theatrical gestures behind him.

Xiao Nüxia couldn’t help but comment, “Zhang Mingjing, are you exorcising ghosts for Zhang Yidao, or helping him open his microcosmic orbit?”

“Hush! Xiao Nüxia, could you please not make a sound and break my rhythm?”

Reluctantly, Xiao Nüxia pursed her lips and fell silent.

After more mysterious antics, Zhang Mingjing finally seated himself behind Zhang Yidao and focused. In his right palm, a glowing speck the size of a sesame seed appeared, imbued with the program to initiate the microcosmic orbit.

Xiao Nüxia’s eyes widened. “Good heavens! Is that the blessing he’s selling?”

Zhang Mingjing pressed the luminous particle into the back of Zhang Yidao’s head. Two seconds later, Zhang Yidao’s eyes flew open, his face radiating excitement and joy.

Zhang Mingjing patted his shoulder and whispered, “Don’t get too worked up. Close your eyes and let the microcosmic orbit run for a dozen cycles. From now on, whenever you wish to activate it, it will start automatically. It will strengthen your body, heal injuries, detoxify, and prolong your life.”

Hearing this, Xiao Nüxia swallowed hard. In her early forties, plagued by back pain, an unhealthy spine, stomach issues, and an overactive liver, she longed for those very benefits herself.

Her attitude shifted so quickly that Zhang Mingjing hardly recognized her. She sprang up, hugged his head, yanked him up like pulling a carrot, and planted a kiss on his forehead. Laughing excitedly, she exclaimed, “Son, you truly are the treasure of our family. Tonight, I’m treating you to roast lamb!”

“Ow! Xiao Nüxia, you’re crushing my head!” Zhang Mingjing complained, guessing her motives. “You want to buy my blessing too, don’t you?”

“Of course! Is there enough for sale?”

“Plenty! Don’t worry, you’ll have your share. Now let go!”

Overjoyed, Xiao Nüxia kissed him once more on the forehead before finally releasing him.

Red handprints immediately appeared on both of Zhang Mingjing’s cheeks, a testament to Xiao Nüxia’s uncontrollable excitement.

He couldn’t remember the last time she had been so affectionate, and he was rather taken aback. He grumbled, “Alright, alright! I’m exhausted and starving after all that. Hurry and order the food!”

“Will do! ...Waiter, one order of roast lamb, please.”

The waiter confirmed, “One portion?”

“Hehehe!” Xiao Nüxia laughed awkwardly, then scolded, “Didn’t I say just one?!”

Zhang Mingjing rolled his eyes inwardly and pretended to rest with his eyes closed.

Zhang Yidao let his microcosmic orbit circulate a dozen times. When he finished, tears streamed down his face as he murmured, “I’ll never forget this feeling for as long as I live!”

The roast lamb arrived—a measly portion.

Zhang Mingjing was still hungry, but he couldn’t bring himself to eat it all in front of his elders. He divided the meat between Zhang Yidao and Xiao Nüxia, grumbling inwardly, “They’re willing to shell out hundreds of thousands, but can’t spare a bit more for lamb? How cruel!”

“When’s the next transaction?” Zhang Yidao asked.

“As I said, payment comes after delivery. You’ve received the microcosmic orbit, so it’s time to pay for it.”

Exchanging a glance with Zhang Yidao, Xiao Nüxia hurried to the bedroom and returned ten minutes later with a bank card. She handed it to him with a flourish. “Take it!”

Zhang Mingjing recognized it at once—it was his own card, given to Xiao Nüxia for safekeeping long ago.

He checked the balance: exactly one hundred thousand yuan. His heart raced uncontrollably. “If I close the deal with Xiao Nüxia too, I’ll have nine hundred thousand in the account! How should I spend it?”

“When do we start the next round?” Zhang Yidao pressed.

“The grand orbit isn’t like the microcosmic one—it’s far more draining. Let me rest for the night; we’ll do it tomorrow.”

“Don’t rush him, Zhang Yidao,” said Xiao Nüxia, her voice suddenly full of concern. “Let our son rest.”

In truth, Zhang Mingjing was as eager as Zhang Yidao, desperate to pocket the nine hundred thousand as quickly as possible. Still, to make the “sale of blessings” seem like no ordinary feat of endurance, and to ensure Zhang Yidao and Xiao Nüxia felt they were getting their money’s worth, he had to keep up the act.

But his impatience for the money finally got the better of him. “If Xiao Nüxia wants the microcosmic orbit, I can still manage that tonight.”

“No rush! If you’re really tired, you should rest,” Xiao Nüxia replied, her concern genuine and touching.

Zhang Yidao added, “Unblocking meridians is important, but not as important as your health.”

Feeling the love of his parents, Zhang Mingjing was unexpectedly moved.

He insisted on opening Xiao Nüxia’s microcosmic orbit that very night.

Around eight in the evening, Xiao Nüxia’s microcosmic orbit was successfully opened, and Zhang Mingjing received another hundred thousand.

He retreated to his room, bank card in hand, checking and rechecking the balance in giddy excitement until he drifted off to sleep.

But in the dead of night, disaster struck.

Unable to sleep, Zhang Yidao and Xiao Nüxia decided to try out their new microcosmic orbits a few more times. Suddenly, Zhang Yidao produced a book on cultivating the grand orbit.

He said to Xiao Nüxia, “Let’s try it ourselves. We’ll save a fortune, and Zhang Mingjing won’t have to exhaust himself.”

Zhang Mingjing, deep in slumber, missed this entirely. At dawn, the AI assistant roused him.

“Wake up, Zhang Mingjing, wake up...”

“What time is it? What’s going on?” he grumbled, bleary-eyed.

“Zhang Yidao and Xiao Nüxia’s vital signs are very abnormal. Their lives are at risk.”

“Damn!” Zhang Mingjing leapt out of bed and dashed to the meditation room.

Sure enough, Zhang Yidao and Xiao Nüxia lay collapsed on the floor, foaming at the mouth, eyes rolled back.

One glance at the book on the floor and he knew—they’d tried to train in the grand orbit themselves, and even he could guess they’d fallen into qi deviation.

“Should I call an ambulance?” the AI assistant asked.

“No need,” Zhang Mingjing thought. “I’m faster than any ambulance, and they might not even be able to save them.”

He took two deep breaths, sat cross-legged, and focused his mind, hoping the five-dimensional cognitive model could heal them.

The model instantly diagnosed the root of their symptoms: their heart meridians were almost completely blocked. It rapidly generated a treatment program.

At once, a glowing speck the size of a sesame seed appeared in Zhang Mingjing’s right hand, the healing program embedded within it, designed to clear stagnation.

The speck instantly duplicated itself, and Zhang Mingjing sent one into each of their bodies. Their symptoms began to improve immediately.

“Their vital signs are returning to normal,” the AI assistant reported.

By eight in the morning, both had made a full recovery. The AI assistant recounted the night’s mishap and rescue to them, prompting Xiao Nüxia to turn on Zhang Yidao in fury. The house erupted in a cacophony of slaps and Xiao Nüxia’s angry tirades.

Having nearly killed himself and Xiao Nüxia, Zhang Yidao didn’t dare resist and soon sported a black eye and a swollen face.

Still in dreamland, Zhang Mingjing was awakened by their shouting. He rolled out of bed, cracked open the door, and slipped some food through the gap to the bewildered Yuhua and Chengxian, caught in the middle of the domestic storm.