I Contracted Myself

"Here, have some water first."

Qiu Qiang stepped forward and handed a cup of water to Zhang Ping.

After Zhang Ping finished drinking, Qiu Qiang smiled and said, "Not bad. I originally thought you wouldn't be able to stick it out. Looks like the school underestimated you. With your current performance, getting into the Big Three should be a breeze."

"By the way, Uncle Qiang, everyone always refers to the Patrol Guard and the Investigation Team as part of the Big Three. But what's the name of the third organization?" Zhang Ping looked up and couldn't help but ask the question that had been bothering him for days.

Qiu Qiang was taken aback, then shrugged and said, "I don't know. Mingzhu City has always called them the Big Three. Everyone knows there's a third organization besides the Patrol Guard and the Investigation Team, but no one knows its name or what it does."

"That's so mysterious," Zhang Ping said in surprise.

He had originally thought that the previous owner of his body was too focused on training to care about such trivial information, which was why he didn't know the third organization. Now he realized, goodness, no one knew.

"Alright, don't worry about what the third organization is called. It's probably some secret department like an assassination unit. Have you rested enough? If so, come and see the quality of your first work," Qiu Qiang changed the subject back to forging.

Zhang Ping nodded, got up from the ground, and focused on the mold.

He glanced at Qiu Qiang, who gestured for him to open it himself. Zhang Ping reached out, gripped the switch, and pulled hard. The mold slowly opened, revealing a knife that was black with silver streaks.

Silver?

Zhang Ping noticed the unusual color and frowned slightly, then looked at Qiu Qiang.

"Indeed, it failed."

Qiu Qiang wasn't surprised. He smiled and stepped forward to pick up the knife.

The knife's shape was no different from the Mingzhu Blade, except that its blade was filled with numerous silver threads. These threads were unevenly distributed, lacking the aesthetic appeal of the red patterns on the Mingzhu Blade.

He took the knife to the testing platform, replaced the test stone, and then swung the knife.

The blade flashed, but the stone remained intact. Instead, the knife made a crisp sound and broke into two pieces, with the tip landing on a large magnet nearby.

"Clean this up," Qiu Qiang tossed the broken knife to Zhang Ping and said.

Zhang Ping examined the broken edge and found that the inside of the knife was also filled with silver threads, intertwined with some red threads. Because there was no pattern, the entire knife looked like a tree trunk hollowed out by termites.

"It must have been during the kneading process that the materials didn't fully integrate," Zhang Ping thought to himself.

He silently summarized his mistakes.

The main issue was that the furnace was too hot.

He felt like he was being roasted alive next to the furnace. If he stayed any longer, he might start smelling like grilled meat.

And then there was the strength.

He lacked the strength, making the 'kneading' process extremely strenuous, far from the ease with which Uncle Qiang handled it.

After tidying up, he sat down next to Qiu Qiang.

"Rest if you're tired."

Qiu Qiang saw Zhang Ping's exhausted face and smiled.

When he first learned the Dough Forging Technique, he was even worse off than Zhang Ping, not even completing the first step. It was only under Liu Tiefeng's pressure that he gradually mastered the technique.

He then gave Zhang Ping a more detailed explanation of his mistakes during the forging process, which was much more thorough than Zhang Ping's own summary. After listening and comparing it to his forging process, Zhang Ping indeed gained a lot.

"By the way, Uncle Qiang, how much did I lose by failing this forging?" Zhang Ping couldn't help but ask, thinking about the price of iron ingots.

Qiu Qiang sighed, "About sixty thousand."

"......"

Zhang Ping's heart sank.

He couldn't repay such a loss even if he sold himself.

"Hahaha, did you really believe that? Don't worry, it's not as expensive as you think. When we have enough scrap, I'll show you how to deal with it," Qiu Qiang laughed as he saw Zhang Ping's pale face.

But his laughter was cut short when Liu Tiefeng's smoking pipe landed on his forehead, making him wince and clutch his head.

"Stinky Qiang, where did you find this kid? His talent is almost on par with Dashan. By the way, where is Dashan?" Liu Tiefeng asked, but as he spoke, he seemed to get confused, his eyes drooping as he fell into a daze.

Qiu Qiang glanced at him, sighed softly, and patted Zhang Ping on the shoulder, saying, "Take care of Uncle Liu for me. I have something to do and need to leave."

"Okay," Zhang Ping nodded.

Qiu Qiang stood up, intending to leave, but after some thought, he felt uneasy and gave more instructions for over ten minutes before reluctantly leaving.

***

Inside the shop, the furnace was still blazing.

Zhang Ping sat and rested, occasionally glancing at Liu Tiefeng.

In his previous life, he had volunteered at a nursing home for a while, so he knew how to take care of the elderly.

"Grandpa Liu, here, have some water."

Zhang Ping got up, went behind the counter, poured a cup of water, and carefully handed it to Liu Tiefeng.

But Liu Tiefeng ignored him, continuing to smoke with his head down.

A few minutes later, Liu Tiefeng looked up at Zhang Ping and said calmly, "Alright, put the cup down. That kid has already left."

"Uh..." Zhang Ping blinked, feeling something was off about Liu Tiefeng.

Liu Tiefeng sighed and said, "Actually, I'm not sick. I'm very clear-headed. Dashan most likely met with misfortune."

"Then why?"

Zhang Ping put the cup on a nearby table and looked at Liu Tiefeng in surprise.

Mainly because Liu Tiefeng's acting was too convincing. When Zhang Ping first met him, he indeed looked like he was in a daze.

"I know Dashan's strength very well. Qiang wants to investigate Dashan's whereabouts, but I'm worried he'll meet the same fate. So I had to pretend to be senile to keep him from risking his life," Liu Tiefeng said slowly.

Although he wanted to find out who killed his son, he didn't want Qiu Qiang to take the risk. He had already lost a son and didn't want to lose the son of his old comrade as well.

Zhang Ping thought for a moment and understood why Liu Tiefeng pretended to be sick. He couldn't help but ask, "So now Uncle Qiang won't take the risk?"

"No, once that kid has something to worry about, he'll be like a turtle and won't easily seek death," Liu Tiefeng said with a bitter smile.

He knew Qiu Qiang's character better than anyone.

Although Qiu Qiang usually acted carefree, he was actually very meticulous, which was why he had survived until now.

Back then, he had opposed Qiu Qiang becoming an adventurer. Qiu Qiang had agreed verbally but ran off as soon as he turned around. When he came back, he had many more scars but had also become more mature and capable.

From then on, he knew that verbal persuasion couldn't stop Qiu Qiang from doing what he wanted.

So this time, he chose to pretend to be sick.

Only this way, with something to worry about, would Qiu Qiang not easily take risks.

"Grandpa Liu, aren't you afraid I'll tell Uncle Qiang?" Zhang Ping asked.

Liu Tiefeng looked at Zhang Ping and asked, "Will you?"

"No," Zhang Ping replied.

Liu Tiefeng smiled, "Then that's settled."

Alright.

Zhang Ping felt like he had been completely seen through.

"But Qiang was right about one thing. You have a lot of talent in forging. However, Qiang isn't very good at teaching, and he isn't particularly focused on forging, so there are many gaps. In the next few days, I'll teach you the real Dough Forging Technique," Liu Tiefeng said seriously, exhaling a puff of smoke.

This craft wasn't exactly a secret, but it was the foundation of the Liu Clan's unique skills.

He had already passed it on to his son, but his son had met with misfortune.

Liu Tiefeng couldn't bear to see the skill lost. It was a part of humanity's heritage, and losing it in his generation would be a disgrace to his ancestors and all of humanity. So he had to find a way to pass it on.

He had originally planned to write the secret technique into a manual, but after seeing Zhang Ping forge, he realized he had a better option.

***

The next day.

Zhang Ping woke up at around four in the morning. Looking at the scenery outside the window, he realized he had left the school dormitory.

He came out of his room and found that Liu Tiefeng was up even earlier.

Liu Tiefeng sat in a chair in the living room, staring at a sword not far away. When he saw Zhang Ping come out, he said, "Alright, come with me."

He got up and went upstairs.

The third floor was Liu Dashan's workshop, mainly used for weapon processing, such as embedding special materials or gems into weapons, replacing guards, or redesigning scabbards.

Liu Tiefeng brought Zhang Ping to the workbench and first had him fetch some flour, then directly taught him how to knead dough.

This time, it was real dough!

Liu Tiefeng skillfully kneaded the dough with both hands and said with a smile, "Actually, Qiang could knead dough when he was a child, so he might not even realize that the foundation of the Dough Forging Technique is real dough kneading. But he started practicing from a young age, so he's already very proficient. As long as he has the strength, it naturally comes together. But you don't have that foundation, so we'll have to take a shortcut."

As he spoke, he placed various sizes of iron beads into the dough and quickly kneaded them. In the end, the dough and iron beads fused together, and from the outside, you couldn't tell there were iron beads inside.

"Now it's your turn. Put on the blindfold and knead all the iron beads out of the dough," Liu Tiefeng said, stepping aside.

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Zhang Ping nodded, put on the blindfold, and pressed his hands on the dough. He found the dough very firm, clearly made to mimic the feel of forging materials.

He carefully kneaded the dough and found that with the blindfold on, the texture of the dough became very clear. He quickly separated the iron beads from the dough.

But the process wasn't entirely accurate.

Some small pieces of dough felt similar to the iron beads.

He didn't know how Liu Tiefeng managed this, but it certainly caused him a lot of trouble.

Proofreader & Editor: Peter Pan