Chapter 7: 1-Millimeter X-Ray Vision
After testing his strength, Lu Li returned to his rental apartment.
He casually lay down on his bed, secretly thrilled.
With such explosive physical capabilities, making money should be easy now, he thought.
As someone used to being poor, Lu Li’s first thought after his body "mutated" was to make money.
He couldn’t help it; poverty was terrifying.
"But how exactly can I make money?"
Lu Li didn’t have much experience in society, and couldn’t think of a solution right away.
Of course, with his current physical capabilities, if he went through some training and took up boxing, he could definitely earn big bucks.
But the problem is, he doesn’t have the connections for that.
Besides, Huaxia is a society built on personal connections.
Lu Li once heard someone say that a family’s kid spent a lot of money to join the Chinese Super League for soccer, and to get on the field, they still had to pay tens of thousands in "appearance fees."
He guessed it was probably the same for other sports.
Without first dishing out tens of thousands, it’s hard to get on the scene.
"Forget it, let’s not think about irrelevant things and focus on something practical."
Lu Li was ready to ponder how to make money quickly again.
Suddenly, his phone dinged, signaling a new WeChat message.
He casually picked up his phone and glanced at it, then put on a bitter face.
It was a message from his landlord: "Xiaolu, pay the rent."
Sigh!
He hadn’t figured out how to make money yet, but he already had to spend it.
Lu Li felt a deep sigh in his heart.
After all, he needed a place to live.
He couldn’t avoid the rent even if he tried.
He reluctantly transferred eight hundred over WeChat.
Lu Li typed a line, "Auntie, here is this month’s rent, please accept it."
He wrote this line to leave evidence of having paid the rent.
Just in case the forgetful aunt comes back later asking for it again.
The landlord aunt quickly accepted the money.
Meanwhile, the deduction message from the bank also came through.
Lu Li glanced at it and couldn’t help but sigh again.
"I’ve only got a hundred and fifty-three bucks left, and the paycheck’s five or six days away. Looks like I’ll need to be frugal these next few days."
He calculated that he could snag a work meal at the company.
So his daily spending would just be on breakfast, dinner, and bus fares, which should be kept around twenty bucks.
There were still a hundred and fifty-three yuan left.
Enough to barely last until payday.
As he was thinking about this, his phone rang again.
Lu Li glanced at it, and his face turned green.
It was another message from the landlord aunt: "Xiaolu, pay up the utility bills. Water’s a hundred and eighty total, split among three households, so that’s sixty each. As for electricity, each room has its own meter, last month you used seventy-five units, so give me forty-two yuan, that’s a total of a hundred and two yuan."
Damn!
Forgot about the utility bills!
Lu Li was utterly helpless, and grudgingly handed over a hundred and two yuan.
Seeing the bank alert that only fifty-one yuan was left,
he felt like crying without tears.
Six more days until payday.
Calculated out, he could only spend barely eight yuan a day?
The round-trip bus fare already costs four yuan.
Which left him just four yuan a day for food?
Lu Li’s vision suddenly blacked out, feeling life’s bleakness.
He tossed his phone onto the bed.
The whole person fell onto his bedspread.
He let out a pained wail, "How am I supposed to last until payday?"
If only he’d known yesterday...
Hmm, should’ve avoided buying that Youku membership two days ago.
Lu Li figured unless a windfall came along, on days he couldn’t have a work meal, he’d be stuck eating buns and instant noodles.
He looked quietly at the ceiling, thinking how hard his life was.
At that moment, he desperately wished he could have x-ray vision, hoping it might bring an unexpected windfall to solve his current financial crisis.
But this kind of thing was just wishful thinking.
He hadn’t tried yet.
Who knew if he could evolve x-ray vision?
With this obsession, he couldn’t even muster the mood to mindlessly browse Douyin.
Lu Li thought until it got dark, washed up, and went to bed early.
...
In his sleep.
Lu Li once again had a bizarre dream.
He saw the "Little Golden Man" located below his abdomen channeling all its "light energy" continuously towards his eyes.
Maybe due to insufficient "light energy," this didn’t last long.
Soon after, Lu Li slipped into a deep sleep.
...
The next morning around seven, the alarm clock went off.
He wasn’t sure why, but Lu Li woke up feeling weak and exhausted this morning.
He struggled to pick up his phone to turn off the alarm.
To his surprise, just as he picked up the phone and hadn’t yet turned off the alarm, it seemed as if his gaze penetrated through the wooden door of the wardrobe beside him.
Or rather, penetrated the light blue spray paint on the wooden door.
He saw a small bug, dried and shriveled, trapped between the layers of paint and wood.
He also saw the color of the wood beneath the paint.
The sensation was truly fascinating.
The spray paint was clearly visible.
The wood’s color, the same.
It was as if his vision could pierce matter.
Lu Li was startled, "Could I be seeing things?"
He rubbed his eyes as if in disbelief.
Lu Li looked at the wooden door of the wardrobe again.
The result was just the same as before!
Hmm?
Lu Li suddenly felt alert and boldly speculated, "Could I have x-ray vision now?"
He wasn’t sure.
Lu Li glanced at his phone screen.
It looked no different than usual.
Weird.
Lu Li frowned and again looked at the blanket covering him.
In the next moment, that magical feeling returned.
He could faintly see the threads of the white duvet inside the cover, though not very clearly.
It seemed as if his eyesight was insufficient to fully penetrate the cover layer.
Though he hadn’t completely pierced through, he indeed saw the white duvet!
Lu Li blinked, "So do I really have x-ray vision, just a very shallow one?"
He still wasn’t sure.
Lu Li got up, looking for things to test on.
By chance, there was a book, "Essential for Streamers: A New Media Operation Handbook," left behind by the previous tenant on his bed.
Lu Li looked intently at the book cover, finding that his gaze couldn’t fully penetrate; possibly the cover was too thick.
He flipped the book open.
He tried seeing if he could see the contents of the next page through the paper.
The first page was a contents page, supposedly nothing extraordinary.
However, Lu Li’s gaze lingered there.
Because he could not only see the contents page but also the text on the next "Preface" page!
"Oh my, I can really see it?"
Lu Li found it hard to believe.
He quickly looked at the page through the "Preface" carefully.
He then flipped to the "Preface" page, wanting to verify the content.
Lu Li mumbled as he compared, "One, Basic Conditions. Think about it, how many WeChat friends you have..."
Not a single word differed!
Exactly the same as what I’d just seen!
Lu Li’s excitement surged, "Do I really have x-ray vision?"
He straight away conducted a more detailed test.
He found that his gaze could only penetrate one sheet of paper.
He couldn’t see the content on the page after the next one.
"Looks like my x-ray vision isn’t very profound. Let’s test the limits."
Lu Li enthusiastically continued testing.
A little while later, testing completed.
In the end, he concluded: he did indeed have x-ray vision.
Alas, it could only see through one millimeter...
The test results were in.
Lu Li was left speechless.
What use is x-ray vision that only penetrates one millimeter?
It couldn’t even see through someone’s clothing.
Let alone the legendary Brother Zhao...