Chapter 21 - 20: Red Shadow Lock, Grandmaster Potential!

Chapter 21: Chapter 20: Red Shadow Lock, Grandmaster Potential!

A young woman.

She looked about twenty-three or twenty-four years old. Dressed in an airport staff uniform, she stood tall at the passenger exit alongside another girl in the same attire, wearing a professional smile on her face.

By the looks of it, they were likely ground crew members responsible for passenger reception.

The young girl had fair, tender skin and delicate features. She was the playful and cute type.

However, Liu Zimo’s attention was not on her appearance at all.

To him, the Red Shadow Lock glowing fiercely above her head was far more attractive than her looks.

If those possessing a purple Shadow Lock inherently had the peerless aptitude and astonishing potential to become a Martial Saint, then this Red Shadow Lock—only slightly inferior to the purple one—signified at least Grandmaster Level talent and potential.

A Grandmaster!

In the Post-Apocalypse, no matter the city, every Grandmaster was an irreplaceable, top-tier powerhouse—an existence capable of shaking the entire city with a single stomp.

At the same time, these Grandmasters were the primary targets of Liu Zimo’s current trip.

Now that he had finally stumbled upon one, he naturally wouldn’t let her slip away so easily.

As he closed the distance between them, the Red Shadow Lock’s attraction grew increasingly intense.

"Lock it! Lock it! Lock it..." a voice seemed to urge him incessantly in his mind, compelling him to unconsciously step closer to her.

Finally, when he was about two meters away from the girl, he heard a crisp SNAP. The Red Lock fell into place—it was locked!

Simultaneously, a prompt chimed in his ear.

[Binding successful! Your bestie Yang Sisi is now online. Currently available binding slots: (4/20)]

Hearing this, Liu Zimo raised an eyebrow.

The number of binding slots had unexpectedly increased by ten, bringing the total to a whopping twenty!

"It seems the number of binding slots is related to my own cultivation strength," Liu Zimo guessed inwardly. "For every realm my Martial Arts Cultivation breaks through, the binding slots increase by a certain amount!"

The last time he bound Lou Yuchen, the slots had suddenly increased to ten, likely because he had broken through from an ordinary person directly to the Copper Skin realm.

This time, the slots increased by another ten, which was most likely tied to his breakthrough to the Iron Bone realm last night.

The fact that the binding slots had increased twice in a row immediately after he reached a new Martial Dao realm was highly indicative.

"Yang Sisi... this name seems a bit unfamiliar!" Liu Zimo thought, feeling surprised as he saw the name tag pinned to her chest.

He remembered very clearly that among the future Federation’s Ten Grandmasters, there was absolutely no female Grandmaster surnamed Yang.

In fact, let alone a Grandmaster, even among the Golden Body powerhouses just below the Grandmaster Level, Liu Zimo had never heard of anyone named Yang Sisi.

"It seems this Yang Sisi didn’t survive the first wave of Demon Beast attacks in my previous life," he thought. "Otherwise, with her sky-illuminating red-light potential, it would be impossible for her to remain completely unknown."

Considering she worked at the airport, November 11th—the day all electronic devices would fail—would be an absolute nightmare for everyone in the aviation industry!

This young girl had likely either died in an exploding plane crash or been killed by the suddenly appearing Demon Beasts.

"It’s such a pity that such a cute young girl with Grandmaster potential met an untimely end before she could even grow stronger!" Liu Zimo sighed inwardly.

By early 2033, the global population had already reached around nine billion.

Among them, countless people like Yang Sisi perished in the Demon Calamity’s turmoil before they could even display their Martial Dao talents.

If not for the fact that nearly half the population—including many undiscovered geniuses—died on the very first day the Demon Calamity descended, how could a massive Federation with such a huge population base only produce three Martial Saints and Ten Grandmasters in the thirty years of the Post-Apocalypse?

"Such a great Grandmaster seedling shouldn’t and cannot perish in obscurity to become rations for Demon Beasts!" Liu Zimo murmured to himself, resolving to save and recruit her. "The future Federation needs more Grandmasters to protect it. And I also need this ’bestie’ to continuously share her fortuitous encounters with me!"

In the past, he hadn’t known of Yang Sisi’s existence, so missing her was fine.

But now that they had met and he had successfully bound her as his ’bestie,’ he naturally couldn’t just let her die in the Demon Calamity a month from now.

As the saying goes, the great changes in the world, the eruption of Spiritual Energy, and the descent of the Demon Calamity were all inevitable trends that no one could stop.

The people and technology of the present couldn’t do it.

The Federation’s General Bureau and the three Martial Saints thirty years in the future couldn’t do it either.

Under such overwhelming momentum, even if Liu Zimo had the desire, he couldn’t save everyone before the catastrophe.

All he could do was issue early warnings, prematurely leak life-saving Apocalypse Skills like the Guiding Breathing Method and the Five Animals Fist, and protect his family and friends.

And now, Yang Sisi had undoubtedly become someone he wanted to protect and save.

Because she was worth it!

At this moment, seeing someone stand in front of her for a long time without speaking, only to then seemingly zone out and stare blankly into space, Yang Sisi couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous. It was simply too weird.

"What’s wrong with this guy? He’s been staring at me for minutes!" Yang Sisi panicked inwardly.

"Oh God, did I run into a pervert?

"That damn girl Lin Hongying told me plenty of times about the perverted passengers she met at the airport. Am I the one getting targeted this time?

"What do I do? What if he suddenly attacks me? Can I fight back directly? What if I get a customer complaint?

"Phew, don’t panic, don’t panic. This is in broad daylight, and there are other colleagues on duty nearby. He probably won’t dare to try anything. There’s nothing to be afraid of!

"Yang Sisi, you have to be strong. Don’t lose your composure. Since he’s not talking, you can completely take the initiative to speak first!"

After struggling internally for a while, Yang Sisi flashed a formulaic smile and took the initiative to speak to Liu Zimo, "Hello, sir! The airport exit is on your right. If you have baggage to claim, please take your boarding pass to the baggage hall on the front right.

"If you have any other questions, feel free to ask me at any time!"

Liu Zimo snapped back to reality and shook his head slightly. "Thank you, but I don’t have any questions."

With that, he gave Yang Sisi a polite nod before turning around and leaving calmly.

What a joke. He had only stood there for a short while, yet he had already been mistaken for a pervert.

If he kept pestering Yang Sisi and said more, who knew what the young girl would think? It wasn’t entirely impossible that she would just call the police and have him arrested.

Speechless, Liu Zimo raised a hand to touch his own face.

"I feel like my self from thirty years ago was quite handsome—a genuine heartthrob. How could I be mistaken for a pervert?" he grumbled in his heart. "Honestly, the young girls of this era just haven’t seen the world. They have no sense of appreciation at all!"

Complaining inwardly, Liu Zimo followed the crowd out of the airport exit.

However, he didn’t stick to his original plan of rushing to find the other future Martial Saint living in this city.

Instead, he turned around, took a detour back to the airport lobby, and spent a thousand bucks to gather all available information about Yang Sisi.

"Yang Sisi. Female, twenty-four years old. Height: 1.65 meters. Weight: 49 kilograms. Measurements...

"Graduated in 2031 from Longcheng Science and Technology University with a bachelor’s degree from the Department of Finance and Economics. Currently works as an airport ground crew member in the Baggage Service Department. She has been employed for one year, with a base salary of 5,300, plus bonuses.

"Ordinary family background. Aside from her parents, she has a younger brother who just started college.

"Cheerful personality, positive and optimistic. No bad habits. Single, no boyfriend.

"Current residence: staff dormitory. Her roommate is Lin Hongying, who is Yang Sisi’s college classmate and best friend. The reason Yang Sisi came to work at the airport was entirely due to Lin Hongying’s influence..."

It was a very detailed personal profile, even recording Yang Sisi’s height, weight, and measurements.

Liu Zimo carefully read through the document from start to finish and soon locked his sights on Yang Sisi’s bestie, Lin Hongying.

How did the saying go? The best way to win over a girl was to win over her bestie first!

It just so happened that his energy was limited at the moment. He was in dire need of two secretaries proficient in finance to manage the spare cash in his accounts and to help procure more disaster relief supplies for emergencies.

Yang Sisi and Lin Hongying, two college graduates from the Department of Finance and Economics, couldn’t be more perfect for the job.