Chapter Seventy-Six: Go Ahead and Jump!

Chapter Seventy-Six: Why Don’t You Jump!

Shi Bai was speechless. What was so fascinating about someone preparing to jump from a building? People these days really thrived on chaos. He craned his neck over the edge for quite a while, and gradually, the crowd below began to notice the bloodstains on his body. Instantly, the mood shifted.

“Oh my god! That man’s bleeding!”
“Could he have been attacked?”
“Are you stupid? Why would someone who was attacked want to jump? He must have attacked someone himself and is trying to escape punishment!”
“You’re the fool! Couldn’t he be running from someone trying to kill him?”
“Hey!” At this moment, an elderly man somehow produced a large loudspeaker and shouted up at Shi Bai, “Young man! Stay strong! What hardship can’t be overcome in life?”

Shi Bai looked at him and replied, “I don’t have any hardship I can’t get through. I just need to jump!”

The crowd was stunned. “This guy must have some mental issues. If there’s no obstacle, why does he need to jump?”
“Isn’t it obvious? How many people who jump off buildings are mentally sound?”

The old man raised the loudspeaker again. “Young man! Why do you need to jump? Think it through! If you jump, you won’t need anything anymore!”

Shi Bai paused. This old man really knew how to talk someone down. If jumping really meant you didn’t need anything anymore, how many people would be fighting to jump?

“I’m ill! If I jump, I’ll be cured!” Shi Bai shouted.

This time, the crowd understood perfectly.

“He really does have mental issues!”

The old man was at a loss; after all, there’s no normal way to reason with someone suffering from mental illness.

“I’ll do it!”

While the old man hesitated, a young man snatched the loudspeaker.

“You say you’re sick! What’s wrong with you?”

Shi Bai said, “Can’t you see I’m injured?”

The young man replied, “You need a hospital for that! Jumping won’t help, it’ll just get you killed, smashed to pieces!”

Shi Bai was at a loss. He really shouldn’t have wasted so many words on them, but he was so scared that he needed to talk to distract himself.

“It won’t happen. If I jump, it’ll be fine!”

The crowd shook their heads. “He’s truly gone mad. Even if he doesn’t jump, it wouldn’t help.”

“So why doesn’t he jump then?” the young man shouted. “You think jumping will solve anything? You think your problems will disappear if you jump? Jumping off a building is nothing but the act of a coward!”

Shi Bai frowned. “No! If I jump, my problems really will be solved! I just don’t dare to jump!”

The crowd shook their heads again. “He’s beyond saving.”

“Definitely crazy.”

The young man said, “Do you have family? Do you have people who love you? Even if you don’t care about yourself, you should think about them! You might feel relieved if you jump, but what about them? Would you really let them send a young one to the grave?”

Shi Bai frowned again. “Send them, my foot! If I don’t jump, they’ll be even worse off. Seeing me like this, they might die of fright!”

Just then, the old man snatched the loudspeaker back.

“Young man! Don’t overthink it. No matter what, parents will never abandon their children! But if you jump, not only will you lose your life, your parents will spend the rest of theirs in pain!”

Shi Bai couldn’t bear it any longer. If this went on, night would fall. He clenched his teeth and shouted loudly, “For a brighter tomorrow! Charge!” With that, he sprinted forward and jumped.

The crowd below was shocked, quickly stepping back several paces. In their hearts, they were certain he would end up like tomato paste.

There was a scream, then a loud thud as Shi Bai hit the ground. Everyone quickly covered their eyes, gasping, but when they looked again, they saw Shi Bai slowly standing up.

He brushed the dust from his clothes, stretched with relish, and lifted his torn shirt to find his wound gone. His body was completely restored.

“Damn! It really is healed!”

Shi Bai went home without another word, leaving the crowd in stunned silence.

“Damn! What did I just witness?”
“He jumped from the seventh floor and nothing happened?”
“The craziest part was he landed face first, but his face was perfectly fine—and, actually, pretty handsome!”
“Is this for real?”

Shi Bai hurried home, took a shower, and changed his clothes. He found his mother had already been brought back, though she was still unconscious. He started a task and delivered a gentle punch to wake her.

His mother slowly awoke, and the first thing she did was grab his hand and ask, “Are you all right? I saw someone stab you with a knife earlier!”

Shi Bai smiled. “No! You must have been dreaming.”

His mother was a little skeptical, but Shi Bai was completely unharmed, and after all, she’d just fainted—her memories of earlier were somewhat blurred.

“That’s good, that’s good.” She stroked Shi Bai’s face, her expression gentle. “May my son stay safe forever.”

Shi Bai glanced at his mother, and a thought arose in his mind. He still didn’t know who the masked assailant was, but it was clear he was being watched.

Never mind how many enemies he’d made at the martial arts tournament—just the fact that he was earning twenty million a day made him a target.

“Looks like I need to find a way to protect myself and my parents.”

Protecting himself wasn’t hard; he just needed to start a task. Protecting his parents was the same. But having tasks running all the time didn’t feel comfortable, not very secure.

If only he could set up a protective barrier at home, or give himself and his parents some safety talisman—then he’d feel much more at ease.

With that thought, Shi Bai immediately opened the system and asked, “System, can I make protective talismans or magical items for myself and my parents—not the kind you get at temples, but equipment that really works?”

“Of course,” replied the system. “Just as you start tasks to find martial arts manuals, you can start tasks to find magical items.”

“Great!” Shi Bai nodded. Since the system said so, there was no reason to hesitate.

He decisively created a task: “Self-made task—let me obtain three protective magical items, ones that truly work.”

“Task created successfully. Task initiated.”

The worst way to obtain magical items was, of course, to shout at the sky. Heaven never drops gifts—but Shi Bai insisted on doing just that.

“Hey! Heaven, give me three protective magical items!”

Shi Bai shouted toward the sky, and as he spoke, a paper airplane flew in through the window. He hurried to pick it up and found a message written on it.

“Magical item blueprint. Materials required: one high-grade red crystal, one piece of mutton-fat jade, one thousand-year-old lingzhi.”

Shi Bai was stunned. “Weren’t they supposed to be magical items? Why did I get a blueprint instead?”