CHAPTER 48: CHAPTER 48 SECTION 1

WHOOSH—

In the small bedroom, Lu Yuan, shirtless, threw a punch into the empty air.

His fist tore through the air, creating a sharp, piercing sound.

12 points of Strength.

After allocating the points, he’d tested it himself in private.

His bench press exceeded 200 kilograms, and his Fist Strength had soared to over 240 kilograms.

He was almost at the Fist Strength standard of an amateur 8th Dan.

Though it wasn’t as crisp a sound as when Lin Zhiquin threw an empty punch, every fist he threw now was fierce and carried intimidating momentum.

For every point added to Strength, there’s almost a 1.5-fold increase. It’s pretty crazy...

But the recoil has also increased significantly. Good thing my physique is strong enough!

After allocating points for so long, Lu Yuan had also realized something.

The four Basic Attributes—Strength, Agility, Physique, and Intelligence—seemed distinct on the surface, but in reality, they were closely interconnected. They constrained and supported each other.

His original idea of specializing by focusing points on one attribute would probably be difficult to implement at this stage. Because a human body isn’t like a game character. If one attribute became exceptionally prominent and the four became imbalanced, he might ’collapse’ before he could become a ’superman.’

It was like a machine whose gears were originally perfectly meshed and coordinated. If one gear suddenly changed specifications, the entire machine would inevitably malfunction.

No choice. I can only aim to be an all-around fighter.

Lu Yuan stopped punching, lowered his arms, and slowly steadied his breathing.

In the past two days, he had another match with Lin Zhiquin at Mosa, winning just as easily. Just as Lin Zhiquin had said, there weren’t many experts in the preliminaries. He’d knocked down the opponent he met last night with just two kicks. That opponent was even less challenging than the first burly man in a vest.

Lu Yuan pulled a gray cardboard box out from under his bed. He rummaged through a pile of dusty comics and found the familiar volume: Super Mech Legend 3.

He carefully took out a small stack of green banknotes from within it.

Ten thousand yuan!

With the money I saved before and the scholarship from this semester’s final exams, I have over twenty thousand yuan in total now. Once I save up a hundred thousand, I’ll take it out...

Lu Yuan didn’t want to see Lu Xinghua and Zheng Qiuling constantly looking anxious and fretful.

PHEW—

After putting the money away securely, Lu Yuan exhaled deeply.

He stood on the neatly spread cooling mat and mentally prepared himself for a few seconds. Then, his pupils visibly dilated, and he entered a state of near-unconsciousness.

Lu Yuan executed the eighteen movements of the Crane-shaped Pile, one after another.

After performing the set twice in succession, Lu Yuan withdrew from the [Absolute Focus] state.

With the Lv3 [Absolute Focus] essentially acting as a ’cheat’, the Experience Points for the Crane-shaped Pile were steadily increasing. It would probably take only a few more days to break through to Lv3, at which point his attributes would surely increase again.

"Activate, [Imaginary Enemy]!"

While Lu Yuan, drenched in sweat, regulated his breathing to recover stamina, he began his usual combat practice in the Consciousness Space.

A few minutes later, he opened his eyes and, with a thoughtful expression, began punching the air in front of him.

He punched. He kept punching, continuously adjusting his force and movements.

After throwing dozens of punches, he closed his eyes again... This cycle repeated itself, having become a daily compulsory training routine for Lu Yuan.

In the Consciousness Space, he would seek out Lin Zhiquin and Qin Feng to ’court death.’ Then, based on the insights gained from those near-’death’ experiences, he would continuously mimic their ’killing moves.’ He was vainly hoping to take a shortcut to success!

This process continued for over an hour.

Only when unmistakable fatigue showed on Lu Yuan’s face did he rise from the cooling mat and sit back down at his desk.

He took a chocolate bar, always kept at hand, from the desk drawer. He picked it up, tore off the wrapper, and stuffed it into his mouth.

Lu Yuan rummaged through a pile of books beside him and eventually pulled out one titled ’Ancient Language Research,’ which he began to read slowly.

He had found this book at the Burnt Rock City library. It contained information and introductions to three ancient languages, two of which originated from the White Mountain Era.

This was precisely why Lu Yuan had chosen to pursue studies in this direction.

The sun was setting in the west.

TICK-TOCK, TICK-TOCK—

The small alarm clock ticked steadily.

Lu Yuan closed his book, rose from his desk, and walked to the window, slightly parting the blinds. A beam of intense sunlight immediately streamed in.

At five o’clock on a July afternoon, the sun was still scorching.

The road, baked by the intense sun all day, looked languid. Below, near the garbage can outside a shop entrance at the base of the building, two stray dogs lay panting listlessly.

Lu Yuan saw a child on the second-floor balcony of a residential building across the street, struggling to take in laundry.

He watched for a moment, then looked away.

[Congratulations, your [Student] job has leveled up!]

After a whole afternoon of study, he had finally earned the last twenty-odd Experience Points for his [Student] job, raising it to Lv5. He received another attribute point and a skill point.

Setting the attribute point aside for the moment, Lu Yuan agonized over how to allocate the skill point. It would definitely be used on a Core Skill; there was no doubt about that. The key question was whether to enhance [Flash of Insight] or [Imaginary Enemy].

On one hand, he was frustrated by the low activation chance of the Lv1 [Flash of Insight]. On the other hand, upgrading [Imaginary Enemy] was essential. It was linked to unlocking the second Core Skill of the [Fighter] class.

After a moment of deliberation, Lu Yuan decided to use the skill point on [Imaginary Enemy]. With one skill point invested, the Lv1 [Imaginary Enemy] rose to Lv2.

Lu Yuan closed his eyes, preparing to test the effects of the upgraded [Imaginary Enemy]. But then he opened them again on second thought. He’d been training and studying all afternoon without rest, and his mind felt strained. He was still somewhat fatigued. It wouldn’t be too late to test it tonight or tomorrow, he reasoned.

He walked out of his bedroom. No one was home.

After showering and changing into clean, fresh clothes, he decided to go out. Lin Zhiquin had arranged another match for him tonight. If he went to the martial arts gym now, had dinner, and then met Lin Zhiquin, the timing would be perfect.

Once ready, he left. As he was going downstairs, a woman in her thirties, wearing a white professional outfit that complemented her fine figure and attractive features, was coming up.

Lu Yuan stepped aside slightly, noticing the woman was carrying something.

Cat Overlord’s Strong Mousetrap...

Lu Yuan could see the item through the plastic bag. His eyes flickered slightly, and he couldn’t help but ask, "Wang, do you have mice at home?"

The woman paused, then smiled faintly at him and nodded. "Yes, I don’t know why, but mice suddenly appeared in my apartment these past couple of days. They nearly scared me to death last night..."

Lu Yuan just said, "Oh," and didn’t press further.

The woman, surnamed Wang, was a tenant living upstairs. She was divorced, raising a child, and worked as a clerk in a downtown company. They knew each other from living in the same building. Lu Yuan wondered if she secretly blamed his family for the mouse problem. After all, their family ran the only grain and oil shop in the building, making them the most likely culprits.

Reaching the ground floor, Lu Yuan went to the storeroom behind the shop to check. It was pitch black inside, and he didn’t turn on the light. He could vaguely make out a few sticky mouse traps placed on the stacked bags of rice. Fortunately, he didn’t smell the foul odor he dreaded most.

Slightly relieved, Lu Yuan closed the storeroom door, walked through the shop, said a quick hello to his mother, Zheng Qiuling, and left.

Speaking of which, his older sister, Lu Jing, had been unusually quiet lately. Ever since their video chat when he visited their grandfather in the hospital, they hadn’t communicated much. She only occasionally sent a few photos or emojis.

UGH...

A man appearing to be in his early thirties struggled in, clutching his chest and limping. Low groans of pain occasionally escaped him.

Lu Yuan glanced at him. Shortly after, someone hurried in and called out, "The tenth match is about to begin!"

"Okay."

Lu Yuan calmly donned his Three-eyed Goat mask, rose, and walked out of the ready room.