A New Beginning

On the small plaza, people were getting whipped.

In the dormitory, Chu Fei was making his final push.

The last Wisdom Dewdrop dissipated, and his consciousness ascended.

After the Thought Model ran at its peak, it began incorporating Temporal Sequence logic. Everything went smoothly.

Chu Fei took a deep breath and tried to "withdraw" his consciousness, no longer actively driving the Thought Model.

The Thought Model... continued running!

"Success!"

Everything fell into place naturally.

A faint joy rose from the bottom of his heart.

Once the Thought Model ran autonomously, it was no longer a "model," but an "instance."

From a broader perspective, it could barely be considered a Cosmic Brain now.

After admiring it for a while, Chu Fei took control of the Thought Model himself.

He immediately sensed the difference.

First, the Thought Model no longer needed to be "started"; it was already operating on its own. Actively driving it simply made it more efficient.

Second, it could now output "computing power"!

Previously, the Thought Model had required careful maintenance and consumed a great deal of mental energy—computing power. If he did not actively drive it, it would stop, or even dissipate.

But now, the Thought Model had matured. It could move on its own!

He tried feeding it some basic calculations, and it gave him the answers almost instantly.

Before this, Chu Fei would have had to carefully work through the formulas to complete such calculations, and sometimes calculate them by hand.

Chu Fei played with it to his heart's content, testing the limits of the Thought Model.

He entered addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division; algebra and geometry; chemical formulas; accounting data.

He entered two sets of data at once, then three, until finally entering four or five somewhat conflicting sets of data.

At last, the already sufficiently complex model lagged, then crashed.

Chu Fei was a little stunned.

Holy shit.

Where did my cultivation results go?!

Well, the greatest feature of Big Data Cultivation was that it could be formatted and rebuilt from scratch.

But rebuilding it would still take some time.

Yet the effects of the Wisdom Dewdrop were rapidly fading, so Chu Fei could only open his eyes.

Then he saw a "different" world.

The midday sunlight streamed through the window. As the light interacted with the dust particles, it formed a faint Tyndall effect.

The sunlight shone on the windowsill, and warm air rose, causing the light to ripple slightly.

A faint breeze blew through the gaps in the window, producing a soft whimpering sound.

There was an almost imperceptible rumble in the air—the sound of the factories at the foot of the mountain.

His gaze swept across the room, and he could see the rough burrs along the edge of the table and the fiber structure of the bedding.

The world had never been so clear.

In the past, he would have needed to get close and look carefully to see such things, or use a Wisdom Dewdrop.

Fortunately, Chu Fei had already experienced the effects of Wisdom Dewdrops many times, so he remained calm. He knew this was the result of increased "brain computing power."

As for Teacher Cao's claim of "I alone reign supreme above and below heaven," Chu Fei had only one response: Tch, what a liar!

Thinking about it, that made sense. Breaking through 7.7 was certainly gratifying, but the human body's theoretical limit was as high as 7.8. There could not possibly be some earth-shattering change.

Otherwise, he would not have been able to take out Huang Dapeng so easily back then—he had stabbed him to death with a dagger.

Of course, there were definitely changes.

His current sensory abilities had basically reached the level he once attained with a Wisdom Dewdrop. The improvement was enormous.

No matter what, he had broken through—and it had been a rather perfect breakthrough. Chu Fei opened the door, looked at the sunlit world, and revealed a faint smile of joy.

It was not until he saw staggering figures in the distance that Chu Fei remembered. His classmates had finished getting whipped, right?

"Grrr..."

His stomach began to growl.

"Already hungry? I drank quite a lot of Meat Porridge before breaking through!"

It was noon anyway. He should go to the cafeteria. Whatever questions he had could wait until he was full.

After eating one meal for lunch, he felt even hungrier.

Chu Fei stared at his empty plate, somewhat bewildered.

"What's wrong?" Sun Xiangqing walked over carrying his tray and sat across from him.

The two were quite familiar by now.

Chu Fei was a little dazed. "I drank two kilograms of Meat Porridge at nine-thirty. I was hungry again before noon. I just ate a serving, and I'm not even one-third full."

Sun Xiangqing thought for a moment. "Are you about to break through?"

"I just did."

"..."

There was no way to continue that conversation.

Sun Xiangqing silently continued eating.

Chu Fei waited and waited. Finally, he had no choice but to ask, "Brother Sun, what's wrong?"

Sun Xiangqing sighed and said gloomily, "Didn't you read the precautions for after a breakthrough?"

"Well... the breakthrough came a little too quickly. I didn't."

A precise stab, straight through the heart!

Sun Xiangqing took several deep breaths before asking, "Have you read the book Life's Lock?"

Chu Fei nodded.

Sun Xiangqing said, "Life's Lock. The First Limit. What does that make you think of?"

Something stirred in Chu Fei's mind. "Breaking through the First Limit means initially breaking Life's Lock, and the body begins to develop?"

Sun Xiangqing nodded and explained patiently, "Rather than development, it is more accurate to call it an 'update'!

"Life's Lock exists because the brain lacks sufficient computing power, forcing it to seek a balance between the body and intelligence.

"But we know that the human body possesses tremendous potential—one could even say unimaginable potential.

"After breaking through the First Limit, the brain's computing power is initially strengthened. Naturally, a portion of the previously hidden potential will be released.

"This update begins at the genetic level. Every cell in the human body must be renewed once, perhaps even multiple times!

"After the update, our minds become sharper, our bones stronger, our muscles sturdier, our nervous systems react faster, our lymphatic systems become more efficient, and our internal organs, eyes, ears, mouth, nose, and so on will gradually strengthen as well."

Chu Fei listened, utterly absorbed.

Then Sun Xiangqing suddenly asked, "Such a massive update is practically a complete redevelopment. How much energy do you think it would require?"

Chu Fei suddenly understood. "So I'll become a super rice bucket from now on?"

Sun Xiangqing nodded. "More or less.

"The update is divided into two stages: an intense stage and a gradual stage.

"During the intense stage, the cells throughout your body are renewed once. It generally takes about a month. During that time, you will consume huge amounts of computing power, energy, and nutrients. You may feel listless, become hungry often, and so on. Those are all normal phenomena.

"You just need to eat and sleep, sleep and eat. Don't bother with studying or cultivation at all.

"Later, apply to the teacher for a month of leave.

"After a month, you will enter the gradual stage, which is when the body adjusts.

"The gradual stage lasts around a year, and it is a golden period.

"It is the best time for training, and even more so, the best time to break through the Second Limit.

"If you cannot break through the Second Limit during the gradual stage, you will have to put in far more effort later on.

"In fact, if you cannot break through the Second Limit during the gradual stage, it will be very difficult to break through afterward."

Chu Fei nodded, then asked, "Brother Sun, can I keep drinking Meat Porridge during the intense update stage?"

Sun Xiangqing fell silent.

After waiting a while without a response, Chu Fei had no choice but to speak again. "Brother Sun?"

Sun Xiangqing sighed, slapped the table, and said word by word, "If there's exotic beast meat, who the hell would eat regular food?!"

In high spirits, Chu Fei ordered two more servings.

After eating his fill, he headed straight for Cao Liwen's office.