My Foolish Brother

Xu Jun's home was in the city center, but because the commute was usually too far, she normally stayed in the Mingguang University faculty dormitories near the edge of town. Su Ti stopped when he dropped her off at the university gates.

With their parting imminent, they both stood where they were, wondering how to begin.

Xu Jun stared at the tips of her shoes, her emotions in turmoil. What had happened today was surreal even in the context of her twenty-four years of life. Her heart was still pounding, and she was so nervous that she did not dare look at Su Ti.

Su Ti was much the same. He was trying to figure out how to naturally bring up visiting Xu Jun's home. After thinking for a while, he said,

"I'm very interested in that antique bracelet from the Era of Hundred Kingdoms. Do you have time in the next few days? I'd like to go to your house and take a look."

Xu Jun's eyes widened as she stared at Su Ti. Under the moonlight, he looked perfectly calm, without the slightest hint of embarrassment.

"I'm not... You, we..."

Xu Jun had far too much to say at that moment. Never mind their teacher-student relationship—even by her own standards, she was not that casual. Saving her did not change that. She might have a favorable impression of him, but that did not mean they were already at the stage of openly going to meet each other's parents.

Seeing the unmistakable look of misunderstanding on Xu Jun's face, Su Ti immediately explained.

"Don't misunderstand, Brother Xu. I just like antiques and want to see the antiques in your home."

"The way I feel about you is the same as how I feel about Gorilla, Fatty, Glasses, and the others. I see you as a biological son—no, a brother. So don't misunderstand our pure brotherly bond. And don't listen to their nonsense about me secretly liking you. You're my Brother Xu."

Gorilla, Fatty, and Glasses were Zhao Xu, Hu Rong, and Yao XiaYu, the three who had run off.

Su Ti had explained himself so clearly that, with Xu Jun's easygoing personality, she naturally would not overthink it anymore. Yet even as she felt relieved, she also felt an inexplicable sense of disappointment.

"I have something to do tomorrow. The day after tomorrow, then. If you like antiques, come to my house then and I'll introduce you to my dad. He likes collecting antiques too. Everything in the house was acquired by him. You two should have plenty to talk about."

They did not linger for long. After arranging to visit her home the day after tomorrow, Su Ti said goodbye.

Xu Jun was left alone, kicking little stones by the roadside as she slowly made her way back to the dormitory.

She let out a drunken burp. Her face was burning hot, and her thoughts were a mess.

Her mood was as uneven as the stones at her feet. What she had seen and experienced today had completely shattered her previous worldview.

The junior she usually drank with had suddenly turned into a martial arts master, stepping forward in a crisis and showing off his might to save her. What the hell kind of development was this?!

By this kind of plot, she ought to secretly fall for him and offer herself in return. But the overwhelming sense of a cheap third-rate storyline made her feel strangely awkward.

Especially when Su Ti repeatedly confirmed at the end that he had no interest in her. While she was relieved, she somehow also felt as though she had lost.

It was not that she did not know she was no delicate, helpless woman. She could carry a jug of bottled water up five flights of stairs by herself. When she saw cockroaches or rats, she did not scream like other girls—she just stomped them to death. And smashing the head of a thug like Dragon Bro, who had been harassing her, with a wineglass was not even the first time she had done something like that. Otherwise, why would Zhao Xu's group all call her Brother Xu?

But that did not mean she had no self-respect at all when it came to being a woman!

Before, they had all said Su Ti had a crush on her. She knew Zhao Xu and the others were just stirring things up, but despite feeling awkward about it, her feminine vanity had still made her a little happy.

But now Su Ti had cleared it up—and he had done so after saving her. She felt that, in terms of being a woman, she had lost completely and utterly.

It was a crushing defeat.

Even the hero who had saved the damsel had declared that he saw her as a brother. What dignity did she have left as a woman?

So she raised her head to look at the sky, her gaze firm as she suddenly made a decision.

She had to win back her pride!

After parting with Xu Jun, Su Ti first went to the hospital to have his palm checked. Once it was confirmed that there was no problem, it was disinfected and wrapped in gauze. After the doctor warned him not to get it wet for a while, he went home.

It was already nine at night when he got home.

Since he had been practicing martial arts at the gym lately, leaving early and returning late, and had already informed Su Zimo and Liu Qing, neither of them found it strange. They merely reminded him to be careful and not go to secluded places.

"What happened to your hand?"

As soon as Liu Qing saw the gauze around Su Ti's hand, she hurried over anxiously.

"It's nothing. I fell and scraped some skin. The doctor said it'll heal in a few days."

Although the doctor had said half a month, Su Ti's physique had improved and his recovery was much faster now, so it naturally would not take that long.

"You really should be more careful. You're such a grown man already, honestly. You're exactly like your father."

Su's Father sat on the sofa wearing glasses, reading an ancient text with a helpless expression. He had truly been hit while lying down.

"Dear, he's grown up now. Worry less about him. If you have time, care more about Su Ling. She's in her final year of high school now, when things are most stressful."

Liu Qing shot Su's Father a glare.

"Have I not cared enough about Su Ling? The food she eats, the things she uses—haven't I given her the best of everything? Either you tutor her schoolwork or I do. A few days ago, she said she wanted to learn kendo, and you paid the tens of thousands in enrollment fees without hesitation."

Given Su Ti's family circumstances, and with Su Ling about to enter her final year of high school, Su's Father had immediately handed over tens of thousands just because she wanted to learn kendo. That was indeed spoiling her rotten.

And after what happened to Su Ti, perhaps because she felt she owed her son too much, Liu Qing's concern for him had indeed increased greatly these past few days.

Su's Father was momentarily speechless. He simply felt that sons should be raised frugally and endure more hardship, while daughters could be spoiled a little.

Besides, compared to his son, his daughter truly excelled in every way. She was well-rounded in morality, intelligence, physical ability, aesthetics, and labor. She deserved more focused cultivation. And after Su Ti had been kidnapped, he saw nothing wrong with his daughter learning kendo for self-defense.

Of course, he did not dare say any of that aloud. He could only cough twice and continue turning the pages of his book.

"Hmph. Ignore your father. Mom bought you two outfits and put them in your room. Go try them on and see whether they fit."

"Mm, okay."

On his way to his room, Su Ti happened to pass Su Ling's room.

From behind the tightly closed door came faint huffing and shouting, along with the sharp whooshes of a weapon slicing through the air.

Su Ti hesitated for a moment, but still knocked on the door.

The sounds inside stopped. Not long after, the door opened.

"What?"

Su Ling's pretty but expressionless face appeared once more. Her slightly furrowed brows made no attempt to hide her annoyance at being disturbed by Su Ti.

"Nothing. I just wanted to say that if you're practicing swordsmanship, you can go practice in the park. Training at home disturbs everyone's rest."

Glancing at the unsharpened iron practice sword strapped to Su Ling's back, Su Ti offered a kind reminder.

"Hmph, none of your business!"

Su Ling snorted irritably and slammed the door shut with a bang.

Inside the room, Su Ling angrily swung her longsword over and over.

That foolish idiot—what did he think she had been working so hard for?

Was it not to build up more strength before the coming apocalypse, so she could protect this family?

Not only did he fail to understand, he even complained that she was noisy?

If it had not been for her phone call, he would already be dead, okay?!

Thinking of this, Su Ling grew even angrier. The embarrassing memories of being beaten to tears by him when they fought as children surfaced uncontrollably in her mind. Her previously orderly sword strokes instantly turned into wild, erratic slashes.

"Idiot, idiot, idiot!"

Her foolish brother had no idea how much she had shouldered and sacrificed for this family!

After venting for a while, Su Ling calmed down. Then another thought came to her: when the apocalypse truly arrived and danger struck, she would step forward, slaughter the enemies until nothing remained of them, and display her overwhelming might.

The expression on that guy's face as he watched her from behind would definitely be spectacular.

At the thought of that scene, Su Ling gave a few silly chuckles and practiced her swordsmanship even more diligently.

In his room, Su Ti sent Zhao Xu and the others a few messages telling them that he and Xu Jun were fine, then turned off his phone.

He took off his clothes and walked to the full-length mirror beside his bed. The young man in the mirror had ordinary features and average skin, but his calm temperament and deep eyes, as though they concealed something, lent him an added touch of mystery.

Streams of sleek muscle covered his upper body. The outlines of his chest and abdominal muscles were clearly visible, and even the shark muscles along his sides could faintly be seen.

"After reaching mastery in the Dragon Shape Five Forms, my body, strength, speed, and reflexes are now roughly more than twice that of an ordinary person."

Looking at his Strength and Agility, both at 1, Su Ti came back to himself.

Based on the control he had developed over his body and the data he had analyzed during this time, he estimated that an untrained ordinary person at the peak of physical development would have Strength, Agility, Constitution, and Intelligence values of around 0.6.

Su Ti's Intelligence of 1.2 was probably due to the enhancement gained by absorbing the original owner's memories after transmigrating here. This value was equivalent to roughly two and a half times an ordinary person's thinking speed and mental agility.

It allowed him to think through and calculate more than others in the same amount of time.

Of course, this had nothing to do with one's way of thinking. True geniuses such as Einstein and Newton thought in ways completely different from ordinary people. Su Ti's IQ had not changed; only his thinking speed had become faster.

Based on this, Su Ti also deduced that—

"Every increase of 0.1 in an attribute value is a multiplicative improvement based on the original attribute. The further it rises, the greater the improvement becomes."

"My current physique is already comparable to the peak of humanity. I may not surpass strongmen or sprinting champions in their specialties, but in overall ability, I've already far exceeded them."

These were all changes the Dragon Shape Five Forms had brought to Su Ti after he cultivated it to mastery. He had also discovered that he had grown taller.

He had gone from 1.71 meters to 1.74 meters, growing a full three centimeters. Even his sleeves and pant legs had become a little short. Do not underestimate those three centimeters—it meant that practicing Ancient Martial Arts could stimulate humans to grow and develop again!

Thinking of Yao Juan's height of over two meters, Su Ti could not help wondering whether she had become that tall through practicing Ancient Martial Arts, or whether she had simply been born that way.

Yet the changes in his attributes were not the strongest aspect of the Dragon Shape Five Forms. The strongest aspect of this Ancient Martial Arts technique lay in Integrated Strength.

Su Ti felt as though his spine, hand bones, leg bones, and every joint in his body had all locked together like interlinked iron chains. A single movement pulled his entire body into motion.

It felt as though his bones had come alive. His spine, hands, feet, and every other bone had been trained to life—when one moved, all moved.

Muscles and bone joints all contributed force, layer upon layer, their power stacking like a cracking whip. A whip might look soft and unremarkable, but with a light flick, its tip could produce a sonic boom!

"Integrated Strength is probably the dividing line between modern martial arts and Ancient Martial Arts."

Su Ti secretly guessed.

Once one developed Integrated Strength, every movement of an Ancient Martial Arts practitioner possessed unimaginable power. A simple punch or kick could inflict damage that a modern martial artist could not achieve even with a hundred punches!

Such terrifying destructive power was practically comparable to controlled knives and firearms!

No wonder the state prohibited it. Ancient Martial Arts were scarcely even circulated on the dark web, and those so-called "sects" would fight to the death to protect their own Ancient Martial Arts, refusing to let them spread outside.