This patriarch had no second brother. He cultivated a mysterious true-energy pathway, and hey—his second brother grew out!
Lin Xiaosu already had a second brother. True energy circled around it a few times, forming a special force field. And what happened? His second brother raised its head high, utterly arrogant!
Holy crap, this was the Duck Divine Ability!
At this stage, this divine ability had no practical use. Calm down!
Lin Xiaosu patted his little second brother on the head, making it settle down, then turned his attention to a special pathway in his right hand.
Guided by the silver fish, this pathway rapidly took shape. Wind faintly gathered around his middle finger. When he examined it with the Heavenly Dao Insightful Eye, he seemed to see a trace of light. Lin Xiaosu's gaze flickered as he pointed his middle finger at the wall. Dust rained down from it, and he abruptly withdrew his hand!
He stared at the tiny hole, then at his completely unremarkable middle finger, his heart pounding.
If this skill were placed in a martial arts world, what would it be called?
Spiritual Rhinoceros Finger?
This was the power of the Spring Return Skill.
It could develop countless divine abilities.
An ordinary person might struggle for an entire lifetime to open up a pathway made of microscopic meridians, while he could complete it in an instant. That was because he possessed a silver fish. In those ethereal places beyond the reach of consciousness, the silver fish could turn the unreal into reality and move as he wished.
The next day, a misty rain still hung in the air.
Summer had actually arrived, but spring seemed reluctant to leave, creating one misty rain after another and leaving people with their lined jackets.
In the fog-shrouded Phoenix City, the Phoenix City Detective Agency continued taking on trivial little cases. The days seemed calm and uneventful...
Yet far away in the south, the sea was churning.
On an island, jungle stretched everywhere.
Beneath the jungle lay a modern base.
Machines beeped, and electric currents hummed.
Inside an enormous alloy pod, a woman slowly opened her eyes, still somewhat dazed...
Where was this?
Why was she here?
She was Li Diandian, the Hu Ya Lin Xiaosu had mentioned.
She had slept for an entire month. Now, she was awake.
The moment she woke, she felt inexhaustible energy throughout her body, utterly unlike anything she had felt before.
A screen appeared out of nowhere inside the alloy pod and lit up. On it was a white-haired figure whose hair drifted in the air, like an immortal maiden.
Hu Ya frowned. "Where is this?"
"This is Qianlong Base 32!" the white-clad immortal maiden said. "A ship is waiting for you once you leave the island!"
"Fine. Open the box, then."
"Leaving the island naturally includes leaving the confinement pod. If you cannot even leave the confinement pod, what are you talking about leaving the island for?" The white-clad immortal maiden's voice was filled with disdain.
Hu Ya stared at the metal wall before her. "A confinement pod? I need to open it from inside?"
"Obviously!"
"There are no restrictions on the method?"
"None!"
"If I break it, I will not have to pay for it, right..."
"If you can break it, I'll eat every last scrap of this wreckage."
Hu Ya kicked out. The confinement pod shook violently, yet remained completely undamaged.
The white-clad immortal maiden sneered. "You want to open a confinement pod with brute force alone? Who do you think you are? Just obediently look for the pattern. Though judging by it, there probably isn't even two ounces of brains in that head of yours!"
Amid her laughter, Hu Ya slowly raised her hand. Her fist seemed to weigh a thousand pounds, while her hair fluttered despite the absence of wind.
Boom!
The white-clad immortal maiden's laughter came to an abrupt halt.
A fist mark appeared in the alloy confinement pod.
The white-clad immortal maiden's eyes suddenly widened...
Boom!
With the second punch, every circuit connected to the confinement pod shattered.
The inside of the pod went completely dark.
The white-clad immortal maiden's expression changed. "Damn it! Prepare to force it open from the outside. We only have five minutes!"
With the circuits destroyed, there would be no oxygen inside the confinement pod. If they did not force it open within five minutes, the person inside would surely die.
Yet with another tremendous boom, the confinement pod exploded outright. Hu Ya stood in the laboratory while the white-clad immortal maiden and an elderly man in white beside her stared at each other, neither daring to believe their eyes.
The white-clad immortal maiden closed her eyes. "Set up the outer holographic battlefield. Let us see how many stages she can clear!"
The vast plaza outside abruptly changed, transforming into a jungle.
Hu Ya took one step forward, and a fierce tiger lunged at her...
Hu Ya cried out, "That is a protected animal! I cannot kill tigers! I do not want to end up sewing in prison..."
The white-clad immortal maiden's face twisted in exasperation. "What kind of person is this? She is still hung up on that..."
She grabbed the communicator before her. "This is a holographic projection. This is an assessment! Whether they are protected animals or people, as long as they enter your sight, you can kill them all! If they kill you, you fail the assessment, and you will have to return to the confinement pod for another year!"
Hu Ya leaped up. "You should have said so earlier..."
Thud!
One kick sent the tiger flying deep into the jungle...
The jungle descended into complete chaos. Giant pythons, ancient dinosaurs, strange creatures long extinct, and even all kinds of species recorded in ancient books appeared...
These creatures were holographic projections. In theory, Hu Ya should not have been able to feel their threat. Yet now, it was as though she too had entered a system. She could use strength and experience sensory feedback, because a sensor was attached to the back of her neck—a sensor that could simulate every sensation...
In only a short while, she fought her way through a stretch of jungle and experienced thrills and exhilaration she could never have felt at Mount Ta.
But the jungle ahead was endless, with neither beginning nor end...
Compared with Hu Ya's limitless tension and excitement, Lin Xiaosu's days in Phoenix City remained peaceful.
The detective agency had been open for half a month.
Last night, Miao Ruolan had done a brief accounting. They had actually earned seventy-three thousand yuan.
After rent and taxes, their net profit still came to sixty thousand.
If divided evenly, she and Lin Xiaosu could each receive thirty thousand.
What did thirty thousand mean?
It was what she had once needed an entire year to earn.
The girl was thrilled and accelerated her studies in investigation. She felt this field had a bright future.
As for Lin Xiaosu?
He seemed extremely idle. He got up in the morning, turned left when he went out to get breakfast, then returned to the agency, crossed his left leg over his right thigh while drinking tea, and leisurely headed to the library afterward.
Over half a month, he had read an enormous number of books.
Astronomy and geography, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, miscellaneous encyclopedias, literary classics—he had read nearly a tenth of the library's physical books, and he had been selective about it. As for the sentimental drivel written by fake literati, forget it. Even if flipping through a book could smoothly upload it into his brain, he could not be bothered to flip through such trash and let it occupy space in his head.
A pen stood upright on the table before him as Lin Xiaosu observed the direction of the sunlight.
The super database in his brain activated, and he accurately obtained the geographical coordinates of his current location: ** degrees ** minutes east longitude, ** degrees ** minutes north latitude. He took out his phone to compare them, and hey, they were not far off!
Lin Xiaosu grinned. Chang Ye, did you still dare say that geographical coordinates could not be determined without modern equipment?
Under normal circumstances, they truly could not. But was this handsome guy an ordinary person?
His phone rang. It was Miao Ruolan...
Business had come in...
Lin Xiaosu raised his hand to toss the book on the table onto the shelf, but suddenly noticed a pair of eyes looking his way. His fingers quickly curled inward. The book that was about to fly from his hand spun once and returned to his grasp. He placed it on the shelf in the most ordinary way, gave a light smile to the pretty young woman quietly reading over there, then strode out of the library.
This young woman had been coming for several days.
She was quite stunning, with an oval face, distinct features, and red lips that were clearly unpainted yet displayed a strikingly sensual contrast.
What left the deepest impression on him were her eyes. They carried the air of books.
Ordinary beautiful women who could make a living with their looks would never rely on talent.
With her face, she could have drawn a crowd of wealthy patrons competing to top the rankings in a livestream room, yet she preferred sitting in the library and reading.
And Lin Xiaosu had noticed that most of the books she read were about philosophy.
Philosophy and beautiful women—those two words really did not seem to go together...
Before you continue