021 Exchange 1 (Xie Ai Ai's Big Cute Sisi Alliance Leader)

Fortunately, no mishap occurred this time. Yu Hong smoothly moved dried meat, dried mushrooms, and other supplies out of the house, along with some glowstones that hadn't yet been marked with symbols.

Finally, he grabbed the iron pot and other tools. There was nothing else useful left in the house.

By the time he returned to the cave, over an hour had passed. Panting heavily, he set the items down and sorted them into categories.

The reinforcement of the door had just finished.

With a flickering blur, the reinforced planks perfectly embedded themselves into the back of the door, merging into one, indistinguishable from each other. This also made the entire door at least half thicker than before.

The heavy door was noticeably harder to open and close now. But it also deepened the sense of security in Yu Hong's heart.

After finishing this, he closed the door, sat down on the wooden stool inside the cave, and began boiling water.

While the water boiled, he used a charcoal pencil to scribble on a newspaper.

The charcoal pencil was thick, making writing laborious, but for the sake of his body, he endured the discomfort. After thinking it over, he carefully wrote a line first.

'Comprehensive Physical Training Method'

Then, beneath that line, he used numbers as headings.

'1—Jog slowly for fifteen minutes every day.'

'2—At least thirty push-ups daily, ten per set.'

'3—At least thirty sit-ups daily, ten per set.'

Just these three lines—a simple content plan.

Then, Yu Hong reached out and pressed his hand onto the newspaper with the writing.

The thought of strengthening flashed through his mind.

Instantly.

The surface of the Black Mark rippled, and a black thread flowed out, burrowing into the newspaper.

'Insufficient completeness.'

A mechanical voice suddenly reached Yu Hong's ears.

"??"

He was startled, withdrew his hand, and stared at the newspaper with a furrowed brow.

This was an experiment he was trying—casually writing some training methods, guiding the intent, to see if the Black Mark could strengthen them into various powerful and efficient training routines.

But now it seemed. "Insufficient completeness? What does that mean? What's missing?"

He picked up the newspaper and examined it closely.

"The training method is there, the frequency is there... isn't this enough? Wait! I get it."

His expression suddenly turned serious. He picked up the charcoal pencil and began adding more below.

'4—Ensure daily intake of protein, carbs, and trace elements.'

'5—Train six days a week, rest one day, guarantee at least ten hours of sleep daily.'

Pat, pat. He flicked the carbon dust off the newspaper, nodded this time, set it down, pressed his hand on it, and once again let the thought flash.

Soon.

'Strengthen Comprehensive Physical Training Method?' Finally, the Black Mark's inquiry sounded.

At the same time, the required strengthening countdown time appeared on the newspaper: 5 days, 12 hours, 16 minutes.

Yu Hong's heart leaped with joy, knowing his test had succeeded! Seeing the time displayed—a full five days—he didn't confirm immediately. Instead, he released his hand and canceled the strengthening.

Right now was the High Tide Period. If he strengthened now, the Black Mark would be temporarily unusable. He'd wait until after the High Tide Period, when there was more time, to do it.

'Confirmed it works—let's go again!'

Now brimming with interest, Yu Hong flipped the newspaper over and wrote another title on it: Fighting Technique.

Below that, he jotted down basic fighting techniques he'd vaguely seen online before. After racking his brains, he barely pieced together a set covering offense, defense, dodging, pursuit, and escape, fully supplementing the completeness.

Full of anticipation, Yu Hong pressed down on the newspaper.

'Strengthen Fighting Technique, direction: Xianxia cultivation type!'

At that moment, having read too many novels, he was filled with longing for the future, nervously waiting for the Black Mark's response.

A ripple spread across the Black Mark's surface, and then a black thread flowed out, merging into the newspaper.

'Insufficient completeness.'

A feedback quickly sounded.

The anticipation on Yu Hong's face froze. Though he had guessed this outcome was likely, seeing it happen still brought some disappointment.

Then, after thinking it over, he switched to another side and pressed his hand on the Comprehensive Physical Training Method.

'Strengthen Comprehensive Physical Training Method, direction: Life evolution!'

Chi.

The Black Mark once again surged with black thread, flowing into the newspaper.

Soon, feedback came again.

'Insufficient completeness.'

Yu Hong wasn't disappointed. Instead, he raised his hand once more and pressed down again.

'Enhance Comprehensive Physical Training Method, direction: Human Limit Training Method.'

Chi.

Black lines reappeared, surging from the Black Mark into the newspaper.

This time, the Black Mark was silent for a good while.

Finally.

'Enhance to Human Limit Training Method?'

"It worked!!!" Yu Hong let out a low exclamation, unable to suppress the smile spreading across his face.

Then, he looked at the number emerging on the newspaper.

"."

The smile on his face slowly faded.

Replaced by disappointment and speechlessness.

The number floated on the newspaper, right in the middle of the so-called Comprehensive Physical Training Method.

'678 days, 12 hours, 06 minutes.'

"." Yu Hong had nothing to say. He stood up, paced around a few times.

Soon, he sat back down.

'I aimed too high. Let's try lowering it a bit.'

He pressed his hand to the newspaper again.

'Enhance Comprehensive Physical Training Method, direction: Advanced Physical Enhancement.'

This time, he didn't mess around. Since he already knew that harder things took more time, he stopped reaching for the stars and honestly set it to the lowest requirement.

He just let his mind drift slightly toward internal martial arts or techniques.

Sure enough, this time, the Black Mark's inquiry appeared again.

'Enhance to Advanced Physical Enhancement?'

A number also emerged on the newspaper. Compared to before, this one was much more reasonable: 9 hours, 16 minutes.

'Yes!'

This time, Yu Hong finally gave a positive answer.

This amount of time—he could reach it after a good sleep. He wanted to see what difference the enhanced content made compared to ordinary training methods.

Full of anticipation, he boiled water in the cave, ate some dried meat, and blew on the hot water to drink it. Before he could even go out to gather firewood, a shout came from outside.

"Yu, Hong! Yu, Hong, are you there?"

A somewhat familiar voice called out from a distance.

With the rustling sound of twigs breaking underfoot, someone was quickly approaching the cave.

Yu Hong's expression changed. He rushed to the door and peered through the Viewing Window.

Outside, in the bright forest, a short figure in a Camouflage Uniform was rapidly closing in.

The figure wore a steel helmet, brown hiking boots, a camouflage tactical vest, goggles, and a black breathing filter mask.

With that gear on, no one could recognize who she was.

But Yu Hong identified her by her voice—it was Little Stutterer, Lin Yi Yi! "Yi Yi, is that you?" he called out quickly. "1726495!"

"2, 3, 2!" Little Stutterer paused for a moment, then immediately answered.

"It's you!!" Yu Hong flung the door open, carefully glanced around, and walked out to meet her.

The two quickly converged on the forest slope.

"You're, fine, thank, goodness!!" Little Stutterer grabbed Yu Hong's hand, relief mixed with joy.

"I, thought, you, were, gone!" She gestured as she pulled a letter from an outer pocket of her tactical vest.

"I'm, leaving! Read, the, letter."

Her face showed clear happiness mixed with helplessness.

"Where are you going?" Yu Hong looked at her outfit and had a bad feeling.

"I, got, recruited, into, the, Joint, Army. I, have, to, follow, the, main, force, far, away, right, now!" Little Stutterer answered with effort, pointing at the letter.

"Everything, I, need, to, say, is, in, here." She said helplessly. "You're, fine, that's, good."

For a moment, Yu Hong didn't know what to say.

In this environment, being drafted into the army was an extremely dangerous situation.

But what was done was done. He quickly took out the letter and unfolded it to read.

The handwriting was smoother than before, clearly either written by someone else or practiced until Little Stutterer was familiar with it.

The letter said that as soon as she arrived at the town, because of the Enhanced Glowstone in her hand, she had dispersed three Ghost Shadows in a row. At the same time, her physique was strong and her strength great, so she was noticed by the Garrison Army.

Little Stutterer had no resistance to joining the army.

At least joining the army meant food and water, no need to scrounge around every day, sometimes full and sometimes hungry.

She could also have clean, tidy clothes, equipment, and lodging—much better than when she was alone in the village.

The end of the letter also mentioned that the effect of the Enhanced Glowstone had already caught the attention of the town's Garrison Squad, and they might come later to trade with him.

Although Little Stutterer didn't know where the Enhanced Glowstone came from, she could see what those people were thinking.

"Be, careful!" Little Stutterer urged seriously.

"Mm! Got it!" Yu Hong nodded. Before giving the Enhanced Glowstone to Little Stutterer to take to the town, he had already mentally prepared himself for this, only he hadn't expected it to happen so quickly.

"I'm, leaving, time's, up." Little Stutterer said finally.

She turned around and ran off into the distance. After running more than ten meters, she suddenly turned back to look at Yu Hong.

"Can, write, Post Office!" she shouted, pointing toward the forested mountain where the Mailman had lived.

White Mound Village's method of external communication, ever since order collapsed, had always relied on the Post Office.

The Mailman at the Post Office was the only channel for maintaining contact with the outside.

They received wages and supplies issued by the state, trained their physical fitness every day, and their only job was to connect various regions, allowing higher-level units to grasp the intelligence and specialties of their area.

Little Stutterer's letter also mentioned that the Mailman also served as a peddler. He would take the specialties of the surrounding residents to distant settlements, sell them, and then buy the necessities everyone needed, making a profit from the price difference.

Additionally, there was the letter-writing function. The letter said the Mailman could deliver letters for a fee, but only to nearby outposts, and the price wasn't cheap.

In the forest.

Yu Hong watched Little Stutterer grow farther and farther away, gradually disappearing into the woods.

He understood in his heart that this time, meeting again would truly be difficult.

Standing at the cave entrance, his emotions churned for a long time.

Little Stutterer was the one who had guided him from the very beginning. Without her, he might have died in the wilderness or from illness.

'May your journey be safe.'

Silently uttering this final wish in his heart, Yu Hong turned and walked inside, about to close the door.

Suddenly, the sound of leaves crunching came from outside.

The footsteps were messy, but neither hurried nor stealthy—clearly the person had no intention of hiding.

He turned back, quickly shut the door, and looked out through the Viewing Window.

Outside the window, two figures in Camouflage Uniforms emerged from the forest.

Both were over 1.8 meters tall, broad-shouldered and thick-set, each holding a long, thin metal staff, pushing aside the grass ahead as they approached the cave.