Chapter Summaries

After leaving Li Zhenguo’s home, Hu Qi encountered a blood-stinking monster in an alley and escaped on his modified electric bike. Back in his apartment, he prepared the unusually large rice field eel he had brought home.

• Li Zhenguo angrily confronted Li Yi for looking down on Hu Qi, while Hu Leimei stopped their argument.
• Hu Qi left Li Zhenguo’s home after secretly leaving one thousand yuan and messaging Li Yi.
• Hu Qi hit a stray cat with his bike, then spotted a red-eyed monster charging out of the alley.
• Hu Qi used his modified electric bike to race away from the monster and reach Qirong City’s night market district.
• Hu Qi returned safely to his apartment and poured the writhing, unusually large rice field eel into the sink.

Hu Qi ate the swamp eel and spent four Modification Points raising Comprehensive Combat Technique to Mastered, awakening the Coordination trait. The next day, he tested ordinary swamp eels and confirmed they gave him no Modification Points, then began searching for information about Exotic Beasts.

• Hu Qi identified the swamp eel as male, killed and prepared it, then ate it whole.
• Hu Qi used four Modification Points to raise Comprehensive Combat Technique to Mastered and gained the Coordination trait.
• Hu Qi noticed he felt hungry again after upgrading his skill and ate chocolate bars.
• Hu Qi took the day off from the Red Scale Club, cooked market-bought swamp eels, and confirmed they did not grant Modification Points.
• Hu Qi searched online for information about Exotic Beasts and read that they were unusual-looking animals, often described as genetically mutated creatures.

Hu Qi sought new sources of income after spending much of his money, then earned ten thousand yuan by beating Song Jian in their sparring match. Coach Chen Wu arrived at the training room and said he had something important to announce once everyone was present.

• Hu Qi read reports about rare Exotic Beasts, realized they could provide Modification Points, and posted that he would buy their meat and sightings information.
• Hu Qi decided to pursue professional fighter certification to improve his income, though the registration and exam process would take time.
• Hu Qi defeated Song Jian in a sparring match and collected ten thousand yuan under their bet.
• Song Jian said he had spent his monthly allowance on their matches, while Hu Qi realized he had won eighty to ninety thousand yuan from him that month.
• Chen Wu entered the training room, asked where Lin Zhi and Chen Chang were, and said he had an important announcement once everyone had gathered.
• Song Jian grew solemn and wondered whether Chen Wu's announcement was the one he anticipated.

Chen Wu announced that the Red Scale Club would open its Core Class in a month, offering stronger Combat Techniques and a monthly income to a select few. As Hu Qi felt his progress from the Comprehensive Combat Technique stall, he asked Chen Wu to let him study other techniques.

• Song Jian told Hu Qi that the Core Class offered powerful Combat Techniques and methods for breaking the human body's limits.
• Chen Wu announced that the Core Class would open in a month, accept no more than five trainees, and provide its members with training and a monthly income.
• The trainees trained with renewed enthusiasm, while Hu Qi learned that Song Jian knew little about the Core Class's limit-breaking methods.
• Hu Qi noticed that the Comprehensive Combat Technique was barely strengthening him anymore and decided he needed a change.
• Hu Qi asked Chen Wu to let him study other Combat Techniques, and Chen Wu warned that dividing his attention could slow his progress.

Hu Qi sparred with Chen Wu and revealed that his mastery of the Comprehensive Combat Technique was nearly equal to the coach’s, while deliberately letting Chen Wu land a hit to save face. After class, Chen Wu warned the trainees about the beast attacks in Qirong City, and Hu Qi noticed a crowd gathered in the corridor as he prepared to go home.

• Hu Qi asked Chen Wu to spar so he could assess his current strength, and Chen Wu agreed to fight him in front of the trainees.
• Hu Qi and Chen Wu exchanged moves from the Comprehensive Combat Technique, astonishing the onlookers with Hu Qi’s skill.
• Hu Qi deliberately slowed down and allowed Chen Wu to hit his shoulder, then thanked the coach for holding back.
• Chen Wu warned the trainees to avoid going out at night because wild beasts had been eating people in Qirong City, but said he did not know what kind of beast was responsible.
• Hu Qi left the storage room with his backpack and spotted a group gathered in the corridor ahead.

Hu Qi watched Sims demonstrate overwhelming strength on a tester, then rebuffed Song Jian’s attempt to provoke him into confronting Sims. After the others lost interest and left, Hu Qi approached the tester to try it himself.

• Chen Chang punched the strength tester and recorded 119 kg, prompting surprise from the trainees.
• Sims shoved Chen Chang aside and recorded 315 kg with a punch, silencing the crowd before leaving.
• Song Jian asked Hu Qi why he would not challenge Sims, and Hu Qi said he had no reason to risk getting hurt.
• Song Jian admitted his own punch measured 145 kg and left after Sims’s display discouraged the trainees.
• Hu Qi set down his backpack and rolled his shoulders as he approached the strength tester.

Hu Qi tested his striking power and trained in Combat Technique, relying on his improved coordination to develop several techniques without Modification Points. After his morning workout, he received a private message notification from a forum.

• Hu Qi struck the impact panel with ordinary force and then with Cannon Fist, raising his recorded strength from 211 kg to 234 kg.
• Hu Qi cleared the display and left, confident that his gains and combat skills could eventually let him surpass Sims.
• Hu Qi woke before dawn, went to a park, and jogged while practicing punches and kicks because he feared the strange creature lurking in the dark.
• Hu Qi reviewed his progress in Soft Palm, Crane Leg, and White Ape Fist, which he had learned from Chen Wu and improved through practice.
• Hu Qi finished training, declined young women's requests for his contact information, and received a private message notification while ordering breakfast.

Hu Qi traveled to meet Ding Yu after receiving a message about an unusual duck, hoping to confirm it was an Exotic Beast and test whether consuming one would grant Modification Points. He found the aggressive purple duck caged at Ding Yu’s grandmother’s home, where Ding Yu’s grandfather left them to handle it.

• Hu Qi received a message from Shrimp Meat Doesn't Blink offering to sell a strange-looking duck and arranged to meet in Qirong City.
• Hu Qi traveled to the west side of the city and met Ding Yu near Peizhi Vocational College.
• Ding Yu explained that the duck belonged to his grandmother and that he wanted to sell it for money.
• Hu Qi spotted the dark-purple duck in an iron cage; it raised its crimson eyes and quacked aggressively.
• Ding Yu said the duck had bitten several other ducks to death, and his grandfather told them to handle the matter themselves.

Hu Qi bought Ding Yu’s unusual egg-laying duck for 3,500 yuan and discovered its eggs increased his Modification Points. He decided to keep the duck as a steady source of points and named it Camphor Tea Duck.

• Ding Yu tried to sell Hu Qi the duck for 20,000 yuan, but Hu Qi negotiated the price down to 3,500 yuan with several duck eggs included.
• Hu Qi fried and ate the five eggs, raising his Modification Points to 4 (36%).
• Hu Qi decided not to kill the duck because it could continue laying eggs and provide him with Modification Points.
• Hu Qi stopped the duck from struggling, declared himself its master, and named it Camphor Tea Duck.

Hu Qi learned from Chen Wu that the Core Class possessed a Limit-Breaking Method that could lead to extraordinary strength, and he looked forward to its assessment. After returning home, he found that Camphor Tea Duck had laid two eggs.

• Chen Wu told Hu Qi that most people’s physical limits fell far below a thousand jin and that the Core Class had a Limit-Breaking Method.
• Chen Wu said Martial Dao Practitioners could be powerful enough to withstand gunfire, and Hu Qi became more eager for the Core Class assessment.
• Hu Qi passed a neighbor in the corridor, briefly suspected something was wrong with the man’s girlfriend, then saw her call after him about forgotten keys.
• Hu Qi returned home and found that Camphor Tea Duck had laid two purple-striped eggs.

Hu Qi used his Modification Points to advance his combat techniques and gain new traits, then received a suspicious call from Li Yi asking him to come to Qingyu Internet Cafe. Hu Qi realized Li Yi was signaling that he was surrounded and agreed to go, while the thugs at the scene attacked Li Yi.

• Hu Qi modified Crane Leg, Soft Palm, and White Ape Fist, raising them to Great Mastery and gaining three traits.
• Hu Qi spent his remaining Modification Points to raise Crane Leg to Perfection and the other two techniques to Mastery, strengthening his body and leaving him extremely hungry.
• After eating, Hu Qi received a call from someone claiming to be Li Yi, who asked him to bring cash to Tianhu Road.
• Hu Qi recognized the caller's mistakes as a coded warning that Li Yi was in trouble and said he would come.
• At Qingyu Internet Cafe, a white-haired youth kicked Li Yi to the ground and threatened him.

Hu Qi arrived alone to rescue Li Yi from a group of thugs and quickly defeated them in a secluded alley. He demanded to know who had sent them, and the white-haired young man agreed to talk.

• Li Yi worried that Hu Qi would be in danger after his classmate Liu Wei ran away, but Hu Qi arrived on an electric bike.
• Hu Qi asked the white-haired young man to release Li Yi and go with him to a secluded alley, but the group surrounded them instead.
• The white-haired young man taunted Hu Qi and spat at him, so Hu Qi slapped him to the ground.
• Hu Qi swiftly defeated the four other young men, breaking bones and knocking them down within seconds.
• Hu Qi sent Li Yi to wait outside, silenced the injured men, and lifted the white-haired young man by the throat to ask who had sent them.
• The white-haired young man begged for his life and said he would talk, and Hu Qi dropped him to the ground.

Hu Qi drove off Lu Shi’s men, warned them to stay away from those around him, and offered Li Yi a chance to train at the Red Scale Club. That night, Hu Qi watched Lu Shi leave Nightfall Bar with Jiang Yu Yan, setting up a confrontation.

• The white-haired young man revealed that Lu Shi had sent his group to find Hu Qi and ask about Wu Shan and the others.
• Hu Qi punched a deep mark into a tree, threatened the men, and made them agree to claim they had fallen by accident.
• Hu Qi reassured Li Yi, explained that he had learned Combat Technique at the Red Scale Club, and invited him to join.
• Hu Qi took Li Yi home and warned him to stay indoors at night because wild beasts had been appearing.
• Lu Shi left Nightfall Bar with Jiang Yu Yan, while Hu Qi watched from beneath a tree nearby.

Hu Qi stayed away from the Red Scale Club while preparing for his Core Class assessment. At her new apartment, Jiang Yu Yan was ambushed by a man disguised as a courier, who forced her to summon Lu Shi.

• Hu Qi did not appear at the Red Scale Club for several days, and Chen Wu reminded him about the upcoming Core Class assessment.
• Jiang Yu Yan relaxed in the luxury apartment Lu Shi had given her and dismissed her former admirer as a lapdog.
• A man posing as a courier used a stun device to knock Jiang Yu Yan unconscious and broke into her apartment.
• The intruder threatened Jiang Yu Yan with a folding knife and slapped her when she tried to seduce him.
• The intruder ordered Jiang Yu Yan to message Lu Shi and tell him to come back.

A disguised young man subdued Jiang Yu Yan, used her phone to lure Lu Shi home, and killed them both by throwing them from a balcony. He left the complex after confirming their deaths and removed his clay-like disguise in an alley.

• The scarred man knocked Jiang Yu Yan down, stunned her with an electric baton, tied her up, and read her messages with Lu Shi before sending him a text.
• Lu Shi arrived at Number One Mansion with roses, found Jiang Yu Yan bound in a room, and mistook her captivity for a romantic surprise.
• The scarred man seized Lu Shi and Jiang Yu Yan and threw them from the twenty-fifth floor balcony.
• The man removed traces of his presence and left the building, then returned to the crowd after hearing that two people had fallen.
• After confirming Lu Shi and Jiang Yu Yan were dead, the man went into an alley and peeled off his clay-like facial disguise, revealing a young man.

Hu Qi covered his tracks after killing Lu Shi and Jiang Yu Yan, then reflected on why he had acted and how detached he felt. Investigators at Number One Mansion began examining the bodies but found evidence that the deaths defied ordinary expectations.

• Hu Qi destroyed his disguise and clothes with sulfuric acid, changed his appearance, and later returned home with no obvious signs of what he had done.
• Hu Qi reviewed his Mastery-level Forensic Technique and Makeup skills and considered how carefully he had erased evidence, while acknowledging the risks posed by the unusual world and Lu Shi's connections.
• Hu Qi justified killing Lu Shi and Jiang Yu Yan as a way to stop further attacks, regretted that Lu Shi's father was too heavily guarded, and wondered why he felt no distress afterward.
• Investigators examined the two bodies at Number One Mansion, and Old Sun told the square-faced Third-Rank Inspector that both victims had been strangled without signs of struggle or third-party fingerprints.
• Old Sun pointed out that the bodies had landed much farther from Building Three than a normal fall could explain.

Police identified Zhao Shi, a former special-forces soldier and wanted murderer, as the suspect in the bizarre killings. Hu Qi tested his punching power and considered how to find more Combat Techniques and Exotic Beasts, while Sims arrived at the force-testing room confident he would rank first among the newcomers.

• An officer showed the square-faced man surveillance footage identifying Zhao Shi, whose history of revenge killings and skill at concealing evidence made him a suspect.
• The square-faced man concluded that Zhao Shi's actions fit the evidence and said the authorities could hand him over to specialized people if he took a certain step.
• Hu Qi recorded a punching power of 396 kg and resolved to seek more Combat Techniques and Exotic Beasts to improve further.
• Hu Qi passed Sims on his way out of the force-testing room, where Sims struck the tester and recorded 323 kg, an 8 kg improvement.
• Sims declared that he would be first among the newcomers in the Core Class and opened the force tester's punching-power rankings.

Hu Qi checked that the deaths of Lu Shi and the other man had unfolded as expected, then visited Li Yi at Red Scale Fighting Club. Days later, Hu Qi took part in the club’s Core Class assessment, where the other trainees avoided fighting him.

• Hu Qi saw that Zhao Shi had taken the blame for the killings and that the bounty on him had risen.
• Hu Qi spoke with Li Yi, who had joined Red Scale Fighting Club, and invited him to get lunch.
• A close-cropped young man explained that the final five survivors of the club’s sparring assessment would qualify for the Core Class.
• Hu Qi’s opponents surrendered rather than fight him, and he knocked down the one trainee who challenged him.

Hu Qi advanced from the class matches and began the Core Class selection, where he overwhelmed Hong Shan with a head-on clash and a powerful kick. Hong Shan lay motionless after the blow as the arena fell silent.

• Hu Qi watched the class matches and learned that Ye Li had advanced alongside him, Song Jian, and Chen Chang.
• The trainees from five classes selected twenty people for the Core Class matches, with no revival round and five spots available.
• Hu Qi drew Hong Shan, who charged at him with the Comprehensive Combat Technique move Mountain Collision.
• Hu Qi met Hong Shan's attack with the same move, stopped his charge, then kicked him into the air and sent him crashing to the ground.

Hu Qi defeated Kaita and reached the final five of the Core Class assessment, where he exchanged provocations with Sims. Song Jian was eliminated by Liu Ping, leaving Hu Qi determined to secure a place in the Core Class.

• Hong Shan was crushed in his match, and Chen Chang conceded to Sims in the first round.
• Hu Qi caught Kaita’s punch and threw him to the ground, winning their match.
• Sims taunted Hu Qi, who responded with a middle finger and inferred that the examiner approved of his defiance.
• Song Jian told Hu Qi that Liu Ping had defeated him, and Hu Qi congratulated him on his efforts.
• The final five were Sims, Hu Qi, Ye Li, Wang Yue, and Liu Ping, and the examiner praised Chen Wu’s Class Two for advancing two trainees.