Defense

Chen Shouyi was getting annoyed. He glared at her.

But Shell Girl wasn't the least bit afraid. With her hands on her hips, she kept shouting, "Beiqi, Beiqi, Beiqi..."

Chen Shouyi was so irritated his teeth ached. Shell Girl had been getting cheekier and cheekier lately. Why was it so hard for her to give him a proper answer?

He was tempted to scare her a little, but after thinking it over, decided against it. These past few days, Shell Girl had been running around helping him earn 110,000 yuan. She'd worked hard, and on top of that, she'd been tied up for half the day. He'd let her relax a little.

It wasn't urgent, anyway.

With a helpless sigh, he picked up the remote and turned the TV back on.

"Beiqi!" At the familiar scene on the screen, Shell Girl immediately quieted down and returned to her original spot.

Chen Shouyi continued reading. His intelligence had now reached 123, putting him in the realm of geniuses. He was no longer the person he'd been before. In just over an hour, he had memorized more than a hundred vocabulary words and learned several short phrases for basic conversation.

During that time, he also called his mother and exchanged a few messages with Zhang Xiaoyue.

Because he'd been coming and going without warning, often disappearing for long stretches, their relationship hadn't warmed up as quickly as he'd imagined. It had remained lukewarm.

Just then, the landline on the bed rang.

Chen Shouyi got up and answered. Before the person on the other end could speak, he quickly said,

"I don't need any services, thanks!"

He hung up. These past few days, whenever he stayed in the room, he got calls like this every day. At first, Chen Shouyi had thought it was room service and asked a few more questions. The answers had left him parched and speechless.

He really was still too young!

Chen Shouyi read until eleven, then practiced the Thirty-Six Body Tempering Forms more than a dozen times. After showering, he found Shell Girl still watching TV. She'd even changed seats once.

He immediately took the remote and turned off the TV. Shell Girl sprang up in a fury and tried to watch again, but when she saw the rope in his hand, her face fell.

Chen Shouyi crooked a finger at her. Understanding, Shell Girl stretched out her leg, tears streaming down her face.

Before long, Chen Shouyi had tied one end of the rope around her leg and the other to his arm.

He went over and turned off the light.

Snap! The room quickly fell dark.

Listening to the giant's breathing roar beside her, Shell Girl lay still for a long while.

Then she slowly got to her feet and carefully climbed onto the pillow. Looking at that hateful, enormous face, she held up a fist hardly bigger than a mung bean, bared her teeth, and silently swore revenge.

After venting for a while, she looked at the rope around her foot and let out a dejected sigh. She returned to the corner of the bed and lay down. Sleep soon overtook her, and her faint snores gradually began.

Chen Shouyi wasn't asleep. He had simply entered a deep state of Entering Tranquility to Refine the Self.

Countless lines filled his mind, spreading throughout his body like a web. The image was monotonous, without a single unnecessary detail.

Ever since Entering Tranquility to Refine the Self had covered all his muscles seven or eight days ago, the image hadn't changed. But today, something had quietly shifted.

As time passed, subtle variations of light and shadow emerged between the lines, giving them a hint of texture. It was as if a flat picture had become three-dimensional.

Early the next morning, caught between waking and sleep, a strange sensation welled up within him.

He didn't open his eyes, quietly taking it all in.

He found that he could sense nearby objects in some ineffable way. There were no images, no light, but he had a powerful intuition of what was around him, and could make out their general shapes.

He could sense Shell Girl half a meter to his right, clutching the corner of the blanket, curled into a ball and fast asleep.

He could also sense what seemed to be a one-yuan coin wedged in the gap behind the bed.

The only drawback was that this sense had a very short range, about one meter. Beyond that, his perceptions quickly blurred.

Chen Shouyi opened his eyes in astonishment, suddenly wide awake.

He glanced at Shell Girl beside him. She was sleeping in exactly the same position he'd sensed. Then he hurriedly lifted the mattress pad and, sure enough, found a one-yuan coin in the crack.

He swore he'd never known there was a coin left there.

He opened the Status Panel.

He found that Entering Tranquility to Refine the Self had risen from (Proficient 2) to (Proficient 10).

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His Perception had also increased by 0.1. Combined with the 0.1 increase from two days earlier, it had reached 11.

Since the Book of Knowledge had altered his body, his Perception had improved much faster, perhaps because he'd grown stronger. In just three days, it had increased by 0.2.

Of all the changes, Perception was the most puzzling.

As far as he knew, Perception was much like the legendary mental power, tied to a person's intuition or sixth sense.

But before now, this attribute hadn't shown any effect at all—or perhaps its effects had been subtle and hard to notice.

Could eleven be the threshold for Perception? he wondered, looking at the number.

He got dressed and headed for the bathroom.

He keenly noticed that he seemed to have gained a little more control over his body. Even when walking casually, his muscles worked together like interlocking gears, moving in perfect coordination. He didn't need to focus or make any effort; it all happened naturally.

It was an exquisite feeling, as if he had every last part of his body under his control, his whole self renewed. He had a strong intuition that his sword strikes would be at least five percent faster today than yesterday.

Youth Martial Arts Training Center.

"Wow, Chen Shouyi, you've changed so much!" Guo Qianqian, who had come with her boyfriend again, looked at Chen Shouyi in surprise. If his face hadn't still been the same, she'd almost have thought he was someone else.

She could no longer find any trace of the shy boy she remembered. His gaze was sharp, his bearing composed, and in the crowd he stood out like a crane among chickens. Even her handsome boyfriend looked dim beside him, as ordinary as a passerby.

"Have I? Maybe it's because I changed clothes." Chen Shouyi smiled and smoothly changed the subject. "Didn't you go anywhere for the National Day holiday?"

"I was going to go out with my parents the day before yesterday, but the highway was closed halfway there. I heard the military was moving troops and needed the road closed for half a day, so we came back."

"That's really bad luck," Chen Shouyi said with a sigh, not thinking much of it.

"Yeah, yeah. By the way, do you remember Zhu Shaoqiang, that tall guy from our class?"

"The physical education rep? Of course. What about him?" Chen Shouyi thought for a moment, then remembered.

"He joined the army."

Chen Shouyi paused, though he wasn't surprised. The recruitment campaign had started up again recently.

Before he'd arrived, he'd seen a recruitment ad playing on the big screen at the nearby Shijie intersection.

Ever since the two worlds began merging twenty years ago, the shadow of war had hung over humanity. The armies of countries around the world had remained enormous, and a major power like China had an especially astonishing military.

Its standing army alone numbered six million. Even near a small city like Dongning, an entire regiment of soldiers was stationed.

In fact, that was the number left after successive cuts over the years. In the first few years after the worlds began merging, China's military had once reached ten million, and the country had nearly entered a state of war readiness.

Fortunately, it had all turned out to be a false alarm, and the war between the two worlds had remained limited in scale.

Perhaps because she was excited, once Guo Qianqian started talking, she couldn't stop. With nothing else to do, Chen Shouyi had no choice but to chat with her about this and that.

Lin Feng, who had been sitting in his seat looking at his phone, grew darker and darker. His fists clenched tighter and tighter. At last, he sprang to his feet with a bang, his shin hitting the chair and making a harsh scraping sound.

Chen Shouyi immediately looked over.

For some reason, at that moment, Lin Feng felt an enormous pressure bearing down on him, like a basin of icy water poured over his head. His heated thoughts quickly cooled as he remembered the difference in their strength. The momentum he'd been building collapsed like a burst dam.

"What's wrong?" Guo Qianqian asked.

Avoiding Chen Shouyi's gaze, he affectionately put an arm around Guo Qianqian and said, "I just found a pair of platinum couple's rings. They're really beautiful, and I got a little too excited. Let's go take a look together later. If you like them, we'll buy them."

Guo Qianqian was indeed distracted. The two leaned together and began chatting softly.

Just then, the tutor finally arrived.

"It's the long National Day holiday. I wonder if everyone has been practicing hard. If you're determined to pursue the martial arts path, diligence is essential.

"That's enough small talk. Today we'll be learning something new: how to defend.

"Defense generally falls into three types: defense through distance, dodging, and blocking with a weapon.

"Distance defense is just what it sounds like: as long as you retreat beyond your opponent's attack range, you've successfully defended.

"That may sound simple, but it's actually quite difficult to do well. Your opponent's sword is often much faster than you can retreat, so you need nimble Basic Footwork and the ability to anticipate their moves. It also puts very high demands on your eyesight."

At this, the Beautiful Teacher looked at Chen Shouyi. "Chen Shouyi, put on a Protective Suit and demonstrate with me."