The "Unbalanced" World
"This time, we've truly reached our limit."
Jessica lay on her back on the floor covered with a yoga mat, and even in the height of summer, wisps of white steam could be seen rising from her body.
Feng Xue neither agreed nor disagreed with Jessica's words, but simply stopped releasing the arrow of killing intent and instead said:
"Now that my stamina is depleted, let's start training. The blessing I just received can't be fully utilized yet; if I want even greater strength..."
"You have to keep developing the power of the blessing to make yourself stronger, right? You've said that so many times!" Jessica took a deep breath, forcibly lifted half of her body off the ground, and assumed a pose that looked a bit like yoga, and began to "explore the power of the blessing."
In fact, this blessing is essentially a martial art, but it is not the meridian and acupoint system of the Yan Kingdom. Instead, it is a divine skill originating from Sargon (Sargon is a collective term for ancient civilizations that have been interrupted, including Ancient Egypt, ancient India, Mesopotamia, Aztec, Persia, etc.) – the Dragon Elephant Prajna Skill.
According to Feng Xue's speculation, this martial art should be a modified version practiced by the protagonist of a Hong Kong comic book or some other fantasy novel. Otherwise, it might be considered a divine skill in Jin Yong's martial arts world, but compared to the demons and Demons and Monsters of Taiwu, it is not even worth mentioning.
The reason for choosing this divine skill is twofold: firstly, I happened to come across it, and secondly, it is very easy to cultivate. After entering the basics, you only need to memorize a few yoga poses and do them like calisthenics. Compared to the Yan Kingdom martial arts, which require memorizing meridians and acupoints and subjectively moving qi and blood to Refining Essence into Qi, this skill is more like a "blessing".
Feng Xue only needs to use her "Mindless Divine Power" to edit an Internal Force (do you understand the value of Law Has Spirit?), and transfer it into the body of the "beneficial person." The other party can then begin to learn the Dragon Elephant Prajna Skill. After that, she can easily fool the other party by teaching them those few yoga poses under the pretext of "exploring the body's potential and developing protection through yoga."
As for ordinary people learning yoga poses, they can naturally practice them, but the problem is that without Feng Xue's breakthrough through the barrier using the Mindless Divine Power, it would take most people seven or eight months, or even one or two years, to enter the first level, and that's assuming they Single-mindedness and wholeheartedly focused on practicing.
For people in the Wuxia World, spending so much time learning a powerful skill is obviously not a long time. But for modern people, how many can persevere when faced with something they don't even know if they can master? Even if they could, how many people could find the time to practice due to heavy work and life pressures?
Even if there were truly one in ten thousand Martial Arts Prodigy who could master the basics in three days, Feng Xue wouldn't be afraid. He could simply exclaim in surprise, "There are actually people who can develop the human body to such an extent without any special protection!" Then, using this case as a case study, he could openly launch a cultivation system and present it as a "divine protective skill" or something similar.
However, for foreigners, especially the Victorians who once colonized Sargon, yoga is associated with conditioning the body and exploring one's potential (funny fact: complete yoga includes breathing techniques and meditation). It is perfectly reasonable to explore blessings through yoga.
While Feng Xue was routinely disciplining Jessica, in Victoria Hills, a young man, dressed in a designer black suit—slightly flamboyant but not hindering his movements—held a document in one hand and gazed at the Nanides Prison in the distance.
It was a privately owned prison that resembled a luxury hotel.
His goal was there.
"William Lester, convicted of multiple crimes including rape, abuse, and murder, was sentenced to only seven years in prison, and in the most luxurious private prison in all of Victoria."
As he softly repeated the information from the document, the young man couldn't help but recall the boy with bloodshot eyes and the woman with empty eyes, lifeless like a doll, from a few days ago.
Having been pulled from the garbage dump of Ghoul Street, the young man possessed an almost innate resentment towards the rich, coupled with a still-intact sense of morality and justice, which made him quite satisfied with his target this time.
The young man put on the Skull Mask, which also functioned as a gas mask, checked his equipment, and began to regulate his breathing.
One second, two seconds, three seconds...
As his breathing gradually faded, the boy's body seemed to merge into the darkness (his Breath Concealment).
Nanides wasn't exactly a proper prison; its existence was practically a comfortable haven for wealthy, powerful, or well-connected criminals. Inmates here had far easier and simpler ways to escape, making escape virtually impossible. Therefore, this so-called prison didn't even have high walls or electrified fences; instead, it had an inland river for fishing, a gymnasium for recreation, and sports fields. At least in the eyes of the teenagers, it was more like a full-boarding school than a prison.
Compared to it, the Ghoul Street where he was born felt more like a prison.
Bypassing the main gate, the young man, relying on the physical abilities granted by the "blessing" that were four times greater than those of ordinary people, used a hook arm to leap over the not-so-high courtyard wall.
This prison was built on the ridiculous pretext of "protecting prisoners' human rights," and its operation became known throughout the country. The design plans can be easily found online, which made it easy for the young man to locate the few security cameras.
Under the instructor's hellish Killing intent, the young man repeatedly experienced the feeling of death during training, which made his perception of danger and the eyesight of others extremely sharp. Even if there were cameras not shown on the design drawings, he could sense them immediately.
However, to his surprise, the prison's internal security was far laxer than he had imagined; he could walk dozens of meters without seeing a single patrolling guard.
Although this might be because no one would actually escape from this prison, he still became cautious.
An executioner must accept a commission to kill, which means that the commissioner himself may reveal the executioner's existence. The current laxity may just be a trap to lure the executioner in.
After passing through the "fishing area," the young man entered the prison area, but to his surprise, the cell where William Lester should have been held was empty.
He went forward to check and found that the cell door wasn't even closed. However, just to be on the safe side, he still focused his gaze on the door to the private toilet inside this cell, which was even more luxurious than his own home.
If the person is still in prison, this should be the place.
The young man cautiously observed his surroundings, and only after confirming that there was no sound did he slowly approach the toilet door. He wasn't worried that the cell door would suddenly close, since with his current strength, even if he didn't know how to pick locks, he could simply twist open the bars.
Contrary to his expectations, there was neither a criminal using the toilet nor any armed ambushes, which made him begin to doubt whether the information he had gathered was correct.
"I have to take some risks..." The young man pulled a coin from his pocket, stepped out of the Room Door...
In Europe and America, a seemingly absurd situation often arises with heinous crimes that garner social attention: instead of focusing on the victims' tragic circumstances, the perpetrators' human rights are often lauded.
Simply put, the victim is dead, but the perpetrator is still alive, so the victim has no human rights, but the perpetrator's human rights must be protected.
Then comes a set of excuses like "giving every prisoner a chance to reform," and as long as the deceased doesn't have any special connections or status, they can be dealt with with an absurdly lenient punishment.
So these people, who don't even have any background (many are just a little Xiao Qian or even gang members), only need to serve seven or eight years in prison (if they can pay some money, their living conditions are even comparable to a hotel suite) to atone for their sins. If they want to go out, they can get medical parole; if they don't want to go, they can perform meritorious service. These luxurious prisons in the book do exist; you can search for them. There are even idiots cheering about them...
As for the prisoners who tinker with bullets and conduct drug experiments in private prisons, they are basically groups that are not given much attention (Black people, homeless people, orphans, Native Americans, etc.).
Incidentally, the deceased's relationship is just that—a relationship. However, their identity doesn't refer to being a second-generation rich kid or something similar. Rather, it refers to someone who is transgender, gay, vegetarian, or an environmentalist. If the victim has such an identity, relevant organizations will intervene and charge the perpetrator with "discrimination against xx people."
Therefore, there's some logic to stacking buffs in Western culture. At least after stacking buffs, if you get killed, there will be people who will speak up for you—even if they're not really doing it for your sake.