Questions and the Path Ahead

Governor Smith, having just finished his exercise and fallen asleep, vaguely felt a cool breeze drift into the room. Still feeling limp and lethargic, he was completely oblivious to his surroundings, not even noticing that a person had walked right into the room in plain sight.

"Ahem! Ahem, ahem!" James had to make some noise to alert the Governor; he had been standing there awkwardly for nearly ten seconds.

The Governor froze as if struck by lightning. He turned his neck stiffly and finally shrieked like he was having a seizure: "Hell! Who the hell are you! Guards! Guards!" The woman beside him was also startled awake, and the two began frantically tearing at the clothes and bedsheets scattered around to cover their bodies, screaming incessantly.

James sighed helplessly, stepped forward, grabbed Smith by the throat, and lifted him into the air with one hand. The woman let out another terrified scream, but James backhanded her at the base of the ear, knocking her unconscious.

"Judging by your reaction, you must be Governor Smith. Allow me to introduce myself: James Howlett, the nephew-in-law you've taken such an interest in."

Governor Smith's eyes bulged, his pupils dilating—whether from shock or suffocation, it was hard to tell—as he made a wheezing "hng-hng" sound through his constricted throat.

Before dawn broke, James returned to the estate, eating breakfast as usual and greeting his grandfather. Mr. Howlett seemed full of worry, and James comforted him.

Three days later.

The news of the Governor's death suddenly reached Edmonton. Due to the limitations of the era's information transmission technology, and also because the Governor's office had deliberately suppressed the news, the vast majority of regions took many days to receive such shocking information. The entire Canada region only heard that the Governor and his niece had died of food poisoning, and a pile of cooks and servants had been held accountable, among other things.

However, some rumors that leaked out told a different story: the plenipotentiary military and political ruler of a vast colonial territory had died stark naked in his own bed. What embarrassed the Governor's office most was that the woman found dead beside him was his own niece; such a "spectacular" way to die could not be made public under any circumstances.

No one could figure out how it was done. How the killer had entered the Governor's bedroom without a sound, killed him cleanly, and then vanished without leaving a trace.

The royal family and government of England sent their most capable coroners and detectives to investigate the matter, while simultaneously tightening military control to maintain stability in the colonies, leaving them in a state of utter chaos.

When James heard that the dead girl was the Governor's niece, his expression turned quite strange. This Governor really knew how to have fun, he thought to himself.

Mr. Howlett, who had been recuperating for a few days and was just considering how to deal with the Governor's checkmate, heard the news that brought great relief to his heart. The old man's complexion visibly improved, the family crisis dissolved into nothingness, and his appetite returned, shedding the dying lethargy he had displayed before.

Vane the butler, however, inexplicably recalled the meaningful comfort James had offered him that day. Beyond finding it extremely strange and coincidental, he felt a growing sense of fear...

Life became peaceful again. Mr. Howlett increasingly let James handle family affairs, as if he intended to retire on a high note. The old man had exhausted all his strength during these last ten years of persistence; having finally let go of that breath, the now-relaxed Mr. Howlett spent most of his time resting in bed or on a lounge chair.

He spoke less and less and often grew drowsy, though his memory remained as sharp as ever, showing no signs of "senile decay." In these peaceful days, what made James feel both annoyed and excited was that his current body had encountered a problem in his martial arts practice that no predecessor had ever faced.

To train kung fu to the level of Dark Energy, one must cultivate the heart and spirit, shrink the pores of the entire body, adjust the position of the spine and tailbone, and connect the outer membranes of the muscles and bones so that the body's strength can erupt from a single point. This is what the common folk call the master who has "opened the Ren and Du meridians."

Taking it a step further, one must connect the entire body, regulate the internal organs, and understand and train every single organ. This allows strength to reach the extremities—the teeth, tongue, fingernails, and hair. Even if a fly landed on one's face, one could use the skin to vibrate and strike it down. This is the Transformation Energy level.

At this realm, the internal organs are clean and orderly, the bones and muscles are robust, and all human physical potential is fully developed. With proper maintenance, one could live to be over a hundred or a hundred and twenty. In combat, the power of one's fists and kicks would be enough to make ordinary people view them as supernatural.

In the two months since James had awakened his abilities and entered the realm of Dark Energy, he had run to Lage Forest every morning at two o'clock to practice. He had assumed that with his past life's knowledge and foundation in cultivation, reaching the level of Transformation would be smooth sailing, but this body, with its awakened mutant genes, was giving him an extraordinary headache.

The root cause was that his physical potential was simply too great. The rapid growth and division of his cells at the genetic level, combined with his self-healing, meant that ordinary martial arts training could not stimulate his body parts to undergo active evolution and growth.

It was like a person training their muscles; the muscles would constantly adapt to a certain weight, thereby increasing in size and strength. By gradually increasing the intensity of the training, the body would follow suit, becoming stronger and growing itself.

The former Bai Feng had been physically weak by nature; once he understood the application of energy, he didn't need external stimulation to develop his body's potential. Ultimately, this was because he lacked the capacity to withstand higher-intensity martial arts training, so merely practicing empty-handed forms was enough.

But as James Howlett, the immortal Wolverine, he not only possessed unknown secrets within his body but could also ignore all the concerns ordinary humans had during training, such as muscle tears or joint wear and tear. Therefore, he had to find a more intense way to practice the martial path.

O'Hara carried a tray of afternoon tea and snacks, skipping happily toward Mr. Howlett's study. James was now officially handling family affairs in his grandfather's study, which meant that the position of the largest landowner and farmer in Canada had been handed over to this twenty-something-year-old man.

At least while Mr. Howlett was still alive, James was doing a very good job. He was meticulous, efficient, and possessed concepts far beyond this era. The family accounts, personnel, and all other tasks were handled in an orderly fashion, though it would only be after Mr. Howlett passed away that this "young man's" true capabilities could be tested.

"Young Master, what are you drawing? It looks like medieval armor, and what is this big round ball?" The maid O'Hara placed the tray on the desk and tilted her head, looking at the strange patterns James was sketching with a charcoal pencil.

"Hmm... just some tools. You wouldn't understand. Go find Vane the butler and have him make a list of the best blacksmiths and processing plants in the area," James said, brushing her off with a few words.

"Oh... I see. So strange, as if you're the only one who knows anything!"

"What did you say?" James asked, raising an eyebrow slightly at O'Hara as she muttered to herself while walking out.

"Ah! Nothing, Young Master! I'm going to find Mr. Vane right now!" The girl tossed her thick hair and fled the study.

James smiled slightly, then lowered his head to carefully examine the sketches, writing something down from time to time.