Strengthening

As Lu Li walked across campus, the evening light had already lost most of its intensity. The temperature had dropped a little, but it was still hot enough to drive people mad. Lu Li controlled his pores, releasing the excess heat, and carried his nearly empty backpack across the bridge. Beneath it, the Wu River kept flowing.

The Wu River ran through Leping City, dividing it in two. Leping No. 2 High School, where Lu Li studied, stood on the east bank, while he lived on the west bank. He glanced down at the Wu River. Years of sand dredging had left countless undercurrents beneath its surface, which was also riddled with whirlpools. In short, anyone who fell into this stretch of river was unlikely to survive. Every year, people were reported to have drowned, and few made it out alive. Lu Li had been one of them.

He reached a residential neighborhood and, expressionless, opened the door to the place called "home." The moment he stepped inside, he saw a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old girl lying on the sofa, her pair of pale, slender legs crossed and drawing the eye. Looking bored, she watched a cartoon on TV. It seemed to be called Jackie Chan Adventures.

"You're back!" the girl said when she saw Lu Li come in. He changed his shoes, answered her, then returned to his room without expression. The girl was used to this by now and went on watching her cartoon.

The girl's name was Ji Yue. She was the daughter of Lu Li's maternal uncle, making her his cousin. Lu Li's parents had died in an accident long ago, and when he was still young, his uncle had taken him in. His uncle had also taken possession of his parents' inheritance.

It was never easy living under someone else's roof, and Lu Li had always been quiet and withdrawn. If he hadn't accidentally fallen into the river a year ago, he probably would have stayed that way. A barrier had always stood between him and his uncle's family, so he usually either went out or stayed in his small room.

Closing the door, Lu Li tossed his backpack aside and lay straight down on the bed. He opened the dialogue window with a thought, and a panel appeared in front of him. He went straight to the shop. It was filled with rows of modules, each priced at 100 Game Points. The modules were constantly changing, though, and their numbers were highly unpredictable. They often went out of stock, so most players who needed modules but couldn't find them in the shop had to post on the forum to buy or trade for them. But that wasn't safe; they could easily be scammed.

After browsing for a while, Lu Li found the treatment option in the corner of the shop and clicked it. The panel emitted a ripple, and Lu Li felt as if something had swept over his body. Then a diagnosis appeared:

[Spirituality missing from left hand. Eight areas of spiritual damage throughout the body. Repair requires 300 Game Points. Pay? Yes/No.]

There was nothing to think about. Lu Li clicked Yes. The panel emitted several pale green motes of light, which drifted into his body, especially his left hand. When they disappeared, Lu Li moved his left hand and found that its dexterity had returned to normal.

The Game Points in the lower-right corner had dropped to 550. Lu Li closed the shop and returned to the game's dialogue window. He still had to choose his basic enhancement. From what he had learned on the forum, the three basic enhancements were the first and last ones the game would grant. After that, all enhancements had to be created by combining modules.

The three different paths—Alienation, Implant, and Inner Demon—each had their own advantages. Of the three, the Inner Demon Path had the greatest potential, the Alienation Path came next, and the Implant Path had the least. The Implant Path was strongest in the early stages, but difficult to advance later on. The Inner Demon Path was also quite powerful, but its demonic beasts risked turning on their users. The Alienation Path progressed the slowest, but offered security and reliable growth in the later stages.

"First, I'm ruling out the Implant Path!" Lu Li had no interest in loading anything into his body, especially when the game was providing it. Who knew if it might give him some disgusting demon and make him disgusting too?

"Next is the Alienation Path. I have such strong control over my body that alienating any part of it would feel strange... Does that mean I should enhance the Inner Demon Path?" Lu Li's thoughts wandered. Being underwater had been awful. He remembered the feeling of suffocating as he sank into the dark depths, and what he had seen at the end. He was a hundred percent certain that if he chose the Inner Demon Path, the demonic beast he got would be connected to that experience.

"I won't choose the Inner Demon Path, and I definitely won't choose the Implant Path. That leaves the Alienation Path. But I can control even my hair and fingernails. What could I alienate?" Lu Li carefully sensed his body. It was entirely under his control, and unless it was necessary, he would never want to alienate it until it was unrecognizable.

"The Alienation Path involves alienating part of your body, turning it into an alienated organ..." Lu Li stood up and switched on the room light. The white bulb overhead shone down, and a shadow appeared at his feet. "Then does my shadow count as part of me?"

Lu Li smiled with interest. Everyone had a shadow—or, more accurately, most physical objects did. From a physics perspective, a shadow was merely an optical phenomenon: a darker area formed when an object blocked light from passing through it. But when describing someone else's shadow, people often said, "That's their shadow," subjectively treating it as part of that person.

Moreover, many folk tales suggested that shadows possessed a spirit. One legend claimed that a person's soul lived inside their shadow. Whether or not that was true, it seemed possible that a shadow was part of its owner.

"Why keep wondering? I can just try it." Lu Li connected to the game with a thought and pointed at his shadow. "I choose the Alienation Path. Enhance my shadow!"

[Player YZ0135 is choosing an enhancement. Confirm enhancement selection? Yes/No]

"Confirm!" The moment Lu Li confirmed, his vision blurred. He appeared in an unknown, pitch-black space. The next moment, a powerful light source appeared behind him, and a long shadow stretched out from beneath his feet. A flood of information poured into his mind. Though he saw nothing but simple shifts of light and shadow, his vision failed, unable to receive any images—or perhaps it received too much, and his eyes had crashed.

He couldn't hear anything, yet it was as if someone were whispering beside him, speaking directly to his soul. Nausea rose in him, and Lu Li's thoughts sank into boundless darkness. He knew nothing...

This is the first chapter of the day. There'll probably be another around six tonight. Xu Ming thanks everyone for your support, but please don't send gifts. Sending gifts during a new book's launch period isn't good for the book. Bookmarks and votes are enough...