His gaze landed on it for an instant.
A brief notification appeared at once.
[Insufficient Source Value. Talent cannot be upgraded.]
"Talents can be upgraded?"
Hu Long's thoughts stirred.
But he quickly understood.
Since the Panel listed Source Value and flow separately, they must each have their own purpose.
"But it seems skills can't be upgraded!"
His gaze settled on the only skill listed on his Panel, Network Offense and Defense. He examined it closely but found no similar text.
Then again, skills might be different from talents.
The skill's level was too high, and his current reserves of Source Value were nowhere near enough. Maybe the option wouldn't appear until he had more.
He could look into that later.
Just then, the orderly he'd sent to get his meal came back.
The tray held meat, vegetables, and a few shrimp, though the portions weren't large.
That wasn't because they were deliberately holding back. The orderly had simply served him an amount suited to his appetite.
Hu Long pulled his thoughts back to the present.
After thanking him, he began to eat.
Before, perhaps because of his physical condition, he'd had an ordinary appetite and had to force himself to eat more.
But now, the food tasted much better to him.
It wasn't that the cook had suddenly improved. His appetite was simply returning.
Before long, he'd finished the meal.
Given his condition, he couldn't overeat. His portions were much smaller than an average person's, so normally he should already have felt about seventy or eighty percent full.
But today felt different.
He could feel the food in his stomach shifting and churning.
Soon, that familiar feeling of fullness faded quickly, replaced by a faint but spreading hunger.
Noticing this, Hu Long quickly wolfed down the rest of the food on his tray, then turned to the orderly waiting nearby.
"Sorry for the trouble, but could you get me another serving?"
"You want more?"
The orderly was clearly surprised.
It wasn't that the facility begrudged him the food. Anyone who could afford to stay at one of Huanyang City's top psychiatric rehabilitation centers came from a well-off family.
There was always plenty of food here.
He hesitated only because Hu Long's condition made him uneasy.
The man was so thin he looked almost skeletal, with prominent cheekbones and dark circles under his eyes. He looked as if a gust of wind could knock him over.
As an orderly, he knew a thing or two about patient care. He was genuinely worried Hu Long might push himself too hard and make himself sick.
What's more, the facility's leadership had specifically told him to take extra care of this patient. He didn't dare be careless.
"I'm just hungry. I haven't had enough to eat."
Hu Long's tone was calm, his emotions impossible to read.
The orderly wasn't entirely convinced. He studied Hu Long for a moment and, seeing that he seemed fine and wasn't forcing himself, went to get him another serving.
As long as it wasn't indigestion, eating a little more wouldn't be a problem.
Afterward,
Hu Long quietly finished his third serving. Under the orderly's worried gaze, he finally set down his chopsticks.
He pressed a hand to his stomach. It was only slightly rounded, nowhere near stretched tight.
Probably... about seventy percent full.
He figured he could manage another two bowls.
But he didn't ask for more.
His body needed time to adjust.
Food was as essential as iron and steel.
After eating nearly three times his usual amount, a long-missed warmth spread from his stomach throughout his limbs.
The persistent dizziness and chills he'd felt earlier had quietly eased.
"Just as I thought. It works."
The corner of Hu Long's mouth twitched slightly.
His only concern now was whether eating this much would make him fat.
But the thought flashed through his mind and he quickly pushed it aside.
First of all, after being affected by "that thing," would his body even gain weight normally?
Even if it did, what did getting a little fat matter compared with staying alive?
Time passed, and two months soon went by.
The sweltering summer quietly gave way.
In the blink of an eye, autumn arrived.
Huanyang City, September 17, afternoon.
The sky was overcast. Fine rain fell like silk, and low-hanging mist enveloped the distant and nearby scenery in a damp, gray haze.
There was no sunlight today, only leaden clouds pressing down on the horizon, so heavy they seemed ready to fall at any moment.
The iron gates of the Morning Light Psychiatric Rehabilitation Center slowly closed behind them with a grating scrape.
Two figures holding umbrellas walked out, one following the other.
Several white-coated figures stood under umbrellas, watching as the pair left and gradually disappeared into the distant rain.
Tap, tap...
The woman walking in front had loosely tied her dark hair into a bun. A few damp strands clung to the pale skin along her neck.
She wore a plain white shirt of thin fabric, its folds fluttering in the breeze.
A black leather bag hung from her shoulder.
She wore blue jeans and white shoes.
The rain formed a fine veil around her, blurring her delicate features in the mist.
Her shoes made faint sounds as they stepped across the wet ground.
The man following behind her carried a white cloth bag in his right hand. The words Morning Light Psychiatric Rehabilitation Center were faintly visible on it.
The young man was none other than Hu Long, who had just passed his evaluation. His condition had stabilized and improved enough for him to leave the hospital.
Thanks to his physical talent, High-Efficiency Absorption and Metabolism,
he was now in much better shape than before.
He no longer looked like a dried corpse, all skin and bones.
Though still rather thin, he had more or less returned to a normal state.
And even that was the result of Hu Long deliberately holding back.
High-Efficiency Absorption and Metabolism let him eat a lot, but it wasn't like the condition of people who simply had unusually large stomachs.
Those people could eat more because their stomachs were bigger than average.
High-Efficiency Absorption and Metabolism was different. It made his stomach digest and absorb food more quickly.
So although he looked a little thin, his physical and mental health had basically returned to normal.
Today was the first time since arriving in this world that he'd left the hospital and gone outside.
As for the woman walking ahead of him, she was his biological older sister, Hu Zhao.
She had come to pick him up and take him home after his discharge.
His original family was well-off. His parents were alive, and he had an older sister.
It was undoubtedly a better start than the all-too-common "both parents dead" setup he'd seen in online novels.
The two walked in single file, silent and not speaking.
Hu Long didn't want to talk. He had some of the original owner's memories, but they were fragmented, and some details were unclear.
So he didn't want to speak out of turn.
As for Hu Zhao, she appeared to be walking forward, but her expression was conflicted. Every so often, she glanced sideways at Hu Long behind her, as if thinking about something. She didn't speak either.
Because of the Morning Light Psychiatric Rehabilitation Center's remote location and the weather,
there were hardly any cars on the surrounding roads.
Everything was quiet, save for the soft patter of the steady autumn rain.
Soon, they reached a red car parked by the roadside. It looked expensive.
"Get in!"
Hu Zhao spoke at last. She opened the car door and climbed in.
Hu Long opened the other door too, but instead of taking the front passenger seat, he sat in the back.
Hu Zhao merely glanced at him without comment. She started the car, pressed down on the accelerator, turned around, and drove toward the bridge—the only route off the island.