On the plane.
The roar of the engines was muffled by soundproofing.
Lin Xiaoxiao leaned against the window, gazing at the vast landscape below.
"Brother."
"Will we ever go back to Shu Capital?"
After a moment,
she turned around, reluctance in her eyes.
"We'll go back whenever you miss home."
"The Imperial Capital is far from Shu Capital, but travel is convenient these days."
"As long as I can make time, I'll take you all back to visit."
Lin Yuan rubbed her head.
Hearing that,
Lin Xiaoxiao broke into a grin.
Across from them, Lin Jianguo and Zhang Hui shook their heads in unison.
"An occasional visit is enough."
"If we stayed there, we'd never have any peace."
Lin Jianguo sighed.
Ever since the Beast Tide broadcast,
the sight of Lin Yuan cutting through the enemy on-screen had spread across the country.
Visitors had nearly worn down the doorstep of the Shu Capital Military Dependents' Compound.
Distant uncles they barely knew.
Primary school classmates they hadn't contacted in over a decade.
They had all shown up bearing gifts, hoping to visit.
Both parents' heads were still spinning.
"Exactly!"
"Your second aunt is usually so stingy, but this time she brought two bottles of Moutai."
"Every word out of her mouth was about getting your brother to arrange an easy military job for her son."
Zhang Hui patted her chest, still shaken.
She and her husband were ordinary, honest people.
When had they ever dealt with anything like this?
Faced with all that flattery,
all they could do was smile politely. They hadn't dared say a harsh word for fear of causing Lin Yuan trouble.
"Dad, Mom, don't think about that anymore."
"Once we're in the Imperial Capital, no one can bother you whenever they please."
Lin Yuan tried to reassure them.
He knew his parents' temperaments all too well.
Leaving the trouble in Shu Capital behind would be a relief for them.
"Brother, there's something else."
"My class groups have gone crazy."
"Everyone's asking whether the government will make cultivation methods public."
Lin Xiaoxiao leaned closer and lowered her voice.
Excitement shone in her eyes.
Before, an eight-hundred-meter run had nearly killed her.
But ever since she had sensed aura,
she could climb ten flights of stairs in one go without getting winded.
There was no denying it.
Aura really was incredible!
Lin Jianguo and Zhang Hui pricked up their ears too.
They had also received the Basic Breathing Technique.
They were older, so their progress was slow.
But after practicing twice a day, their years of backaches had vanished.
Given that,
of course they wanted to know whether everyone would get access to it.
"Soon."
"If the government dared broadcast the Beast Tide, it won't keep this secret."
"Just wait for the news."
Lin Yuan smiled at the expectant looks on his family's faces.
In fact,
the higher-ups already had a complete plan.
Once the initial turmoil had passed,
Universal Martial Arts Practice was inevitable.
Three hours later,
the plane landed smoothly at the Imperial Capital Military Airport.
The cabin door opened, letting a biting north wind sweep inside.
Beside the runway, two SUVs with special plates were already waiting.
"Colonel Lin!"
"I'm Chen Gang from the Imperial Capital Garrison District. I've been ordered to pick up you and your family."
A major strode forward.
He gave a crisp salute, his eyes filled with fervor and admiration.
The man before him was Dragon Country's one indispensable defender!
A Third-Tier Martial Artist who could break an army single-handedly!
"Thanks for the effort."
Lin Yuan returned the salute.
The family climbed into an SUV, and they drove out of the airport.
The sights along the way left Lin Jianguo and Zhang Hui speechless.
Armed patrols were everywhere along the streets.
Armored vehicles guarded the intersections.
Armed helicopters roared overhead from time to time.
The atmosphere was far more tense than in Shu Capital.
"All this security in the Imperial Capital..."
"It's frightening."
Zhang Hui muttered and instinctively gripped her husband's arm.
"Mom, don't be scared."
"This is the safest place in Dragon Country."
Lin Yuan patted the back of her hand.
The convoy passed through without delay and drove straight into the Inner City.
Towering walls and massive steel gates rose around them.
This was the heart of the Imperial Capital, defended like a fortress built for the apocalypse.
At last,
the convoy stopped outside a quiet Family Compound.
Armed guards checked their identities before letting them through.
"Colonel Lin."
"This is the residence the higher-ups arranged for you."
Chen Gang pointed to a detached two-story house ahead.
It had a garden, a private garage, and even a dedicated security squad guarding the area.
"This... this house is too big."
"How could the four of us need all this space?"
After getting out, Lin Jianguo hardly knew what to do with himself.
Suddenly moving into a detached villa fit for a high-ranking officer left him deeply uncomfortable.
"Dad, the country gave us this."
"Just make yourself at home."
Lin Yuan carried their few bags inside.
The interior was furnished in an elegant, traditional style, with every convenience they could need.
"Brother."
"I want the upstairs room with the balcony!"
Lin Xiaoxiao cheered and dragged her suitcase upstairs.
"Slow down."
"Don't damage the floor!"
Zhang Hui called after her.
Seeing his family come alive again,
Lin Yuan finally felt a weight lift from his heart.
He turned to Chen Gang and spoke quietly.
"Let's go."
"To the Martial Artist Research Institute."
The SUV set off again, heading deeper into the Inner City.
Half an hour later,
a sprawling complex came into view.
Surveillance equipment and anti-aircraft weapons covered its towering walls.
Security here was several levels tighter than at the Family Compound.
The Martial Artist Research Institute.
Dragon Country's highest-level research institution.
It brought together the nation's leading biologists, physicists, and medical scientists to unravel the ultimate mysteries of martial arts and aura.
Lin Yuan had barely passed the dual iris and fingerprint checks and stepped into the lobby
when hurried footsteps came toward him.
"Colonel Lin!"
"Oh, thank heavens, you're finally here!"
An old man in a white lab coat, his hair a tangled mess, rushed straight at him.
It was Old Li, the head of the Northwest Military Region Research Department.
His eyes were bloodshot but blazed as though he had found a priceless treasure.
"Director Li."
Before Lin Yuan could say another word,
Old Li seized his wrist with surprising strength.
"Quick, quick!"
"Come to the lab with me!"
"Blood tests! Bone density! Neuron scans!"
"I can hardly believe a human body could withstand a blow from a Ferocious Beast at the Peak Second-Order Stage!"
Spittle flying, Old Li tried to drag Lin Yuan inside.
Researchers all around turned to look.
"It really is him!"
"The monster who tore through the Fifteen-Hundred-Thousand Beast Tide alone!"
"I heard he's already reached the Third-Tier Stage?"
Whispers rose on every side.
Lin Yuan stopped helplessly, without budging an inch.
No matter how hard Old Li pulled, he couldn't move him.
"Director Li, there's no rush."
"Now that I'm here, I'll have plenty of time to cooperate."
"Lin Yuan is right. Director Li, calm down."
A cool woman's voice came from the side.
Su Qingxue approached briskly in a practical black combat uniform.
Compared with her stern demeanor back in the Northwest Military Region.
Her bearing had grown steadier, with a faint hint of the pressure of a Mid-Second-Tier Stage martial artist.
"Colonel Su!"
Old Li stamped his feet in frustration.
"How am I supposed to stay calm?"
"All the data we've collected so far came from First Order and Second-Tier Stage martial artists."
"We have absolutely no data on Third-Tier Martial Artists!"
"This is an epoch-making breakthrough!"
Su Qingxue sighed and gave Lin Yuan a complicated look.
Just a few months ago,
she could still pin Lin Yuan to the ground as his instructor.
But now?
He had reached the Early Third Tier.
Meanwhile, she was still some way from the Late Second-Tier Stage.
"Director Li, I hate to rain on your parade."
"With the institute's current equipment, you can't measure Lin Yuan's true capabilities."
At Su Qingxue's words,
Old Li froze.
The researchers around them pricked up their ears too.
"What do you mean?"
"We have a Super Dynamometer that can withstand fifty tons of impact!"
Old Li protested.
Su Qingxue shook her head.
"Fifty tons?"
"A Peak Second-Order Stage martial artist's maximum punching force already approaches that."
"But a Third-Tier Martial Artist has completed the transformation of Bone Tempering."
"Their bones are far denser than steel, and True Qi has fully permeated their limbs and bones."
"Even a casual punch from Lin Yuan now would exceed a hundred tons!"
"If he used a martial technique..."
"He'd turn your precious dynamometer into scrap metal with one punch."
The hall fell deathly silent.
Everyone stared at Lin Yuan as though he were a monster.
A punching force of over a hundred tons?
Was he even a carbon-based life-form anymore?!
A heavy main battle tank weighed only fifty or sixty tons!
"And that's not all."
Su Qingxue dropped another bombshell.
"A Third-Tier Martial Artist's reflexes and explosive muscular power have also taken a qualitative leap."
"His short-distance sprinting speed has surpassed the speed of sound."
At that,
Old Li's mouth fell open wide enough to fit an egg.
He looked at Su Qingxue, then at the calm-faced Lin Yuan.
"Surpassed... the speed of sound?"
"That defies aerodynamics!"
"How can his skin withstand the drag and heat generated by the sound barrier?"
Old Li tugged at his already thinning hair. It felt as though everything he'd learned about physics over most of his life had been for nothing.
Lin Yuan answered casually.
"True Qi Projection."
"Forming a shield over the body cancels out most of the drag and heat."
That offhand remark
sent every physicist present into a crisis.
True Qi!
That energy system flew in the face of common sense yet again!
"No!"
"Even if the equipment can't measure his upper limit, we still have to draw some blood!"
"I want to study the Cellular Activity of a Third-Tier Martial Artist!"
Old Li had become utterly obsessed.
Afraid he might do something rash, several assistants hurried forward to hold him back.
Just then,
a group of elderly scholars wearing thick glasses surged over.
They walked straight past Lin Yuan and surrounded Su Qingxue.
"Colonel Su!"
"We got stuck halfway through deriving the formula for that High-Energy Particle Capture Net you mentioned."
"And there's the Spirit Energy Purification Device."
"What rare metal goes into that alloy formula?"
These were leading authorities in their respective fields.
But at that moment, they looked like schoolchildren hungry for knowledge, gazing at Su Qingxue expectantly.
Su Qingxue felt a headache coming on.
She was a reborn person,
but in her previous life, her main work had been fighting on the front lines.
The technical information she remembered was nothing but fragments.
"Professors."
"I really only know the broad outlines!"
"You'll have to work out the rest yourselves!"
Su Qingxue tried to break free,
but the elderly scholars clung to her.
"No, no."
"Try to remember a little more!"
"Even one parameter would help!"
Watching Su Qingxue disappear into the crowd of researchers,
Lin Yuan raised an eyebrow in sympathy.
The aura of a reborn person could be a heavy burden sometimes.
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