Physical Kinetic Reversal

The crowd that had been abuzz over Shen Liuli's sky-high sparring contract fell silent in an instant.

Everyone's gaze focused on Jiang Yuan, and the atmosphere shifted from envy and jealousy to tension and concern.

New Star Special Investigation Team!

Those six words represented absolute authority—and unpredictable variables.

The flesh on Guo Hongtao's face trembled as he instinctively tried to say something, only to be stopped by a look from Jiang Yuan.

"I understand."

Jiang Yuan calmly put the broken sword back into its wooden case, closed the lid, and slung it over his back again.

He nodded at Shen Liuli. "Training starts tomorrow."

Shen Liuli said nothing. She merely watched him leave with the dean of academic affairs, her cool face revealing no emotion.

Zhou Hu climbed up from the ground and watched Jiang Yuan's retreating figure. His face alternated between green and white. Before the fear from earlier had fully faded, an even deeper sense of humiliation swallowed him whole.

His provocation just now seemed like nothing but a complete joke.

The first conference room had been temporarily converted into an interrogation room.

All the windows had been sealed with metal plates. A chair stood in the center of the room, directly facing a long table.

Two people sat behind the long table.

One was a middle-aged man in his fifties. The insignia on his shoulder bore the emblem of the New Star Investigation Center. He was the chief examiner.

The principal and Li Qingshan could only stand in the corner of the room. They did not even have the right to sit.

"Student Jiang Yuan, have a seat." The chief examiner pointed at the chair in the center.

Jiang Yuan pulled out the chair and sat down, placing the wooden case behind him at his feet.

"Don't be nervous. This is only a routine inquiry." The chief examiner's tone was calm. "First, we'll conduct a basic blood and vitality test."

The young investigator pushed over a strangely shaped device. Its silver-white metal casing was covered in complicated circuits and ports. One look was enough to tell it was military-grade equipment.

A pale blue beam shot from the top of the device, enveloping Jiang Yuan from head to toe.

With a thought, Jiang Yuan instantly withdrew the Nine Yang Inner Force within his body, sinking it deep into his dantian and no longer circulating it through his meridians.

He drew upon a negligible trace of blood and vitality, slowly guiding it through his body along the circulation route of the most basic C-Rank martial art taught at school, the Azure Wolf Art.

He had practiced this martial art long ago, and the school archives contained complete records of it.

On the display, the waveform representing Jiang Yuan's physical data pulsed steadily. Every indicator fell within the normal range for an outstanding high school graduate.

The young investigator frowned, tapped the control panel a few times, and adjusted the scanner's precision to its maximum.

"Hm?" he murmured in surprise.

In one corner of the screen, a faint peak flashed past. Its frequency was extremely high, but its energy intensity was low. It quickly vanished amid the normal fluctuations of blood and vitality.

"Did you find anything?" the chief examiner asked.

"A trace of high-frequency vibration was detected, but the energy level is too low to pose a threat. It may be a natural muscular stress response." The young investigator reported, "No traces of high-level martial arts cultivation were found."

The chief examiner nodded and switched off the device.

"Jiang Yuan, now let's discuss your 'ability.'" The chief examiner's gaze settled on Jiang Yuan. "During the practical examination, Song Xi wore an exoskeleton and struck with a punching force of five hundred and three kilograms. Why was she the one who ended up injured?"

"Your body reflected her attack, didn't it?"

Here it came.

Jiang Yuan raised his head, his face showing just the right amount of bewilderment and lingering fear.

"I don't know if that counts as reflection."

He repeated, word for word, the explanation he had discussed with Li Qingshan beforehand.

"I only know that when I undergo extreme training, my body occasionally undergoes some strange changes. The worse my injuries are, the tougher I become after recovering."

Jiang Yuan lifted his shirt.

His abdomen and chest were covered in scars of various sizes. Some were faint white marks left by old injuries, while others were dark red scars left after recent wounds had scabbed over.

They were all proof of the original owner of this body's insane self-tormenting training before Jiang Yuan crossed over, all for the sake of getting into a martial university.

"During practical classes, I often got hurt in order to keep up with the pace." Jiang Yuan pointed at those scars. "Every time I recovered from an injury, I could feel my body getting stronger. The day I fought Song Xi, her punch was too fast. I couldn't dodge it at all. I thought I was going to die."

"Then my body moved on its own and blocked that force back. I can't explain exactly how it did it. It was like... like a stress response when the body faces a life-threatening danger."

The explanation was half true and half false. It both accounted for the origin of his ability and removed him from suspicion.

Li Qingshan, standing in the corner, quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

The chief examiner listened in silence without giving any indication of his thoughts.

The young investigator, however, sneered. "A stress response? That sounds better than it is. If it's a Damage Reflection Ability, admit it as soon as possible."

"I don't know." Jiang Yuan shook his head.

"Then let's test it!"

The young investigator abruptly stood up and clenched his fist. His knuckles cracked in a rapid series of sharp pops.

"I'll punch you with five hundred kilograms of force, without adding any speed. If you can reproduce that day's 'stress response,' we'll believe you."

"No!" Li Qingshan and the principal objected at the same time.

"This is a stress test, part of the necessary investigation procedure." A single sentence from the chief examiner silenced them. "If anything goes wrong, the Investigation Center will take full responsibility."

The young investigator walked up to Jiang Yuan. The muscles in his right arm bulged as the power of his blood and vitality gathered around his fist.

"Are you ready?"

Jiang Yuan took a deep breath and nodded.

He did not activate the Nine Yang Inner Force. That power was too domineering; the moment it was exposed, he would be discovered.

However, another A-Rank Martial Arts technique he had just learned was perfectly suited for this.

Baxia · Stone-Metal Body!

Jiang Yuan secretly mobilized a trace of Nine Yang Inner Force, so faint that it was almost negligible, and silently blended it into the defensive method of the Baxia · Stone-Metal Body.

That supremely yang and unyielding inner force acted like a catalyst, instantly causing a wondrous change in the structure of the skin, muscles, and bones in his chest, making them both tough and elastic.

"Hah!"

The young investigator let out a low shout and drove a straight punch into Jiang Yuan's chest!

Bang!

An incomparably dull, thunderous impact rang out.

Jiang Yuan sat in the chair without moving an inch.

The young investigator, on the other hand, looked as though he had been struck by a high-speed maglev train. His body arched violently backward as he was sent flying!

Crack!

The clear sound of bone breaking echoed through the room.

The investigator crashed into the corner seven or eight meters away, clutching his right arm. Cold sweat poured down his forehead, and his entire arm was twisted at a bizarre angle.

The chief examiner suddenly stood up and stared fixedly at the data on the testing device.

A clear waveform had been recorded on the screen.

A powerful kinetic force had acted upon Jiang Yuan's body, but at the instant of contact, more than ninety percent of the energy had been perfectly returned, forming a bizarre reversal waveform!

"This... this is..." the chief examiner muttered.

He had worked in ability research for more than a decade, yet he had never seen such pure damage reflection.

"Record this phenomenon." The chief examiner quickly calmed down.

He looked at Jiang Yuan, his expression becoming incomparably grave.

"Jiang Yuan, from today onward, your body will be listed as a special observation target. Every month, you must report to a designated location and submit detailed physical examination data. We will establish a dedicated tracking file for you."

An hour later, Jiang Yuan walked out of the conference room.

Guo Hongtao immediately hurried over anxiously. "Brother Yuan, they didn't give you trouble, did they?"

"I'm fine. Just had a physical examination." Jiang Yuan patted his shoulder, but his stomach growled at a most inappropriate moment.

He had just activated the Baxia · Stone-Metal Body and endured a five-hundred-kilogram punch head-on. The energy consumption had been enormous.

"Hungry, right? I had it prepared for you already!" Guo Hongtao chuckled and pulled out his terminal, tapping it a few times.

Before long, a young delivery woman in a JK uniform with twin ponytails jogged over, carrying several enormous insulated containers.

"Your Ironbone Boar chop meal set. Enjoy!"

The young woman gave a sweet smile, set down the food, and left.

In the cafeteria, Jiang Yuan ate alone like a whirlwind, finishing five enormous plates piled high with Ironbone Boar meat. His astonishing appetite once again drew countless sidelong glances.

Just as he put down his chopsticks, the student terminal on his wrist vibrated.

A new notification popped up.

[New Star Investigation Center Notice: Special Tracking File No. S-017 has been established. File subject Jiang Yuan, please submit your physical examination reports on time.]