It was Saturday, and plenty of people were heading into town to enjoy their day off.
With only the No. 5 and No. 10 buses running to An County, Chen Jue could already see a solid mass of passengers before he even boarded.
Apart from middle school students in various uniforms, most were elderly men and women in their fifties or sixties, along with a few middle-aged women dressed to the nines. Everyone was packed into the same bus, and the air was thick and stale.
Chen Jue paid with his electronic wallet when he boarded. Finding no empty seats, he squeezed toward the back.
From his experience commuting to school, he knew there were another dozen or so stops before town, and at least half a busload of people would still get on. He might as well make some room for the later passengers to stand.
"It's been ages since I rode a bus like this! Brings back memories!" Chen Jue looked at the familiar school uniforms around him. Some were even from Longshan High School, his old school.
No, it should be called An County No. 2 Middle School now.
Once aboard, however, Chen Jue noticed quite a few people turning to look at him. Like Zhou Jingjing, they had clearly been drawn to his nearly flawless complexion and bearing.
"That guy looks way too young for his age!"
"His skin is so nice!"
Most people from the countryside lacked proper nutrition, and many of the elderly passengers had sallow faces.
Even among the students, whose food, clothing, and everyday spending matched those of city children, few could compare with Chen Jue's complexion.
After all, the 97% health index and 1.57 constitution stat on his panel were no joke! He was practically approaching the standard of a perfect human being.
On top of that, practicing martial arts had begun to give Chen Jue a distinctive presence. It was only natural that he drew attention.
The bus stopped and started along its route. When it reached a stop called Peach Immortal Village, three soldiers in olive-green, short-sleeved service shirts squeezed aboard.
All three stood straight and tall, each at least six feet in height. Their dark skin was clearly the result of regular training in the sun, and they attracted plenty of looks as soon as they boarded.
Chen Jue looked over at them too. He knew they were soldiers from an Army unit stationed nearby. Back in high school, he would occasionally run into a few on the bus during weekend leave. He had not expected to encounter them again on a casual trip into town after so many years.
The three soldiers chatted and laughed after boarding, looking very approachable. Their military alertness, however, made all three notice Chen Jue, whose bearing stood out among the civilians.
His appearance really was striking now, making him stand out from the crowd. With him standing in a conspicuous spot at the back of the bus as well, it was hard not to notice him.
"See that scholarly-looking guy with the glasses?"
"Yeah! He's really pale!"
"Think he's a sissy?" The three murmured among themselves, occasionally glancing his way.
Chen Jue noticed their looks and responded with a smile. Only then did they realize they were being rather rude and quickly stop scrutinizing him.
The bus continued stopping and starting. At a stop on the outskirts of the county town, a crowd of students and adults poured out together.
They had not yet reached the busy town center, though, so Chen Jue planned to ride another two stops.
But shortly after the bus pulled away, a middle-aged woman suddenly screamed, "Ah! My wallet and phone are gone! Someone stole them!"
Her piercing shriek gave everyone a fright. Every passenger instinctively checked their pockets.
"Ma'am! I actually saw someone taking your phone just now... He looked really mean and glared at me. I didn't dare say anything. I was scared he'd come after me..." A schoolgirl in uniform spoke up, her face deathly pale.
The three soldiers hurried over. "Don't be scared! We're here! What did the thief look like? Did you see what he was wearing?"
The girl nodded and stammered, clearly shaken and flustered. "A black short-sleeved shirt. He was carrying a red plastic bag. He wasn't tall, and he had a dark face. His eyes were really small and scary. He got off at the last stop."
Once the girl had given a rough description of the thief, the three soldiers hurriedly asked the driver to stop and open the doors. They intended to get off and chase the pickpocket who had slipped away.
After all, the bus had traveled barely three hundred meters from the stop. If they were quick, they might still catch him.
The driver readily cooperated, pulling over and opening the rear door so the three could hurry out.
What the soldiers did not expect was that, just after they stepped off and before they could break into a run, a voice rang out beside them. "The more of us, the better! I'll help you chase him!"
They looked back to see Chen Jue, that pretty boy, deftly slip through a rear window and jump off the bus.
After several days of training, Chen Jue had begun to grow bolder than before.
With martial skills to back him up, he was especially eager to step in and help when someone was in trouble. The moment he landed, he unleashed the same drive he had shown while climbing mountains to train and power-walking to buy groceries over the past few days!
He even mixed the agile footwork of the Eight Immortals Stance into a bounding stride. He was so fast that he instantly pulled several paces ahead of the three soldiers before they could react.
Holy shit! Was that a dismounting flip?
A martial arts master?
Did we just run into a civilian martial artist?
A few wildly bizarre thoughts flashed through their minds. They had originally thought he was just a pale, delicate little sissy.
Who would have thought he was hiding such skill? They had really underestimated him!
The three chased him for over three hundred meters without stopping, yet they still could not catch up to this slightly pudgy-looking pretty boy!
As Chen Jue ran, he kept his eyes on everything around him. His feet flew, and heat surged throughout his body as his formidable constitution kicked in. Combined with the progress he had made in training over the past few days, it let him sprint three hundred meters without running out of steam!
The three soldiers behind him had noticeably slowed, and the gap kept widening until they were a full twenty or thirty meters back!
When he reached the bus stop, Chen Jue immediately spotted a flustered-looking fellow nearby.
The pickpocket had been waiting for the next bus, planning to switch routes and keep stealing. He was squatting outside a small shop behind the stop, smoking as though nothing had happened, and had failed to notice that the bus had unexpectedly pulled over near the bend ahead.
When he lifted his head and saw four figures pursuing him, some even in uniform, he was so frightened that he immediately turned and ran.
Black shirt, red plastic bag-that's him! Once Chen Jue got a clear look at the man, delight rose in his heart. He drove harder with his legs and briefly accelerated again.
Chen Jue's strength and agility stats were not particularly impressive yet, but he had exceptional stamina. He had also practiced martial arts and knew how to channel and release his strength.
With a bounding leap, he cleared the strip of greenery beside the bus stop, more than two meters wide, as though hurdling a barrier. He charged straight at the thief, closing much of the distance in the blink of an eye.
The pickpocket was no pushover either. As if he had eyes in the back of his head, he reacted with remarkable speed, dropped the red plastic bag, and bolted away.
The chase continued for more than two hundred meters before Chen Jue sensed the short, dark-skinned man ahead beginning to slow. Loud, ragged gasps reached his ears.
He's almost spent!
Seeing that only a few steps separated them, Chen Jue lunged, reached out, caught the pickpocket by the back of his collar, and flung him toward the roadside.
As Chen Jue lost his own footing and went flying, he twisted at the waist before hitting the ground. He performed a difficult aerial maneuver from the Eight Immortals Stance called Bow Over Stern, his legs swinging upward and his head and shoulders downward. He traced a curved somersault of more than three hundred degrees through the air, landed firmly, turned, and lunged back to pin the fallen pickpocket to the ground!
Within seconds, the three soldiers caught up, and the four of them subdued the pickpocket together.
The soldiers were all panting heavily, while the short, dark-skinned pickpocket was wheezing like an ox and dripping sweat. It was plain just how intense that headlong chase had been.
Chen Jue, however, had not run out of breath. After handing the pickpocket over to the three soldiers, he settled into the closing posture of the Eight Immortals Stance and slowly exhaled a hot breath. The pores all over his body, which had closed at some point, suddenly opened, and a visible cloud of white vapor poured off him, leaving everyone beside him utterly dumbfounded!
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