Chapter 57 – Clues and Analysis

“Come here, I have something to ask you.”

Zheng Qiuling glared at Lu Yuan with a stern face.

Lu Yuan obediently walked over, his six-foot frame shrinking like a quail.

“What time is it now? Why are you coming home so late? Were you in a fight again?”

Zheng Qiuling fired off three soul-piercing questions right away.

Lu Yuan quickly shook his head. “No, Mom, I wasn’t fighting anyone. If I’m lying, I’m a dog!”

He said this with confidence and sincerity because, strictly speaking, what he fought tonight wasn’t even human!

“Really?”

Zheng Qiuling looked skeptical and pulled Lu Yuan closer to examine him carefully.

Lu Yuan wasn’t worried. He had already checked himself thoroughly during his shower. Apart from a few scratches, neither the Ratman nor the giant rat had left any marks on him.

Tonight’s battle, though dangerous, ended quickly with only a few rounds.

“Then why are you back so late?”

Zheng Qiuling, unable to find any suspicious marks on Lu Yuan, continued to press him for answers.

Lu Yuan answered honestly, “I accidentally fell into a ditch on the way home. Someone had removed a manhole cover, and I was in a hurry and didn’t see it. I even shattered my mobile phone screen.”

“No wonder you smell funny.”

Zheng Qiuling frowned, but her suspicion eased significantly.

She shifted to concern, asking if Lu Yuan had hurt himself, reminding him not to come home so late, to avoid taking shortcuts at night, and to watch where he was walking. She also felt a twinge of sympathy for his broken mobile phone.

After finally getting his mom off his back, Lu Yuan glanced towards his parents’ room and noticed the lights were off.

Despite their conversation dragging on, Lu Xinghua hadn’t come out, so he asked, “Did Dad not come back tonight? Isn’t he supposed to pick up Grandfather from the hospital tomorrow?”

“Ugh.”

Zheng Qiuling sighed, sounding a bit frustrated. “He did come back. But around ten, he got a call saying he had to go catch someone, and he hasn’t been back since.”

“Catch who? The person who owes us money?”

“Who else? That guy owes more than just us. Your dad and a few others have been patrolling the city like they’re in some cop show.”

“Why not call the police?”

“We did, but you can’t find the guy. The police can’t do much about it. Enough questions, go to bed now.”

Zheng Qiuling nagged a bit more before urging Lu Yuan to go to bed.

She was also tired, yawning several times.

When Lu Yuan went back to his room, he still saw her sitting in the living room, likely waiting for Dad, Lu Xinghua, to come back.

Entering his room, Lu Yuan didn’t turn on the light or the air conditioner. He opened the window to let in some of the cool night breeze.

Sitting shirtless at his desk, he didn’t feel too hot.

Lu Yuan stared at an anime poster on the wall directly in front of him for a while, his mind seemingly elsewhere.

Suddenly, he snapped back to reality and sat up straight.

“First, check the professional panel.”

Lu Yuan brought up his professional panel and reviewed the messages one by one.

[You experienced a battle. Professional experience +235]

The first message brought Lu Yuan a pleasant surprise.

The fight with the Ratman and the giant rat had gained him 235 professional experience points.

Professional experience was hard to come by; each point required a great deal of time and effort. This large chunk of experience saved Lu Yuan nearly a week of hard work.

[Your skill advanced leg techniques has gained a boost. Experience points +24]

[Your skill advanced boxing techniques has gained a boost. Experience points +30]

[Your skill basic footwork has gained a boost. Experience points +45]

Scrolling further, he saw experience point acquisition messages for some of his ordinary skills.

Each message showed a higher acquisition value than what he usually earned during training.

In total, advanced leg techniques and advanced boxing techniques had each increased by over a hundred points, with advanced boxing techniques leveling up to Level 2.

Basic footwork was just shy of reaching max level at Level 5, and basic grappling had also increased by several dozen points.

It was a significant harvest.

However, Lu Yuan felt a bit disappointed.

When he delivered the final blow to the Ratman, triggering the [A Moment of Inspiration] passive and successfully executing the crane cry punch again, it still didn’t unlock a new skill on his panel.

The only thing that had changed was—

A new gray skill point had appeared, floating on the panel under [martial artist].

This gray skill point’s position was much higher than that of the intermediate crane stance.

“It’s a pity I don’t have any extra skill points right now. Otherwise, I could try to directly add points to unlock it.”

Lu Yuan felt a pang of regret.

After reviewing the panel gains, Lu Yuan began to reflect on the series of events he experienced tonight.

The incident with the Ratman had a significant impact on Lu Yuan.

If not for his own transmigration experience, his worldview would have been shattered.

Lu Yuan went over the entire situation again.

“The first time I encountered the giant rat, it tried to attack me.”

“At first, I thought it was just bad luck. But now, thinking back, it was clearly targeting me specifically.”

If it had only been two attacks, Lu Yuan wouldn’t have thought much of it.

But the second time, which was tonight, seemed rather peculiar.

“It even knew to use a red hairpin to lure me in and pretended to be a woman!”

A red hairpin and a woman.

These two points were quite interesting.

Lu Yuan hadn’t forgotten.

A month ago, he rescued a kidnapped girl in a rainy alley, and the cause was finding her red hairpin on the ground.

“Could it really be such a coincidence?”

Lu Yuan became more convinced that this was a trap set specifically for him.

It was coming straight for him.

Why?

It could only be because of the hooligans he had put in jail.

Lu Yuan turned on the computer on his desk and searched online, finding the news report from Jiaoyan TV station about the kidnapping case a month ago.

He watched it carefully from start to finish.

“Yesterday, our city’s police cracked a kidnapping case, successfully arresting eight members of a gang cult.”

“Cult. Gang.”

Lu Yuan focused on these two words.

He couldn’t help but recall the strange syllables the Ratman had uttered during their battle.

“Arka… Ru.”

Lu Yuan tried to mimic the sounds.

He had a good memory and could still recall those syllables clearly.

However, some of the words had very awkward pronunciations, which he couldn’t quite replicate immediately.

Lu Yuan casually pulled out the book on the study of ancient languages that he had been using to earn professional experience for his [student] profession and flipped through it.

He felt that some of the syllables were somewhat similar to the two ancient Baishan era languages he had been self-studying recently.

“Could it also be one of the ancient languages from that era?”

It wasn’t impossible.

“I’ll go to the library tomorrow and look for more information.”

The Baishan era was a chaotic and barbaric age, yet it left behind many incredible artifacts and treasures, making it a popular subject of study for many experts and scholars in this world.

There were quite a few related documents and materials available.

Since the police were keeping things from him, Lu Yuan had no choice but to find the truth on his own.

What concerned him the most right now was the missing Ratman.

Even though he had punched half its head off and its body muscles had started to melt, it had disappeared in the blink of an eye.

It either wasn’t completely dead and had played dead to fool him, or it had companions like the giant rat that had taken its body away.

Either possibility was troublesome.

“Who knows if it will come back for revenge later.”

“If it only targets me, that’s fine.”

Lu Yuan subconsciously clenched his fists.

“But if it turns its attention to my family…”

“Whew—”

Lu Yuan let out a long breath.

Feeling a bit frustrated, he closed the webpage, got up, and walked over to the window.

There was no moon tonight, and the stars were sparse.

The road below was quite peaceful, with few pedestrians and vehicles.

He could clearly hear the continuous chirping of crickets.

Lu Yuan stood quietly by the window for a while.

Suddenly, a small pickup truck came speeding from the distance.

As it got closer, it slowed down and finally stopped at the edge of the road directly below.

Lu Yuan saw a familiar figure get out of the truck.

It was his dad, Lu Xinghua.

After getting out, Lu Xinghua didn’t come upstairs immediately but leaned against the truck and silently lit a cigarette.

“Another fruitless night?”

Lu Yuan thought, retreating to his bed. He lay there for a long time, not knowing when he eventually fell asleep.