Chapter 58 – Good Morning, Uncle

The next day, at 7 AM sharp, the alarm clock rang.

Lu Yuan got up a bit later than usual today.

As he got dressed, he suddenly felt his clothes were a bit tight. At first, he thought he had put his plain white T-shirt on backward.

But after checking the mirror, he realized—

It was because he had gotten “bigger.”

“Just 1 more strength point, and I’m already bulkier.”

Lu Yuan looked at his arms in the mirror, noticeably thicker than a few days ago.

His chest muscles had also become much more pronounced.

Even without flexing, the muscle contours on his body were incredibly clear.

Lu Yuan tried to reach his left shoulder blade with his right hand and found it quite difficult.

He had to reluctantly accept the fact—he had indeed become more “bulky.”

“Is this what happens when you only increase your strength points without balancing other attributes?”

Lu Yuan didn’t want to turn into a muscle-bound freak. He thought he should focus more on practicing the crane stance in his martial arts training.

Because the crane stance improves agility.

Improving agility helps control body size. After gaining strength points previously, he had managed to control his muscle growth using agility.

He found the largest, loosest short-sleeved shirt he had and put it on, layering a sports jacket over it.

Only then did Lu Yuan head downstairs.

It was probably because he got home too late last night, and his mom was more concerned about whether he had been in a fight or got hurt, so she didn’t notice the change in his body.

“Mom didn’t notice, but Lin Zhiqin definitely will. I should avoid going to Mosa for the next couple of days,” Lu Yuan thought to himself as he went downstairs.

His professional panel was his biggest secret.

His rapid progress in martial arts could be attributed to talent, but he couldn’t explain such a sudden change in his physique no matter what excuse he used.

A martial arts expert like Lin Zhiqin would see right through him at a glance.

Around 7 AM, Lu Yuan decided to skip his morning training.

Seeing his mom moving things around in the store, he went over to help.

Before long, the breakfast shop across the street delivered a big bag of steamed buns, fried dough sticks, and shumai.

His mom had ordered them.

Lu Yuan really didn’t like the breakfast from that place because it tasted terrible.

He usually went out of his way to buy breakfast from somewhere else, but today he had no choice but to make do with what was available.

“Where’s Dad?” Lu Yuan asked, sitting on a small stool at the store entrance, munching on a steamed bun. It had plenty of meat, but it didn’t taste fresh and was excessively salty.

Zheng Qiuling was busy taking inventory with a small notebook in her hand. She replied casually, “He went to the hospital. Your grandfather is being discharged today. Remember to come back for lunch.”

“How did you know I was going out?”

“When have you ever stayed home all day?”

Zheng Qiuling gave him an annoyed look, still upset about him “accidentally falling into the sewer” last night.

Lu Yuan quickly shut his mouth and didn’t say another word. He swiftly finished ten steamed buns and gulped down two bottles of milk.

After saying goodbye to his mom, he got up and left.

Today, Lu Yuan deliberately took a detour, walking through two streets to reach the place where he had encountered the Ratman yesterday.

The alley where the fight took place was now cordoned off with yellow police tape. A crowd of onlookers had gathered at the entrance, with two police officers maintaining order.

Lu Yuan walked over without drawing attention to himself.

He saw a woman in her thirties, wearing lipstick, holding onto one of the officers, persistently asking, “Are you going to compensate us or not? The plaster on my shop’s walls is all over the place. How am I supposed to do business now?!”

She seemed to be the owner of a nearby clothing store.

Yesterday, Lu Yuan’s fight with the Ratman had been like a demolition crew at work, affecting the outer walls of the shops on both sides of the alley.

Besides this clothing store, a nail salon had also been affected, but it was closed at the moment. The owner probably didn’t know about the situation yet.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk.”

Lu Yuan heard an elderly man next to him, holding a vegetable basket, continuously clicking his tongue while looking at the alley. He couldn’t help but ask, “Do you know what happened here?”

The elderly man gave him a sidelong glance and replied, “What happened? Someone died.”

“What?”

Lu Yuan put on a shocked expression, “How did they die? Who died?”

“Who knows? They won’t let anyone in to see. Some say a woman was bitten to death by a rat, but I think that’s nonsense.”

The elderly man waved his hand dismissively, muttering, “Nothing worth seeing here. I’m off to buy vegetables,” and then turned to leave.

Lu Yuan followed the crowd, peering into the alley and edging closer deliberately.

The two police officers guarding the scene didn’t recognize him and just took him for a curious onlooker, shooing him away.

Feeling somewhat relieved, Lu Yuan glanced at the manhole cover on the street not far away.

The manhole cover that had been lifted the previous night had already been put back in place.

He figured this incident would most likely be reported by the police as a regular homicide.

“I wonder if this is related to the missing persons case from a couple of months ago?”

Lu Yuan pondered as he walked away.

He felt the connection was unlikely.

Although the Ratman had a decent level of intelligence, it didn’t seem capable of abducting dozens of people without leaving any trace.

The major missing persons case in Jiaoyan City had even prompted higher authorities to send a maglev shuttle.

The Ratman’s power, though not weak, didn’t seem significant enough to warrant such attention.

“Unless it has more powerful accomplices or even an organization behind it.”

Lu Yuan thought of the cult gang members who had been captured.

Not wanting to waste time, he hailed a taxi and headed straight to the city police department.

Twenty minutes later, Lu Yuan got out of the taxi at the police station entrance.

As soon as he stepped out, he was slightly taken aback.

It was 8:05 AM, the peak of the morning rush hour. People should be on their way to work.

However, the police station entrance was crowded with people, either standing or sitting.

Most of them looked exhausted, carrying water and food. Some had even spread mats and blankets on the ground.

They held red banners in their hands or had them scattered at their feet.

Whenever a police officer in uniform walked out, they would immediately swarm around.

“Please, city police department, solve the case quickly and bring my family back!”

“Clues! We need clues!”

“We hope the city police department takes this seriously!”

Some were shouting while others couldn’t help but wipe away tears, reminding Lu Yuan of the crying woman on the red electric scooter he had seen pestering Lin Zhiqin at the entrance of the Yuan Martial Arts Gym.

Lu Yuan silently made his way through the crowd.

The missing persons case, which he had only seen as numbers on TV and in the news, was much more severe than he had realized up close.

Inside the reporting hall, everyone was in a hurry.

Instead of bothering anyone, Lu Yuan went straight to the bulletin board near the entrance to take a look.

Lu Yuan tried to find the name of the captain of the criminal police who led the team last night from the board above.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t know who to ask for.

“Outstanding Individual of the Month.”

Lu Yuan was looking at the photos one by one from top to bottom.

As he was searching, someone suddenly called out to him from behind.

“What are you doing here?”

Lu Yuan turned around to see a middle-aged man in a police uniform with a square face looking at him in surprise. It was precisely the captain of the criminal police he had come to find.

“Hello, Uncle Captain,” Lu Yuan greeted him politely, feeling a bit pleased.

The captain was about six feet tall, with a solid build that was still evident even under his jacket.

Recalling the footage from the surveillance video he had seen last night, Lu Yuan’s address of “uncle” made the middle-aged man’s mouth twitch slightly.