Chapter 63 – Silence and the Bottle Pile

“Hello?”

Lu Yuan answered the phone, his voice inquisitive.

He heard a slight breathing on the other end, which immediately became a bit more rapid.

But there was no speaking.

“Who is this?”

Lu Yuan asked again.

The breathing on the other end gradually steadied.

Still, no one spoke.

Lu Yuan furrowed his brow, “If you don’t speak, I’ll hang up.”

He waited three seconds.

The caller remained silent, so Lu Yuan hung up without hesitation.

“The breathing sounded like a woman, and it didn’t seem like a wrong number.”

Several figures flashed through Lu Yuan’s mind, sparking a few guesses.

But he didn’t bother to verify them. He pulled open his bedroom door and strode out.

As Lu Yuan walked into the living room, he happened to see Lu Yueping coming out of a room.

Lu Yuan was taken aback.

That was Lu Xinghua and Zheng Qiuling’s room.

But since grandfather was discharged from the hospital, he had been arranged to stay in Lu Jing’s room.

“Grandfather.”

Lu Yuan called out, stepping forward.

“Have you finished your homework?”

Lu Yueping gave him a kind smile and then looked around puzzled, “Where did I put the TV remote? I can’t find it anywhere.”

“Here it is.”

Lu Yuan glanced at the couch and clearly saw the TV remote in the storage layer under the coffee table.

“Oh, oh.”

Lu Yueping suddenly realized, “So it’s here. I searched everywhere for it.”

“What do you want to watch? I’ll turn it on for you.”

Lu Yuan moved towards the coffee table, but Lu Yueping waved him off.

“Forget it, it’s already four. I’ll go buy some groceries and cook a few of your favorite dishes for dinner.”

“Let my mom handle that later. You just sit and rest.”

“I’ve been lying in a hospital bed for over a month. I’ve rested more than enough. A bit of walking will help me recover faster. Don’t worry about it, go back and finish your homework.”

After a bit of back-and-forth, Lu Yuan couldn’t out-argue Lu Yueping and had to watch him stubbornly change shoes and head out the door.

Once Lu Yueping had left, Lu Yuan thought for a moment and then went into his parents’ room.

Five minutes later, just as Lu Yuan had suspected—

He found the savings passbook that Lu Yueping had secretly hidden in his mom’s autumn jacket pocket. It contained over a hundred thousand yuan.

Lu Yuan looked at the thin little book and couldn’t help but recall when he used to put money under his parents’ pillows.

“Truly, grandfather and grandson are alike!”

As night fell.

Lu Yuan stood on the rooftop of the sixth floor, his hands and feet bound with heavy sandbags, practicing basic martial arts footwork on chalk-drawn footprints.

He circled each chalk footprint with empty beverage bottles.

If he stepped even slightly off, he would knock over a bottle, causing a clattering noise.

Lu Yuan had drawn over a hundred such footprints, forming a large and complex “bottle pile” formation.

If a single bottle made a sound, he had to start over from the beginning until he could step on each footprint “silently” in one go.

With the sandbags weighing down his limbs, he had to step through the bottle circles while punching, kicking, and dodging.

The difficulty was exponentially increased.

After several hours, relying on his Level 3 [Absolute Concentration], Lu Yuan managed to complete the course just three or four times.

“Huff—huff—”

Lu Yuan panted slightly, ending his self-training session.

He walked over to the bottle pile, picked up an unopened bottle of mineral water, and gulped it down, feeling slightly relieved.

“Although this method is a bit clumsy, it trains my footwork, boxing, and leg techniques. Gaining experience means it’s not wasted practice.”

In real combat, situations change in an instant, and it’s impossible to follow this footwork pattern exactly.

Lu Yuan mainly used it to grind footwork experience and hone his martial arts instincts.

After finishing the water, Lu Yuan rested for a bit.

Then he checked his professional panel.

[You focused on professional training for ten minutes, professional experience points +4]

[Your skill basic footwork has gained a boost, experience points +4]

[Your skill advanced boxing techniques has gained a boost, experience points +2]

[Congratulations, your skill basic footwork has leveled up!]

Seeing this notification, Lu Yuan’s eyes flickered slightly, but he wasn’t too surprised.

His basic footwork was already close to leveling up. After a night of focused footwork training, an upgrade was expected.

He glanced at his skills panel.

Sure enough, his basic footwork, which was previously Level 4, had now reached max Level 5. In its place, a new Level 1 “advanced footwork” skill had appeared in the basic professional skill section.

For evaluation-type skill upgrades like this, Lu Yuan didn’t feel much difference; the real impact would be evident in actual combat.

Lu Yuan had categorized his professional panel skill upgrades into two types: “evaluation-type” and “transformation-type.”

For transformation-type upgrades, the difference between levels was immediately noticeable, with significant improvement and clear benefits.

Examples included crane stance, absolute concentration, and imaginary enemy.

Of course, maxing out evaluation-type skills also came with additional rewards.

Reaching max level in basic footwork, Lu Yuan unsurprisingly gained 1 free attribute point.

Without hesitation, he allocated the point to his intelligence.

His original intelligence of 11 points quietly increased to 12.

The familiar sharp pain in his brain returned as expected.

In an instant, Lu Yuan felt countless pieces of information and images flash through his mind like a movie on fast-forward.

“Ah—”

This time, the pain lasted longer, resembling an intense migraine. Lu Yuan couldn’t help but clutch his head and squat down.

“Clang—”

A crisp sound of something falling to the ground.

“What’s going on?!”

Lu Yuan heard someone rushing towards him in a panic.

The pain quickly receded like a tide, and Lu Yuan looked up to see a beautiful woman standing in front of him, her face full of worry and concern.

“Xiao Yuan, what happened to you?”

“Wang-Jie.”

Lu Yuan recognized the woman as his upstairs neighbor, whom he had run into and chatted with a couple of days ago in the hallway.

“It’s nothing, I just accidentally hit my head.”

Lu Yuan shook his head, took a few deep breaths, and tried to calm the lingering pain in his mind.

Lu Yuan saw that Wang-Jie was wearing a white nightgown. Not far away, a basin lay on the ground with a few pieces of clothing spilled out of it.

She must have come to the rooftop to hang clothes after taking a bath.

“I’m glad you’re okay. When I walked in and heard you shout, it scared me half to death!”

Wang-Jie sighed with relief, patting her chest as she spoke.

Watching her gesture, a letter and a number with a decimal point suddenly popped into Lu Yuan’s mind.

He was startled.

This 1-point increase in his intelligence seemed to have enhanced his brain’s ability to organize and recall knowledge.

With just a glance, he could estimate her bust size. Where did he get such a wealth of random knowledge?

“Xiao Yuan, what are you doing here? The ground is covered with bottles, and they’re arranged quite nicely. Is it some kind of avant-garde art?”

Seeing that Lu Yuan was okay, Wang-Jie picked up the laundry basin from the ground and couldn’t help but ask curiously about the bottle pile on the ground.

“Oh, no, it’s nothing. I was just bored and playing around. I’ll clean it up in a bit.”

Lu Yuan felt a bit embarrassed to look at Wang-Jie any longer and brushed off her question with a laugh.

He only let out a sigh of relief after Wang-Jie finished hanging her clothes and left.

“With my intelligence points increased, executing the Crane Cry Punch should be easier now.”

Lu Yuan untied the sandbags from his hands and casually threw a couple of shadow boxing punches.

With 13 strength points, his punches produced a clear and sharp whistling sound as they cut through the air.