Chapter 95 – Investigation

Fighting Lin Zhiqin or Qin Feng, at least he could touch upon a hint of true martial arts skills.

Facing Zhou Ling, it was purely about experiencing the might of high technology.

“I wonder who is stronger between Zhou Ling and Lin Zhiqin or Qin Feng?”

Lu Yuan had naturally tried entering Zhou Ling’s body with his consciousness, and the experience was—

His entire body was filled with an explosive power, with his feet planted on the ground, feeling as if he might float away at any moment.

This was a physique even stronger than Lin Zhiqin and Qin Feng.

A body modified by metal was entirely incomparable to mere flesh and blood.

The only downside was that Zhou Ling’s body lacked the seamless, natural fluidity of Lin Zhiqin and Qin Feng, appearing much rougher.

There was certainly a gap in their techniques as well.

So Lu Yuan couldn’t determine who would actually win if they really fought.

“These are two different styles, each with its own strengths and weaknesses.

But in terms of potential, Cyborgs should be stronger.”

Lu Yuan quietly exited the Consciousness Space.

He opened his eyes to a clear night sky with a crescent moon hanging high.

He was sitting cross-legged on the rooftop, and it was nighttime.

“I should consider adding some strength points.”

Lu Yuan squeezed his firm arm, thinking to himself.

His biggest trump card right now was the double burst from [special exertion].

This allowed his basic boxing power of over 400 kilograms to instantly surge to 800, or even 900 to 1,000 kilograms.

Previously, due to his constitution points, the sudden burst of boxing power would be too much for his body to handle.

Now that his constitution points had significantly improved, he could increase his basic strength points a bit more.

“I also need to keep practicing the crane stance. With low agility points, no matter how strong I am, it’s useless if I can’t hit my target.”

—

Lu Yuan stood up from the ground and practiced some martial arts techniques casually.

Under his [martial artist] profession, the only basic martial arts techniques he hadn’t fully trained were “basic grappling,” “basic palm techniques,” and “basic finger techniques.”

If he mastered all of them, he would earn three more attribute points, so naturally, Lu Yuan wasn’t going to give up on that.

However, these three techniques were more suitable for actual combat, and without a sparring partner, the practice results were very poor.

At this stage, he couldn’t reach out to Lin Zhiqin or go to Mosa for a match. He could only pull a few opponents in the Consciousness Space to spar with every day.

After returning to reality, he would digest the practice by recalling the battles. Although the experience points gained weren’t much, it was better than nothing.

Time flowed like water.

During this period, a crow perched briefly on the rooftop before flapping its wings and disappearing into the night sky.

Morning, bedroom.

Lu Yuan, with a well-proportioned and athletic build, stood on one leg on a cool mat, wearing only a pair of shorts.

He spread his arms, making a motion as if he were about to take flight.

His muscles moved slightly like ripples on water, and his body movements conveyed a sense of harmonious rhythm.

He looked like a large bird performing actions like resting, running, foraging, and preening.

No one knew how long it took, but eventually, the young man’s movements gradually came to a stop, and he stood still.

“Whoosh—”

Lu Yuan exhaled lightly, and a fine layer of sweat appeared on his fair and delicate skin, visible to the naked eye.

The sunlight happened to shine in, casting a faint golden glow over him, making him appear even more peaceful and handsome.

[Your skill crane stance has gained a boost, experience points +4]

[Your skill crane stance has gained a boost, experience points +6]

[You concentrated on practice for ten minutes, professional experience +5]

Looking at the series of notifications on the panel, Lu Yuan’s face showed a hint of surprise.

After crane stance reached Level 3, the experience points increased at a snail’s pace.

Lu Yuan originally thought he had hit a bottleneck and would need the secret ointment of the Sky Water Stream Crane Style to progress.

Unexpectedly, now that he practiced again, the experience points increased faster than they did at Level 2.

“With the improvement in constitution points, many movements have become more effortless.

The muscle control ability that comes with [special exertion], the increase in intelligence to 14 points, and more insights into the crane cry punch—

All these factors combined have deepened my understanding of the eighteen moves of the crane stance, naturally enhancing the Effect.”

For Lu Yuan, this was definitely a pleasant surprise.

Lu Yuan finished his morning practice and went to the bathroom for a quick rinse, then changed into fresh clothes.

Walking to the balcony, he found two jet-black crows already waiting.

As usual, Lu Yuan scattered some food for his crow assistants, then activated the [Crow Language] skill to receive the information they brought.

A moment later, Lu Yuan waved them away and returned to his room to jot down two addresses in his notebook.

Several similar addresses were already written on this page.

“It’s about time to check these out one by one,” Lu Yuan thought as he tore out the page.

Over the past few days, he had trained and released around seven hundred crow assistants.

He received a large amount of feedback daily thousands of pieces of information.

After repeated filtering, he narrowed it down to these seven or eight most suspicious locations.

These locations required his personal investigation to make an accurate judgment.

Lu Yuan’s next plan was to visit each of these addresses, one by one, to find the Ratman, eliminate him, and put an end to this trouble once and for all.

“There’s only a little bit left to fully master the crane cry punch.

This last bit has been elusive, probably because of the concerns and burdens weighing on me, a pent-up frustration that hasn’t been released.”

Lu Yuan felt this strongly.

The deeper his understanding of the crane cry punch became, the more he sensed its profound and mysterious nature.

Every time he executed the crane cry punch, the sound of crane cries and the images of cranes soaring naturally appeared in his mind, which was the best proof.

“The higher realms of martial arts might already involve many aspects of the mental plane.”

Images of Lin Zhiqin and Qin Feng kept flashing through Lu Yuan’s mind.

Half an Hour Later， A tall and sturdy young man appeared at the entrance of a residential community.

The youth wore a simple white T-shirt and denim casual pants, with a small shoulder bag slung over his back. The bag was bulging, as if packed with various items.

“Xinqiao Street, Ziming Community. This is the place.”

Lu Yuan stopped, squinting slightly. His hair, having grown long from neglect, sometimes poked into his eyes.

He stood at the entrance of an old community, not far from his home, having walked about ten minutes to get there.

Instead of entering through the main gate, Lu Yuan skirted around the side, heading into an old alleyway alongside the community.

At first glance, it resembled the alley where he had initially discovered the Ratman.

The alley was cluttered with various debris, waste, and garbage, emitting a faintly sour and rotten smell from afar.

With his improved constitution, Lu Yuan’s sense of smell had become extremely sensitive, making the stench even more overwhelming to his nose.

He used his hand to partially cover his nose and took a couple of steps inside.