Chapter 1: Chapter 1: What Good Are You?
[Experience Points: 0
Function: Scan]
He Xiaotian stared at the two lines of text in the upper-left corner of his vision, utterly dumbfounded.
After pinching himself hard and rubbing his eyes, he finally confirmed that he wasn’t dreaming, nor was his vision blurry or playing tricks on him.
Instead, like one of those lucky protagonists from a pulp novel, he had obtained the legendary Golden Finger.
’Shouldn’t you at least give me an instruction manual or something?’
’Just two lines of text. I recognize all the words, sure.’
’But the problem is, how the hell am I supposed to get something as unscientific as Experience Points?’
’It’s not like an online game where I can just casually kill some poultry to level up, right?!’
So, he didn’t even bother to wash up.
He immediately got dressed and started experimenting with ways to get Experience Points.
After stomping on ants, killing the chickens and ducks he’d bought from the market, and creating all sorts of other indescribable scenes, He Xiaotian chose to give up.
He had made a complete mess of the house. Never mind the chicken feathers and bloodstains in the kitchen; even the air was filled with the faint smell of chicken droppings.
"It would’ve been better if I hadn’t gotten this thing at all! It can’t seriously expect me to go kill someone, can it? This is an age of law and order, with surveillance cameras everywhere. Besides, what if I kill someone and still don’t get any Experience Points?"
He Xiaotian muttered, quite disappointed.
Anyone who obtained such an unscientific thing only to find they couldn’t operate it would probably be filled with resentment.
Next, he ignored the line for Experience Points and focused all his attention on the second line: [Function: Scan].
He tried to concentrate his mind and ’clicked’ on the word "Scan".
BUZZ!
He Xiaotian felt an indescribable, formless power rise in his mind. But before he could even show a hint of a smile, a new line of text in the upper-left of his vision sent his hopes crashing to rock bottom.
[Insufficient Experience Points. Scan failed.]
"..."
The excitement he felt moments ago was instantly suffocated, leaving him so frustrated he wanted to cough up a mouthful of blood.
"Damn it! You didn’t even tell me how to get Experience Points. Who made this thing, or how did it even form? There aren’t any instructions. It’s worse than some of those shoddy, no-name products from Hua Country. At least they give you a user manual."
Once he had completely calmed down, He Xiaotian looked at the disastrous state of the kitchen and living room, and a grim expression immediately appeared on his face.
This house belonged to his cousin!
He had run off to stay here for a while because he couldn’t stand his mom’s nagging anymore.
Once college started, he would head straight from this remote little county to Shanghai to live a carefree and happy life.
"Thank god my cousin is often busy until midnight. I still have plenty of time to clean up."
He Xiaotian glanced at the digital clock in the living room, which displayed [8:00 PM], and breathed a sigh of relief.
Unwittingly, he’d been at this all day?
His cousin was a police officer, but don’t get the wrong idea.
He was just a regular beat cop, not some awe-inspiring criminal detective.
After all, in a remote county town like this, a murder case might not happen for years.
And even if one did, it was usually a crime of passion.
Solving the case would be ridiculously simple.
The only real trouble was the endless stream of petty thefts and neighborhood disputes.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t be busy until midnight every day.
His cousin was a really nice guy. With a smile that had the charm of the boy next door, he had a lot of admirers.
But there was one thing about him that made He Xiaotian’s scalp tingle.
He’s a neat freak! A neat freak! A neat freak!
Important things must be said three times.
If his cousin came back and saw his spotless home in a state of complete disarray...
...he would probably be flayed alive!
Although He Xiaotian was young and strong, his cousin was no slouch either.
To use his cousin’s own words, he was a martial arts practitioner.
Ever since he caught a petty thief three years ago, he had become fanatical about kung fu and had started down a road of no return.
At least, in He Xiaotian’s eyes, it was definitely a road of no return.
He vaguely remembered that it was the year of the college entrance exams, the day that decided the fate of countless students.
And his cousin had caught a thief.
None of that was important. What was important was the thief himself.
He had actually managed to scale a ten-story building with his bare hands in forty seconds, without any safety equipment whatsoever.
Back then, the entirety of Z County had to move heaven and earth to catch him.
The thief’s speed was just too fast.
He was leaping across rooftops and scaling walls with his bare hands.
If it weren’t for their sheer numbers, the guy would have slipped away long ago.
He Xiaotian’s cousin was one of the officers involved in the capture.
After learning that the thief could climb one story every four seconds and witnessing his various feats during the chase, he became obsessed with kung fu.
According to the thief’s confession, he had supposedly been practicing ’Qinggong’ since childhood.
His father had tied heavy sandbags to his legs, which he wasn’t allowed to take off except when he slept.
That, combined with various other special training, had allowed him to develop incredible skills.
From then on, his cousin began trying to learn martial arts, even buying so-called rare, secret manuals online.
If his uncle and his family hadn’t co-owned a paper mill, his cousin’s meager salary wouldn’t have been enough to buy even half of one of those so-called martial arts manuals in a year.
He Xiaotian snorted at this in disdain.
’The thief’s ’Qinggong’ at least has some scientific basis.’
’An ordinary person who trained for a few years might not be able to scale a ten-story building with their bare hands.’
’But becoming as light as a swallow is, at the end of the day, feasible.’
’But what the hell is up with you buying Inner Power manuals?’
’Don’t tell me you actually expect to shatter the void and ascend to the heavens in broad daylight one day?’
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