The usually orderly and calmly flowing streets fell into a brief stagnation. The sweltering heat could not quench the onlookers’ curiosity. Many people emerged from shaded spots. Lu Yuan was also taken by surprise and hastily walked a few steps forward with the crowd. Like many others, he strained to look in the direction of the loud noise. Lu Yuan constantly changed his position, trying to see past the tall buildings obstructing his view. Vaguely, he seemed to see smoke rising in the direction of the southern part of the city. Under the blazing white sky, he couldn’t be sure if it was actually smoke.
The south of the city...
What was in the south of the city?
The southern part of the city housed a large industrial park, and also...
Lu Yuan’s eyes wavered for a moment.
At that moment, Lu Yuan saw many scattered black dots quickly drifting towards him from the sky. He put his hand above his eyes, squinted, and kept staring at those black dots. The black dots drew closer, revealing the silhouettes of birds.
Lu Yuan finally recognized them clearly.
They were a flock of crows.
So many, so many crows...
「Twenty minutes later.」
Lu Yuan was sitting at his desk in his bedroom, constantly scrolling through his phone. The truth behind the loud explosion seemed to have been uncovered by the online gawkers.
"A chemical factory in the south of the city caught fire and exploded..."
The accounts were very detailed and vivid. He even found a video on Burnt Rock City’s largest local gossip forum, recorded by an eyewitness at the time of the incident. The video was shot from the third floor of a building. Through the window, one could see rolling black smoke in the distance, and even clearly see the magma-colored flames beneath it.
The video uploader posted in the comments that they were an employee at the neighboring factory and were resting in their dormitory at the time. The explosion had occurred without any warning, instantly shattering their window glass.
The post continued: "Crows! There were so many crows in the sky back then, flitting around everywhere. Many were burned to death by the fire. Some even flew into my room..."
As if afraid others wouldn’t believe, this person immediately posted another video. This video was significantly zoomed in, and indeed, one could clearly see black birds darting around amidst the billowing black smoke. One bird, completely engulfed in flames, almost crashed into the phone’s lens. This startled the person recording into a series of exclamations: "Damn!"
[Crows are scavengers; they usually flock to corpses. How could a chemical factory attract so many crows?]
[Could it be that they knew many people were about to die there, so all the surrounding crows gathered?]
[Damn! Bro, stop talking, the more you talk, the creepier it gets!]
[Seriously, the older generation does have stories about crows foreseeing death...]
Lu Yuan scrolled through dozens of comments, watching the thread rapidly gain traction, with new replies piling up. The discussion in the comments veered further and further off-topic, gradually shifting from mere gawking to discussing folklore and eerie tales.
Lu Yuan shook his head and exited the forum.
Although what the netizens were discussing seemed outlandish, deep down, he also felt this wasn’t a normal explosion.One thing they said was right, though.There was no reason for so many crows to gather in that area. No matter how he looked at it, the whole affair reeked of something unusual.
Lu Yuan casually pulled out a book from the "Explore the Ancient Mysteries" series from his desk, intending to see if there were any Ancient God legends related to crows. He flipped through a couple of pages but then closed it with a frustrated sigh.
Ever since becoming aware of the existence of the Extraordinary, Lu Yuan subconsciously attributed any strange incident in the real world to the Extraordinary. But this only made him constantly feel his own powerlessness.
Even if I guessed correctly and found out the truth, what then? I can’t get involved; I can’t do anything...
Lu Yuan picked up his phone, his finger hovering over Lin Zhiquin’s and Ge Wenjun’s contacts for a moment before he eventually gave up.
What’s the point in asking? I won’t get anything useful out of them anyway...
He let out a breath laden with frustration and stood up from his desk. Taking the newly purchased peephole camera, he hurriedly left and went downstairs.
The phone on the desk vibrated incessantly, quietly shattering the room’s tranquility.
The young man, standing on one leg in a crane-like posture on a straw mat with his eyes tightly closed, remained completely still. His breathing was even and deep. It was as if he hadn’t heard the phone’s vibrations at all.
Half a minute later, the phone on the desk stopped vibrating. The small room returned to silence.
Then, after an unknown period, the airflow in the room seemed to quicken slightly. This was accompanied by an indrawn breath, like a great whale taking in water.
The motionless young man opened his eyes, and a series of crisp, popping sounds emanated from his sturdy body. Simultaneously, sweat poured from him, as if all the stifling heat accumulated over the past few hours was being expelled at once. The straw mat beneath his feet was quickly soaked.
And the young man, now relaxed, seemed to have undergone some changes in his physique.
SQUELCH, SQUELCH, SQUELCH—
Barefoot, Lu Yuan walked step by step to the full-length mirror in his room, oblivious to the sweat drenching his entire body. He studied his reflection.
The young man in the mirror was quite "handsome." He was over 1.8 meters tall, with bright and refined features. The lines of his muscles were distinct and fluid, so well-proportioned and appealing that he resembled a nude sculpture in an art museum.
I’ve finally gotten my physique back into shape, Lu Yuan thought, exhaling a breath of stale air, a satisfied expression appearing on his face.
Just moments ago, he had finally broken through to Lv3 in his Crane-shaped Pile. This was two days slower than he had estimated.
Perhaps I’ve mostly grasped all the knacks of the Crane-shaped Pile that I learned from Lin Zhiquin, he mused. With my current understanding, the further I progress, the slower the Experience Points increase.What I originally expected to achieve in one day ended up taking three.
Either Lin Zhiquin is still holding something back,
He remembered Lin Zhiquin mentioning once that even formal disciples found it difficult to inherit the latter six movements of the Crane-shaped Pile. Besides the drastically increased difficulty of these movements, which ordinary people couldn’t complete, another crucial reason was the need for supplementary cultivation with the martial arts school’s special secret elixirs.
It seems this connection to Lin Zhiquin can’t be severed even if I wanted to... Lu Yuan thought, casually opening his attribute panel.
[Age: 17] ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ novel⚑fire.net
Breaking through from Lv2 to Lv3 in the Crane-shaped Pile had directly increased his Agility and Constitution by one point each. The increase in Constitution was understandable, as he could feel some improvement every day. However, the effect of the Agility increase was truly noticeable.
I feel lighter again, he thought.
Lu Yuan tried jumping straight up on the spot and easily cleared a height well above his desk. This "lightness" didn’t refer to a decrease in his body weight. Rather, it was a sensation of "lightness," or to put it another way, of feeling more effortless.
It’s just like in those martial arts novels, where a hefty man weighing two or three hundred pounds could still be a master of lightness skills, as swift as a swallow, leaving no trace upon the snow!
Lu Yuan couldn’t quite grasp the principle behind it.
Because speed is actually closely related to the explosive power of the calves. And calf explosive power is linked to the Strength attribute.
So, Agility enhances the coordination of all my muscles and reduces...
Lu Yuan suddenly threw a punch forward.