Chapter 2: Two Major Effects
Chapter 2: Two Major Effects
Years of splitting headaches had long since toughened Yang Qi’s nerves. After a slight startle at the golden paper appearing in his mind, he chose to accept it. Life had already thrown too many hardships his way; what was one more? Besides, things couldn’t get worse than they already were. Moreover, some information revealed by the golden paper in his mind gave Yang Qi a sense of light and hope.
“Ding! Host has activated [Body Secrets]. Confirm to begin cultivation?”
“Ding! Host has activated [Psychokinesis]. Confirm to begin cultivation?”
As if sensing his consciousness, crisp electronic tones sounded in his mind. Already used to strange occurrences, Yang Qi confirmed both without hesitation.
“Ding! Host has begun cultivating [Body Secrets]! This superpower is Level 1. Effect gained: [Muscle Enhancement].”
“Ding! Host has begun cultivating [Psychokinesis]! This superpower is Level 1. Effect gained: [Photographic Memory].”
With these two electronic tones, explanations for these two effects appeared in Yang Qi’s mind.
…
[Muscle Enhancement]: Increases all muscle functions including strength, speed, stamina, explosive power, and coordination. (Effect intensity is related to the level of [Body Secrets].)
[Photographic Memory]: Information received will be permanently stored in the memory bank. (This is a special effect. It cannot be cultivated or enhanced.)
…
After reading about these two effects, the golden paper brightened again. Two balls of energy flew out and seemed to enter Yang Qi’s brain or body. Instantly, a flood of information flashed in his mind, followed by a tightness in his muscles.
Yang Qi clearly felt all the muscles in his body surging and transforming. Years of self-inflicted harm had left his muscles damaged and riddled with hidden issues, but now, they were completely healed. Yang Qi lay on the ground, not daring to move, not even breathing too fast. His eyes were wide open, filled with awe for this change. He was extremely careful and watchful, as if any movement from him might disrupt the process somehow.
He didn’t know how long it took, but finally, the muscle surging and transformation stopped. Yang Qi cautiously stood up. Waving his arms, he felt his whole body brimming with energy. A force was pent up inside him, making him unable to resist charging towards a big tree nearby. He could feel the power rise from his feet, surge into his waist, and then flow into his shoulders. Everything was so coordinated and natural. Taking a big stride forward, he leaned into the tree.
Bang!
The tree shook violently. Tender leaves fluttered down everywhere. The soil on the ground shifted a bit, revealing some roots.
“This!”
Yang Qi took a step back, his expression shocked. He knew very well he hadn’t used his full strength in that charge. If he had used all his strength, wouldn’t he have uprooted this fairly large tree?
“Only Level 1, and my strength has increased this much! It also mentioned speed and stamina… did those increase a lot too?”
Yang Qi was overjoyed. Like a child discovering a super fun toy, he was curious and wanted to figure everything out.
“Let’s see how my speed is!”
Yang Qi shook his muscles all over, ready to test his speed. But at that moment, a beam of light swept over. It was a flashlight beam.
“Student over there! Why aren’t you at evening self-study? What are you doing here!”
A loud and stern voice rang out. A figure walked towards him, the flashlight pointing directly at Yang Qi.
Hearing this, Yang Qi remembered that the bell for evening self-study had rung long ago. He was currently skipping class. He was about to play dumb and walk away, but suddenly, his eyes lit up. He dashed at full speed into the depths of the grove.
The night was already very dark. Only dim light reached the distant parts of the grove, making it pitch black. Yet, Yang Qi could place his feet accurately in every spot. The speed felt exhilarating to him. The increased coordination made him extremely agile. In no time, he reached the heart of the grove, then circled out in another direction. With a flash of his body, he entered the school building.
“Ghost? No one?”
Mr. Hong Tao from the disciplinary office, holding the flashlight, opened his eyes wide. He swung the flashlight a few times, changing angles to search, muttering to himself, “There was definitely someone here just now. Did my eyes play tricks on me?”
Whoosh!
This burst of rapid movement made Yang Qi’s heart race, his eyes shine, and his mind reel with amazement.
Fast. It was truly fast. Even Yang Qi himself felt it was incredibly fast.
As for whether the teacher or guard on patrol recognized him or not, Yang Qi didn’t care one bit. His attention was completely focused on the golden paper of the Superpower List in his mind.
Ring!
The bell for the end of the first period of evening self-study rang just then. Students streamed out of the classrooms in the building, and the place immediately became lively.
Yang Qi pulled his thoughts together and walked towards his own classroom. Several classmates were already coming out the door. Seeing Yang Qi, their expressions turned a bit odd. They moved aside to let him pass, inevitably whispering and pointing behind his back.
“Where did this guy run off to? He missed a whole period of evening self-study.”
“Don’t you know what happened on the field this evening?”
“What happened?”
“I heard from others. That idiot was beaten up on the field by Zhuang Zhoufeng and his gang. Several guys ganging up on one. He probably just ran off somewhere to cry, right? Didn’t you notice the teacher didn’t ask anything? Probably knew about it already. Sent people out to look for him, but he came back on his own.”
“Damn, they even hit him? Those guys are way too heartless!”
Yang Qi sat down at his seat. Naturally, he noticed his classmates looking at him strangely and heard their discussions. But right now, how could he have the mind to care about such things? His focus was entirely on the golden paper of the Superpower List in his mind.
“[Muscle Enhancement] is confirmed. What about [Photographic Memory]?”
Yang Qi took a deep breath and opened the book he had been clutching and reading in the corner: “Shen Yin Yu” (The Book of Groans).
This was a masterpiece written by Lu Kun, a great Confucian scholar of the Ming Dynasty, teaching people how to conduct themselves in life. Based on the Confucian doctrine of the Mean, it sifted and discarded Buddhist and Taoist ideas, broke free from the constraints of Song-Ming Neo-Confucianism, blazed a new trail, and was a crystallization of exploring life and contemplating the universe. It was simple and clear, yet gave much food for thought, sometimes like a sudden, sharp warning. Yang Qi had read this book several times. For him, it was also a good book for distraction. However, he had struggled to remember its content.
Now, opening it, he skimmed through quickly, faster and faster. Reading ten lines at a glance wasn’t enough to describe this reading speed. Before long, Yang Qi had flipped through the entire book. Closing it, he shut his eyes. Everything he had just seen leaped out in his mind, crystal clear!
“Whether one is wise or foolish depends only on whether one reads or not; whether one meets fortune or misfortune depends only on whether one does good or not; whether one becomes rich or poor depends only on whether one is diligent and frugal or not; whether one gains praise or blame depends only on whether one is benevolent and forgiving or not.”
Chunks of text from the whole book appeared freely in Yang Qi’s mind. He could recite them at will. This wasn’t just a small passage, but a whole book. Although it wasn’t an exceptionally dry or obscure book, it used ancient Chinese grammar and idioms different from modern habits. Remembering it all after one look proved it was truly photographic memory!
To confirm again, he then flipped open his Chinese textbook, then his math textbook. Sure enough, the content and formulas appeared clearly in his mind, even the notes and example problems were neatly lined up. He happily opened his chemistry, politics, physics, geography textbooks… Whatever he looked at was immediately imprinted in his mind. Even the maps and scales in the geography textbook were perfectly clear.
“It really works!”
After confirming this with no doubt, a shiver ran down Yang Qi’s spine, piercing straight to his heart. His whole body trembled. This kind of miraculous and eerie event was somewhat frightening. But soon, his eyes shone again, filled with amazement.
“Fortune and misfortune are intertwined! I believe this is heaven’s compensation for the inhuman pain I’ve suffered for over a decade!”
However, to his classmates, his actions looked utterly pitiful. They all thought this idiot Yang Qi was just flipping through books to hide his awkwardness. Or perhaps, flipping books had become his only way to vent right now.
Who could possibly imagine that Yang Qi was actually memorizing books, and memorizing entire volumes at that?
“Hey.”
Just then, Yang Qi’s deskmate, Lu Liangjie, gently nudged him with an elbow. Staring straight ahead, he lowered his voice and said, “The ones who beat you up must have been sent by Qin Muchu. Be careful yourself. Don’t let him show off his power now. That guy is really petty.”
After saying that, he pretended nothing had happened, stood up, gestured towards the cigarette pack protruding from another classmate’s pocket, and said, “Come on, let’s go to the upstairs bathroom for a smoke.”
Yang Qi remained expressionless. He didn’t look at Lu Liangjie as he left, nor did he look at Qin Muchu, who was chatting and laughing with a few female classmates over there. He continued flipping through books. But his attention wasn’t on the words anymore. It was on organizing the knowledge he had just “memorized” in his mind, and on some memories that had suddenly surfaced earlier. There was too much, too massive an amount of information for him to process. As he processed it, his heart gradually calmed down.
Over a decade of non-stop headaches was finally over. Turning to look out the window at the night sky, although the moon was dim and the stars faint, he saw limitless light. The corner of his mouth lifted slightly, and his spirit soared.
With the headaches gone, everything felt clear and refreshing. Yang Qi greatly enjoyed this feeling. Although it hadn’t been long, he was already addicted, unable to bear the thought of losing it again.
To not lose it, he had to learn to grasp it!
To thoroughly study this Superpower List was something Yang Qi had to grasp firmly now!
The other five superpowers weren’t activated yet. Yang Qi focused all his attention on the two superpowers he could cultivate. How to improve their levels became his main concern. After looking carefully, he had a general idea. Both superpowers had corresponding cultivation methods.
The bell for the second period rang. The homeroom teacher, Zhou Yanchang, entered the classroom. This stern-faced man in his forties rapped the desk. His serious and slightly harsh voice filled the room: “Next Monday, the ten-school joint exam. This time, the difficulty of the questions will be close to last year’s college entrance exam. See for yourselves what scores you can get! Look at the time! Less than a hundred days left, and you’re all still fooling around! Remember, for most of you here, this is the last time your brains will be of any use. After this, it’s all about looks and connections! As long as studying doesn’t kill you, study like you’re trying to die!”
“Ding!”
Just as the homeroom teacher finished speaking, another electronic notification tone sounded in Yang Qi’s mind.