After school, Chen Shouyi secretly opened his attributes panel.
"Willpower: 11"
He widened his eyes in disbelief. He had checked in the morning, and at that time his willpower attribute was only 10.0. But in just one afternoon, it had leaped to 11, making it the first of all his attributes to reach this level.
Chen Shouyi recalled the Martial Arts class where he seemed to have overcome his deep-seated cowardice and inferiority complex, boldly stepping forward, engaging with classmates effortlessly afterward, his mind sharp...
Looking back now, it was unbelievable. He felt like he had changed into another person.
This is what willpower is!
He pondered a lot.
He had indeed changed.
Feeling himself habitually slouching again, he suddenly raised his head, looking straight ahead.
...
Sun Xin, walking beside him, didn't notice the subtle change in Chen Shouyi. He scratched his head vigorously, causing dandruff to fly, then wiped his greasy hand on his pants, and asked them: "What are you planning to do this weekend?"
"Sleep, play games, what else?" Zhao Yifeng replied.
"I haven't decided yet. I might sign up for a cram class." Chen Shouyi thought for a moment and said.
At Dongning's No. 5 School, Martial Arts wasn't very popular, and the Martial Arts class mainly served to exercise students' bodies, with very little content. Learning just the basic sword thrust would take a whole year, along with some short sprints and strength training, hardly meeting personal needs.
Moreover, his current bow-step thrust was already on the right track, the only thing lacking was muscle reaction speed, which required thousands, tens of thousands of repetitions to hone.
To make the muscle exertion process and body completely integrate and solidify, letting the bow-step thrust become bodily instinct, but this couldn't be achieved in a short time.
He felt it was time to learn other basic sword forms.
"You two are so boring!" Sun Xin rolled his eyes and said.
...
For some reason, Zhao Yifeng was unusually silent today, hardly speaking all the way, but Chen Shouyi wasn't particularly sensitive, so he didn't feel anything odd.
His route was different from theirs, so after grabbing his bicycle, they parted ways.
...
"Dad, Mom, I'm back!"
After parking his bike in the garage, he entered the restaurant, but no one responded. His dad and mom were in the dining room watching TV, along with several other shop owners.
"What happened?" His heart skipped a beat.
He quickly looked at the TV, which was broadcasting news, the pretty news anchor's face solemn and serious:
"According to information gathered by our station's reporters, this fierce bird from another world came from the large wormhole No. 13541, 15,000 meters above ground. It broke through the military's firepower blockade, flew hundreds of kilometers while wounded, and was shot down by fighter jets, ultimately crashing in Zhongming Street, Ningzhou City...
Chen Shouyi was startled; Ningzhou was the prefecture-level city to which Dongning belonged, only dozens of kilometers away.
He looked at the video, the camera shaking violently. An ominous-looking fierce bird was struggling on a bustling street, surrounded by countless people fleeing in terror, screams echoing incessantly.
This was a massive giant bird, occupying two lanes with just its body size. No bird on Earth could be this large; even the biggest terrestrial creature, the African elephant, was insignificant in comparison.
Its body was seriously wounded, with many areas mangled and bleeding profusely. However, these terrible injuries seemed to have further stimulated its ferocity, pouncing on the fleeing crowds incessantly, leaving behind a ground full of corpses.
...
Since Earth's fusion with another world two decades ago, incidents of various fierce beasts and barbarians breaking through military blockades have emerged around the globe.
The gravity of the other world is three times that of Earth, so even an ordinary creature becomes incredibly dangerous on Earth, causing human panic upon each appearance.
In fact, the most dangerous aren't these creatures, but the viruses and bacteria from the other world.
In the first few years of fusion with the other world, a total of more than a dozen lethal acute infectious diseases of Class A broke out globally, with billions dying unnatural deaths, some small countries even becoming entirely extinct.
Fortunately, with the rapid development of medical technology in recent years, coupled with humans gradually developing relevant antibodies, such widespread deaths have gradually disappeared, and are now rarely heard of.
...
A few minutes later, perhaps due to its bloody nature, the news segment was quickly cut off, and the crowd in the restaurant began dissipating while discussing.
"Back already." Mrs. Chen, looking somewhat pale, finally noticed Chen Shouyi's return.
"Yes!"
"Don't think too much about it. Are you hungry? What do you want to eat? I'll make it for you." Chen Dawei, pretending nothing happened, turned off the TV and forced a smile.
...
Chen Shouyi opened his mouth, wanting to ask, but sensed his parents clearly didn't want him bringing it up.
"Just vegetable and pork rib rice!"
After saying this, he paused and continued, "I want to enroll in a prep class this Saturday."
Faced with his rare ambition, Mrs. Chen was overwhelmed with joy despite the unsettling news: "As long as it helps with your college entrance exam, your dad and I support it. We work hard every day for what reason, if not for you all to live a bit easier and have decent jobs in the future."
"But I want to sign up for a Martial Arts prep class!"
Mrs. Chen was slightly stunned upon hearing this, her smiling face quickly changing expression.
"What, you're in the third year of high school now and still want to practice Martial Arts?
It's okay to set aside some time to exercise daily, but you can't let it become your main focus.
This field depends on talent, and if you had your sister's talent, your mom wouldn't hesitate to let you study. While we're not wealthy, we aren't short of money either. But can you afford to waste time?"
Chen Dawei remained silent beside them, evidently not supporting wasting time on this either. If their son worked hard in college, there was hope, but in Martial Arts, there wasn't even a glimmer.
Chen Shouyi fell silent. If it were before, under his mother's oppressive authority, he used to be so submissive. Although unwilling, he could only silently obey. But today, a strong urge seemed to drive him to prove something:
"Mom, I haven't slacked off on my studies. These days I've been studying diligently. I just want to squeeze out some time to prepare for dual paths in Martial Arts as a backup.
Lately, I've felt great progress, and my body is becoming stronger. Today, the Martial Arts teacher even praised me, so I feel hopeful.
Dad, Mom, I've always obeyed you. You tell me to go east, and I never go west. I know you mean well, but today I wish you'd consider my thoughts."
Mrs. Chen listened, her mouth slightly open, exchanging a look with Chen Dawei, both seeing surprise in each other's eyes.
Is this still the reticent son who wouldn't speak up even after three prods?
"Then tell me, why did your Martial Arts teacher praise you?" Mrs. Chen's attitude softened but she remained skeptical. She knew her son best; what had he ever done well?
"Because my bow-step thrust is the best in the class," Chen Shouyi said with a slight feeling of pride.
To prove it, he picked up a chopstick from the dining table, treating it as a sword.
Rarely having a chance to showcase himself before his parents, he couldn't help getting carried away and, without thinking, thrust towards the wall.
From the toes pushing off, power transmitting through, to the thrust, it was executed seamlessly, swift as lightning, textbook standard.
With a "pfft" sound,
the wooden chopstick penetrated the surface of the tile, embedding halfway into the wall.
"Uh!" Chen Shouyi was dumbfounded, not expecting his bow-step thrust to be so powerful. He thought the chopstick would just snap, given the tile-covered wall being so hard, how could a wooden chopstick pierce it?
ps: Please recommend