Chapter 13: Transcendent (Please Favorite, Recommend)

Boom—Boom—Boom—

The intense sounds of collision echoed one after another, the old apartment building seemed to shudder with the vibrations.

"Who the hell, born without a father and raised without a mother, is dicking around here in the middle of the night, are you f***ing using a vibrator to poke chrysanthemums?"

An irritable woman who lived upstairs cursed as she opened her door, stepped into the stairwell, and leaned over the railing to look down.

"Huh!?"

The young man below, his body swollen with muscles, looked up, his eyes bloodshot, his face reddened with rage, and bulging veins, resembling a bull on the prairie ready to charge.

The two locked eyes for a moment, time itself seemed to freeze in that instant.

"Oh my, I must have gone deaf, can't hear a thing… can't hear anything…"

The woman immediately turned around, clattered up the stairs, then slammed the door with a bang and twisted the security lock three times.

Seeing the woman retreat, the young man continued to direct his gaze at He Ao, resuming his assault on the door.

He had initially been reluctant because he feared attracting the neighbors' attention and prompting them to call the police, but now that He Ao had already called the police, he wasn't afraid of anything anymore.

He was determined to make this kid pay the price for his arrogance!

Once rage ignited, it could not be quenched.

It could only extinguish once it consumed itself.

Boom—

He increased the frequency of his attack on the door, and more and more cracks appeared on the weld points of the sturdy security chain.

Sometimes, the appearance of a crack is not the beginning of destruction but a sign that it is well underway, with one crack leading to more, and the complete breakdown of the whole thing is only a matter of course.

Given the young man's pace, he would break through the security chain in no more than ten seconds.

He Ao stepped back a few paces, casting a distant glance at the young man who was smiling viciously as he gradually forced the door open.

Then he turned his attention to the three reward options in front of him; he had intended to think it through, but it seemed there was no time left for contemplation.

With a thought, he made his choice.

[You have selected the Vermilion Fruit, the item has been delivered, please check. ]

[Novice task completed, you have unlocked the official game eligibility. ]

[Life Resume feature has been unlocked]

[Character panel has been unlocked]

[Time remaining until next game begins: 23:56:36]

He Ao didn't have time to closely read the system's captions; he only felt a slight weight in his hand, as a small heavy object appeared.

He picked up the object to examine it more closely—it was a red fruit, about two fingers wide and three fingers long, cylinder-shaped, fiery red, with a surface pitted with dense indentations that reflected a bright light under the lamp.

He Ao wasn't unfamiliar with such a fruit; he usually referred to it as… a jujube!

...

Zhu, which means red; Guo, which means fruit; the Vermilion Fruit is a red fruit, jujubes are also red fruits, hence jujubes are Vermilion Fruits, the reasoning is complete, it makes sense.

He Ao didn't even know where to begin with his criticism.

But upon closer inspection, this fruit was different from jujubes, which are usually very light, while this fruit was slightly heavier.

As for the taste.

He Ao brought the fruit to his mouth and took a bite.

...It tasted just like a jujube.

Boom—Bang—

The old security door was violently smashed open, and the steel door slammed into the wall with a loud crash.

He Ao couldn't hesitate at this moment, quickly swallowing the fruit in his hands.

Then he spat out a small object.

...Hmm, there's a date pit, *cough*...a fruit core.

The date pit didn't look edible, so He Ao simply pocketed it and ran towards the deeper parts of the house.

He Ao's home had three bedrooms and a living room. The master bedroom belonged to his parents and, due to a lack of use, had gathered dust. The secondary bedroom was his own, and there was also a small room — his study, which was where he was running to now.

"Kid, don't you fucking run!"

After the young man burst into the room, he immediately charged at He Ao with a vicious smile.

In fact, He Ao didn't have many choices: he already had one of the "Talent Sequences," and there was no guarantee he could roll a sequence suitable for combat; he didn't want to become a robot through "Mechanical Modification," so the "Vermilion Fruit" was the only option.

Moreover, he had a theory: the "Talent Sequences" represented superpowers obtained out of thin air, and "Mechanical Modification" represented powerful bodies obtained from external technology. So, could the "Vermilion Fruit" imply the enhancement of one's own body, or the improvement of inherent qualities?

He soon knew the answer.

As he ran, a warm current spread from his lower abdomen to his chest and then into his limbs, following a special route that imbued his entire body.

He Ao felt blockages inside his body being consecutively breached, like long-clogged silt being forcefully cleared by a strong current, or like someone constipated for two weeks finally releasing a torrent.

This sensation was peculiar, somewhat painful, yet also exhilarating.

To describe it further seemed impossible. In short, He Ao felt that his movements were much faster than before, and his body seemed to have become lighter.

But even so, he was still one step too slow.

The young man charged like a bull, heading straight for him.

Some people think that because bulls are strong, they must be slow. But they are mistaken. While bulls certainly don't run fast over long distances, they can explode with very high speeds in short bursts of charging.

Why use a bull for comparison?

Because He Ao thought that the young man before him no longer resembled a human; although he maintained a humanoid shape, he took on the shadow of an enraged wild bull.

The young man wasn't exactly 'running' but rather bounding forward in leaps with powerful stomps on the ground toward He Ao.

In a very short time, the young man's body had closed the distance to He Ao, swinging his fist towards He Ao's chest.

If this punch landed, He Ao felt that his ribs would be shattered, and the splintered bones would pierce directly into his lungs.

He had overestimated himself, He Ao tensed up.

The young man's strength was beyond his expectations, far surpassing what humans could achieve.

It seemed the young man could see He Ao's furrowed expression, and his smile grew wider, "Pay for your arrogance now, kid!"

Watching the punch coming his way, He Ao knew some techniques to twist his body and dodge the punch, but after evading, he would expose a vulnerability. If the young man seized the opportunity, He Ao would still be injured.

However, at this moment, he didn't have time to think further; being hit by this punch could cost him his life, if not cripple him severely.

Yet just as he was about to dodge the attack, a flash of insight crossed his mind.

It was a scene he had memorized with "Super Memory".

In that old, yellowed book, there were not only dense, unintelligible texts but also some simple illustrations of human movements.

Initially, he didn't understand these illustrations; however, now, as the warmth from the Vermilion Fruit flowed through certain routes, he began to grasp the meaning of the lines traced over the human figures in the drawings.

With some power from the Vermilion Fruit still remaining, he attempted to redirect it along the lines from his memory of those illustrations.

It worked!

All of this happened in an instant!

The furious young man's punch hit He Ao's chest but passed through a mere illusionary shadow.