Chapter 3 The Cat That Speaks Human Language
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Li Ge rode his bike to school, while Xue Jing took the bus. After they parted ways, Xue Jing hopped on the bus, got off three stops later, walked a few hundred meters, and then arrived home.
He greeted the security guard, entered the residential complex, went to his building, took the elevator up to the ninth floor, and took out his keys to open the door.
After entering, he tossed his backpack onto the sofa, stretched his limbs a bit, and walked into his 'fitness room'.
The so-called fitness room was originally a storage room. After the awakening of the Skill Panel, Xue Jing cleared out the clutter, bought a number of fitness equipment pieces, and turned it into a small gym, for which he had almost spent all the living expenses he saved each month.
Fortunately, in this life, he was not one of the orphans from Zhu Tian Orphanage; he had both parents and an older sister who had just started college last year. Although his family wasn't wealthy, they were quite happy.
The only problem was that his parents were very busy with work, often traveling away from home, and since last year, his sister Xue Wan had been studying in another city, which meant Xue Jing was mostly living alone.
Xue Jing started with a set of stretching exercises, then stepped on the treadmill, started it up, set the pace at 12 km/h, and planned to run at this speed for ten minutes to warm up.
As he ran, he fell into contemplation.
"During the noon physical test, running a thousand meters gave me ten more experience points than usual..."
"So, this means that 'participating in specific events' is the trick for quickly farming experience points?"
The reason Xue Jing agreed to the head teacher Du Shiwei's request to participate in the school sports meeting after school was to confirm this point.
If this was the way to gain more experience, a regular physical test could increase his experience gains, then participating in formal competitions should increase it even more.
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An hour later, with sweat pouring down like rain and breathing heavily, Xue Jing unscrewed a 500ml bottle of mineral water and drank it all in one go.
He opened the panel.
[You have completed a strenuous workout, Fitness Experience Points +98]
[Fitness Lv2 (256/500)]
He calmed himself for a moment and felt the changes in his body.
Hmm, if it's just by feeling, there's nothing noticeable.
But he knew that his physical fitness had improved a bit more.
The Skill experience changes were reflected in real-time on his body and not only when leveling up.
"To dedicate time exclusively to fitness training seems a bit counterproductive," Xue Jing pondered.
From his understanding these past days, the 'Fitness' skill could enhance all aspects of his physical condition and was an extremely useful skill and his primary target for grinding experience points.
However, he didn't really need to be in the gym working out to level up this skill.
According to his observations, the way the skill gained experience was 'any activity that exercised the body'.
For example, when he ran, he not only gained 'Running' experience but also some 'Fitness' experience at the same time.
Therefore, engaging in other physical activities could also increase his 'Fitness' experience without having to specifically spend time using fitness equipment.
Like... Martial Arts Practice.
The world of martial arts in this world was much more advanced than in his previous life.
He had seen with his own eyes martial arts competition videos online where Martial Artists would kick their opponents flying ten or more meters away, smashing into a wall and leaving a human-shaped imprint.
Their movements were unbelievably quick.
He also wanted to delve into martial arts, but… he didn't know where to begin.
Shortly after the Skill Panel had awakened, he had earnestly practiced with the help of online videos and secret manuals, but up until now, there had been no response from his panel.
Activating a skill wasn't as simple as blindly practicing; it had to be the real deal, otherwise, he would already have an array of skills by now.
There were a few Dojos in Qingcheng where one could practice martial arts, but the fees were exorbitantly high, and he couldn't afford them, nor did he want to ask his parents for money since it was really too expensive.
"As long as I can get started, with my unbeatable talent and shocking wisdom, cultivating a peerless divine power that's both forceful and dominating should be a breeze."
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But no matter how strong his talents or high his intelligence, without a master to lead the way, even the cleverest woman can't cook without rice.
The Skill Panel might help him get from level 1 to level 100, but it couldn't make him jump from 0 to 1 out of thin air.
Xue Jing rested for a while, then got up and headed to the bathroom.
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After washing his hair and cleaning his body, he soaked in the bathtub for fifteen minutes. The soak relieved his fatigue, though his muscles were still a bit sore.
In the bathroom, Xue Jing looked at himself in the mirror.
What reflected back was an elegant visage, intelligent and abstinent. When expressionless, he appeared cool and detached, but just a slight upturn of his lips would light up his face like a warm sun in the winter—not blazing, but a gentle warmth that was enough to touch the soul.
Though slender, his body didn't appear gaunt. Thanks to his skill training over the days, blocks of defined muscles had started to emerge. Because the skill enhanced his physical condition in all aspects, these muscles developed without any disproportion, all shaped in the most perfect way possible.
His gaze traveled downward... Hmm, a bit of a potbelly.
He twisted the half-length black hair that was not even long enough to reach his eyes, Xue Jing put on his clothes, left the bathroom, and prepared to go out to replenish food and household supplies.
After changing his shoes, he stepped out of his home, left the residential area, and walked toward the nearest supermarket.
It was now half-past seven in the evening; the sky had darkened, and most people had already had their dinner, so the streets were quite busy.
While waiting for a traffic light on the road, Xue Jing suddenly heard several sharp screams nearby.
Curious, he looked toward the source of the noise.
Across the street, an old man with a Mediterranean haircut, seated in a wheelchair and dressed in a classic sleeveless white tank top, was deftly maneuvering the wheels with both hands, swiftly darting in and out amongst pedestrians.
Was he... drifting?
Strangely enough, the old man was performing wheelchair drifts with his manual chair with such skill. He pivoted and swerved with ease, and as he navigated a few drain covers with turns, he managed to add a professional ice skater's smoothness to his movements, achieving an utmost silky glide.
The wheelchair zipped past, whipping up a breeze that lifted the skirts of passing schoolgirls in short skirts, causing continuous screams, and the old man in the wheelchair even found time to whistle at the girls, eliciting angry retorts and coquettish rebukes.
Watching the old man's carefree figure drifting away, Xue Jing fell into contemplation.
If wheelchair maneuvering counted as a skill, this old man must be at least Lv10.
Well, he had indeed encountered something amusing.
Shaking his head, the light turned green, and Xue Jing crossed the street and entered the supermarket.
He bought some beef, pork, vegetables, eggs, sausages, plain noodles, scallions, ginger, garlic spices, and some used-up or nearly used-up seasonings, along with some snacks and fruits. After paying at the checkout, he walked out of the supermarket with a big bag.
As Xue Jing was making his way back the same route, he paused upon passing a dark alley.
"Hmm?"
A small black cat with four white "gloves" on its paws had leaped down from somewhere and was now in his path.
Miao Miao had no collar, but there was a white gold metal ring fitted around the tip of its tail—whether it was a domesticated cat adorned by its owner or a stray cat forcibly ringed by a passerby playing a prank was unknown.
It was dirty and unkempt, with patches of fur missing, presumably from fighting with other cats, and its coat was dotted with dried blood, clearly showing it had suffered quite a bit.
After jumping down, Miao Miao staggered up to Xue Jing, glanced at him once with its emerald-like vertical pupils, then collapsed sideways on the ground.
"Playing dead for sympathy?"
Xue Jing chuckled softly.
But the cat seemed pitiable, and by chance too. He crouched down, planning to give it a few pieces of sausage.
Just then, the fallen Miao Miao muttered in a daze, surprisingly articulating human speech, "I never expected... the world of a stray cat... to be this cruel, grrr."
After speaking, it closed its eyes and fainted.
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