Chapter 24: Longing

The next morning.

Inside his family's small shop.

Lu Yuan sat in front of the television, his eyes glued to the screen, taking bites of the steaming hot bun in his hand.

The TV was broadcasting the morning news.

"...Yesterday, our city police cracked a kidnapping case and successfully arrested eight members of a gang cult. Within just two hours of the incident, the victim was successfully rescued..."

"A kidnapping case, wasn't it a missing person case?"

Lu Yuan gulped down a mouthful of milk from the small table beside him, swallowed the meat bun in his mouth, and frowned in thought.

He had deliberately turned on Jiaoyan City's morning news today, wanting to follow up on the developments of yesterday's incident.

The news he got was not what he expected.

It was just an ordinary kidnapping case, not the missing person case that had been causing a stir lately.

The group of people who got off the van were so-called gang cult members.

Gang, cult?

Lu Yuan didn't know how these two words were related.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight... Exactly eight, not one more, not one less."

Lu Yuan recalled the number of people he had knocked down last night, which was consistent with the number of suspects reported in the news, and felt a little relieved.

At this time, the TV showed the picture of the victim of the kidnapping case.

Although it was deliberately blurred, Lu Yuan could still recognize that it was the schoolgirl he rescued last night.

"Looks like she really didn't tell on me..."

Until now, his family hadn't received any calls from the police station, which proved that the police hadn't traced Lu Yuan's identity yet.

"The minimum sentence for kidnapping in this world is ten years in prison. Even if they have accomplices, they may not be able to find me..."

The rain was too heavy last night, and the alley where the two sides fought was dark.

Lu Yuan suspected that many people in the gang didn't even see his face clearly.

"Keep a low profile for a while, go out less, and it should be fine once the heat dies down."

Lu Yuan considered a lot because he was indeed afraid.

He was afraid of getting into trouble, and even more afraid of his family being implicated and retaliated against.

"My strength is still not strong enough. If I were strong enough, I wouldn't be afraid of them coming to trouble me!"

Lu Yuan took a fierce bite of a meat bun and thought, "And I need money.

With money, I can hire bodyguards to help me watch over my family 24 hours a day..."

Lu Yuan felt that he had never longed for the power and money like he did now in both his lives.

"It's almost seven o'clock, why hasn't your dad come back from the hospital yet? The delivery guy will be here soon, how can I move things by myself?"

Mom Zheng Qiuling muttered as she walked in from outside the store.

Lu Yuan heard this and immediately said, "Mom, I'll help you later."

"Don't you have martial arts class today?"

"It's okay if I go later!"

Zheng Qiuling nodded, came up and looked at Lu Yuan's cheeks, and suddenly asked with some heartache, "Did you not sleep well last night because of the pain from your injuries?"

Lu Yuan was slightly startled, and then nodded a little embarrassedly.

"Let's see if you dare to fight with people again next time."

Zheng Qiuling remembered and got angry again, and couldn't help but scold him.

Lu Yuan could only listen obediently.

In fact, his injuries were much better. After a night, the bruises on his face and body had subsided a lot, and the scratches had also scabbed over.

Only the two most serious areas on his back and ribs still ached faintly.

The reason why Lu Yuan didn't sleep well last night...

It was mainly because of the [Imaginery Enemy]!

"Who knew that [Hypothetical Enemy] would consume so much energy? I only fought three rounds, and it felt like I had been staying up all night in an internet cafe for several days in a row.

Even after a night's sleep, I still feel a little sluggish..."

Lu Yuan originally thought that after majoring in [Fighter], he wouldn't need to add much intelligence.

Unexpectedly, this area still couldn't be neglected.

"No matter how many attribute points, it feels like it's not enough..."

Lu Yuan thought to himself.

He now only had one skill point left, and he planned to save it for later use when necessary.

"Do you want to go to the hospital to see if you have any broken bones?"

Mom Zheng Qiuling was still worried, and as she spoke, she couldn't help but sigh, "If only your sister were home, with her watching over you, I could save myself a lot of worry."

"Mom, didn't you always say that she's the one who worries you the most?"

"She's still better than you, now you've even learned to fight with people!"

Zheng Qiuling glared at him angrily, and Lu Yuan immediately stopped talking.

At 7:23, the small truck delivering goods to Lu Yuan's house arrived.

In order to prove that his injuries were not serious, Lu Yuan worked extra hard.

After his strength reached 11 points, his strength increased a lot.

He could easily carry a bag of rice weighing dozens of kilograms with one hand.

Lu Yuan unloaded the whole cart of goods in less than ten minutes.

While washing his hands, Lu Yuan heard the delivery driver urging his mother to settle the payment, which was the same as the previous few times.

Mom Zheng Qiuling stuffed two packs of cigarettes over, saying good things, and it took a long time to coax the driver away reluctantly.

Lu Yuan watched this scene in silence.

"I must pass the official disciple assessment of the martial arts school today!"

"Lu Yuan, what happened to your face?"

At 8:05 in the morning, Lu Yuan arrived at the Yuan Martial Arts School.

He bumped into Cheng Peng in the locker room, and as soon as he saw him, he immediately exclaimed in surprise.

"The rain was too heavy last night, and I fell while running."

"Did you really fall? It doesn't look like it..."

Cheng Peng looked at Lu Yuan suspiciously, up and down. Lu Yuan was too lazy to say more to him, and hurriedly changed into his martial arts uniform and left the locker room.

Because he helped his mother unload the goods, he was ten minutes late than usual, which was considered late.

However, it didn't matter if he was late.

When Lu Yuan walked to the training room, he found that he was still considered early.

"There are fewer and fewer people..."

Glancing at the people in the training room, it was estimated that only two-thirds of the people who were there at the beginning of the class had arrived.

During this month, many people suddenly stopped coming to class. At first, they said they were asking for leave, but later, they were rarely seen again.

For example, the group of girls with ball-shaped hair who were quite noisy at the beginning of the class disappeared almost entirely by the third week.

There was still one left in the last class, but even that last seedling was gone in this class.

The temperament of these people reminded Lu Yuan of himself in his previous life.

They were enthusiastic about everything for a while, but once the enthusiasm passed, they would drop it and never pick it up again.

"Without the profession panel, without the blessing of [Absolute Focus], would I still be like them in this life?"

Lu Yuan asked himself silently in his heart.

Maybe.

But at least now it's different.

"Lu Yuan, you're here!"

The only person in this martial arts class who could be considered a friend of Lu Yuan, the round-faced girl Liu Yue, arrived without fail every class.

As soon as she saw Lu Yuan, she greeted him happily.

"Morning!"

Lu Yuan nodded at her, and the latter soon stared at Lu Yuan's face and let out a soft "Ah" of surprise, asking the same question as Cheng Peng.

"Lu Yuan, how did you get hurt on your face?"

"The rain was heavy last night, and I fell while running home."

Lu Yuan didn't know how many times he had used this excuse to put people off.

Fortunately, Liu Yue didn't ask much, but kindly offered to get some medicine for Lu Yuan. She brought ointment, bandages, band-aids, and other things for falls and bruises to every class.

Declining Liu Yue's kindness, Lu Yuan began to warm up.

After the students' enthusiasm waned, coach Lin Zhiqin also seemed to become "slack".

From the last few classes, he wouldn't arrive until after 8:30, and for the first half hour, he let the students do warm-up exercises on their own.

Lu Yuan mainly practiced basic leg techniques.

He had more or less gained something from fighting with the middle-aged man in the consciousness space last night.

He took this opportunity to digest it.

Entering the [Absolute Focus] state, Lu Yuan unconsciously began to imitate the way the middle-aged man kicked in his memory, his movements...