0086 was caught red-handed.

Faced with a streetlamp towering over ten meters high, ordinary maintenance workers would typically rely on a lift or specialized climbing gear—metal foot hooks and a safety harness—before daring to ascend. Yet Chen Jue conquered the streetlamp bare-handed, without the aid of any equipment, a feat that evoked the uncanny sensation of Spider-Man in action.

"Another attribute breakthrough!"
"The more recklessly I act, the better it works!"
Chen Jue's lips curled into a faint smile at the system prompt flashing across his panel. Before anyone could notice, he quickly loosened his grip on the lamp post, carefully unclamped his legs, and slid down from twenty meters above, inch by inch.

The closer he drew to the ground, the more his taut nerves relaxed. It was only when his feet finally touched earth that his pounding heart eased somewhat.

"Ah, exhilarating!" Chen Jue breathed out deeply, thoroughly satisfied with the accomplishment of landing safely.

At that moment, his panel rewarded him generously: [Climbing] proficiency +150, far more than what he’d gained from scaling the roadside trees earlier. By his reckoning, whether ascending or descending, the system counted it as climbing-related physical activity. The higher the goal and the greater the difficulty, the more proficiency rewarded—just like any level-based game, where challenge and reward are proportional.

…

Having conquered the streetlamp, Chen Jue glanced around warily. The area outside Wangyang Apartments was a dead-end, blocked by the T-shaped fence of Jiang University. At night, few people wandered about, and the streetlamps were shielded by the roadside trees, making it difficult for anyone below to notice what was happening atop the lamp posts. In this age, most people walk with their eyes glued to their phones, barely observing their surroundings—let alone looking up at the sky. No one would notice a person suddenly appearing on a streetlamp.

"Fortunately, this place is secluded. If I were caught under scrutiny, it’d be troublesome." Chen Jue muttered to himself. Though climbing a streetlamp wasn’t illegal, he had no desire to become the center of attention.

Once his heart had calmed, he hurried back to the apartment. A full day of study and exercise had thoroughly depleted his physical and mental energy. His climbing exertions had only been possible thanks to a brief post-dinner recovery. Now, his body felt limp, drained of strength.

He unfolded his newly purchased collapsible bathtub in the bathroom, slowly filled it with hot water, and tossed in a medicinal bath sachet. The seller claimed it was a specialty of the Yao people, a nationally recognized intangible cultural heritage, containing ten-plus herbs such as Semiliquidambar, Touguxiang, and Uncaria. Prolonged soaking supposedly dispelled wind and dampness, promoted blood circulation, and reduced swelling—a traditional remedy for lumbar strain and injuries.

Chen Jue didn’t know if the seller’s claims were true, but as long as it felt better than a simple hot shower, it would suffice.

…

He undressed and slipped into the tub, allowing the herbal-infused hot water to soothe his skin. Compared to a quick rinse, this method of bathing was far more effective at relieving fatigue. As soon as he submerged himself, he couldn’t help but sigh, "Comfortable!"

Half-reclining against the tub’s edge, Chen Jue felt the relaxing embrace of the hot water enveloping his entire body. Gradually, drowsiness crept over him, and with eyes half-closed, he dozed for a while.

Unexpectedly, after about ten minutes, his panel flashed a new prompt:

——————
[Ding~]
[Under the combined stimulation of hot water and herbs, you've completed a highly effective physical recovery session.]
[Your blood circulation has accelerated, metabolism heightened, waste and toxins expunged, lactic acid in your muscles decomposed swiftly, and muscle soreness relieved.]
[Your skin, softened by heat, has promoted the expulsion of sweat and sebum.]
[Constitution attribute +0.01]
——————

"So the medicinal bath actually works?"

…

"No wonder it’s a cultural heritage!"
Chen Jue opened his eyes, all sleepiness banished by the sudden attribute boost. He’d thought his two- or three-hundred-yuan investment in bathware and herbal sachets was merely psychological comfort, yet it genuinely improved his constitution.

"Money well spent!" In high spirits, Chen Jue soaked a while longer, until his fingers turned white and wrinkled, then finally climbed out of the tub.

Unexpectedly, the panel, as if malfunctioning, kept popping up new prompts:

——————
[Ding~]
[To adapt to the slippery underwater environment, your sympathetic nerves frequently fired signals, causing the skin of your palms and soles to wrinkle, thereby increasing external friction. You've completed a successful environmental adaptation nerve exercise.]
[Mental attribute +0.01]
——————

"What?"
"Nerve training?"
"Bathing has this effect?"

Chen Jue stared at the panel’s new prompt, hurriedly donned pajamas, and burrowed under the covers to avoid catching a chill after his bath.

He grabbed his laptop and looked up the phenomenon, only to realize how misguided his previous beliefs had been. According to current scientific research, the wrinkling of fingers after soaking in water isn’t caused by water molecules penetrating the dermis and epidermis, leading to skin expansion from water absorption.

A moment’s thought exposed a flaw in this logic: All skin has dermis and epidermis, yet only the palms and soles wrinkle after soaking—other areas don’t react the same way.

In the 1930s, scientists noticed this logical inconsistency and experimented on patients with impaired sympathetic nerves in their hands and feet. These individuals’ skin didn’t wrinkle after water exposure.

"So it’s the subcutaneous nerves at work."
"To adapt to damp environments and prevent slipping, the hands and feet wrinkle?" Chen Jue mused after reading the sources.

He marveled at the human body’s mysteries—so simple yet so profound. From a single instance of skin wrinkling, one could infer the harsh environments faced by ancestral humans during evolution. Such innate emergency responses seemed like pre-written code engraved in the human genome.

First, the vestigial coccyx, palmaris longus, auricular muscles, and now the subcutaneous sympathetic nerves in the hands and feet. These tidbits of knowledge, though seemingly trivial, deepened Chen Jue’s understanding of his own body.

…

With his doubts resolved, Chen Jue closed his laptop and drifted into a comfortable sleep. That night, he dreamed a wild dream: he became a hairy, spear-wielding ape, walking upright through a rushing stream in search of fish, while a group of similarly hairy apes climbed tall fruit trees by the riverbank, picking unfamiliar fruit.

At dawn, his biological clock snapped him out of the strange dream, leaving him feeling as if he’d watched a scene straight out of "Rise of the Planet of the Apes."

"Truly, what you ponder by day, you dream by night. Thankfully, it was only a dream."

Chen Jue opened his eyes, reaching for his phone. He got up, washed in the bathroom, then headed to the rooftop for his daily exercise.

Eye and ear exercises were not to be neglected, especially his vision. Since discarding his glasses, life had become more convenient—no need to fumble for them upon waking, nor worry about fogging obscuring his sight. Naked-eye vision responded faster than with glasses, since there was no lens edge to hinder his view, and his field of vision was wider and clearer. Had his eyesight not recovered, last night’s climbing practice would not have gone so smoothly.

As for the [Nine Yang Eye Training Method] he’d heard from Master Zhiqing, Chen Jue had researched it online. The Dragon Gate Sect did indeed possess such eye techniques, but the versions available to the public had clearly been intentionally altered, omitting the essence and key secrets.

…

Chen Jue practiced facing the morning sun for a long while, but failed to trigger any panel skills, so he abandoned hopes of reverse-engineering that Daoist secret technique. Meanwhile, progress in ear training remained slow—he was still far from being able to move his ears at will.

"I must not have found the proper ear training method."

After forty-five minutes of sun-facing practice, his ears felt warm, but seeing only a modest increase in [Ear Health Exercise] proficiency on the panel left him somewhat disappointed. This was the most challenging skill since acquiring the panel, so he resolved to listen to more clinical lectures on the ear to address his doubts and blind spots.

…

After finishing rooftop eye and ear exercises, Chen Jue drove to the park for morning practice.

Not seeing Wu Fang, he greeted Old Wu and learned the reason: "Fangfang caught the flu at school—she’s got a cold and fever! She’ll have to rest for a few days, so she won’t be coming in the mornings."

Old Wu casually divulged his granddaughter’s private affairs, leaving Chen Jue slightly embarrassed. Such personal matters, shared so readily—clearly, the old man didn’t consider him an outsider.

"Take care of yourself, sir. The flu virus is quite strong lately," Chen Jue said, exchanged a few words, then slipped into the little woods.

He was about to send Wu Fang a message, but couldn't think of how to begin. He certainly couldn’t write something cliché like "Drink more hot water if you have a cold," so he gave up on messaging altogether. At this early hour, Wu Fang was likely still resting; it was best not to disturb her.

…

Inside the woods, the Dragon Gate Sect’s Master Zhiqing was absent, and even Zhao Jianguo, the instructor, had taken leave, leaving the students to self-study.

Chen Jue joined the group and leisurely began practicing standing postures. He had already maxed out all his Taiji technique skills, leaving only the thirteen-style stance to improve. The newly understood "bright force" techniques were subtly linked to stance training, horse stance, and the "pinch valley" exercise. The deeper his stance practice, the better he felt—his whole body’s strength seemed to flow and meld together, with a crisp resonance in his moves.

After two hours of stance and horse stance practice, he gained 0.02 in free attributes.

As he left, Chen Jue glanced back at the woods, thinking he might no longer need to come every day. Zhao Jianguo had nothing more to teach him, unless Chen Jue wished to join the Dragon Gate Sect and become a home-practicing Daoist, which might grant access to more advanced martial arts.

As for stance practice, it could be done on the apartment rooftop or Jiang University campus. If not for Wu Fang, he wouldn't have frequented the park so often.

"Now that Wu Fang is sick, I’ll take a few days off as well," Chen Jue thought to himself.

…

After breakfast, he drove back to the apartment. Checking his schedule, he saw two biology science classes that morning, so he packed his materials, slung his bag over his shoulder, and vaulted the 2.5-meter wall in barely two seconds.

He was stunned to find, upon landing, two uniformed campus security guards squatting at the base of the wall, one with a baton, the other holding a walkie-talkie and smoking.

Seeing someone leap over the wall, both guards' eyes lit up as if they'd caught a thief. They rushed at him, exclaiming, "Well, well! Bold enough to climb the wall in broad daylight?"

"Which department are you from, kid? Senior or graduate? The surveillance room’s been watching you for days! Finally, we’ve caught you!"

After an early night and more than ten hours of sleep, his spirits were high and his cough had improved. Good sleep is essential for recovery, especially when dealing with mycoplasma infections—medication alone is barely effective.

(End of chapter)