018 has suddenly understood?

After breakfast, it was already a little past nine. Chen Jue noticed that his time walking down the mountain to Linjia Village was shortening with each trip. Even though he still had eight pounds of weights strapped to his body, his stamina had become exceptionally abundant, likely a result of his constitution having improved overnight. Despite practicing boxing forms and stances all morning, he still felt reserves of energy coursing through his body.

After downing a large bowl of sticky rice, savory soy milk, and two steamed rolls, Chen Jue sat for over ten minutes scrolling on his phone, waiting for the food to settle in his stomach. Only then did he get up, intending to power-walk all the way to Panlong Town to buy groceries. He’d tried this before—though it was just a ten-kilometer round trip, he’d been so exhausted on the way back that he’d almost given up. But with his attributes having surged, Chen Jue was determined to complete this self-imposed challenge of speed-walking to buy food.

After paying and leaving the Lin family breakfast shop—this time without running into his old classmate Lin Ruomeng, who, according to her mother, had gone to work in the city—he set off. In these parts, especially in the economically prosperous Jiangsu-Zhejiang region, nearly every household owned a car. Many commuted daily to the city in cars costing tens or even hundreds of thousands. As for Lin Ruomeng’s little sister, she’d been left behind, mischievous as ever, in her parents’ care at the breakfast shop.

Such was the portrait of many ordinary families: raising children, making ends meet, and living out their lives in quiet simplicity.

As Chen Jue walked, he pondered the greater meaning of life. From his earlier conversation with Old Master Huang at the reservoir, he’d gleaned much. The elderly martial artist from Huangjia Village, who had taught the old man boxing, was likely a tragic figure—a man who had served in the military, fought off foreign invaders, then returned home to a lonely life, devoting himself solely to martial arts. Given the hardships of his era, with material scarcity, it was no surprise that he’d passed away in his sixties.

There was much Chen Jue didn’t know—perhaps the old master’s injuries from the battlefield had shortened his life. Otherwise, with his skills in Boat Fist and Eight Immortals Stance, living healthily into his seventies or eighties would have been no issue.

But life is unpredictable. Chen Jue remembered that, when he was in high school, his physics teacher—only in his forties, full of vitality—had suddenly died of a heart attack after a game of table tennis. This teacher had always been athletic and lively, never overworked, always joking with students, seemingly in perfect health. And yet, he passed away unexpectedly.

One can only say that fate is fickle—when the Reaper calls, no one can refuse. After all, few in Chen Jue’s family had died peacefully of old age. His grandparents had all succumbed to illness, and his parents—one to cancer, one to a construction accident—had left him with deep psychological scars from a young age.

Because of this, when he awakened his attribute panel, he became deeply fascinated with the theories of human evolution he’d read online. Even if he couldn’t achieve immortality like the immortals in novels, he hoped at least to live healthily past a hundred, free of disaster and disease, and see just how far this world would progress and change.

Lost in thought, Chen Jue suddenly found himself at Panlong Town’s market. The feeling was uncanny, as if time had skipped ahead—one blink and he’d walked five kilometers without pause. Despite carrying eight-pound sandbags, he checked the time: it was only 10 a.m., and he’d covered the distance in less than an hour. Even he was startled by his own speed!

Instinctively, he checked his attribute panel:
Player: Chen Jue
Age: 27
Health Index: 98%
Strength: 0.95
Agility: 0.92
Intelligence: 1.23
Constitution: 1.57
Skills: [Boat Fist Lv1 (100/200)] [Muscle-Tendon Classic Twelve Forms Lv1 (6/200)] [Eight Immortals Stance Lv1 (76/200)]
Free Attribute Points: 0.12

“My agility actually jumped by three full points! And how did my intelligence go up too?”

Could that state he’d just been in have been a legendary moment of enlightenment? The increase in attributes left Chen Jue stunned—both agility and intelligence had risen, and he’d accumulated another 0.02 free attribute points. Such incredible progress was almost like cheating.

What’s more, after speed-walking five kilometers, he didn’t feel tired at all. His body only had a light sheen of sweat, which the cool breeze quickly dried. Only his toes felt a bit chafed—clearly these running shoes didn’t fit well.

“Could it be that the stronger one’s constitution, the more effective the training?” Chen Jue felt elated. He’d planned to invest all his free points into constitution again, but when he glanced at his proficiency in the Muscle-Tendon Classic Twelve Forms, he hesitated.

In his view, if this Shaolin art could be leveled up, it would greatly boost his constitution—much more efficiently than simply allocating points. Adding to constitution was a one-time gain, but investing in the Muscle-Tendon Classic Twelve Forms would yield ongoing returns. The difference was obvious.

“Attributes are fleeting! But cultivation endures for a lifetime! Skills are like tools for mining attribute points—the better the tool, the more you can extract.”

“I’ll hold back for now, accumulate more points, and focus on grinding the Muscle-Tendon Classic up another level,” Chen Jue resolved. He put aside the idea of adding points and dove into shopping at the market.

He bought soft-shelled turtle, old hen, duck, pigeon—any food good for nourishment. Naturally, he also balanced his purchases with dried mushrooms and fresh beef, intending to treat himself to a hearty meal.

But once everything was tallied, the load was a bit much; he left the market carrying nearly thirty pounds of groceries. With the rising heat outside and perishable goods in his bags, he had no choice but to flag down a seven-seater van and spend a few yuan to ride back to Chen Village.

“Sigh, my legs just aren’t there yet. I still haven’t broken the record for round-trip shopping on foot.”

“I wonder how that miraculous runner in Water Margin, who supposedly covered a thousand miles by day and eight hundred by night, managed it. Was it really magic, or just literary exaggeration?”

“But the world record for a twenty-kilometer race walk is just over an hour. Once my attributes are high enough, I refuse to believe I can’t achieve my goal of power-walking to buy groceries!”

Grumbling to himself, Chen Jue glanced at his agility, still not quite at the standard value of one, and put off the idea of making the twelve-kilometer round trip on foot—for now.