Zhang Lei just experienced this situation, which led to the discovery of the problem. In fact, it was discovered relatively early. If it had been a few months later, a fright or even a moment of excitement might have severed several nerves, making repair much more difficult.
Therefore, even if he knew who was calling him, Zhang Lei wouldn't care unless it was the Emperor himself.
After much deliberation, Zhang Lei decided to use all the internal energy he had gathered today on his nerves. As for the energy left over from yesterday, he would leave it untouched and replenish it. Humans are creatures who love to break exceptions and also love to extend them. Once something is broken, breaking it again becomes extending it, which makes it much easier.
It's like someone asking you to tell them a secret, and they say, "I'm good at keeping secrets!" Then your best response is, "Me too!" If you can't even keep a secret yourself, how can you expect others to keep secrets for you?
If you want to prevent a rule from being broken again and again, especially a rule that you set for yourself, then it's best not to break it no matter what excuse you have. That's why Zhang Lei left behind a day's worth of internal energy, which meant leaving behind a day's worth of internal energy unused.
Of course, this is under certain conditions. Zhang Lei left behind this amount of internal energy to prevent accidents. If an accident really happens, Zhang Lei wouldn't leave this internal energy unused. That would not be strict with himself, but rather foolishly leading a swarm of smoke.
This was Zhang Lei's first time strengthening his nerves; he had no prior experience with it, and probably no one in the world had ever had such an experience. In fact, Zhang Lei had already noticed that his nerve reaction speed seemed to have decreased slightly, but the decrease was negligible. In the past, self-examination could not detect the nerves at a microscopic level, so Zhang Lei was not very sure what kind of change it was; it was even somewhat abstract to human senses.
The conduction speed of human nerves is typically between five and one hundred and twenty meters per second, which is also related to the thickness of the nerve. However, in most cases, the delay is not a problem with nerve conduction, but rather the time required for brain processing. What people usually refer to as a fast or slow reaction is actually more about the brain's processing speed.
Many ancient Chinese martial arts already utilized this principle. Listening to energy is a technique that utilizes this principle to minimize the brain's reaction time. In modern firearms, there is also the concept of aiming with the hand.
Generally speaking, whether nerve signals travel at a speed of 120 meters per second, 100 meters per second, or even 20 meters per second, people can only have a rough idea at most; who can be absolutely certain?
Only someone like Zhang Lei, who possesses self-examination and whose self-examination can fully monitor the nerve endings within his body, could do this.
Strengthening nerves wasn't as difficult as Zhang Lei had anticipated. The only problem was that there were simply too many nerve lines. If all the nerve lines in the human body were taken out, they could circle the Earth several times over. And strengthening nerve lines had to be done in a microscopic state of self-examination.
Strengthening the nerves doesn't require too much internal energy. Zhang Lei used the self-examination three times in a row but still didn't use up the daily amount. If it weren't for the fact that the exam had just ended, he wouldn't have had that much time.
Even so, it only strengthens the main nervous system and a few important sympathetic nerve endings, which are key parts of the body's normal functioning and need to be strengthened first.
Strengthening other parts, except for capillaries, will not encounter this problem. Zhang Lei made a plan, like an optimal combination in mathematics. He will no longer specifically strengthen the nerves. Strengthening the nerves requires more time and less internal energy, so he can combine it with those projects that require less time and more internal energy to complete it in one day.
This gave Zhang Lei an insight: he had never made any plans in the past, but if he had made a serious plan, his efficiency would have improved a lot.
Although he had spent a lot of time strengthening his nerves, Zhang Lei did not stop exercising his body under self-examination, which was still very useful, especially for his major muscles. Even without internal energy strengthening, his muscles grew stronger faster than they weakened by absorbing internal energy.
Giving students a half-day off on the morning after the exam is a way to give them a chance to relax a bit, as most students are indeed under too much pressure during the exam period.
The next morning, Zhang Lei used a self-examination and was delighted to find that the nervous system had a greater innate ability to attach internal energy than other parts of the body. The internal energy on the nerve lines that had been repaired and strengthened the night before was not absorbed much by the internal energy vortex. The repaired nerve lines were also noticeably thicker, which meant that the passage ability here had been strengthened.
Moreover, based on Zhang Lei's experience, the attachment ability of organs that have been strengthened multiple times will become stronger and stronger. Thankfully, otherwise, the thought of strengthening such a large nervous system would give Zhang Lei a headache.
However, since he had already used self-examination, he decided not to waste it. He used it, along with the morning erections typical of young men, to work on the muscles he didn't usually get a chance to exercise. (Not a typo!)
It's not just a physical workout, it's a pleasure too. Zhang Lei decided he should do more of this kind of exercise in the future. Since the pleasure of training his internal energy had faded, or rather, he had gotten used to it, Zhang Lei hadn't felt such intense pleasure for a long time.
Just as Zhang Lei was immersed in this pleasure.
"Zhang Lei, there's mail!" The postman's shout almost ruined Zhang Lei's entire morning workout, but thankfully it was just a near miss.
The letter that arrived was from his parents. They often called, so there was nothing special they needed to tell him. However, a letter from Tian Zhiguo was mixed in with the letter, which made Zhang Lei happy for a long time.
Because of past events, Zhang Lei's parents kept his address in Shanghai a secret, and Zhang Lei didn't think to write a letter to his old friends. Perhaps it was because he was busy, or perhaps it was because of the pressure in Shanghai. But the real reason, as everyone knows, was laziness!
Tian Zhiguo's letter was probably entrusted to Zhang Lei's parents to be delivered, so it was tucked inside the family letters.
This kid didn't get into Yanbian No. 2 Middle School. Normally, it's considered good if even one student from an ordinary school can get into No. 2 Middle School. His score was even lower than that of self-funded students.
The power plant's benefits are quite good. For self-funded students, as long as they meet the eligibility criteria, the plant will cover all their expenses. Zhang Lei returned to Shanghai; otherwise, he would have received a bonus from the plant.
Tian Zhiguo didn't meet the cutoff for self-funded students, so he could only attend Tumen No. 2 Middle School, which is also a high school, but not a provincial key school.
According to his letter, this kid did quite well in Tumen. Those who came out of Yudian were all tough. He was a bully in junior high and elementary school, especially after Zhang Lei stood up for himself, Xiong Yong and the others gradually turned their attention to him.
Unexpectedly, he gradually became the school bully in Tumen. He taught a lesson to the original leaders of the school, and now they are his subordinates.
He didn't originally have such an overwhelming advantage, but he happened to meet an old man practicing boxing in the park and learned a lot of real skills from him. He said he would teach Zhang Lei when Zhang Lei came back to play next time.
The letter ended with a strong request for Zhang Lei to reply, insisting that he give him his mailing address. They had been best friends for eight or nine years and couldn't afford to lose touch. Xiao Lei Lei absolutely had to stop being so lazy and write this letter.
Zhang Lei closed the letter with a smile, then opened it again after thinking for a moment. He read it once more and felt an excitement as if he had found a love letter, and all his longing for his old friend was suddenly stirred up.
That's how it is. If you don't think about it, then there's nothing there. But once the longing is stirred up by something, it can no longer be suppressed. In that instant, Zhang Lei felt that none of the new friends he made in Shanghai were true friends. Only his childhood friends were genuine and without any impurities. Even Xiong Yong and Lei Xiaofeng had their endearing qualities.
Without hesitation, Zhang Lei hurriedly picked up his pen to reply to Tian Zhiguo, spending the entire morning on it. It seemed he had endless things to say, and he wrote a long, flowing letter, filling seven or eight pages—probably not enough stamps for this one. As for the mailing address Tian Zhiguo repeatedly mentioned, Zhang Lei was determined to write it down.
Zhang Lei deliberately left home a little earlier than usual at noon, intending to take a slight detour to mail the letter.
"Zhang Lei, right? You stop right there!" The one who called Zhang Lei over was a neighbor from the back door of his grandmother's house. Their child had been using the roof of Zhang Lei's grandmother's house as a main road, coming and going, and Zhang Lei had just scolded him for it a few days ago.
My maternal grandmother's family owns two houses. One of them is rented out to migrant workers from other places who come to Shanghai to work, while she lives in the other, nicer one. They originally planned to build a multi-story house on this one, but it was delayed because my maternal grandfather got cancer, and then the matter was abandoned.
As a result, the flat roof became a shortcut that the children often used to play on. Private houses didn't have so many rules; they were all next to each other, and stepping over them could sometimes save a lot of time.
"What is it?" Zhang Lei could tell at a glance that he came with ill intentions, but Zhang Lei was in a hurry to leave and didn't have time to waste with him. "We'll talk about it when I get back. I'm busy right now!"
"Hey? You little brat, so arrogant. Is this how you treat your elders when they're talking to you?" The man raised both arms, revealing his fairly strong muscles, and grabbed Zhang Lei's collar.
This guy has a criminal record, though I don't know what it is, but he's been to prison, and he usually uses that to bully others. But there are a lot of people like him in this area, so he only bullies his neighbors, especially families like Zhang Lei's, who only have one child and an old lady.
When Zhang Lei came back with his mother, his grandmother talked about their family. She was crying as she spoke. Although Zhang Lei couldn't understand the old northern Jiangsu dialect she was speaking, he could guess how much the old lady had been bullied when she was alone.
Zhang Lei didn't want to fight him right now. He had just finished exercising that morning, and his legs were still a bit weak, so he couldn't muster any strength. Using his self-assessment and internal energy, this old guy was obviously no match for him. However, Zhang Lei didn't yet have a clear understanding of the damage caused by internal energy. How much internal energy could cause damage without inflicting external injuries, or at least not severe ones, was a question that required multiple experiments.
Of course, it wasn't because Zhang Lei felt sorry for him. He didn't have any freckles on his backside, so why would anyone like him? The problem was that if he injured him in the same way, it would be tantamount to admitting that he was the one who committed the previous intentional assault. At the very least, it would attract the attention of the police. Being watched by the police is never a good thing, whether you're a good person or a bad person. Besides, Zhang Lei's past wasn't exactly clean.
Zhang Lei wasn't arrogant enough to think he could stand up to the state apparatus. Although he had strengthened the toughness of his skin and muscles, it only made it harder for splinters and shavings to penetrate, which was far inferior to stun guns and bullets.
Based solely on physical strength, Zhang Lei dared not claim to be his opponent. The age difference was undeniable. Although their heights were similar, a high school student's development was still far from that of an adult. Moreover, Zhang Lei was not in good condition at the moment. As for "fighting" experience, Zhang Lei did not believe he would lose to him.
"Elder? How come I didn't know you were my elder?" Zhang Lei didn't put his hands on it. Grab his collar? The most foolish thing would be that Zhang Lei had four or five ways to make him suffer a great loss without using his internal energy.