Sometimes, the truth is like a thin layer of paper on a window. Before you break through it, it's incredibly difficult to see. You can only see a little light shining through the paper. But once you break through it, everything becomes clear.
Although Zhang Lei had done a fair amount of research on his self-examination, he was still far inferior to the older guys in the superpower group who also possessed this ability. Even though Liu Yun and Tian Xiao were only talking about the most basic self-examination applications that didn't require secrecy, it was enough to broaden Zhang Lei's horizons.
Of course, Zhang Lei's use of self-examination combined with internal energy to artificially alter and strengthen his body is something that others don't know about. No one would reveal their secrets to others without reservation.
However, even these most basic applications brought Zhang Lei enormous benefits. Previously, Zhang Lei had never considered using self-examination in combat, mainly because initially, using it once left him completely exhausted, unable even to stand steadily. What use would it be to understand everything about himself, or to sense the landing point of someone's punch? Later, when his internal energy was sufficient, it became a precious resource for slowing his own decline. Zhang Lei was unwilling to waste a single drop unless absolutely necessary. If it weren't for the irreplaceable role of self-examination in strengthening and compensating, Zhang Lei probably wouldn't have used it then, and he wouldn't have such a powerful ability index now.
However, if Liu Yun, Tian Xiao, or even their deputy captain and chief instructor knew that Zhang Lei was using his precious superpower while fighting with a few stubborn kids who weren't even hooligans, they might spit out blood.
The vital energy on Earth is becoming increasingly thin. According to the elders, the concentration of vital energy was much higher when they were children, making it much easier to absorb it from the surroundings. Even now, the other two experts in the National Bureau of Extraordinary Abilities with self-monitoring abilities struggle to guarantee that they absorb enough internal energy each day for a single self-monitoring session. Their internal energy requires constant refinement, training, and expansion of their meridians. After all, while extraordinary abilities are important, internal strength is the foundation of everything. Moreover, they need to reserve the vast majority of their energy for unforeseen circumstances; there are simply no people like Zhang Lei who almost completely deplete their absorbed internal energy every day.
Many masters are saying that if things continue like this, it won't be long before fewer and fewer people practice internal energy cultivation. This is because people with the same aptitude used to only need half a month to feel the first movement of Qi, but now it takes more than a month. When it takes half a year or a year, the anxiety and inner demons generated during that time will be enough to prevent people from generating real Qi.
Regardless, Zhang Lei's current method of using internal energy is extravagant, which is determined by his unique internal skill. If he were to absorb internal energy through the Baihui and Yongquan acupoints like others, his internal energy would be insufficient. However, this way there is no danger of drawing internal energy from other parts of the body, and the internal energy circulating in the body will automatically nourish the body and improve its functions.
Moreover, with basic mid-to-high-level cultivation techniques, other people with four years of cultivation experience, even if they have average talent and no special abilities under normal circumstances, could probably take on five or six of Zhang Lei now.
"Old man, you really like to daydream, don't you? You can daydream anytime!" Zheng Hongmao, holding a fruit knife, pretended to stab, but after thinking for a moment, he folded the fruit knife and tried to hit Zhang Lei with the flat side of the folded knife. How could these part-time troublemakers have the guts to actually stab someone with a knife, especially in a situation where they hadn't gotten angry yet?
A sharp light suddenly shot out from Zhang Lei's eyes, making the dark alley seem to flash. Compared to San Leizi, this kid's speed was like a tortoise compared to a hare. With a soft click, Zhang Lei's fingers caught his wrist.
Zhang Lei focused his self-examination on the parts of his body that were in contact, feeling the clear sensations coming from his fingers and palms. Every cell in his fingers, palms, and even his entire arm seemed to be jumping clearly under the impetus of the internal energy particles. This internal energy was not even newly transmitted by Zhang Lei; it was the internal energy that Zhang Lei had used to fill his whole body with internal energy just now.
Normally, at times like this, once the internal energy is filled, it seems to be lost, only bringing some increase in strength and speed. If you want to use internal energy again, you have to adjust it from the dantian. Fortunately, Zhang Lei's body does not circulate according to the meridians, so it is easy to use.
But now, every single internal energy particle seems to be waiting under Zhang Lei's command. If Zhang Lei's internal energy particles before were more like a group of militiamen who had just been recruited and had only undergone a few days of military training, then these internal energy particles now are like elite special forces.
"Explode!" Zhang Lei shouted softly, directing the internal energy particles on the three fingers resting on the red-haired man's wrist to burst forth.
Zhang Lei didn't want to hurt the person too badly. Even if it was in self-defense, it would be troublesome if the injury was serious, especially since the other party was a minor. Zhang Lei's plan was to squeeze the other person's wrist until it hurt, or at most leave it bruised and swollen, so that the other person would know the difference between them.
In the past, Zhang Lei's success rate in unleashing his internal energy was not high; otherwise, he would have been considered an invincible master among ordinary people. But this time, Zhang Lei was confident, and this confidence came not from anything else but from the obedience of those internal energy particles. At that moment, Zhang Lei was still regretting that he had never thought of this method before. Since he had superpowers, he didn't know how to apply them in battle.
Zhang Lei quickly lost his composure. He was shocked and regretful, but not because he hadn't discovered the trick sooner, but because he had gone too far.
The "pfft" sounded like someone couldn't hold in a fart and forced it out of their anus, except that what came out with the sound wasn't the sour smell of intestinal gas, but the smell of blood.
The poor young man's wrist, gripped by Zhang Lei, had all the flesh burst open, revealing the white bone with blood streaks underneath. Scattered blood and flesh splattered everywhere, with Zhang Lei's palm bearing the brunt, covered in a lot of minced meat, as if he had just mixed dumpling filling with his hands. It was even more watermelon juice than dumpling filling, dripping down in a torrent, occasionally bringing down a couple of pieces of meat and skin, which exploded on the ground in a bright red display.
"Ah!" This tenor voice, tinged with a child's tone, was absolutely earth-shattering. But all this seemed to be far from over. With each explosion, his inner energy began to climb up several unknown meridians on his arm. However, as it climbed, it kept exploding to demonstrate its presence, and each explosion inevitably brought up a new burst of blood.
Zhang Lei hurriedly withdrew his finger, his chest heaving. He barely managed to suppress a cry, constantly reminding himself, "I've killed people before, it's nothing special. I've killed people before, this is nothing!"
Last time, Zhang Lei used a technique called "hitting a cow through a mountain," and when Zuo Jian died, aside from his eyes being a little bigger and him spitting out some blood, there wasn't anything particularly terrifying. This kid's entire arm up to his elbow was already a bloody mess, but fortunately, the internal energy didn't continue forward after reaching his elbow. Zhang Lei didn't have much medical knowledge, but he knew that this kid's arm was essentially useless; the skin and flesh on his arm had been completely severed in several places, exposing the bone underneath.
Zheng Hongmao held his blown-up right hand in his other hand, rolling around on the ground. Blood spurted intermittently from his arm like a water gun with each heartbeat, turning the ground crimson in the blink of an eye.
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The other red-haired man was completely terrified. He opened his mouth wide and tried to scream, but only a hoarse sound came out.
Zhang Lei wasn't much better off. He was also somewhat dazed. He hadn't expected that even when he used dozens of times more internal energy than usual, it wouldn't have these effects. He hadn't expected that just a normal filling of his fingers, with the internal energy evenly distributed across them, would achieve such an effect. While Zhang Lei was still standing there, the internal energy particles in other places had already been evenly distributed without Zhang Lei's command. The internal energy on those fingers was back to normal, and it was impossible to tell that anything was missing. The only thing that seemed to show that they had changed was the guy on the ground who was still creating art and treating himself as a calligraphy brush.
This is actually one of the strengths of self-examination. A group of internal energy particles is like a group of active electrons. In their normal state, they are disordered. Electrons are uncharged, while internal energy particles show no energy reaction. Only under the guidance of willpower, a portion of the internal energy particles vibrate in a directional manner. Electrons appear to be charged, while internal energy particles release enormous energy.
Without self-monitoring, a martial artist's internal energy particles are like electrons, impossible to completely obey commands. If only 10% of the internal energy particles in a given volume obey orders, that's already considered a high level of skill. However, due to its microscopic nature, self-monitoring ensures that, except for a few particularly disobedient internal energy particles, at least 90% of the internal energy particles will act according to their master's will.
Once the internal energy particle control capacity reaches the first level, one can already be considered a master. In addition to absorbing and storing internal energy, those who cultivate internal energy are constantly refining this control capacity, striving to make the internal energy exert its greater effect.
Those with self-monitoring abilities can utilize over 90% of their internal energy, meaning the same amount of internal energy can be used at nine times the effect of someone else—especially a master. No wonder ordinary people, even those who have cultivated internal strength, are often no match for those with superpowers. This is why those with superpowers are so precious, and in most cases, only they can truly fight against them. Moreover, given its many powerful effects, it's no wonder that self-monitoring is one of the strongest superpowers.
Zhang Lei had no one to guide him in the past; his methods were all come from his own intuition. Of course, some were right and some were wrong. Even methods passed down for thousands of years might not be without flaws, let alone new ones he came up with himself. However, what has been passed down in the past may not be suitable for you. On the contrary, what you come up with yourself is more compatible with you. Of course, the chance of messing it up is also higher. If Zhang Lei didn't have that special ability, he would definitely have messed it up.
Therefore, Zhang Lei's actual control over internal energy particles in the past was far from even one tenth, let alone one tenth.
Although it was Zhang Lei's first time using self-examination combat, the amount of internal energy particles he commanded might not have been over 90%, but it was at least 80%. The utilization rate suddenly increased by more than a hundred times, so it's not surprising that the effect was beyond Zhang Lei's expectations.
Just as Zhang Lei and Wai Hongmao were still in a daze, voices came from outside the alley, "Damn it, hurry up, I don't know what's going on, why are you shouting so loudly? Oh, right, you don't know how to do it, it's just a drop of copper, damn it!"
Translations will be in Shanghainese from now on, except for a few easily understood ones, all of which will be translated into Mandarin for easier viewing.
"Fuck you, hurry up! I don't know what's wrong with that little brat, why is he yelling so loudly? Is he in heat? And you too, he won't do anything to you, he just wants a little money from you, hurry up!"
I heard a girl's voice muttering. It wasn't loud and I couldn't hear clearly. It was obvious that those two had brought another person they were trying to break up with. This time it was a girl, and her voice wasn't very loud.
Zhang Lei was the first to realize that this wouldn't end well. The police might get involved, or at least it would be considered excessive self-defense. What should he do? What should he do? Should he silence them? Although there weren't many people here, quite a few might have seen him. Even if he tried to silence them, he wouldn't be able to. Killing these thugs would only make things worse; it would be considered intentional homicide.
At this point, the red-haired man was silent; it was unclear whether he was dead or had fainted.
The girl's voice came over, "Fine, don't go over there. Can't I just give you all the money I have here?"
"No way!" Hearing the shouts stop, the two men calmed down. "If someone sees us, they can sue us. Go inside, and even if you want to sue, there won't be any witnesses. Our boss taught us this, so don't blame us. Minmin's birthday is coming up soon, and we need to prepare some birthday gifts for her!"
The voice sounded familiar; he was sure he'd heard it in class. He wondered who lived nearby. Zhang Lei was getting increasingly anxious; if she saw him, things would get even more complicated, and the police wouldn't even need to search for him.
Suddenly, Zhang Lei chuckled. "Oh yeah, I saw it, so I saw it! How could I forget!" Zhang Lei looked down and saw his blurry reflection in the mirror formed by the pool of blood. He was clearly a short man who had reached adulthood. Perhaps not middle-aged, but he certainly didn't look like a middle school student. Even college students look old. Heh, looking at the weathered wrinkles on his face, Zhang Lei smugly combed his hair.
Just like how you stop feeling hungry after you've had enough, and stop feeling sleepy after you've had enough, you stop feeling scared after you've had enough. However, this might also be related to the fact that Zhang Lei had killed someone before. Anyway, Zhang Lei is not afraid at all now, and his mind has become calm.
He stepped back a little, trying to avoid getting blood on his shoes and pants. Luckily, he had kept a good distance, and most of the blood that splattered upon contact was blocked by his palms. October in Shanghai was still quite hot, and Zhang Lei was only wearing a short-sleeved shirt. There was only a little blood on his bare arms, but he could rub it off along with the dirt in a bit. Fortunately, he hadn't showered yesterday. Not liking to shower had its advantages, Zhang Lei thought to himself.
Hmm, I think my hand only touched his wrist just now, but I don't think there will be any fingerprints left on the skin there. Thanks to Sherlock Holmes and Detective Hunter, Zhang Lei understands these basic crime-solving methods a little better.
Moreover, Zhang Lei had an advantage: he raised his left hand and altered the fingerprints, changing the original five pockets into five whorls.
Zhang Lei gestured, making a gesture of supporting himself with his hand, so that the bloody handprint was clearly imprinted on the wall across the alley. He could also easily wipe the bloodstains from his hand onto the wall. Surely the police wouldn't miss such obvious evidence. Rather than having no handprints at the crime scene, it's better to give them a fake one. It's better to give them a bunch of false clues than to have no leads and let them investigate blindly.
"Sigh, I really hope everything goes smoothly with Brother Liu. I heard that as long as you join their bureau, you can handle such small matters with just a word!" Zhang Lei is now even more looking forward to joining the Guoyi branch bureau.
The two men and one woman were already quite close to the alley entrance, and they reached it in a short while. Seeing the horrific scene inside the alley, the girl couldn't help but scream loudly. The two men weren't much better off, and they immediately started providing backing vocals for her. However, they probably wouldn't get paid because the girl turned and ran away, and the two men didn't even try to stop her. They were really unprofessional.