Chapter 2 One Punch Shatters Rocks
"Corpses... I need more corpses..."
Zhang Fan muttered to himself, his eyes flashing with an unprecedented light.
The battlefield, which others avoided like the plague, had now become a sacred cultivation ground in his eyes, hidden with infinite treasures. He urgently needed more attribute points to transform into even greater power.
Just then.
"Woo—woo—woo—"
A piercing air-raid siren blared, coming from the direction of the "Jinhua Garden" residential area adjacent to his slum district!
Immediately after, the cheap electronic watch on his wrist received an emergency message automatically pushed by the city defense system: [Warning! A small spatial rift fluctuation has been detected in Area C of Jinhua Garden. The energy level is determined to be 'Wolf-grade,' and a group of low-level ferocious beasts is emerging. Nearby residents please head to the shelters immediately. City Defense Forces are on their way!]
Zhang Fan's heart jolted!
Jinhua Garden was a typical high-density residential area. At this time, it was the peak hour for getting off work and school, and the population was extremely concentrated.
Although a Wolf-grade rift was the lowest level, the ferocious beasts that emerged were still a catastrophic disaster for ordinary people. By the time the City Defense Force arrived, the casualties would likely be immeasurable.
Zhang Fan pushed open the window, flipped out agilely, and slid down quickly along the external pipes of the old building.
The physical enhancement brought by the Dragon-Elephant Body Refinement Art made his movements far more agile than before. With a few leaps and bounds, he sprinted toward the direction of Jinhua Garden.
...
The small square in Area C of Jinhua Garden had already become a living hell.
A distorted rift, flickering with an ominous purple light, hovered in mid-air. Four or five "Bone-Spike Cat Demons," which looked like cheetahs but were covered in bone armor with claws and teeth flashing with cold light, were letting out sharp screeches and frantically pouncing on the panicked residents.
Screams, cries, and the sound of breaking objects blended together. Several incomplete corpses already lay on the ground, blood staining the square's floor tiles red.
"Get lost!"
Zhang Fan rushed over, his gaze instantly locking onto a Bone-Spike Cat Demon that was pouncing toward a mother holding a child. He stomped his right foot hard on the ground, actually creating fine cracks in the asphalt road, and his body shot out like a cannonball using the momentum!
"Cloak Hammer Method, Charging Hammer Form!"
His right hand gripped a heavy hammer, the muscles in his arm bulging. The Dragon Elephant Power within his body surged violently, pouring into the heavy hammer.
Boom!
A dull, massive explosion sounded.
That Bone-Spike Cat Demon flew backward even faster than it had pounced, slamming hard into the edge of a distant flower bed. The bone armor at its spine shattered, and it slumped to the ground, lifeless.
[Contacted the corpse of a First-Order Lower-Rank ferocious beast 'Bone-Spike Cat Demon.' Obtained attribute points: 1.]
A notification sounded in his mind, but Zhang Fan had no time to look closely at the moment.
He didn't stop, moving like a tiger among sheep, and proactively charged toward the other cat demons that had become even more frenzied from the smell of blood. The Perfection-level Cloak Hammer Method was unleashed in his hands.
With the support of the Dragon-Elephant Body Refinement Art, his power, speed, and reactions completely suppressed these low-level beasts. The battle was without suspense, almost a one-sided slaughter.
Within a few breaths, the remaining Bone-Spike Cat Demons all fell dead to the ground.
The sound of sirens grew closer, and several off-road vehicles painted with the City Defense Force logo sped over, braking sharply at the edge of the square.
The doors opened, and a group of young people wearing uniform combat suits quickly got out, well-equipped.
The leader was a tall and elegant-looking young woman; she was the class beauty of Zhang Fan's class, Liu Qian. With her excellent grades, she had joined the City Defense Force's Reserve Special Operations Team.
The few young men following behind her were also prominent figures from their old class, and now they were her team members. They each looked tense, as if facing a great enemy, clearly prepared for a fierce battle.
However, when they saw the scene on the square clearly, they were all stunned.
The ferocious beasts... are all dead?
Only a few scattered residents remained on the square, along with that familiar figure standing among the beast corpses, looking somewhat out of place—Zhang Fan?
"Quickly check the scene, assist the injured, and seal the residual rift fluctuations!" Liu Qian reacted quickly and calmly issued orders. The team members immediately dispersed to take action.
She, with a hint of doubt, walked toward Zhang Fan, who was calming his breathing. Her gaze swept over the cat demon corpses on the ground, which had died cleanly and efficiently, and a flash of surprise and suspicion crossed her eyes.
"Zhang Fan? Why are you here? These cat demons... who dealt with them?" Liu Qian's voice carried a subtle hint of inquiry.
Before Zhang Fan could answer, a team member with a face full of arrogance named Li Kun spoke up first, his tone dismissive: "Sister Qian, do you even need to ask? It must have been some passing expert senior who cleaned them up in passing. Too bad we arrived a step late and didn't get to see the real person."
He glanced at Zhang Fan and sneered, "As for him? A member of the Corpses Collection Team, probably smelled the scent and ran here to work, right? He's certainly quick on his feet."
The other team members also chimed in one after another. Clearly, no one believed Zhang Fan had the ability to solve a group of Bone-Spike Cat Demons alone.
In their perception, Zhang Fan was still that trash who had failed the martial artist college entrance exam.
Zhang Fan didn't bother to explain, and didn't even give Li Kun a glance. His attention was more on the panel in his mind: [Available Attribute Points: 6].
In just a short moment, he had gained 6 points. Arguing with these "NPCs" who were destined to be just passing travelers in his life was a pure waste of time.
He silently walked to the nearest cat demon corpse, took out a retractable body bag from his portable simple tool kit, and began to handle it skillfully.
Seeing Zhang Fan ignore him, Li Kun felt insulted and snorted coldly, "Hmph, trash is just trash. He's only fit for this kind of lowly work."
Liu Qian, however, frowned slightly and ignored her team member's mockery.
She carefully sensed the surrounding aura. Aside from the residual violent energy of the ferocious beasts and the panic of the residents, she didn't detect any energy fluctuations belonging to a powerful martial artist.
The battle traces at the scene were clean and efficient, almost all one-hit kills, showing that the person who acted had quite impressive power and control. And at the moment, there was no one else at the scene besides them and Zhang Fan, who was collecting the corpses.
A bold, even somewhat absurd thought rose in her heart: Could it be... these cat demons were killed by Zhang Fan?
...
Zhang Fan ignored the gazes and speculations behind him. He moved the last cat demon corpse onto the Corpses Collection Team's specialized transport vehicle that had arrived later.
His colleague, Brother Wang, poked his head out: "Not bad, Xiao Fan! You arrived just as things finished here. You're proactive enough!"
Zhang Fan smiled and didn't offer much explanation.
Adding the previous remainder, he now had a total of [Available Attribute Points: 13].
Returning to his rental room, he couldn't wait to start adding points.
His thoughts focused on [Cultivation Method: Dragon-Elephant Body Refinement Art (Entry)].
"Level up!"
Attribute points began to be consumed rapidly.
1 point, 2 points, 3 points...
A heat flow emerged again, even more surging and powerful than the first time. His bones emitted a faint hum, and his muscle fibers were further torn and reorganized. His blood and qi flowed incessantly like a great river, and a layer of faint golden luster vaguely appeared on the surface of his skin.
When 4 attribute points were consumed, the technique's text changed to [Dragon-Elephant Body Refinement Art (Proficient)]!
His strength surged again; he felt he could easily punch through a steel plate now.
Without stopping, he continued to invest!
5 points, 6 points... when the total consumption reached 8 points, the technique advanced again to [Dragon-Elephant Body Refinement Art (Minor Achievement)]!
An aura far more formidable than before radiated from his body, and the air in the room seemed to stagnate for a moment. He stood up, moved his muscles and bones slightly, and his joints made crisp popping sounds, as if containing infinite power.
"If I encounter those Bone-Spike Cat Demons again, I could probably take them out one punch at a time. I wouldn't even need to use moves; pure strength would be enough to crush them."
Zhang Fan felt the surging power within him, and his confidence increased greatly.
There were still 5 attribute points left.
He turned his gaze toward [Martial Skill: Cloak Hammer Method (Perfection)].
"Deduce and Advance!"
With a thought, the 5 attribute points were instantly cleared.
In his mind, all the insights regarding the Cloak Hammer Method began to merge, sublimate, and transform! The originally somewhat heavy hammer technique that emphasized great weight and power began to evolve toward a more fierce and explosive direction, deriving more exquisite force-exertion techniques and variations.
[Cloak Hammer Method] advanced to [Stone-Crushing Hammer Method (Entry)]!
Every move and style was no longer limited to the form of a "hammer" but concentrated the entire body's strength at a single point for an instantaneous burst, having the power to crush mountain stones! It could not only be used with a heavy hammer but could even be integrated into fist techniques.
Zhang Fan subconsciously threw a punch through the air toward an old stone lock in the corner used to weigh down clutter.
Hum!
The wind from the punch surged. There was no direct contact, but several fine cracks actually appeared on the surface of that stone lock!
Hiss... Zhang Fan himself was startled. The power of this Stone-Crushing Hammer Method far exceeded his imagination.
He carefully evaluated his current strength. Dragon-Elephant Body Refinement Art at Minor Achievement, Stone-Crushing Hammer Method at Entry level. This kind of strength was probably not inferior at all to those elites in his class who ranked in the top twenty and had practiced high-level family-inherited techniques.
And the class beauty, Liu Qian, her rank in the class seemed to be eighteenth?
One must know that just yesterday, he was a failure who couldn't even touch the threshold of a martial artist university. Meanwhile, Liu Qian and the others had their current strength after more than ten years of family resource tilting and their own bitter cultivation.
And what about himself? He had only obtained over twenty attribute points through "corpse-touching" and used less than two days.
This system's point-adding was truly heaven-defying!
"The Corpses Collection Team... is really a good place." A curve hooked at the corner of Zhang Fan's mouth.