36: Chapter 36 [Abnormal Perception]

In the morning, Chen Zhen first brewed the red date and goji berry water given by the old man.

A few slices of red dates, a small pinch of goji berries.

After pouring boiling water, the color slowly turned into a pale amber.

He took a sip; it was faintly sweet, carrying the date aroma and that unique subtle sweetness of goji berries.

Not long after drinking it, his lower abdomen began to warm up.

It wasn't a dry heat, but a gentle, moist warmth, as if a hand was softly covering his Dantian.

He lit the calming incense, held a Mint leaf in his mouth, and opened his physics workbook.

Today, he was tackling electromagnetism.

Usually, this part was his weak point.

But today, under the multiple buffs, he found that he could "see" those invisible fields.

It wasn't seeing with his eyes, but rather his brain could construct a three-dimensional model of the field distribution.

How the electric field lines radiated around a positive charge, how the magnetic field lines formed concentric circles around a current-carrying straight wire, how two parallel wires attracted each other when the current flowed in the same direction...

Once the model was constructed, the formulas were no longer symbols to be rote-memorized, but mathematical descriptions of the model.

Understanding it became much smoother.

When doing a comprehensive problem, a flash of inspiration suddenly struck him:

Aren't electric fields and magnetic fields just two states of "Qi"?

The electric field is like divergent Qi, and the magnetic field is like rotating Qi.

Isn't electromagnetic induction just the mutual transformation of two types of "Qi"?

As soon as this thought arose, the system panel popped up:

[Cross-Domain Insight: Preliminary analogy between electromagnetic field theory and the concept of 'Qi']

[Learning Dimension Experience + 60]

[exploration dimension Experience + 20]

[Cultivation + 0.55]

[Unlocked hidden achievement: Investigating Things to Extend Knowledge (Mutually verify scientific concepts and Cultivation insights, all-dimension growth speed + 5%, lasts 7 days)]

He had triggered another hidden achievement.

Chen Zhen stopped his pen, lost in thought.

The System seemed to be encouraging this kind of "connection."

Not treating Cultivation and science as two opposing Systems, but letting them inspire and verify each other.

Just like Engineer Gu, who used scientific methods to study Spiritual Qi phenomena.

And like the old man, who used physical bodily sensations to interpret the principles of Cultivation.

He himself was walking the path in the middle.

Morning ended, Learning Dimension experience rose by 120 points, and the exploration dimension was finally full:

[exploration dimension Experience reached 100 / 200]

[Unlocked new function: [Anomaly Perception] Passive, can vaguely perceive abnormal energy residues or traces of activity in the surrounding environment. Perception range: 10 meters radius. Precision: Low.]

Anomaly Perception.

Chen Zhen immediately tested it.

He closed his eyes and focused his senses.

At first, there was nothing.

But after calming his mind for a few seconds, he felt:

The ash left from the calming incense in the corner of the desk had a very faint, gentle energy residue.

The shouzhong token on his chest was a clear source of warmth.

Even inside his own body, his Dantian and limbs all had weak but continuous energy flow.

The range wasn't large, and the precision was indeed low.

He could only perceive "there is energy," but couldn't distinguish its nature or strength.

But this was a start.

With this ability, he would have a "detector" to explore the clues left behind by Engineer Gu or find other anomalous items in the future.

...

At noon, his mother returned late, saying a batch of new books had arrived at the Library and needed to be organized and shelved.

Chen Zhen cooked some noodles for himself, and cleaned up after eating.

Before going to the Bookstore in the afternoon, he first made a trip to the Secret Base.

Opening the door, the lingering scent of calming incense was still there.

He walked to the small table without opening his notes.

Instead, he closed his eyes and activated [Anomaly Perception].

The spherical perception range with a ten-meter radius expanded.

The clearest thing was himself.

His Dantian, the shouzhong token, and the Qi in his meridians and limbs.

Next was the ash from the incense on the table, the gentle energy like charcoal about to go out.

Then, he felt something else.

In the pile of jade scraps in the corner, two or three pieces had extremely weak energy fluctuations.

It wasn't Spiritual Qi, but more like the magnetic field of the mineral itself.

On the bottom shelf, an old book had a faint energy residue similar to the calming incense but more aged.

He pulled it out to look; it was a 《Tai Chi Manual》, a Republic of China edition, the pages yellowed with mold spots on the edges.

Opening it, besides the boxing manual, there were some handwritten annotations.

The handwriting was sloppy, but one could tell they were insights from practicing boxing:

"It is easy to sink Qi into the Dantian, but hard to make Qi flow through the limbs," "Relax the shoulders and drop the elbows, not to slacken force, but to lead the Qi"...

The annotator was clearly also a practitioner, or at least a practitioner of internal martial arts.

Chen Zhen put the book back in its place.

It seems that in this world, there are more hidden practitioners or explorers than he imagined.

It's just that everyone is low-key.

Like the old man, like Engineer Gu, like the person who annotated this manual.

All in their own corners, using their own ways, exploring the "back side" of the world.

...

When he arrived at the Bookstore, Old Wu was talking to a middle-aged man at the door.

The man was wearing a grey jacket, holding an old briefcase, and speaking in a very low voice.

When Chen Zhen walked closer, he heard a few sentences:

"... That batch of books, would you reconsider?"

"No more considering." Old Wu shook his head, "I said I wouldn't sell, so I won't sell."

"The price can be negotiated..."

"It's not about money." Old Wu waved his hand, "Please head back."

The man wanted to say something else, but seeing Chen Zhen approach, he stopped, nodded, and turned to leave.

Chen Zhen walked to Old Wu's side: "Grandpa Wu, that person..."

"A collector of old books." Old Wu turned and walked into the shop, "He's had his eye on that batch of Engineer Gu's things and has come several times."

Chen Zhen felt a tightness in his heart: "Does he know Engineer Gu?"

"He knows a little." Old Wu sat down behind the counter, "In this line of work, some people specialize in collecting 'strange things'."

"Ancient books, manuscripts, old instruments—the weirder, the more valuable. Engineer Gu's collection has some fame in their circles."

"Then..."

"Don't worry, I won't sell." Old Wu lit a cigarette, "I promised Old Gu that these things would either be kept or handed over to reliable people. That trafficker is not reliable."

Chen Zhen breathed a sigh of relief.

"But you need to be careful too." Old Wu exhaled a puff of smoke, "You walked in and out with Engineer Gu's things today, and you might have been seen. In the future... be lower-key."

Chen Zhen nodded: "I understand."

The work this afternoon was to organize a batch of newly received old magazines.

The work wasn't heavy, but Chen Zhen did it with extra care.

While organizing, he would occasionally activate [Anomaly Perception] to scan these old items.

Most magazines were just ordinary paper, and the energy residue was close to zero.

But when he got to a stack of 《Radio》 magazines from the eighties, he felt a weak magnetic field fluctuation from one of them.

He pulled that one out and opened it.

Tucked inside was a yellowed circuit diagram, hand-drawn, marked with strange component symbols and notes:

"Attempting to amplify 7.83 Hz signal (Schumann resonance frequency)"

"Reception effect is poor, need further interference shielding"

"Suspected periodic fluctuations, related to lunar phases?"

Below the circuit diagram, there was a signature and date: "Gu Mingyuan, 1991.4"

It was another item from Engineer Gu.

Chen Zhen took the magazine to the counter: "Grandpa Wu, this."

Old Wu took one look at the circuit diagram and smiled: "This Old Gu, really tinkered with everything. Even played with radio."

"This... is also Engineer Gu's?"

"Yeah, he had broad interests in his later years, wanted to try everything." Old Wu tucked the circuit diagram back into the magazine, "He said, since Spiritual Qi might have periodic fluctuations, could it affect electromagnetic waves? So he tinkered with these things himself."

"Any results?"

"Don't know." Old Wu shook his head, "His health failed later, and all these experiments stopped. However..."

He paused: "He once said to me: Sometimes the radio can't pick up a station, not because there's no signal, but because our antenna isn't right."

These words were meaningful.

Chen Zhen put the magazine into the box labeled "Engineer Gu's Relics".

Throughout the afternoon, he successively discovered a few more old items with weak energy residues:

A stone paperweight with strange patterns on the surface, an old fountain pen with runes carved into the barrel, and even a missing-page copy of 《Introduction to Feng Shui》.

None were strong, but they were indeed "anomalous".

It seems that what Engineer Gu collected wasn't just his own research materials, but also these scattered "strange things" that might have research value.

Old Wu told him to just put them in the box after organizing: "Don't touch these for now, wait until I have time to look at them."

...

When leaving the Bookstore in the evening, Old Wu stopped him and took a small cloth bag from under the counter: "This, for you."

Chen Zhen took it.

The cloth bag was very light and felt soft to the touch.

"What is it?"

"Open it and see."

Chen Zhen untied the cloth bag.

Inside were a few dark brown things, looking like tree bark or medicinal herbs.

They smelled of aged vegetation, mixed with a faint earthy scent.

"This is..."

"'Ancient wood chips' collected by Old Gu in the past."

"He said they were peeled off a dead ancient tree deep in the East Mountain, the tree age might be over a thousand years. He studied them and said this wood has some 'spirituality' and can calm the mind. I have no use for them, you take them, soak them in water to drink or use them for incense, both are fine."

Chen Zhen looked at the wood chips in his hand.

In [Anomaly Perception], these wood chips emitted a gentle energy fluctuation, similar to the calming incense but more serene.

Not strong, but very stable.

"Thank you, Grandpa Wu."

"Don't always thank me." Old Wu waved his hand, "Go back quickly, it's getting dark."

Chen Zhen carefully put away the cloth bag and walked out of the Bookstore.

The sunset dyed the street a warm gold. He turned back to look at the Bookstore's sign.

"Wu's Old Bookstore", the five characters glowed with an old light in the twilight.

Here, it was increasingly becoming a stronghold for him in the "back side" world.

...

When he arrived home, his mother was picking vegetables.

Seeing him return, she looked up and said: "Your grandmother called today, asking when we will arrive on Saturday."

"What did you say, Mom?"

"I said we'd go in the morning and have lunch at her place."

Mother put the picked vegetables into the basin.

"Your grandmother was overjoyed, saying she wants to stew chicken soup for you."

Chen Zhen washed his hands and helped pick the vegetables.

"Is Grandmother's health okay?"

"She's doing great." Mother smiled, "She just keeps nagging, saying her grandson has grown up and doesn't visit often."

Chen Zhen lowered his head to pick vegetables without speaking.

He really hadn't visited his grandmother in a long time.

After starting high school, his studies were busy, and he went less.

"I'll get up early on Saturday and go buy some pastries Grandmother likes." He said.

"Good." Mother nodded, "Your grandmother just loves the mung bean cakes from that shop on the old street."

At dinner, Father mentioned the equipment maintenance:

"Today I checked all the circuits on line three and found three points with poor contact. The team leader said it was lucky we found it early, otherwise there might have been a malfunction in a while."

His tone was filled with a sense of accomplishment.

"Then you've done a meritorious service." Mother served him food.

"Doesn't count as meritorious, just part of the job." Father lowered his head to eat, but the corners of his mouth were curved.

...

At night, Chen Zhen brewed the red date and goji berry water given by the old man, and broke off a small piece of the ancient wood chips given by Old Wu to put in the incense burner and light.

The wood chips burned very slowly, the smoke was blue-white, rising straight up, not swirling like the calming incense.

The fragrance was also different:

Deeper, thicker, with a sense of the antiquity of time.

But smelling it was very comfortable, like walking into an ancient forest.

In this fragrance, he began his evening practice.

"Embracing the Ball" for five minutes.

Today, the Qi in his right leg flowed much more smoothly, and the sense of circulation was more complete.

Then it was the sitting meditation of the Breathing Method.

The aroma of the ancient wood chips seemed to have an auxiliary effect.

His breathing was deeper, there were fewer distracting thoughts, and the mass of Qi in his Dantian was growing slowly but firmly.

After the practice, he summoned the system panel:

[Day 18 Summary]

[Cultivation Harvest: + 10.91 (Morning run 0.52 + Learning 1.8 + Practice 0.6 + Health upgrade 8 + Other 0.01)]

[Current Total Cultivation: 80.14 / 100]

[Health Dimension: Lv.3 (3 / 300)]

[Learning Dimension: Lv.3 (207.7 / 500)]

[Social Dimension: 53 / 200]

[Skill Dimension: Cooking 58 / 100, Organizing 72 / 100, Hand-drawing Lv.2 (150 / 300), Structural Drafting Introduction]

[exploration dimension: Lv.1 (110 / 200)]

[Special Status: Runners Heart (Sports experience + 10%); Investigating Things to Extend Knowledge (All-dimension + 5%, remaining 6 days); Physical Optimization (Passive); Anomaly Perception (Passive)]

[Special Note: Hundred-Day Foundation Building progress surpassed 80%]

[Distance to completing Hundred-Day Foundation Building, estimated remaining: 82 days]

80.14 / 100.

It was less than 20 points away from completing the Hundred-Day Foundation Building.

At the current speed, in another ten days or so, he should be able to reach 100 points, draw Qi into his body, and officially step into the Qi Refinement Stage.

Chen Zhen looked at that number, but his heart was surprisingly calm.

There was no imagined excitement or urgency, but rather a sense of calm as things naturally fell into place.

Foundation Establishment is a starting point, not the end.

The road ahead is long: nine levels of Qi Refinement, and after that, there is Foundation Establishment, Golden Core... each step is harder than the last.

But walking step by step, he would always get there.

He lay down on the bed and closed his eyes.

The shouzhong token was warm, the lingering fragrance of the ancient wood chips remained, and the Qi mass in his Dantian was stable.

In his mind, the knowledge network and the clue network quietly unfolded.

At the intersection of the two networks, faintly, the outline of a new node emerged.

That node was called "Qi Refinement Stage".