14: Chapter 14: Fast, accurate, and with a touch of "unexpected surprise".

"Neural Response and Dynamic Visual Enhancement (Primary)," 1500 Popularity Points, redeem!

Alex felt this "purchase" was subtler than buying any other skill. There was no flood of knowledge, no update to muscle memory; it was more like pressing a few hidden "High Definition" and "Bullet Time" buttons on his existing sensory system.

For the first few days, the change was almost imperceptible. Until that afternoon, when he sat by the window in a cafe, replying to emails while unconsciously glancing at the street.

A delivery scooter zipped by, moving quite fast. In the past, that would have been a blur of color and noise. But now, Alex clearly "saw" the reflective sticker patterns on the rider's helmet, the dents at certain angles on the insulated box on the back, and even the trajectory of a small pebble kicked up by the tires as it spun and fell in the air—it was absurdly slow, allowing him to leisurely watch it "plop" onto the edge of the sidewalk.

He blinked, and everything returned to normal. The street was bustling with traffic, moving at its usual speed.

"Interesting." He took a sip of coffee, suppressing the novelty in his heart.

He truly realized its usefulness when he was driving. When merging, his judgment of the distance and speed of vehicles behind him became extremely easy and confident. A skateboarder suddenly darting out at an intersection seemed to have their actions predicted; his foot on the brake and his hands on the steering wheel adjusted half a beat faster. The whole process was smooth and fluid, and Mark (who was hitching a ride to downtown) didn't even notice any sudden braking, only feeling that Alex drove "as steadily as an autopilot."

"Did you go to an advanced driving course recently?" Mark asked curiously, fastening his seatbelt.

"Maybe... talent awakened?" Alex joked, brushing the topic aside.

This "one step ahead" perception quickly integrated into his daily life. In crowded hallways, he could easily avoid everyone walking toward him without even brushing a sleeve; catching a pen that accidentally rolled off a desk was a piece of cake. He even tried playing a fast-paced game and was surprised to find he could see the trajectory of the bullets—although his hand speed couldn't keep up with his brain speed yet, his score indeed soared by a chunk.

Of course, the new skill also brought some minor awkwardness. For example, in the library, a girl opposite him raised her hand to tuck her hair, and the movement inexplicably slowed down in his eyes. He could clearly see even the curled strands of her hair and her slightly trembling eyelashes. It lasted so long that he felt a bit uncomfortable, so he had to quickly lower his head to read. Or at the gym, when others were panting while lifting weights, he could clearly see the trembling of their muscle fibers and the slow-motion rolling of sweat beads on their temples when they exerted force... This made him feel like a freak peeping at the precision instruments of the human body.

"Must learn to control attention." He reminded himself inwardly.

Just as he was adapting to the new skill, opportunities in the real world were lining up to knock at his door.

First, the partnership agreement with the sportswear brand "Kinetic Pulse" was officially finalized. The other party not only sent a large box of the latest training clothes, running shoes, and accessories, but the contract terms were also quite generous: a high fixed fee plus sales commission, and they gave him great creative freedom. The only requirement was to "showcase the performance and aesthetics of the products in extreme environments." Zoe, the brand manager in charge of coordination, did not hide her excitement in the video call: "Alex, your video is the 'dynamic aesthetics' we want! We don't need stiff advertisements; we want that feeling you have of filming sports like art!"

Next was the audition invitation for the film school's sci-fi short film "Messenger 2077." He hadn't taken it too seriously at first, but the director—a quite talented graduate student—insisted on meeting him after watching his Parkour video. The audition was in a small rehearsal room at the film school. There was no complex script; the director just asked him to imagine himself as a runner delivering important information in a deserted city and then freestyle a performance of "traversing complex terrain."

Alex simply let go. He treated the tables, chairs, and mats in the rehearsal room as obstacles. Combining his newly enhanced reaction speed, he improvised an "indoor Parkour" segment full of tension and fluidity. There were no flashy big jumps, but every turn, roll, and leverage was precise and full of narrative, as if he were really dodging something or racing against time. After the performance, the room was quiet for a few seconds. The director adjusted his glasses, a smile of having found a treasure on his face: "You're the one. The pay isn't high, but you'll have a really cool role."

What he found most interesting was the "immersive experience design company" that Eric connected him with—Reality Maze. Their project leader was a young geek wearing a plaid shirt with bright eyes, named Leo. After communicating online a few times, Leo directly sent an encrypted link containing an early prototype demo of their AR urban game in development, "Neon Stalker."

Alex put on his AR glasses (slightly upgraded) and opened the app. The apartment living room in front of him hadn't changed, but there were virtual, flickering colored path guides on the floor, floating data panels (virtual) on the walls that needed to be "hacked," and the windowsill had become an "energy supply point." Although rough, the concept was interesting: players needed to move in the real city, complete virtual tasks, and unlock stories based on real geography.

Leo hoped Alex would participate as a "City Parkour and Visual Expert" to design physical challenge levels within the game and test the rationality of the interaction between AR indicators and the real environment. In addition to the design fee, the remuneration included that during the closed beta phase of the game, he could enter several unique venues in Los Angeles that they had already negotiated (an art space converted from an old power plant, the roof of a multi-story parking lot, an abandoned railway bridge that allowed graffiti) for "integration testing," with dedicated personnel responsible for venue safety and permits.

This was practically a "legal adventure permit" tailor-made for him! Alex agreed almost immediately.

Fame, cooperation, new projects... everything was snowballing. Alex walked on campus, feeling like a moving magnet. More and more people recognized him, and the way they greeted him changed from "Hey, aren't you that guy who makes videos?" to "Alex! The new video is fire!" or "Congrats on getting the role in 'Messenger'!"

Of course, more "attention" followed. When buying coffee at the student center, the girl at the register would look at him twice more and then "accidentally" give him an extra cookie. While looking up information in the library, unknown girls would walk over and whisper, "Can I borrow your pen?" and then the pen would never be returned (the next day there would be a new one on his desk). Once, even in the stairwell, he bumped into two girls who were obviously carefully dressed and seemed to be "bumping into" him, instantly adjusting to the most perfect surprised expressions when they saw him.

In response, Alex's coping strategy became more and more proficient: maintain a friendly but clear distance, smile politely, end the conversation quickly, and steer the topic to academics or the weather. The "Pressure and Multithreaded Task Mental Management" skill allowed him to remain calm during these little social "raids" without getting annoyed.

He knew his face and physique were eye-catching now, but at this stage, he preferred to convert this attention into channel subscriptions, cooperation opportunities, and... well, the silently growing system popularity.

At night, he took stock of his recent gains. In the system, popularity was steadily marching toward 6000 points due to the continued fermentation of "Pulse City" and the potential exposure brought by new collaborations.

He opened the mall again, his eyes scanning those more tempting and expensive options. There were ones for strengthening physical recovery, improving learning efficiency, and even some vague categories pointing to "special talents."

But he didn't redeem them immediately. The newly acquired reaction enhancement was still digesting, and the projects in front of him (Parkour video post-production, sports brand content, film shooting, AR game design) were enough to keep him busy for a while.

"Eat one bite at a time, digest skills one by one." He told himself.

Turning off the system, he picked up a dark gray training top with subtle reflective lines sent by Kinetic Pulse and held it up to the mirror. The tailoring was first-class, and the fabric was full of technological feel. He was already conceiving in his mind how to wear this outfit during the next AR game venue test and shoot a short film that seamlessly integrated real-life Parkour, AR virtual interfaces, and product performance.

That effect would definitely be more explosive than a simple Parkour video.

He put down the clothes and looked out the window. The night sky of Los Angeles was rarely clear, and a few stars could be seen.

Life was unfolding at a speed he had never imagined, full of challenges and excitement. And he, now, with sharp eyes and quick hands, full of energy, had a bunch of "toys" and projects waiting for him to play with.

This feeling of having everything under control and being able to constantly unlock new levels was really not bad.

He stretched, his perfect body lines stretching under the lights.

Tomorrow, first go to the "Messenger" crew to report, then chat with Leo about the time for the first venue test. As for the brown-haired beauty in the gym who always wanted to "ask for advice" on his squats? Well... maybe recommend she check out Kinetic Pulse's official tutorial channel.

He smiled and turned off the lights. The room plunged into darkness, with only the distant glow of the city, and like his eyes, glowing slightly in the silence.