Chapter 3: You can level up even while sleeping?! That's a breakthrough!

"What did you say?"

Zhao Feng was stunned, hardly able to believe his own ears.

At Jianghai Third Middle School, who didn't bow and scrape before Zhao Feng? Even the teachers had to show him some respect.

Yet here was Jiang Chen—the school's notorious Trash who lived off welfare—daring to call him uneducated?

A sense of extreme humiliation instantly overwhelmed the inexplicable fear he felt just moments ago.

Especially in front of Mu Qingxue; this felt worse than being killed.

"I'll kill you!"

Zhao Feng roared, fully unleashing his strength at the Fifth Level of the Qi and Blood Realm.

His right arm instantly swelled with blood, muscles bulging like coiled Dragons. With a sharp gust of wind, he swung a punch toward Jiang Chen's face.

If this punch landed, Jiang Chen's nose would be shattered, and he might even suffer a concussion.

"Zhao Feng! How dare you!"

Mu Qingxue nearby finally reacted, shouting as she moved to intervene.

But someone was faster than her.

Facing this vicious punch, Jiang Chen remained seated on the sofa, not even moving an inch.

He simply narrowed his eyes, and the newly acquired "Lost Track Steps" in his mind instantly activated like an instinct.

Under his fully activated Mental Energy and dynamic vision, Zhao Feng's lightning-fast fist seemed as slow as a crawling snail, and his movements were riddled with openings.

"Too slow," Jiang Chen sneered inwardly.

Just as the wind from the punch was about to touch the tip of his nose, Jiang Chen leaned his upper body back slightly, dodging the brunt of the attack by a hair's breadth.

Zhao Feng felt as if his fist had struck a ball of cotton; he had all the power but nowhere to apply it.

Simultaneously, Jiang Chen's right leg shot out without warning, like a hidden venomous snake.

The kick landed squarely on Zhao Feng's lower abdomen—one of the softest and most vulnerable parts of the human body.

Bang!

"Ugh—!"

A dull thud of flesh on flesh echoed, followed by the sound of Zhao Feng retching.

The second young master of the Zhao family curled up like a cooked shrimp, his body forming a C-shape, his eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets.

The massive impact sent him staggering back five or six steps until he fell ungracefully onto his buttocks, knocking over his two lackeys behind him.

Silence.

Once again, a deathly silence.

Mu Qingxue's outstretched hand froze in mid-air, her beautiful eyes filled with disbelief.

Zhao Feng was a genuine Fifth Level Qi and Blood Realm practitioner! How could he have been kicked over by Jiang Chen?

How was this possible?

The dodge and counterattack just now were as precise as if they had been rehearsed a thousand times, and they even carried a sort of... mental suppression?

"Is this your Zhao family's upbringing?"

Jiang Chen stood up unhurriedly, brushed off non-existent dust from his school uniform, and looked down at Zhao Feng on the ground. "Can you do anything else besides barking?"

"I'm going to kill you... I'm going to kill you!"

Zhao Feng clutched his stomach, his face turning a dark purplish-red as the venom in his eyes nearly overflowed. He tried to stand up, but the sharp pain in his abdomen forced him back down.

"Enough!"

Mu Qingxue's cold voice rang out, and a powerful pressure instantly enveloped the room.

As a Quasi-Bone Forging Realm expert, her angry Aura was far beyond what these students could compare to.

"Zhao Feng, for openly committing violence in a teacher's office, I will report this to the Academic Affairs Office for a major demerit! Now, get out of here immediately!"

Zhao Feng gritted his teeth and glared at Jiang Chen as if looking at a dead man. "Fine, very well! Jiang Chen, you've got guts! Let's see how long you can hide behind a woman! Just you wait!"

After his parting threat, he struggled to his feet and stumbled out of the office, too ashamed to even pick up the roses on the floor.

"You were too impulsive."

Once Zhao Feng had left, Mu Qingxue looked at Jiang Chen with a complicated expression. "The Zhao family is powerful in Jianghai City, and Zhao Feng is extremely narrow-minded. You humiliated him today; he won't let this go."

"When you have too many lice, you stop itching," Jiang Chen shrugged, his lazy demeanor returning. "Would he have let me go if I knelt and begged? Since I'm going to offend him either way, I might as well enjoy myself first."

Mu Qingxue was momentarily speechless, finding his logic surprisingly sound.

"Take this." She suddenly opened a drawer, pulled out a pale blue potion, and tossed it to Jiang Chen.

Jiang Chen caught it and looked—it was an Elementary Qi and Blood Potion, with a market price of five thousand yuan a bottle.

To him, this was a fortune.

"Teacher, is this my 'allowance' for being kept?" Jiang Chen winked.

"Get out!" Mu Qingxue's face flushed as she glared at him. "This is a loan! If you don't place in the wilderness trial, you'll pay me back double!"

...

As he walked out of the school gates, the setting sun cast a long shadow behind Jiang Chen.

He felt the potion bottle in his pocket, a hint of warmth flowing through his heart.

This icy teacher was actually just a softie at heart.

"But this alone isn't enough."

Jiang Chen's eyes narrowed. Zhao Feng's look before leaving told him that trouble would soon follow. In this world of the strong devouring the weak, only those with the toughest fists have the right to sleep.

He squeezed onto an old hovering bus heading toward the slums.

The cabin was filled with the smell of sweat, cheap tobacco, and the weary air of people burdened by life.

Jiang Chen found a corner to huddle in, and as the bus jolted along, his consciousness sank back into the System.

[Entering Fragmented Sleep Mode.]

[Environment Rating: Extremely Poor (Noisy, crowded, body odor).]

[Earnings: 5x.]

[Extracting Reward: First-Grade Qi and Blood Pill (Virtual consumption).]

This was the overbearing nature of the System. In reality, taking a Qi and Blood Pill required quiet meditation to regulate one's breath and prevent the medicinal power from bursting through the Meridians.

But in a dream, the System could directly simulate perfect absorption!

With a thought, a majestic heat exploded within his body. It was energy ten times purer than the Elementary potion!

Crack, crack, crack...

A series of popping sounds, audible only to Jiang Chen, echoed within his body.

His previously clogged and stagnant Meridians were forcibly cleared by this torrent, his blood flow accelerated instantly, and his heart beat as powerfully as a war drum.

[Congratulations, host, for breaking the first limit of the human body!]

[Qi and Blood value has exceeded 50!]

[Realm Upgrade: Second Level of the Qi and Blood Realm!]

The bus continued to sway along, and the weary workers around him didn't notice at all that in this crowded corner, a young man's Aura had undergone an earth-shattering change.

"Arriving at Xingfu Village..."

Jiang Chen got off the bus and looked at the dilapidated tube-shaped apartment buildings before him.

This was the scar of Jianghai City—the slums—and the home where he and his younger sister depended on each other.

However, before he could even enter the hallway, a piercing cry reached his ears.

"Let me go! You bastards! I'm waiting for my brother to come back!"

"Hehe, little sister, that Trash brother of yours is probably rummaging for food in some dumpster. Why not come play with us? Young Master Zhao said that selling you to the Underground Black Market should cover quite a bit of debt."

Jiang Chen's footsteps came to a sudden halt.

That voice... it was Xiaoyu!

And they wanted to sell her to the Underground Black Market? This wasn't just bullying; this was destroying her entire life!

An uncontrollable hostility instantly rushed to his head, even more violent than when he faced Zhao Feng.

If sleeping was Jiang Chen's hobby, then his sister Jiang Xiaoyu was his "reverse scale." Anyone who touched it would die!

Swish!

Jiang Chen's figure instantly vanished. With "Lost Track Steps" fully unleashed, he turned into an afterimage and rushed up to the third floor in a few strides.

In the hallway, three street punks with dyed yellow hair were tightly blocking the door to his home.

A thin girl in a faded school uniform was cornered, clutching a broom tightly, trembling like a frightened kitten. Her small face was covered in tears, and her eyes were filled with despair.

Neighbors who heard the commotion peeked through their doors, but upon seeing the thugs, they quickly shut them again, terrified of getting involved.

"Who dares to touch her!"

This thunderous roar exploded in the hallway like a bolt of lightning.

The three punks jumped in fright. Looking back, they saw a youth in the Third Middle School uniform standing at the top of the stairs, his eyes so dark they looked like they could devour someone.

"Yo, I wondered who it was. Isn't this the famous wimp, Jiang Chen?" The lead thug with a scar on his face relaxed upon seeing who it was, a mocking grin spreading across his face. "What? Young Master Zhao was right—you Trash actually dared to come back and seek death?"

Slap!

A crisp sound interrupted his nonsense.

Scarface didn't even see how Jiang Chen moved before he felt his left cheek hit as if by a sledgehammer. He flew sideways, slammed heavily into the concrete wall, and slid down like a dead dog.

A few blood-stained teeth fell to the ground with a clink.

The other two punks were dumbfounded. This was a wimp? That slap must have had at least a thousand pounds of force!

"Brother!"

Seeing Jiang Chen, Jiang Xiaoyu dropped the broom and threw herself into his arms, sobbing uncontrollably.

"It's okay, Brother is back." Jiang Chen gently patted his sister's trembling back, his voice incredibly tender. But when he looked up at the remaining two, his gaze instantly switched to Asura mode.

"Did Zhao Feng send you?"

The two punks' legs were shaking. Looking at their fallen leader, they stammered, "It's... it's a misunderstanding... we were just..."

"Don't want to talk?"

A cruel smile curled on Jiang Chen's lips as he slowly closed his eyes.

To the two punks, this was a blatant insult—this kid was actually going to fight them with his eyes closed?

"Damn it, who are you looking down on! Let's get him!" The two looked at each other, pulled out daggers, and lunged at him viciously.

However, they didn't know that Jiang Chen hadn't closed his eyes to show off, but for a more precise slaughter.

[Hostile targets detected.]

[Activating "Dream Combat Simulation" mode.]

[Mental Energy perception fully activated...]

In the world of Jiang Chen's mind, the movements of these two were as slow as a slideshow. He could even "see" every contraction of their muscles and predict every trajectory of the daggers.

Sidestep, grab the wrist, break the arm, kick the knee.

Four movements, fluid and seamless.

Crack! Crack!

"Ah—!!!"

A shrill scream echoed through the entire building. The two punks' arms were twisted into bizarre angles, and their kneecaps were crushed. They collapsed on the ground, twitching in pain. From their perspective, a terrifying phantom of a demon seemed to emerge behind the eyes-closed Jiang Chen—an absolute deterrence brought by Mental Energy.

Instantly, the two punks wet their pants, literally scared shitless.

From beginning to end, Jiang Chen hadn't even opened his eyes.

Only after confirming the threat was gone did he slowly open his eyes. That moment of coldness made the three punks on the ground feel like they weren't facing a high school student, but a bloodthirsty demon.

Jiang Chen walked up to Scarface, stepped on his intact right hand, and slowly applied pressure. The sound of grinding bones was agonizing.

"Go back and tell Zhao Feng."

Jiang Chen leaned down, using his remaining Mental Energy to deeply plant a "Fear Suggestion" into Scarface's mind:

"If he wants to play, I'll play with him to the end. But if I see you here again before the college entrance exam..."

"I'll make you regret ever coming into this world; you'll be scared to death by nightmares even in your sleep."

After speaking, a strong wave of dizziness hit him, and Jiang Chen swayed. His Mental Energy was depleted again; he had to sleep immediately.

"Brother..." Jiang Xiaoyu pulled at the corner of his shirt, a bit frightened; she had never seen her brother like this.

The hostility in Jiang Chen's eyes vanished instantly. He turned around, gave a weary but warm smile, and collapsed onto the old sofa. "Xiaoyu, Brother is fine... just a bit sleepy... let me sleep for a while..."

The next second, snoring began.

Jiang Xiaoyu looked at her brother, who had fallen asleep instantly, then at the groaning punks on the ground. Her eyes held both heartache and a newfound sense of security.