2: Chapter 2 Experience Panel

Chapter 2 Experience Panel

Outside the car window, the city night view was brilliant and colorful.

Fang Cheng leaned against the cold back of the bus seat.

His pupils were also flashing with a strange light.

Right before his eyes, a light blue screen slowly unfolded.

And the passengers sitting nearby did not notice anything unusual at all.

[Role Panel]

[Name: Fang Cheng]

[Age: 23 years old]

[Strength: 7]

[Agility: 9]

[Physique: 8]

[Spirit: 18]

[Attribute Points: 0]

...

[Talent Panel]

[Beauty (Green - Excellent)]

...

[Skill Panel]

[Speed Reading lv1 (19 / 250)]

[Focus lv1 (53 / 250)]

[Culinary Arts lv0 (27 / 100)]

[Cleaning lv0 (68 / 100)]

[Boxing lv0 (54 / 100)]

...

Fang Cheng was someone who had undergone Transmigration.

Strictly speaking, it belonged to Reincarnation, and he only awakened the memories of his past life two months ago.

This game-like character panel naturally appeared along with the recovery of his past life memories.

Like a virtual optical brain in science fiction, it was in the shape of a translucent screen, and only the host himself could see it.

Fang Cheng called it "Life Game Experience Panel".

After a period of exploration and practice, he roughly understood its operating mechanism.

As long as one devoted themselves heart and soul to a matter, there was a chance to unlock a skill slot on the panel.

The size of this probability was related to the basic skills mastered; the more proficient one was, the greater the probability.

Afterwards, by continuously carrying out relevant practice of this skill, one could continuously obtain experience and level up.

And every time a skill leveled up, one could obtain specialized enhancement rewards.

Such as relevant attribute points, or skill special effects...

So far, the biggest benefit this Golden Finger gave Fang Cheng was reigniting his passion for learning.

Even more diligent and self-disciplined than during his school days.

Through more than a month of self-study for the postgraduate entrance examination, Fang Cheng successively unlocked two skills: "Speed Reading" and "Focus".

In daily life, he also unlocked the "Culinary Arts" skill.

Afterwards, he changed his part-time job and intentionally found work at a combat club.

It was both out of safety considerations to get some self-defense skills for free, and also to verify his thoughts.

Besides study and life skills, could other types of skills also be unlocked?

Facts proved that Fang Cheng's thoughts were correct.

"A single actual combat yielded 20 points of experience."

"Compared to the efficiency of practicing alone, it is much higher..."

Fang Cheng's pupils flickered slightly, closing the panel.

His gaze then fell on the skin-broken and bleeding knuckles of his right hand.

This was caused by punching the skull of that drunkard.

The action of force was mutually transmitted; hitting someone also meant needing to endure part of the damage.

Therefore, fighters also wore gloves during usual training, mainly to reduce the risk of injury.

Fang Cheng rubbed his slightly sore wrist joints.

"The body is still too fragile..."

Upgrading the two skills "Speed Reading" and "Focus" yielded a total of 5 attribute rewards.

Unfortunately, due to the characteristics of the skills themselves, they could only be added entirely to the Spirit attribute.

After all, one could imagine being a bookworm full of spirit.

Relying on reading and writing to strengthen the body and turn into a muscular hunk was not realistic.

Otherwise, he could consider raising his Physique a bit first.

Fang Cheng took a deep breath, gradually calming his violently beating heart.

Having been a shut-in for two lifetimes, this was the first time he had a serious fight with someone and defeated the enemy to win.

Emotions would inevitably be a bit excited, and it also gave him some inexplicable confidence.

"Ding-dong."

"Jiuchang Street has arrived. Please take your belongings and get off the bus from the rear door. Please pay attention to safety when getting off..."

The broadcast sound of the bus arriving at the station sounded.

Fang Cheng shouldered his cross-body bag and got off the bus.

He raised his head to look at the surrounding environment with sparse streetlights and piles of garbage.

Then he strode across the road and walked into a narrower and darker alleyway.

The houses on both sides were dilapidated, the wires were messy, and they were packed tightly against each other.

Privately modified sheds could be seen everywhere, as well as small vendors selling all kinds of fake goods and contraband.

This street was called Jiuchang Street, and most of the surrounding buildings were rebuilt during the Early Stage of the post-war period.

Fifty years of peace had made the country's economy develop at high speed, and society was thriving and upward.

A large population continuously poured into the political and economic center city of Dongdu, causing housing resources to be extremely tight.

This old urban area of Jiangbei, due to its old housing facilities and relatively low rent, became an ideal place for many migrant workers and low-income groups to gather.

Fang Cheng's steps stopped in front of a Tubular Building made of red bricks.

He looked up.

At the corridor downstairs, it was already parked full of bicycles and battery carts of people coming home from work, almost blocking the road.

The windows of the nine floors alternated between light and dark, and from time to time, the crying of children and the clatter of housewives stir-frying with spatulas came over.

Fang Cheng walked up step by step along the stairs lacking light bulbs.

Until he came to the top floor, he found a few iron basins placed in the corridor.

There were sparks in the basins, along with unburned paper ash, emitting black smoke.

Most families here would install anti-theft iron gate fences.

That was the old-fashioned push-pull folding door, connected by several iron branches up and down.

In summer, if the residents were at home, they would usually open the inner door and then close the iron gate to facilitate ventilation.

In winter, however, few people did this.

At night, the enclosed corridors on both sides lacked light entering, always appearing gloomy.

Fang Cheng glanced around in confusion, took out his keys from his pocket, and walked towards his own door.

Suddenly, from the only family next door revealing light, the rattling sound of the iron gate being pulled open rang out.

A plump middle-aged woman poked her head out and beckoned with a call:

"A-Cheng, wait a moment."

Seeming to have waited for a long time, she then turned her head and shouted towards the house:

"Xiumei, quickly bring the paper money and paper clothes prepared on the table!"

"Oh."

Following the crisp response, a gentle girl wearing a hairband ran out.

She handed the things to the woman, glanced up at Fang Cheng, and then lowered her head again, shrinking back into the house.

"Your mother is really something; she's so busy she even forgot what day it is today."

The woman stuffed a large stack of carefully tied paper clothes and gold ingots to Fang Cheng.

Then she cared and exhorted:

"Go back and burn the things, and then offer a stick of incense to your dad. Right, are there still incense and candles at home?"

"Yes, thank you Auntie He."

Fang Cheng held them with both hands, a grateful smile appearing on his face.

Thinking about it, today should be the "Hanyi Festival" for sacrificing to ancestors.

Nowadays, the city life rhythm is fast, and the younger generation rarely celebrates this traditional festival anymore.

The two exchanged a few pleasantries, then stopped.

Fang Cheng held the paper crafts and opened the iron door pasted with advertisements.

Snap, the incandescent lamp at the entryway lit up.

An ordinary home full of the breath of the times immediately came into view.

The home was not big.

The living room, dining room, and kitchen were connected together, no more than thirty square meters.

The old tables, chairs, and floors had already lost their paint, yet they were still scrubbed clean and shiny.

Various other furniture and decorations were also in good order, and it could be seen that someone had organized and cleaned up not long ago.

Fang Cheng knew that his mother had come back.

His grandfather suffered from gastric cancer and came from the countryside to Dongdu to be hospitalized for chemotherapy.

Outside of her work, she accompanied and cared for him together with her uncle.

Busy and flustered all day long, it was rare for her to come home to sleep soundly during this recent period.

Fang Cheng silently changed his shoes and stepped into the house.

Treading on the creaking floor, he walked to the cabinet where the TV was placed.

There was a photo frame placed there, with a young couple holding a just-one-month-old baby in the photo.

The woman was beautiful and gentle, the man was Yingjun and cheerful, and the sense of happiness in his eyes seemed to be able to pass through the glass to the outside world.

Without error, first release, inner content, check it out one by one!

This photo frame was also wiped very clean, and a small copper stove was intentionally placed in front of it.

The incense in the stove had long burned to the end, leaving only the bamboo sticks at the bottom.

Fang Cheng opened the lowest drawer of the cabinet and searched carefully.

While rummaging, an old newspaper pinned down by debris was revealed.

On the yellowed paper surface, half of a news headline was written.

"...Murderer swallows gun and commits suicide, bloody secret buried in a sea of fire..."

Finally, he found the remaining small half-bundle of incense sticks.

Fang Cheng pulled out three sticks from them, relit them, and inserted them.

Then holding a damaged white iron sheet basin, he squatted outside the door and burned the paper clothes and gold ingots one by one.

Gazing at the continuously rising smoke and sparks, Fang Cheng's eyes narrowed slightly.

In the darkness, the firelight illuminated his face crimson, and his pupils flickered.

As if Awakening some long-sealed memories.

After a long while, the sacrificial ceremony ended.

Fang Cheng returned to the house, washed up a little, and entered the bedroom.

He did not sleep or rest, but prepared to start self-study.

This bedroom combined study room was only six square meters.

In the narrow space, there were no toy decorations, nor were there any posters of female celebrities pasted.

Piles of eye-catching academic works were stacked on the desk, such as "World History", "The Prince", and "Criminal Psychology".

The cover of an open book among them read "General Principles of Criminal Law".

Fang Cheng sat down, picked up the alarm clock, and glanced at the time.

10:29.

"I can still study for an hour and a half."

He first set the timer function, and then took a deep breath.

At the same time, he chanted silently in his heart:

"Focus Skill, activate!"

"Speed Reading skill, activate!"

In an instant, Fang Cheng's eyes calmed down, as if a button was pressed in his mind.

All kinds of upset thoughts from before were completely banished to the ends of the earth.

All the noises coming into his ears, the car horns, and the baby's crying, gradually receded and disappeared...

Like an old monk meditating, Fang Cheng's face became incomparably calm, but his pupils were spinning rapidly.

Almost every 3 or 4 seconds, his fingers turned a page of the book.

His eyes were bright and shining, just like a laser printer continuously scanning and inputting textbook content.

The second hand of the alarm clock ticked and tocked.

The thick book was also continuously turned, and the remaining pages became fewer and fewer.

Suddenly——

Fang Cheng's brows knitted tightly, and a look of pain appeared on his face.

Almost at the same time, the alarm clock also emitted a harsh prompt sound of "ring-ring-ring".

He immediately dropped the book and pressed the stop button.

Then he rubbed his brow center and temples hard with both hands to relieve the swelling and pain produced in his head.

Until a few minutes later, his tense face relaxed again, and he let out a long breath.

Right before his eyes, lines of small characters rolled and emerged.

[Your Focus Skill experience + 1]

[Your Speed Reading skill experience + 1]

[Your Focus Skill experience + 2]

[Your Speed Reading skill experience + 2]

[Warning! You have slightly overdrawn your spirit, your physical state is relatively poor, please pay attention to rest]

"It seems that using both skills at the same time can only be maintained for a maximum of one hour..."

Fang Cheng's face was somewhat pale, and he continued to rub his forehead slowly.

After "Focus" and "Speed Reading" upgraded to lv1, the usage effect was indeed more significant.

Correspondingly, the energy consumption was also the same as the experience value, taking half an hour as the counting cycle, increasing linearly.

The specific difference among them should be related to the Spirit attribute.

Fang Cheng closed his eyes, recalled a little, and a look of gratification appeared on his face.

The reading speed just now was flying fast.

More than a thousand pages of bulky books full of obscure legal principles and frameworks were actually successfully devoured by him.

Placed in the past, it was simply an unrealistic thing to imagine.

Although it was just swallowing dates whole and remembering the content summary.

But it doesn't matter; next, he can continue to read carefully several times, deeply thinking and digesting.

The so-called reviewing the old and knowing the new was just like this.

After a short rest, Fang Cheng started reviewing from the first page.

However, this time perhaps his spirit was too exhausted, or perhaps miscellaneous thoughts were reignited.

Not to mention maintaining the state of using skills, he couldn't even reach the concentration level of ordinary study.

"Hoo——"

Fang Cheng simply closed the book, picked up the eye drops, and dropped a few drops into the sore corners of his eyes.

When closing his eyes, the light blue screen reappeared in his mind.

Looking at the various skills listed on the panel, his thoughts fluttered.

These were all his harvests over the past two months.

Different skills represented different development directions.

Culinary Arts? Continue to level up, becoming a special-grade chef, state banquet master chef, or God of Cookery?

Cleaning? Be a Cleaning expert, open a Cleaning company?

Boxing? Play professional matches, win championships in various events, and fight for the world Boxing champion title?

After all, a person's energy is limited, and career planning also needs to distinguish between primary and secondary, with some Focus.

Which path should he take in the future?

Since successfully unlocking the "Boxing" skill a week ago, this question had always lingered in Fang Cheng's mind.

Take the postgraduate entrance exam to become a graduate student, and then obtain a master's degree.

Afterwards, relying on his academic qualifications, he would enter a company's legal department or a law firm to serve.

Or stay at the school, step by step evaluate professional titles, and be promoted to lecturer, associate professor, professor...

If there were no Golden Finger, choosing this path would undoubtedly best suit his own conditions and family background.

"But——"

"What if this world is not as ordinary as it looks on the surface?"

Fang Cheng suddenly remembered the evening of his sixth birthday.

His father hiding a gun, his resolute back going out the door.

And, that last dying words:

"Live well, being an ordinary person is enough!"

The night grew deeper, and chills came in waves.

Fang Cheng rubbed his hands and blew a puff of hot air.

Gazing at the chaotic neon lights and the dark and cold city outside the window, his pupils flickered, and his thoughts rose and fell.

Money, power, law, social strata, profession...

These were ultimately external things attached by human society.

"What if I can evolve infinitely, break through physical limits, and surpass all social rules..."

Fang Cheng's eyes were as hot as a flame, and it seemed as if a sleeping beast was being awakened in his heart.

No matter what kind of choice he faces in the future, a sufficiently strong Physique is obviously not losing as the biggest trump card.

Thinking of this, he immediately picked up a ballpoint pen and spread out his diary.

The pen tip rustled on the paper, writing down a line of characters.

"Fitness plan, convict conditioning..."