27: Chapter 27 The Mysterious Muscle Burst!

Su Ye followed behind Zhou Jingtang, walking along the quiet corridor.

The old administration building was usually deserted, but the further they went, the more obvious the scent of disinfectant in the air became. At the end of the corridor was a private ward; no common ward bed number hung on the door, only a simple line of text: Consultation and Observation Room.

Zhou Jingtang raised his hand and pushed the door open.

The ward was very quiet.

A middle-aged man sat by the window, roughly forty years old, with short hair and a darker complexion. He wore a simple grey tracksuit, his back held perfectly straight. Even just sitting there, he exuded a sharp, martial aura that hit one like a wave.

It wasn't a deliberate posture, but something deeply ingrained in his bones from years of military life and training on the edge of a blade.

With just one glance, Su Ye made a judgment in his heart.

This was a soldier.

Seeing Zhou Jingtang enter, the middle-aged man immediately stood up with crisp, efficient movements.

"Elder Zhou, I've troubled you again, even asking you to come out of retirement personally."

Zhou Jingtang smiled and waved his hand.

"Your father and I are old friends; this little matter is no trouble at all."

After speaking, he stepped aside slightly to introduce Su Ye.

"This is a student I'm currently mentoring, named Su Ye."

The introduction was simple.

Yet, it was an acknowledgment of Su Ye's status. Although nothing was explicitly stated, Elder Zhou's high regard for Su Ye was already evident.

The middle-aged man's gaze fell on Su Ye. He first scrutinized him habitually, his eyes flickering slightly.

This young man had clear eyes, a steady aura, and a natural stance, lacking any of the impetuousness common in youth. Yet, he possessed a hidden, unreleased sharpness, like a blade concealed in a scabbard—unobtrusive, but certainly not ordinary.

The middle-aged man nodded to Su Ye.

"Elder Zhou, this student of yours is quite extraordinary."

Zhou Jingtang smiled but didn't respond to the comment, instead pulling out a chair to sit.

"Alright, tell me about your situation first."

The middle-aged man nodded and sat back on the edge of the bed, pausing for a few seconds as if organizing his thoughts.

"This ailment of mine is very strange. At first, it was just an occasional feeling of tightness in my arm, an involuntary muscle contraction."

"Initially, it sometimes felt like a tendon inside the muscle suddenly snapped taut, followed by a brief spasm, like a cramp. It would pass in a few seconds."

"I didn't take it seriously at first. After all, with my past training, what injuries haven't I sustained? Fasciitis, strains, muscle fatigue—they're all old issues."

"But then things went wrong."

He raised his right hand and slowly made a fist, his expression turning solemn.

"Once, when I got home and went to open the door, my forearm suddenly felt a sharp pain just as my hand touched the handle. Then, my hand exerted force involuntarily..."

"That metal doorknob was snapped clean off by me."

The ward fell silent for a moment.

Su Ye's eyes narrowed slightly.

The middle-aged man himself found it bizarre and gave a bitter smile.

"I certainly don't have that kind of strength normally. I tried later, and let alone snapping it, even with full strength, I couldn't even dent it. The feeling at the time was very strange, as if my hand didn't even belong to me."

"Since then, this has been happening more and more frequently."

"Sometimes it's the forearm, sometimes the shoulder, sometimes the calf. First, the local muscle trembles, as if something is shaking inside, and then there's a momentary burst of power."

"I have to be careful even holding a cup now, afraid I'll crush it if I lose control. Opening doors, picking things up, holding onto railings—I have to be mindful of everything. It's already starting to affect my daily life."

Zhou Jingtang listened quietly, not rushing to a judgment, but simply asked:

"Before an episode, are there any obvious triggers? Does it happen more easily during emotional fluctuations, fatigue, or similar times?"

The middle-aged man thought for a moment and nodded.

"Yes."

"Especially when I'm very tired; it happens more often at night, and the spasms are most obvious then. Also, the more focused I am, the more likely problems occur. A few days ago, while I was practicing shooting and aiming at the target, my arm clearly twitched, causing an accidental discharge. That made me realize I couldn't delay this any longer."

One must be extremely cautious when holding a gun; his condition was far too dangerous.

Zhou Jingtang asked a few more questions about his medical history, being extremely thorough. He asked about past injuries, family history, and whether there had been recent insomnia, fever, emotional swings, alcohol consumption, or medication use.

The middle-aged man answered them one by one.

Once the questioning was over, Zhou Jingtang nodded slightly and turned to look at Su Ye.

The meaning was clear.

You've heard it too; did you see anything?

Su Ye pondered for a moment, not rushing to provide an analysis, but instead looked at the middle-aged soldier.

"May I examine your arm?"

Hearing this, the middle-aged man looked up at him with a gentle smile, like an elder looking at a junior.

"Sure, it's good for young people to be curious."

As he spoke, he extended his right arm and rolled up his sleeve.

Su Ye stepped closer. The muscle definition was clear, and the forearm flexors and extensors were well-developed but not exaggerated—the functional muscle formed from long-term training. There were no obvious injuries on the skin surface, nor any atrophy...

He reached out and pressed down.

The moment he touched it, Su Ye felt a slight shock in his heart.

It was too resilient.

This was not the muscle texture of an ordinary trainee.

A normal person's muscles are firm yet soft when relaxed, but this man's forearm muscles, even in a state of complete relaxation, still had an almost excessive density, as if the fascia and muscle fibers had been repeatedly compressed by some force.

Su Ye slowly pressed along the muscle belly with his fingertips, while simultaneously letting his perception seep in bit by bit.

A second later.

His gaze shifted slightly.

Beyond the standard palpation, he perceived a deeper layer of abnormality.

His muscles seemed to be vibrating.

This was an extremely subtle, high-frequency vibration. With Su Ye's keen perception, he could almost hear the strange frequency of the tremors.

Once such a muscle group exerted force to a certain threshold, it would be like countless tiny ripples beneath the water's surface, stacking layer upon layer.

This wasn't right.

Or rather, it was too right.

This was not something ordinary medicine could explain.

Su Ye slowly released his hand, not speaking immediately.

Zhou Jingtang leaned back in his chair, his gaze calm, but his voice seemed to pierce through the mystery.

"Where would a person get so much extra strength out of thin air?"

"You are simply taking force that should have been released layer by layer through ten or twenty muscle group recruitments and, in an extremely short time, achieving abnormal synchronization and compressing it into a single point."

You take the force that should have been slowly conducted along the entire power chain, compress it in advance, bundle it in advance, and finally let it explode within an inch.

In the ward, the air seemed to freeze for a moment.

Su Ye's heart suddenly jolted.

It wasn't an extra force.

It was taking originally dispersed force and, in an instant, compressing it into a single point.

Vibrate, gather, explode.

This was...

A 'technique' hidden within the muscle fibers!

In Su Ye's mind, certain things that were originally blurred were rapidly taking shape.

Zhou Jingtang didn't look at him but continued to speak calmly:

"In modern medicine, it can be explained as abnormal synchronization of motor unit recruitment. Normally, when a person exerts force, muscle fibers are recruited layer by layer, like turning on lights—one by one."

"But he is different."

"He turns them all on at once."

"So what you see are spasms, tremors, and loss of control. But from another perspective, this is actually an extremely efficient way of exerting force. It's just that his body learned it first, and he hasn't learned how to master it himself."

As these words fell, the middle-aged man himself was stunned.

Even he hadn't expected that the 'strange illness' he had been suffering from would be described by Zhou Jingtang with such a nearly terrifying logical beauty.

And Su Ye's gaze had completely changed.

He understood.

He also realized.

This wasn't an illness!

It was the 'discomfort' derived from this outstanding soldier king's body evolving ahead of time!

Zhou Jingtang sat there, his expression as usual.

However, Su Ye, who was beside him, was incredibly excited, as if a door to a new world had been opened. But Su Ye suddenly realized he couldn't show too much excitement; the power of the Water-element Golden Core washed over his body, calming his agitated spirit.