Chapter 3 - A New Card
Without any disturbance, Su Jingxing spent the following of his days hopping between the dormitory building, the working area, and the canteen.
In order to increase the opportunities of coming into contact with corpses, he covered other members' shifts from time to time.
In just a few days, Su Jingxing had earned the nickname of "Helpful Little Su".
Some people mocked him behind his back, but Su Jingxing couldn't care less.
Only a real fool would reveal such a profitable ability.
[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]
"Yes!"
[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]
"Yes!"
…
As time passed, his inventory of Essence Energy Cards and Strength Enhancement Cards increased.
The number of pills a card gave varied, ranging anywhere from one to five.
Su Jingxing only consumed a few Essence Energy Pills, but gobbled down every last one of the Strength Pills he acquired.
Every Strength Pill gave ten extra catties of strength.
Furthermore, Strength Pills also had the effect of tempering one's body.
As a result, in just a few days, Su Jingxing not only got stronger, but also became more muscular. He even grew from 1.7 meters to 1.8 meters.
But this wasn't too abnormal, since he was around fifteen—the age where growth spurts happen.
Thus, Su Jingxing's physical changes did not attract much attention.
Even Kong Dabao didn't get suspicious and only teased Su Jingxing, claiming that he would soon become the taller one out of them.
Su Jingxing, who had secretly been building up his strength, simply smiled at those words.
He had been taking Strength Pills for some time now; sure enough, he was growing taller, but that wasn't the most important thing. There was something he was unsure about—his overall physical strength.
He needed answers.
Seizing an opportunity where nobody was around, Su Jingxing entered the dormitory and went into one of the empty rooms in the hall on the first floor. He stopped before a device.
This was a Strength Measuring Device, designed to measure one's physical strength.
Su Jingxing had always wanted to try it, but there were always people around.
Now that he was alone, he clenched his fist and punched at the contact part with all his strength.
Bam!
Swish! Swish! Swish!
With a dull thud, the numbers on the dial of the device began rising rapidly.
When it stopped, the number "818" appeared on the display.
Su Jingxing took a glance, then threw a punch with his other hand.
Bam!
Swish! Swish! Swish!
The numbers on the dial flickered rapidly, ultimately stopping at "936".
"Nice!"
"936 catties on the left, and 818 on the right. If I continue taking Strength Pills, I'll be on the same level as a ninth-grade martial artist soon!"
Su Jingxing drew a deep breath to contain his excitement.
On Earth Star, martial artists were divided into nine grades based on their abilities.
Ninth-grade was the weakest, and first-grade the strongest.
One of the defining features of a ninth-grade martial artist was having over 1000 catties of strength on each arm.
This wasn't hard to achieve for Su Jingxing; all he had to do was take more pills.
However, there was no way for him to become a true ninth-grade martial artist.
To become a ninth-grade martial artist, the foundation that truly mattered was one's internal force, rather than having over 1000 catties of strength.
Internal force was a powerful force that had to be specially cultivated through internal exercises.
On Earth Star, every citizen was required to learn martial arts. However, ordinary people did not have the chance to come into contact with real martial arts.
For instance, in the Yu Nation, ordinary people only had access to one set of basic martial arts—The Thirty-Six Forms of Body Forging.
Even though The Thirty-Six Forms of Body Forging was referred to as martial arts, it was actually closer to a form of exercise.
If ordinary people wanted to cultivate internal force, they had to take other paths.
The first was to get into various martial arts schools by examination, the second was to join sects, and the third was to train at a dojo.
Out of these three paths, entering a martial arts school was the fairest, since talent decided everything.
Talent not only referred to one's aptitude for martial arts, but also one's ability in studying.
The logic behind it was simple; without a certain level of comprehension skills, one could not even understand certain profound martial arts, let alone cultivate them!
The first path was out of the question, since Su Jingxing wasn't gifted and had already dropped out of school.
Similarly, he did not have any illusions about joining a sect.
That was because sects were even more strict when it came to recruiting disciples. They only accepted elites with an outstanding aptitude for martial arts.
Therefore, the last of the three paths was the only viable option for Su Jingxing.
The dojo!
As long as one can afford it, one can learn martial arts from the various dojos in Qinghe City.
By the time he acquires internal force and increases his strength to 10,000 or even 100,000 catties…
Getting revenge on Wan Rong would no longer be a pipe dream!
Thanks to the obsession of the Original Su Jingxing, revenge was never far from Su Jingxing's mind, not even in his dreams.
He had to get rid of this annoyance as soon as possible!
For that, he had to continue moving corpses.
Getting close to corpses meant getting more Essence Energy Pills and Strength Pills, which translates to more money and strength.
What a great spot to be in!
…
[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]
"Yes!"
[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]
"Yes!"
[Corpse discovered. Would you like to extract it?]
"Yes!"
…
Extract… Extract… Extract…
Essence Energy Card… Strength Enhancement Card… Essence Energy Card… Strength Enhancement Card…
The days flew by.
Patiently, Su Jingxing accumulated more and more Essence Energy Pills. The strength in both his arms had exceeded 1,000 catties, and was creeping towards 2,000.
However, no new cards came into his possession.
Just when Su Jingxing thought that there were only two types of cards, a new card emerged.
Internal force card!
Based on the card's description, the Internal Force Card he had contained two years of cultivation.
To put it simply, once Su Jingxing uses it, he would immediately gain the same amount of internal force that would have taken a regular martial artist two years to cultivate.
To use it, he just had to stick it in between his eyebrows.
What a pleasant surprise!
Originally, the plan was to resign to fate and continue selling Essence Energy Pills until he had enough money to enroll in a dojo.
This development was beyond his expectations.
His cheat ability had provided him with two years of internal force cultivation, turning Su Jingxing into a real ninth-grade martial artist overnight!
"Hahaha…"
Swelling with uncontainable excitement, Su Jingxing laughed out loud. He had specially come to the back mountains of the crematorium to use the internal force card. A warm energy coursed through his body upon activating the card.
How great it was to immediately acquire internal force!
Even though cultivating martial arts could make one stronger, its process was tedious.
On the other hand, Su Jingxing acquired internal forces without having to cultivate.
If other martial artists knew about this, they would be green with envy.
He figured it would be best for him to keep a low profile.
Cough! Cough!
He coughed a few times to calm himself down.
Previously, all I could extract was Essence Energy Cards and Strength Enhancement Cards. How did I end up getting an Internal Force Card this time? wondered Su Jingxing.
Everything happens for a reason.
If he managed to figure out the reason, he might be able to extract even more new cards!
The thought spurred him into action.
Returning to the crematorium, Su Jingxing got his hands on the corpse records.
The crematorium had strict rules.
The information of every corpse that was sent to the crematorium had to go into the records, whether or not anyone came forward to identify them.
After getting hold of the corpse records, Su Jingxing went through the entries one by one.
It wasn't long before he got his answer.
A martial artist!
The corpse from which he extracted the Internal Force Card belonged to a ninth-grade martial artist!
All of the other corpses he had encountered so far belonged to ordinary people.
The deciding factor was that the corpse belonged to a martial artist!
That makes sense since internal force only forms in the body of martial artists.
If I'm right, my cheat ability allows me to somehow extract a person's past possessions from their corpses …
Hey, wait a minute!
Su Jingxing's eyes lit up.
If I can extract the internal force of a martial artist from their corpse, can I also extract the secret martial arts manuals they practiced?
…