novelraw Chapter 26 Strengthening
Chapter 26 Strengthening
Soon, Lu Chen returned to his room and quickly closed the door.
The door lock clicked shut, shutting out the faint sounds of voices and lights in the corridor.
Lu Chen stood in the middle of the living room and pulled up his left sleeve.
The meteorite mark on the inside of my wrist is emitting a faint, dark red glow. The light from the mark is warm and gentle, like a piece of jade warmed by the palm of my hand, the red light slowly flowing beneath my skin.
He took a deep breath!
Then, based on that special feeling in my heart, I had a sudden thought.
The meteorite imprint suddenly burst forth with a blinding light, instantly illuminating the entire room. The outlines of the curtains, sofa, coffee table—everything—became blurred in the white light.
Lu Chen instinctively closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, he found himself no longer in the room.
He was standing in a special space.
There was no ground beneath my feet, no ceiling above my head, and no walls around me.
As far as the eye could see, there was only pure nothingness, no reference points, no sense of distance, and no distinction between up, down, left, or right.
He was standing right there, but he felt like he was floating in a vacuum, without any sense of gravity or direction.
Strangely, he didn't feel dizzy. His brain was trying to process this completely unfamiliar spatial information, and his body felt no discomfort, as if he were being gently supported by something.
Before him stood an illusory figure.
At first, Lu Chen thought it was a residual image left by a senior master. This kind of plot is too common in novels. The protagonist finds a ring, opens it, and an old man with a white beard jumps out and says, "Young man, I see that you have extraordinary talent."
But when his gaze focused on the illusory figure, he paused for a moment.
That was his own illusion!
His face, figure, and proportions were exactly the same as his. He was also wearing the same gray short-sleeved shirt and dark blue jeans as today. The only difference was that there was a ball of light on the left wrist of the phantom.
The ball of light was emitting the same glow as the meteorite imprint, as if all the fluorescence from the meteorite imprint had been condensed into that one spot.
"Where is this?" Lu Chen whispered. His voice echoed in the space, as if swallowed up by the surrounding nothingness.
He cautiously surveyed his surroundings.
There were no doors, no paths, nothing to explore. The only "existence" in the entire space was the illusory image of himself before him.
His gaze finally returned to the illusory figure, landing on the ball of light on the other's wrist.
He slowly stretched out his hand, his fingers reaching towards the illusory figure.
The moment his fingertips touched the illusory image, a surge of information rushed into his mind.
As this information flooded his mind, Lu Chen quickly understood the purpose of filling the meteorite imprint.
The effect is simple: once the meteorite imprint is full of energy, it can strengthen the body.
However, it is not a comprehensive enhancement, but only a specific area can be designated.
There are four areas to choose from: arms, legs, torso, and head.
Each area has a different enhancement focus: strengthening the arms increases strength; strengthening the legs increases speed; strengthening the torso increases defense; and strengthening the head increases mental strength.
Strength, speed, and defense are all easy to understand.
Strength is the explosive power of muscles, speed is the physical qualities of movement and reaction, and defense is roughly the ability to withstand blows and the body's resilience.
Any one of these three items would be directly useful in a post-apocalyptic world.
The last one, mental strength, left Lu Chen somewhat uncertain.
Literally, mental strength probably refers to a quality related to the brain.
Attention? Willpower? Thinking speed? The information didn't provide any details. He went through the information flooding his mind over and over again, only to find that the message was limited to that amount, with no further explanation.
"Which one should I choose?" Lu Chen frowned and pondered.
In fact, whether it's strength, speed, or defense, they are all very practical.
Of these three, speed and defense are particularly attractive to him.
His main fighting method now is controlling zombies, and he doesn't need to rush to the front line, so strength is not his most urgent need.
But speed is different from defense. Being fast and able to withstand attacks increases the chances of survival in any situation.
On the contrary, mental power, which sounds ethereal and elusive, is completely unknown in terms of its actual effect.
But he ultimately chose to strengthen his mind, that is, his mental strength.
As for why this was chosen, one reason is curiosity. When faced with a completely unknown option, people instinctively want to figure out what it is.
On the other hand, it is a kind of intuition.
He couldn't explain where this intuition came from; perhaps it was some kind of instinct inherent in people with superpowers, or perhaps it was a subtle hint given to him by the meteorite mark when he made his choice.
He had a vague feeling that, of the four options, mental strength was the most unique.
Lu Chen didn't hesitate for long. He didn't really believe in intuition before the apocalypse, but after awakening his superpower, he began to value his intuition more and more.
With a thought, a choice was made.
In that void, the ball of light on the phantom's wrist suddenly lit up, and the entire space was instantly swallowed by white light.
Before Lu Chen could close his eyes, all he could see was pure white, and then his consciousness was suddenly pulled back to his body.
He stood back in the living room of 501. The curtains were drawn, the emergency lights were still on, and everything was exactly the same as before.
But the sensation in his wrist told him that the strengthening process had already begun.
A surge of immense energy erupted from the meteorite imprint, completely different from the gentle warmth it had felt when absorbing gratitude before; this time it was a scalding torrent.
hum!
Lu Chen felt as if his head had been hit hard by a heavy hammer. It wasn't pain, but an irresistible impact.
The scene in my field of vision began to distort and spin, the walls and ceiling became intertwined, and although I was clearly standing on the floor, it felt like I was standing on a ship tossed about in a storm.
He fell directly to the ground, and before the back of his head hit the hard ground, his last remaining consciousness made him instinctively tilt his head and stretch out his left arm to cushion his head.
The bone in my left arm hit the tile with a dull thud.
Then consciousness ceased.
Lu Chen didn't know how long he had been unconscious.
When he woke up again, the first thing he felt was touch. He felt a persistent dull pain in his left forearm, which was from the hard pain caused by the fall when his head was under his arm.
He took a deep breath, and the dull pain acted like an anchor, gradually pulling his consciousness back from its slumber.
He struggled to turn over and sit up from the ground, rubbing his still throbbing head with his left hand and reaching into his pocket for his phone with his right.
The screen lit up, showing the time as 8:12 PM.
"I was actually unconscious for half an hour," Lu Chen muttered to himself, his voice a little hoarse.