The next morning arrives. After a grueling two and a half minutes of studying the night before, Jang Yu sleeps like a rock.
Then knocking at the door. He opens it to find Lu Yaoyao, his childhood friend, standing there. His stomach drops. Lu Yaoyao's HP bar has dropped seven percent since yesterday. One glance at the calendar tells him everything he needs to know.
Lu Yaoyao doesn't even spare him a glance. She strolls straight into his room like she owns the place. She's about to flip open his manga collection, but before she can get a word out, the door slams shut with a crack that nearly sends her through the ceiling. Visible cracks split across the door.
He ignores Lu Yaoyao's complaints, because he's just as shocked. He had no idea he'd got this strong.
But then Lu Yaoyao spots something else. His build is almost unnaturally perfect, the kind of physique only someone who's been training for years could have. And Lu Yaoyao knows he's a full-on shut-in. There's no way he could have built this overnight.
She yanks up his shirt, and there they are. Eight perfect abs.
Her cheeks flush. Then she straightens up and warns him. Her dad handles cases like this all the time, and there are things he absolutely should not be messing with.
But inside, he's thrilled. The shadow's training results are carrying over to his actual body.
Then Lu Yaoyao grabs him. She flips out a device that looks like a watch and presses it against his wrist. It's a corruption index reader. Killing or absorbing an aberrant corrupts the human body. Left untreated, it pulls you toward the darkness.
The numbers on the reader barely flicker. A small smile creeps onto his face. His power comes from the mark on his chest. His body hasn't absorbed any corruption at all.
Then, without warning, his chest flares up and the numbers on the reader shoot through the roof.
Lu Yaoyao has her weapon out.
He forces the power back down with everything he's got. A moment later the reading drops back to normal. Only then does Lu Yaoyao put her weapon away.
Desperate to change the subject, he mentions that he's been working on some new character designs. Sure enough, she lights up instantly and starts gushing in the sweetest voice.
Two and a half hours later, he finally gets her out the door.
The second she's gone, he pulls up the system panel, and he's stunned. A stream of notifications floods the log. Training complete. Arm strength increased by one. Shadow devour activated. Shadow points plus one.
It all makes sense now. The shadow trained the entire night.
He summons it immediately. Push-ups alone: laughably weak. Today they're stepping it up. The shadow is fully on board. One-armed handstand push-ups. Two-finger push-ups. Explosive plyometric push-ups. Let's make it a thousand reps each. Even handstand tiger push-ups and Russian press push-ups, all on the list.
Unknown to him, Lu Yaoyao is still outside the door, suspicious of his sudden transformation. But when she hears him hollering and shouting, she breathes easy. Looks like he really is turning over a new leaf.
From that point on, not a single moment is wasted. He fully enjoys the thrill of getting stronger without lifting a finger himself. In just a few days his physical condition sees a dramatic leap. His strength reaches the point where he could knock out Lu Yaoyao with a single punch.
A month passes in no time. His power has grown enough to take on ten Lu Yaoyaos at once.
But this life is getting too comfortable. He decides it's time for his actual body to start moving.
The next day, he decides he'll start tomorrow. Day three, one more day of taking it easy. Day four, he finally manages ten push-ups, then immediately goes back to doing nothing. Day five, doing nothing. Day six, still doing nothing.
But after two weeks of this, a problem surfaces. His shadow points are stuck at eight, and unlocking the next ability slot requires ten shadow power.
Then a bold idea hits him. Maybe if he enters the shadow realm himself, he'll grow faster.
He pushes his shadow power outward and slowly sinks through the floor. After a stretch of weightless nothing, he opens his eyes back in his room, but the eerie atmosphere around him makes it clear he's in the shadow realm. He tries the door. It won't open. He has no choice but to return to reality. Step outside his room first, then cross back into the shadow realm.
Everything here looks almost identical to the real world, except the once busy street is completely deserted.
Then he hears something behind him. A figure lunges at him from the dark. He thinks for a second it might be his shadow. Then a massive gaping maw appears right in his face. It swings an enormous scythe straight at his head. He lets out a string of curses, then throws himself into a desperate dodge roll just in time.
The creature locks its gaze on him. Relentless, it raises the scythe and keeps coming. He dodges as best he can, but his stamina starts giving out fast. At the last possible second he activates shadow eye and dives head first into the formation, blasting through that void of nothingness.
He crashes back into the real world. The trip costs him a pair of pants, but it teaches him exactly how dangerous the shadow realm really is.
He's not the type to take a loss lying down. He grabs a stool and goes straight back in. He gets absolutely pummeled again.
Next day, he goes back for revenge. Revenge fails. His ribs nearly snap.
Day three, revenge fails again. Serious injury to his backside, but he shaves six points off its HP bar. Progress.
Day four, he decides the revenge campaign needs a temporary pause.
Lu Yaoyao, who's been patching him up, is baffled. "Have you been picking fights with someone?"
Jang Yu grins. "You wouldn't get it. Scars are a man's medals."
Lu Yaoyao presses down hard on the wound. "Funny how all your medals are on your backside."
Jang Yu yelps, gritting his teeth.
She knows he wants to get stronger, but the moment he does, he starts showing off. Honestly, he had it coming.
Jang Yu changes the subject. "Combat exam is in a month. You ready?"
Ever since the catastrophe, most industries have collapsed. Artists in particular have ended up performing on street corners just to survive. People no longer care about entertainment. What matters now is survival and the state of the nation. And a profession like the Night Watch, fighting on the front lines, has naturally become the backbone of this world. To join the Night Watch, you have to pass the government-issued combat exam. Pass it and your life will never be ordinary again.
Lu Yaoyao goes quiet for a moment. "I don't want to take the combat exam." She bites her lip. "My dream is to sing and dance."
Jang Yu frowns. "Is it because your dad won't allow it? Understandable."
Lu Nanfang is a senior officer in the Night Watch. Of course he'd object to his daughter pursuing music.
Lu Yaoyao pauses what she's doing. "It's not Dad. The government changed its policy. This year, anyone who qualifies is required to sit the combat exam and enroll in an awakened track."
Jang Yu raises an eyebrow. "Didn't they used to say it was voluntary?"
Lu Yaoyao blows gently on his wound. "The Night Watch is under more and more pressure lately."
Jang Yu thinks it over. But the news was just saying the aberrants are being pushed back. So why is the pressure suddenly so intense?
Besides, with all those corruption index readers at the combat exam, he's genuinely worried they might flag him and take him out on the spot. And what if Lu Yaoyao pushes him over to the aberrant side without realizing?
He asks carefully, "Is that reader specifically for detecting aberrants?"
Lu Yaoyao smiles. "It detects both aberrants and the awakened. If you ever actually run into an aberrant, run if you can. If you can't, call someone to come collect your remains." She glances at him. "Weren't you the one who said he had zero interest in the awakened?"
Jang Yu laughs awkwardly. "It's mandatory this year. Figured I should do a little research."
In reality, he's already planned out exactly how to show everyone what he's made of at the exam.