Chapter 18: Mutation

"Boom!"

At this moment, countless streams of inexplicable information poured continuously into Lin Qing's mind.

According to the Entropy Reverser's deduction—

With his talent and the compatibility between him and the Free Body series combat techniques, to integrate the combat technique variations into instinct, he must completely penetrate every nerve in his entire body with the bioelectricity formed from mysterious energy, ensuring the electrical signals remain stable at their peak value, and successfully complete this 82 times in a row to perfectly integrate the combat technique variations.

Then, a vast ocean of memories suddenly surfaced in Lin Qing's mind.

These were memories of him stimulating his nerves and muscles with combat techniques time and again; merely going from clumsy attempts to proficient mastery had already taken countless repetitions.

Penetrating the nerves and muscle groups of every minor detail time and again had consumed an unknown number of years before he could barely achieve perfect success just once.

By the time he had formed the combat technique variations into instinct, an unknown number of years had passed; time wasted, yet he finally welcomed success.

At the same time, threads of electric light began to flow over Lin Qing's body surface, and within the pupils beneath his eyelids, lightning flickered; massive currents began to penetrate his entire body's nerves time and again, intensifying the stimulation of his muscle tissues.

Under such astonishing electric energy flow, his body also began to tremble uncontrollably.

Once everything settled, Lin Qing slowly opened his eyes.

"Instinct?"

Lin Qing murmured, suddenly moving both hands; in an instant, they became a phantom sweeping over his own body.

In the blink of an eye, the jacket on his body had already appeared in his hands; in another blink, he had put the jacket back on.

"So fast!!"

Lin Qing could not help but be somewhat surprised by the change in his hand speed.

Without trying it personally, he was not certain how strong this combat technique truly was.

After all, 'instinct' meant it could be triggered to the extreme with a single thought, like the instinct of breathing, but normal people do not even know how much air they actually breathe, at most clarifying the ratio.

In his past life, long before the apocalypse, to woo girls, he had pre-emptively mastered 'Magic Master'; after the apocalypse began, to search for supplies, he had also pre-emptively acquired the skill 'Theft Expert'.

These two skills would naturally train and improve hand speed and flexibility.

And now, he felt his hand speed and flexibility were at least three or four times stronger than in his past life! The waving speed of his arms was already very fast, easily forming visual afterimages.

So even increasing by just a few percent would be astonishing, let alone such an outrageous three or four times.

Now, if he wanted to steal something from an ordinary person, even acting right in front of them, the other party would not detect it at all!

"A combat technique brought to the extreme indeed offers a greater improvement than the Qiqi version practice method."

Lin Qing nodded inwardly.

If the Qiqi version combat technique were practiced to the extreme, it would only double his current physical constitution.

That is, strength doubled, speed increased by forty to fifty percent.

But the combat technique 'Agility' brought to the extreme, even strength he was not good at would nearly double, the speed of limb movements would increase by more than double, and the improvement in nerve reaction speed was even more exaggerated.

What concept is striking out twice as fast? It is not that when the opponent strikes you once, you can strike back twice.

And in a mutual sword clash with the same strike, you have already chopped off the opponent's head before they have even raised their hand!

Being this fast is already outrageous.

With nerve reactions this fast, one can easily respond to others' attacks.

Now, he could easily defeat ten or even more fugitives like Jiang Chengwu without taking any injury!

"Xiao Pei definitely has not cultivated the combat technique to the instinct level; otherwise, he could not be merely a deputy captain..."

"He has mastered two combat techniques, plus the Qiqi version practice method, so he is currently stronger than me, but once my Qiqi version practice method reaches one percent completion, even without a gun, I should be stronger than him..."

Lin Qing revealed a hint of a smile, immediately feeling much more at ease.

Although he was currently still inferior to the fugitives in the Qinghu Island Prison, after he pre-emptively acquired the Qiqi version combat technique, if he had enough merit to learn several more combat techniques and raise them all to the instinct level...

Then he would have no need to worry.

"Next, I must repay the debt of the combat technique 'Agility', learn the Qiqi version combat technique, find a way to earn more merit, and try to learn several more combat techniques!"

Now that he had already cultivated one combat technique from the Free Body series to the 'instinct' level, learning other combat techniques from the Free Body series would also receive a bonus.

Next time, entering the basics should be very easy.

Before the new group was established, Lin Qing still patrolled with Group Two every night.

In recent patrol missions, there were almost no opportunities for him to act; even when he occasionally fought, there was no need to use combat techniques.

Every day, besides patrol missions, was repaying the debt of the combat technique 'Agility'; this required him to achieve 82 perfect penetrations of the combat technique through his entire body to complete it.

If it were merely the level of mastering the combat technique, to achieve perfect penetration, it would require years of familiarity, and success would only occur once by chance when the state was extremely good and luck was favorable.

But at his instinct level, he could naturally achieve perfect penetration of the combat technique through his entire body every single time.

To his delight, every day he could achieve perfect penetration of the combat technique through his entire body five times.

That is to say—

In total, he only needed seventeen days to complete this combat technique!

This also made Lin Qing somewhat glad he had chosen a combat technique from the Free Body series; repaying it was indeed very fast.

January 10.

Dusk.

Iron Stone Street, inside a beef hotpot restaurant facing the street.

After scanning the code to order, Lin Qing prepared two dipping sauces before returning to his seat to wait.

The beef at this shop was quite famous in the nearby districts, and the price was also a bit high; his current appetite was much larger than before, so he could not bear to come often.

Only recently, after being promoted to the Patrol Bureau with his salary raised to seven thousand, did he come for a luxurious meal after receiving his wages today.

Of course, coming alone was best; otherwise, it was too expensive.

"Quite a few people..."

Lin Qing glanced at the customers coming and going in the hotpot restaurant, unable to help but feel a false sense of returning to his past life, which lifted his mood even further.

He didn't know how long it had been since he had seen such a peaceful and harmonious scene.

Times of peace are still very beautiful.

In the month since the Blue Scarf Gang disbanded, Iron Stone Street has become much more stable; at least these shop owners no longer have to worry about being forced to pay a huge sum in protection fees.

"Little Brother Lin, your meat is here."

A moment later, a young woman in her twenties with exquisite makeup pushed a small cart piled high with beef slices, walking over with a smile.

"Good, put it here." Lin Qing nodded. "Do you need me to help you cook the meat?" The young woman leaned in, lowering her voice: "I wonder if I have the honor of serving an official?"

"No need."

Lin Qing glanced at her. "There are so many customers in the shop; go attend to your work."

"Anyway, my brother is here." The young woman said carelessly.

Lin Qing felt a bit helpless; in this life, being a good-looking young Patrol Bureau officer was indeed somewhat troublesome.

"I'll do it myself. I can't eat with someone watching me."

"Oh... then alright."

The young woman muttered something and then left.

Lin Qing breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Just then—

【Current Order Level decreased by 0.3 levels】

At this moment, a line of incredibly deep black text suddenly floated before his eyes.

"Decreased by 0.3 levels?" Lin Qing's expression changed slightly.

The text was black, indicating that the drop in Order Level was not directed at him personally, but because his circle of life had become chaotic and dangerous.

If the danger were aimed at him personally, the text of the prompt would have been blood-red.

"What's going on..."

Lin Qing couldn't help but frown tightly: "After finally rising to 0.6 levels, it dropped back to 0.3 levels again?"

The initial Order Level was 0.3 levels, but after resolving the hidden fugitive Jiang Chengwu and causing the Blue Scarf Gang to disband, it had risen to 0.6 levels.

He had been hoping that one day, by raising the Order Level to 1, he might be able to prepay for an additional skill.

For these thirty days, the Order Level had remained steadily at 0.6 levels; why did it suddenly drop by 0.3 levels today? "Did Camel get released? Did the Blue Scarf Gang reorganize? But that shouldn't cause a drop of 0.3 levels..."

Lin Qing frowned, ignoring the hotpot, and immediately picked up his phone, found the name 'Criminal Investigation Team Captain Chu Yunfeng' in his contacts, and dialed.

"Team Leader Lin?"

Soon, a slightly deep male voice came from the other end.

"Captain Chu, it's me."

Lin Qing didn't beat around the bush, getting straight to the point: "Has Camel been released?"

The other party was the Captain of the Lin'an City Public Security Criminal Investigation Team, specifically responsible for the cases of fugitives Jiang Chengwu and Camel, so he had also contacted him before.

The Patrol Bureau is only responsible for patrol and search, while Public Security is responsible for handling cases and detention.

"Camel..."

Chu Yunfeng paused for a moment, speaking in a low voice: "Our side is very grateful for Team Leader Lin's efforts, and we have always wanted to find concrete evidence of Camel's crimes, but... helplessly, we detained Camel for thirty days on criminal charges, yet still found no concrete evidence."

His tone revealed deep helplessness: "This morning, we released Camel."

"As I thought..."

Lin Qing narrowed his eyes slightly.

He had heard Qin Qin say this.

All traces of evidence that could have led to Camel's sentencing had been inexplicably erased; obviously, an unknown force wanted to protect Camel.

Criminal detention lasts at most thirty days; once the deadline passes without finding concrete evidence, the person must be released.

"What about Jiang Chengwu?"

Lin Qing asked again: "Has he woken up?"

"No." Chu Yunfeng said: "The doctors said that Jiang Chengwu's brain damage is severe; it is unlikely he will ever wake up in this lifetime."

Not Jiang Chengwu? Lin Qing couldn't help but frown slightly.

He had originally thought it might be because Jiang Chengwu had awakened from a vegetative state and escaped, which caused the Order Level to drop so drastically.

But now it seems it wasn't because of Jiang Chengwu?

"Good... I understand." Lin Qing said: "Sorry to disturb you, Captain Chu."

"Wait."

Chu Yunfeng spoke in a deep voice: "I still want to remind Team Leader Lin of one thing: Camel's background is not simple. He formed the Blue Scarf Gang not just for collecting protection fees over such trivial matters; it also involves several missing person cases... Team Leader Lin should be careful."

"Missing person cases?" Lin Qing said: "I understand, thank you."

"Also, I know that at the level of the Patrol Bureau, one has the power to search the surrounding areas of one's residence at any time."

Chu Yunfeng's tone became a bit more sincere: "Perhaps one day our side will need Team Leader Lin's cooperation and help; at that time, I will trouble you."

"If it is work-related, of course, no problem." Lin Qing didn't close the door completely.

"Thanks."

After ending the call, Lin Qing sat in the restaurant continuing to eat, while his mind pondered how to investigate this matter.

Suddenly—

"Bang!"

A sound of shattering glass suddenly rang out; the glass door of this restaurant instantly became covered in spiderweb-like cracks, with some parts deeply indented.

Judging from the shape of the indentation, it was clearly someone who had kicked it hard from outside the door! Fortunately, this glass door was laminated tempered glass, with a layer of PVB film sandwiched in the middle; even though the glass shattered, the fragments would be held together by the PVB film.

Otherwise, with so many guests present now, they might have been injured by the shards of broken glass.

Yet Lin Qing frowned.

Even this kind of reinforced laminated glass was kicked into such a state? During his patrol professional exam, he had also tried striking this kind of reinforced glass.

An ordinary person, if untrained, could not even damage this glass door with a full-force kick.

Lin Qing admitted to himself that even he, without using a combat technique, could at most kick this reinforced glass door into such a state with a full-force kick.

"Bang!"

The already deformed glass door was suddenly kicked open, and immediately a huge crowd poured in from outside, numbering fully twenty-odd people.

Seeing this, the group of guests inside the restaurant panicked.

Because almost everyone in the group entering the restaurant had a blue neckerchief tied at their collar!

(End of this chapter)