Chapter Five: The Gifted Cells

Pain, as deep as marrow pain, and not a flash of agony, but a ceaseless, unending torment with no clear end in sight.

If pain were to be graded on twelve levels, a mosquito bite would be level one, childbirth for a woman would be level two. The pain of being cut by a knife could count as level seven.

But a mosquito bite is momentary, while childbirth can last for dozens of minutes! If level-seven pain dragged on indefinitely, with no end in sight, the psychological pressure and the prolonged agony together would amount to a thirteenth level—something that goes beyond even the highest grade.

After all, if one were to endure a single cut, most people could grit their teeth and bear it. But to be endlessly cut, over and over—how many could say they would simply grit their teeth and get through it?

Time lost all meaning. Lying on the ground, Zhou Yi’s breathing gradually grew steady. When pain lingers long enough, a peculiar transformation occurs—numbness.

At some unknown point, Zhou Yi became accustomed to this pain; his body, through sheer repetition, internalized the sensation. In time, he could hardly feel it any longer.

It was, of course, an illusion. The pain remained, only dulled to numbness by prolonged exposure. But it wasn’t as though he had stopped fearing it.

He knew that if he so much as moved a finger, the resurgence of agony would force a scream from his throat.

Understanding this, Zhou Yi made the wise choice to lie motionless on the ground. It had taken so much to grow numb to the pain; if he moved and lost that numbness, all his suffering would be for naught—and that would be the end of him.

Should that happen, he really might be driven to bash his head against a rock.

…

“Now that I’m used to it, it’s time to get down to business!” Lying there, Zhou Yi spoke to himself in his mind.

He was no fool. He wouldn’t have boasted that he could get through the wind passage unless he had confidence—blind courage alone would be the height of folly.

His thoughts turned, and his consciousness entered a pitch-black space. Overhead, ten luminous stars hung in the sky.

“So I’ve already activated ten cells?” In this space, Zhou Yi—made of pure mind—looked up at the stars, murmuring to himself.

This was the space within his body, which he called the universe, drawing on the notion that the world was a grand universe, and the human body a small one.

This space was the first golden finger he possessed after crossing into this world—a natural talent.

To explain briefly, this space existed somewhere unknown within his body, serving to receive power transmitted from his cells.

Yes, cells.

He could generate energy through kinetic movement, then use it to activate cells. Once activated, the cells would shine like stars in the darkness.

These star-like cells did not shine for nothing. As Zhou Yi poured energy into them, the twinkling cells could provide their master—Zhou Yi—with power in every sense.

To put it in fantasy terms, the power of these cells was like omnipotent experience points—distributable, flexible experience that could be allocated to any skill or aspect.

For instance, in this world, if Zhou Yi knew a martial art, he could pour these experience points into it and instantly master it, reaching perfection.

As long as he had enough energy!

That was why, though Zhou Yi had two golden fingers, he regarded his natural talent as the primary one.

Through time and study, he designated one as the main, the other as secondary: the talent was the main, the attribute panel the secondary.

Simply put, he mainly relied on the first golden finger, while the second’s greatest function was to let him clearly see his own condition and thus better understand and utilize the first.

This way, he could maximize the power of his primary golden finger!

And now, whether he could survive the wind passage and achieve his goals all depended on the strength of this golden finger.

Staring up at the star-like cells, Zhou Yi lingered for a moment, then silently recited “attributes.”

Instantly, a light screen appeared in the lower left of his vision.

Name: Zhou Yi

Spirit: 1

Body: 1

Vitality: 1

Energy: 9.31

The number after energy kept flickering—this was kinetic energy, precisely the energy produced whenever the slicing wind outside struck Zhou Yi’s body!

These numbers were truly forged in blood and tears!

Watching the ever-jumping digits, Zhou Yi felt a tickle of excitement. Truth be told, since learning what his golden finger could do, he’d never once used it.

After all, usage required kinetic energy, which, as he understood it, was the energy of movement.

So, after learning this, he’d run and exercised himself to exhaustion, only to open his attribute panel at the end of the day and find the energy value had gone from zero to a mere 0.01.

He was instantly deflated—he had worn himself out for a whole day for that paltry sum?

He strongly suspected that even that pitiful 0.01 was granted as a consolation prize by his golden finger, out of pity.

From then on, he all but abandoned the notion of soaring to the top with his golden finger in a short time.

He’d considered testing the golden finger’s effect, but the first requirement was ten points of energy.

In other words, only with ten points of energy could he use his golden finger at all.

Looking at his miserable 0.01, he let go of the idea.

But now, gazing at the attribute panel and watching the numbers climb—despite his mangled body and unending pain—he felt a secret thrill.

Was this some kind of masochistic tendency?

Bruised and battered, yet still a little excited?

Just as he was grinning foolishly at his attribute panel, a sudden rush of footsteps came from nearby.

Zhou Yi opened his eyes in confusion, only to see Song Hai—bruised and battered, arms laden with bundles—hurrying toward him!

Thud!

Song Hai ran up eagerly and dumped his bundles on the ground. His face mottled with blue and purple, he flashed Zhou Yi a dopey grin. “Looks like you won’t be getting through the wind passage anytime soon, so we’d better settle in for the long haul. If you don’t bring food and water, are you planning to starve or die of thirst?”

“That’s not what you want, is it? If you die, all your goals and dreams go up in smoke!”