Chapter 38: The Tiger Girl Emerges from Seclusion
This ancestor never had a second son, but after cultivating a mysterious path of inner energy, lo and behold—a second son appeared! Lin Xiaosu, on the other hand, already had his own, but when his energy circled around it a few times, a peculiar aura formed. And what happened next? His little soldier stood tall and proud, full of arrogance!
Good heavens, this is the legendary duck spirit technique!
At this stage, there wasn’t much practical use for such a divine power, so best to let things settle. Lin Xiaosu gave his little soldier a gentle tap, coaxing it back to calmness, and then turned his attention to a special meridian in his right hand.
Guided by the silverfish, this pathway quickly took shape. A faint breeze seemed to stir at his middle finger. With the wisdom of the Dao, he saw a subtle light. Lin Xiaosu’s eyes flashed; he pointed his middle finger at the wall. Dust showered down from the impact, and he swiftly withdrew his hand.
He stared at the tiny hole in the wall and his seemingly unscathed finger, his heart pounding in his chest.
If this skill were placed in a world of martial heroes, what would it be called?
The One-Finger Spirit Touch?
Such was the power of the Rejuvenating Technique.
It could unlock countless divine abilities.
Ordinary people might spend a lifetime trying to open even one of these microscopic meridian pathways, but Lin Xiaosu could do so in an instant, thanks to the silverfish—the ethereal guide that made the intangible tangible, responding to his every intent.
The next day dawned, misty and draped in rain.
Summer had arrived, yet spring seemed reluctant to leave, weaving misty rains and leaving behind light jackets.
In this mist-veiled city of Phoenix, the detective agency busied itself with trivial cases. Life flowed quietly, untroubled by storms.
Far to the south, however, the sea was in turmoil.
On an island thick with jungle,
Beneath the forest lay a modern base.
Machines beeped, currents buzzed.
Within a massive alloy capsule, a woman slowly opened her eyes, a trace of confusion flickering within them.
Where am I?
Why am I here?
She was Li Diandian, known as Tiger Girl by Lin Xiaosu.
She had been asleep for a whole month—and now, she was awake.
The moment consciousness returned, she felt an inexhaustible energy coursing through her body, utterly unlike anything she had ever known.
Inside the alloy pod, a screen flickered into existence, displaying a figure with flowing white hair, ethereal and fairy-like.
Tiger Girl frowned. “Where is this place?”
“This is the Qianlong Base No. 32,” answered the figure in white. “Leave the island—there’s a boat waiting for you.”
“Alright, open the capsule then.”
“To leave the island, you must first leave the isolation chamber. If you can't even get out of there, how could you possibly leave the island?” The white-robed figure’s voice brimmed with disdain.
Tiger Girl stared at the metal wall before her. “Isolation chamber? You want me to open it from the inside?”
“Of course!”
“No restrictions on method?”
“None at all.”
“If I break it, I won't have to pay for the damages, right…?”
“If you manage to break it, I'll eat every last scrap of this wreck myself.”
Tiger Girl lashed out with a kick. The chamber shook violently, but remained unscathed.
The white-robed figure let out a cold laugh. “You think you can break out of the isolation chamber with brute force? Who do you think you are? Quit dreaming and look for the pattern. Judging by the size of your brain, there can’t be more than a couple ounces of sense in there!”
As her laughter rang out, Tiger Girl slowly raised her arm. Her fist seemed as heavy as a mountain, and her hair floated upward without a breeze.
Bang!
The laughter cut off abruptly.
The alloy chamber now bore the imprint of a fist.
The white-robed figure’s eyes widened in shock.
Bang!
With a second punch, every circuit connected to the chamber shattered.
Darkness flooded the capsule.
The white-robed figure’s expression changed. “This is bad! Prepare an external override—there’s only five minutes!”
With the circuits destroyed, there would be no oxygen inside. If the chamber wasn’t forcibly breached within five minutes, the person inside would surely die.
But with a deafening crash, the isolation chamber burst apart. Tiger Girl stood in the laboratory, leaving the white-robed woman and the elderly man beside her speechless with disbelief.
The woman in white closed her eyes. “Activate the external holographic battlefield. Let’s see how many levels she can clear.”
The vast plaza outside shifted in an instant, becoming a dense jungle.
Tiger Girl stepped forward, only to be met by a charging tiger.
Tiger Girl shrieked, “That’s a protected animal! I can’t kill a tiger—I don’t want to end up working a sewing machine in prison…”
The white-robed woman was thoroughly conflicted. “What kind of person is this, worrying about that now…”
She snatched up the intercom. “This is a holographic projection. This is a test! Whether it’s an animal or a human, if it enters your field of vision, you can kill it. If you die, the test fails and you’ll be locked in the isolation chamber for another year!”
Tiger Girl leapt into the air. “You should have said so earlier…”
Thud!
With one kick, she sent the tiger flying into the depths of the jungle.
Chaos erupted. Enormous pythons, ancient dinosaurs, all manner of extinct and bizarre creatures, even those recorded only in ancient texts, lurked within.
Though these were holographic projections and Tiger Girl theoretically could not feel threatened, at this moment it was as if she had entered the system itself—her strength and senses heightened, thanks to the sensor pressed against the back of her neck, capable of simulating every sensation.
In mere moments, she fought her way through the jungle, experiencing a thrill and exhilaration she could never have found atop Mount Ta.
Yet the forest ahead was endless, without beginning or end.
Compared to her boundless excitement and tension, Lin Xiaosu’s days in Phoenix City were tranquil and uneventful.
The detective agency had been open for half a month now.
Last night, Miao Ruolan tallied the books—they had earned seventy-three thousand yuan.
After rent and taxes, their net profit was sixty thousand.
Split evenly, she and Lin Xiaosu each received thirty thousand.
What did thirty thousand mean? It was what she used to earn in an entire year.
The girl was elated, and threw herself with renewed vigor into her studies of surveying, convinced of its bright future.
As for Lin Xiaosu?
He seemed to have nothing but leisure. He’d rise in the morning, turn left out the door for breakfast, then return to the office, cross his legs, and sip tea before strolling over to the library.
In just half a month, he’d read a staggering number of books.
Astronomy, geography, history, encyclopedias, literary classics—he’d devoured nearly a tenth of all the physical books in the library, and did so selectively. As for those sentimental works by pseudo-intellectuals, he dismissed them entirely. Even if he could absorb books instantly by flipping through them, he refused to let such trash take up mental space.
A pen stood upright on his desk as Lin Xiaosu observed the angle of the sunlight.
His mind’s super-database activated, and he calculated his exact geographical coordinates: so many degrees east longitude, so many degrees north latitude. He checked his phone—astonishingly accurate!
Lin Xiaosu grinned to himself. “Still think you can’t determine your coordinates without modern equipment? Maybe for most people, but am I most people?”
His phone rang—it was Miao Ruolan.
A new case had come in…
Lin Xiaosu reached to toss his book onto the shelf, when he noticed a pair of eyes watching him. Quickly, he twisted his wrist, and the book, instead of flying away, spun back into his hand. He placed it quietly on the shelf in the most ordinary manner, offered a gentle smile to the pretty girl reading nearby, and strode out of the library.
That girl had been coming for several days now.
Her beauty was striking—an oval face with clear lines, lips naturally red without lipstick and yet vivid with sensual contrast.
But what struck him most were her eyes—eyes that radiated the fragrance of books.
Most beauties make a living off their looks, seldom relying on talent. With her face, she could easily captivate countless admirers in a live-streaming room. Yet she preferred to quietly read in the library.
And Lin Xiaosu had noticed that most of her books were on philosophy.
Philosophy and beauty—two words that rarely found themselves in the same sentence…