Atlas of Heaven and Man

Although Dan Xiong's character was poor, he didn't waste his year at the Wuyi Academy. His kick was covert and swift, and before anyone could react, it landed squarely on Chen Chuan's ear.

Seeing this, the teaching assistants were about to send people to carry him away.

This kick, if landed solidly, would fell even a martial arts student who had undergone rigorous anti-strike training, let alone an ordinary examinee with no training. In severe cases, it could even be fatal.

However, what happened next was quite unexpected. Although Chen Chuan was hit, his head only tilted slightly to the side, and his foot only took a half-step outward. Then, he slowly turned his head and stood up straight again.

Unseen by the others, at the moment he was kicked, the head of the young man who looked exactly like him flickered and became illusory.

"Ah? Oh!" The teaching assistant beside him came to his senses, picked up the list on the table, looked at it, and said, "Chen Chuan."

"What's his background?"

"Local to Yangzhi City, just graduated from junior high school. It doesn't seem like he's ever joined a boxing club or received any training..."

The teacher looked at Chen Chuan and said, "Understood."

Dan Xiong failed to knock Chen Chuan down with one kick, but he heard the whispers around the training ground, mixed with quite a few snickers. He felt that these people were mocking him, and his blood surged. He roared fiercely, turned around, and used another powerful backswing kick!

Chen Chuan didn't have the habit of not fighting back, nor was he timid because his opponent was a Wuda student. He also kicked out at Dan Xiong without showing any weakness!

This movement was somewhat similar to Dan Xiong's whip kick, and everyone could see that he was simply imitating it, because the force-generating posture was not standard, resulting in insufficient speed and power.

The two people kicked almost simultaneously, but the watching teaching assistants and students had no doubt that Chen Chuan would be the one to be hit first!

The result was as they expected. Dan Xiong kicked Chen Chuan's head first, but the result was still the same as before. He didn't knock Chen Chuan down, and this time, the latter didn't even sway.

As for Chen Chuan's kick, it hit Dan Xiong's side neck at this moment!

Almost at the same time, the phantom behind him suddenly came to the position where he was standing, and the two figures merged together in an instant!

At this moment, his speed and power suddenly increased sharply!

Bang!

A muffled sound exploded in the training ground, and there was even a slight echo, which shows how powerful this kick was.

Dan Xiong's eyes lost focus, his body fell to the side, and with a roll, he lay sprawled on the ground.

Liu Cai's mouth was slightly open, looking at this scene in disbelief.

The other students present were also staring blankly, their minds a little confused. What's going on? Dan Xiong is a second-year student of Wuda, but he was kicked unconscious by an examinee who obviously hadn't practiced much?

Subsequently, they gloated one by one. Dan Xiong was a troublemaker in the academy and didn't have much popularity. Seeing him deflated and embarrassed this time made them cheer in their hearts.

The teacher sitting in the middle of the long table took the application form from the teaching assistant, picked up a pen, signed his name neatly on it, and stamped it, saying: "This student has passed."

Hearing this sentence, Chen Chuan couldn't help but look at the teacher, wanting to confirm whether he was talking about himself.

The middle-aged teacher said: "Student, your resistance to strikes is good. I am lecturer Bian Feng. You have now passed the assessment. But I remind you that you have only passed the entrance exam, but whether you can gain a foothold in Wuyi in the future depends on the re-examination two months later."

Chen Chuan showed a happy smile and bowed to Bian Feng: "Thank you, teacher!"

"Clap clap..."

The surrounding teaching assistants and students clapped their hands softly at this time. Such an interesting exam was rare. They were looking forward to this student's performance, and they also remembered this student's name. As for Dan Xiong, who was lying on the side still confused, he seemed to be intentionally or unintentionally ignored.

When Chen Chuan walked out of the training ground, facing the dazzling sunlight outside, looking at the road extending from under his feet, a wave of excitement and joy welled up in his heart.

"Student Chen Chuan."

A crisp voice came from behind.

Chen Chuan turned his head and saw that it was the senior female student he had seen when filling out the form. He walked over politely and asked, "Senior, is there anything I can do for you?"

The female student walked over and generously extended her hand, "Student Chen, congratulations on passing the exam. Let me formally introduce myself. My name is Zhen Ping, currently a second-year student at Wuda."

Chen Chuan also extended his hand and shook it, "Chen Chuan, hello senior."

He found that Zhen Ping's hand was very soft and smooth, without any calluses. He could feel a kind of toughness under the skin, which gave him the illusion that as long as the other party clenched her fingers, she could crush his palm.

Zhen Ping said, "Student Chen, you need to be careful. Dan Xiong is a very petty person and knows some shady people outside. There are school rules to restrain him in the academy, so he doesn't dare to do anything, but it's hard to say outside the school, so be careful."

Chen Chuan thought for a moment. Dan Xiong should be the name of the tall student just now. He didn't know why this person was targeting him just now, as if he had a grudge. However, many things in the world don't need a reason. There are many things that happen every day because someone doesn't like someone and makes trouble for them.

He sincerely thanked her and said, "Thank you, senior, I will be careful..."

"Zhenzhen!"

Just as she was talking, a girl in the distance waved here, and Zhen Ping also waved there and said, "Student Chen, I hope you can enter school smoothly. Work hard, goodbye." After saying that, she waved to Chen Chuan and ran away lightly.

Chen Chuan also said goodbye. He stood for a moment, then turned and left the old teaching building. This time, he didn't take the original route, but followed the signs and detoured from another road, avoiding the crowd of people who were still rushing to apply.

When he came to the bicycle shed to pick up his bicycle, he found that there were many advertising papers jammed on the rear seat rack. He took them out and saw that they were all advertisements for a certain boxing club, a certain arena, and some training halls. He thought about it and didn't throw them away. He simply folded them and stuffed them into his satchel, and then lightly pushed the bicycle out of the school gate. When he got to the avenue, he got on the bicycle and pedaled home.

On the way, he was also thinking that Wuyi Academy would provide free food and accommodation for formal students, so after moving out of his aunt's house, the problems of eating and living would be temporarily solved.

And as long as he achieved sufficiently excellent grades, tuition could be partially waived, and there might even be a scholarship. The latter was hard to say, but he was confident he could achieve the former, because…

He looked towards the street corner ahead. A figure identical to him was standing there, silently gazing back. And after going out dozens of meters, at the next intersection, this figure appeared again not far away, as if it were a ghost he couldn't shake off.

But if he were to describe it himself, apart from lacking self-awareness, this figure seemed like another self of his existing in a phantom state. So, he named it "Second Self."

"Second Self" appeared when he occupied this body. Interestingly, he was originally also called Chen Chuan. Apart from age and experience, their appearances were almost identical. Therefore, he speculated that the appearance of "Second Self" was likely caused by the connection between "Parallel Self" or "Otherworldly Twin Self."

"Second Self" could, according to his needs, actively or passively bear part or all of the pain he suffered. So, Shan Xiong's kick just now wasn't useless; it was just endured by "Second Self."

"Second Self" was generally separate from him, but once the two overlapped, his strength, reaction speed, endurance, and so on would greatly increase, as if at that moment, another "Self" was truly superimposed upon him.

However, he believed that if "Second Self" was indeed himself, then all of this was very logical, because whether it was bearing the pain or being responsible for exerting strength, wasn't it ultimately himself?

It was precisely because of the existence of "Second Self" that even though he had never undergone combat training, he still had a certain confidence in applying for the Martial Arts University.

But "Second Self" also had undeniable flaws. The first was that it could not be used without limitations.

Currently, the longest time he could overlap with "Second Self" each day was no more than thirty seconds. Of course, he could use the time separately, but once the total time limit was exceeded, the power of "Second Self" could hardly be borrowed anymore.

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Another flaw was that although "Second Self" could bear the damage for him, it also had a tolerance limit. Once that limit was broken, it would take time to slowly recover. The manifestation of bearing damage was usually a partial ethereal state. If the damage reached an unbearable level, it would disappear like dissipating mist, and it would not reappear until two or three days later.

Based on his previous experience, after taking such heavy kicks today, it might take…

Huh?

He suddenly noticed that there was no sign of etherealization on "Second Self." The damage suffered this time seemed to have already recovered, and the connection with himself seemed to be closer?

While surprised, he thought about it and a guess emerged in his mind: could it be because he knocked Shan Xiong down just now?

No, it wasn't the act of knocking down the opponent itself, but the joy and satisfaction he felt after knocking down Shan Xiong. Satisfying him was also equivalent to satisfying "Second Self." This kind of spiritual resonance deepened the connection between them, causing "Second Self" to move one step closer to reality.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt it was true.

Looking at it this way, perhaps the daily time limit for overlapping with "Second Self" would also increase. He could try this after returning home. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel excited, and the speed of his pedaling also increased.

The return journey was very smooth, and he arrived home in less than half an hour. No one was home at this time. Yu Wan should have taken her younger cousins to the nursery at the patrol station.

He washed his face outside, tidied up briefly, and then returned to his room. After hanging up his satchel and changing out of his coat, he sat on the edge of the bed, took a clock over, set the time, closed his eyes, overlapped with Second Self, and tried to count.

After a while, he opened his eyes and looked at the clock, his eyes revealing joy and excitement.

Just as he guessed, the time for overlapping with "Second Self" had increased, by about twelve seconds more than before. This was a significant improvement.

But could simply defeating an opponent increase the time? Thinking carefully, it might be because Shan Xiong was much stronger than him. If he defeated an opponent of the same level, he might not gain so much pleasure, and therefore not improve so much.

Of course, whether this was really the case could be verified slowly in the future.

He calmed down, went outside to pour a glass of water, took a few sips, put it down, then rolled up his shirt sleeves, bent down, and groped, pulling a brown leather suitcase from under the bed.

He carried the suitcase to the table, dialed the password, and finally pressed the lock button, slowly opening it. Inside were several notebooks, pages clipped with various contracts, a stack of wrapped photos, and a black metal card that looked like an invitation.

He picked up the metal card. The things in this box were left by his predecessor's parents, and he originally didn't know what this thing in his hand was. But after going to the Martial Arts University today, he found that it was very similar in appearance to the "Recommendation Certificate" for admission that he had seen, except that the color was a bit different.

In that case, should he take it out? He needed to know that there was still an entrance re-examination to come, the importance of which was no less than the entrance examination, and apart from waiving the exam, might there be other benefits to the "Recommendation Certificate"?

But after thinking about it again, he decided to wait.

Because his aunt and uncle were tight-lipped about the reasons for his predecessor's parents' death, it might bring trouble as well as convenience. Moreover, this recommendation certificate was black, not the silver color he had seen before. It might have other uses, and if he really wanted to use it, he would need to find out the specific situation first.

He had to be careful, because this world was not as safe as it seemed on the surface.

He put down the metal card and groped out a round, smooth pebble from the bottom of the box, looking at this thing with a deep gaze.

His predecessor's parents had an old house in the suburbs. His predecessor went back that day to sort things out, and on the way back, he saw a blue luxury car passing by, and then he lost consciousness.

Afterwards, he was able to confirm that his predecessor was accurately hit in the heart by this tiny pebble, dying on the spot. When he woke up again, it was the current him occupying the body, and "Second Self" also appeared at that time.

But who was the murderer, and why did they want to attack his predecessor?

"Ring ring ring…"

Just as he was thinking, a telephone suddenly rang in the living room.