The System is Abstract, Luckily, So Am I

Although the old man wanted to commit insurance fraud against him, seventeen years of good education and cultivated moral character wouldn't allow Lin Li not to help the old man.

Mainly, the old man seemed to really have pulled something.

"Grandpa, you can even pull something just standing there. In the future when practicing, you must be more careful. If I hadn't come today and you were here alone, the consequences would be unthinkable." Lin Li helped the old man to a stone bench and brought over what should be the old man's thermos bag, earnestly advising.

Look, look—now the old man was just sitting and pulled something again!

The young martial arts practitioner's body was actually much more frail than he had expected.

Indeed, even martial artists couldn't withstand the long years.

Old men ultimately became old men.

The human body was still too fragile.

"People like you, people like you..." The old man stared at Lin Li, who was currently wandering in thought and lamenting spring and autumn, momentarily speechless.

And you fucking said if you weren't here the consequences would be unthinkable—it was precisely because you were here that he got so angry!

And now you're spacing out again!

"Don't worry, Grandpa Zhou. You don't need to praise me. There are many people like me in this world. If one me disappears, thousands and thousands of me will stand up." Lin Li came back to his senses. He wasn't someone who liked being praised, so hearing this he quickly waved his hand modestly.

The thermos had the old man's name on it—Zhou Youwei—so Lin Li directly changed to calling him Grandpa Zhou.

Then Lin Li stood up and said to the old man: "Grandpa Zhou, since you're fine and caught your breath, I'll head off first."

It was getting late anyway. He was covered in sweat and needed to go back and shower before school. If he didn't hurry, he wouldn't even have time to buy breakfast.

"You—"

"Really no need to thank me. This is what I should do. Bye!"

Hearing the old man calling from behind, Lin Li waved his hand. The old man was probably looking at him with moved eyes right now.

But real men never look back.

"—which family's child are you!" The old man's voice still caught up, carrying strong emotion.

"Just call me a passing Kamen Rider."

Lin Li smiled. He hadn't expected the old man would want to visit and thank him—even more unnecessary.

Doing good deeds requires no name left behind; success need not be attributed to me.

Another morning that brought tears to his eyes.

"...There's no saving it, this world is completely unsalvageable!" Watching Lin Li's retreating figure, the old man who was nearly driven mad spoke with despair and helplessness.

...

In the bathroom, Lin Li examined his rewards while showering.

The timed Task Four had been successfully completed.

After Lin Li read the prerequisites, he decided to throw the match.

The system hadn't specified serious conditions like "earnestly" or "with all one's might." It only required it to be "friendly," completed when either party fell and admitted defeat.

If this wasn't friendly, what was friendly?

Sure enough, when he admitted defeat, the system indicated task completion.

To make the old man feel more accomplished about defeating him, he had even specifically rolled around on the ground a few times—such thoughtful effort.

Wait.

The old man hadn't been committing insurance fraud!

Lin Li's pupils suddenly contracted. He now understood the truth and felt somewhat remorseful.

The old man had been too excited! How could an elderly person handle such a sense of accomplishment? For people of advanced age, great joy and sorrow were both very dangerous.

He'd need to be more careful next time, not let good intentions lead to bad outcomes.

[Task Four completed]

[Randomly generating martial arts-related ability.]

[You have received reward: Passive Ability: Bare-handed Blade Catching.]

[Bare-handed Blade Catching: When both hands are not holding any objects, you can extremely accurately predict the trajectory of cold weapons.]

Is that you, Li Jing?

Too bad his ability didn't have "100%" in it, immediately losing qualification to become a conceptual god.

Somewhat disappointing, since Lin Li had hoped to get an active ability, like Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms or Lingbo Microsteps.

Then Lin Li looked at the Eight-Stage Body Forging Technique in his [Inventory].

Come on, immortal cultivation method—all of it, pour into my brain! Read!

A thick book appeared in front of Lin Li, landing with a smack on the ground, accepting the shower water's baptism.

In terms of being unreliable, the system was unexpectedly reliable.

"..."

"My cultivation method!"

Lin Li frantically picked up the cultivation method, but then discovered the water on the ground hadn't affected it at all. It remained perfectly dry without a trace of wetness.

Lin Li raised an eyebrow and directly aimed the showerhead at the cultivation method.

Water droplets slid across the book's surface like it was covered with a hydrophobic layer.

After discovering he not only couldn't tear it but could also choose to return it to [Inventory] just by touching it, Lin Li nodded with relief. Finally, it had some dignity.

Too bad those great beings could scan cultivation methods with spiritual sense and memorize everything instantly, while he could only honestly read books like this.

But it was understandable—right now he was just a commoner with a built-in mosquito-repelling aura.

Manifesting it again, Lin Li opened the first page and began trying to read.

Your mom.

Classical Chinese, traditional characters.

Adult literacy book.

For the first time, Lin Li deeply realized how useful Chinese literature actually was.

Fortunately, Lin Li wasn't illiterate, and combined with the human body movement diagrams on basically every page, he could barely understand the general idea.

But what was relatively magical was that when Lin Li followed the movements above, his body felt warm currents flowing through it—a completely different sensation from practicing eight-brocade exercises earlier.

It really was good stuff, or it wouldn't have such magical effects.

Wait, why were there still warm currents flowing when he wasn't practicing?

Lin Li thought seriously, then looked up.

He turned off the showerhead above his head and tried the few movements again.

Mm.

No more warm currents.

Damn.

—Whether it was good stuff remained to be researched.

...

"No way, Lin Li, are you crazy? It's one thing to be so serious in class, but why are you doing test papers during break?"

Facing Lin Li who refused his invitation for a bathroom duo queue, Bai Bufan said sadly and desperately.

"It's not a test paper. I'm watching little people fight."

"Hm?!" Bai Bufan leaned over like a dog seeing shit. Lin Li directly pulled out a sheet and threw it to him.

"It really is fighting? How boring."

After discovering the "little people" Lin Li mentioned weren't the same as the little people he thought of, he shook his head disappointedly and returned the paper to Lin Li.

What Lin Li was looking at was indeed the Eight-Stage Body Forging Technique, but not the original. Taking it out at school—if people discovered its special properties like being waterproof and fireproof—wouldn't be appropriate.

This was a "copy" that Lin Li had photographed with his phone and then printed at a print shop—it seemed redundant, but Lin Li was also worried something unexpected might happen if he directly took it to copy.

"What is this thing? It's in classical Chinese too, completely incomprehensible." Adult Bai Bufan looked completely puzzled.

"The content is martial arts. I found it online to practice classical Chinese translation and see if I could learn something." Lin Li said with one truth and nine lies, then even performed a few movements.

Faintly, it really did have some semblance.

Bai Bufan stepped back, stood straight, clasped his hands and bowed: "Young Master Lin, this boxing power—you can tell at a glance you're a practitioner. You've reached the level of perfection. We should spar sometime. I happen to be the modern inheritor of the Bai family techniques."

"If you'd practiced martial arts, you wouldn't have only been two seconds faster than me in the 1000-meter run. Brothers in misfortune." Lin Li scoffed.

Lin Li knew very well what ivory could come from Bai Bufan's dog mouth.

"You're questioning my Bai family techniques?!" Bai Bufan widened his eyes. "I swear on my Optimus Prime that Bai family techniques are definitely better than your unknown technique."

"Such a big bet?" Lin Li raised an eyebrow.

Thinking about it, the surname Bai did sound quite prestigious. Maybe there really was some inheritance, so Lin Li asked: "What are your Bai family techniques?"

"White Tiger-Scar Light automatic rifle."

"..."

"Speak up! Are Bai family techniques better or is your unknown technique better!"

"Go to hell with your CrossFire!"

(End of Chapter)