Use first and repay later: Advance the future cultivation fruits Chapter 14: 14. Combat Skill Selection

Chapter 14: 14. bat Skill Selection

Days gradually became calm.

Lin Qing’s life also entered into a rhythm; after finishing his first practice method in the morning, he would go to the sub-bureau’s storeroom to take the High Energy Release Liquid. He practiced three times a day and went on patrol at night.

Whenever he had spare time, he flipped through professional books related to patrol, preparing for the professional exam at the end of the month.

He had taken a long leave from school, and with the Inspection Bureau’s stamp, the school naturally approved it directly.

Unfortunately, during the night patrols in these past few days, he had not encountered another good opportunity like the first time.

A week quickly passed by.

...

“Your Third-class Merit and reward money have been issued. e to the bureau before two o’clock in the afternoon; the bureau chief will also give you a public mendation.”

“Finally, it’s here.”

Seeing the message from Team Leader Han on WeChat, Lin Qing couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief, “I’ll learn the bat Skill today.”

Although this was expected, he still felt uneasy until it was in his hands.

…

Two o’clock in the afternoon.

“Chief.”

This was the second time Lin Qing met Kou Guoyong, the chief of Xiao Shan District’s sub-bureau; the last time was at the inauguration ceremony for the acting team leader Xiao Peidong.

Kou Guoyong was nearing fifty, and he had been a Patrol Team leader twenty years ago, but now he had gained quite a bit of weight, and his appearance and demeanor were more like those of a stereotypical leader, maintaining a kind smile at all times.

“The cousin of Team Leader Chen? Not bad.”

Kou Guoyong handed over the medal and certificate to Lin Qing with a warm smile, while reporters and photographers nearby captured the moment.

The other members of the second team also received mendation certificates, adding a record to their files.

Of course, these were all for show.

The actual material rewards were few; the personal mendation was a reward of two thousand yuan, and the Third-class Merit was five thousand yuan—decent enough.

Lin Qing didn’t care too much; what he valued most was the bat Skill represented by the Third-class Merit and the reward money of one hundred fifty thousand yuan.

After a series of procedures and stamping, the one hundred fifty thousand yuan reward money finally landed in his account.

His account balance reached an unprecedented six figures, but before he could enjoy it, he immediately transferred one hundred forty thousand yuan to Team Leader Han.

Then, Team Leader Han transferred him back two yuan.

“Team Leader, what’s this?” Lin Qing was a bit confused.

“139998 for two groups, you gave me two yuan extra,” explained Team Leader Han earnestly.

Lin Qing: “…”

…

After the public mendation ended, Team Leader Han went to talk with the bureau chief, and Lin Qing and a few team members waited in the second team’s office.

“Thanks to you, I earned an easy two thousand and a certificate.”

Qin Qin said with a smile, “I saw the Team Leader was quite happy when he collected the money earlier.”

“I thought the Team Leader wasn’t someone who cared about money,” Lin Qing said, surprised.

“Why not?”

Qin Qin said, “The Team Leader has a family to support, and his daughter is attending college in the urban circle. Although there’s not much expense now, if she gets the residence permit for the urban circle, even with housing subsidies, the cost of rent will not be small.”

“Going to college in the urban circle?” Lin Qing was astonished.

“Exactly,” Qin Qin said enviously, “It’s a brighter future than patrol work.”

“By the way.”

Lin Qing suddenly questioned, “When the chief gave the oral mendation earlier, why did he only mention the fugitive Jiang Chengwu? Didn’t we also catch the Blue Scarf Gang who was harboring him?”

Qin Qin glanced around, leaned closer, and whispered, “I’ll tell you secretly, the head of the Blue Scarf Gang, Luo Tuo, hasn’t been convicted yet, he’s only suspected of criminal activity, but the police haven’t found any concrete evidence.”

“No concrete evidence? How e?”

Lin Qing frowned slightly and said, “There should be surveillance in the bar, right? And the lampshade explosion must have been tampered with; there should be some sort of remote control device involved. There should have also been private contact between Luo Tuo and the fugitive, right? Can’t they find any evidence of these?”

“None of it can be found, it’s like it’s been erased cleanly.”

Qin Qin shook her head, “The police are also investigating thoroughly, but if it continues this way, once the thirty-day criminal detention period is up, they’ll have to release him.”

Lin Qing fell silent.

He recalled the Order Level that had risen by only 0.1 and started to understand.

The Blue Scarf Gang had disbanded, but Luo Tuo, the founder of the gang, had not been caught. The root of the chaos and the threat still existed, so the Order Level had only increased by 0.1.

“Is there a force protecting Luo Tuo?”

Lin Qing pondered to himself, “Surveillance and traces all erased, even the police can’t find out…”

At this rate, when would the Order Level reach 1?

…

After Team Leader Han finished speaking with the chief, he did not say much to the team members and took Lin Qing to apply to learn the bat Skill on the second floor.

“Can I learn the bat Skill here at the sub-bureau?” Lin Qing inquired.

“Of course.”

Team Leader Han said, “The key is to apply for learning permission. Once the application is approved, headquarters will transfer all the materials and content of the bat Skill to us. You’ll be able to study in a secure room and someone will guide you.”

“A secure room?” Lin Qing realized.

Nowadays, with no need to go to specific places to look through secret manuals to learn cultivation techniques, the information that books could carry, network-transmitted images could carry just as well.

When he reached the second floor, the Team Leader Han led him through a long corridor. After passing through a layer of electrified gate at the end, they arrived in front of an elevator door.

“You go down. Someone will guide you when you arrive,” Team Leader Han said.

Lin Qing nodded, walked to the elevator door, and after pressing the solitary down button, two nearby black surveillance cameras rotated slightly, with the cameras aiming at him, seemingly to verify his identity.

Then, a slightly hoarse voice suddenly rang out:

“Look up for iris recognition.”

Lin Qing looked up to see a silver camera extending above him, quietly meeting his gaze.

Immediately, the elevator doors opened.

Lin Qing entered and found that there was no control panel inside the elevator, but it was clear that someone was controlling its descent.

It wasn’t long before the elevator came to a stop.

As the doors opened, Lin Qing saw a corridor constructed entirely of glass and silver metal, which added much more of a futuristic feel pared to the exterior.

At the same time, that slightly hoarse voice came again:

“Walk into the chamber at the end of the hallway.”

Lin Qing promptly walked toward the end of the corridor, and soon he saw the wall at the far end slowly split apart, revealing a dimly lit chamber.

Entering the chamber, the walls behind him closed again, sealing shut pletely.

In the darkness, a series of lines suddenly lit up, projecting onto one of the walls, forming rows of characters.

Name: Lin Qing

Gender: Male

ID Number: 330109210210303612

Patrol Number: 3301758

Rank: First-class Patrol Officer

Merits: Three-times Third-class Merit

…

The projection content was unmistakably Lin Qing’s personal information, including his photograph.

“First-class Patrol Officer Lin Qing, let me remind you in advance that during your study period, you must not damage anything within this chamber, and you must leave once the time is up,” the voice said once more.

“Okay,” Lin Qing nodded.

The hoarse voice echoed in the chamber: “You have a record of three Third-class Merits; you may choose any bat Skill to attempt to learn.”

In the midst of speaking, Lin Qing noticed that the four walls around him were all projecting rows of characters.

[Hundred Beasts Series]

Based on various beast forms as the foundation of the bat Skill, one can refine the form into one’s body. The more beast forms fused into oneself, the more powerful the bat Skill bees. Each Beast Form Visualization represents one bat Skill, and currently, there are six Beast Form Visualizations available.

Note that the Hundred Beasts Series has tremendous potential, but a single bat Skill is relatively weak. Moreover, after mastering six beast forms, you must go to Chaoyang Martial Arts Hall to learn subsequent beast forms.

[Free Body Series]

prising of six bat Skills: “Speed,” “Min,” “Power,” “WeChat,” “Steel,” and “Soft.” Each has its strengths, but a bination of all six is nearly perfect.

Note that “Free Body” is the basis of one of the top three bat Skills at Chaoyang Martial Arts Hall, with an extremely high difficulty. The success rate of beginners is only 4.1%, paying the most attention to prehension and control. If one’s prehension is sufficient and control just right, progress will be divine in speed; otherwise, even beginning will be difficult, so consider carefully.

[Divine Transformation Series]

prising of six bat Skills: “Eye,” “Ear,” “Nose,” “Tongue,” “Body,” and “Mind,” specializing in perception…

[Five Elements Series]

prising of…

“Twenty-three bat Skills?”

The descriptions of the four series of bat Skills were presented before Lin Qing’s eyes, with detailed explanations below each one.

He immediately started scanning through the methods one by one with keen attention.

“Let me remind you,” the hoarse voice spoke up, “once you choose a bat Skill from a series and begin to learn it, you should ideally continue with the same series in the future and not study from other series.”

Lin Qing, pondering, asked, “Is it because these bat Skills are all derivatives? Were the four series originally four whole bat Skills?”

“Your guess is quite accurate,” the hoarse voice replied. “In order to reduce the difficulty of learning, they were purposefully broken down into different simplified parts. And the real plete bat Skills, even for Inner Hall Students at the Chaoyang Martial Arts Hall, require extreme effort to potentially learn.”

Lin Qing thought for a moment and asked, “Do you have those plete, undivided bat Skills here?”

After all, as long as he could begin, he would be able to use High Energy Release Liquid in advance. Naturally, learning plete bat Skills would be best.

“…No,” the hoarse voice stopped briefly before continuing, “Even the divided bat Skills present a high level of difficulty for you, much less plete ones. The full Visualization, formed by multiple layers of mental states, is beyond your ability to even begin, and your psyche couldn’t withstand it.”

“Then can the first-class merit learn it?” Lin Qing asked.

“Even with your first-class merit, you can still only learn from these four series of bat Skills,” the hoarse voice declared, “At most, you’re allowed to browse three other special Cultivation Methods.”

“Special Cultivation Methods?” Lin Qing was curious.

“Ask when you’ve obtained a first-class merit,” urged the hoarse voice. “Hurry up and choose, young man.”

Lin Qing slowly turned around and carefully examined the twenty-three bat Skills projected on all four walls, lost in thought.

Which one to choose?