Evolution by Adding Points

Logically, Chen Jue should have bought a tungsten block, since its atomic mass of 183.84 amu is very close to gold’s.

But pure tungsten was expensive online, mostly sold as lab-grade blocks. After asking a few sellers, he learned that creating a new mold to cast and shape it would make the price even higher!

Including the custom processing fees, it would cost at least ten thousand yuan. It just wasn’t worth it.

As for brass, Chen Jue had a vivid impression of it!

In the finance and pawn industries, it was nicknamed ”fake gold.” In the early days, many pawn shops had fallen for scams involving gold-plated brass.

There were even cases of jewelry stores colluding with pawn shops to defraud banks. They’d claim they were pawning items for cash flow, but they were really just after the bank’s principal, with some scams reaching tens or even hundreds of billions of yuan.

When he was a child living in the countryside, Chen Jue had also encountered similar fake gold scams.

The itinerant gold traders who traveled through the countryside loved to use brass to trick the villagers.

The elderly villagers didn’t know anything about chemistry; their only homespun method was ”true gold fears no fire.” The problem was, after being heated, brass looked almost identical to gold to the naked eye. They were duped almost every time.

...

After ordering the fake gold brick online, Chen Jue stopped fussing about and went straight to sleep.

His injured left arm needed rest, and staying up late would only hinder its recovery.

He must have pushed himself past his limit with the silver brick challenge last night. When he woke up the next day, Chen Jue found the pain in his left arm hadn’t improved much; in fact, it had gotten a lot worse. The area from his hand to his forearm was red and swollen like a steamed bun, and he could see some purplish bruises. It hurt terribly just to lift it, so he just let it hang limply, trying not to move it at all.

He glanced at the weather outside. The sky was gray and overcast; it was a rainy day. There would be no sunrise to bask in, and he couldn’t go to the park for his morning workout. He had no choice but to burrow back under the covers and sleep a little longer.

When he woke up, it was already past 9:00 AM, and he was late for work. Chen Jue had to request a half-day of sick leave on DingTalk and sent a message to his team leader, Li Mo, on WeChat to let him know.

Li Mo didn’t have any objections. Chen Jue was still in his probationary period this week, and his performance wasn’t tied to risk control metrics yet. Besides, Li Mo was the one overseeing the few Class A client cases Chen Jue reviewed each afternoon. Taking a half-day of sick leave wasn’t a problem.

Besides, most of these office-bound finance workers, except for the rare few who consistently exercised, weren’t in great physical shape. It was perfectly normal for them to take time off for minor injuries or illnesses.

So, Li Mo quickly approved the sick leave on DingTalk and just told Chen Jue to submit his medical records later.

He went downstairs for breakfast. Since his left arm was injured and he couldn’t move it freely, driving was unsafe. Chen Jue took a taxi to a nearby major hospital to register for an appointment.

After an examination, the surgeon diagnosed him with a soft tissue contusion and a primary muscle strain.

Muscle strains are generally classified into three grades: Grade 1 (mild), Grade 2 (moderate), and Grade 3 (severe). A Grade 3 strain requires surgery to repair.

Chen Jue had a Grade 1 mild strain, with only a small number of muscle fibers slightly torn. The doctor prescribed non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for the aseptic inflammation and a traditional Chinese medicine-based topical ointment, telling him to rest for one or two weeks.

’Looks like my left arm will be out of commission for a few days,’ Chen Jue grumbled to himself.

Most of his current Sports Skills were for specific limbs. Even with his left arm injured, he could still train his right arm and his legs. It would just be a bit less efficient, but it wouldn’t stop him from grinding for Attributes.

...

Carrying a bag of medicine, he ate lunch out and then took a taxi to Hengtong during his lunch break.

Chen Jue’s current salary, calculated by workday, had reached 900 yuan a day, which was considered a high income for an ordinary person.

Taking a half-day off in the morning meant he was out 450 yuan in an instant—enough for half a trip to the Jingtang Club. He absolutely had to make it for the afternoon slacking session.

Back at his desk, he took his anti-inflammatory pills while applying ointment to his left arm. A cool sensation seeped into his skin, and after just a short while, Chen Jue felt the built-up lactic acid and pain in his left arm lessen considerably.

’These prescription drugs from the hospital are way more effective than the regular stuff from the pharmacy!’ Chen Jue couldn’t help but sigh in admiration.

The small, roadside pharmacies usually sold drugs with profit maximization in mind. They often prescribed obscure medicines from small factories because those had higher profit margins and kickbacks. Their efficacy couldn’t compare to those from a proper hospital, and sometimes the prices were ridiculously high.

That’s why, whenever he had a cold, Chen Jue rarely bought medicine from a pharmacy, preferring to just tough it out.

If he really couldn’t bear it, he’d go to a major hospital. With his employee health insurance, a trip to the hospital was sometimes even cheaper than going to a local pharmacy.

This was another piece of wisdom Chen Jue had slowly gleaned from his years of drifting through Hang City alone.

...

The afternoon slacking session passed quickly. Because he was ”unwell,” Chen Jue wasn’t even assigned any Class A clients; they were all handled by his other team members.

As for Chen Jue, he just sat at his desk, squeezing a hand gripper with his right hand, occasionally sinking into a Horse Stance, and doing a few kegel exercises—small movements that wouldn’t affect his left arm.

Unexpectedly, he managed to grind out 0.02 Free Attribute points over the afternoon. He added them all to his Constitution Attribute, which rose to its current value of 1.25.

As that warm current spread through his body, Chen Jue noticed that his left arm’s recovery speed seemed to have quickened slightly, and the soreness had lessened again.

’These attribute points are truly magical!’

’They feel more effective than any Elixir of Life!’ Chen Jue marveled.

In addition, his Strength Attribute had also increased by 0.01 from using the hand gripper, reaching its current 0.91. It wasn’t far from a whole number.

’I feel like this 30 kg resistance is a bit too light for endurance training.’

’Starting tomorrow, I’ll set it to 35 kg.’

He adjusted the hand gripper’s setting, glanced at the time, and saw it was almost quitting time. Chen Jue set up auto clock-out on DingTalk and prepared to leave.

Just then, Shen Shikun from the next desk, who was even better at timing his departure, had already shut down his computer.

”Today is Thursday, tomorrow is Friday~”

”Just one more day ’til it’s Sunday~”

”No work on Sunday, sleep ’til the afternoon, that’s my day of doing nothing~”

Humming his tune, Shen Shikun slowed down as he passed Chen Jue’s desk and leaned in. ”Brother Jue, feeling any better? Our team is having a welcome party for you tomorrow night. Can’t do it without the man of the hour!”

”Tomorrow night? As long as it’s just a normal dinner, I’m okay with that. It won’t be a problem!” Chen Jue paused for a second, suddenly remembering the chat in their small group message.

Since he was new, his colleagues in Risk Control Team Five had specially arranged an in-person welcome party for him. They’d found a decent nearby restaurant, planning to bond a little.

If he wanted to continue slacking off and getting by at work, this kind of social obligation was unavoidable.

Chen Jue didn’t refuse. Anyway, the costs were split, and it wouldn’t cost much per person for one evening.

He would just treat it as a relaxing change of pace after his high-intensity workouts.

...

He went downstairs with Fatty Bai and took a taxi back to the Talent Apartment complex.

For dinner, he used a food delivery app to order some light congee. It was raining outside, making it inconvenient to go out and eat.

Besides, according to the doctor, when your body is inflamed, it’s best to avoid heavy, greasy foods, as they hinder recovery.

After eating dinner and binge-watching a few episodes of anime and TV shows on his computer, Chen Jue started to feel a bit bored.

He found that the audio-visual content online nowadays, especially the so-called big productions and major IPs, just felt off to him. He didn’t know if it was because he was getting older or if his standards had just gotten higher, but he’d lose interest after watching just the beginning.

It was either the brain-dead aesthetic of pale, skinny, youthful and effeminate men, or it was all just fan-service shows. The special effects were fake, the acting was subpar—he’d rather de-stress by scrolling through some interesting short videos.

As for the Darts and Nails lying around his room, he couldn’t practice with them for the time being.

Because throwing them required using his whole body, it could easily pull on his left arm and affect his recovery.

He couldn’t team up with people for games either. Playing one-handed would affect his performance, get him flamed by his teammates, and drag everyone down.

After thinking it over, Chen Jue was stumped; he couldn’t find a single way to entertain himself.

He went to his usual gaming forum and posted a thread, just to kill some time: ”Injured my left hand. What can I do to pass the time with just my right hand?”

Unexpectedly, within a minute, online forum members started replying!

[1F: First comment for the win!]

[That’s easy. OP, you just need to open your D: drive’s ’Favorites’ folder...]

[@Moderator, I’ve welded the car doors shut. 2F is being a dirty old man, suggest you ban him for a few days (jk)]

[I suggest the OP play some single-player computer games. Minesweeper, Desktop Pinball, Solitaire—all good. Just don’t come ruin games for your teammates!]

[Solitaire +1. It’s how I kill time at work. A few rounds and I’m sleepy. Very effective.]

[...]

Chen Jue hadn’t expected his casual post to blow up so quickly. In just a few minutes, dozens of people had replied, and a moderator had even stickied the thread. It seemed to be getting more attention than the videos of his special skills.

’Solitaire?’

Chen Jue looked at the most-liked reply, then looked at his still-functional right hand.

He first opened the single-player games on his computer and played a couple of rounds of Solitaire and Minesweeper.

These were the simple, educational mini-games he had loved as a child.

But after playing for just over ten minutes, a thought suddenly struck Chen Jue: ’Can’t playing cards also be used as Hidden Weapons? Plucking flowers, throwing leaves—anything can be a weapon?’

The moment the idea popped into his head, Chen Jue couldn’t sit still.

He went downstairs to the convenience store on the first floor of the apartment complex and spent 10 yuan on a deck of playing cards.

He opened the box, took out a brand-new card to feel its rigidity, then pinched it between two fingers of his right hand. With a sharp flick of his wrist, he used the explosive power of his right arm to send the card flying toward a pile of cardboard boxes in the corner of the room.

THWACK! The card spun rapidly in mid-air before, as if it had been sharpened, it lodged itself deep inside a cardboard box.

And just then, a new notification appeared on his panel:

——————

[Ding~]

[You have completed a qualifying Hidden Weapon Throw. The muscle groups in your right arm have been slightly trained.]

[Hidden Weapon Throwing Skill Level +1]