Slept until broad daylight.

When Chen Shouyi woke up, it was already half-past seven.

He glanced at the Shell Lady; she hadn't slept yet and was still playing with seven or eight cabbage worms on the bedside table, full of enthusiasm.

These worms were caught by Chen Shouyi in the vegetable garden of the hotel courtyard before going to bed last night, specifically for her to play with at night. After all, even a creature from an alternate reality with forty-hour days couldn't possibly sleep for over forty hours straight.

After a night of tossing around, these poor cabbage worms were already limp with no sign of movement. Even if they were still alive, they probably had only one breath left, but even so, these poor worms were still being posed by the Shell Lady in all sorts of ways.

"Good giant, you're finally awake." Seeing Chen Shouyi get up, the Shell Lady frowned and complained, "These worms don't move anymore."

No matter how resilient the worms are, they can't survive with you tormenting them like this!

"I'll catch more for you next time, bigger ones!"

"No, let me catch them!" the Shell Lady said excitedly, "I want to catch one... a worm as big as me!"

She immediately added, "A good worm!"

"Fine, fine, I'll let you catch that," Chen Shouyi replied helplessly, having long seen through her bluffing nature.

...

Thinking that his aunt and sister might not be up yet, he began to assume a posture and practice the thirty-six forms of Horizontal Training,

Soon, a blue whirlwind started to spin crazily inside his Dantian, threads of Mysterious Power quickly converging towards him, his skin and muscles constantly wriggling, making his whole body feel a tingling sensation as if electricity were coursing through.

Chen Shouyi practiced fifteen times in a row before he stopped, exhausted.

His skin was burning red, steam enveloped his entire body, radiating intense heat.

"Phew!"

Chen Shouyi exhaled deeply.

The white steam shot out over a meter away like an arrow, hitting the wall with a light "pop" sound, dispersing a ring of dust, causing tiny specks of lime to fall.

The body, which had swollen by a size, gradually shrunk back to its normal state as he exhaled.

After a night's rest, his physical weakness had mostly recovered.

Chen Shouyi poured himself a cup of water, drinking it while taking a moment to check his attribute panel.

His will had increased by 0.1 points, and perception had also increased.

His perception attribute was now at 12.9, just a step away from thirteen, and his range of perception could already reach a two-meter radius, allowing for some form of intuitive sensing of danger.

At that moment, a thought crossed his mind, and he focused his will, causing a thin magazine on the bedside table to start flipping pages on its own as if manipulated by a large unseen hand.

In the next moment, the entire magazine began to waver and float up.

Beside him, the Shell Lady was wide-eyed, her mouth opening wider and wider before she hastily covered it, holding her breath, seemingly afraid that a tiny stream of air would blow the magazine down.

Chen Shouyi remained undisturbed, paying no attention to the Shell Lady's small actions, controlling the magazine to rotate slowly around him.

His mental energy flowed like water, soon causing his temples to throb and his skin to swell faintly; he immediately stopped, a hint of surprise flashing across his face.

"Pop," the magazine fell to the ground.

Chen Shouyi stepped forward and bent to pick up the magazine.

He weighed it lightly; the whole magazine was about a pound or two, which wasn't exactly light.

"I remember, the will has only increased by about 0.3 points recently, but why has the mass of objects I can manipulate increased several times?" he wondered, deep in thought.

"It seems this growth of willpower isn't linear but exponential."

With this thought, a tinge of excitement flashed through Chen Shouyi's heart. Although this ability was still very weak, having little offensive power at the moment, if this growth ratio continued, his will might play a significant role in the future.

In fact, he had long suspected that the increase in willpower was not linear.

Like the Sword Qi he discovered early on, it initially only reached two centimeters in length, but now it had grown to five centimeters, not only increasing in length by 2.5 times but also multiplying in destructive power.

During this period, the growth in willpower wasn't even 1.5 times.

As for why the growth rate in Sword Qi length was much smaller compared to the mass manipulation by Telekinesis, Chen Shouyi didn't find it surprising.

After all, Sword Qi is much more complex than simple Telekinesis manipulation. The strength of Telekinesis manipulation is related only to weight, while using Sword Qi involves both length and destructive power, requiring balance between the two.

Feeling the sweat on his body.

Chen Shouyi went to the bathroom to take a shower and changed into the clothes he had brought.

...

By nine o'clock, his aunt and cousin finally came to knock on the door.

Chen Shouyi put the Shell Lady into his backpack and opened the door.

"Shou Yi, did you wait long? We overslept a bit!" his aunt said apologetically, seeing that Chen Shouyi was already neatly dressed.

Although their complexions were still a bit haggard, after a night's rest, their faces had regained some color, and they were in good spirits.

"It's fine; you could have slept a bit longer. There's nothing urgent!" Chen Shouyi said.

...

Soon, the group checked out of the room, and after having breakfast at a nearby breakfast shop, they hired two tricycle rickshaws and headed straight to the railway station. The streets were filled with steam trucks carrying weapons and soldiers, casting a solemn atmosphere.

"Another war brewing!" The rickshaw driver sighed, "Who knows what it'll be like this time?"

"Isn't your family evacuating?" Chen Shouyi asked, making small talk.

"Evacuate to where? Dongning is far away from here; they can't reach us. Besides, even if we flee, where could we go, where would we stay, what would we eat and drink? Many places are even more chaotic than Ningzhou!" the rickshaw driver chuckled, clearly in good spirits.

Chen Shouyi remained silent. Indeed, where could one escape to? For ordinary people, there is no absolutely safe place.

Even for someone as powerful as him, a Martial Artist, he had narrowly escaped death twice in the past few days. If not for his talent in Natural Healing, he would have been dead by now.

"Where are you headed?" the tricycle driver asked again.

"We're taking the train to Hedong!" Chen Shouyi replied.

"Hedong, young man, why are you going there? I heard there's fighting going on, it's chaotic!" the tricycle driver said in surprise.

"Your information is outdated; the fighting stopped there a while ago." Chen Shouyi said with a smile.

"Ah, it's over? News travels so slowly these days!" the tricycle driver remarked.

...

An hour later, the vehicle finally arrived at Ningzhou Railway Station.

After paying and getting off the vehicle, Chen Shouyi felt a chill in his heart. The station was already sealed off; everywhere on the square inside were soldiers and mountains of ammunition. Several steam cranes were hoisting large ammunition boxes onto a queue of trucks.

At this moment, Qin Shufen and Chen Yuwei also got off.

Seeing this scene, they couldn't help but look worried. Qin Shufen said anxiously, "I guess we can't take the train?"

"I'll go ask!" Chen Shouyi said.

He immediately stepped forward but was quickly stopped by the soldiers blocking the area: "National defense mobilization, the train station is temporarily requisitioned, it's not open right now."

"When will normal passage resume?" Chen Shouyi asked.

"The time is uncertain; wait for the notification until then."

Unable to get any information from a soldier, Chen Shouyi helplessly returned and shook his head at the two women, saying, "There's nothing we can do; the trains have been requisitioned. We probably have to wait one or two days before it opens. Let's find a place nearby to stay first!"

If he were alone, he would have bought a bicycle and set out long ago, but now he could only continue to wait.

Both his aunt and cousin, after rushing around the whole day and night yesterday, still hadn't recovered. If they had to ride bicycles for another day and night, they'd collapse.

"I guess that's our only choice." His aunt sighed and said, "Shou Yi, we've really burdened you."

"Aunt, what are you talking about, there's no such thing as burdening between family." Chen Shouyi quickly said.

Although his uncle's family was more enthusiastic towards his sister, he knew that was mainly due to his own circumstances. At least, every year from childhood, he received the same amount of New Year money as everyone else.

"Sigh, we're lucky to have you!" His aunt looked at Chen Shouyi, who seemed completely different from before, and sighed.

...

Because of the large number of outsiders at the station, there were many hotels still in operation, and it didn't take much effort for the group to find one.

Afraid that his aunt would pay again, Chen Shouyi quickly walked to the service desk: "Two rooms, one double and one single."

"Deposit of one hundred, seventy for the double, fifty for the single, two hundred and twenty in total," a pretty receptionist said with a standard smile, showing eight teeth.

After the mutation, industrial goods became expensive, but service prices had plummeted. The cheapest hotels near the railway station were twice this price before, let alone a hotel of this standard, which was at least three times.

But before Chen Shouyi could take out his wallet, his aunt had already handed the money over.

"Aunt, let me pay; I'm really not short on money. I don't even spend all my monthly salary," Chen Shouyi said helplessly. From yesterday till now, every time he tried to pay, he couldn't manage to do it, not even for breakfast today, which his aunt insisted on paying.

"This isn't about the amount of money; you came all the way from Hedong to rescue us, how can we let you pay? My conscience wouldn't allow it."

Chen Shouyi argued slightly, but he couldn't win, so he had to give in.

Alas, still too young.

In matters like this, he's almost like an elementary school student, with weak negotiating skills. If his mother were here, Chen Shouyi believed it wouldn't be so easy to surrender.

...

There were quite a few guests in the hotel, all in the same situation as them, waiting for the trains to resume service.

By noon, there were still plenty of soldiers and ammunition on the station square. Chen Shouyi secretly estimated that there were about ten thousand soldiers just on the square. Counting those already transported, he surmised that twenty thousand soldiers were moved in this whole morning.

Fifty thousand per day.

The entire Ningzhou was undergoing a massive military mobilization.

Chen Shouyi watched for a while with a solemn expression before drawing the curtains.

He resumed practicing the Horizontal Training Thirty-Six.

During this period, he was experiencing a phase where its effects were becoming pronounced.

Especially the horizontal training part.

He could clearly feel his body becoming stronger day by day.

His muscles were becoming increasingly dense, as if continuously tightening and compressing, making him look much leaner.

But this was only the appearance.

In fact, his weight hadn't decreased at all, in fact, it had increased.

The density of his muscles was increasing, making them tougher and his defense stronger.

And it wasn't just his muscles; his skin was thickening, the surface becoming smoother, pores shrinking, and apart from his hair and certain areas, everything else started to fall away.

As for his internal organs, he had yet to feel deeper changes due to the inability to observe or test.

However, his lung capacity was indeed increasing. While practicing the Horizontal Training Thirty-Six breathing technique, a single breath could make his chest and abdomen expand like a balloon, transforming him from a normally sized person into a large, robust man.

ps: Sorry for the delay, I'll definitely write two chapters tomorrow.