The ancient return was exposed by his sister's live stream.

During the day, I sometimes read books, and sometimes I take a walk in the garden downstairs in the community. Occasionally I go to the market to buy some groceries, and in the evening I cook dinner and wait for my younger sister and Yang Wanqing to come home.

The two girls returned to Pengcheng University to continue their freshman year classes.

But the atmosphere on campus is completely different from what it was a few months ago.

"Brother, guess what I saw today?" Chen Siyao threw her schoolbag on the sofa when she came home that night.

Chen Hao is cutting tomatoes.

"What?"

"No one is running on the playground anymore."

"Um?"

"They're all practicing martial arts." Chen Siyao leaned against the kitchen door frame. "No one plays basketball on the court anymore; a bunch of people are doing horse stance exercises there."

"There were also people practicing Tai Chi on the lawn—their movements were terribly awkward, but they were incredibly serious."

"The school has opened six new martial arts clubs, and they're all full. Even the president of the old anime club has signed up for a Xingyi Quan class."

Chen Hao threw the tomatoes into the pot, and the oil splattered and sizzled.

"That's normal. There are more and more Flame Spirit Stones available now. Ordinary people get stronger after obtaining them, so naturally they want to find a way to make use of them."

"But they don't have any martial arts manuals." Yang Wanqing peeked in from the living room. "There are tons of manuals for sale online, things like 'ancestral secret manuals,' 'Shaolin internal energy cultivation methods,' and 'Wudang Pure Yang Gong'—9.9 yuan with free shipping. I looked at a few, and they were all cobbled-together garbage."

"Some of the martial arts techniques recorded in ancient books are real," Chen Hao said, flipping the pot over. "But most people can't tell the difference between real and fake. And even if they are real, without guidance, practicing them incorrectly is more dangerous than not practicing at all."

"Then what should we do?" Yang Wanqing asked.

Chen Hao didn't answer, but turned the heat down and put the lid on the pot.

He turned around, leaned against the stove, and looked towards the living room.

The television is broadcasting the latest developments in the coastal defense deployment, with experts analyzing the possible sea area where Xiangliu might appear.

The scrolling text below reads: The General Administration of Sport of China announced that "traditional martial arts" will be included in the national fitness promotion system, and martial arts associations in various provinces and cities are urgently recruiting more coaches.

Times have indeed changed.

Flame Spirit Stones are no longer confined to deep mountain ranges. They're being discovered in hills, riverbanks, and even construction sites on the outskirts of cities... reports are pouring in from all over. The quantity is increasing, and the barrier to acquisition is getting lower and lower.

Ordinary people are starting to become stronger.

But what happens after you become stronger?

Without a system, without direction, without corresponding techniques and training methods—it's like giving someone a gun but not teaching them how to aim.

"Dinner's ready." Chen Hao brought out the pot. "Eat first, don't think about anything else."

The three people sat at the dining table eating.

Yang Wanqing took two bites and then suddenly put down his chopsticks.

"Master, I heard some news at school today."

"explain."

"A senior student started a 'Flame Spirit Stone Mutual Aid Group' with more than 300 members who share how to use Flame Spirit Stones to strengthen their bodies every day."

"The day before yesterday, someone said they practiced a set of exercises they bought online, and the energy was running rampant in their body, almost ruining their meridians. They had to be taken to the hospital."

Chen Hao picked up a piece of food with his chopsticks and chewed it.

"These kinds of things will happen more and more often in the future."

Chen Siyao put down her bowl.

"Brother, aren't you going to do anything?"

Chen Hao glanced at her.

"for example?"

"For example..." Chen Siyao carefully chose her words, "You have a genuine system of cultivation techniques. Those techniques from the inherited islands are used by professors for academic research and by the Special Affairs Bureau for military applications. But what about ordinary people? They have nothing."

Chen Hao remained silent.

He shoveled the last bite of rice into his mouth, then got up to clear the bowl.

"This isn't urgent. The higher-ups will handle it."

Chen Siyao watched his figure disappear into the kitchen and didn't ask any further questions.

She understands her brother. Not being in a hurry doesn't mean she hasn't thought about it.

At 10 p.m., the three of them sat in the living room and played Niujiaozhou on their phones.

Yang Wanqing played a healer role, dedicated to healing and saving teammates, crouching on the rooftop to aim. Chen Siyao used an information-gathering role, her movements clean and efficient. Chen Hao chose an assault role.

"Master, someone's here!" Yang Wanqing was so anxious after being shoved in the backside that he kept slapping his leg.

"It's Little Soldier Chicken Bro"

"Why does Chicken Bro hit people so hard?"

Chen Siyao didn't participate in the吐槽 (tu cao, a form of online commentary or criticism); her character had just turned a corner—

An enemy pops up on the screen.

She instinctively shot him in the head.

Yang Wanqing exclaimed "Wow!" from the side.

"Your reaction speed is so fast, you must have brought your training into the game!"

Chen Siyao's lips curled up slightly as she continued.

Outside the screen, the phone screen lit up briefly.

It was a message from Han Songyue.

She glanced at it—

[The adapted body-refining technique has passed the first phase of internal testing by the Special Affairs Bureau. When used in conjunction with the Flame Spirit Stone, subjects experienced an average increase of 37% in muscle density and 22% in bone hardness. The effects far exceeded expectations.]

Chen Siyao turned her phone face down and continued playing the game.

In the living room, the sounds of gunfire from the game mingled with Yang Wanqing's screams.

Outside the window, the night in Shenzhen was as quiet as ever.

For the next two weeks, time seemed to slow down.

Chen Siyao went to school every day as usual, and Yang Wanqing occasionally went with her, sometimes oversleeping.

The live stream from Penglai has been suspended, and fans in the live stream room are urging for updates in the group chat every day.

However, Chen Siyao did not go to the live broadcast, and now Huaxing's official account is reporting on it every day, but there is no live broadcast of the breaking formation.

She video chats with Qin Xiaoyu two or three times a week. The signal comes from Dinghai Island and occasionally gets choppy, with the sound cutting out.

Yang Wanqing was playing games on the sofa and lost again. Frustrated, she slammed her phone face down on the sofa. Turning to Chen Hao, she said, "Master, can you play a couple of games for me to earn some money?"

Chen Hao ignored her and turned to look at the dining table. Chen Siyao was still organizing documents, with three windows open on her laptop and a neat stack of paper materials beside her.

"Yaoyao, don't stay up too late."

"Yes, it'll be soon."

She didn't look up. On the screen was the latest analysis report sent by Han Songyue; the bamboo slips unearthed from the third Heritage Island were being carbon-14 dated.

Preliminary results indicate that the date is between 12,000 and 15,000 years ago—far exceeding the chronology of all known human civilizations.

If this data were released, it would be enough to shake up the entire historical community.

Chen Siyao didn't rush to read on. She closed her laptop, went to the kitchen to pour herself a glass of water, and drank it by the window.

The streets below were sparsely populated with traffic, and the night view of Shenzhen was quiet. But she knew that this quiet wouldn't last long.

half a month.

It's not long, it's not long, it's not short.

For the past two weeks, Chen Siyao has stayed in Shenzhen. Her daily schedule is very regular: in the morning, she processes intelligence summaries transferred from the Special Affairs Bureau; in the afternoon, she holds video conferences with the Special Affairs Bureau's research team and translates ancient scripts; and in the evening, she organizes data.

Yang Wanqing, on the other hand, had plenty of free time. Besides playing games with Chen Hao every day and occasionally practicing martial arts, her biggest form of entertainment was video chatting with Qin Xiaoyu and the others.

"Xiaoyu! How's it going over there? Ying Wenjie still has that deadpan look on his face?"

On the phone screen, Qin Xiaoyu is sitting cross-legged on a cot, with the temporary base's prefabricated houses behind her.