The liquid metal sphere paid no attention to his plea, not even showing the slightest intention of stopping. It continued on its own way, brazenly crawling onto his tongue, quivering joyfully as it was enveloped by his taste buds. Before Brian Carter could react, the liquid metal had already slid swiftly down his throat.

Accompanied by a wave of icy numbness, the liquid metal instantly reached his stomach. He opened his mouth wide, trying to expel this rude intruder by vomiting. But the violent dry heaving pulled painfully at the wound on his back, so he had no choice but to give up and tacitly accept this awkward encounter.

Brian Carter's eyes glazed over, staring blankly at the sky as he recalled his string of misfortunes: just passing through an alley was enough to get his spine inexplicably broken, and as if that wasn’t tragic enough, fate had now placed a bizarre piece of metal inside his organs!

In an instant, his stomach felt as if it were churning like a raging sea, or boiling water rolling endlessly. A rush of blood surged up his throat, and he spat out a mouthful of fresh blood. Fortunately, having grown up in the countryside, years of training had given him a tolerance far beyond the average person. Even at this point, he could still remain conscious and not faint. For the first time, Brian Carter began to resent his extraordinary endurance—if he had just passed out, maybe it would have been a relief.

The scalding heat of the liquid metal lasted less than two seconds before it suddenly turned as cold as a thousand-year-old glacier. An intense, icy chill rapidly spread through his limbs and bones, calming the previous tormenting agitation. Yet in the blink of an eye, this coldness quickly coated Brian Carter's lips with a thin layer of frost.

But in less than a second, this bone-chilling cold transformed again into the searing magma of a volcanic crater, surging through every blood vessel and organ in his body; rushing back and forth, wild and unrestrained. At this moment, the liquid metal seemed to be completely split apart by the heat, turning into thousands of tendrils that pierced into every organ, as if taking root.

One second cold, one second hot—this kind of agony could make a person faint in half a second. After enduring for ten seconds, Brian Carter could no longer withstand the torment; his head lolled to the side and he truly lost consciousness.

Unnoticed, dusk quickly gave way to nightfall. Because the "uranium explosion" had disrupted the electronic surveillance in the alley, the police never discovered this astonishing scene.

"Mm~"

No one knew how many hours later, Brian Carter finally woke from his coma. The throbbing, splitting headache made him unconsciously let out a faint groan. He slowly sat up, suddenly realizing something and hurriedly ran his hands over his body: "What the hell is going on? Wasn't my spine broken? How can I sit up? And there's no pain at all?"

"What on earth is happening?!"

The empty alley had no one to answer this string of questions. Brian Carter curiously stood up and checked his body again.

What the hell? Could everything that just happened have been an illusion? And what about that strange liquid metal?

At that moment, the city’s great clock chimed ten times, unhurriedly. Brian Carter suddenly wanted to go to the corner of the alley to check again, but recalling his earlier misfortune, he finally stopped in his tracks.

Why risk the unknown for potential danger? Brian Carter advised himself. He decided to hurry out of the alley. Since his body was fine, it was best to get home quickly.

Brian Carter sprinted all the way and soon returned to his school dormitory. His roommates were already lying in bed, wearing Sky Battle Net helmets, continuing to fight in the network said to connect every corner of the world.

He picked up the water cup on the table and gulped down two mouthfuls of cold water, only then realizing that after running all the way back, he wasn’t even out of breath. How was that possible?

Glancing at the clock on the wall, Brian Carter curled his lip. Since he was unlucky today and didn’t go to work, he might as well log into Sky Battle Net and write a few battle report reviews to earn some manuscript fees.

Picking up the Sky Battle Net helmet, Brian Carter smiled slightly. If the government hadn’t been looking for more ways to supply talent to the military, if the country hadn’t made eight types of martial arts free and distributed this basic equipment to everyone, he probably would have lost another way to make money.

These eight free martial arts were jokingly called the Eight Civilian Martial Arts by everyone. They were: "Zhe Mei Hand," "Prajna Palm," "One-Finger Zen," "Shaolin Thirteen Claws," "Burning Wood Blade," "Shaolin Arhat Fist," "Hong Fist," and a unique internal skill that others would rather pay for alternatives than practice—"Dragon Elephant Prajna Power."

Entering Sky Battle Net, Brian Carter set himself to spectator mode and used the positioning system to quickly enter the free sparring arena channel.

"Yo? Mouthy expert, you’re late today."

As soon as Brian Carter appeared, someone greeted him, and immediately several others echoed the greeting in the same tone.

People who came to Sky Battle Net were either poor folks hoping to learn public ancient martial arts here to rise up when joining the army in the future, or they simply treated this as a training ground where they could improve their combat skills without real injury.