Of course, David Thompson quickly realized that most of the energy from the first black fruit had probably been used to replenish his previously depleted body. After all, making progress beyond the peak is much harder than going from one to a hundred. This showed just how weak he had been at the time—no wonder eating regular food never seemed to help.

This fruit was truly miraculous, completely enhancing his physical fitness. At this moment, David Thompson felt changes in both his hearing and vision.

The chirping of insects on both sides became much clearer, and the dim tree-lined avenue was now much sharper in his eyes.

"Again!"

Unable to figure things out, David Thompson stopped thinking about it. He took out the last black fruit and ate it, leaving behind some rice-sized bits for now, planning to use them for research if he got the chance.

He ate again, and tested again.

"9.01 seconds."

The improvement wasn’t as great as before—not even a full second faster.

This showed that the stronger his foundation, the weaker the effect of the same fruit.

But David Thompson also knew very well that, at least for the 100-meter record he knew of, even a hundredth of a second improvement was considered a breakthrough of human limits. If someone suddenly improved by this much, it would absolutely shock the world.

But looking at the changes in his body, David Thompson was well aware that the old records and rules clearly no longer applied to him.

David Thompson tried standing high jumps and long jumps on the spot. Although there weren’t precise numbers like in the 100-meter dash, he could easily shatter all world records.

Looking at the trees on both sides, David Thompson tried a few times—after a light run-up and jump, he could directly grab branches four or five meters high. With a parkour-style push from both hands, his body could rise again, grabbing even higher branches, and leap straight onto a thick branch near the treetop.

If he wasn’t worried about making too much noise, David Thompson would have tried leaping and weaving through the trees.

After all this, he only felt his body heat up, not even to the point of sweating, which showed just how strong David Thompson’s body was now.

Not only had every aspect of his body broken through all the limits David Thompson knew, he also felt a lot of things falling off his body—black, grime-like impurities.

Even some scars left from his past adventures, including those from fighting wolves with Brian Carter years ago, had completely disappeared in the lighter spots.

"Does this count as a complete transformation?"

Looking at the dramatic changes in his body, David Thompson couldn’t help but marvel.

"Snap..."

Just then, a crisp whip-crack sounded in the distance. It was still far away, but with his enhanced hearing, David Thompson could faintly make it out.

Looking at the sky, it was already turning pale—the sun was about to rise.

Although no one would be around here for a while, David Thompson didn’t linger. He ran back to his place like an ordinary morning jogger.

On the way back, after a sleepless night, David Thompson didn’t feel the least bit tired or drowsy. Thinking about the huge changes the black fruit had brought him, David Thompson suddenly remembered Ryan Foster whom he’d seen at the Inspection Bureau, as well as the three blood-red lines above his head, and the scattered black and red light spots around him.

He had grabbed a black line and condensed a black fruit, but those three red lines formed by killing...

Chapter 5: Give Him a Chance to Kill

He couldn’t use this as evidence to talk to Grace Miller or Ethan Clark, but from the current situation, that Ryan Foster was definitely guilty. David Thompson felt an urge to go find Ryan Foster right now and get rid of those red lines above his head.

David Thompson didn’t think that just because he could see some manifestation of the other’s evil, he should become a vigilante superhero. Even though his body had broken through its limits, he still had no such intention.

This urge was only because he wanted to keep getting things that benefited him.

This world has its own rules. Relying on personal means to punish others outside the law is, in essence, still breaking the law. At present, David Thompson didn’t want to break the law. Although it might feel good for a hero to punish or even kill evildoers, that’s all idealized. Unless you have power above the rules, it’s not the job of an enforcer.

Let alone just breaking some physical limits—David Thompson didn’t think he could handle it even if he were ten times stronger.

So David Thompson had always been very cautious. He still hadn’t figured out the cause of his abnormal changes, and the instigator, Brian Carter, had also disappeared.

If he started acting recklessly just because he had some ability, wouldn’t that bring disaster upon himself?

And is this world really as he used to understand it?

If nothing else, even with his strong body now, he still wouldn’t dare jump from the seventh floor...

Thinking about all this, David Thompson returned home and started handling some regular business. Although it was just a company he and Brian Carter had set up, and they only hired part-time students when things got busy, there were indeed quite a few things to deal with after not answering the phone for several days.

Take things one day at a time—as long as the company wasn’t completely finished, it had to be run well.

Yesterday, after fully recovering, David Thompson had been busy all day, and later it got too late to do anything else.

After returning home, David Thompson took a shower first. The first time he ate the black fruit was fine, but after eating two in a row and breaking through his limits, a lot of impurities were expelled from his body.