Who would study psychology unless they had some issues?!-Chapter 356 - 353: Neural Reflex Speed

As Xu Pengcheng walked up the steps one by one, the scattered students passing by couldn’t help but distance themselves.

On one hand, Xu Pengcheng was drenched in sweat, emitting a scent that was far from pleasant.

Being too close to Xu Pengcheng would cause physical discomfort.

On the other hand, Xu Pengcheng was notorious.

The playground was on the path between the teaching building and the dormitory, and students often saw the sports team "extra training" him.

No matter the underlying reasons for these actions, being treated like that made Xu Pengcheng someone people didn’t want to approach.

But Xu Pengcheng was already accustomed to this situation.

Having just finished training, he indeed didn’t have any spare energy to focus on details like these.

He felt exceptionally tired today. So tired, like those two kilometers in a five-kilometer run where one is utterly exhausted, but the finish line is nowhere in sight.

"Xu Pengcheng!"

He vaguely heard someone calling his name, but it also seemed like he hadn’t.

His head felt heavy, and all the sounds around him were not clear enough.

His legs hurt a lot; the place where he had just cramped was powerless, and he had to hold onto the railing to go up the stairs.

Being so exhausted, Xu Pengcheng simply transformed his "hand on the railing" action to "leaning on the railing."

The weight of his entire upper body pressed against it.

Sure enough, he felt a bit relieved.

...

Upon seeing Xu Pengcheng’s reaction clearly, Nan Zhubin immediately rushed up.

With just a glance, he knew Xu Pengcheng’s body was already near its limit.

He tried to shout Xu Pengcheng’s name twice, but unfortunately, he got no response.

This made Nan Zhubin’s heart sink further.

Unfortunately, he was still between the first and second floors, with his view blocked by the floors; looking up, he could only deduce through the gap between the stairs, based on a corner of a plastic bag, that Xu Pengcheng had reached the third floor.

Vice Principal Ma, having been left behind by Nan Zhubin and Chonghui, was furious; if Chonghui hadn’t snatched his phone, he would have rushed to the monitoring room immediately.

If he indeed made it to the monitoring room, besides seeing Chang Ming in the gym, he would also see—

Beside the third-floor staircase of the teaching building, Xu Pengcheng’s whole body was swaying. Not just his hands, and arms, his whole upper body was already leaned onto the stair railing.

After the incident with Li Mingchen, the school’s corridor railings were raised to a height of 1.5 meters, making it quite safe.

However, the stair railings hadn’t been raised.

"Hey, hey, hey, watch out—"

A few students who had just distanced themselves from Xu Pengcheng suddenly showed panic; they stared agape at the tall figure of Xu Pengcheng as his entire upper body leaned past the protection of the railings, then pivoted at the waist like a lever, tipping himself out completely.

Some boys wanted to rush to help, but they had just been too far away, and now, there was no time to get there.

So they could only helplessly watch Xu Pengcheng—

Fall!

"Ah—" a girl let out an instinctive scream.

Not able to see the situation on the third floor, Nan Zhubin was startled, shivering from that sound.

Without a sliver of hesitation, he also leaned his body over the railing.

In his field of vision, he happened to see a shadow plummeting from above!

...

According to the free fall formula [h =(1/2) * g * t²], assuming the third floor is 6 meters high, excluding factors like air resistance, it takes about 1.1 seconds for someone to fall from the third floor.

And based on psychological research on perception, making a response to stimuli involves three stages:

1. [Perception stage]: Visual signals transmitted to the brain.

2. [Judgment and decision-making stage]: Recognizing danger and deciding whether to act.

3. [Action execution stage]: The body initiates and performs the required action against the stimulus.

The [Perception stage] takes about 0.1 seconds, the [Judgment and decision-making stage] about 0.2-0.5 seconds, and the [Action execution stage] about 0.3-0.5 seconds.

In total, it takes approximately 0.6-1.1 seconds, specifically affected by individual differences, attention concentration, emotional state, and other factors.

This is the time it takes for a person on the first floor, after realizing something is wrong and with no hesitation, to react to grab Xu Pengcheng.

If a person is on the second floor, the time would be even shorter.

Basically, there’s no time.

But—Nan Zhubin is different.

The difference between his response speed and the average person is an influencing factor known as [individual differences].

[Neural Reflex Speed +2]

The reward given by the [Monthly Goal] of the month, which Nan Zhubin initially thought would protect his senior in fights, came into play this time.

When he first consulted Xu Pengcheng, he obtained the first [Neural Reflex Speed +1].

After consulting for the remaining nine members of the sports team, including Lin Junkai, and Li Mingchen, he obtained [Neural Reflex Speed +1] again.

During this period, Nan Zhubin hasn’t practiced this ability specifically; he doesn’t know how fast his reaction speed is now.

But hopefully, it’s enough.

"Bang... clank... screech..."

The gap between floors was very small, and as Xu Pengcheng fell, his body uncontrollably bumped into the wall and railings.

It’s estimated there would be significant bruises and scratches.

But for Nan Zhubin, it’s good news—it delayed some time.

"Woo—"

Watching the shadow about to fall beside him, there was a student next to Nan Zhubin who was just startled by the scream, and hadn’t even had time to change his scared expression to one of confusion.

Nan Zhubin reached out without hesitation—

Grabbed!

But—

Too heavy!

Nan Zhubin guessed his hands had grabbed Xu Pengcheng’s back clothing; the sweat-soaked fabric increased friction, which was good.

But Nan Zhubin didn’t have the luxury to look closely, as his whole body was straining backward, yet he couldn’t prevent himself from being dragged down.

[I can’t seem to feel my arms; are they dislocated now?]

Originally, he didn’t expect to pull Xu Pengcheng up by his strength alone – that would be too much of a superhuman feat.

Nan Zhubin only hoped his two arms could act as a buffer, then by altering the falling direction, let Xu Pengcheng bump a few more times against the corridor railings, thereby reducing some of his injuries.

[Am I also about to fall down?]

Nan Zhubin felt like he was lifted off the ground.

The moment Nan Zhubin had this thought, he felt someone grab him.

It was Chonghui.

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