Time quickly jumped ahead to early January 2001.
Originally, Luke had planned to spend only three days in Hong Kong to finish a short cameo appearance. But because his role got expanded, filming stretched out for more than ten days.
That completely threw off his schedule — he couldn't make it back to New York to spend Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve with Yuffie. Feeling guilty, he called her to explain.
But Yuffie, ever the understanding one, wasn't upset at all. Instead, she comforted him, saying his career should come first — they'd have plenty of time together in the future.
Of course, she still teased him a little:
"You're in Hong Kong all by yourself. Aren't you bored?"
Luke replied immediately,
"When you're dying to get home, even the best days lose their flavor."
She pretended to scoff, but he could hear her smile through the phone.
Of course, what he said wasn't exactly true. The truth was — Hong Kong had been pretty great.
Even though it was his first time there, Zhang Ziyu had been kind enough to take him sightseeing whenever they weren't filming.
Since Hong Kong Disneyland wouldn't open until 2005, she took him instead to Ocean Park. They also went up to Victoria Peak to see the panoramic view of Hong Kong and the distant Lantau Island.
As dusk fell, they took a harbor cruise together, watching the brilliant lights of Victoria Harbour shimmer across the water.
These were all experiences Luke had never had in his previous life.
Even though he had lived until 2024 before, he'd spent his whole life in North America — and worse, after 2012, he'd been paralyzed and bedridden.
He'd never eaten a proper seafood feast. Never stayed in a luxury villa. Never gone to a theme park.
Basically, he'd never lived a good life.
Back then, all the beauty in the world seemed to belong to other people. All he had was a broken body and a hopeless future.
So these past few days with Zhang Ziyu — the food, the sights, the laughter — it felt like the empty parts of his life were slowly being filled in.
Maybe he didn't love every moment, but simply trying new things felt amazing.
On Christmas Eve, when Zhang Ziyu handed him a beautifully wrapped gift with a bright smile, Luke actually froze for a second, unsure what to do.
A full Armani suit worth tens of thousands, and a Rolex that cost over six hundred thousand — it was no small gesture, especially for someone just starting to make money like her.
Luke didn't care much about material things, but the thought behind it warmed his heart.
This trip to Hong Kong truly brought him peace of mind.
He'd always been driven — pushing himself relentlessly, charging through every obstacle — but looking back, he realized it was a little extreme.
It was an overreaction to the frustration and regret of his past life.
That mindset had its pros and cons, but now it was starting to hurt more than help.
Finding balance — without losing ambition — was the right way forward.
With his mindset finally settled, Luke became even more confident on set. Filming went smoother than ever.
After the script revisions, he ended up with six scenes in Rush Hour 2, three of them action scenes.
In the final cut, that would probably add up to just five or six minutes total — but Jackie (here called Chen Long) had made sure every second counted.
He wasn't worried at all about Luke stealing the spotlight. In fact, he gave Luke's character — Inspector Luke — some truly eye-catching moments that would make audiences remember him.
And Luke didn't disappoint. In one scene, he climbed up a seven-story building with his bare hands — and the result was stunning, even better than Jackie's own take.
When the movie finally came out, that scene would definitely blow audiences away.
[Completed C-level stunt scene — reward: +2 attribute points]
After finishing all three action scenes, Luke received his system's notification.
Only the climbing scene counted as C-level difficulty; the other two were D-level, too easy to earn rewards.
Earning stat points was getting harder and harder.
Luke immediately opened his status panel:
Name: Luke Age: 18 Strength: 14 Agility: 16 Constitution: 15 Unassigned Points: 2 Skills: Master-level Swordsmanship, Master-level Parkour, Master-level Knife Throwing
How should he assign them?
His Constitution was already maxed out, so that was off the table.
His first instinct was to boost Agility.
He already understood how the attributes really worked now. "Agility" didn't mean physical speed — that actually came from Strength. Stronger muscles meant faster running.
Agility, on the other hand, was all about awareness and reaction — control over his own body.
In other words, Agility was all about technique.
Strength and technique always had to stay balanced — one couldn't exist without the other.
Keeping that in mind, Luke resisted his urge to spend all his points right away.
Strength: 14 → 15Unassigned Points: 2 → 1
The boost was incredible — his body grew stronger without bulking up into some hulking muscle monster.
If it did, he would've thought twice. After all, over-the-top muscles might impress other guys, but girls like Yuffie? Not so much.
Let's be honest — muscles for men are like nail art for women: appreciated mostly by the same gender 😅.
As his strength improved again, Luke could feel a full-body upgrade.
His jumping and carrying ability were clearly better, but what surprised him most was how much faster he could run.
He could tell that if he ran the 100-meter dash, he might not beat Usain Bolt — but breaking 10 seconds? Totally possible.
That was elite sprinter level.
And higher running speed meant better jumps and more complex stunts ahead.
Then the system chimed in again:
[Host has reached current potential limit. Cannot upgrade this attribute further. Complete the mission "Establish an intimate relationship with any non-Type B female" to unlock your potential cap.]
So, basically, the system was telling him: If you want to get stronger, start dating around.
Luke ignored it and asked instead,
"Recalculate my success rate for action scenes."
[C-level stunts: 80% success rate.] [B-level stunts: 22% success rate.]
So low?
C-level went up from 77% to 80%. B-level from 20% to 22%.
He frowned.
"Well… that's going to be a problem."