Homestay

'Bench press a 100 kilograms worth of weights…'

'Was that hard?'

Although Tang Hong had doubts, he didn't clarify them with Fang Nanxun. The Internet was a treasure trove of information. No matter how rare the term was, chances were you would find it if you searched for it on the Internet.

He tried a search with the keywords: Transcendent, Willpower, Physical Fitness.

He did not see any relevant information.

He continued to search: Bench press, own weight.

Then he saw a forum post…

'The ratio of bench press weight to bodyweight must be double for it to be considered a passing for the minimum for the standard with your age.'

Tang Hong immediately understood what the forum poster was trying to say. He continued to read, but Tang Hong soon shook his head. This so-called minimum standard according to one's age was just too high for students.

The average person might be able to do a bench press in their workouts, but for students. It was too difficult. But it wasn't that the students were weak, it was because the equipment necessary for a bench press was mostly not present in school gyms.

His roommate Wu Jie was a frequent visitor to the school gym.

As a result, Tang Hong came to know a thing or two about working out.

"Hmm."

Tang Hong had an idea.

Perhaps this post was casually made by a Transcendent being.

For a Transcendent, being able to bench press one's own weight was probably not even a challenge.

After clicking in and browsing his way, Tang Hong found nothing interesting.

He couldn't help but feel a little upset.

"Bench press…"

Tang Hong hesitated for a while before consulting Wu Jie on WeChat.

For professional matters, the best method to get an answer was to either consult a professional for the solution of the problem or let a professional handle the problem itself. This was the concept that his ex-girlfriend—Jiao Xiaoyu—regarded as the truth…

Recalling this, Tang Hong couldn't help but get affected.

The only person among his social circle who could be considered a fitness enthusiast was none other than Wu Jie.

"What?"

Wu Jie replied with a stunned expression on his face. "You're saying that you want to bench press your own body weight, or even double that at 100 kilograms? All within a month? You have not trained before, right? It's impossible… absolutely impossible."

He stressed it twice in a row.

Wu Jie had to continuously go to the gym for an entire year before he was able to bench press the equivalent of his own weight. Furthermore, he always needed someone else's assistance whenever he trained. Otherwise, it would be a dangerous activity even for him.

It wasn't a problem if the barbell fell.

The problem lied whether the person could even push the barbell up into the air. Once the exerted force was too much for the arms to handle, it would be impossible to continue the exercise, and there was also the possibility of being injured.

"Tang Hong, you're a beginner. You have to start with an empty bar first and increase the weight slowly as you adjust."

"But if you want to improve faster…"

"You can purchase some creatine and protein powder, but do not consume too much creatine. It is bad for the kidneys. You must also maintain the intensity and the momentum of your exercise while you are in the middle of this journey…"

"In addition, diet is also very important when doing weight training."

"Banana, egg, and beef…"

"These are the safe bets when it comes to food that you should consume. After all, beginners should not be taking any fitness meals since beginners are impossible to plateau. Those people will just be cheating you out of your money if they insist."

As expected…

Wu Jie spoke in great detail and didn't hide anything at all.

His relationship with Tang Hong and Han Zhibin might be average for he preferred to spend time with Zeng Li. But they were brothers in the same dormitory room. They could see each other's faces every day. There was no reason for Wu Jie to lie to Tang Hong.

Tang Hong thought about it seriously. "How do I buy protein powder?"

"You really want to do weight training?!"

Wu Jie was shocked.

He said as much as he could as honestly as possible.

This was his way of dissuading Tang Hong, but his efforts seemed to have gone to the donkeys.

"I want to try. Let's go together to the gym next time," Tang Hong replied.

"Alright."

Wu Jie did not try to dissuade him any further. "I'm a little tired since I just went to the gym the other day, so I won't be available today. How about tomorrow afternoon? If we can't meet up, you can just go directly to the fitness center to look for me."

…

That night, Tang Hong stayed at the homestay he had booked. It was his first time in his entire life that he was staying in a place unfamiliar to him with only his school bag as his luggage.

This was an apartment building.

There were at least dozens of units on the same floor and they shared the same flickering public hallway.

'Is the light broken? It feels scary.'

He mumbled to himself.

He entered the password '396555#' and hurriedly entered the room.

Bang!

Turning to close the security door, Tang Hong twisted the lower button on the inside handle of the security door.

But it did not work.

Tang Hong was astonished.

The security door could not be locked.

He thought about it for a moment and eventually consoled himself by thinking that an apartment building was safer than being in a detached house. Tang Hong scanned the furnishings of the homestay he was in before he brought a plastic chair over and jammed it in front of the door.

Yes, it was useless…

But if someone broke in, he would at least not die without knowing what happened to him.

'Bad review! I'm definitely going to leave a bad review!'

But to be honest, he actually wasn't planning on leaving a bad review.

Nowadays, who dared to give a bad review? Leaving a bad review after ordering takeout would result in one being battered senseless by a bunch of keyboard warriors to the point where one would question one's existence.

No one knew when it happened, but for some reason, leaving a good review became an obligation. In contrast, leaving a bad review was regarded as doing evil.

"I shall look around some more."

Tang Hong started walking around the room.

The room was not big, but it had a balcony and a kitchen. There was a TV in the small living room, the kind that could stream shows directly from the internet.

The bedroom was connected to the living room, but there was no door.

There was only a load-bearing column in the middle.

"Oh my God."

The double bed was quite low. It was only about ten centimeters off the ground.

Tang Hong, who was accustomed to living in a school dormitory room that could accommodate four people and sleeping in a loft bed with a work table underneath, suddenly felt that the world truly was cruel.

Tang Hong was stunned by the difference between the room that he was staring at right now and the pictures that introduced this homestay apartment on the Internet.

This was fraud!

It was fine to use the magic of Photoshop on people, but to use it on the pictures of homes and rooms as well was too much!

"Is this even legal?"

With nothing left to hope for, Tang Hong laid on the bed.

Dong Dong~

There was an unread message in WeChat from Han Zhibin. "Auntie is done with the room check. Where did you go after eating? Are you really not coming back to the dormitory?"

"Yes!"

"Don't disturb me!"

Tang Hong sent a picture of a husky squinting and smiling.

Han Zhibin was immediately dumbfounded.

Did this roommate of his who had just lost his first love a few months ago finally found a new girlfriend?

Han Zhibin wanted to ask Tang Hong for more details, but he didn't dare to do so. Afraid that he was disturbing something, he could only send his blessings silently as he quietly returned to playing his game.

——

The Yellow River Organization, Yunhai branch office.

The office area at this time was empty.

The main hall looked as surreal as ever beneath the morning sun.

At the reception desk next to the main entrance stood a young woman in a pure white dress suit.

Underneath the suit was a light-colored shirt.

She had no earrings nor accessories.

A smile was on her face and she was staring down at something.

The receptionist was also an official member of the Yellow River Organization.

Her name was Fan Yu. There were many more people like her in the Yellow River Organization.

Due to various reasons, they were unable to join the special training camp.

However, they were somewhat talented with sufficient willpower.

After multiple tests, they were able to stay in the Yellow River Organization as an ordinary person as they waited for an opportunity.

That's right…

The opportunity to become a Transcendent being.

"Consultant Fang."

She heard the sound of the conference room door opening. She hurriedly looked up to see an expressionless Fang Nanxun holding a phone. His fingertips were blurry as if they were an illusion as he typed in his words as fast as he could.

The scene looked as if one was watching a video at double the speed.

Fan Yu was not surprised by this scene.

Even at a country level, consultants were still first-class powerhouses, fully capable of carrying out the task of blockading a city.

Consultants were still first-class powerhouses even if they were at the Country-level.

They were fully capable of carrying out the task of blockading an entire city.

"Xiao Yu."

Fang Nanxun smiled.

Fan Yu, the receptionist of the Yunhai branch office, was very beautiful. She was always enthusiastic and talkative. Whenever Fang Nanxun was not busy, he didn't mind chatting with her.

After talking about life, they talked about ideals.

After talking about ideals, they talked about Transcendent beings.

The road of a Transcendent was extraordinarily difficult.

But only this wonderful power was the only thing that they had discovered so far that was capable enough of going against the gods from the other dimensions.

In the ancient times of Hua Country, there were a series of legends about cultivation, sacrifices to gods, demons, and ghosts, as well as foreign wizards, warriors, magic beliefs, vampire exorcists, etc.

But none of them existed in the current times.

They couldn't even be found even if one looked as hard as they could.

Of course, that included the path of true cultivation.

At first, people placed their hopes on the gods that they worshipped—Buddhas and true immortals.

The mainstream method of warring was with hot weapons and artillery fire.

It was only until later on did the people find out that they must rely on their own strength. They were fortunate, however, for they had already discovered the concept of Willpower. They discovered that Willpower was a powerful and effective weapon against those invading gods.

Do not ask for help from the gods…

Do not worship Buddha.

If the very first Transcendent being wasn't strong enough, then establishing a foothold and a system to rearing more future Transcendents was just nothing but a pipe dream.

Despite knowing the dangers of being a Transcendent being, Fan Yu still wanted to become a Transcendent. She was already a member of the Yellow River Organization, so why not?

Looking at Fang Nanxun, she said, "Consultant Fang. Early this morning, Consultant Liu and Cen both looked through the files of that young man whom you recommended…"

"I know." Fang Nanxun smiled before nodding his head.

"He—whose son is he?" Fan Yu couldn't understand why.

How can a young man who had not yet entered the special training camp attract the attention of three consultants?

It must be due to his family background!

There were only two ways to enter the special training camp of the Yellow River Organization…

One was through donation—to use ample amounts of resources to purchase a recommendation slot. The other was to be recommended by a Transcendent. In the vast sea of people, people who 'may become a Transcendent' were often discovered.

The former were mostly non-professional children with excellent family background…

The gender didn't matter.

The latter was found in all walks of life.

There were even organizations operating overseas that would solicit criminals to help for their quest in finding those that 'may become a Transcendent'.

Fang Nanxun looked at Fan Yu and nodded.

'This girl is smart and bright. She is neither too servile nor overbearing. '

'She might have a chance to become a Transcendent in the future.'

Fang Nanxun nodded to himself before he slowly replied, "He's a recommended talent."

On the day of the contract signing, the other two Transcendent consultants based in the Yunhai branch office didn't notice anything special about Tang Hong. They thought that Fang Nanxun must've accepted the young man's money in exchange for a recommendation slot as usual.

But the government's sudden inquiry to this matter aroused the curiosity of the two branch consultants.

After reading through the monitoring reports, both of them were surprised. If the scene depicted in the report was accurate, then even ordinary Transcendent beings had to hold their breaths.

If they weren't careful, then they could easily lose their consciousness in that kind of situation.