80 KG

May 16. Cloudy.

'I went to eat Haidilao alone. The server suggested that I order four soup bases to make my stay more worthwhile, but I only wanted to have the butter mala soup base. I then ordered 9 portions of ingredients…'

'The server once again suggested that five and a half portions would be enough for me since I was alone.'

'Seated opposite me was a big, black and white chequered bear. The server placed a set of chopsticks and also poured a whole glass of sour plum juice for the big bear…'

Tang Hong was going through his diary.

He was worried that he would not remember the events corresponding to what triggered the increase of Individual Value but he could not casually record such top-secret information.

He thought about it over and over again before he managed to come up with the method of using a diary to jot down the various events that triggered the increase of his Individual Value.

As for how much Individual Value was added, Tang Hong could just remember all of that.

It wasn't a problem if he forgot a few points.

Tang Hong had also considered using a unique method of recordings, such as adding cryptic symbols, letters, and whatnot. However, given the advanced ways of today's language research, decoding those symbols would probably be an easy task.

There was no harm in being more cautious. Tang Hong closed his diary.

"Hey."

A hint of worry was within Zeng Li's eyes, who was seated beside him doing his self-study.

He pushed Tang Hong's shoulders. "What's with you recently? Suddenly writing a diary… you're the second most handsome guy in our dormitory. There's no need to be entangled with relationship problems!"

Tang Hong instantly smiled. "And you're the first?"

"Actually, I do not wish to be the most handsome one either."

Zeng Li shrugged with resignation all over his face.

Upon seeing Tang Hong's smile, Zeng Li heaved a sigh of relief.

He then considered finding an opportunity to introduce some girls to Tang Hong.

The best way of breaking away from relationship woes was to start another relationship.

This was according to Zeng Li's experience.

"Let's go eat."

A grayish-white pen was between Zeng Li's fingertips. He pulled Tang Hong up to his feet.

"The cafeteria would soon be out of seats again."

Tang Hong said, "Ask where Wu Jie is and whether he wants to join us or not."

"I'll give him a call."

Zeng Li found it odd, secretly. In the three years, he and Wu Jie were much closer.

They always played together while Tang Hong and Han Zhibin clicked well.

During the recent few weeks, some gradual changes became apparent.

The changes began approximately after the May Day vacation. Ever since Tang Hong…

Wu Jie: "…"

Before Zeng Li could continue his train of thought, he saw Wu Jie strolling back and forth in the side door of the cafeteria from afar.

When they came close, Zeng Li asked, "I remember you have a class this morning, an elective you chose yourself."

"I skipped it, hehehe…"

Wu Jie pounded Zeng Li's shoulders and turned his head to talk to Tang Hong.

"When are you going to be free to go to the fitness center? That Xuan Lizheng from our class is always nagging me every day—saying that he's waiting for you to challenge the 80KG bench press."

Tang Hong let out a low chuckle. "Let's make that today."

Wu Jie's mouth dropped open.

'Heaven please take pity on and protect him. Let him take the hint that what I made was just a casual remark.'

But remembering the extent of Tang Hong's progress a few days ago.

Anticipation surged from the bottom of his heart.

This was the typical mentality to seek novelty.

Wu Jie picked up his phone and prepared to tell Xuan Lizheng about this news but the words he typed out became. 'Let's go practice some bench press in the afternoon!'.

'80KG!?'

At the sidelines, Zeng Li felt that his ears weren't working.

He had gone to that fitness center with Wu Jie before.

He went there twice, but he didn't have the guts to continue even further. Those brawny men were just too frightening for him. These days, he had heard about Tang Hong's journey of working out in the gym but he had not taken it to heart.

Until this moment…

80KG…

Four short and exquisite digits and letters came up but they gave Zeng Li a more direct perception of reality.

'I was 1.83 meters and 70 plus kilograms. According to Wu Jie, Tang Hong can easily lift me?'

Zeng Li didn't know that much about bodybuilding.

He eavesdropped while covertly examining Tang Hong's chest and arms.

He looked a little muscular. The outlines of his muscles were indistinctly highlighted.

During the downtime when the cafeteria lady was dishing out the food, Zeng Li could not help but ask, "What time are you guys going to go? I'll join you."

…

2 PM.

Fitness Center.

As the class's sports representative, Xuan Lizheng led some of his classmates to experience the benefits of exercising and physical training.

But the classmates he brought were all girls.

Being surrounded in the middle, Xuan Lizheng currently felt as if he had reached the peak of life. He felt as if he was the center of the sun, moon, and the stars. He did his best to introduce the methods of using the various equipment, especially the chest expanding equipment.

Every piece of equipment here was conducive to improving one's physical and mental health.

He had to make them the key of his recommendations.

Xuan Lizheng swore to the heavens that he really did not have a selfish motive.

"Hey, hey, you're so naughty."

"This is too shameful…"

But although the mouths lied, the bodies were honest. Two girls wearing short-sleeved shirts exchanged glances. Both of them were eager to have a go as if they were both very confident even though they had never used this kind of equipment before.

"You go first."

"It's better if you go first."

The two of them moved around while Xuan Lizheng stood on the side with a smile on his face. He did not say anything. He just watched them quietly from the sidelines. But just then, he caught two familiar figures through the corner of his eye.

One was Wu Jie who worked out here often.

The other was his classmate—Tang Hong—who was still a mystery to him even today.

"He's here."

A nonchalant thought went through Xuan Lizheng's heart.

"Hold on."

"He seemed to have mentioned that he wanted to challenge 80KG the next time…"

Blurry memories flashed through Xuan Lizheng's heart again. He was instantly shocked, even the smile on his face froze.

'Was he for real?'

'Only a few days had passed?'

Xuan Lizheng could not care for these chattering female classmates as he shouted.

"Wu Jie!"

"Come on."

Wu Jie was grinning as he curled his finger. He did not approach Xuan Lizheng. Instead, he helped Tang Hong prepare the 80KG barbell. Habitually, he pushed the discs inwards to prevent them from falling.

Xuan Lizheng took the initiative to jog over.

A corner of his lips tugged upwards.

'It was really 80KG…'

'Was he trying to kill himself?'

"Serving tea to the big boss."

Xuan Lizheng's gaze looked strange as if he was sizing up a monster with three heads and six arms.

At the same time, the girls on the other side also ended their disputes and moved closer with curious looks.

They recognized Tang Hong, that pitiful person…

'Our class's Jiao Xiaoyu found an internship offer for a Fortune 500 company located in the capital. She immediately broke up with Tang Hong and left for the capital.'

'So pitiful. The three whole years of relationship ended just like that.'

'Flaunt your affections, break up fast. But it's pretty good that they've broken up. The chance to pester him is here. I'll go and approach him…'

The few of them whispered to one another and gathered to the side.

To their surprise, there were so many barbell discs stacked together.

Astonishment became obvious on their faces.

"How heavy is that?"

Someone asked.

Xuan Lizheng answered without thinking. "80."

"80 catties?! So heavy!"

The eyes of the girls went wide. They no longer dared to speak.

Xuan Lizheng was speechless. "It's kilograms, a thousand grams."

As girls were absolute rare creatures in the gym area, just like beautiful flowers that emerged in the desert, they attracted lots of gazes. A lot were glancing secretively.

"That person looks a little familiar."

"I think he's been here a few times."

'Just who does he think he is?'

Getting so many girls to crowd around him while he was doing his bench presses…

Some people revealed looks of disdain.

Tang Hong did not care about the looks around him.

He laid down and took in a deep breath. He was using 35% of his Strength when he lifted that 60KG the previous time.

He did not dare to add more Strength for fear of it being too exaggerated, but he felt that lifting 80KG should be about the same percentage of Strength with his current body strength.

In any case, he had Wu Jie around here anyway.

His palms held the silvery-white bar.

In an instant, his eyes suddenly brightened as he exerted his strength. No one did bench presses in the afternoon, so the surface of the metal bar was cool.

Hua!

He barely managed to lift it up as he slowly lowered it till it was right above his chest.

Wu Jie's hands floated around the middle of the metal bar. If this bar was to fall, Tang Hong's sternum would be fine since he was there. However, it would be dangerous if it slid towards the neck. After all, the lower jaw and Adam's apple were very weak in comparison to the sternum

"This…"

Xuan Lizheng personally witnessed the barbell moving up bit by bit. He fell into silence.

"Oh my god…"

Zeng Li's eyes were fixated on the barbell.

After three whole years of living together in a dormitory room, the Tang Hong in front of him became unfamiliar all of a sudden.

Those girls went closer together and whispered by themselves in surprise.

Watching this scene in a movie and online videos felt entirely different from being a direct onlooker of the event.

The thick and heavy barbell discs, the barbell bar gleaming in a metallic luster as it kept rising and falling had a greater visual impact on the girls than those embellished movies.

Ka!

The barbell was finally placed back on the rack.

Even when the trio, Tang Hong, Wu Jie, and Zeng Li left the gym area while laughing and chatting, Xuan Lizheng was still in a trance. Was it time for him to give up his title of sports representative and the class's number one muscle man to Tang Hong?

Those girls were once again discussing who among them should do the chest expansion exercises first.

The scene of so many girls was wonderful, but Xuan Lizheng had already lost his mood.

The feeling of emptiness seemed to slap him in waves, one after another.

"Sigh…"

The next moment, a tall and strong guy with his sleeves rolled up and patted Xuan Lizheng's shoulders.

"Deep squats?"

Xuan Lizheng knew this brawny guy. "Not in the mood."

It was just more than a week and Tang Hong had moved from 40KG during his first attempt to 60KG on his second attempt to the present 80KG. Even skipping grades in school couldn't be achieved so quickly. This was just unparalleled.

Did he have a good foundation at the start?

Was he taking any doping drugs?

He remained perplexed despite much thought on his end.

…

While Xuan Lizheng was pondering, Tang Hong was also doing a lot of thinking.

He was a little worried that he had progressed too quickly. It seemed that the gazes Wu Jie and Zeng Li directed at him were filled with amazement. Even Xuan Lizheng's expression turned stiff.

In addition, they were the true regulars of the gym.

He—Tang Hong—was merely an amateur player in this field.

But since this was the case, then Tang Hong now had no reason to go to the fitness center anymore.

Tang Hong had already approximately deduced that a 6% increase in the percentage of his Strength corresponded to about a 40kg weight limit increase in his bench presses.

'An addition of another 3% would be enough.'

'But just to be safe, I should probably slightly go over that 3%…'

As he was thinking, his cell phone vibrated in his pocket.

Several notification alerts rang out in succession.

Tang Hong took a look. It was from Fan Yu. The application for the grant was approved by the headquarters. She wished to hand it over to Tang Hong personally.

There were also some matters that she needed to relay to him in person.

Fan Yu sent him an address.

"It's not that far from where you are," Fan Yu said. Then, she continued, "This teahouse is a gathering place for Transcendents. Transcendents are often present here, both local and foreigners. If you're free, would you like to come and get familiar with it?"