Chapter 19: Excess Rewards (Please Follow)

Monday, during the morning rush hour.

Jiangdong District, Maocheng Intersection Station.

In the curtain of rain, a bus emblazoned with a female celebrity endorsing breast enhancement ads weaves through traffic and comes to a stop at the station.

Fang Cheng opens his umbrella and hops down from the rear door.

He looks up at the myriad of colorful umbrellas moving along the road.

Immediately stepping through the water that nearly covers the sidewalk, he heads towards the brightly-lit Wantong Mall.

Due to a job transfer, the timing of his days off has been shifted from Monday to Friday.

As a result, he nearly has to work two consecutive weeks.

But for Fang Cheng, this is actually a good thing.

He walks briskly to the club, folds his umbrella, and hangs it on the rack by the door.

By now it's half past nine, and the venue still seems rather quiet.

Apart from the sound of colleagues clocking in and chatting, the usual fervent atmosphere is not felt.

The continuous rain over the past few days and the fact that it's a workday mean significantly fewer students are coming in for training and classes.

The entire training hall is empty, save for a few professional boxers doing their routine training.

Fang Cheng walks straight into the changing room and unlocks his storage locker with a key.

He takes out a set of blue work clothes and a pair of lightweight, non-slip boxing shoes.

Then, from his bag, he takes out a plastic bag containing another set of clean clothes and shoes.

Working at the club, in addition to attendance and performance, personal image and hygiene are also important.

Fang Cheng takes off his slightly soaked shoes, sits on the bench, puts on his boxing shoes, and ties the laces.

At that moment, a figure suddenly comes over to him.

"Ah Cheng, how is it being in the Sanda department, got used to it yet?"

The voice is hearty, with a hint of unexpected concern.

Fang Cheng looks up at the newcomer.

Seeing it's Chen Xiaohai from the karate department, he simply replies:

"Not bad."

"If you need help with anything, just tell me. After all, I've been working here for 10 years, and I'm very familiar with the place."

"Alright, thanks, Brother Hai."

Fang Cheng nods, his reply as concise as ever.

Chen Xiaohai smiles, pats Fang Cheng on the shoulder, and then leaves the changing room.

His actions leave the other colleagues somewhat surprised.

Since when did their relationship become so close?

Chen Xiaohai whistles, hands behind his back, walks into the second hall, appearing rather relaxed and comfortable.

Recently, his mood has been like a roller coaster, fluctuating up and down.

Upon hearing that Fang Cheng refused to intern in the marketing department and offended Manager Li, the hostility he once harbored vanished in an instant.

From time to time, he would also ask about and comfort Fang Cheng, almost transforming into the most caring senior colleague for newcomers at the workplace.

Of course, in private, he would say that Fang Cheng is too hot-headed, aspires to be a big-time lawyer, and looks down on the small temple of the club.

.........

"Step right and pivot left, guard left and circle right..."

"When the waist moves, the stance has to lead..."

Xu Maochai's voice can be heard across the entire training hall spanning over a thousand square meters.

Fang Cheng stands with his hands behind his back, silently watching a group of students practice various wrestling moves and power techniques as instructed by the coach.

This class is an advanced course for old students, mainly teaching the application of wrestling techniques in Sanda.

Kicking, striking, wrestling, and grappling are known as the four major techniques of Sanda.

The former two draw from more advanced and practical combat techniques from abroad.

The latter two encapsulate the essence of the nation's traditional martial arts.

Moreover, compared to the others, these moves are more straightforward and practical, devoid of any traditional routines' flourish.

In summary, as Xu Maochai would say in his lectures, wrestling techniques can be summed up in one phrase.

"Use momentum to trip, cling to the root with the body!"

"You just need to remember that all wrestling moves in actual combat revolve around these four key points."

Xu Maochai suddenly halts the students practicing basic movements and has them start pairing up to spar.

The students partner up, attempting various kinds of body throws and leg catch takedowns.

Some take turns treating their classmates like punching bags for technique review, while others engage in a test of strength, struggling against each other with brute force.

Fang Cheng watches them intently.

He recalls the coaching content while analyzing mistakes in their movements.

Gradually, he gains an insight.

If maintaining one's center of gravity is most important for hand and leg techniques, then wrestling is about disrupting the opponent's balance.

Successful wrestling doesn't necessarily require one to completely throw the opponent to the ground.

In actual combat, any part of the body—arms, torso, hips, or legs—can be used to execute techniques.

Simply causing instability in the opponent already constitutes half the victory.

Then with a light lean and a pull, one can use the momentum to take the opponent down.

Alternatively, one can quickly follow up with hand and leg techniques for a fierce offensive.

The effects were several times better than just wrestling alone.

The students didn't think as much as Fang Cheng and were just having a blast.

In the class of fewer than 10 people, the remaining lucky one was practicing with the coach.

Slap!

The lucky one was thrown cleanly onto the ground by a "shoulder insert back throw".

Even though there were soft mats on the ground, it still took a good while for him to get back up.

Xu Maochai said seriously:

"Look, I can stand still, and he can't throw me down, a simple pull, and he immediately falls."

"Why? Because your strength is too weak!"

"To be successful in learning, relying on physical training three times a week is far from enough. After going back, persist in doing a few more sets of deep squats, try again in a month, and your lower body stability will definitely be stronger than now."

The others chuckled and didn't take it seriously.

But that lucky student was frowning miserably, rubbing his butt.

After all, no one wants to be thrown around like a sack.

Fang Cheng, on the other hand, was full of envy, genuinely wanting to replace that student and try out the feel.

The group class in the morning ended quickly.

It was time for lunch, and Fang Cheng went to the front desk to pick up his meal. When he came back, he was carrying three takeout bags.

One of the meals was the company's staff meal, and the other two were chicken leg rice takeout he had ordered for himself.

Seeing this, his colleagues asked out of curiosity if he hadn't eaten for several days to have such a big appetite.

Fang Cheng didn't explain much, just saying he hadn't had breakfast and was eating enough for two meals in one.

In fact.

After exercising in the morning, he had downed 10 boiled eggs, 3 boxes of pure milk, plus a steamer basket of xiaolongbao from the breakfast shop downstairs.

The reason his appetite had become so outrageous was all due to practicing deep squats.

That's right.

He chose the second option for yesterday's enhancement reward.

He added 1 point to his Constitution attribute, bringing it to 13 points, and obtained the "Loner" skill effect.

Putting aside the topic of waking up with vigor in the morning for now.

Fang Cheng had read the book "Prisoner Fitness" and knew that the fundamental principle of exercising muscles was actually very simple.

That is to first use overload resistance training to tear apart some muscle fibers of a specific muscle group.

Then use the body's own healing ability to repair and reorganize it.

The human body's physiological mechanisms are very amazing.

To prevent similar situations from happening next time, there will be an overcompensation effect during this process.

Meaning the muscles will become harder and thicker, thus achieving the effect of enhancing the physique and reducing injuries.

Bones, joints, tendons, ligaments, etc. all follow this training mechanism within a certain tolerable range.

And testosterone, as the most active male hormone, is the important driving force behind this overcompensation effect.

The "Loner" effect allows the body to secrete a higher concentration of testosterone than normal people during exercise.

Thus stimulating the growth and enhancement of muscles and bones, continually increasing muscle bulk, and bone density.

This means that the same amount of training will have results several times stronger.

Naturally, the dietary intake required by the human body will also significantly increase.

Such an enhancement effect might look a little... off.

In reality, it's a real godsend skill for extra rewarding oneself!

Fang Cheng was gnawing on the chicken leg, his attention entirely on the panel.

Clicking into the character attributes column, lines of dense prompt messages instantly appeared before his eyes.

After the practical verification from yesterday and today, he filtered out dozens of relevant messages.

It seems that after every deep squat practice increases 1 point of experience.

Afterward, whether continuing to train or working, the appearance frequency of messages indicating every 0.001 point increase in Constitution and Strength attributes becomes exceptionally high.

The agility attribute was relatively more normal but also had a significant observable growth.

This effect could last for about 2 hours, with a gradually declining trend.

It's like certain fitness fanatics who recklessly inject themselves with large doses of testosterone.

Fortunately, Fang Cheng was using a skill, which was within the tolerable range of his physique, with much fewer negative effects.

At most, his body would feel a bit hot, his blood flow felt faster, and occasionally, he would get a nosebleed.

"It's okay..."

Fang Cheng chewed on the chicken bones and silently reassured himself:

"As long as my constitution is strong enough, these side effects can be completely ignored."

After cleaning up the three finished meal boxes, Fang Cheng walked out of the changing room, throwing the packaging bags into the recycling bins in the corner.

Turning around to look at the training hall, he noticed several professional boxers who were always diligent.

They seemed not to have eaten lunch, still persisting in doing weight-bearing deep squats, swinging barbell plates, and other anaerobic strength training.

Fang Cheng's heart warmed up, and he couldn't help but think of the training plan he had made for himself.

Now that the "Deep Squat" skill had been enhanced and had become a real "fuel pump".

It would be a pity not to make good use of it.

"Looks like I need to step up the intensity too!"

Fang Cheng thought to himself and turned back towards the changing room.

Next, he prepared to challenge more difficult action options.