Lu Mingfei, why are you slaying dragons if you're not involved!

Chapter 110 Fitness Roasted Chicken - Lu Mingfei Special Edition (4.9K)

Perhaps because he had returned to the process of "comprehending the true meaning of fire", before he could even open his eyes, the memory of passing the third level in his dream last night flooded back into Lu Mingfei's mind like a tide.

Compared to the first two insights into the "cold wave" of life and civilization, and the "scorching sun" of heat death and destruction, the third insight was particularly different—

Upon opening his eyes, Lu Mingfei found himself sitting on a rough, heavy stone throne.

As far as the eye could see, there were indistinct human figures clustered around him. Their faces were unclear, and it was impossible to tell whether they were male or female; they seemed to be just clusters of shadows that had inexplicably coalesced and carried a faint warmth.

However, their gazes seemed tangible, weighing heavily on him.

The feeling was so real that it made Lu Mingfei's heart tighten!
"What...is this a scene from a horror movie?"

He swallowed hard. "I'm a coward. Can I request Ultraman to accompany me the whole time?"

A line of characters appeared—

"My lord, the enemy has seized the most resource-rich region. Their stone spears are sharper, their bone arrows have a longer range, and their efficiency far surpasses ours... They are closing in!"

"What the hell, Wang? My surname is Lu!"

Lu Mingfei was completely bewildered. "What the hell are stone spears and bone arrows?! What's wrong with the schedule? Did you airdrop me into the Stone Age dungeon?"

[Your Majesty, please give the order.]

The characters flashed, carrying an undeniable urgency.

Immediately afterwards, an extremely familiar map unfolded before his eyes.

Lu Mingfei immediately recognized it as a classic map from StarCraft, but the details had been altered beyond recognition.

The crimson fog of war, representing the unknown and danger, devoured four-fifths of the map like a greedy beast. His so-called "occupied territory," belonging to this "king," was reduced to a pitiful corner, as fragile as a candle flickering in the wind.

In the upper right corner of the map, cold countdown numbers are silently ticking, the unit being "days".

Lu Mingfei instantly understood; the schedule was playing tricks again!
Is the third test of enlightenment a strategic confrontation game?
"Games are great!"

Lu Mingfei instinctively wanted to take action. He had absolute confidence in his skills in the game—no matter how dire the situation, as long as he launched a micro-management attack, everything would be alright!
The process is very simple: mine, mass produce units, and attack!
However, the expected complex yet familiar user interface did not appear. Only two options were displayed, hanging there:
First: [Crafting stone spears and bone arrows]

Second: [Other methods]

Lu Mingfei was about to choose the former to challenge his micro-management skills... but the next second, realizing where he was, he calmed down.

His understanding of the true meaning of fire clearly has nothing to do with his micro-management skills.

The second option is the only choice.

"Your Majesty is right! Only with stronger armor and weapons can we withstand the fangs of jackals."

"Did I say that? You're misinterpreting the leader's intentions and even falsely conveying an imperial edict! In ancient times, that would have cost you your head!"

Lu Mingfei thought to himself.

[My King, please forge us stronger armor and weapons.]

"Me? Hey, shouldn't this be something the king's subjects do? Didn't you say being an emperor means reviewing memorials, watching music and dance, eating and drinking, and having fun? Don't I have a single great inventor with a fully developed technology tree in my talent pool?"

Despite the complaints, with the Yan Kingdom map on the schedule so short, and now that the truth was finally revealed, Lu Mingfei finally understood what this third test was all about.

More powerful armor and weapons... When resources are completely overwhelmed, the only way to survive is through technological superiority!
In other words, what era followed the Stone Age?
The Bronze Age!

What he needs to do is, before the ever-flowing countdown reaches zero, start from scratch, personally ignite the furnace of civilization, explore, master, and ultimately forge bronze weapons and armor powerful enough to turn the tide of battle!

[Your Majesty, please give the order.]

"I know you NPCs are completely unreliable."

Lu Mingfei stood up from the cold, hard stone throne, which showed how poor his tribe was; they didn't even have animal hides to cushion their bodies...

However, the conclusion that NPCs are unreliable is not based on insightful observations, but rather on Lu Mingfei's "trust" in the schedule.

Trust it – I will never let myself get away with just a few words!

"All right."

Lu Mingfei waved his hand, with an air of "already used to it".

"Take your king and go mining!"

Light and shadow shift, scenes change.

Just as he expected, those vague "subordinates" were like pre-set background figures throughout the process, completely unable to provide any substantial help.

They remained silent, gazing at him with an eternal sense of awe.

then:

He wielded a heavy stone pickaxe, selecting and hammering away at possible copper ore on the rugged mountainside;

They moved stones themselves, mixed mud, and built that simple but crucial furnace;
He tried to use animal skin bags and bamboo tubes to transport air, watching the fire flicker in the wind, observing the shape of the flames again and again, adjusting the air duct, and enduring the scorching smoke of failure.

I carefully experimented with different mixing ratios of metals, recording every minute change in color and hardness...

Even the final forging—

On a simple anvil, he wielded a heavy stone hammer, giving the metal a new form through countless hammer blows!
He had to do everything himself.

Sweat mingled with soot; failure was the norm. Wrong ore, furnace collapse, incorrect metal ratios resulting in unusable scrap...

Each setback was accompanied by the silent advance of the crimson fog on the map, until the countdown reached zero.

But this time, there was neither the freezing cold that would freeze everything, nor the scorching heat that would burn everything away.

There was only one change—as the crimson area on the map, symbolizing the enemy forces, continued to expand, the blurry figures surrounding him began to thin out and dim one by one.

There were no wails of parting, no desperate cries, not even a single complaint.

They simply stood there, gazing at him with eyes that were always filled with pure trust and deep respect, as if pouring all their hopes into this "king".

Then, in that silent gaze, their silhouettes faded little by little, like smoke blown away by the wind, disappearing into the air without a trace.

Until the last figure disappeared, as if they had never existed.

Everything resets, starting all over again.

Lu Mingfei had played many kinds of games, in which he had played various roles such as God, king, and savior... but never before had he felt like he did now, that he "could not let them down".

Each disappearance of that figure felt like a dull knife scraping against his heart. That eternally silent yet trusting gaze solidified the seemingly insignificant word "King," weighing heavily on his body and soul.

It almost suffocated him!

Looking back, Lu Mingfei couldn't help but feel grateful that he had once joined the literary society.

Although the literary society, led by Chen Wenwen, generally reads cold and sad European and American literary works that are "only read by middle-class white women"... how many of the boys actually like these kinds of books? Their wolfish ambitions in applying to join are obvious!
In this situation, continuing to read that kind of book would inevitably be boring, but they didn't want to openly "fall into the cliché," so they could only secretly mix in some other books and circulate them in a manner comparable to secret agents.

The genres are naturally diverse, with the most numerous being fantasy, martial arts, and urban mystery novels, followed by books on interesting and popular science knowledge...

Lu Mingfei was no exception.

Although he was then "Chen Wenwen's chief general" and "Literary Society Director (who took care of all sorts of odd jobs)," he felt that "I should have the same aesthetic sense as Chen Wenwen and always read the same books"... But aesthetic sense is something that cannot be changed just like that.

Over time, in between running errands for Chen Wenwen, organizing the bookshelves, or simply spacing out, he would secretly read other things.

This includes a book titled "The Development History of Metallurgy and Forging".

People will do anything when they're bored; they can even devour a composition tutor like a storybook. Of course, he didn't look at it carefully, and now his memory is incredibly hazy, with only a vague recollection—

For example, "the most primitive smelting furnace could be made by simply digging a hole in the ground and then coating it with clay," "when smelting ore, it had to be crushed and then mixed with some charcoal," "to make bronze, other metals besides copper had to be added," and "forging could involve casting parts first and then forging and fusing them"...

These fragmented pieces of knowledge, however, became a lifeline at this moment.

Even if it's just a vague direction, it's still valuable experience that human civilization has accumulated over a long period of time through countless attempts and failures!

Under the suffocating weight of the "crown," guided by the faint sparks of light accumulated from the blood and sweat of those who came before...

This technological system, which originally required thousands of years of evolution to gradually master, was actually researched and mastered by Lu Mingfei in less than a month of crazy trial and error and honing, and he firmly grasped it in his hands!
After that, he didn't even need to perform any complicated micro-management commands.

When the first batch of barely formed bronze armor was equipped on those blurry figures, the enemy's fierce offensive was for the first time forcefully halted.

When the bronze spearheads and arrows, gleaming with golden light, appeared on the battlefield, Lu Mingfei's side immediately launched a devastating counterattack.

Even a generational difference in weaponry, even just one generation, is enough to create an overwhelming and absolute advantage!

The crimson fog of war began to recede rapidly, like ice and snow meeting the scorching sun.

What comes out on paper is ultimately shallow.

Having personally witnessed the earth-shattering leap from nothing to something, from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age, Lu Mingfei understands this so profoundly.

Without revolutionary breakthroughs in materials, a tremendous leap in productivity is impossible. Without this leap in productivity, the forms of warfare stagnate. And how can stagnation in the forms of warfare drive the evolution of social structures?

Therefore, the smelting and casting of metals, which are born alongside fire and control the form of metals, are undoubtedly the key cornerstones that drive the progress of human civilization!

"call……"

It sounds like a long story, but in the memory it's just a fleeting moment.

Lu Mingfei let out a long breath, suppressing that third insight deep in his heart.

"I wonder what the final test of comprehending the true meaning of fire will be? Or will it incorporate fitness elements...?"

He opened his eyes.

However, the scene that came into view was completely different from the gym he had imagined.

That was a truly insane... fitness hell!
Countless bizarrely shaped and dauntingly difficult "fitness challenges" piled up one after another, stretching out like a steel jungle, seemingly without end—

The high-speed, reverse-rotating conveyor belt is riddled with obstacles to dodge; the horizontal bars suspended high above form an aerial path so wide that even apes would struggle to pass; and there are giant chute sections that require a powerful frog-like jump to get through, with a swinging hammer in the middle...

If it were just these things, it wouldn't be so bad.

It just takes a little more effort and time.

But how could the "fitness" segment, which incorporates "understanding the true meaning of the fourth level of fire," be so simple?
Lu Mingfei immediately noticed those unusual details.

Beneath the frantically operating fitness equipment, and even within some of the equipment, a chilling white mist was silently billowing out! It was somewhat similar to the "cold wave" experienced when comprehending the first level of true meaning.

What made his scalp tingle even more was that on the narrow "safe platforms" between some checkpoints, all sorts of ores, clay blocks, and several crudely constructed furnaces were blatantly piled up!
"Do we have to handcraft the clearance items on-site?"

In an instant, Lu Mingfei felt that the intense malice of the schedule had begun to materialize without any attempt at concealment.

He even hallucinated—a colossal monster, towering like a skyscraper, standing upright, with tough, rough skin that had the texture of rock, covered in wrinkles and wart-like protrusions, and exuding immense pressure, was rapidly forming beside him!
The monster roared, "Fitness-enhancing roasted chicken, one serving per second! Freshly baked, made to order! Roar!"

Lu Mingfei: "?"

The earth-shaking roar brought gusts of hot air, scalding hot and foul-smelling, and even the ground trembled. He stumbled and almost lost his footing.

Lu Mingfei suddenly woke up, realizing that the hallucination couldn't be so real... The roar was probably his hallucination, but the wind—the hallucination couldn't have really blown him off balance!

His Adam's apple bobbed laboriously as he stared blankly at the colossal, real-life skyscraper before him.

This time, he saw more details.

The behemoth possesses serrated bony plates running along its spine from the back of its neck to the tip of its tail. These plates are not entirely symmetrical in size or shape, falling somewhere between bone and keratin. Its powerful, long tail swings with such force it almost stirs up waves, and it also has strong hind legs and somewhat short forelimbs…

How could Lu Mingfei not recognize this most famous giant monster in film history?
Godzilla!
Dinosaurs that survived from the Jurassic era, mutated into terrifying behemoths due to nuclear radiation contamination...walking natural disasters!

But the question is, why is it here?

Lu Mingfei stared at the colossal beast that was easily fifty meters tall. Godzilla was also staring at him, their small eyes widening in stare-off, like a bean staring at a tortoise.

[Warning: Please begin your [fitness] workout immediately and simultaneously experience the true meaning of fire. Electric shock countdown...]

"Schedule, fuck you!"

Lu Mingfei had a long face.

He already had a premonition that the number of insights he would gain would exceed the sum of the previous three, but he still had no choice but to formally face that seemingly endless "fitness challenge."

"What 'Extreme Fitness King' segment? Did you pay the copyright fee? Be careful of being sued for copyright infringement!"

Lu Mingfei mentally complained as he started running forward.

Even though the electric shock warning disappeared once he started running, his speed did not slow down at all.

Because, it goes without saying, that the schedule that created this Godzilla isn't just going to sit there unused!

As for its function? It's definitely not going to be some harmless "lucky lizard" cosplay!
An unsettling buzzing sound faintly came from behind him. Lu Mingfei's heart skipped a beat. He quickly turned his head and glanced over—

A ghostly blue light emanated from the base of the dorsal fin, gradually rising towards the tip. Energy surged like electricity between the serrated teeth, and the high-frequency buzzing sound Lu Mingfei heard originated from this. Godzilla's mouth was open, a blue light emanating from the depths of its throat, and steam billowed from between its teeth…

Atomic breath!

The target is self-evident.

Lu Mingfei instantly understood the true meaning of fire, the fourth important insight.

There's nothing new to reflect on.

It is no longer a single test, but a fusion of the first three aspects—survival, destruction, and forging brought by fire—all of which are integrated into the entire fitness process!

The first three times were "studying", this time it's "taking an exam"!
Lu Mingfei's expression changed drastically. He turned back and jumped onto the extremely fast reverse conveyor belt.

But... it was too late, just because of that brief moment of looking back.

A blue-white, blazing beam of light, several meters in diameter, tore through the air in its path, carrying with it an intense heat that could incinerate everything and a terrifying kinetic shockwave that completely engulfed Lu Mingfei's tiny figure!
The indescribable pain and the searing heat, enough to instantly vaporize steel, froze all of Lu Mingfei's thoughts in an instant. He could clearly "feel" his skin, and the flesh beneath it, charring, melting, and carbonizing!

His vision was filled with blinding blue and white light.

At this very moment, a sudden change occurs at the center of the pillar of light!

Black scales gradually appeared.

Despite being burned bright red, it successfully blocked the blue-white light, and its flesh began to regenerate and recover...

But the high-speed conveyor belt continued running without stopping, throwing Lu Mingfei's stopped body into that deadly low temperature.

Ice and fire collided instantly, and even the hardest black scales cracked inch by inch!

"Your timing is just right..."

Lu Mingfei only had time to leave behind a final, wistful sigh.

"Poor management, it's not selling well..."

P.S.: Freshly roasted chicken for fitness enthusiasts! 1-month pass/serving, thank you for your patronage!

(End of this chapter)