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

Chapter 9 Power and Influence, a Bug is Born! Fitness LV1, Obtain Entry Reward!
"I don't need illegitimate children. If possible, I'd be happy to have them as my godson!"

Lu Mingfei wiggled his buttocks, indicating that it was normal for him to be greedy for money and have no morals.

“You…” Su Xiaoqiang was speechless for a moment. It really is true that when people are shameless, they are invincible.

"Since you two are so familiar with each other, would you like to practice together?"

The female coach leading the way stopped, smiling broadly.

"Who wants to practice with him/her?" they both said in unison.

"Hehe, I don't want to watch skinny monkey work out," Su Xiaoqiang said, arms crossed. "I don't want him to make a butterfly flapping its wings when he putts into the air and make me laugh so hard I can't hold the club."

"impossible!"

Although Lu Mingfei didn't quite understand what "butterfly flapping its wings" meant, he could guess from the tone of voice, so he refuted it first.

"This is blatant slander and defamation!"

"Degradation and slander?"

Su Xiaoqiang looked Lu Mingfei, who was as thin as a monkey, up and down with suspicion, but in the end she confirmed her guess.

"Okay, my maximum bench press weight is 40KG. If you can do it with proper form today, I'll apologize!"

Forty kilograms?!
Lu Mingfei, who couldn't even carry a bag of rice up a few floors, suddenly widened his eyes and almost blurted out a remark—Where did this muscular tyrannosaurus come from!
The problem is, you can't tell at all from her appearance! She has the figure of a tall, hot woman!

"If I can do that today, will there be any need for an arm-wrestling match a month from now?"

Lu Mingfei felt a little guilty and prepared to raise the stakes to get Su Xiaoqiang to back down. "Besides, two bets, and all you get in return is an apology? That's too cheap. We need to add more money!"

“Okay, how many do you want?” Su Xiaoqiang agreed immediately.

"Money is just an external thing, I don't want money, it's vulgar!" Lu Mingfei racked his brains, he had to think of something Su Xiaoqiang would never agree to... He'd got it!
“If I win, I want you to agree to one request, the kind you can’t refuse,” Lu Mingfei said.

"Huh~" Su Xiaoqiang immediately looked at Lu Mingfei with the eyes of someone looking at trash.

Fortunately, Lu Mingfei isn't a hardcore anime/manga fan, otherwise he would be excited right now.

"You're refusing, huh? Then forget it!" Lu Mingfei secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"reject?"

Su Xiaoqiang could see Lu Mingfei's guilty conscience and felt confident of victory. She smiled coldly and agreed without hesitation, "I accept! Anyway, you lost, so you'll have to grant me a request."

Lu Mingfei was dumbfounded. He actually accepted this?
"I change my mind."

"No, a gentleman's word is as good as his bond!"

"I am not a gentleman, I am a villain!"

"Don't call me a villain. Even if you act like a villain today, you can't back out now."

Su Xiaoqiang sneered, "Let's go, we'll use the gym area. I want to see if you're really up to the task!"

……

[Warning: It's time to start the [fitness (muscle building)] plan. Please start immediately...]

At 7:00 PM sharp, Lu Mingfei, having finished warming up, took a deep breath: "Let's begin, Uncle Chen! How do we use this equipment?"

"This is a butterfly machine, used for birds to clamp their chests."

Uncle Chen demonstrated and explained at the same time, "Sit up straight, pull in your stomach, straighten your chest and lift your head, with your forearms slightly lower than your shoulders. Exhale when you exert force and inhale when you relax... Try a simple set first, with a minimum weight of ten."

He was a retired soldier who became a driver, and he knew a lot about this kind of fitness training, so he didn't hire a fitness coach, but directly taught Lu Mingfei himself.

Lu Mingfei immediately sat down, adjusted his posture, and began training.

The schedule was very precise. There was no countdown for teaching processes that couldn't be skipped, but when it was his turn, the countdown would start immediately, giving him no chance to slack off or rest.

Ten months later, Lu Mingfei discovered something very sad—Su Xiaoqiang's assessment of him was not actually a denigration or slander.

In the lowest weight set, by the last few sets, his arms were already trembling uncontrollably!
At that moment, he finally understood that this was the "butterfly flapping" mentioned earlier... the involuntary trembling of muscles when they are exhausted.

Uncle Chen fell silent. Although he could tell from Lu Mingfei's physique that he had basically no training experience and was indeed relatively weak in terms of strength... how could someone so weak dare to make a bet with Su Xiaoqiang!
"How about we just try the bench press?"

Uncle Chen thought for a moment and whispered his advice, "There might still be a chance now, if you put all your strength into a bench press, but after strength training, it will be even less likely when you are exhausted."

"No, Uncle Chen, I need to do three hours of strength training first, and then bench press forty kilograms!"

Lu Mingfei shook his head and resolutely refused.

If Uncle Chen had said this before, Lu Mingfei would probably have agreed, but now it's absolutely impossible, because he knows very well that with his current strength, he is absolutely unable to do it.

But this doesn't mean Lu Mingfei has given up. Just because he can't do it now doesn't mean he can't do it three hours from now!

Through dedicated fitness training, your [Fitness] level has improved, gaining 1 proficiency point.

"Yes, that's it!"

Lu Mingfei was thinking, "This is exactly what I want—how to help a skinny guy with almost no training experience improve his strength in a short period of time?"

There's only one answer: cheating!
Before Uncle Chen could respond, Lu Mingfei started working on the group again.

"Three hours used to seem like a long time. But now it seems too short. I have to make the most of every second!" he thought.

Lu Mingfei's statement that "after 3 hours of strength training, you can bench press 40 kilograms" successfully silenced Uncle Chen once again.

"If you want to give up, just say so. There's no need to make up excuses like this..."

Uncle Chen hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.

"Three hours of strength training? What kind of superhuman is that? When I was in the army, those who could train like that were considered elite. Most people couldn't even last an hour before they were exhausted!"

But after glancing at the other end, he quickly realized what was going on.

"Young people these days really know how to have fun!"

……

"Huff, hiss... huff, hiss..."

Large beads of sweat rolled down his forehead, spreading and growing larger until they finally turned into a stream of sweat that seeped into his already soaked clothes.

Lu Mingfei lowered his head, and at this moment he was already having some difficulty breathing, his breath coming in short gasps.

But after a one-minute break between sets, he still struggled to lift his head and gripped the plastic-wrapped metal bar with both hands.

"Isn't that enough?" Uncle Chen couldn't help but urge again, "You've been practicing for an hour already!"

Judging from Uncle Chen's perspective, Lu Mingfei was already in a state of "exhaustion" at this point. Continuing would not only fail to provide any training benefits, but could also potentially injure his body.

But Lu Mingfei resolutely shook his head and refused, even though the shake was small, it was very firm.

"No, it's only been an hour..." Lu Mingfei's downcast eyes were filled with despair.

He didn't want to be so resolute.

Given Lu Mingfei's seventeen years of habit of loafing around, lying down and doing nothing, he should have given up long ago.

After all, it was just agreeing to a condition that Su Xiaoqiang couldn't refuse... What's the big deal? It's not like I'm really going to drag him away to sell his organs!

But Lu Mingfei couldn't give up, because the countdown to that schedule in the groove would just follow the agreement like a cold machine.

Forget about giving up, the alarm will sound whenever Lu Mingfei takes a break between groups for more than half a second!
Compared to the excruciating, almost uncontrollable convulsions and bone-chilling pain of being electrocuted, Lu Mingfei would rather persevere when he was utterly exhausted! It was simply a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils.

But to those unaware of the inside story, Lu Mingfei's perseverance appears quite remarkable.

Uncle Chen finally understood why his young master would suddenly ask him to take care of Lu Mingfei, whom he had never heard of before and who didn't seem to have any outstanding qualities, and even call him a friend.

"Friend" was a term Chen Shu had never heard from Chu Zihang before; at most, they were classmates!

"This child is indeed extraordinary!"

Su Xiaoqiang, who was standing nearby, was also paying attention to the situation.

At first, she didn't really care. Three hours of strength training followed by a 40kg bench press? What's the difference between that and giving up altogether?
Putting everything else aside, it would be impossible to sustain three hours of strength training, unless it's the kind of training where you do one set and rest for half an hour...

If it were a one-minute break per set, she felt Lu Mingfei wouldn't even last half an hour!
But now, an hour has passed... Lu Mingfei is truly exhausted after each set, with a training intensity of one minute of rest between sets!
Of course, this level of training intensity cannot be limited to just one body part. Lu Mingfei alternated between his chest, back, and legs because he was just starting out and couldn't accurately control his posture, so he used fixed equipment for all of them.

Even so, the physical exertion alone was already quite alarming.

Is this the same Lu Mingfei she remembers, with such perseverance?
"I'm so tired, I can't take it anymore, I really can't go on..."

After finishing another set, Lu Mingfei was speechless.

Sweating profusely had become the norm for him. At this moment, his vision was blurred, and fatigue surged like a tide, wave after wave crashing against his mind. His body's instincts urged him to rest immediately.

Every cell seemed to be groaning and calling out: "Rest, it's okay, you'll feel better after a good night's sleep!"
but--

[Warning, electric shock countdown...]

"Phew..." Lu Mingfei forced himself to work on the group again.

Through dedicated fitness training, your [Fitness (Muscle Building)] level has improved, gaining 1 proficiency point.

Lu Mingfei could clearly sense that he was becoming more proficient in using the equipment, his strength was more concentrated, and his posture was becoming more standard... He had experienced this feeling of becoming stronger many times before.

Furthermore, with each increase in proficiency, his internal strength would also increase by one point.

It is precisely because of this enhanced strength that Lu Mingfei has been able to persevere until now.

Otherwise, given his physical condition, after today's five-kilometer run and three-hour basketball game, he would have collapsed from exhaustion long ago after an hour of strength training!

But this time, even with the increased strength brought by this level of proficiency, Lu Mingfei couldn't hold on any longer.

The schedule didn't leave him any room for maneuver. If Lu Mingfei didn't reach exhaustion in each set of weight and number of repetitions, the countdown would start!
This training intensity is just a little more than the strength gained from that slight increase in proficiency.

It was only about the size of a giant's fingernail, but over time, it gradually wore down Lu Mingfei's stamina.

So, by now, Lu Mingfei had finally reached his breaking point.

If we digitize all the game data, we can see that his stamina bar was completely depleted when he completed the last two rounds of this set!

Lu Mingfei stopped. He had to stop. The command from his brain was successfully transmitted to his muscles, but his muscles could no longer exert any strength.

[Warning, electric shock countdown, three...]

The countdown began mercilessly.

"Do not……"

【two】

"Absolutely not..."

【one! 】

"I don't want to get shocked again!!!"

Lu Mingfei screamed inwardly, overwhelmed by immense fear, which drove him to once again command his muscles to exert force!

But where does the power come from?

The power was already within Lu Mingfei's body.

Golden light shone in his lowered eyes!
In the face of near-death fear, the king's command finally transcended the constraints of "power," activating the bloodline power hidden within this body, and boundless power surged forth from nowhere into Lu Mingfei's body!

If Lu Mingfei were to open the data panel at this moment, he would see that his [Fitness] proficiency was soaring at an exponential rate, almost instantly surpassing one hundred, reaching LV1, and rapidly approaching the LV2 proficiency cap of two hundred!

But all of this came to an end with a puzzled "Hmm?"

The owner of the "power," a boy as beautiful as a girl, still had his eyes closed, as if he had just woken up from a beautiful dream, his brows slightly furrowed.

It was... broken through?

He tightened the restrictions.

"Power" once again restricts "strength".

The proficiency data started to decline before reaching the LV2 cap of 200, but the decline stalled when it hit 0.

The fitness level cannot drop from LV1 to LV0!

Two invisible, intangible, and inexplicable rules began to collide, yet neither could overcome the other, like a conflict between two underlying codes... Ultimately, only one result could be produced.

A bug was born.

"Ok?"

The unbelievably handsome boy finally opened his eyes, which shone with burning gold, and his expression showed a rare look of astonishment.

He could no longer control that part of the "force," even though that part of the "force" was extremely small and insignificant...

Lu Mingfei was unaware of all that had happened.

He inexplicably felt a sudden surge of strength within him. At first, this strength was absurdly powerful, giving him the feeling that even a sneeze could destroy everything, but it quickly began to diminish...

"Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap, am I having a final burst of lucidity before death?!" Lu Mingfei's eyes widened.

Then he saw a large pile of floating characters in front of him.

Congratulations! Through hard work, your [Fitness (Muscle Building)] level has been raised to LV1.

You have obtained the attribute "[Stamina Recovery]"!

[Entry: Stamina Recovery]
Effect: Your stamina recovery efficiency is improved.

"What...it's upgraded? How could that be?"

Lu Mingfei looked puzzled. He did feel that his strength had increased a lot, and his previously completely exhausted physical strength had recovered a lot. But... he remembered that his proficiency level had not yet reached 100.

In an hour, it should only have added about thirty points!
"Could it be that I was too tired earlier and miscounted?"

Lu Mingfei pondered for a while, but before he could figure out what was going on, he was urged on by the countdown to the electric shock and put it out of his mind to continue training.

However, this time, the previous weight was already considered "lazy" by the schedule planner.

"Uncle Chen, I want to increase the weight!"

Lu Mingfei shouted loudly, and grinned as he met Su Xiaoqiang's surprised gaze.

"What should I ask for? It's so hard to think of anything..."

(End of this chapter)