Reborn as a high school freshman with an awakened system, a fat boy transforms into a male god.

Lin Bei stood up from the chair.

I need to lose weight tonight too.

He bent over, placed his hands on the ground, and began to do push-ups.

Then he discovered the cruel truth: for a 210-pound fat man doing push-ups, going down was easy but coming back up was difficult, as if the Earth's gravity had suddenly been increased.

The first one barely managed to stand up. The second one's arms started to tremble. The third one only managed halfway before collapsing back to the ground.

But he didn't give up. He got back up, did two, rested for ten seconds; did two more, rested for ten seconds again. Later he found that resting for ten seconds wasn't enough, so he changed to resting for twenty seconds. Then he found that doing two was too much, so he changed to doing one and resting for thirty seconds.

After finally doing twenty, Lin Bei lay on the ground, panting heavily.

[Twenty push-ups, ten sets, averaging two per set. Do you know what this means? It means your "maximum output per set" is only two. In a game, a mage with an empty mana bar would usually get a "Mage out of mana, retreat" message from teammates. But in reality, you're not even as good as a mage; at least a mage can auto-attack.]

[Also, the host went down in a push-up motion, and came up as if maggots were wriggling.]

Lin Bei: ...

[It is suggested that the host try kneeling push-ups tomorrow. It's better for the knees and also better for self-esteem. After all, a fat person doing push-ups on their knees is at least more dignified than a fat person lying on the ground unable to get up.]

[The title could be: From Kneeling to Standing – A Fat Man's Path to Elevated Dignity.]

Lin Bei rolled over, lying on his back and staring at the ceiling.

He thought to himself: The road to becoming a male god is much longer than losing weight itself. But at least he has taken action.

Although, in the system's view, that movement was similar to the wriggling of maggots.

……

At six o'clock in the morning, before the alarm clock rang, Lin Bei woke up.

He threw back the covers and sat up; the system panel popped up right on time:

[Task progress: 0.9/2.5kg]

[Today's exercise: Not started]

[System Evaluation: Lost 0.9 kg in three days, of which 0.8 kg was water and 0.1 kg was from last night's bowel movement. No fat loss. Increase exercise intensity, otherwise you'll regret it when you weigh yourself in 7 days.]

Lin Bei turned off the control panel expressionlessly, put on his sportswear, and went out.

He walked briskly along the riverbank, a little faster than yesterday. It wasn't the system forcing him; his legs moved faster on their own.

After three days, my muscles seemed to have resigned themselves to their fate. They stopped complaining of pain and fatigue right away and instead cooperated silently, moving forward step by step.

When he reached the third kilometer, his phone vibrated.

Su Wantang's message: "I found the ID number."

Lin Bei stopped, took a couple of breaths, and opened the message. Below was a string of numbers, a full eighteen digits.

He stared at the string of numbers for a few seconds, then replied, "Okay. Leave the rest to me."

He put his phone back in his pocket and kept walking. His steps were lighter than before, not because he wasn't tired anymore, but because a weight had been lifted from his heart. With the ID number, Liu Ping could check. And if he could check, he could find out what kind of person Zhao Yumei really was.

When we reached five kilometers, the system popped up:

Today's exercise: 5.3km brisk walk

[System Evaluation: You've gotten 0.1 kilometers per hour faster. Are you a tortoise? No, even a tortoise is faster than you. But the system won't rush you anymore, because it's discovered that the more it urges you, the slower you get.]

Lin Bei's lips twitched.

[If you keep pulling like this, the host's mouth will change before their weight... becoming crooked. At that point, their appearance will drop from 1 point to 0.5 points, which will be difficult for the system to handle, because the system doesn't have a "0.5 point" level.]

Lin Bei: Didn't you say 1 point was the bottom line?

That's how you put it when you're being polite. If you're not being polite, a zero is perfectly acceptable.

Lin Bei: ...

He turned and walked back.

When he arrived home, Wang Xiulan was already in the kitchen.

When Lin Bei came out of the shower, there were two bowls of porridge on the table, one large and one small. Next to the large bowl was a dish of cucumber salad and a dish of pickles, and next to the small bowl were two food storage containers.

"What did you bring for 502 today?" Lin Bei asked as he sat down.

"Stir-fried celery and dried tofu with shredded pork, stir-fried broccoli, and rice." Wang Xiulan sat down with her bowl in hand. "Celery is high in fiber, so it won't make you fat. Broccoli is the same; it's good for people who are trying to lose weight."

"Mom, why are you always researching weight loss?"

"Since you're running, I have to cooperate in some way, right?" Wang Xiulan took a sip of porridge.

[The host's mother's words can be translated as... "You keep making trouble, and I'll make trouble too. The longer you manage to find a girlfriend, the more years I can keep making trouble." It's recommended that the host not tell their mother that the system said this, because the mother might say, "This system is more successful than you."]

Lin Bei decided to ignore the system and lowered his head to drink his porridge.

He suddenly remembered something, took out his phone from his pocket, and sent Zhao Yumei's name and ID number to his father's phone. Then he added a message: "Dad, please thank Uncle Liu for me. Remember to treat him to a meal another day."

After sending the message, he added another message: "Please ask Uncle Liu to help check this person's marital record and criminal record. The sooner the better."

There was no reply after the message was sent. Lin Bei knew that his dad was either driving or sleeping at this hour and wouldn't reply immediately.

Lin Bei went out and went downstairs.

Downstairs, Su Wantang was already standing at the entrance of the stairwell.

Lin Bei rode the bicycle, and Su Wantang sat behind him.

"Su Wantang," Lin Bei said.

"Um."

How did you find Zhao Yumei's ID number?

"My dad has a notebook in his drawer. He went to Cuiping Garden yesterday and didn't take it with him." Su Wantang's voice was slightly muffled by the wind, but every word was clear. "I looked through it and found it."

"If she really has a problem, your dad won't sell the house so quickly once he finds out," Lin Bei said.

Su Wantang didn't say anything more.

[This conversation is very information-dense. However, the system has to point out that the host's riding skills with a passenger are still quite poor. Although the pothole wasn't large, the system calculated the jolt in the back seat to be approximately 0.5G. If Su Wantang was holding a water glass, a third of the water would have already spilled.]

The system simply finds the contrast between a fat man who can barely ride a bicycle and someone trying to save a girl quite dramatic. It suggests the host include this in a novel, perhaps titled "A Girl is Sitting on the Back of My Bicycle; Her Fate is in My Hands, But I Can't Even Ride It Steadily."

Lin Bei: The book title is too long.

[Then let's call it "Car Sex".]

Lin Bei almost fell off his bicycle.

When I entered the classroom, Zhou Ziheng was already there. He hadn't done any homework or slept today; instead, he was slumped over his desk, pen in hand, scribbling something in a crumpled notebook.

"Writing a novel?" Lin Bei sat down.

Zhou Ziheng raised his head, revealing two obvious dark circles under his eyes.

"Brother Bei, I wrote until 3 a.m. last night." His voice was hoarse, carrying a kind of post-live-night excitement. "Guess what? I wrote three thousand words!"

"Three thousand words?" Lin Bei glanced at him.

"I got really into writing Chapter 3! After the protagonist got the system, he started to lose weight. The system said, 'Host's current weight is 200 pounds, appearance score 1, unbearable to look at.' The protagonist said, 'You're the one who's unbearable to look at.'"

After listening, Lin Bei remained silent for a long time.

[The system finds this dialogue familiar. It seems familiar. Oh, I remember now, it's in the host's mind. Except the host said, "Are you giving me face?", while Zhou Ziheng's protagonist said, "You're the one I can't even bear to look at." The difference is that the host chose to endure, while the protagonist chose to lash out. The system suggests the host learn from the protagonist—if you need to curse, then curse.]

Lin Bei: Are you implying that I should curse you?

[The system isn't hinting, it's explicitly stating it. Come on, try swearing at me, and the system guarantees it won't retaliate. The system will simply record your swearing and set it as an alarm to play every morning at 6 AM sharp. "You're fucking unbearable to look at... you're fucking unbearable to look at... you're fucking unbearable to look at..." The effect will definitely be better than that old-fashioned alarm clock.]

Lin Bei: ...

"The protagonist you wrote," he slowly began, deciding to ignore the system, "also weighs two hundred pounds?"

"Yeah, right. Didn't you say you weigh 200 pounds? I wrote it based on you." Zhou Ziheng said matter-of-factly. "That's called drawing material from life, that's what my dad said. When writing novels, you have to write about things you're familiar with, and what I'm most familiar with is you."

Lin Bei took a deep breath: "Did you get my permission to write about me?"

"I didn't write your name. The protagonist is called Lin Feng, not Lin Bei. Lin Feng and Lin Bei are only one character different, so it's not copyright infringement."

Lin Bei's lips twitched, and he decided not to argue with this illogical genius.

"Okay, keep writing. I'll take a look when you're done."

"Okay!" Zhou Ziheng lowered his head again and continued writing furiously.