Depression, Muscle Armor

Yan Anqing did not answer. He merely looked at Ma Ran in silence.

He had encountered this kind of situation many times before.

At a time like this, what the other person needed was someone to listen, not advice.

"It hurts too much."

Ma Ran sighed and took a schedule book from his pocket.

He stared blankly at the little notebook, his expression hollow and his tone almost devoid of humanity, as though he were telling someone else's story. "I really can't endure it any longer."

"I know I'm weak. I can't even do half of what Yu Hongyi can, but I've already done my best."

"Do you know? When I was eating in the cafeteria just now, holding my chopsticks, I actually thought about stabbing them into my own eyes..."

Ma Ran's words sounded like the ravings of a madman.

Fragmented, illogical, and barely coherent, he said whatever came to mind.

After venting for around ten minutes, Ma Ran was finally tired.

He stopped speaking and even closed his eyes, looking as though he were conserving his strength.

Yan Anqing sighed and said gently, "You've already done very well. Much better than I expected."

"Besides, after this extreme training, the strength of your mental willpower will improve considerably."

"But your current condition needs to be taken seriously."

"You're already showing signs of neurasthenia and have severe depressive tendencies."

As soon as he finished speaking, the image on Yan Anqing's laptop screen suddenly changed.

Academician Li Yanhuang appeared on the display.

Old Li snorted coldly from within the screen, apparently disapproving of Yan Anqing's assessment.

His brilliant golden eyes were filled with stern disappointment. "Only weaklings get depression."

Ma Ran opened his eyes.

The gazes of the two Golden-Eyed Ones met through the screen.

He seemed to want to say something, but when the words reached his lips, he merely sighed faintly. "You're right. I really am a weakling."

There was nothing he could do about disappointment.

Iron was iron. Unless it was melted down, reforged, smelted, and had its carbon content and structure changed, it would never become steel.

That was an inherent trait.

Hearing their exchange, the veins on Yan Anqing's forehead bulged as though he were struggling to suppress his anger.

He glared fiercely at Academician Li on the screen, forcing the words out through clenched teeth. "Ha! So you finally admit that depression is an illness now?"

The moment those words were spoken, Old Li's face darkened. His brows furrowed tightly, and the muscles in his face twitched slightly.

Academician Li Yanhuang was the father of Li Wan, Yan Anqing's first love.

Back when Li Wan had been diagnosed with depression, Li Yanhuang and Yan Anqing had argued themselves red in the face over the matter.

Acting like a strict old father, the former had insisted that his daughter had simply been spoiled too much and was not sick at all. She was merely being pretentious, using it as an excuse to avoid studying and working.

Thus, Academician Li had strictly forbidden Li Wan from taking antidepressants. He had even used his connections to prevent her from buying treatments such as Paroxetine, sertraline, and Citalopram.

He stubbornly believed that all medicine was poisonous to some extent.

She clearly was not ill. She was merely weak-willed, hypnotizing and brainwashing herself into believing she was weak, yet she wanted to take medicine long-term...

If this continued, it would only harm his daughter's body.

Li Yanhuang believed he had done the right thing.

"It's all psychological," was something he often said.

Later...

At dawn one day, the first faint rays of morning sunlight fell across Yan Anqing's face.

He woke up and found that Li Wan beside him had already gone cold.

It was confirmed to be suicide. There was no conspiracy involved.

After going through that, the emotional changes and inner turmoil Yan Anqing experienced were truly difficult to explain to outsiders.

At Li Wan's funeral, the father-in-law blamed the son-in-law for failing to take care of his daughter.

The son-in-law, meanwhile, believed the father-in-law had killed his beloved.

Yan Anqing and Li Yanhuang could barely stand the sight of each other.

If they had not ended up working in the same place by chance, neither of them would ever have wanted to see the other again.

The moment the words left his mouth, Yan Anqing realized he had lost his composure.

He took two deep breaths, barely calming himself before saying expressionlessly, "Academician Li, you may observe my experiment. But please do not make random remarks."

Ma Ran, who had originally been at the center of the conversation, had suddenly become a spectator.

He vaguely sensed that there was some history between the two, but it was not his place to interrupt. So he watched his nose, contemplated his heart, and treated himself like air.

"Hmph..."

Academician Li Yanhuang snorted and cut the connection.

Yan Anqing gathered his emotions and turned his gaze toward Ma Ran.

"You gave me inspiration."

"The next new project will be called..."

"'Strongman Cultivation Plan.'"

Listening to Yan Anqing, Ma Ran vaguely felt that something was wrong.

The old him would probably either have been thrilled beyond measure or terrified of the unknown future.

But now, he merely nodded weakly, indicating that he was willing to cooperate.

America, California.

Mr. Olympia Gym.

Jack Grimm was pumping iron like usual.

His ten abdominal muscles were as hard as steel, his pectorals like two shields, and his lats, trapezius, biceps, and triceps were all developed with smooth, defined lines.

His muscle groups resembled the defensive components of a mech's outer armor. As sweat slid down them under the lights, they gleamed with the luster and texture of marble.

This was absolutely not a level that a normal human could achieve through training.

Jack Grimm's muscles were practically like a suit of armored plating. Just looking at him from afar made one feel a violent impact rushing straight at them.

Dozens of fitness enthusiasts, men and women alike, had gathered around him.

"...He's incredible! As expected of Jack, one of the Twelve Saints!"

"He can't even be called human anymore, right? He's practically a superhuman!"

"God... You can't train muscles like that! Even if I overdosed on hormones, went insane with cycles, spent ten hours a day in the gym, and kept it up for another decade or two, I still couldn't develop myself to that level!"

"Schwarzenegger, Jason Statham, and Dwayne Johnson would be like little brothers in front of this guy!"

"Is this the legendary 'perfect demon back'? I always thought it only existed in comics..."

"I heard Saint Christian's testosterone levels are already fifteen times higher than those of normal men! Plenty of fitness creators on YouTube treat Durabolin, Winstrol, Parabolan, and Primobolan like saline or glucose injections, yet they still can't reach that level. Looking at Jack's muscle definition, he seems even more outrageous than Christian. Just how high are his male hormone levels?"

Jack Grimm's lips curled dramatically upward, a proud smile appearing on his face as arrogant light gleamed in his golden eyes.

As a YouTube bodybuilding video creator, he had maintained his fitness routine for a full ten years and entered countless bodybuilding competitions, large and small. Yet his best result had only ever been third place in a state-level competition!

Bodybuilding was like esports.

No one remembered second or third place. Other than the champion who claimed the crown, everyone else was a LOSER, seen as a weakling who could be crushed with ease!

But all of that had changed after the Crimson Moon Incident!

Jack discovered that the size of his muscles had suddenly exploded. Their lines were distinct and smooth, their separation so pronounced that it looked as though he had undergone surgery.

If he entered Mr. Olympia in this condition, no one would be able to confront him head-on!

Unfortunately, Mr. Olympia had only just ended, and there were no world-class bodybuilding competitions in the near future...

At first, Jack Grimm had worried that this transformation was only temporary, that these perfect muscles would gradually atrophy as time passed.

So he frantically filmed more than a hundred fitness videos and uploaded them to YouTube.

But more than two months had passed, and the muscles on his body showed almost no signs of deterioration.

"Ha!"

Jack abruptly tossed aside his dumbbells and struck a series of bodybuilding poses.

He bared his teeth in a vicious grin and made a bizarre OK gesture. "This is the true power of white people!"

The moment he said it, the atmosphere instantly became feverish.

No one noticed that the smile on the face of the white guy standing closest to Jack Grimm vanished at once, as though someone had slapped him across the face at the height of his excitement.

His eyes gradually filled with fury and venom...

Original stories really were much more satisfying to write!

Writing the last fanfic felt like dancing in shackles. I simply couldn't let loose at all...

I hope this one does well and goes on for a long, long time!

Let's work hard together!

I'll seriously write every day and do my best to keep updating!

Could you give me your daily recommendation votes?