"Goodness, young master, what took you so long? Your dad's nearly blown up my phone!" In the villa, the woman heard the familiar footsteps from downstairs and hurried down with the phone in hand. She wore an aggrieved expression, but the moment she saw what her son looked like, the phone she had been about to use to call her husband slipped from her hand and clattered to the floor.
"Son, where did you get that haircut?"
The boy across from her awkwardly scratched his head. "Um... Is it that bad? The barber said it was a traditional 'scumbag perm.' He also said that if I still couldn't find a wife with this hairstyle, I might as well stop wasting effort on my hair and start considering plastic surgery or a men's hospital."
"It's fantastic!" The woman immediately clapped her hands and sighed. "He managed to make even that kidney-deficient face of yours look like a normal person's. It's practically supernatural craftsmanship! Give me the shop's address. I'm getting a membership tonight!"
Dog Bro: "..."
With his father constantly urging them on, the mother and son hurried to the agreed location. To Dog Bro's surprise, it wasn't a restaurant or some high-end club. It was actually a fitness center. His heart immediately grew uneasy. Don't tell me we're getting started tonight?
This decisive, no-nonsense style really was worthy of a soldier.
After entering the fitness club, the mother and son were led by the receptionist all the way to the innermost VIP gym. It was prepared for VIP clients who hired personal trainers for one-on-one instruction, with private equipment assigned according to their training needs.
At that moment, a middle-aged man who was practically one giant ball of fat was running for his life on a treadmill. His face was flushed red, and sweat poured off him like rain. Dog Bro glanced at the speed: 2.3 kilometers per hour. He had only been running for seven minutes. The corner of Dog Bro's eye twitched as he thought, How can an old man running at this speed produce this much water in just a few minutes? How does Dad manage it?
Could this be the legendary injected-water meat?
"Shi Yu's here?" When the middle-aged man saw the mother and son arrive, he quickly took the chance to switch off the treadmill and nimbly jumped down. The corner of Dog Bro's eye twitched again. His father's movements at that instant looked nothing like those of a two-hundred-pound fat man. As expected, only when slacking off could fat people display abilities beyond ordinary humans.
"Quick, come greet your Uncle Liu!" Without waiting for the person behind him to speak, the fat man hurriedly introduced him with great enthusiasm.
"Don't use your son as a shield. We agreed on half an hour, and not a single minute less. There are still twenty-three minutes left. You're not allowed to leave until you finish running!"
The fat man's face immediately fell. "Brother Liu, we haven't seen each other in so long. Do you really have to be so serious? At least show me some consideration in front of the kid!"
The square-faced middle-aged man behind him remained solemn and said in a stern voice, "With your body, showing you consideration would really ruin you!"
"Uncle Liu!" Dog Bro stepped forward and greeted him politely.
Only then did the middle-aged man look directly at Dog Bro—the most useless grandson in the mouth of his old superior.
Whenever the old man mentioned him, he always wore a sour expression, saying that this grandson was even worse than his father. He was young, yet looked so weak that he seemed half-dead. Just looking at him made the old man's eyes ache!
But now, the boy didn't look as unbearable as he had imagined. His complexion was a little pale, making him appear to have weak qi and blood, probably due to years of indulging in pleasure or staying up late. Yet he hadn't completely lost the vitality of youth. His eyes in particular were sharp and spirited. He didn't look timid and shrinking like the old superior had described.
Thinking this, he nodded slightly. "Come with me."
The middle-aged man surnamed Liu led the boy inside, then said seriously, "Let's skip the pleasantries. The old man asked me to train you and help you develop some manly spirit. As his grandson, I agree it's necessary. Today, I'll first test your physical condition. Tomorrow, I'll arrange mission training according to your specific circumstances. Don't worry. You're still young. No matter how you train... you won't die!"
Dog Bro: "..."
"Start with two sets of bench presses. Let me see what you can do!"
"Yes, Uncle Liu!"
Dog Bro lay down as instructed and picked up an empty bar. After taking a deep breath, he slowly lifted it...
When Dog Bro's father saw that his son had chosen an empty bar right away, he shook his head and sighed. Earlier, outside, he had seen many girls adding ten kilograms to each side. No wonder Grandpa said this kid had no manly spirit at all.
Uncle Liu, however, didn't see it that way. He looked the boy over in surprise. For someone who had never trained at a gym, choosing an empty bar right away was a wise choice. After all, even an empty bar weighed twenty kilograms. It wasn't easy for most beginners to lift it properly. Many people could barely handle an empty bar the first time they did a bench press, and their arms would often wobble uncontrollably from side to side.
But this boy's form was perfect. His back was pressed tightly against the bench without the slightest gap, and his lower legs were naturally perpendicular to the floor, clearly to avoid arching his back as much as possible. Most importantly, his breathing rhythm while bench-pressing was perfectly coordinated with his body. Anyone experienced in training knew how important breathing coordination was. Someone who had practiced Internal Family Fist would understand even more deeply how significant breathing was to training.
With this kind of breathing rhythm, even an old Internal Family Fist practitioner like himself wouldn't necessarily dare claim he could maintain it at any moment. Perhaps the boy had just happened to get into the right rhythm by chance?
With this thought, he asked, "Can you keep going if I add plates?"
Dog Bro paused, then said uncertainly, "I don't know... I've never tried."
"Then let's try it..." Old Liu didn't give him a chance to refuse. He immediately added a ten-kilogram plate to each side of the bar, then said, "Lift it and see."
A trace of bitterness appeared on Dog Bro's face, but he didn't dare disobey this elder. Uncle Liu might once have been Grandpa's bodyguard, but his status in the family was extremely high. According to his mother, even his most successful uncles had to respectfully call him Brother Liu whenever they saw him.
He took a deep breath and pushed hard. In an instant, he knew he didn't have enough strength. He felt awkward as well. Surely many girls who had trained even a little could lift this weight, right?
He suddenly missed his self in the game. In the game, he was a true man who could carry several tons of bricks!
With insufficient strength, he naturally couldn't maintain his professional form. His body began to arch.
His fat father immediately shouted from the side, "You're arching! You're arching! Quickly straighten your posture!"
"Shut up!" Uncle Liu glared at the fat man who was watching the show, then turned back to Dog Bro. "Keep going!"
Many people who did bench presses believed arching was improper form. Some bodybuilders even exaggerated its side effects. In reality, however, arching was necessary when one needed to break through a strength bottleneck.
When the upper body lacked strength, the human body would instinctively borrow power from the waist and abdomen, causing the body to arch. That wasn't necessarily wrong. As long as the movement was done properly, it could actually help break through one's current strength bottleneck. Otherwise, even with the most perfect form, what use was there if you could only lift a ten-kilogram plate for your entire life?
Sure enough, after borrowing power from his waist and abdomen, Dog Bro managed to barely lift the weight that he had been unable to move before. Old Liu stepped a little closer. Most inexperienced people could injure themselves if they handled a breakthrough in strength improperly, so he prepared to support him at any moment.
But to his surprise, the boy was steadier than he had imagined. Even under the unstable conditions of breaking through his strength, his rhythm remained perfect.
As time passed, Dog Bro gradually became familiar with the weight. His body also began trying to return to normal, no longer borrowing strength from his waist and abdomen. Yet he could still barely push the weight up.
The process was incredibly smooth. Even a professional military trainer like Uncle Liu couldn't find the slightest fault with it. Curious, he asked, "Little Yu, have you trained before?"
Dog Bro froze. To be honest... he really hadn't. Did training in the game count?
When the other party didn't answer, Uncle Liu narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "Get up."
"Oh..." Dog Bro nervously set down the weight and slowly rose from the bench-press machine. His breathing shifted from heavy to light without the slightest discord. A strange glint flashed through Uncle Liu's eyes when he saw this.
"Punch this for me."
"Huh?" Dog Bro stared blankly at the punching-power tester Uncle Liu was pointing at.
"Brother Liu, surely you're joking? That's a professional tester. Anything below eighty kilograms doesn't even register..." His father hurriedly tried to smooth things over. He knew his son well. The boy was so weak he couldn't even tie up a chicken. If he couldn't even light up the display, it would be too embarrassing.
Dog Bro frowned slightly. The way his father acted as though he knew exactly how useless he was made him somewhat uncomfortable. His father had never cared about him while he was out fooling around every day.
At that thought, he remembered the instructor in the game teaching him how to release power. Without thinking, he lowered his waist and set his stance, then deeply adjusted his breathing. Several core muscles gradually tensed from relaxation in rhythm with his breathing, maintaining an astonishing consistency. In an instant, Dog Bro's eyes flew open. A flash of light passed through them, and his aura became razor-sharp.
Bang!!
209 KG!!!
The blazing red number made his father, who had been drinking water behind him, instantly spray water from his nostrils. After choking several times, he said in astonishment, "Damn, the tester must be broken, right?"
Uncle Liu narrowed his eyes to a slit. He didn't doubt the reading at all. Although it sounded absurd that a boy who looked incredibly kidney-deficient could throw a punch with nearly the power of a professional boxer, the rhythm of that punch had been so smooth that he had used his body almost to perfection. Setting aside his physical condition, that punch was absolutely one that only a first-rate boxing master could throw!
"Little Yu, have you practiced martial arts?" Uncle Liu suddenly asked.
"Huh?" Dog Bro stared blankly at the number. When he came back to his senses after hearing Uncle Liu's question, he immediately stammered, "N-no... I haven't!"
He then looked at his fist in disbelief. To be honest, he was even beginning to believe his father's theory. Could the tester really be broken?
After leaving the fitness center and saying goodbye to that family, Old Liu strolled along a relatively quiet avenue. After walking for a long while, he finally took out his phone and called his former superior.
"Hello, Little Liu. How is it? Are you used to living over there?" A vigorous voice came from the other end.
"I'm not quite used to it..." A rare smile appeared on Old Liu's face. "It's too hot and humid. Our Old North City is still the best."
"Haha!" The hearty laughter on the other end rang out. "You're already thinking of slacking off and coming back? What is it? Is that little rascal completely beyond saving?"
"That's not it..." Uncle Liu paused, then lowered his voice. "Old superior, your grandson may not be as simple as he seems..."
"Oh?"