Begin Training

"Several of you, go down and see what's going on."

The situation quickly returned to order. Several dark-skinned men stripped off their shirts and jumped into the water.

Many people on the shore and aboard the boat watched, waiting for news.

Unexpectedly, more than two minutes passed, and no one had come back up.

"Why is it taking so long? The water isn't deep."

The person in charge looked worried. Just as he was about to send more people down, the divers surfaced.

One of them treaded water and shouted, "It's fine, it's fine!"

"It's all mud. Maybe someone really did throw in a few bags of lime. They must have burst just now, right?"

The man spoke to himself. The two people beside him looked at him and froze for a moment.

Then they chimed in, shouting, "Yeah! It's fine! It's all mud!"

As they spoke, the three men climbed ashore, their fists clenched tightly as they tacitly walked away.

Their glances at one another were ambiguous, filled with an unspoken understanding.

Of course, the others couldn't tell, but Bai Ge could.

That was because he knew the three men must be clutching gemstones in their hands.

They clearly didn't intend to expose the truth, choosing to quietly make a fortune.

"What are you holding in your hands? Why are you gripping them so tightly?" Bai Ge suddenly called out from the crowd.

Everyone immediately looked toward the three men's hands. Sure enough, they looked as though they were clutching something.

The three men glared fiercely at Bai Ge and shouted, "What's it to you? Where are you from?"

They spoke in the local dialect. Although Bai Ge had learned it as well, he didn't answer and slipped into the crowd.

The person in charge quickly went over and grabbed the three men, forcing their hands open.

"Wang Qian, Li Jin, anyone can tell you're hiding something. Open your hands and let me see!" the person in charge shouted.

The three men frowned. Knowing they couldn't hide it, they simply broke free of the person in charge's grip and opened their palms themselves.

"Fine, take a look! There are treasures in the sea. Whoever finds them gets them!"

After saying that, the man turned and ran.

Everyone saw clearly, and their eyes went wide.

Nestled in their palms were pieces of crystal.

Some were red, some yellow, and some blue.

Rock dust was embedded in them as well. They had clearly been pried out of stones.

"Gemstones!"

The crowd cried out in alarm. Then, one after another, they realized what was happening and jumped into the sea.

Splash after splash rang out as they scrambled to compete.

Seeing this, Bai Ge didn't linger. No one was paying attention to him now, so he quietly left.

High-quality, relatively clear and translucent olivine and spinel were worth quite a lot.

Olivine weighing more than ten carats cost around three thousand yuan per carat. As for spinel, larger pieces could be even more expensive.

Of course, there hadn't been many of these crystals on the seabed just now. The three men had basically taken them all.

Bai Ge merely smiled at this, because those three men had actually lost out by running away.

The things that could truly sell for a high price were the raw stones on the seabed that they couldn't carry away!

A single one could weigh several hundred grams or even several kilograms. Once carefully polished, the gem-quality products obtained from such raw stones would far exceed the few pieces they had taken.

Unfortunately, the raw stones were covered in grime and mixed with large amounts of rock dust and other minerals. They didn't look very impressive on the surface, and ordinary people couldn't recognize their value.

After arriving at a bustling street, Bai Ge didn't hurry back. Instead, he found a place to stay first.

In an ordinary hotel, he took out his phone and checked some of the major recent events.

He had spent more than a month underground, and it was already August.

A pile of missed calls instantly appeared on his phone. Aside from one from his younger sister, all the rest were from Zhuang Ze.

Clearly, the results were out.

Bai Ge didn't care about them. Instead, he found his younger sister's number and called it directly.

"I'm out of credit..."

Bai Ge's phone charges were linked to his internet bill. Whatever needed to be deducted for the month would be deducted, and the internet at home had probably been cut off as well.

He didn't renew the service. Instead, he borrowed the hotel's Wi-Fi and downloaded a hacking tool from his own cloud drive.

Using only his phone, he hacked into the mobile company's data center and transferred his number into the permanently free category.

He also concealed it, making it impossible for ordinary investigations to find the number.

Once this was done, he wouldn't have to pay anything when calling from this number in the future.

International long-distance calls and roaming of any kind were all free as well.

Bai Ge called his younger sister again. At this time, she had already begun her summer vacation.

His younger sister studied in San Francisco, where summer vacation lasted three months.

But even during summer vacation, she wouldn't come back. Instead, she secretly went to work. After three months, she could earn enough to buy a beat-up car locally. If she worked hard during the summer, she would actually earn more than Bai Ge had back then.

So in reality, his younger sister's studies didn't put much pressure on Bai Ge. Rather than saying he supported her, it was more accurate to say that he and his younger sister supported each other.

Back then, he had wanted to leave his younger sister a million yuan purely because he had calculated things to the greatest possible extent. At the time, he thought he was going to die, and his younger sister would be alone afterward, so naturally he wanted to prepare everything for her.

"Brother!" A light, lively voice came through.

"Ah, Xiao Ye, sorry. I kept running into things, and my phone was turned off."

Bai Ge's younger sister was named Bai Ye. Her name wasn't meant to match his in any particular way. It was simply that their mother had died in childbirth when Bai Ye was born, so they had used the character "Ye" from their mother's name, signifying that it represented the entirety of their mother's life.

"I guessed it! It's the same reason as always!" Bai Ye said with a laugh.

Bai Ge smiled. "Have you fallen in love with anyone?"

"Huh? Don't you know already?" Bai Ye suddenly asked in return.

Bai Ge froze and asked in confusion, "Know what?"

"I only like my brother! Why would you even ask?" Bai Ye giggled.

"..."

Hearing his sister laugh, Bai Ge said smugly, "Tch, I thought it was something important. Okay, I know."

"Speaking of which, I should be the one asking you. Have you secretly found me a sister-in-law?" Bai Ye asked with a laugh.

Bai Ge stared silently at his right hand.

Seeing his silence, Bai Ye became anxious. "No way? You really fell in love? Is that why you didn't answer my calls? Is she pregnant?"

Bai Ge said in astonishment, "What have you been imagining?"

"Forget the pregnancy. If she isn't pregnant, dump her quickly!"

Bai Ge said helplessly, "Do you think a right hand can get pregnant?"

After he said that, Bai Ye giggled. "So it's still Mr. Right Hand! Then I won't pursue the matter. After all, it's been ten years since..."

Bai Ge said angrily, "It hasn't been ten years! I told you, it's only been three!"

"You're lying! I saw it with my own eyes when I was in my third year of middle school!" Bai Ye declared confidently.

"What the hell did you see? I told you it's gone! I was only researching it at the time. I never actually did anything!" Bai Ge felt truly wronged.

But Bai Ye merely said, "I don't believe you. Whatever you say is useless! If you fall in love, I'll tell everyone about all the things you did at school and see who would still dare to like you."

Bai Ge gave a bitter laugh. "Don't bring it up. If I stay single my whole life, it'll all be your fault!"

"That's not true! Anyone who truly likes you won't care about my interference. Anyone who does care isn't worthy of liking you! Hmph! At worst, I'll keep you company!" Bai Ye said righteously.

"Yes, yes, yes..."

Bai Ge was too tired to argue. He chatted idly with his sister for a while longer.

Finally, he said, "Your brother has money now. I'll send you some in a moment, so you don't have to work yourself to death. Your visa doesn't allow you to work off campus. You had no choice before, but now you can do something else."

Bai Ye said, "No! Brother, keep your money for yourself. I'm doing fine."

"Use it or not, it's up to you. You can keep it for emergencies. Call me if anything happens. I'll probably go visit you in a while," Bai Ge said.

"You're really coming to see me, Brother? That's great!" Bai Ye was incredibly excited.

"I am. I'll let you know when I arrive. That's all for now."

After hanging up, Bai Ge transferred one hundred thousand yuan to his younger sister. It wasn't wise to give her too much, and one hundred thousand was just right.

Bai Ge really did plan to make a trip to the United States. On the one hand, he wanted to see his younger sister. In the past, he had been reluctant to spend money flying back and forth, but now the money he earned from his online books alone was enough.

On the other hand, he wanted to see the supercomputers in the United States. Bai Ge was still thinking about clean, efficient controlled nuclear fusion technology.

After resting for a day, Bai Ge sold a piece of spinel in Zhoushan.

Even the smallest piece in his dimensional storage weighed more than half a kilogram, so he could only cut it apart before selling it.

He divided the smallest spinel into many smaller pieces and specifically selected a relatively large fragment—a red spinel of about four hundred carats.

This spinel had an exceptionally attractive appearance. Bai Ge entrusted it to a jewelry store for auction. It was expected to sell for more than one hundred million yuan, though that would depend on luck.

With a month remaining before the auction, Bai Ge purchased a membership card at a fitness center and decided to train there every day.

It was a nationwide chain of fitness clubs, with a branch in Xiangfan City as well, so Bai Ge directly purchased the highest-level membership.

The highest-level membership entitled him to a dedicated set of every type of equipment in the entire fitness center.

It also included an independent VIP lounge, nutritional meals, and free massages and coaching.

Based on his physical condition, the coach customized an entire training plan for him.

After looking it over, Bai Ge shook his head repeatedly. "The training plan is too easy. Go ahead and make it stricter."

The coach smiled. "I designed this according to your physical condition. It's extremely scientific."

"I know... Sigh, forget it. I don't need you anymore. You can leave."

The coach panicked when he heard this. "Huh? How will you train without me?"

Bai Ge pointed at the sheet. "I'll train according to your plan... Hmm, multiply it by ten."

"Run twenty kilometers every day, swim fifty laps, jump rope five thousand times..."

"Two hundred frog jumps, two hundred arm-strength exercises, two hundred bent-over rows, six hundred sit-ups, two hundred squats, and one hundred twenty minutes of dodgeball training..."

"And finally... two thousand side-to-side jumps."

After Bai Ge finished, the coach was dumbfounded. He looked over Bai Ge's thin, frail body and couldn't help curling his lips.

"Boss, can you actually do all that? Fitness isn't something you can rush. It's better to take it slowly," the coach said.

"If I can't finish it, I'll do it slowly. I have plenty of time every day, anyway. I'll do it myself. You can go out," Bai Ge said.

The coach was caught between laughter and tears. "You're one of our premium members. I was assigned specifically to you. Even if you don't want my help, I have to stay with you in case something happens."

"Do whatever you want. I'll start with running... By the way, do you have weights?" Bai Ge stepped onto the treadmill.

The coach froze. "What? You're running twenty kilometers, and you still want weights?"

"It's fine. Just get me ten kilograms. Go!"

P.S. This book has no female lead.