Muscle Memory, Awakening the Body

"Man, you're seriously incredible! On your very first class, you made Old Liang work on your muscles for that long. That's insane!"

Xie Yucheng was about the same age as Qin Shi, both around sixteen or seventeen.

Compared with the latter's refined, scholarly appearance, the former was tall and lean, dark-skinned, with a messy head of hair.

His whole body brimmed with the vigorous vitality of weeds, and his temperament was more like that of a Worker's Children from Old Factory Street!

"You guys... didn't do this in your first class?"

Qin Shi panted heavily, like a drowning man who had just crawled ashore. His lungs burned, stabbing with waves of pain.

"I didn't offend Old Liang, so why would he train me to death? Muscle Twisting had another name in old martial arts: 'Muscle Twisting and Skinning.'

It meant going through it once was like having your old tendons and skin stripped away, then getting a whole new body... Just thinking about it was terrifying!"

With Qin Shi, who weighed over a hundred jin, on his back, Xie Yucheng strode along as swiftly as if he were flying. His physical condition was clearly outstanding.

It seemed his supplementary classes with Teacher Liang had produced remarkable results in Life Force Development.

"Our first class was simple. We first got familiar with the basic fighting moves, then did weighted frog jumps, rope climbing, and obstacle courses. After five or six days of Physical Training to let our bodies adapt to the intensity, we started Muscle Twisting.

That part was way too torturous! Li Yuan and I only lasted ten minutes. The next day, we were sprawled in bed and couldn't even get up. We never tried it again after that."

Qin Shi froze. He had only paid two hundred yuan in tuition. Shouldn't he have started with the beginner lessons?

Why had he skipped straight to the final stage?

"Man, we're here. Where do you live?"

Xie Yucheng expertly turned into the alleys of the shantytown.

"Just put me down at that convenience store ahead. Thanks."

Having recovered a little strength, Qin Shi struggled down from his back and staggered until he found his footing.

"Aunt Zhou, give me a bottle of Hongbao Soda. Xie, this one's on me. Thanks for the trouble."

The first sentence was for the convenience store owner, while the second was directed at Xie Yucheng.

"From now on, we're basically half-classmates. If anything happens around Ninth High School, just drop my name, Xie Yucheng. I guarantee I'll have your back!"

Xie Yucheng did not decline or put on airs. He casually took the Hongbao Soda, stuck in a straw, and happily drank it.

"Mm."

Qin Shi nodded.

The Worker's Children of Old Factory Street had been hanging around the streets since childhood. Whenever they had time, they liked to spend it in video halls that had been popular during the Old Era.

Perhaps influenced by those gangster films that had now become antiques, they all had a bit of jianghu spirit and loved imitating the swagger of big brothers.

Only after Xie Yucheng ran off did Aunt Zhou, who was watching the convenience store, voice her doubts.

"Xiao Shi, why are you limping around? Why did someone have to carry you back? Did someone bully you?"

Every part of Qin Shi's body hurt. Grimacing in pain, he said,

"I just signed up for a tutoring class. The training was intense. I'll be fine in a couple of days."

Aunt Zhou sighed in relief.

"That's what I thought. What punk would dare act tough and cause trouble on our Baogong Street? I'd give him a proper beating!"

Qin Shi glanced at Aunt Zhou's formidable waistline and the bright red armband on her thick arm.

The words "Market Public Security Management Committee" were prominently printed on it.

He had to admit that her words were highly convincing!

On Old Factory Street, where street vendors were everywhere, Aunt Zhou held no small amount of authority!

His best friend Zhou Ning jokingly called his mother a ministerial-level official, and it was not without reason.

"I can still jump and run, Aunt Zhou. Don't worry."

Qin Shi placed a few yuan in loose change on the counter, then slowly headed home, moving legs that felt like they no longer belonged to him.

"Oh my, you can barely lift your feet. Sit for a while! Your sister's gone out of town again, so just have a meal here with Auntie today!"

Aunt Zhou urged him to stay.

"No, thanks, Aunt Zhou. The youngest is still waiting at home."

Qin Shi supported himself against the wall as he walked. His legs were soft as noodles, making him look like a seasoned veteran who had battled for days at the Red Romance Hair Salon.

The journey was only a few hundred meters, but it took him more than ten minutes to make it through the door.

There was no one inside. His youngest sister, Qin Lan, had gone out.

During the holidays, his little sister occasionally took on odd jobs as a private tutor or cashier to help cover her school living expenses.

Qin Shi collapsed inside the house, exhausted enough that his lips had turned pale. Hugging the kettle, he gulped down water.

New words flickered across his retina—

[The body has received an appropriate amount of exercise...]

[Growth Value +20]

[Basic achievement activated—Muscle Memory]

"This counts as appropriate? I'm practically crippled. Huh... Looks like I didn't suffer for nothing."

Qin Shi was just about to complain when his eyes suddenly lit up.

On the black-framed panel, the gray egg-shaped object had shattered at some point, hatching embryo-like flesh and blood.

The data quietly changed—

[Anchor Point: Qin Shi]

[Growth Stage: Embryo]

[Progress: 0.008%]

[Monuments: 2]

Qin Shi stared intently at the two gray stone tablets resembling small earthen mounds. Text refreshed like a waterfall, flashing into view.

[Muscle Memory: Strength must be watered with sweat. As long as training does not kill you, train as if it will. Your will shall lead you through the encirclement!]

[Trait: Your muscles will remember every movement you have completed and reproduce it with precision.]

[Advancement Path: Complete more than twenty sets of Exhaustion Training every day and consume large amounts of protein. Maintain this over the long term to unlock the corresponding skill.]

"Muscle Memory? I'm going to succeed!"

Qin Shi instantly perked up.

Normally, Muscle Memory required years of cultivation.

Take professional athletes, for example. Only by maintaining their training day and night could they make their bodies accustomed to the rhythm and enter their state at will.

But he seemed able to save that time by unlocking achievements!

"Old Liang wants me to back down in the face of difficulty! What's Muscle Twisting and Skinning? The moment I open my eyes, I train!"

Recalling Teacher Liang's cold attitude, Qin Shi finally understood.

Of course, he knew that this Ninth High School PE teacher had acted entirely out of good intentions.

He did not want Qin Shi to lose sight of the bigger picture and ruin his future.

But after struggling on Old Factory Street for a lifetime, what future was there to speak of?

Would he spend his entire life beneath this gray sky, guarding this crumbling old street filled with chimneys and factory buildings?

"Are the Worker's Children of the Old City District unworthy of admiring the brilliant sea of stars in the Great Universe Era?

Even if I am only dust, I would rather drift through space than fall into the mud and be trampled."

After silently encouraging himself, Qin Shi took a deep breath. The countless thoughts in his heart condensed into two words.

"Start training!"

The room was dim. Qin Shi calmed himself, relaxed, and rested while waiting for his strength to return.

Time passed quietly. Around forty minutes later—

"Muscle Memory, activate!"

Qin Shi pressed his lips together and gritted his teeth, his trembling legs spreading into a horse stance.

He straightened his back, tightened his muscles, and carefully searched for the feeling of Teacher Liang training him.

Inhale, exhale!

As his chest and abdomen rose and fell, the tendons stretched tight like springs twitched lightly beneath his skin, over and over.

"Hiss, this is way too intense! I feel swollen and hot, numb like I'm being electrocuted, as if ten thousand ants are biting me..."

Qin Shi could not help drawing a sharp breath. He desperately summoned the last bit of physical strength he had left, keeping his posture stable and unwarped.

Then he went through Teacher Liang's careful instructions from beginning to end.

A moment later, something unusual arose within his body.

His arms, chest, abdomen, waist, hips, and legs...

Fine streams of heat gathered from all directions, surging like springs.

The blade-like scraping and stabbing of the fascia returned abruptly!

"The semispinalis capitis, levator scapulae, splenius cervicis, trapezius, erector spinae, latissimus dorsi... They all seem to have come alive!"

Qin Shi endured the burning, piercing pain as he familiarized himself with the replicated Muscle Memory.

Gradually, he discovered that between the bones and flesh of his back seemed to lie a great woven membrane.

From both sides of his neck to his waist, hips, and tailbone, thick tendons connected bone to bone and wrapped around bundles of muscle.

They formed a single whole!

Like little mice slowly wriggling, they followed Qin Shi's breathing rhythm, moving upward or downward, driving the tendons and pulling the muscles along!

"It doesn't seem as torturous as before. The longer I stand, the easier it gets! It feels like my body is waking from sleep!"

During his first class, Qin Shi had relied on eight points of life force to endure twenty-seven minutes, surviving Teacher Liang's Muscle Twisting technique, which was practically corporal punishment.

Yet now, a full thirty-four minutes had passed, and he still had strength left.

[You have completed a thoroughly satisfying workout...]

[Growth Value +30]

"Training feels great for a moment. Training forever feels great forever!"

Inside the cramped shack, Qin Shi embraced the subtle transformation taking place in his body with satisfaction.

The stiff, dead heaviness that had accumulated deep within his flesh, like the callused layer of human skin, was gradually worn away.

It filled him with a clear, clean sense of exhilaration!