Arrangement

Arrangements

Compared with all the previous bodyweight strength training, these two evening workouts were no easier.

However, Xiang Kun's stamina and energy still recovered remarkably quickly. Whenever he felt tired, all he needed was a two-minute break.

But after the sun rose, he could clearly feel that this recovery ability was rapidly declining. Once he became tired, it took at least seven or eight minutes before he could recover.

And he was certain that this was not accumulated mental or physical fatigue, but directly related to daybreak.

Xiang Kun opened a document and wrote down a sentence:

The conversion of energy within the body may be related to certain nighttime factors—possibly temperature, moonlight, tidal force, changes in air pressure, and so on.

After that, Xiang Kun added the temperature at different times of day and the daily sunrise time to his records.

A little after nine, Xiang Kun left home and headed to the gym.

It was a weekday morning during work hours, so naturally there were hardly any people at the gym. Even the trainers had not come in yet.

Xiang Kun began training alone. Generally speaking, people training for muscle growth and strength would work one or two major muscle groups per day—for example, chest and triceps today, back and shoulders tomorrow, glutes, legs, biceps, forearms, and so on the day after. They would complete a cycle every four or five days, since daily stamina was limited and muscles needed time for supercompensation.

But Xiang Kun was different. His recovery ability far surpassed that of ordinary people. Even though it was weaker during the day than at night, it still allowed him to recover after a brief rest following high-intensity, heavy-weight training, then continue working out.

So Xiang Kun first put every muscle group through strength training close to his limit, then focused on single-arm exercises such as curls for his left arm.

Around noon, Coach Shen, the trainer who had made a bet with Xiang Kun yesterday, arrived at the gym. The moment he saw Xiang Kun, he ran over to greet him.

Clearly, Xiang Kun's performance yesterday had left the trainer thoroughly convinced of his defeat, and deeply impressed.

But Coach Shen did not linger beside him to chat. He had seen yesterday that Xiang Kun preferred training alone and disliked being interrupted by people talking to him.

If he had not been worried that staying at the gym all day would seem too strange and draw attention, Xiang Kun would not even have planned to leave at noon. He would have stayed until the gym closed that evening.

At noon, he contacted the tenant of the apartment he owned. The half-year lease was due to expire this month, so he told the tenant that he intended to take back the apartment to live in himself and would not be renewing the lease. Of course, since it was already the nineteenth, he told the tenant they could find another place and move out anytime before the fifteenth of next month, rent-free.

The tenant had no objections. Apartments around there were not particularly hard to find, and they had actually been looking for a larger place anyway.

Although this would more than double Xiang Kun's monthly housing expenses, over the past few days he had realized that, given his current circumstances, continuing to live in that cramped rental apartment, where he could easily run into other people coming and going, was no longer suitable.

Besides, he did not need to go to work for the time being, so he no longer had to consider commuting time.

Compared to renting, living in his own apartment would also make it easier to ensure that no one discovered his secret.

That evening, Xiang Kun added the girl Chang Bin had introduced him to on WeChat. After greeting her and introducing himself, he asked:

"Do you have any plans tomorrow afternoon?" Tomorrow was Saturday, which was why he asked.

The girl replied, "Probably not. What's up?"

Xiang Kun said, "If you don't mind, how about moving our meeting to tomorrow afternoon?"

If they met in the afternoon, they would not need to eat. They could meet at a coffee shop or some other drink shop instead. If one person ate absolutely nothing during a meal, it would be too strange and could easily affect the other person. Drinks were different. He could take a token sip, or even barely drink anything at all, without drawing much notice.

The girl was quite straightforward. "Sure!"

So Xiang Kun asked which area would be more convenient for her and had her choose a place she knew well.

After the girl sent him the name and location of a café, neither of them continued chatting. Clearly, neither side was particularly eager.

That night, Xiang Kun did not do much training for his eyesight or lung capacity, nor did he do any other bodyweight strength training. He was somewhat worried that, before their appointment the next afternoon, he might suddenly feel the urge to drink blood and then fall into a long sleep. Though he did not actually expect this blind date to lead anywhere, standing her up outright would be far too rude and inconsiderate. It might even drag Chang Bin and Wang Han, who had introduced them, into the matter.

Still, Xiang Kun would not be bored even if he stayed up all night. He found a large number of medical articles and textbooks online, especially ones on hematology and infectious diseases, and began studying them on his own. At the same time, he searched for articles on the basic life sciences. He was not trying to achieve anything through his studies; he simply wanted the relevant knowledge to help him identify the right direction for investigating the source of the X in his body.

After drinking blood twice, not only had his strength and stamina increased greatly, but his memory and thinking speed had also improved considerably. It was easier for him to maintain focus, and his energy was much more abundant.

To finish and basically understand an article of the same length, even when he was feeling alert before, would have taken two or three times longer than it did now. Not to mention that, whether working or studying, he had previously only been able to maintain high intensity for four or five hours at most before needing time to recover and rest. Unlike now, he did not need sleep or even food, his energy recovered quickly, and he could devote himself to one task for a long time.

After one in the morning, Xiang Kun stretched, looked at the night outside, and left his rented apartment.

Instead of going downstairs, he went up to the rooftop.

Other than going up there a few times to air out bedding, Xiang Kun rarely came to the rooftop. This was the first time he had come up so late at night.

To his surprise, there were still people on the rooftop at this hour.

A young couple who were hugging and making out by the edge of the roof were startled when Xiang Kun pushed open the door and came up. But by the light from the corridor inside, they recognized him and did not panic. They merely nodded to him in greeting.

Xiang Kun recognized them too. They were a young couple living downstairs from him, apparently recent college graduates.

After nodding back, Xiang Kun tactfully did not go over and play third wheel. Instead, he went to the other side of the rooftop, leaned against the railing at the edge, and gazed into the distance, looking as though he had come up for some air.

He had long felt that after the sun set, his physical condition became better than it was during the day, but he had never figured out why.