Training

"If I ever get the chance to meet him, I'd really like to hear what he has to say about the self, life, and all that."

After leaving Fish Head Xu's home, Yang Chu walked to the elevator and pressed the button. His thoughts were still on the host who had appeared on TV.

Since his subconscious had disappeared, leaving him without physical desire and with little in the way of emotions, Yang Chu had grown increasingly interested in things unknown to humanity, or in more metaphysical matters.

He knew nothing about the host's education or character, and didn't care.

Still, when the man said that he would contribute money and effort whenever there was a need, Yang Chu felt that the host might be someone who genuinely cared.

The news also prompted Yang Chu to think a little about his own situation.

He had known from the start that the perverted taxi driver would be discovered and that the police would come looking for him.

But he hadn't had the time to think about it before, and now he had no plans to turn himself in or wait for a court to pass sentence.

He hadn't even figured out his own identity. The ID card he was using belonged to the gangster he had beaten to death in that warehouse.

What Yang Chu was really thinking about was that gangster.

Why had the man kidnapped him? What else had he gotten mixed up in? What had happened to the two gangsters who escaped? Were there other forces involved?

There was simply too little information, and he had no idea where to start looking on his own.

"Given the situation, all I can do is make myself capable of protecting myself as soon as possible, so I'll be better prepared for any crisis that might come."

Yang Chu hadn't inherited this body's memories. He knew nothing about the previous owner's social connections, and had no idea who might recognize him as "Black Fish Zai."

All of that was uncertain. There was only one thing he could do now: make himself capable of facing a crisis.

That was also why Yang Chu had come downstairs tonight.

He had to train himself as quickly as possible.

--

By the time he stepped out of the elevator, night had fallen.

Yang Chu stood in an open space downstairs and stretched his back. Then he started running along the quiet streets.

His destination was Tongzhou Street Park, not far from the residential area where Fish Head Xu lived. He had asked Fish Head Xu about it in the car earlier.

The park had basketball courts, a seven-a-side hard-court soccer field, and a squash center, as well as plenty of exercise equipment, including pull-up bars and parallel bars.

Close to midnight, there weren't many people on Tongzhou Street, apart from the occasional taxi and a few private cars.

It didn't take long for Yang Chu to reach Tongzhou Street Park.

His heart had already been beating faster than usual while he jogged, and his breathing had quickened as well. As he exercised, all the major systems and cycles in his body sped up.

After finishing his run, Yang Chu didn't rest for long. He did pull-ups on the bars, push-ups on the ground, sit-ups on the grass, frog jumps, squats, and sprints.

As soon as he finished one exercise, he moved on to the next, with barely a pause in between.

After last night's workout, Yang Chu's body had changed noticeably.

His strength, flexibility, and physical abilities had all improved significantly. Otherwise, even if he'd been able to perform the stunt for the stand-in that afternoon, he would have struggled to do it well enough to impress even a martial arts stuntman.

Tonight, Yang Chu wanted to raise the intensity of his training, or make it more complex, so he could bring his physical "hardware" up to a satisfactory level as quickly as possible.

At present, his brain consumed an enormous amount of energy from his body.

Without a subconscious to maintain its own functions, his body no longer competed with his brain for energy. His brain had become the key to keeping his whole body running, and now consumed more than half of his total calorie intake.

Meanwhile, an adequate supply of energy and nutrients kept his brain well fueled, further unlocking his memory, logic, thinking, and other abilities. This gave Yang Chu greater control over the many systems within his body.

At first, it had been extremely difficult for him to keep his heart beating and his breathing steady—things the body normally did on its own. From time to time, he would forget to breathe, or even forget to keep his heart beating.

But now, even though very little time had passed, he could already think while performing complex exercises.

With plenty of nutrients and energy, he didn't suffer from the muscle soreness or overtraining that ordinary people experienced after working out. His conscious mind controlled all the major systems in his body, allowing him to metabolize things rapidly. While ordinary people needed days to recover, he needed only a short while.

Naturally, his training was highly effective. His nerve signals traveled faster, and his muscles grew stronger and more resilient as they were repeatedly damaged and repaired. His bones grew stronger with every movement and impact.

Of course, this approach came at a cost. It placed considerable strain on his body and organs.

But after spending the past two days reading and studying, as well as observing his own condition, Yang Chu had come to understand that the human body was far more fragile than people imagined, yet also far stronger than most people realized.

The fragile part was that the human body had countless vulnerable points where an injury could prove fatal.

The bone at the temple was only one to two millimeters thick, with an artery running beneath it; it couldn't withstand a heavy blow. The brain stem at the back of the head was where the subconscious instincts of the human body were generally thought to reside.

The cervical spine, the most vulnerable passage for nerves. The major arteries in the limbs, the heart, the kidneys, the many organs in the soft abdomen, the eyes, the eardrums, the organs in the groin, and even certain nerve junctions.

These were all vulnerable parts of the human body. The slightest mistake could lead to death.

But the human body's strengths were just as incredible.

Take the beating of the heart, for example.

At its peak, the heart could beat 200 times per minute—almost three or four beats a second. That was a truly terrifying level of endurance.

And if you calculated the average heart rate of 70 beats per minute over a lifespan of 70 years, the heart would beat nearly 2.6 billion times. That was an astounding degree of endurance over time.

Each muscle fiber in human muscle tissue could produce about 0.3 micronewtons of force, while each square centimeter of muscle could produce roughly 100 newtons, or about 10 kilograms of force.

Given the structure of the human body, people could theoretically withstand up to 5,000 kilograms.

Most people used less than a third of their body's maximum strength in daily life. The reason for this limit was that using more than a third made them prone to injury.

If a person needed to exceed their current limit, the body's subconscious would prompt them to grow more muscle and increase their maximum strength, rather than simply unleash their full power.

Yang Chu was still nowhere near his limits. In fact, he was still weaker than the average person in terms of physical fitness. But he could exert more strength than others because his motor system was no longer restricted by subconscious instincts, allowing him to use more of the strength he already possessed.

Yang Chu could also feel pain and the other sensations produced by his nerves, but they didn't affect him.

Pain was a protective mechanism. It let people know they had been injured, prompting them to avoid danger or stop the damage from getting worse.

Some people with strong willpower could force themselves to endure intense pain, but that didn't make the reactions disappear. Their muscles would still cramp involuntarily, and they would still sweat.

But Yang Chu could directly control his own nervous system, shutting those sensations out and ignoring them so they had no effect on him.

Yang Chu trained almost nonstop all night, and the changes in his body were even more pronounced than they had been the day before.

He still looked thin, but his figure was gradually growing straighter. The lines of his muscles were becoming clearer across his shoulders, back, waist, and arms. As he stood there, he was beginning to look lean and formidable.

Thanks for all your support! I saw some people asking if I was going to drop the novel. All I can say is that I'm going to win back the trust I lost, one little bit at a time.