[Dragon Tiger Leopard]

Dragon Tiger Leopard Boxing Gym.

Chen Chong stood still, looking up at the brand-new white sign.

Turning into the alleyway beside it, Chen Chong stepped into the cramped entrance and climbed to the second floor, brushing aside the beaded curtain at the doorway, which rattled with a clatter.

Behind the curtain sat a small table with a folding chair, upon which a short, stout man in a military-green overcoat was poking at the charcoal fire beneath the table.

Hearing the noise, the stout man looked up, pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose, and smiled:

"Young man, welcome. Here to learn boxing?"

Chen Chong was somewhat surprised by the slightly scholarly-looking man, but he nodded immediately:

"I saw a flyer earlier saying the first ten to sign up get free tuition, plus room and board."

"What a coincidence, you're the tenth."

The man blinked and pushed a yellow-covered notebook and a fountain pen across the table:

"Register here. What's your name?"

"Chen Chong."

Chen Chong breathed a sigh of relief.

He hadn't expected there to still be a spot open after several days; his luck was good.

If he hadn't landed a free apprenticeship, he would have had to find a way to scrape together some money first.

He registered his basic information in the notebook, but seeing fields for his parents' names and occupations, he asked:

"Do I have to fill in my parents' details too?"

"Of course. We are a legitimate boxing gym, and everything complies with the regulations of the Lichuan City administrative departments."

The man picked up a pair of fire tongs and tapped a business license hanging on the wall, leaving two streaks of black ash on it.

"Our boss has a grand blueprint; he wants to keep developing in Lichuan and open more branches, so he doesn't want to recruit any riffraff. You first batch of free students are our calling card. Not only is room and board free, but the instruction will definitely be the most attentive. Naturally, we need to know a bit more about you."

Chen Chong nodded slightly, feeling a bit more at ease.

Compared to most of the shady boxing gyms on the market, this was clearly what he wanted.

However, he still kept his guard up and wrote down his biological parents' names in the required columns.

As for the phone number, he left it blank.

In this day and age, let alone mobile phones, not every household even had a landline; pagers were still the mainstream form of mobile communication, so leaving it blank was nothing unusual.

Watching Chen Chong finish registering, the man nodded with satisfaction:

"Very good, Little Chen. From now on, you are an official apprentice of our Dragon Tiger Leopard Boxing Gym. Oh, I haven't told you my name yet; you can call me Brother Leopard."

"Hello, Brother Leopard."

Chen Chong gave Brother Leopard's round figure a subtle glance and hesitated:

"Is that it? I'm in? No tests or anything?"

With a free spot and the promise of room and board, he had assumed there would be some basic requirements.

Brother Leopard laughed:

"Of course there are! Come."

Brother Leopard led Chen Chong around a partition to a large training room.

The entire second floor had been opened up; Chen Chong remembered it used to be an art examination training center, and this was the former dance studio.

But that institution had gone bust quickly, and the space had sat vacant for a long time before being rented out to the Dragon Tiger Leopard Boxing Gym.

Several students were punching sandbags or sparring under the guidance of a coach, their shouts echoing constantly.

Chen Chong watched for a few moments before following Brother Leopard to a corner, where he raised an eyebrow at a punching machine that looked just like the ones in an arcade.

Brother Leopard noticed his reaction, rubbed his head, and laughed:

"We just opened, so the equipment isn't all here yet; just make do with this for now. Once we get on the right track, we'll have more professional equipment. After all, our plans are very ambitious. Come on, throw a punch and test your strength."

Chen Chong roughly understood why the free room and board hadn't attracted enough people after several days.

However, he didn't mind. He planted his feet, aimed at the punching machine, and drew his arm back.

BANG!

He smashed his fist into the target, which wobbled back and forth, emitting a creaking sound.

The display screen showed the number: "41kg".

Brother Leopard curled his lip in a way that was barely noticeable.

But the corners of Chen Chong's mouth curled up slowly, uncontrollably.

It wasn't an illusion.

His strength increasing after lunch along with the number before his eyes—it wasn't an illusion!

Looking at the "17%" in front of him, he felt far more excited inside than he showed on his face.

Chen Chong's deskmate at school was named He Bufan, a "martial arts practitioner" who often practiced boxing outside of school.

The two had been deskmates for two and a half years, during which Chen Chong had let him copy homework for the entire duration, so they had a very good relationship.

He Bufan also had boxing equipment at home; Chen Chong had played with it when he visited, and each time his punching force hovered around 30-35kg.

Being only eighteen years old with a thin, underdeveloped physique, Chen Chong's punching force was weaker than the average adult.

But this time, even excluding any margin of error, he had indeed increased his strength by roughly twenty percent.

All from a single lunch, in less than two hours.

Twenty percent more strength.

The price was that his stomach felt completely empty, as if he hadn't eaten at all.

So, is this a digestive ability, a conversion ability, or something else?

My transmigration is related to that jade, and Pao Xiao shares the same origin as Taotie, so this ability must be related to eating. As long as I keep eating, can I keep getting stronger? What kind of changes will occur when I reach 100%?

Chen Chong's thoughts spiraled uncontrollably.

He was only in the initial stages of exploring this birthday gift; the number had reached 17%, but his level of understanding probably didn't even reach 17%.

The only thing he could be certain of was that as long as there was food, his physique could change rapidly.

Furthermore, he had a strong premonition that 100% would not be the end.

It might even just be a starting point, or a node—a node for new changes.

"Not bad, the test is passed."

Brother Leopard's words interrupted Chen Chong's train of thought.

"Come over here. For the first two days, just practice standing stances."

Brother Leopard led Chen Chong to the center of the training room and handed him over to the black-tower-like bald coach before returning to the doorway to warm himself by the fire.

Chen Chong vaguely sensed that Brother Leopard's interest in him had diminished slightly.

"Chen Chong? Have you ever trained before?"

The coach, Yu Feng, whose face was covered in thick flesh, looked Chen Chong up and down.

Chen Chong shook his head.

Coach Yu waved his hand:

"Go to the side and practice the horse stance."

After helping Chen Chong set up a standard horse stance posture, Yu Feng checked his watch and stopped paying attention to him, returning to instruct the other apprentices who appeared to have some foundation.

Chen Chong practiced the horse stance against the wall, and soon his legs began to tremble.

When he was about to collapse, he instinctively grabbed the wall and staggered back to a standing position.

"One minute."

Yu Feng's voice suddenly came from the center of the room; it turned out he had been keeping an eye on Chen Chong with his peripheral vision the entire time.

Shaking his head, the burly, bald coach said:

"Rest for two minutes, then continue standing."

This figure was clearly not satisfactory.

The few apprentices all cast glances at Chen Chong, though they only looked for a moment before burying their heads back into their own training.

Chen Chong, however, felt that one minute was actually quite impressive.

He knew that the version of himself from before today definitely wouldn't have lasted a minute.

With a faint smile on the corners of his lips, Chen Chong rested for a moment before standing by the wall again.

This time, he pulled his hands away and ended the session only when he could no longer hold on and collapsed onto the floor.

Rest, horse stance, collapse, rest... half an afternoon passed.

"Alright. Just falling over is useless. Come watch them practice boxing."

Yu Feng walked over.

Seeing Chen Chong drenched in sweat and panting, he raised an eyebrow.

Chen Chong's legs shook, but he propped himself up on a chair and nodded, saying:

"Understood, Coach Yu."

For the rest of the afternoon, Chen Chong sat on the sidelines, watching people practice boxing and listening to Yu Feng explain the principles of punching.

Straight punches, hooks, jabs, and the secrets of generating force.

Chen Chong could tell that these were all very basic things, and they didn't involve the fancy boxing forms or training methods he had imagined.

However, for someone like him who had never been exposed to this, these were useful, practical insights. He nodded frequently as he listened and watched.

Until dinnertime.

Brother Leopard walked in again, carrying two large bags of lunch boxes.

"Brothers, chow time!"

The apprentices let out a cheer, nimbly unfolding the tables and chairs before helping Brother Leopard unpack the boxed meals, filling several tables.

Bright red spicy stir-fried meat and rice glistening with oil. It wasn't particularly nutritious, but it was certainly rich and greasy, with plenty of salt and flavor.

Chen Chong dragged his weak legs into the mix. Looking at the fragrant, oily food, a profound and unprecedented sense of hunger surged from his gut.

It wasn't just a need for energy after physical exertion; it felt more like an indescribable, primal craving for evolution itself.

"Eat up, don't be shy, I've got you covered! If it's not enough, I'll order more!"

Brother Leopard lit a cigarette and laughed heartily.

"Not enough... can I really order more?"

A voice came from across the table.

Brother Leopard paused, realizing it was Chen Chong who had spoken, and chuckled:

"I said you'd be fed, didn't I? Think I'd let you go hungry? Looks like you've got quite the appetite."

His small eyes quickly sized up Chen Chong's frame, and Brother Leopard sneered:

"You're not big, but you've got a big mouth. Brother Leopard will put it this way: I'll serve you as much as you can eat. Let's see if your stomach is as big as your talk!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than he saw Chen Chong flash a shy smile.