At the Crucial Moment, a Buff

It was the height of summer, and Hangzhou's daytime temperatures could soar to nearly 40°C.

For outdoor exercise, people had to go early in the morning or wait until evening, after the sun had set.

But mountain rides naturally had to start in the morning, so the Headwind Cycling Team had set an especially early departure time.

5:30 a.m.: Gather at the entrance of the Lin'an District Museum.

At exactly 6:00 a.m., all members would depart together. Latecomers would not be waited for.

After seeing the schedule Wang Qiang had sent and his particular emphasis that the captain was strict about such matters, Huang Chong actually gained a favorable impression of the Headwind Cycling Team.

As an amateur cycling team, its members were mostly working people from all walks of life, along with some students. In reality, it was difficult to control every rider's personal habits.

Rules that were too harsh often made it impossible for a team to function.

But Huang Chong could roughly guess that although he had yet to meet the captain named Zhang Yi, the man had once been a professional rider and must have retained some professional habits after retirement.

For example, his strict sense of punctuality.

To Huang Chong, that was not a restriction at all, but something he dearly wanted.

Since he wanted to become a professional rider, being overly lax was never a good thing.

"Having to gather in Lin'an District by 5:30 is indeed pretty early. Luckily, it's summer now. The sky starts getting light after four, before five."

After thinking it over, Huang Chong said to Du Wei, who had his days and nights reversed and was once again sitting in the living room with a game controller, playing games while waiting for his late-night snack.

"Old Du, I have to gather at the entrance of the Lin'an District Museum at 5:30 tomorrow morning.

It's about 50 kilometers from here, and there probably won't be any public transportation that early. Can I borrow your car? I should be back before noon!"

After seeing the information Wang Qiang had sent, Du Wei's first reaction had actually been to go ride the West Zhejiang Sky Road with Huang Chong. But he had not gotten enough rest, his legs were still weak and limp, and the Western Zhejiang Sky Road had long climbs, with its highest point being Prince Peak at over 1,500 meters above sea level.

If he went along, he would definitely fall behind and hold everyone back. He gave up on the idea, pointed at the keyring hanging in the recessed space of the shoe cabinet by the door, and said to Huang Chong, "The car keys are by the shoe cabinet. Use it however you want. The tank's full, and you can come back whenever. I'm going to make another push to clear this game tonight, so I'll probably be sleeping at home all day tomorrow. I won't need the car."

Huang Chong nodded. As expected of his good brother.

But after thinking about it, he still reminded him, "Old Du, tomorrow's Saturday. Don't stay up all night tonight. What if Wu Fang asks you out shopping and you're asleep? Won't she know you stayed up all night gaming?"

Du Wei merely curled his lips in a carefree smile and replied, "No worries, brother. Even if she asks me to go shopping, she won't come during the day. It's blazing hot in summer.

Besides, she's been really busy lately. She doesn't have the time to come looking for me for no reason. She's been working overtime for the past few weeks.

I won't let anything slip in front of her. Just go ride without worrying!"

Seeing that his usually carefree, thoughtless friend was actually so meticulous and thorough when it came to his love life, Huang Chong could not help but feel deep respect.

A man really could not be judged by appearances!

"All right, since you've got everything arranged, I'm going to bed."

With that, Huang Chong returned to his room, set an alarm, and prepared to rest.

But before falling asleep, he pulled up the system panel and made sure to finish the plank task on his bed.

The result was about what he had expected. No matter how hard he gritted his teeth and endured, he could only hold the plank for a minute and a half before his lower abdomen felt as though it were being torn apart, forcing him to collapse onto the bed.

"Fuck, this thing is way too hard!

How do those freaks who can hold a plank for twenty or thirty minutes even train?

Do they have abs made of iron?"

Huang Chong shook his head helplessly. He simply could not imagine it.

Fortunately, the system's task was quite humane. It had not set the requirement at ten minutes, allowing him to complete it successfully.

[Congratulations! You have completed a one-minute plank]

[Reward obtained: 2 points of Basic Optimization Value, Ab Enhancer x1]

Compared to the rewards for obtaining Honor Medals, these basic rewards no longer stirred much feeling in Huang Chong.

Only the appearance of a new support medicine gave him a bit of anticipation.

"An Ab Enhancer... I wonder if drinking this can directly get rid of my belly and give me an eight-pack and an Adonis belt?"

Lying flat on the bed, he patted his already shrinking lower abdomen and downed the newly appeared support potion in one gulp.

Although he had only been losing weight for two days, of the 2.7 kilograms he had already lost, aside from the excess water expelled from his body on the first day, the most noticeable change had undoubtedly been around his lower abdomen.

For men, those who were slightly overweight seemed to gain fat in the belly and face first, while their limbs did not change much.

And once they began losing fat, the face and lower abdomen slimmed down the fastest as well.

But clearly, the potions rewarded by the system did not have the exaggerated, instant effects he had imagined.

He could feel the abdominal muscles beneath his skin becoming increasingly firm.

But the effect on his outward physique was minimal.

Without question, this Ab Enhancer could only strengthen his abdominal muscles. It could not simultaneously burn away the excess fat trapped between his skin and muscles.

But that did not matter to Huang Chong. Having his internal abdominal muscles strengthened first was already a tremendous blessing.

As for the fat causing his body to look overweight, he would soon burn it all away.

By then, whether he wanted an eight-pack or an Adonis belt, they would definitely appear.

However, compared to those effects that needed time to accumulate, what surprised and delighted him was that as his abs grew stronger and his core strength increased, his sprinting explosiveness—previously an enormous weakness—had invisibly risen by another 3 points, reaching 50.

"Getting this many unexpected surprises in a single night... how incredible is that?"

Huang Chong was so excited that he could barely sleep.

He truly had not expected that after riding a hundred kilometers at full strength, he would receive so many system rewards that his entire body had almost undergone earth-shaking changes.

Now that his abs had been strengthened as well, his personal ability had become even stronger.

After all, when Wang Qiang and the other two had described the various crucial functions of core strength before, there was another function they had not mentioned.

Stable core strength could not only improve a rider's sprinting explosiveness, but when facing terrifyingly steep slopes of ten, twenty percent or more, it could also provide enormous help when a rider needed to stand up and pedal out of the saddle.

At the moment, Huang Chong did not have many opportunities to battle others in a finishing sprint, but climbing out of the saddle was right around the corner.

For example, on tomorrow's ride along the West Zhejiang Sky Road, when facing those long, steep climbs at Prince Peak and Horse Roar Ridge, given the current strength of his thighs, it would be utterly impossible for him to ride all the way uphill seated without standing up to pedal.

It was as if the system had given him another beneficial buff at the most critical moment.

"I wonder what the Headwind Cycling Team members' average strength is like?

Forget it. No matter how the others are, all my weaknesses have been optimized to some extent tonight. I can't possibly still be the weakest one!

Let's see whether, during tomorrow's ride, I can go head-to-head with Wang Qiang and the other two!"

Huang Chong did not want to think any further. He forcibly closed his eyes and let himself sink into sleep.