Exercise

The appearance of "Yinglong" and "White Marsh" was not good news for foreign countries. The promotional videos looked impressive, but they knew very well how strong their own Mutants actually were.

What was more, the political landscape was the biggest issue. M Country had always upheld an "M Country First" attitude. At critical moments, they would not care whether their allies lived or died.

O Continent's political issues were even more complicated. After all, it consisted of multiple countries, yet the strength of each country's Mutants varied greatly. For example, the strongest, "Bomb Man," was from Y Country, while the second strongest, Thunder God, was from B Lan. In contrast, the Mutants of countries like F Country and D Country were fairly ordinary. This led to subtle shifts in the status of O Continent's nations within the O Alliance.

Not everyone liked those changes.

Because of this, finding powerful Mutants had suddenly become a different kind of arms race. For these developed countries, the best option was naturally to use economic aid, trade concessions, diplomatic coercion, and other methods to snatch powerful Mutants from other countries.

However, White Light had only appeared recently, and there were currently not many Mutants around the world.

Although the appearance of Yinglong and White Marsh had some foreign officials jumping in panic, intelligence agents stationed around the world by those countries had also begun taking action. The global order was quietly shifting at a rapid pace, yet the two people responsible for this upheaval were still at home fighting over the bathroom, completely unaware of how much of a headache they had given other nations' leaders.

Xiao He was quite satisfied with his "debut performance." When he searched online, he found that everyone's reaction to Yinglong had been extremely positive. After all, Yinglong had displayed strength far beyond that of other countries' Mutants. Not only had it greatly boosted national pride, but it had also shut up those foreign politicians.

Before Yinglong appeared, foreign politicians had constantly used social media to mock China in passive-aggressive ways. They laughed at China for having over a billion people yet failing to produce even one decent Mutant. Never mind countries like M Country and O Continent, which had powerful Mutants of their own—even the lapdog countries in A Continent, which could not produce a decent Mutant themselves, had joined in the clamor.

Now, Yinglong's appearance was no different from a vicious slap across those politicians' faces.

And now, those double-standard foreign politicians had begun emphasizing human rights. They started smearing China for treating Mutants as weapons and violating their human rights, while selectively ignoring the fact that they had long used Mutants for military propaganda and similar purposes.

Compared to pride, Xiao He felt more "honor" over the ripples he had caused.

He had never imagined that someone with such a trash Superpower could help his country in this way.

"Your Superpower isn't trash... as long as Wanqing is involved." On the morning after the press conference, Cui Man crossed her arms as they headed to the laboratory. "My guess is that your Superpower is the type that gets stronger against the strong and weaker against the weak."

"You mean it depends on 'Lin Tiannan'?" Xiao He raised a brow. Cui Man nodded. "You couldn't fly during the previous tests, right? But during this battle with Typhoon, you could fly. And the strength and durability you displayed this time were much greater than before. You've even surpassed an LV5 Mutant and reached LV6, perhaps even higher. I think your Superpower can always make you strong enough to defeat Lin Tiannan."

"So if Lin Tiannan gets stronger, he might gain other abilities too?" Ye Wanqing asked curiously.

"I think that's possible." Cui Man nodded. "We'll need to verify that slowly. We can test it when we encounter other Mutants. Before then, you need to train according to our requirements."

"I have a bad feeling about this..." Xiao He muttered. Cui Man explained, "You need to learn combat techniques and use high-intensity exercise to improve your basic physical fitness."

"But," Xiao He thought for a moment before asking, "what if improving my physical fitness weakens my Superpower's effect? Look, doesn't my ability raise me to the level where I can defeat Lin Tiannan? Suppose my combat power is currently 20, and after training it becomes 100. Then when I encounter an enemy with combat power of 200, my Superpower would only raise me to 220. Wouldn't that basically be a discount?"

"Don't make excuses to avoid training." Cui Man pinched his cheek as she scolded him. "Wouldn't it be better if one day you could defeat enemies without relying on Wanqing's Superpower? Besides, maybe your Superpower will become stronger because of it. Maybe it could only raise you to 220 before, but after training, it can raise you to 440. We'll only know after testing it."

Xiao He knew he could not escape this intensive training. He had come here thinking he could just lie back and make money, but...

Sure enough, making money is never easy... Xiao He sighed inwardly, then glanced at Ye Wanqing.

Compared to him, this girl had it much easier. She did not have to do anything—just change her name on a screen...

"Wanqing, you'll also need to learn some hacking skills. At the same time, we'll teach you some self-defense techniques and help strengthen your physical fitness." Cui Man immediately changed Xiao He's mind. "After this morning's press conference, I believe some countries have already started moving. Aside from searching for more Mutants, they'll definitely find ways to target the two of you."

"But we haven't been exposed yet, have we?" Ye Wanqing seemed somewhat reluctant as well.

"It'll be too late to train after you've been exposed." Cui Man nodded. "Your abilities are rather special. Once you make your debut, everyone will definitely watch you closely. Then they'll quickly notice that every enemy you defeat is named Lin Tiannan, and they'll start targeting you. We'll assign people to protect you, but just in case, the two of you need a certain level of self-defense ability even when the other person isn't around. Understand? This is for your own good."

Ye Wanqing nodded, while Xiao He increasingly felt that this money would not be easy to earn.

For the rest of the day, they stayed in the laboratory for intensive training before finally being sent home.

"From now on, this training will take place every other day when there are no missions. Saturdays and Sundays are rest days." Cui Man gave them one final reminder, then waved. "All right, you can go home."

After getting out of the car, Ye Wanqing rubbed her arms and complained, "Their contract never said we'd have to do this kind of training... I ran five kilometers today, did all kinds of yoga, and had to learn women's self-defense. My whole body hurts so much now."

"What do you have to complain about? I ran twenty kilometers in a fifty-kilogram weighted suit." Xiao He protested. "And there was all that muscle-strengthening training too... Sure enough, an annual salary in the tens of millions isn't easy to earn."

"At least your physical fitness is better than an average person's. I can't even reach the passing line in PE..." Ye Wanqing muttered.

The two complained as they returned home, utterly exhausted. It was already six in the evening, and Ye Wanqing did not plan to cook. They each ordered takeout. Xiao He sat in the spare bedroom, eating while watching a drama, when his phone suddenly vibrated.

Xiao He grabbed his phone and glanced at it, and his heart skipped a beat. It was actually a friend request from Huang Ling! She had added him herself!

Xiao He immediately accepted the request. Before he could think of what to say, Huang Ling spoke first. "Pretty impressive. You skipped class for two days straight right after transferring majors. Aren't you worried the professor will give you a zero for participation?"

Xiao He gave an awkward laugh, unable to respond. In truth, Cui Man had already spoken to the school in advance. They did not need to attend classes or pass exams, and would naturally receive their diplomas in the end. That was also part of the contract. Ultimately, their identities as college students were merely tools for hiding who they really were. Of course, it might also sound better for future publicity: their Mutants were also students at prestigious universities.

"Yeah, I had something important to handle. I asked the professor for leave," Xiao He replied after some thought.

"I wanted to let you know that this Saturday and Sunday are our department's fall outing, right? Everyone's going to Beifang Mountain for a camping trip. Will you be going?" Huang Ling asked, then added, "Since you just transferred in, it'd be best to participate in more group activities and get along with everyone."

But Xiao He felt that Huang Ling was hinting that she wanted him to go.

"Of course, I'll go," Xiao He replied decisively.

After all, he had "saved" this fall outing. He had weakened Typhoon, preventing it from affecting their area. That was why Beichang City would have clear weather that Saturday and Sunday. This was practically his celebration party, wasn't it?

Besides, the girl he liked would be going too. Was his love life finally about to take off?

At that thought, the muscle soreness left behind by the day's grueling training instantly vanished.

"I'm done showering. Your turn." Ye Wanqing called from his bedroom door.

That sentence pulled him back to reality. He suddenly realized something: he was someone with a "girlfriend"!

"Yeah, I'll go in a minute..." Xiao He said dejectedly.

Still, Xiao He felt that it should be fine if he developed things with Huang Ling first, right? Maybe by the time their relationship had grown deep enough, his partnership with Ye Wanqing would already have ended?

At that thought, Xiao He's mood brightened again. He went to the bathroom and began showering. But halfway through, the water from the showerhead rapidly turned colder, and before long, it became freezing cold.

"That little brat..." Xiao He gritted his teeth and muttered as he stared at the water heater display. "She used up all the hot water again! How can someone use so much hot water just taking a shower!?"