Virus Outbreak

Time flew by, and another three days passed.

During those three days, Wu Ming did only three things besides eating and sleeping: he equipped glucose, worked out, and constantly refreshed the news for updates on the outbreak.

He had dug out the boxes of glucose Shen Xinglan left behind that same day. To his delight, he discovered that the Equipment Bar could equip it!

Not just any item qualified for the Equipment Bar.

It had shown no reaction to the high-energy foods he had bought earlier. Who would have thought an ordinary-looking glucose solution would work?

[Equipment Bar 1: Glucose Solution (500 ml)]

[Unique Talent: Body Energy +10 (consumable, becomes permanent after 2 hours)]

The time it took to become permanent made it clear that the glucose solution was inferior to Vitamin B4.

Its effect was not especially miraculous, either. This Body Energy was not the Genetic Energy he had imagined. It was more like fat, a reserve that could fuel the body's survival.

Compared with eating normally, its only advantage was convenience. He could replenish his energy with a thought, saving the time spent eating and digesting food.

After testing it, Wu Ming learned that Body Energy had a storage limit of 100 points, and 10 points could cover roughly a full day of his basic metabolic needs.

In other words, if he equipped enough glucose to fill his reserves, he could go ten days without eating or drinking while keeping his body in peak condition.

Of course, that assumed he did not exercise intensely during that time. Otherwise, he would burn through his stored energy faster.

To Wu Ming, this was an unexpected windfall. He could ensure his body had enough energy to withstand the virus's attack, greatly reducing the risk of Gene Collapse.

"Mom said there are three key factors in resisting the RR Virus: Cell Activity, energy reserves, and physical fitness. I've taken care of the first two. Now I just need to work on my fitness."

Wu Ming mulled this over after testing how Body Energy worked.

Unfortunately, before the RR Virus appeared, building physical strength had never been part of his life plan.

It was not that he avoided exercise. He had simply cared more about staying healthy than becoming strong.

In fact, Wu Ming had always earned full marks on his physical fitness tests. He had a well-proportioned build, neither heavily muscled nor skinny.

Compared with the high school seniors who focused solely on their academic grades, Wu Ming was already in excellent shape.

But he had never undergone professional training, so he certainly could not match dedicated fitness enthusiasts.

He might as well use the time before the virus arrived to train. Any improvement in his fitness would help.

So Wu Ming went to the residential complex's communal gym and began his training plan.

The gym was fairly well equipped, with treadmills, cable machines, dumbbells, and more. Residents could use everything for free.

With guidance from a helpful older man at the gym, Wu Ming quickly learned how to use the equipment and started training according to the man's advice.

Then he discovered, to his surprise, that he seemed to be stronger than he had expected.

To check, he went to the Punch Strength Tester in the corner of the gym, took a deep breath, and threw a punch.

A number appeared on the screen—64 kg!

"So it has gone up." Wu Ming looked pleasantly surprised. He had tested his punch a few days earlier, and it had measured only 53 kilograms.

In just a few days, without any training at all, his punching power had risen by around 10 kilograms!

"Strength doesn't increase for no reason. It must have something to do with the changes in my body these past few days."

Wu Ming considered it. "The most obvious change is that my Cell Activity is four times that of a normal person."

"Could increasing my Cell Activity have done more than make me eat more? Could it have improved my physical fitness too?"

An idea struck him. He had been eating voraciously for days, yet his build had not changed at all. Most likely, his increased Cell Activity had turned all that food into greater physical strength.

As for how that worked... With his Cell Activity elevated, his cells needed more energy. Cells that absorbed more energy could naturally support greater strength.

This strength had not come from exercise. His body had grown stronger on its own.

"Which means my body still has more untapped potential!"

Wu Ming's eyes lit up. "And with intense training, I can turn that potential into strength much faster!"

He immediately set out to test his theory.

After a full day of relentless exercise, Wu Ming stood before the Punch Strength Tester again the next morning.

Bang!

A number quickly appeared on the screen: 75 kg!

Wu Ming drew a sharp breath when he saw it.

His punching power had risen by 11 kilograms in a single day.

"Is this what Cell Activity can really do? Raise the ceiling on my physical strength?"

Until now, he had thought that apart from stabilizing his genes, its main benefit was improving his body's ability to heal.

Clearly, Cell Activity did far more than that.

"That makes sense. Reality isn't a game. Adding a point of strength doesn't just make the muscles in my arms stronger while leaving everything else unchanged."

Understanding dawned in Wu Ming's eyes. "The body is a whole. Even the smallest change affects the rest of it."

The change in his Cell Activity proved that point.

Before this, who would have guessed that increasing Cell Activity could also raise the limits of physical fitness?

"What an unexpected bonus."

A smile spread across Wu Ming's face. He had not expected his fitness to improve dramatically in such a short time, but his increased Cell Activity had given him hope.

With his theory confirmed, Wu Ming threw himself into training.

The intensity of his workouts made even the helpful older man at the gym stare in alarm.

After watching for hours and seeing no sign that Wu Ming would stop, the man could not help warning him, "Young man, training is one thing, but don't wreck your body. Keep this up and you might not be able to get out of bed tomorrow."

"Thanks, but I know what I'm doing." Wu Ming smiled and nodded in thanks, though he did not stop moving.

The man shook his head and sighed. He said nothing more and walked away.

Wu Ming kept training at the same punishing intensity from morning until evening. He did not stop to eat or even take a sip of water.

He had good reason to train this way.

With four times the normal Cell Activity, he recovered far faster than most people. An ordinary person would need at least two or three days to recover from the damage caused by such intense exercise. Wu Ming only needed a night's sleep.

More importantly, he had 100 points of stored Body Energy to fall back on. Whenever he felt his body running low, he drew on those reserves.

It took only two hours for the glucose solution's effect to become permanent. He could easily refill whatever he used during the day that evening, so there was no reason to hold back.

Using his reserves had another advantage: he could deliver that energy directly to the cells throughout his body, skipping every step involved in turning food into energy.

That meant he could replenish his energy even as he spent it, keeping his cells supplied at all times.

Once Wu Ming realized this, he cast aside his concerns and committed to a training regimen that would make anyone else shudder.

Besides, he had another trump card tucked away in the storage room at home.

It was a full suit of metal armor, like the kind Western knights wore. He had bought it online from an armor shop with his New Year's money back in middle school to test the Equipment Bar's rules.

Unfortunately, the armor's talents had not met his expectations. After testing it back then, he had left it to gather dust in the storage room.

Now that he was training, his Equipment Bar was free during the day, so he had dug the armor out again.

[Equipment Bar 1: Steel Armor]

[Talent 1: Bronze Skin, Iron Bones: Skin toughness +100%, bone strength +50%]

[Talent 2: Body Cultivation: Physical cultivation aptitude +50%]

Such intense training damaged more than muscles. It strained the bones, too.

His Cell Activity could repair his muscles quickly, but bones and joints took much longer to heal. The increased bone strength granted by Steel Armor solved that problem.

Stronger bones could withstand more wear and tear, leaving him free to train without that worry.

With Steel Armor's second talent on top of that, every drop of sweat Wu Ming shed in the gym earned him fifty percent more progress than it would anyone else.

How could he not train like mad with talents like these?

So he worked out for over ten hours and did not return home until the gym closed that evening. There, he checked the news while replenishing his energy reserves.

From the day he first tested his punching power, he spent three full days this way.

On the evening of the third day, just before the gym closed, Wu Ming went to the Punch Strength Tester once more and threw a punch.

91 kg!

"The gains are slowing down."

Wu Ming blinked, but he was not surprised.

He had tested himself before leaving the previous night, and the reading had been 84 kg.

A whole day of hard training yesterday had raised it by only 9 kilograms. Today, the gain had fallen to 7.

But that was normal. A punch measuring 91 kilograms already matched that of many experienced fitness enthusiasts. His physical fitness was nearing the peak of what an ordinary person could achieve, and he was beginning to push toward the limits of the human body.

Progress was bound to slow from here.

"Still, it's not bad. I caught up with what takes most people years in just three days."

Wu Ming was more than satisfied. "And my ceiling is higher. My strength gains will slow for a while, but I'll still improve far faster than most people."

"At this rate, my punching power should pass 200 kilograms in a month at most."

"By then, shrugging off a little virus should be a piece of cake, right?"

With that thought, Wu Ming left the gym and went home.

He sat down at his computer, equipped a bag of glucose to replenish his energy reserves, then opened the news homepage out of habit to check the latest developments concerning the RR Virus.

Suddenly, a pinned headline caught his eye. His pupils contracted.

[Tragic News! Magic City Reports Its First RR Virus Infection; Containment Efforts May Face New Challenges]