Chapter 77: Add Points! Terrifying Power! (33k)

The second floor of the startup park.

Li Bin looked at Chen Yansen across from him and felt an inexplicable, invisible pressure. The other guy was only a freshman, while he himself was already a junior, yet he was as nervous as if facing an elder at home or a department leader.

Hearing Chen Yansen's question, he answered instinctively: "Currently F3. At my shopping frequency, I can level up to F4 within half a year."

Chen Yansen's expression turned odd.

One had to know that Fox Tao F3 users needed to place orders totaling 10,000 yuan, and F4 required over 100,000 yuan.

The guy in front of him, called Li Bin, clearly came from a very well-off family, yet he had come to interview for a price-comparison editor position paying 3,000 yuan a month — it was truly baffling.

"The price-comparison editor position has a low threshold but great potential. The future career path is category operations manager or user experience optimizer. I need someone who can work steadily long-term…"

Chen Yansen sized up Li Bin's outfit and said in a flat tone.

"Sen-ge, as long as you don't fire me, I can work at Fox Tao for a lifetime." Li Bin grinned, hurriedly pledging himself, his face full of a young man's passion and persistence.

A lifetime?

Young people just love to brag!

"Come report in tomorrow. Welcome to Fox Tao."

Chen Yansen stood up, patted Li Bin on the shoulder, and smilingly saw him out of the interview room.

"Next one." Chen Yansen called out to Xu Dan.

The moment he returned to his seat and sat down, he saw a familiar face walk in — the 2010 top campus-card salesman of Xu City Telecom.

Li Hui pushed the glasses on the bridge of his nose and greeted with a smile: "Sen-ge, long time no see."

"I know your abilities. The merchant recruitment position at Fox Tao is different from other e-commerce companies. Ninety percent hustle plus ten percent emotional intelligence, and you have a shot at becoming a top business developer. I hope you can adapt as soon as possible."

Chen Yansen waved his hand, skipping the extra steps, and sent Li Hui an offer on the spot.

At this stage of Fox Tao, even if you tied a dog that could type by the computer, you could still sign merchants — let alone Li Hui, who was sharp, had prior experience as a campus-card agent, had a thin moral compass, and was born to do sales.

The only thing to watch out for was him taking the chance to skim money.

"Thank you, Sen-ge. I'll definitely work hard to make money for you." Li Hui bowed repeatedly in thanks, showing none of that thin-skinned, uptight college-student manner.

He hadn't expected Chen Yansen to be so straightforward—asking nothing and hiring him on the spot.

"That's not quite right, what you said. Making money for me doesn't give you any motivation — you've got to make money for yourself." Chen Yansen said with a faint smile.

The recruitment position paid a base salary of 3,000 yuan a month, plus a 3% commission on gross profit. If monthly performance exceeded 300,000 yuan, the commission rate rose to 4%; over 500,000 yuan, it was 5%.

Li Hui grinned foolishly and went out to find Xu Dan to leave his contact info.

"Relying solely on these college students won't cut it. We still need to poach merchant reps from JD, Yihaodian, and Taobao, or grab some people from the brand side." Chen Yansen sighed lightly, thinking to himself.

Category operations managers at the major platforms each had resources for at least several hundred merchants. Recruit ten of them, run those resources through the mill, and Fox Tao's merchant CRM count could explode by several thousand.

It would massively shorten the development timeline!

Thinking it through, Chen Yansen noted it silently, planning to have Xu Dan register on recruitment websites later and kick off Fox Tao's social hiring.

As for whether they could actually recruit anyone, he wasn't worried at all — as long as the money was right, who wouldn't come?

With the morning interviews done, Chen Yansen called Xu Dan over, gave her a few instructions, then headed toward 0418.

As November's wages were paid out and hit the account, prompts for the increase in the Human Dao Spark kept flashing before his eyes. In just over a dozen breaths, the panel number changed to 18, representing Fox Tao's labor cost of 180,000 yuan last month.

It didn't look like much, but after deducting the part-time wages of 10 customer service reps, the remaining 30-plus people averaged over 5,000 yuan each — not a small sum in 2010's Xu City.

"System! Add points!"

Chen Yansen walked into the living room and, without hesitation, focused his mind on the Physique column.

The moment the words fell, a bone-piercing chill surged in again. A wisp of white qi, like curling light smoke, suddenly drilled into his brow, rapidly merging with his flesh, blood, tendons, and bones, erupting with terrifying energy.

"Gudong — gudong —!"

Blood surged violently into his heart, then flowed out to his limbs and every vessel, a powerful sense of strength flooding his whole body.

Once the changes in his body settled, Chen Yansen took out a tape measure and deliberately measured his height — still one meter eighty-six, no change.

"Damn! Looks like this height is my limit. If I keep adding points and my height keeps growing too, in another two years I'll turn into a freak."

Chen Yansen let out a breath of relief, secretly relieved.

Physique had become 1.67!

By the system's reckoning, the ordinary human limit was 3. So at 1.67 now, just how strong would his strength, reaction, and endurance be?

Thinking of this, Chen Yansen grew curious. Just adding points without knowing the effects wouldn't do. He went downstairs, finished lunch, then headed alone to a gym off campus.

"Student, do you have a membership card?" The young lady at the front desk looked up at Chen Yansen, her eyes lighting up, and asked with a sweet smile.

Men love looking at beauties, and women love looking at handsome guys just the same!

"No." Chen Yansen shook his head.

"No worries, I can give you a one-week trial pass. Try it out for a few days, and if you like it, sign up then." The young lady was very enthusiastic and proactively handed over the card.

"Oh, thanks." Chen Yansen took the card, swiped the access control, and stepped inside.

"Click—!"

The sound of a camera shutter came from behind, especially jarring.

Chen Yansen turned around and saw the young lady at the front desk holding up her phone, smiling awkwardly.

"Handsome guy, I pressed the wrong button — believe it or not?" The young lady gave an embarrassed laugh; the excuse was truly clumsy.

Chen Yansen nodded, didn't pay much attention, and kept walking inside.

His mind was entirely on verifying the changes in his body — where would he find the mood to flirt with girls.

After watching him walk in, the young lady at the front desk hurriedly logged onto QQ and sent the photo she'd just taken to her best friend: "Yaoyao, hurry to the gym! Found a perfect-score hunk!"

Meanwhile.

Chen Yansen walked into the gym and found the equipment all pretty old — three treadmills, six exercise bikes, two bench-press machines, and plenty of barbells and dumbbells.

Probably because it was afternoon, there weren't many people in the gym. One guy in a tank top was doing flyes with dumbbells.

Chen Yansen walked over to the barbell and glanced down at the weight. The 2.2-meter barbell bar weighed 20 kilograms, with 60-kilogram plates on each side, totaling 140 kilograms — nearly the strength limit of an ordinary person.

He bent down, gripped the bar with an over-under hold, and with a light exertion, the barbell was lifted steadily.

"Too light! I can't feel a thing!"

Chen Yansen said in a low voice.

Barbell plates were stacked beside him, and he loaded on two more 20-kilogram plates.

"Lift!"

Chen Yansen gave a low grunt, the muscles on his arms bulging, stretching his shirt taut.

180 kilograms of weight, for him, had a bit of heft, but it wasn't his limit.

A guy doing lateral raises nearby saw him pull up 180 kilograms without the slightest effort, immediately dropped his dumbbells, and crowded over.

He sized Chen Yansen up and down—dress shirt, dress pants, sneakers—playing at business-casual fitness, huh.

No belt, no knee sleeves, no gloves, not even lifting straps.

An 180-kilogram deadlift counts as upper-middle among amateur enthusiasts, and with Chen Yansen doing it un-equipped, that level was even more impressive.

"Bro, your level's legit—why aren't you wearing workout clothes?" Hu Yongfan, bursting with things to say, seeing Chen Yansen about to add counterweight, helped load the plates while asking.

"Uh, I left in a hurry, didn't change." Chen Yansen glanced down—his getup really wasn't appropriate, and looked suspiciously like showing off.

"Add another 40 kilograms?" Hu Yongfan asked tentatively.

Chen Yansen was on the lean side, and with the long-sleeved shirt covering him, he looked tall and thin—pulling 220 kilograms wouldn't be an easy feat.

Chen Yansen said nothing, stepped right up, gripped the bar firmly, and exploded with effort.

On each side hung five 20-kilogram plates; four hundred jin of weight bent the bar itself.

Bend at the waist, stand up! All in one smooth motion!

The veins on Chen Yansen's neck bulged, his shirt-cuff button popped with a *snap*, the thick tendons on his wrists stood out, and in the blink of an eye blood surged upward, his face flushing deep red.

"Get up for me!"

Chen Yansen growled low.

The barbell of over four hundred jin was actually hauled up by him, raw!

Hu Yongfan stared, dumbstruck. The fitness scene in 2010 was nothing like what it'd be a decade-plus later—plenty of people worked out, sure, but mostly for aesthetics. Someone like Chen Yansen who just walked in and started slapping on weight plate after plate was a first for him.

*Clang! *

Chen Yansen dropped the barbell, gasping for air, blood roaring, heart pounding wildly, steam rising from his head.

"Bro! That's badass! You from Xucheng College too? Let's get to know each other—I'm Hu Yongfan, Civil Engineering class of '08." Hu Yongfan beamed, introducing himself enthusiastically.

"Liberal Arts & Communication class of '10, Chen Yansen." Chen Yansen caught his breath and replied softly.

Liberal Arts & Communication?

I thought you were a weightlifter from the Sports Institute!

Hu Yongfan was inwardly shocked, clicked his tongue in awe, and stared at Chen Yansen with burning eyes, looking ready to peel his clothes off and take a look.

Seeing this, Chen Yansen took a step back on his own, thinking: Sure enough, in a gym, if you train well, you attract the guys.

"Shit! Bro, don't get the wrong idea, I'm straight." Hu Yongfan caught his meaning instantly and hurriedly explained.

Better off not explaining!

The moment he explained, Chen Yansen took another step back.

"You adding more weight?" Hu Yongfan shook his head helplessly and asked with a bitter smile.

"Let's give it a try, I've still got some in the tank." Chen Yansen thought for a moment and said.

"You're a beast! I've been at this gym for three years—it's not like no one here can deadlift 220 kilograms, but someone showing up in a suit to do it? That's a first." Hu Yongfan sighed.

A minute later, the barbell weight was bumped to 260 kilograms. That number carries serious weight—even abroad, it'd put you in the professional tier.

Seeing Chen Yansen about to deadlift un-equipped, Hu Yongfan quickly called a halt: "Bro, I brought a belt and knee sleeves, use mine—if you tear a muscle, recovery is a real pain."

Chen Yansen heard that and figured it made sense—he just wanted to see where the 1.67 stat maxed out, not to show off.

He nodded and cheerfully took the gear.

People on treadmills and stationary bikes nearby, hearing the commotion, crowded over too—including the little Miss at the front desk, who this time openly held up her phone from within the crowd and started recording video.

Chen Yansen paid it no mind. With an over-under grip, he took hold of the bar, and under everyone's gaze, exploded upward.

The bar bowed into an arc under more than five hundred jin of weight, the joints groaning and creaking.

As Chen Yansen hauled it upward, the barbell moved inch by inch—past his shins, past his knees—and finally, with a snap of his waist, he wrenched it up.

"Holy shit! This guy looks under 90 kilograms and he can deadlift 260? Absolute animal!"

"One punch from him and I'd shatter!"

"Wearing a suit and deadlifting! I hereby dub him Xucheng College's Number One Show-off!"

The onlookers muttered among themselves.

*Clang! *

Chen Yansen dropped the barbell, gasping in great ragged breaths. Right now his face was flushed crimson—he was clearly at his limit.

This system has something going for it!

It's only 1.67 and he's already this strong—if it were 167, wouldn't he be able to one-punch Superman into oblivion!

Chen Yansen clenched his fist tight—at last, he'd found the meaning of starting over.

(End of chapter)