Chapter 10: If He Really Had the Ability

As for what request, Lu Mingfei couldn't think of any.

Because very soon, after one set, he had no strength left to think about anything else.

It was just that for a brief moment after breaking through and leveling up, he had a bit more stamina, which counted as a breather for Lu Mingfei, but then, the subsequently increased weight pressed him back into a state of exhaustion!

It was true that the current Lu Mingfei possessed the 【Physical Recovery】 trait after 【Fitness】 reached LV1, but this only added to the rate of physical recovery.

That is to say, it allowed him to have more stamina after each rest period between sets.

But the Schedule's judgment was very precise; it wasn't rigid or unchangeable, but would adjust according to Lu Mingfei's physical condition and state of implementation.

If his strength increased, it added weight; if his stamina increased, it added to the number of reps in a set—in any case, it kept every set right at the state where he was just barely exhausted, until it achieved the best exercise effect for his muscles!

If the weight and number of reps were insufficient, that was slacking off, and he wasn't executing the 【Fitness (Muscle Gain)】 plan—electric shock countdown, prepare!

Lu Mingfei feared being tired, feared hardship, but he feared pain even more, and he feared death even more.

Fortunately, after each set, looking at the pop-up 【Through diligent fitness... your Proficiency has increased by 1 point】, Lu Mingfei, having already tasted the sweetness, still had some psychological comfort.

At least it wasn't all torture; there was still some harvest!

Driven by the carrot and stick, Lu Mingfei didn't think too much, nor did he have the energy to daydream; he just blindly did his sets.

Proficiency +1, Proficiency +1...

However, in the eyes of others in the gym, Lu Mingfei's performance was quite terrifying.

Chen Shu, who was responsible for guiding Lu Mingfei, felt this the most deeply.

He had watched with his own eyes as Lu Mingfei went from "butterfly wings flapping" when doing sets with one weight plate, to finishing a full round of chest, back, and leg exercises, and then, upon returning to the Butterfly Machine at the start, adding another weight plate and completing it with standard form instead.

Although the increase wasn't much, just 5KG added... but this was only in a little over an hour!

This was simply unscientific.

The exercise effect for a normal person could never be this obvious, nor come this quickly!

Chen Shu pondered for a long time, watching Lu Mingfei, who was slow but still constantly "getting stronger"... he thought, "What the hell."

"He couldn't have been faking it from the start, could he!"

"To be able to fake it so realistically that even I was fooled?"

Almost the same suspicion surfaced in Su Xiaoqiang's heart.

Immediately following was an instinctive denial.

Who was Lu Mingfei?

A nuisance, the number one loyal simp under Chen Wenwen's skirt, useless at everything except playing StarCraft, a bottom-tier student, hunched and slouching, a skinny monkey, someone who gave up when encountering difficulties...

Having been rivals for nearly three years, just by thinking about it, Su Xiaoqiang could come up with so many labels.

If all of these were faked, then what exactly was Lu Mingfei aiming for?

It couldn't be that he was waiting for an opportunity to "transform into a dragon upon meeting the wind and clouds," and shock everyone, right?

But if it wasn't faked, how could it be explained?

Su Xiaoqiang's mind was in chaos for a moment.

The conflict between inherent impressions and what she saw with her own eyes was inevitably hard to accept for a moment, and what disturbed her mind the most was undoubtedly the slow but steadily increasing weight of Lu Mingfei's sets!

5KG, 15KG, 20...

Three hours later.

"Hah!"

Lu Mingfei exhaled, his arms trembling as he pushed up the 20KG barbell—a standard bar with 10KG weight plates on each side—which wobbled a bit, but finally stayed steady for a moment before he placed it back on the support rack.

He stood up, his whole body as wet as if he had just been fished out of the water, his breathing uneven, his vision even going dark, yet he felt a joy surging through his entire body.

He had done it!

After three full hours of strength training, he had finally returned successfully from hell.

"Awesome!" Chen Shu gave a thumbs up.

He came from a military background and had seen all kinds of tough guys, but someone like Lu Mingfei could also be ranked among them.

Worthy of being the friend personally confirmed by my young master!

"Hmph."

Su Xiaoqiang, who had finished her workout long ago but hadn't left early to pretend the bet didn't exist, crossed her arms, looking very unhappy. "Fine, you're good! Speak, what's your request?"

"Go..."

Lu Mingfei collapsed onto the floor, looking at the warning that popped up before him, wanting to cry but having no tears.

【Warning, the time for the 【Go Home】 plan has arrived, please immediately...】

"Go to Aunt's house."

"What the hell?"

Su Xiaoqiang was stunned; she had prepared herself for Lu Mingfei to make an exorbitant demand, and yet... what kind of nonsensical request was this?

"I wasn't talking to you."

Lu Mingfei waved his hand impatiently; now he just wanted to hurry back to Aunt's house to take a shower and then enter dreamland... no, wait, according to the Schedule he had personally formulated, he still had two hours of Self-study!

What on earth was I thinking at the time, why didn't I leave myself a way out?

"I haven't thought of the request yet, let's talk about it later!"

"Tch, then you can ponder it slowly!" Su Xiaoqiang was so angry at Lu Mingfei's attitude that she stomped her feet and left immediately.

"Sorry for the trouble, Chen Shu." Lu Mingfei barely raised his head, then froze; what was with this auntie-like smile on Chen Shu's face?

"It's only right, it's only right."

Chen Shu laughed happily, not minding Lu Mingfei, who was covered in sweat, and pulled him up.

"Do you want to take a shower and change clothes first? There is an independent Wash and Gargle room here, with all facilities and supplies provided."

"But..." Lu Mingfei was stunned, just about to find an excuse to brush it off, when he saw another line of text pop up before him.

【【【Go Home】 and 【Wash and Gargle】 are in the same scheduled time slot and have not been divided in detail; the order can be swapped. Swap them?】】

Of course I choose "Yes"!

Lu Mingfei was overjoyed; he was feeling terribly uncomfortable being all sticky and wet, so being able to take a bath immediately before going home was naturally even better.

He couldn't help but feel lucky that he had chosen to be lazy when filling out the Schedule Plan and hadn't made overly detailed time breakdowns... Aside from the major deadlines that couldn't be violated, this Schedule Plan was actually quite flexible!

【【Swapped... Warning, the 【Wash and Gargle】 scheduled time has arrived, please execute immediately...

Time has been automatically allocated based on physical fitness and real-time status, countdown ten minutes...】】

"That works, it's a good thing my previous clothes are still in the bag." Lu Mingfei breathed a sigh of relief, just as he was feeling lucky about his wise decision and frugal habits, he heard Chen Shu's words.

"I have already had a full set of new clothes delivered; you can change into them as soon as you finish your bath."

Chen Shu smiled slightly, as if everything were under control, "There is plenty of time this time, the coordination won't be as messy as last time."

Is this a driver or a butler? This is just too thoughtful!

"Chen Shu, what is your monthly salary?" Moved for a moment, Lu Mingfei decided that if he ever had money in the future, he would also find someone like this.

"A base salary of around thirty thousand, and there are bonuses if I do well," Chen Shu said.

"Worth that price!" Lu Mingfei praised, silently dismissing the idea, and went to take a bath honestly.

It was a price Lu Mingfei didn't even dare to imagine—that was the tuition for an entire semester at Shilan Middle School!

How many hours of internet could that pay for?

Lu Mingfei, having changed into the full set of new clothes, sprawled on the comfortable seat, looking out through the car window in a daze.

Because the plan didn't write how to go home, Chen Shu driving him home wouldn't result in an electric shock.

If he had really had a brain cramp and written "night run home," then Lu Mingfei, who was currently in a "drained" state, would really have to consider whether it would be more painless to find a lamppost and crash into it.

It was past ten, but the nightlife had only just begun.

The lights of the entire city were on, the skyline looming in the glow; the high-rises in the business district looked like cages woven from light, while the traffic on the elevated roads looked like fireflies.

Sometimes at night, Lu Mingfei would sneak up to the rooftop of his aunt's building; that was his secret base, where he could overlook the entire city beneath the starry sky.

At that time, he felt like a free, dangerous, and light bird, thinking with a bit of Ah Q spirit that these fireflies were exhausted from running around so late, unlike him.

But now he had also become one of these fireflies, and a Mercedes-Benz one at that, although there was a bit of suspicion of borrowing someone else's power to bully others... but who cares about that!

Sitting in a Mercedes-Benz is really comfortable, and wearing brand-name clothes is also more satisfying than ordinary clothes!

And, the feeling of visibly becoming stronger is also really nice.

He even made the arrogant "Little Heavenly Maiden" owe him a favor!

Lu Mingfei suddenly didn't want to go back to being that free, dangerous, and light bird anymore; although it was easy, it was also lonely, weak, and helpless.

Of course, he didn't really have a choice anyway.

At least for the next month, oh no, to be precise, twenty-nine days and a few more hours... it would be like this.

He sighed gloomily at the flowing light; how did things get to this point? What would happen after a month?

Just as Lu Mingfei was sinking into his usual internal friction, Chen Shu in the driver's seat spoke.

"Young Master Lu, I think your chances are very high, don't worry!"

"What?"

Lu Mingfei was stunned; he had already given up on the idea of correcting Chen Shu's form of address, "What chances are high?"

"I mean, that matter with that pretty female classmate of yours."

Chen Shu winked while driving in his spare time, "As someone who has been there, the chances are not small. As long as you don't make a bad move, you'll secure it steadily; there's no need to sigh at all!"

"No, that's not it!"

Lu Mingfei thought to himself, what is all this; although chatting and gossiping between men is a sign of a relationship developing further, the jump in your topic is too big, and what is going on with Su Xiaoqiang and me!

"What I like is..."

Lu Mingfei stopped abruptly when he said this; now that he was free, he finally remembered what happened today.

Did he, it seems, not only ignore Chen Wenwen, but subsequently rejected the Literature Club activity in public with a terrible excuse?

"What have I done!" Lu Mingfei thought, feeling a bit frantic.

Let alone a girl he only had a crush on and had no relationship with, even if this happened between a couple who had been together for a while, they would probably quit and have a cold war for dozens of days!

What to do, what to do? Should he apologize on QQ immediately? But he didn't have a phone at all! Once he got home, he would have to do Self-study again; there was no way he would have time to get on a computer...

Unable to think of a solution, Lu Mingfei soon habitually chose to lie flat due to exhaustion.

He felt that he probably had no chance left; if he had a tiny bit of a chance before as one of the only two people personally invited by Chen Wenwen to join the Literature Club, then now it was infinitely close to zero...

And soon he wouldn't have time to dwell on this matter either.

Because, as he approached his aunt's residential compound, he saw his aunt's family walking on the side of the road, heading home—his uncle, his aunt, and his cousin Lu Mingze.

His uncle and aunt were saying something, and his aunt's mood seemed a bit agitated.

However, his aunt being agitated wasn't a one-time thing; this was part of the "daily routine" rather than a special situation.

Lu Mingfei subconsciously pressed the window button, and just as he was about to say hello, the voice that squeezed in through the crack of the window made him freeze.

"Why didn't you tell Mingfei?"

His uncle frowned as he spoke, "The whole family going out to eat without bringing Mingfei... it's not very good."

"What do you mean, that I'm pushing him out?" His aunt was as usual, like a stick of dynamite, ready to explode at the slightest touch.

"Why don't you ask him what he did this morning? He got up before dawn and went crazy, like he was possessed; Lu Mingze was so scared he wet his pants!"

"Mom..." His cousin Lu Mingze immediately blushed; it wouldn't sound good if the story of a sixteen-year-old boy being scared into wetting his pants spread!

"You're useless too, shut up!"

His aunt scolded him unceremoniously; currently in a rage, she was in indiscriminate attack mode, but she still turned her spearhead toward his uncle.

"That's one thing, but I asked him what he was doing, and guess what he said? He just said 'fuck' and walked away, walked away! He has absolutely no respect for his elders, his wings have hardened! If we don't discipline him now, what will become of him?"

"Don't go on about that, maybe he had something going on?"

Uncle frowned; if he were at home, he would have just backed down, but out in public, he still had to bolster his courage and maintain his dignity as a man, so he lowered his voice and said.

"Then what about the times we went out to eat before and didn't bring him?"

"Oh, so that's how it is, you're digging up old accounts now? Fine, you Lu family members are all of one mind; you, the uncle, feel bad for your nephew, and you've teamed up to bully me, an outsider!"

Aunt didn't take the bait at all, directly shifting the topic and escalating it in the process.

"So you mean I'm bullying him? How have I bullied him? I provide his food and board, do I have to treat him like a father now? What's wrong with not inviting him to dinner?"

"That's all money his mom and dad gave!" Being denied face like this in public, Uncle got angry too.

"Yes, yes, yes! It's all money his mom and dad gave, so why doesn't he just go find a nanny then? Am I just fated to be a nanny? God damn it..." Aunt simply started crying and making a scene.

"Why don't you mention that he's the one who's useless? His parents give him so much money, and his grades are still at the bottom of the barrel? Can his grades compare to Lu Mingze's? Do you know what rank he got on his final exams? Dead last!

Are you going to ask me why I signed Lu Mingze up for tutoring classes and not him? Why don't you ask if he's even worth it? It's a complete waste of money!

And he's got the nerve to say his wings have hardened and he dares to talk back to his elders? If he actually had any real ability, that would be one thing..."

Lu Mingfei was expressionless.

Actually, he knew many things in his heart, but... for a child whose own parents didn't care about him, what did it matter if his relatives didn't like him?

Just drifting through the days, that was all.

His frame hunched slightly, his neck retracted, wanting to hug himself.

But the car window slammed shut, and the Mercedes-Benz, which had always seemed gentle and silent, suddenly let out a roar like a wild beast, surged forward, and with a sharp brake, stopped abruptly right beside the aunt's family!

The sudden turn of events left the aunt's family speechless.

They had never seen anyone drive like that; when that car rushed over, it was as fierce as a pouncing tiger, and the sharp wind brushed right past them!

Chen Shu nodded at the equally astonished Lu Mingfei, stepped out of the car, and with the most standard etiquette, opened the car door to welcome him.

"Young Master Lu, please step out of the car."

(End of chapter)