Chapter 2095

When pulling 200 kilograms, Bruce felt nothing and completed a knee-bending deadlift with a very standard posture.

At 250 kilograms, Bruce felt something was wrong. Why was it so easy this time?

And when the big guy next to him hung a 300-kilogram barbell plate for him, Bruce was stuck in a dilemma. He couldn't say that he had never succeeded in pulling 300 kilograms, right?

So he decided that even if it didn't work, he had to give it a try. If he lost face, so be it; anyway, it wasn't the first or second time.

Thinking this way, Bruce gripped the bar, straightened his back, and tightened his core. At the moment of exerting force, the barbell easily left the ground.

Bruce widened his eyes slightly and looked down in disbelief. He even had time to hesitate for two seconds before completing the standard deadlift movement.

"Ha, look at this kid, he's showing off his muscles to us." The big guy next to him smiled and said: "Looks like we have to increase the difficulty for him."

The barbell plates were directly increased to 350 kilograms. Bruce hesitated a bit when gripping the bar. This weight had far exceeded his deadlift limit, and he didn't want to have a cerebral vascular rupture on the spot and be sent away.

He decided to try his best. If he felt it really exceeded the limit, he would just give up. Anyway, it was already quite good for his body weight to be able to pull 300 kilograms. Everyone else was at this level, so he wouldn't be mocked.

Tightening his core again, his whole body's muscles surged. Before Bruce could react, the barbell left the ground again—another perfect knee-bending deadlift movement.

Cheers immediately erupted around him, and the big guy who had deadlifted 320 kilograms before was a bit unconvinced. He walked up and waved his hand at Bruce, meaning he also wanted to try 350 kilograms.

Unsurprisingly, 350 kilograms were also pulled up, but it was obvious that his veins were popping and his face was red; it looked like he had reached his limit.

Everyone wanted to watch the spectacle. The big guy in charge of the barbell plates added another 30 kilograms. Now the weight of the barbell had reached a terrifying 380 kilograms. This was already a weight that could appear in weightlifting competitions. For amateur athletes, just looking at those thick barbell plates made people feel fear.

But at this moment, another big guy walked out of the crowd. This guy wasn't in the same weight class as everyone before. He was nearly two meters tall, and his height and width were about the same. If he changed his clothes, he would be the kind of bear-man often seen in strongman competitions.

As soon as this guy walked up, he easily pulled up 380 kilograms, and even pulled two.

Bruce sighed in his heart: I'm only 170 pounds, what right do I have to compete on the same stage with all these masters?

He saw the strongest big guy wave his hand at the side, and soon the barbell was increased to 400 kilograms. Bruce had a headache just looking at that thick stack of barbell plates.

The second person to come up challenged first. Bruce saw his whole body turn red like a steamed shrimp. He used all his strength to pull up, and the barbell left the ground slightly. Obviously, he failed.

The strongest strongman went up again—a standard deadlift. Then it was Bruce's turn. A series of boos came from below.

But this wasn't aimed at Bruce; it was mainly because the competition was too unfair. The weight classes of the two were not just a little bit different. Letting Bruce's body type deadlift 400 kilograms was a bit too anti-human. Why didn't you let an ant lift an elephant?

Bruce didn't care. Basically, since he became sensible, nothing he did was completely successful. Anyway, it was either completely failed or partially failed. He was already very used to failure.

Bruce thought about just going through the motions. So he still gripped the bar according to the previous standard posture. At the first moment of exerting force, he only had one thought: why is this thing so light?

Bruce reacted a little slowly. He pulled the barbell up directly. There was silence all around. The reason there were no cheers was because everyone was stunned.

Most people's visual estimation of body weight was relatively accurate. 170 pounds deadlifting 900 pounds—that was five times his own body weight. You have this ability and are hiding here as a small test-drug worker; why don't you go win a world championship?

Bruce realized something was wrong even if he was slow. So in the next duel, he decisively stated that he really couldn't pull it anymore.

The onlookers were relatively understanding. Maybe Bruce just "exploded" just now, and breaking through one's own physical limits often comes at a price. It was normal not to be able to pull anymore later.

But the big guy who duelled with him seemed a bit dissatisfied. Bruce could tell that this guy was probably a professional and could observe that he hadn't used his full strength just now.

What exactly was going on? Bruce himself was also very strange. Does changing universes have the effect of increasing strength?

Suddenly, Bruce reacted. Actually, he wasn't the only one who was abnormal. Several people who deadlifted before showed strength that clearly didn't match their fitness level. Some people couldn't even keep their backs straight when deadlifting, and their cores couldn't tighten, yet they could still pull up professional-level weights. Wasn't this even stranger?

Combined with Bruce's previous guess, this might be the change brought about by the poisoning by the mastermind behind the scenes. Although he hadn't been here long, he had also drunk tap water to save money. Could it be that this mysterious toxin also had an impact on him?

Then he went to do the evasion reaction ability test. This was a method commonly used in the military to comprehensively test a person's reaction ability.

The test method was that there were three laser emitters in front, which would flash at different frequencies. The subject stood in the middle, extending two arms to block the lasers on the left and right sides.

The subject needed to block the lasers that remained on after flashing at the fastest speed, using arms to block the left and right sides, standing still in the middle, and not allowed to move during the period.

After Bruce went up, the laser immediately started flashing. He could vaguely see some people manipulating equipment standing opposite.

Bruce was distracted when suddenly a thought flashed through his mind. He instinctively raised his right arm, and the red laser dot hit his palm with a *swish*.

"Please do not guess and raise your arm in advance, sir." A prompt came from the broadcast, "This item tests reaction ability, not luck."

Bruce also felt that maybe he was distracted just now, and his brain must have been short-circuited to want to raise his arm in advance. So this time, he focused his attention on the three machines in front, preparing to intercept the laser the moment the flashing stopped.

As a result, for some reason, the second before the flashing stopped, Bruce took a step to the right, perfectly dodging the laser light that was shooting directly at his chest.

A sigh came from the broadcast. Bruce said: "Sorry, I was a bit distracted."

"Forget it, sir. You might not be suitable for this test. Please go to the next one."

Since the other party said so, Bruce couldn't just stay and not leave. Although he felt the situation just now was a bit strange, there was no chance to verify it further.

Then it was the flexibility test. This item was simple: just do a few movements according to the other party's requirements and then measure the seated forward bend.

However, this item, which would also be tested in middle school physical fitness tests, stumped many big guys. Bruce was stunned when he walked over. The backs of these people were like they were filled with cement; no matter how they bent, they couldn't bend down.

This could show even more that these people weren't adapted to the suddenly appearing muscles at all. Seated forward bend wasn't just about pressing down hard; the way muscles exert force was equally important.

And in the gym, it wasn't just about training muscles. Stretching was an indispensable part of fitness. People who exercised all year round couldn't have worse flexibility than people who didn't exercise at all.

After Bruce went up, although his results weren't particularly good, he was already the "tallest among the short." When a few people pressed down, they couldn't even touch their calves, yet they were competitive and cried out in pain while pressing.

The last round was the physical function and endurance test, which was to measure basic values such as heart rate and blood pressure after jogging on a treadmill for about 20 minutes. This could roughly calculate a person's endurance level.

Bruce didn't know the specific data. He only felt that he wasn't red-faced or out of breath after running this time, as if he had already recovered the moment the speed slowed down.

When going to measure the data, the doctor looked at him with some surprise. Bruce had to explain: "I am a race-walking enthusiast and have participated in some competitions before."

The doctor nodded, believing his statement. The test for this day ended here.

But for Bruce, this was far from over. The abnormalities during the day made him discover that his strength growth was a bit terrifying. So where was the limit?

After finishing lunch, most people had exhausted their physical strength due to the strength test in the morning and went back to rest. Bruce came to the strength test venue again. He planned to see where his limit was.

Bruce didn't take too much risk, but he did another 400 kilograms. He pulled it up without any pressure, followed by going up to 500 kilograms. This was already the deadlift limit of the world record.

As a result, as soon as Bruce exerted force, "Just this? The world record is just this?"

Worried that the barbell plates were wrong, Bruce specifically took a barbell plate to the weight scale and weighed it. The weight was very accurate. He didn't believe in evil and weighed all the barbell plates. As a result, they added up to 500 kilograms.

And he had moved the barbell plates back and forth several times, yet he didn't feel tired at all. You have to know that he pulled 400 kilograms after pulling 300 kilograms in the morning, and pulled 500 kilograms after pulling 400 kilograms in the afternoon. Even a world record holder couldn't withstand such tossing, yet Bruce still didn't feel tired at all.

Bruce didn't believe in evil. He added to 600 kilograms, and pulling it was just like that. He added 700 kilograms and felt a little bit. He added to 800 kilograms, which was barely a warm-up. Finally, all the barbell plates were used up, which was 900 kilograms, and pulling it up was still effortless.

Deadlifting couldn't measure the strength limit, so he tried clean and jerk. This belonged to the professional category. Almost no one would practice this in the gym. However, out of interest, Bruce had practiced it, so he knew the basic standard movements.

For his body weight, being able to clean and jerk 150 or 160 kilograms was already quite good. After all, the world record was only a little over 200 kilograms.

Bruce first made a 150-kilogram bar. He just extended one hand to grip it, and then found that he seemed to be able to lift this thing with one hand too.

Bruce hesitated for a moment, took a deep breath, grabbed the middle of the barbell with one hand, pulled the barbell up directly, and then slowly stood the barbell up. Like holding a dumbbell, he lifted it over his shoulder with one arm.

The staff member who had just walked to the door was stunned.

Bruce was also stunned.