Chapter 19: Excess Rewards (Please keep reading)

Monday, during the morning rush hour.

Jiangdong District, Maocheng Intersection Station.

Through the curtain of rain, a bus adorned with an advertisement for breast enhancement endorsed by a female celebrity shuttled through and pulled into the station.

Fang Cheng held up his umbrella and hopped down from the open rear door.

He looked up at the kaleidoscope of colorful umbrellas moving along the road.

He quickly stepped through the puddles that had nearly overtaken the sidewalk and headed toward the brilliantly lit Wantong Shopping Center.

Due to a job transfer, his scheduled rest days had been moved from Monday to Friday.

Consequently, he had to work for almost two consecutive weeks.

However, for Fang Cheng, this was actually a good thing.

He arrived at the club at a brisk pace, folded his umbrella, and hung it on the rack by the door.

It was already 9:30 AM, and the venue still seemed relatively quiet.

Aside from the sounds of colleagues clocking in and chatting, the usual high-energy, blood-pumping atmosphere was absent.

With the continuous rain over the past few days and it being a weekday, the number of trainees coming for practice and classes was significantly lower.

The entire training hall was mostly empty, with only a few professional boxers performing their daily training.

Fang Cheng walked straight into the locker room and unlocked his locker with his key.

He took out a set of blue work clothes and a pair of lightweight, non-slip Bima boxing shoes.

Then, he pulled a plastic bag from his bag containing another set of clean clothes and shoes.

Working at a club required paying attention to personal image and hygiene, in addition to attendance and performance.

Fang Cheng took off his damp shoes, sat on a bench, put on his boxing shoes, and tied the laces.

Just then, a figure suddenly approached him.

"Ah Cheng, how is the transfer to the Sanda department? Are you adjusting well?"

The tone was broad and hearty, carrying an unexpected hint of concern.

Fang Cheng looked up at the newcomer.

Seeing it was Chen Xiaohai, the person in charge of the Karate department, he replied indifferently

"It's alright."

"If you need any help, just tell me. After all, I've worked here for ten years; I know my way around."

"Okay, thanks, Brother Hai."

Fang Cheng nodded, his answers as concise as ever.

Chen Xiaohai smiled, reached out to pat Fang Cheng on the shoulder, and then walked out of the locker room.

His gesture left the other colleagues somewhat bewildered.

Since when had the two of them become so close?

Whistling with his hands behind his back, Chen Xiaohai walked into Hall No. 2, looking quite relaxed and carefree.

Over the past week, his mood had been like a roller coaster, swinging up and down.

Once he heard that Fang Cheng had refused an internship in the marketing department and had offended Manager Li, his previous hostility had vanished instantly.

He would even occasionally check in on and comfort Fang Cheng, transforming himself into the ultimate supportive senior for newcomers.

Of course, in private, he would still say that Fang Cheng was young and headstrong, obsessed with becoming a great lawyer and looking down on this "small temple" of a club.

………………………………

"Right guard, turn left; left guard, circle right..."

"Once the waist moves, the base must lead..."

Inside Training Hall No. 1, Xu Maocai's voice was loud enough to echo across the entire thousand-square-meter space.

Fang Cheng stood with his hands behind his back, silently watching a group of trainees follow the coach's instructions, practicing various wrestling moves and power techniques.

This session was an advanced course for veteran students, primarily teaching the application of takedowns in Sanda.

Kicking, striking, wrestling, and grappling—these were known as the four major techniques of Sanda.

The first two drew from advanced and practical combat techniques from abroad.

The latter two were the essence of domestic traditional martial arts.

Furthermore, by comparison, the moves were more concise and practical, devoid of any flashy traditional forms.

To summarize Xu Maocai's teaching: wrestling technique could be boiled down to one sentence.

"Use their momentum to uproot them; don't lean your weight on your base!"

"You only need to remember that all takedowns in actual combat revolve around these four key principles."

Xu Maocai suddenly called a halt to the students practicing basic skills and had them begin group sparring.

The students paired off, attempting various throws and leg sweeps on each other.

Some took turns using their classmates as sandbags to review technical movements, while others competed against one another, engaging in tests of brute strength.

Fang Cheng watched them with intense focus.

As he recalled the coach's lecture, he analyzed the errors in their movements.

Gradually, he gained an insight.

If the most important aspect of punching and kicking was maintaining balance, then the purpose of wrestling was to disrupt the opponent's balance.

Success didn't necessarily require the opponent to be completely knocked to the ground.

In actual combat, any part of the body—arms, torso, hips, or legs—could be used to execute a technique.

As long as the opponent was placed in an unstable state, you had already won half the battle.

A gentle lean or a clinch would allow one to use the opponent's own momentum to throw them.

Alternatively, one could quickly follow up with punches or kicks to press the attack.

The effect was several times better than mere grappling for strength.

The trainees didn't think as deeply as Fang Cheng; instead, they were having a blast.

In a class of fewer than ten people, only one "lucky" student remained to spar with the coach.

*Thud!*

The lucky student was sent sprawling to the ground by a clean and decisive "shoulder-to-back throw."

Even though the floor was covered with soft mats, it still took him a good while to scramble back up.

Xu Maocai said solemnly

"Look at that. I stood there and let him try to throw me, but I wouldn't budge. One quick tug, and he fell immediately."

"Why? Because your strength is too weak!"

"If you want to succeed, relying solely on three sessions of physical training per week is far from enough. Go home and persist with more sets of squats. Try again in a month, and your lower body will definitely be more stable than it is now."

The others chuckled, not taking it to heart.

The "lucky" student, however, looked miserable, rubbing his backside.

After all, no one wanted to be tossed around like a sack of flour.

Fang Cheng, on the other hand, was full of envy, truly wishing he could step in for that student to test the feeling.

The morning group class ended quickly.

When lunchtime arrived, Fang Cheng went to the front desk to collect his meal. He returned carrying three takeout bags.

One was the company staff meal, while the other two were chicken leg rice sets he had ordered himself.

Seeing this, his colleagues couldn't help but ask curiously if he hadn't eaten for days, given his massive appetite.

Fang Cheng didn't explain much, simply saying he hadn't eaten breakfast and was just eating one meal to cover two.

In reality...

After his morning workout, he had swallowed ten boiled eggs, three cartons of pure milk, and a steamer of xiaolongbao from the breakfast shop downstairs.

The reason his appetite had become so ridiculous was entirely due to his squat practice.

That's right.

Yesterday, when faced with a choice between two intensive rewards, Fang Cheng ultimately chose the second one.

It added 1 point to his Constitution attribute, bringing it to 13, and granted him the skill effect "The Solitary One."

Setting aside the topic of his "towering" morning erections for a moment...

Fang Cheng had read the book *Convict Conditioning* and knew that the fundamental principle of muscle training was actually very simple.

It involves using overload resistance training to tear some of the muscle fibers in specific muscle groups.

Then, utilizing the body's innate self-healing ability, those fibers are repaired and reorganized.

The human physiological mechanism is quite marvelous.

To prevent a similar situation from occurring next time, a phenomenon called "supercompensation" occurs during this process.

Meaning the muscles become harder and thicker, thereby strengthening the physique and reducing the risk of injury.

Bones, joints, tendons, and ligaments follow the same mechanism within a certain tolerable range.

And as the most active male hormone, testosterone is the crucial driver behind this supercompensation.

The "Solitary One" effect allowed his body to secrete a higher concentration of testosterone during exercise than an average person.

This stimulated muscle and bone growth and strengthening, continuously increasing muscle volume and bone density.

This meant that for the same amount of training, the results would be several times greater.

Naturally, the dietary intake required by the body would also increase accordingly.

This strengthening effect might look a bit... skewed...

But in truth, it was a god-tier skill for over-rewarding oneself!

As Fang Cheng gnawed on the chicken meat, his attention was entirely on his status panel.

Clicking into the character attribute column, a dense stream of notification messages instantly appeared before his eyes.

Through the practical verification of yesterday and today, he had filtered out dozens of relevant pieces of information.

It was evident that after every time he gained 1 point of experience from practicing squats...

From then on, whether he continued training or worked, the frequency of information regarding the increase of Constitution and Strength by 0.001 points became exceptionally high.

The Agility attribute performed relatively normally, but it also showed a noticeable and considerable growth.

This effect lasted for about two hours, following a trend of gradual decline.

It was essentially equivalent to certain fitness maniacs injecting themselves with massive doses of testosterone at the risk of their lives.

Fortunately, Fang Cheng was using a skill, which fell within the body's tolerable range, so the negative effects were much reduced.

At most, his body would feel a sense of heat, his blood flow would accelerate, and he would occasionally get nosebleeds.

"It's fine..."

Chewing on a chicken bone, Fang Cheng silently comforted himself

"As long as my Constitution is strong enough, these minor side effects can be completely ignored."

After cleaning up the three takeout boxes, Fang Cheng walked out of the locker room and tossed the packaging into the sorted trash bin in the corner.

Turning to look at the training hall, he noticed several professional boxers who were always diligent.

They seemed to have skipped lunch and were still persisting with anaerobic strength training, such as weighted squats and lifting barbell plates.

Fang Cheng's heart warmed, and he couldn't help but think of the training plan he had set for himself.

Since the "Squat" skill had been enhanced and had become a literal "fuel pump"...

It would be a waste if he didn't make good use of it.

"Looks like I need to increase the intensity too!"

Fang Cheng thought to himself, turning back toward the locker room.

Next, he prepared to challenge higher-difficulty movement options.

(End of Chapter)