Chapter 15: Xue Wan

"Son, have you eaten yet?"

The gentle voice of his mother, Nan Jiayu, came from the receiver of the mobile phone.

Xue Jing smiled, turned on the hands-free mode (Speaker) of the mobile phone, and placed it on the hanging basket next to the stove. While busying himself, he said, "Not yet, what's the matter? Why did you call me suddenly?"

Although his parents in this life are often away on business, they love their two children at home as much as other families. All the money they earn from hard work is spent on their children.

"I can call you when I want to. Can't I hear my own son's voice?"

Xue's mother, Nan Jiayu, pretended to be angry.

"You are right, I'm sorry." Xue Jing immediately admitted defeat.

Nan Jiayu then smiled and asked about Xue Jing's well-being and his recent situation. The two chatted about family matters for a long time.

"Your dad and I should come back around New Year's Day and bring you a gift."

"Also, be careful when you're going to school and coming home. Don't run around. It's best to stay at home. I just saw the news that a group of smuggling gangs from the border areas may be in Qingcheng. These people are desperate. If you find anything wrong outside, don't get close."

Nan Jiayu warned seriously. 

Xue Jing immediately realized that this was the purpose of her call.

He comforted her, "Don't worry, mom, I know what's going on. If something really happens, I will run faster than a dog."

"That's good."

Nan Jiayu expressed satisfaction, and then seemed to suddenly remember something and asked, "By the way, have you called your sister recently?"

Xue Jing "I haven't called her for half a month, but we did chat on WeChat a few days ago. What happened?"

Nan Jiayu was silent for a while and said, "Yesterday afternoon, Wanwan suddenly called me and said she missed me and your dad."

"Isn't that normal?" Xue Jing asked in confusion.

"It's normal, but I always feel something is wrong. This child has the same character as your father. He looks lively at ordinary times, but in fact, he likes to keep things to himself and not let others know."

"Maybe it's my mother's intuition. I always feel a little uneasy. Son, ask her when you have time. Wanwan and you have a good relationship since childhood, and you are of the same generation. If she really encounters something, she may tell you."

Xue Jing thought about it and agreed, "Well, don't worry, mom, I will ask her later."

...

After talking on the phone with Nan Jiayu, Xue Jing's eyes showed thoughtfulness.

His sister, Xue Wan, is a very cheerful and beautiful person. She has been a celebrity in school since she was a child. She is definitely on the list of school beauties. Her grades have always been very good. Although she failed to get into the inner ring, she also went to a top university in the outer ring that ranks higher than Qing University. She has always been a person who makes people feel at ease.

Despite her cheerful exterior, Xue Jing knew that his sister often kept her worries to herself. If she called their mother out of the blue to say she missed her, something might indeed be troubling her. He decided he would call her that evening to check in and see if anything was wrong.

But Xue Jing, who grew up with his sister, knew that she was far from being as perfect as she seemed. If she was not forced to get up, she would definitely stay in bed. She liked to use tricks when playing games, had a very bad gambling habit, and never wanted to admit defeat. She could bark without any pressure when she was told that she was a puppy. She would also trick her female classmates into inviting her to dinner in his name by saying "I'll introduce my handsome brother to you..."

But her biggest shortcoming was what Xue's mother said, that she liked to keep things to herself when she encountered something.

Xue Jing was a little worried. After thinking about it, he picked up his phone, entered a number, and his finger stayed on the dial button, but he didn't press it. Instead, he closed the dial interface and put away his phone.

"Let's call her in the evening."

He decided to call his sister Xue Wan in the dead of night. That time period was when people had a strong desire to talk.

After putting away his phone, he continued to work in the kitchen, he cooked a pot of rice and made three dishes. His cooking skills improved by more than 50 points again.

After having lunch with the cat, Xue Jing picked up the cat that was lying on the ground after eating too much, walked into his room, sat down on the computer chair, and pressed the power button.

With one hand stroking the cat's belly who was too lazy to move and the other hand on the mouse, Xue Jing planned to find some information about "strength."

He opened the browser and entered a commonly used search engine website. When he was about to type on the keyboard, his eyes suddenly moved.

The computer keyboard Xue Jing used was black and very resistant to dirt, and ordinary dust and stains were difficult to see.

But after activating the aiming skill, his eyesight was extremely strong, so he could see things that ordinary people could not.

He clearly saw that there were many almost undetectable black and white hairs everywhere in the gaps of the keyboard.

"Is this... cat hair?"

Xue Jing looked at the cat in his arms calmly.

This little thing fiddled with my computer?

After thinking for a while, Xue Jing did not make a sound, pretending that he had not noticed, and began to search for information about strength.

Skipping many useless ads and looking at the wrong information, more than ten minutes later, Xue Jing finally found some information on a relatively professional question-and-answer platform similar to a certain website.

He was so fascinated that the cat in his arms also sat up on his legs and looked at the webpage.

"Hmm? Looking for martial arts information? Does he want to practice martial arts?" The cat thought as he read.

"This half-baked article is all pretending to know, and it can only fool laymen. What is "practicing to a high level can produce supernatural powers", is that practiced? Without taking banned drugs and implants, even the "limit breaker" who jumped over the dragon gate is just a mortal body of flesh and blood. There is no such thing as a human miracle in this world, only ruthless work and technology..." (TN: If you don't understand, slow down and read it again)

The cat raised its head and looked at Xue Jing's soft chin.

'If he is really interested in martial arts... After I leave, I can introduce him to that person, and I will treat it as my rent for living here...'

Xue Jing, meanwhile, found a few promising leads and bookmarked them for later. He planned to follow up on this new interest of his more thoroughly, especially if it meant further enhancing his fighting skills.

As the day turned to evening, Xue Jing prepared himself to call his sister. The thought of her hiding something from him lingered in his mind, and he wanted to make sure she was okay.

With the cat still lounging comfortably on his lap, he dialed Xue Wan's number and waited for her to pick up.

The cat yawned as it thought about things. After eating, it was sleepy. It curled up on Xue Jing's thighs, the reassuring smell of the boy lingering in its nose, and it slowly fell asleep.

"..." 

After noticing that the cat's breathing was slow and long and had fallen asleep, Xue Jing remained calm and exited the website. 

He opened the search engine, entered [screen recording software that can be hidden], selected for a while, and successfully downloaded a screen recording software that met the requirements. 

He set it to [Automatic recording], then restarted the computer, checked the effect, and found that there was no problem. He then turned off the computer. 

After doing these things, Xue Jing gently picked up the cat, put it on his bed, and then walked out of the room quietly.

...

In the 'gym', Xue Jing looked at the barbell on the bench press rack in front of him. 

This is a standard barbell, weighing 25 kilograms, with two 25-kilogram barbell plates hanging on each side, which together weigh exactly 100 kilograms. 

This is the weight of his daily bench press exercise. If he wanted to challenge his limits, he could add another 20 kilograms.

Xue Jing thought about it, picked up two 15-kilogram barbell plates from the yoga mat full of barbell plates on the ground, installed them on the bar, and picked up two more 5-kilogram plates. 

In this way, the weight of the barbell reached 140 kilograms.

Xue Jing lay on the bench press rack, held the barbell with both hands, took a deep breath, took the barbell off the hook, put it on his chest, and then exerted force. His muscles instantly tightened, and he lifted it up!

The barbell weighing 140 kilograms was slowly lifted up, and there was almost no trembling during the lifting process. It was very stable, and it was obvious that there was still some spare strength left. 

After successfully lifting it, Xue Jing did not stop, but repeatedly bench-pressed until he finished a set of nine, and then put the barbell back on the hook. 

He panted slightly and felt happy.

"After activating 'Fighting,' my physical fitness has been enhanced a lot. Coupled with the more than 100 fitness experience points I got after the fight, my bench press limit weight has increased by about 20 to 30 kilograms."

This weight may not seem like much, but you have to know that there is a diminishing marginal effect of human exercise. 

The closer to the human body's limit, the more difficult it is to increase strength. 

If a person trains hard, it may only take two or three years to go from 60 kilograms to 120 kilograms in bench press, but to reach 140 kilograms, it is not a matter of hard work. Even if you are given ten or eight years or even a lifetime, you may not be able to do it.

Therefore, the 20 to 30 kilograms of bench press weight that Xue Jing increased is of very high gold content.

After trying the bench press, Xue Jing walked to the hanging sandbag in the middle of the room, took a deep breath, focused his eyes, and punched out!

"Bang!"

With a loud bang, Xue Jing's fist hit the sandbag hard, and a circle of ripples appeared on the leather surface. It seemed that the wind and airwaves of the fist spread out faintly. The iron base filled with sand and weighing more than 300 kilograms suddenly tilted and moved to the side.

Xue Jing stretched out a hand to hold the sandbag, nodded, and said to himself "Not bad."

...

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