Chapter 40 - 35: Freakish Finger Pull-ups

"You can secretly train during class?"

Chen Jue was surprised. He leaned in for a closer look. The hand gripper looked like a pair of tweezers and was about the size of a smartphone, making it incredibly portable and easy to slip into a pocket.

But what made Chen Jue feel most ashamed was that he, someone who possessed a panel, didn’t have the strong, self-disciplined will to train like fitness fanatics such as Yu Jie.

The guy even used his time during class to train.

’Ever since I got the panel, I’ve wasted most of my time socializing. I’ve never been this devoted to working out.’

He’d only gone to the gym a few times, and even then, he was just half-assing it.

Chen Jue felt he still had a long way to go to build a dream physique like Yu Jie’s.

’That kid totally deserves to have such an amazing physique!’

Sighing internally, Chen Jue decided to become a man of action. He pulled out his phone, searched online for the same model of hand gripper, and ordered one on the spot.

Seeing this, Yu Jie flashed a sunny smile and started explaining the joys of Rock Climbing to Chen Jue. As an instructor at the Rock Climbing club, his job was to share his experience and cultivate interest in guests who came for a trial session.

If he managed to recruit a few members, Yu Jie and the junior female student he brought along would earn a sizable commission.

So, seizing the opportunity, Yu Jie casually demonstrated the arm strength and explosive finger power of a rock climber.

Yu Jie extended his right hand, bent his index finger, and hooked it onto a climbing hold. Then, with a single-armed burst of power, every muscle fiber in his arm tensed as he pulled his entire body up into the air.

He performed a pull-up with a single finger, his body dangling half a meter off the ground!

"Holy shit!"

"Incredible!"

Chen Jue’s eyes went wide as he watched.

With his current physique, even doing a pull-up with both hands on a bar was extremely difficult.

Let alone completing such a difficult upper-body move with just a single finger.

What was most unbelievable was that Yu Jie managed to do five standard pull-ups in a row with just one finger!

After finishing, he let go and landed on the ground, then asked calmly, "Brother Jue, what do you think? Pretty impressive, huh?"

"Damn!"

"It’s like you’re using a cheat code!" Chen Jue nodded, feeling incredibly envious.

’With that kind of terrifying arm and finger strength, if I applied it to Darts, wouldn’t I be able to pierce a wooden board from dozens of meters away?’

"That move just now is called a finger pull-up. It’s an essential Skill for professional rock climbers."

"I max out at 10 single-finger pull-ups with my right hand. My left hand is a bit weaker, so I can do around seven or eight. But there are masters overseas who can casually knock out 40 finger pull-ups as a warm-up. Now *that’s* truly amazing!" Yu Jie explained patiently.

"Forty finger pull-ups?"

’What the fuck kind of superhumans are these?!’

’Did they get injected with super-soldier serum?’

’I feel like they’re bigger cheaters than I am!’

Hearing such an outrageous number, Chen Jue was completely floored.

He felt like a normal person who had suddenly stumbled into a world of freaks.

No wonder people online always say you shouldn’t challenge a professional in their field with your amateur hobby.

The gap was simply unimaginable for an ordinary person!

「...」

After being schooled by the young man at the Rock Climbing club, Chen Jue left the sports-focused business park in a daze.

On the way back to the talent apartment complex, countless strange thoughts flashed through his mind.

It was as if Yu Jie’s finger pull-ups had kicked him through the gates of a new world.

In Chen Jue’s view, since the human body was capable of so many incredible feats...

...capable of lifting a body weighing over a hundred pounds with just a single finger...

...then if he trained every finger to that level and exerted force with all five at once, how absurdly strong would his hands become?

And if he extended that to his entire body... The image was too incredible to imagine!

If an ordinary person had such thoughts, they would be completely unrealistic.

But Chen Jue was different. He had a panel that could correct his posture and monitor his body’s movements.

As long as he trained properly, he had a chance to reach the same level as Yu Jie or Li Chaoyun.

’I’ve been thinking too small.’

’Why settle for being a Darts player?’

"Wouldn’t it be better to become a superhuman?"

The more Chen Jue thought about it, the more excited he got. His mind raced with wild fantasies, so much so that he almost ran a red light while driving. Luckily, he didn’t hit any cars or pedestrians.

「...」

Reining in his unrealistic fantasies, Chen Jue returned to the talent apartment complex, still somewhat dazed.

The moment he returned to his own little apartment, however, Chen Jue couldn’t sit still.

He decided to change his procrastinating ways, starting today!

First, he needed to set a plan and some goals for himself.

First, he had to keep his job (of slacking off) at Hengtong. It was currently his only source of income.

Second, he had to work on his side gig of making videos. It was the only way Chen Jue could think of to increase his income right now.

Third, exercise and training had to become the top priority in his daily activities.

As for his most crucial goal—if he wanted to pursue a beautiful girl with high standards like Wu Fang, he had to completely transform himself, inside and out.

His poor financial situation was a separate issue for now.

Making a fortune was an age-old problem; without luck and fate on your side, you could risk your life and still get nowhere.

Besides, it wasn’t like there was a rule in this world that said poor people couldn’t date rich people.

But if Chen Jue couldn’t improve his current looks and physique, he’d have a hard time even passing the first hurdle: making a good first impression on a girl.

"’Girls really are a degenerate’s greatest motivation!’ Chen Jue secretly pumped himself up.

「...」

He picked up a large box from the parcel locker downstairs. After struggling to haul it upstairs, he tore it open to find that his 500 clay Petal Water-Drifting Stones had arrived.

Along with the phone tripod, two large power banks, and the ancient-style Face Armor that had already arrived, he was now ready to kick off his side-gig-plus-fitness plan.

He packed a backpack with over 100 Water-Drifting Stones and headed to the nearby park again.

Due to the recent vicious dog attack, which had caused quite a stir, there were far fewer people in the park during the day.

After looking around, he found a suitable spot for Stone Skimming.

It was the park’s central scenic lake. It covered a considerable area, the landscaping was excellent, and it was surrounded by lawns and trees on all sides.

In a distant pavilion, he could see a group of old men resting and playing chess, alongside a group of old women doing their plaza dancing.

’These retired folks really have it made!’

’Now *that’s* what you call living.’

Chen Jue watched them for a moment, sighing with emotion.

He put down the bags he had carried, set up his phone tripod according to the instructions, found the right angle, and started recording.

"’I’ll try filming a few takes first.’"

Chen Jue put on his Face Armor, picked up a few ordinary flat stones from nearby, and skipped them for the camera.

Since they weren’t professional stones, even with his [Perfection] level Stone Skimming technique, they maxed out at around thirty-something skips.

He returned to the tripod and reviewed the footage he had just recorded.

Deciding the footage was passable, Chen Jue slightly adjusted the camera angle and switched to the clay, petal-shaped Water-Drifting Stones.

’As expected of something invented by a world record holder!’

’This stone feels amazing.’

’It’s way better than the others I bought before!’

Chen Jue weighed it in his hand and couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration.

His [Stone Skimming] Skill had long reached the max level, so he had no technical blind spots when it came to this entertaining sport.

Just by weighing the new Water-Drifting Stone in his hand, he could already guess its power.

And sure enough!

When Chen Jue turned and flicked his wrist, sending the stone into the lake at a perfect 20-degree angle, the petal-shaped Water-Drifting Stone began to spin on the surface at an unreal speed. It shot off in an arc, lightly tapping the water—TAP, TAP, TAP.

Its bouncing height was almost perfectly level with the water’s surface, leaving Chen Jue feeling dizzy as he watched!

Holy moly!

On the very first try, the clay Petal Water-Drifting Stone flew nearly a hundred meters in a single throw!

As for the dense, circular ripples spreading across the lake, there were too many to count. He would probably have to check the video playback on his phone to get an accurate tally.

"’Fucking surreal!’"

"’Even more surreal than when I first reached Perfection!’"

Chen Jue’s mouth fell open as he sucked in a breath of cool autumn air.

The thought that he was the one who’d just skipped a stone in such a surreal way filled Chen Jue with a maxed-out sense of accomplishment.

「...」

After half an hour of Stone Skimming to record footage, Chen Jue was exhausted and drenched in sweat.

Don’t be fooled by the small range of motion; the continuous, explosive bursts of power required for Stone Skimming were quite demanding on his stamina.

Fortunately, his hard work wasn’t for nothing. In addition to capturing footage he was happy with, Chen Jue also received a reward from his panel: 0.01 free attribute points.

Including what he’d already accumulated, he now had a total of 0.03 free attribute points.

He planned to save up to 0.10 and then merge the [Stone Skimming] and [Darts] Skills.

As for raising his Three-dimensional Attributes, Chen Jue planned to increase them slowly through exercise for now.

He was just starting to train, so he had plenty of room for improvement. Saving up Attribute points might be useful for something else in the future.

It was like farming in a video game—save up enough gold, buy a huge item, and stage a comeback. Just the thought of that scenario was thrilling to Chen Jue.

「...」

He sat down to rest for about ten minutes, uploaded the video clips to an editing app, and did a quick mashup. After adding a simple AI-generated voiceover and some fun text, a short, entertaining Stone Skimming video was ready to go.

"Done!"

’Just need a title, and I can post it.’

’It’s just a short video, no need to overthink it.’

After a moment’s thought, Chen Jue gave it the title "Special Skill: Stone Skimming," and then uploaded the simply-edited video to his "Brother of Special Skills" channels on both Douyin and Bilibili.

Whether the video would go viral or not was anyone’s guess.

Who could predict the future, after all?

"’Anyway, I’ve done my best. The rest is up to fate!’

Chen Jue gave himself a little pep talk, packed up his gear, and since there was still some morning left, he began practicing the Tai Chi Twelve Forms by the lake.