Singlehandedly - Chapter 14

Chapter 14: Beret

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Yunhai University of Finance and Economics, fitness center.

Tang Hong brought out his student pass, paid a one-time fee and then hurriedly ran to the gym area, it was still the place where he did bench presses for the first time. Wu Jie was wiping his perspiration while seated and Xuan Lizheng was holding his arms.

“He’s here.”

Xuan Lizheng’s eyes lit up.

“Tang Hong.”

Wu Jie stood up and greeted him. Only, his countenance was a little odd.

“Haha.”

“You actually didn’t believe me…” Tang Hong easily lifted the weight that he had trained with the previous time with an indifferent countenance. His face wasn’t red, he wasn’t panting, nor did his arms shake.

Tang Hong sat up and said coolly, “It’s too light.”

Wu Jie and Xuan Lizheng stared at each other, at a loss of words for a time. Both of them were surprised by such a great extent of progress made. Beginners would certainly have sore muscles after completing bench presses for the first time, it would take at least two to three days to recover.

Xuan Lizheng could not help but ask, “How much do you want to add.”

It’s lonely at the top, Tang Hong sighed. “Let’s add another 20kg.”

That was adding 10kg on each side. Before Wu Jie moved, Xuan Lizheng leaped to the side. He prepared the discs with the fastest speed, added them to both sides and pushed them inwards, making it difficult for them to fall off.

He stared at Tang Hong. “Be careful, Wu Jie, spot for him.”

When all was in order…

Tang Hong’s palms opened, resting against the bar, he used the fore grip…

He allowed the weight of the barbell to press down on a lower spot of his palm, perpendicular to his wrist.

Hua!

In a breeze!

The corners of Tang Hong’s eyes twitched unconsciously. After adding six points to his strength percentage, the added value to bench presses was definitely more than 20kg!

“Si!”

Xuan Lizheng’s eyes bulged, he was speechless.

He remembered, back when he was in Year 1, the school had yet to have a fitness center. He often went to the fitness centers outside and it took him an entire half a year to move from the initial 20kg to 60kg.

“This isn’t scientific.”

He stared at Tang Hong’s biceps. A strange guess emerged, this person cannot really be Hongjun’s reincarnation, can he?

“Formidable!!”

At the same time, Wu Jie who was spotting for Tang Hong also drew in a cold breath. He did not exert any strength at all, Tang Hong had lifted the 60kg barbell alone, and his movements were very fluid.

Tang Hong did seven to eight sets.

Ka!

Lifting the barbell and placing it on the rack, Tang Hong shook his head in what seemed to be great disappointment and said, “I go back and continue training. I’ll strive to challenge 80kg when I come again.”

“Big boss, big boss.”

Xuan Lizheng’s smile was very stiff.

After watching Tang Hong go, Xuan Lizheng turned his head to look towards Wu Jie. “Wu Jie, come clean, this roommate of yours really hasn’t trained before in the past?”

“He probably has not… trained before.” Wu Jie was both surprised and doubtful too.

“Newbie pretending to be a big boss?”

Xuan Lizheng rolled his eyes. “I reckon it wouldn’t take two months before Tang Hong can lift 80kg.”

…

A cool night.

Self-study classroom.

A chill went through Tang Hong, he felt especially cold.

Tang Hong had caught a cold after getting wet in the rain, going all the way to the seaside and then doing bench presses after. He touched his forehead, he seemed to have a slight fever too.

“I’m so sleepy.”

“Why don’t I just sleep in the classroom, sleeping alone in the classroom can increase my individual value too, right.”

Tang Hong dozed off drowsily and darted a look at the system interface before he did.

Mortal: Extremely small and weak creature.

Willpower: 50%

Strength: 35%

Realm: 0.00

Individual value: 2

‘I’ve already caught a cold.’

‘Why are there still no changes in these figures, I’d thought that the strength percentage figure would temporarily be lowered.”

In a state between sleeping and not, he was dizzy and weary and unaware of how much time had passed.

Tang Hong had a dream.

He dreamed that he stood above the white clouds, overlooking everything in the world. He stood in the skies alone, his individual value was also soaring without end, the heavens came into sight.

Out of the blue.

Above the Nine Heavens, layers of fog were split and a scorching sun hung in that outer space that was of boundless darkness!

Its divine flames were in full force!

Golden light filling the sky!

That was a noble god towering in the faraway horizon!

The terrifying roaring golden flames surged like a tide, filling all gaps in the universe and spread to him, causing him to perspire all over, with no longer anywhere to hide. It was almost like the big sun was weighing down… it was getting closer… it was getting closer…

“Classmate?”

“Classmate, wake up!”

There seemed to be someone calling to him, Tang Hong thought for a moment and immediately understood that he was having a nightmare.

A dream!

A chill went through Tang Hong’s heart, he realized that his consciousness was clearer than usual, he could explicitly remember the details of the nightmare.

“Classmate?”

The voice was very soft and called out for a very long time before it woke Tang Hong up.

His head was tucked in the crook of his arm.

His thoughts flashed quickly, he checked that he wasn’t drooling before he lifted his head.

Tang Hong slept face down on the table, his cheek laid on the edge of the right sleeve of his t-shirt and left two clear imprints. He looked weary and weak, but his gaze was very bright.

The person who woke him up…

Tang Hong faltered…

In the empty self-study classroom, two young ladies stood in the aisle beside him. They seemed brighter and more delicate than the average student and had an artistic air around them. The one who woke him up should be the girl on the left. She had an emerald green formal coat on the outside, it was a few sizes bigger than her figure.

The other was in a campus-style attire, wearing a light blue blouse and a short skirt with a slender waistline, it outlined her dainty height. Her snow white legs were in a pair of small leather shoes and her head of jet-black hair casually laid on her shoulders. Wearing a beret, she had her head down, looking at her mobile phone.

In a twinkling, there seemed to be the air of youth blowing on his face. Her fresh and refined visuals and attire was short-lived, a glimpse of passing beauty, it was deeply stamped in his eyes.

His heart pounded!

Tang Hong controlled his heartbeat.

The girl wearing the emerald coat smiled at Tang Hong. “The classrooms are closing, the teacher at the management office got me to help wake you up.”

“Alright, thank you.”

Tang Hong nodded and attentively darted another glance at the young lady wearing the beret.

The girl sensed his gaze and turned her head to quietly watch him. Tang Hong distinctly felt his heart rate speeding up, but there was no fluster in his gaze. After making eye contact, he retracted his gaze and got up to pack his stuff.

Deng, deng, deng…

That was the crisp sound of the heels of the girl with the emerald coat landing on the steps in the classroom.

The two of them were leaving?

Restlessness without reason rose. Tang Hong packed his bag and nonchalantly looked towards the front door of the classroom. The back door was already locked, only the front door could be used to leave.

That speck of light blue entered his eyes. It was not a back view but a profile.

Tang Hong was rooted in the same spot.

He saw that girl lift the long hair by her ears. She happened to turn back and look over, those raven, delicate eyes watched him. Across the distance of half of the self-study classroom, the air in between froze, the lights around them dimmed and silence seemed to fall for a moment.

“Aiya.”

Eyelashes twitching, the girl let out a low exclamation and naturally turned and left the classroom.

In the self-study classroom, the lights were dim, only Tang Hong was alone, in a trance.

“There’s some kind of illusion.”

He murmured to himself and shook his head inwardly, crushing those unrealistic thoughts.

One more month, and he would be heading to the capital headquarters of the Yellow River Organization to partake in the special training camp. Moreover, the literal meaning of the singlehanded support system clearly meant that he had to do things alone before he could increase his individual value.

Unless,

he satisfied three conditions.

Heart racing, destined, as for the third condition… he had not thought it through, so it was impossible.

“It’s really late.”

“Where should I stay today.” Tang Hong carried his dark gray backpack and stood outside the academic building.

He had a severe cold, it would easily pass onto his roommates if he returned to the dorm. Moreover, he could not miss his daily point of individual value.

Hence, he opened WeChat.

He looked towards the address that Fang Nanxun sent him.

Speaking about it, Tang Hong had been busy exploring the trigger mechanism of the increase of individual value these days. He did not plan on going to the villa that Fang Nanxun temporarily loaned to him.

But…

For the sake of individual value, Tang Hong hesitated for a moment. There was no need to be pretentious, Fang Nanxun did not need that from him as well. Producing a good result at the special training camp would be the best repayment.

Dong Dong~

The standard tall, rich and handsome man, Zeng Li tagged Tang Hong in the dormitory’s WeChat group chat and asked, “Have you got something going on recently, it’s been a week since you’ve returned to stay at the dorm.”

Wu Jie also sent a WeChat message, “Come back quickly, we are making hotpot! Eat more meat and eggs, it’ll take just a month and you’ll surely conquer 80KG!”

As they chatted.

Wu Jie sent several clear photos of a steaming small pot with lamb, fish balls and potatoes bubbling in red chili oil. Regarding the matter of Tang Hong purchasing fake keys, Wu Jie did not mention it from start to finish.

“I’m going to expose you people!” Tang Hong was drooling.

Wu Jie said with a cold smile, “People who snitch are destined to be forever alone!”

Tang Hong replied, “Long live the single life!”

Wu Jie said, “We have your favorite kungfu potato slices.”

Zeng Li joined in, “It’s so spicy, bring two bottles of sprite back, brother, cold ones.”

Whereas Han Shibin sent a beautiful feminine sticker of a little monk striking the wooden clapper with a little fox quietly holding an umbrella at the side. “Benefactor Tang, suffering is a boundless sea, come back to shore to eat hotpot1

Playing games and ranking up with girls everyday, the change in Han Shibin was evident: he now had more cute images in his WeChat sticker packs.

After seeing the photos of the hotpot,

Tang Hong completely turned green-eyed.

It was fake to say he wasn’t tempted or moved!

His fingers rested on the text box beneath the chat interface, not knowing what to say for a time.

The cold wind of the 10PM night blew past his face. Tang Hong felt cold and shrunk his shoulders but his heart was warm.

To many people who attended school away from home, the dormitory was half a home to them.

He had now experienced that.