Script 0056 has been confirmed as genuine!

This ten-second short video left Lin Ling completely stunned! The Chen Jue in the footage, compared to before, was not only noticeably thinner, but his entire demeanor seemed transformed, as if he were a different person altogether.

During this period, Chen Jue had been undergoing intense physical training—from rising before six in the morning to resting before ten at night, his daily calorie expenditure had soared. As he shed over a dozen pounds, even his muscle contours began to emerge, and his disposition naturally grew more energetic and radiant.

Especially the muscles and bones of Chen Jue’s arms, which had been greatly strengthened through the repeated stimulation of three skills: stone-skipping, dart-throwing, and hidden weapon tossing. Now, relying solely on grip strength, he could squeeze a hand gripper rated at around seventy kilograms, and exerting the combined force of his fingers, wrist, and forearm, grasp and lift a twenty-five-kilogram silver ingot without difficulty.

The challenge lay in the silver ingot’s exceptionally smooth surface. With its trapezoidal base nearly as wide as the cross-section of his palm—about ninety percent—Chen Jue’s leverage points were limited to the tips of his five fingers. Using his fingertips, he hooked the edges like claws, preventing the ingot from slipping.

“No wonder so many before me couldn’t lift it!” he mused. “This challenge seems simple, but it’s full of pitfalls!” Holding the silver ingot, palm facing down, Chen Jue maintained his grip for three seconds before setting it down.

If not for his recently enhanced grip strength, and the matching explosive power in his wrist and forearm, he might not have managed to control such a large piece of silver.

“Let’s congratulate this handsome gentleman on his successful challenge!” “He wins a cash reward of two thousand yuan!” The two fitness influencers hosting the event looked astonished, never expecting a seemingly ordinary man, not a fitness competitor, to succeed.

While stirring up the crowd, they handed Chen Jue a festive red envelope emblazoned with “Grand Opening,” stuffing it into his hand.

“Handsome, would you like to try and break our new record?” “Hold the reverse side for thirty seconds and you’ll earn another three thousand yuan!” “If you can grip the front side for three seconds, you can take home this silver ingot worth one hundred and fifty thousand!” With their encouragement, the atmosphere grew even more lively.

After trying with his right hand, Chen Jue knew there were many tricks to this silver ingot challenge. No matter his persistence, lasting over thirty seconds would be difficult. This task wasn’t just about explosive strength—it demanded extraordinary muscular endurance in the hand.

As for the front side, it was out of the question. The reverse, with its edged base, was slippery enough; the front, which Chen Jue tested, had a surface so polished that his fingers couldn’t gain any purchase.

“Not enough friction. Unless my grip improves several times over, maybe then I could lift it from the front,” thought Chen Jue.

At that moment, the fitness influencer known as Brother Hua stepped forward to demonstrate gripping the front. He rolled up his sleeves, revealing an arm as thick as Chen Jue’s thigh, with muscles bulging like ancient tree roots. With a single sweep of his five fingers, using the initial tilt to his advantage, he forcibly lifted the silver ingot, palm facing down, suspending it for three or four seconds before letting it drop.

“Well? Want to try the front challenge?” Brother Hua smiled slightly.

Chen Jue shook his head. He understood now why the other man could lift the ingot from the trapezoid’s front. Besides extraordinary arm strength, Brother Hua’s finger joints had grown thick from years of equipment training, and his palm was covered in calluses.

Moreover, that lift relied on adjusting the angle of the ingot—a small trick, a bit of cheating. But even to cheat, you needed Hua’s hard-earned strength; ordinary people couldn’t even hold it steady, let alone lift it.

“I’ll pass on the front. Let me try holding the reverse side for thirty seconds.” After some thought, Chen Jue decided to switch hands.

The two thousand yuan from the envelope had been earned too easily—a few seconds’ work. Now, with three thousand more waiting, he wasn’t about to give up without trying.

“Alright! Let’s have some applause from our audience and fans!” “Everyone, cheer for this handsome gentleman!” Brother Hua, seeing Chen Jue ready for another challenge, flipped the silver ingot back to the trapezoid’s reverse side.

“Go for it, brother!” “Hold for thirty seconds and you’re a real man!” The audience joined in, many of whom seemed to be lively spectators just out from Jingtanghui, shouting encouragement interspersed with risqué jokes—a crowd of natural-born “wild ones.”

Chen Jue smiled, cleared his mind, and stepped up to the silver ingot. Having just exerted his right hand, which now felt sore and swollen, he switched to his left.

His left hand had been trained from stone-skipping and dart-throwing, later supplemented with grip exercises, and its strength was only slightly less than his dominant right.

He adjusted his stance, dropped into a horse stance, tightened his core, took a deep breath, and lifted with his left hand.

The reverse side, with its edges, provided leverage—less difficult than the front. Chen Jue had held it for three seconds with his right and still had some reserves; now with his left, he managed to lift it smoothly.

The audience cheered, counting seconds with Brother Hua: “One, two, three…”

Chen Jue paid no heed to the uproar; his focus was entirely on his left hand. After four or five breaths, his arm began to stiffen, muscles going hard—an overload, just like anaerobic grip training.

Normally, he would relax his hand and take deep breaths to supply oxygen, but now he was in a thirty-second countdown challenge. If he relaxed, his strength would fail and the ingot would drop!

“Three thousand yuan!” “That’s several days’ wages at work!” Chen Jue silently encouraged himself.

Just as his left hand was about to give out, inspiration struck—he quickly summoned the panel. He allocated 0.01 free attribute points to his “Constitution.”

In the next instant, a surge of warmth spread through his body. Chen Jue felt the stiffness in his left hand ease somewhat; the flagging strength in his chest was renewed.

“It’s possible!” Overjoyed, Chen Jue endured with the rotated silver ingot.

He found that 0.01 points in “Constitution” bought him four or five seconds of anaerobic burst. As the audience’s count reached thirty, he poured all 0.05 free attribute points into it, and only then did his left hand relax, dropping the ingot heavily onto the electronic scale.

The panel flashed a prompt:

———

[Ding~]
[You have completed a high-intensity anaerobic exercise. Your left hand’s explosive power and endurance have improved slightly.]
[Strength attribute +0.01]
[Note: Using Constitution points to supplement stamina is a trick. Your left hand has been in an overload state for too long, resulting in unavoidable muscle damage and minor ruptures in subcutaneous capillaries. Please ensure proper rest and recovery.]
———

“Injured?” The moment he released the ingot, Chen Jue felt his entire left arm go numb, any movement stabbing with pain. In just those thirty seconds, he had sweated profusely; his back and forehead were soaked, as if he’d been drained to exhaustion.

“Challenge… complete!”

As for Brother Hua, he was dumbfounded for a long moment before announcing the success into the microphone.

Since the silver ingot challenge began, it had swept the internet. Every challenge video posted attracted huge views. To find true grassroots experts and generate hype, Brother Hua had taken this ingot to cities nationwide, selecting various skilled occupational groups to attempt the challenge: construction workers, steel benders, movers, farmers, athletes from sports academies, wrestlers from the grasslands, and more.

Many could grip and lift the ingot for three seconds, but almost none could complete the thirty-second endurance challenge! Those who managed it were generally professional fitness competitors or athletes.

He had never expected, while casually hosting a live show in Hangzhou, to encounter such a hidden master!

“Brother, impressive!” “What do you do?” “How long have you trained?” Brother Hua, full of curiosity, handed Chen Jue the big red envelope prepared by the gym owner without hesitation.

He asked about Chen Jue’s profession, urging the cameraman to film carefully.

“I’m just an office worker, a regular employee.” “I’ve only been training for just over half a month.” Chen Jue waved modestly at the live camera, quietly making a request: “Forget the livestream, but if you post the video, please blur my face. I’m a small creator myself.”

Brother Hua paused, sizing up Chen Jue—indeed, he didn’t look like a serious athlete. Wearing glasses, looking scholarly, a hint of belly showing under the sportswear. Aside from his decently toned arms, he was even less fit than some of Hua’s own trainees.

But hearing that Chen Jue was also a video creator, Hua’s interest was piqued. “Alright! I’ll have the editor fix it up later!” He promised a post-production edit, then pulled out his phone to add Chen Jue on WeChat.

Chen Jue’s “Master of Unique Skills” ID was just gaining traction. He thought that interacting with a mega-influencer like Hua, with a million followers, might yield great results, so he accepted the friend request, planning to chat later.

Meanwhile, the two influencers’ livestream room, which had just captured Chen Jue holding the ingot for thirty seconds, was in an uproar. Gifts and comments flooded the screen.

“This guy is impressive!” “He just made five thousand from Hua—almost as much as I earn in a month screwing bolts (sniffle)!” “That was some show! Full marks! He claims he’s only trained half a month? If you can build such grip strength in half a month, I’ll take your surname! I’ve trained for years and can’t lift that ingot (laughing and crying).” “Definitely staged! Has to be scripted!” “Didn’t you see him drop into a horse stance? He must be a master of Eagle Claw Kung Fu (dog head emoji).” “Hua, give us the address—I want to meet this guy and test my grip in person! (Husky sticking out tongue)”