0096 Human Perpetual Motion Machine?

Could the principle behind physique point allocation simply be an acceleration of blood circulation throughout the entire body, or within a particular organ or tissue?

Looking at the prompts that had popped up on the interface, Chen Jue hurriedly copied this new discovery into the notebook he carried with him.

He felt that he had faintly grasped another rule governing the interface’s operation, though he still could not fully untangle the mechanism behind it.

After all, just how much the blood flow was being accelerated, whether other nutrients were being delivered along with it, and whether nerve stimulation was being coordinated as well all required professional data and monitoring.

But Chen Jue did not have those resources at the moment. Lacking a proper medical and research team to support him, he could only record this new finding for now and continue investigating it in the future.

Still, when he combined this with the newly updated targeted allocation function, he could roughly guess that the interface did not strengthen his physical condition out of thin air.

Rather, it seemed to take some factor or substance beyond Chen Jue’s understanding and move it ahead of time to where it belonged in his existing bodily foundation, thereby accelerating the stimulation of those tissues and organs.

...

After finishing his exploration of the updated interface, Chen Jue went to the cafeteria and ate his fill.

While his body still had fresh nutrients being absorbed, he spent the remaining 0.03 free attribute points on physique.

This time he did not use targeted allocation, since the return would have been too low; instead, he chose the original whole-body enhancement.

As three waves of warmth spread through him, Chen Jue felt the slight inflammation left behind by last night’s massage and stretching ease dramatically.

By the time he walked out of the cafeteria, that faint ache had vanished completely.

"Intense exercise, then a minor injury, then recover with accumulated free attribute points!"

"An endless cycle! The human perpetual motion machine!" Chen Jue grinned in excitement. He felt as though he had stumbled upon a shortcut for improving the body.

He lay on the lawn for a brief midday nap, and in the afternoon he followed the freshmen to a developmental biology class for the biology science major.

The lecture covered the growth and development of various animal embryos, including the developmental process of human beings.

Combining textbook knowledge with a fresh documentary, Chen Jue listened with great interest and also noted down several hormones related to human development.

One was human growth hormone, a peptide hormone secreted by the anterior pituitary gland. Composed of 191 amino acids, it promotes the growth of bones, internal organs, and the body as a whole.

It also promotes protein synthesis and affects fat and mineral metabolism, playing a crucial role in human growth and development.

Another was melatonin, one of the hormones secreted by the pineal gland. As an amine hormone, it plays an important role in regulating circadian rhythms and the sleep-wake cycle.

Melatonin is also the strongest endogenous free-radical scavenger yet discovered in the human body. It accompanies the human process from embryo to death, participates in the body’s antioxidant system, prevents oxidative damage to cells, and protects DNA from free-radical injury.

It even takes part in the fight against inflammation, cancer, and tumors.

However, melatonin secretion follows a distinct circadian rhythm. During the day, its release is suppressed; only at night does it become active.

Once the human body is exposed to overly intense ambient light at night, melatonin secretion drops sharply.

That was also why people who stayed up late often aged so quickly: their bodies produced less melatonin, antioxidant capacity declined, and a whole host of problems followed.

"No wonder when I used to stay up late scrolling on my phone, I always felt exhausted, had no appetite, and felt uncomfortable everywhere."

"So the culprit was a hormonal imbalance inside the body after all!"

Chen Jue recalled the irregular schedule he used to keep while working. Without this interface, he might still have been opening a music app at midnight to wallow in gloomy moods.

...

In the afternoon there was only one class left to attend, a physiology lecture for the clinical medicine major. After class, Chen Jue tried putting on his small backpack and jogging back to the apartment.

He found that the inflammation inside his body really had disappeared. After the jog warmed him up, his body felt unusually lively, and that faint stinging pain was gone as well.

Compared with the physique allocation before the update, Chen Jue felt the improved version was somewhat stronger, though he could not tell whether that was merely his imagination.

"Could it be that as my physical condition grows stronger, the blood-circulation effect after allocation becomes stronger too?"

"Does lactate metabolism speed up, so that minor inflammation recovers faster as well?" Chen Jue muttered to himself.

Once back at the apartment, he recorded everything he had discovered that day into the data table for the self-designed Ultimate Human Training Plan, so that he would not overlook anything.

After all, he was encountering new knowledge every day, and relying only on his own academically mediocre memory made mistakes all too easy.

A bad memory is no match for a diligent pen. At the moment, Chen Jue was putting that old saying to excellent use.

...

Back in the apartment, he lay down on the bed and dozed for a while. After a full day of classes, his brain felt a little swollen.

Before Li Rui’s specialized training plan had been designed, Chen Jue had originally planned to continue farming attribute points at his own pace.

If he had not been injured, he should have gone to the climbing club for a private lesson with Yu Jie in the afternoon.

But considering the massage therapist’s advice, Chen Jue decided not to continue any high-intensity exercise today. He planned to rest and relax for a day, letting his muscles and fascia release more fully and regain elasticity.

He lay on the bed for an hour. When he got up at dusk, he felt full of energy.

Looking at the sunset outside the window, he first splashed his face with cold water to sharpen his mind and sweep away the afternoon drowsiness.

"There are still two hours before dinner. I might as well train my upper body," Chen Jue said, twisting his shoulders and doing a simple stretch to wake up.

Yesterday’s over-the-limit jog had mainly targeted the lower-body muscle groups and the core area. His upper body could still handle some light exercise as usual.

He first picked up the 100-kilogram hand gripper in the room and squeezed a few sets, alternating hands.

Perhaps because the spring had been squeezed too long and developed metal fatigue, Chen Jue found that he could now easily bring the 100-kilogram gripper all the way to its limit.

"Without realizing it, I actually ruined a hand gripper!" Chen Jue thought, tossing the old gripper into the trash.

It had been a cheap one he bought for only a few dozen yuan, so breaking it did not hurt at all.

He checked the seller page on the online shopping backend and found that the professional 165-kilogram gripper he had ordered still had not been shipped.

When he asked the seller, he learned it was due to the Singles’ Day shopping rush: a logistics truck had caught fire in transit and caused an accident, so a whole queue of orders was waiting to be resent.

Seeing that message, Chen Jue’s face darkened at once. He had never expected that after so often seeing news reports about delivery trucks catching fire somewhere, he would one day run into the same thing himself.

After urging the seller to resend it quickly, Chen Jue casually grabbed the fifty-kilogram arm-strength bar and began bending it.

He did not work at a fast pace, usually taking about three seconds for each bend and release.

And while bending the bar, Chen Jue also used the force-generating posture of a horse stance, chest lifted, abdomen tucked, and pelvic floor engaged. Under the setting sun, he kept at it rhythmically for about half an hour.

He did not have a counter, but in his mind he silently counted one hundred reps per set. He completed five sets before stopping.

By then, the muscles in both his arms felt slightly sore, and the lines of the muscles on his arms stood out and bulged as if pulled taut.

Meanwhile, the interface kept popping up proficiency prompts throughout the arm-bar session, until the whole notification box was flooded with upgrade messages:

—

Ding.

Proficiency has reached 100 percent. Skill level increased.

Horse Stance Level 3 to Level 4

You have begun to develop a deeper understanding of this special all-around movement. By adjusting your stance, you can discover a more suitable movement posture for generating force.

Your leg muscle endurance has improved, the muscle tissue in your waist and back has been strengthened, and your cardiopulmonary capacity has seen a slight increase.

Strength attribute +0.01

Physique attribute +0.01

—

Ding.

Proficiency has reached 100 percent. Skill level increased.

Pelvic Floor Contraction Level 3 to Mastery

Your pelvic-floor contraction exercise has reached the peak of technique. Your nervous sensitivity in the coccyx region has increased dramatically, and your mental willpower has improved.

With long-term pelvic-floor training, the varicose veins in your anal region have shown obvious improvement.

Spirit attribute +0.01

Physique attribute +0.01

—

Ding.

You have completed a high-intensity upper-body muscle endurance workout. The endurance of your arm muscle groups has been effectively trained.

Strength attribute +0.01

"Hu..."

After putting down the arm-strength bar, Chen Jue let out a long breath.

Then, looking at the generous attribute gains popping up on the interface, his mood lifted considerably.

Compared with squeezing the gripper, this arm-strength bar was obviously more suitable for training at home.

Still, seeing yet another mastery-level skill appear on the interface, Chen Jue felt that his persistence had not been in vain.

After trying the pelvic-floor contraction exercise for a period of time, the hemorrhoids caused by prolonged sitting had indeed improved quite a bit.

In the morning, when he got up to use the bathroom, everything moved very regularly and smoothly. In the past, he had to bring his phone in, sit on the toilet for twenty minutes without coming out, and his legs would go numb from squatting.

But ever since he started training Horse Stance and pelvic-floor contractions, the time Chen Jue spent on the toilet had been reduced to under two minutes.

Even the time it took to wipe afterward felt longer than the actual bowel movement. As soon as he felt the urge, he would go to the bathroom and clear everything out in one go, completely bidding farewell to the misery of hemorrhoids and constipation.

...

After half an hour with the arm-strength bar, Chen Jue was drenched in sweat. He took a hot bath in the bathroom, and by the time he came out, the sky was already completely dark.

As his stomach began to rumble, he strolled to the Jiang University cafeteria for dinner.

Unexpectedly, halfway through the meal, Wu Fang sent him a message on WeChat.

"I heard from Grandpa that you haven’t been to the park these past few mornings. Did you catch the flu too? [runny nose]" Wu Fang asked.

Seeing that Teacher Wu had actually taken the initiative to contact him, Chen Jue felt that even this meal tasted better. Smiling, he typed back: "I’ve been resting these past few days. I only went for a stretching massage last night, and they told me not to do anything strenuous, so I didn’t go for morning training at the park. [grin] What about you? Are you feeling better from your cold?"

Wu Fang: "I’ve taken medicine for a few days, and I’m almost better! [smug] I still need to go do a test for my cousin on Saturday, so I’ll definitely be fully recovered by then. [let's go]"

Chen Jue: "Then see you on Saturday. [grin]"

Wu Fang: "Oh, by the way, have you decided what your next special-ability video will be about for Saturday? There are so many people online calling to debunk traditional martial arts lately. The whole traditional martial arts circle is almost ruined by that inch-punch brick-breaking stunt. [dizzy] I’ve noticed a lot of people under your dart-throwing video saying you’re fake too, and a few small influencers are asking you to come forward and clarify what’s real and what isn’t. [snicker]"

Chen Jue: "An inch punch breaking bricks? Who’s that amazing? Bruce Lee only dared to hit a wooden board. [wide-eyed]"

First update~

Anyone who has trained with a 50-kilogram arm-strength bar for a long time can manage a thousand reps in an hour, and some can even crank out a hundred within a minute. In truth, the difficulty is only moderate.

Breaking an actual red brick with your fist, though, is truly difficult. [playful]

End of chapter.