Chapter 30. Survival of the Fittest
Translator: 549690339
Deep into the night, Lin Zichen lay on his bed, unable to fall asleep—his mind was preoccupied with the death of the security captain.
The report had stated that the captain was killed by a giant mutant rat.
Could the large rat he saw from the car be the same giant mutant rat that killed the security captain?
But that so-called big rat looked only about the size of a cat; how could it possibly be the giant mutant rat that measured three meters in length?
He couldn’t figure it out no matter how much he thought about it.
Gazing out the window,
the night was deep.
All the streetlights along the road had been extinguished, and not a single shadow could be seen.
“Speaking of which, I haven’t tested my biometric data in a long time, and since I can’t sleep anyway, I might as well go outside and test it.”
Thinking this, Lin Zichen donned a hat and a mask and quietly left his home.
He chose paths without surveillance cameras, and after some time, he arrived at an abandoned highway.
First, he warmed up a bit, then quickly took out his phone, opened the stopwatch app, and started timing his hundred-meter sprint.
Then, in just a brief moment, he sprinted the hundred-meter distance he had measured in advance.
The stopwatch on his phone displayed: 4.61 seconds.
Last time it was 6 seconds; this time 4.61 seconds—an improvement of nearly 1.4 seconds. Not bad.
After testing his speed, he started to measure his jumping ability.
He found a few spots with some height, measured them, and then tried to see if he could jump onto them with a vertical leap to roughly gauge his own ability.
After about ten attempts, he came up with a fairly accurate figure.
—5.51 meters.
Last time it was 4 meters; this time 5.51 meters—an increase of nearly 1.5 meters.
After testing speed and jumping, it was time to test strength.
Lin Zichen avoided cameras all the way, eyeing the cars parked along the roadside.
He had committed to memory all the car models of this world, as well as their corresponding weights.
He needed to choose a suitable car to use as a barbell and see if he could easily lift it with one hand.
“You’ll do.”
After looking at more than a dozen cars, Lin Zichen finally chose one weighing about 1500kg.
He walked around the car, looking for the right point of leverage to lift it, then tried to raise it with one hand.
Three minutes later.
He failed.
The SUV was too heavy; he couldn’t lift it at all and had to choose a lighter one to try.
Soon, Lin Zichen picked out a car weighing around 1200kg.
He lifted it halfway, but no, he couldn’t hold it.
Finally, he found a small women’s car weighing about 1000kg and managed to just barely lift it.
Last time it was 700kg; this time 1000kg—an improvement of 300kg.
All three basic stats had seen great progress.
One could only say that during the growth spurt, the body grows quickly, and all basic values increase rapidly.
Time flew by quickly.
In the blink of an eye, next Monday arrived.
After school that afternoon, Lin Zichen headed to the gym to practice martial arts.
Saying he was practicing martial arts actually meant practicing some simple punches and kicks, nowhere near as powerful as the techniques described in martial arts novels.
However, Lin Zichen didn’t care about these things.
The reason he joined the Martial Arts Team was to compete for prize money; he never thought about actually learning anything from the team.
“Zi Chen, your martial arts talent is too strong. No matter what technique I teach, you are always the quickest to learn it. The future looks bright for you!”
Guo Xiangyuan said beaming with praise.
He had just taught the eight team members a dodging technique, utilizing continuous head swings to avoid the opponent’s punches.
As soon as the demonstration was over, Lin Zichen had instantly mastered it.
The other seven members, however, were still very stiff and awkward; it would take at least a few days of head-wobbling to become proficient.
“All thanks to the coach’s excellent teaching.”
Having said that, Lin Zichen took the clean clothes Shen Qinghan offered him and headed for the front changing room.
It was a simple Southern-style washdown, not the full Northern ritual of body scrubbing.
So, less than five minutes later, Lin Zichen emerged from the changing room.
“Xiao Chen, I’ve taken care of your dirty clothes for you,” said Shen Qinghan with a sweet smile, waiting at the entrance of the changing room.
Lin Zichen noticed her bangs were a bit messy, tenderly straightened them for her, and said softly,
“Let’s go home.”
“Mm.”
Shen Qinghan responded softly, walking silently beside Lin Zichen.
They arrived at the bike shed.
Just as Lin Zichen was pushing his bicycle out, Shen Qinghan took out her phone to show him the photos she had just taken in the gym.
“Xiao Chen, look, you look so cool when you’re throwing a punch.”
“Your bangs swing with inertia, flipping a few drops of sweat – utterly cool.
“If those little fangirls of yours saw this, they would probably go crazy.”
Shen Qinghan held the phone up to Lin Zichen’s face, swiping through the photos for him to admire.
Lin Zichen laughed and said, “The main thing is you captured it well.”
Days went by like this, one after another.
Before he knew it, Lin Zichen had been part of the Martial Arts Team for over a month.
At first, Shen Qinghan was the only girl in the gym who would watch him practice martial arts and wait quietly for him to finish so they could go home together.
Gradually, word got out about him joining the Martial Arts Team, and many little fangirls knew to come to the gym after school to watch him train.
So today, not long after he arrived at the gym to practice, girls began to trickle in to watch him sweat, and after half an hour, the audience had grown to over thirty people.
“Wow, Zi Chen, that kick you just did was so cool. It must really hurt to be kicked by you, huh?”
A high school junior girl said with a dreamy expression after seeing Lin Zichen kick a wooden post.
Lin Zichen was somewhat speechless and suddenly lost the interest to practice.
He had spoken to Guo Xiangyuan about this issue.
He suggested not letting girls enter because it was affecting everyone’s training.
In the end, he was met with the unanimous opposition of the other seven team members, rather awkwardly.
Practice sessions used to be so dull with just a few guys training earnestly in a big space.
But now, with so many female spectators suddenly showing up, they felt as if they had reached heaven, energized by their presence and unwilling for the situation to change.
Guo Xiangyuan felt the same way.
Seeing that the team members trained more seriously since the female audience arrived and that the Martial Arts Team was getting more attention, he thought it was a good thing and asked Lin Zichen to make a small sacrifice.
Lin Zichen thought it over and decided if everyone was okay with it, he was fine too.
Time ticked away.
Soon, it was almost 6:30 in the evening.
Lin Zichen, feeling it was about time, took the clothes Shen Qinghan handed him and headed toward the changing room.
Just then, a high school junior girl blocked his path, her face full of infatuation, “Zi Chen, I brought you milk, fresh milk!”
“No need, thank you for your kindness, but I’m allergic to milk.” Lin Zichen did not want to accept gifts from the opposite sex to avoid misunderstandings, so he made an excuse to politely decline and then walked around her.
But hardly had he taken two steps when he heard disgruntled shouts from behind him.
“Zi Chen, how can you reject a girl’s sincere gesture?”
“Even if you’re allergic to milk, you could still have accepted it, then give it to someone else. Why hurt a girl’s feelings?”
“Can’t you be a bit more gentlemanly?”
It was Zhang Kai’s voice, the same guy who had performed excellently at the school sports meet.
And the girl who had just offered fresh milk to Lin Zichen was the object of his secret affections.
Lin Zichen found Zhang Kai’s interference pointless, and responded without warmth, “My matters are for me to decide. You mind your own business.”
Zhang Kai, being a brash junior high student, wasn’t pleased to be spoken to like that, feeling it was a blow to his pride. He immediately challenged, “Dare you spar with me! If I lose, I’ll never hassle you again. If I win, you take the milk!”
At his words, everyone perked up with excitement.
Guo Xiangyuan was no exception.
Lin Zichen had been with the Martial Arts Team for over a month. He always practiced quietly by himself and went home after showering, without a single spar.
After some time, the others in the team grew curious about his strength.
Facing Zhang Kai’s challenge, Lin Zichen grew a bit annoyed too.
Wanting to teach this brash kid a lesson to behave more humbly and stop making a fuss, he replied without hesitation, “Fine, let’s have a match.”
No sooner had he spoken than familiar text messages appeared in the air.
[Achievement: In a formal competitive setting, eliminate a total of 1,000 different competitors using the most primitive biological methods]
[Reward: Gain the Biometric Attribute – Survival of the Fittest]
[Number of competitors eliminated: 0/1000]
Looking at the messages floating in the air, Lin Zichen was momentarily stunned, then a ripple of excitement went through him.
After such a wait, he had finally received his fourth achievement mission.
He wondered what the effect of the Biometric Attribute Survival of the Fittest would be. Would it be more powerful than the previous three?
PS: Bowls out, seeking monthly and recommendation tickets!
