112 Training the Body and Energy Flow Two

The training center that Wang Xu was currently in has been in the neighborhood for a few years now. It went by the name 'Jade Dragon Training Center' and it was the work of a retired military officer by the name of Yang Jin Wan. Being an old man now, running the training center by himself wasn't ideal for his health, so he employed a few younger persons as trainers, most of them being the grandkids of his former comrades in arms.

With so many young men and women now responsible for running the training center for Senior Yang, each with their own personalities and ideas, there would naturally be a bit of competition taking place between them. Senior Yang was naturally aware of this but allowed it, only on the condition that they keep normal civilians out of it.

One of the methods in which these young men and women compete in is with the various weights. At first, it was just a competition for who could list more and last longer. Eventually, it evolved into the group trying to one-up each other by swapping out the regular weights for ones that look similar but are much heavier in comparison, roughly by two or three times the number displayed.

Today was another such day for these many young men and women as they had been competing earlier in the morning but had to stop when there was a large inflow of people entering the training center. Due to this, the employees had no choice but to leave the equipment as they were and do their jobs. Luckily for them, most of the people that went over to the weight area were usually only curious about the selection or were just walking by. Unfortunately for them, this came to an end when Wang Xu entered the training center.

Due to this, the various employees were now keeping an eye on Wang Xu's actions, willing to react at the first moment that things looked to be going south. As for the receptionist, she was naturally aware of their thoughts and was hoping to see a good show.

Wang Xu was naturally unaware of these various thoughts and was more interested in the weights before him. Even if he was aware of their thoughts, he wouldn't have cared since he wouldn't need their help. Naturally, since he could sense so many stares on him, he figured that something must be up with the weights. Wang Xu paid those eyes no attention as he reached out to the 15kg dumbbell next to him. Since he was going to do this, he was gonna start with something light.

Wrapping his hand around the handle of the dumbbell, Wang Xu was just about to lift it when he noticed the abnormality of the dumbbell. By his estimates, the dumbbell in his hand was roughly 45kg in weight, as opposed to the 15kg on the label. This prompted Wang Xu to take a quick glance at the other dumbbells for a moment, where he figured that this abnormality was shared.

Wang Xu thought it over in his mind for a moment, wondering if the training center's employees had done this intentionally, only to shrug a second later at the thought. Shaking his head free of those thoughts, Wang Xu lifted the dumbbell like it was a 15kg weight and did some simple reps. After repeating roughly two sets of twenty reps for each arm, Wang Xu stretched out his arms a bit as he went over to the barbells. Like with the dumbbells from earlier, Wang Xu could feel that the weight of the barbell equipment wasn't the same as the label once more.

Once again, Wang Xu ignored this difference and got to work. While doing his reps, Wang Xu allowed the energy within his body to flow all around it. Although it hurt slightly doing so since his energy currently had some heat to them, Wang Xu ignored it as he focused on doing his reps. Like this, Wang Xu spent the next two and a half hours using the various weight equipment, working every muscle that he could in his endeavor. By the time Wang Xu was done, his body was suffering from a few aches from over-exercising his muscles but this was quickly taken care of by doing his weird stretches.

Following this, Wang Xu took a trip to the training center's bathroom to freshen up a bit before heading home. Just as he passed by the receptionist, he stopped next to her and spoke in a somewhat quiet voice, "I'm not sure if it was done on purpose, but you guys need to put the right labels on a few of those weights. If any random person just tries to use them as they are, I'm positive that they'll end up being injured and I'm sure that isn't something that this training center wants, right?" When Wang Xu said this, he had a casual expression on his face, clearly not matching up to the words he had just spoken.

After saying his piece, Wang Xu left the training center without looking back. Now that he's got some exercise and muscle training in, it's time for him to get some food in his system to balance it out. As he started jogging home, he passed by an old man near the entrance. Although neither one looked back after they crossed paths, if someone was capable of seeing both of their faces at the same time, they would have realized that both Wang Xu and the old man shared the same expression on their face: the expression of two predators crossing paths.

*******

With Wang Xu now long gone, the old man entered the training center and went over to the receptionist's desk. Upon seeing the old man's entrance, the receptionist and other members of staff adopted a respectful demeanor as they welcomed the old man. The old man simply nodded his head at the others before heading over to the receptionist's desk.

As soon as he got close, the receptionist spoke up, "Is there anything you would like for me to do for you, Senior Yang?"

The old man, now identified as Senior Yang, had a casual expression on his face as he spoke up, "That young man that I passed by on my way in here, I would like for you to get me all the relevant information on him as soon as possible."

Although the receptionist was a bit confused as to why the old man had asked her to do this, she responded in a professional voice, "Understood, Senior Yang."

Senior Yang nodded his head slightly before turning around. Just as he was about to walk past the receptionist, his eyes were drawn to the weights training area. It didn't look out of the ordinary since all the equipment had been returned to their original places after Wang Xu was done with them but the old man could tell that something was off about the whole setup.

The old man walked past the receptionist and went over to the weights area, prompting quite a few members of staff to break out in cold sweat. They were all aware of the old man's rules when it came to their competitions and him finding those altered weights is one of the violations he warned them about. Right now, they were all praying that he was in a good mood for the day, so whatever punishment he gives them doesn't turn out to be too painful.

Completely unaware of the thoughts of the many guilty persons watching him, Senior Yang went over to the weights area and examined them. He could tell right away that these weren't the standard equipment to be used by the visitors since the labels and actual weights don't match up. What intrigued him was the fact that when he examined them from up close, he could tell that they had been recently used, but after taking a quick glance around the entire training center and noticing the large volume of visitors, that directly ruled out the staff members using them.

This led Senior Yang to believe that it must have been a visitor who made use of these weights. Intrigued, the old man went back to the receptionist and asked in a voice that only she could hear, "Who was the one to make use of those weights recently? It couldn't possibly have been one of you, right?"

Although Senior Yang's voice lacked any trace of anger or iciness within it, the receptionist broke out into cold sweat just by listening. Trying her best to maintain the smile on her face, the receptionist spoke up, "Of course it couldn't have been one of us, Senior Yang. As you can tell, we've been quite busy for a while now. The one who was using the weight equipment earlier was the same person who's information you've asked me to deliver."

"Oh." That was all Senior Yang said in response to the receptionist's answer. He went quiet for a moment before he walked past her once more. As he left and the receptionist was about to release a breath, she heard a voice in her ears, "Carry on with your work then. I'll be expecting the information by the end of the day."

This prompted the receptionist to turn around and make a deep bow towards the retreating figure of Senior Yang. As she did so, she spoke in a clear voice, "Understood, Senior Yang."

The old man never once turned back and continued on his way until he got to his office. As soon as he made it inside, Senior Yang took a seat behind his desk and started to rap his knuckles against the desk while lost in thought. Roughly a minute later, Senior Yang leaned back in his chair as he spoke under his breath, "There is no need for me overthink this. If I'm right, there will be plenty of chances to meet that young man in the future. For now, I'll just wait." After saying this, the old man chuckled to himself before started reading one of the documents on his desk.

*******

Wang Xu was now back home after doing another two-mile job from the training center. Although he didn't need to take this extra run, Wang Xu thought it best to truly work up an appetite even more. As soon as he stepped inside his apartment, Wang Xu went to the bathroom to take a very cold shower, washing off all the sweat he had accumulated from his runs and the weight training. After leaving the bathroom, Wang Xu went to his living room to allow his body to cool off.

While sitting in the living room, Wang Xu saw the materials to make a pair of wired gloves sitting on the coffee table. Having a bit of time on his hands and feeling an itch to make something, Wang Xu decided to assemble the gloves right then and there. Roughly half an hour later, Wang Xu now had a pair of black leather gloves, similar to the pair he has in-game, sitting on the coffee table before him. The materials weren't the best that he's worked with but they did the job just as well.

Satisfied with his work, Wang Xu took a look at his phone screen, noticing that it was about twenty minutes to one. It was at this time that his stomach decided to remind him that he was now starving, as it had kept quiet while he was working as if knowing that it wouldn't have been able to affect its owner then.

With the timely reminder of his stomach, Wang Xu quickly got dressed in black pants and a blue and black shirt. He also made sure to grab his pair of gloves as he locked up the apartment and left. For now, he was going to have lunch outside today.