Chapter Eleven Arrangements
Compared to previous bodyweight strength trainings, the two exercises at night were by no means easy.
However, Xiang Kun's physical stamina and energy had an amazing ability to recover. Whenever he felt tired, he only needed to rest for two minutes before he could go again.
But once the sun rose, he could distinctly feel this ability to recover declining at a rapid pace. After he felt fatigue, he had to wait at least seven to eight minutes to recover.
He was certain that this was not a result of mental and physical exhaustion but was directly related to dawn.
Xiang Kun opened a document and wrote down a sentence:
The transformation of energy within the body might be related to certain factors at night. It could be temperature, moonlight, tidal force, or changes in atmospheric pressure, etc.
Afterwards, Xiang Kun added the temperature of different time periods and the time of sunrise to his daily record document.
At nine o'clock, Xiang Kun left his house to go to the gym.
It was a workday morning, so not many people were in the gym, even the trainers weren't on duty yet.
Xiang Kun began his training alone. Generally speaking, most muscle building and strength training routines work one to two major muscle groups per day, such as chest and triceps one day, back and shoulders the next, then glutes, quads, biceps and forearms afterwards. A four to five-day routine would be repeated as daily energy was limited and muscles needed time for supercompensation.
But Xiang Kun was different. His recovery ability was far beyond that of an average person. Even if weaker during the day compared to the night, he was still able to regain his state from a short rest after high-load, heavy-weight training and continue training.
So, Xiang Kun first did a series of almost maximum weight strength exercises for all muscle groups, then followed by targeted single arm exercises, such as bicep curls for his left arm.
Close to noon, Coach Shen who had made a bet with Xiang Kun yesterday came to the gym. Seeing Xiang Kun, he immediately ran over to greet him.
Clearly, his performance yesterday had left Coach Shen both thoroughly convinced and highly admiring.
However, Coach Shen didn't stay by his side chatting very long. Yesterday had made it clear that Xiang Kun enjoyed working out alone and didn't like being disturbed by others.
...
If Xiang Kun wasn't worried about attracting attention by excessively staying in the gym, he might not even leave at noon and stay until the gym closed at night.
At noon, he contacted his tenant, since the half-year lease was due to end this month. He told the tenant that he'd decided to take back his house for personal use and wouldn't renew the lease. But, since today was the 19th, he informed his tenant that it would be fine if they found another place and moved out before the 15th of next month. He wouldn't charge them rent for that period.
The tenant didn't have any objection as houses nearby were not hard to find. They'd already been considering a larger place anyway.
Even though this meant Xiang Kun's housing expenses were more than double each month, these past few days he's come to realise that living in a cramped, rented room where he could easily encounter other people was not suitable under his current conditions.
Furthermore, he didn't need to go to work for the time being, and he had no commuting time to consider.
Compared to renting, living in his own house would better ensure that his secret was not discovered by others.
At night, Xiang Kun added Coach Shen's introduced girl on WeChat. Once he paid his respects and introduced himself, he asked:
"Do you have any plans for tomorrow afternoon?" It was a Saturday tomorrow, hence he asked.
The girl replied: "I should not, why do you ask?"
Xiang Kun: "If you don't mind, how about we meet tomorrow afternoon?"
If it's in the afternoon, there's no need to have a meal. Meeting at a coffee shop or other beverage places is fine. If one doesn't eat anything during mealtime, it can seem too unusual and might affect the companion. But drinking a beverage is different. He could just take a symbolic sip, or even not drink it all without catching attention.
The girl agreed swiftly: "Sure!"
So, Xiang Kun asked her where she would like to meet, asking her to choose a place she was familiar with.
Once the girl sent the name and location of a coffee shop, they stopped chatting. Apparently, neither of them was too interested in initiating more conversation.
That night, Xiang Kun didn't do much training focused on sight or lung's capacity, neither did he do any more strength exercises. He was somewhat worried about going into a long period of sleep all of a sudden due to his need for blood, before the agreed meeting time the next afternoon. Although he didn't expect this date to lead to anything, ghosting someone outright would be extremely rude and not at all appropriate. It would even involve Chang Bin and Wang Han who had made the introduction.
However, staying up all night was not a problem for Xiang Kun. He found numerous relevant articles and textbooks about medicine, specifically hematology and infectious diseases, online and began to study them. He also looked for articles about basic life sciences. He didn't have any expectations of making any significant achievements from his studies; his goal was to acquire relevant knowledge that could guide him towards the correct direction to find the source of the mysterious factor X within his body.
After two blood-drinking episodes, not only was he stronger and more energetic, but due to his ability to maintain focus and a higher level of energy, his memory and thinking speed had improved significantly.
To read and understand an article of the same length, he would have had to spend two to three times more time than now, even when he was in his best condition before. Furthermore, previously, whether for work or study, he could only maintain high-intensity focus for four or five hours and needed time to recover and rest. It was not like now when he didn't need to sleep or eat, his energy recovered rapidly, and he could focus on one task for a long time.
By one in the morning, Xiang Kun stretched and looked at the night sky outside. He then left his rented room.
Instead of going downstairs, he went upwards to the rooftop.
Apart from a few instances to sun his quilt, Xiang Kun rarely came to the rooftop, let alone at such a late hour.
To his surprise, there were other people on the rooftop so late at night.
A young couple, who were embracing each other lovingly on the side of the rooftop, were startled by Xiang Kun's appearance. But after recognising who he was under the corridor light, they didn't panic. They just nodded at him, as a way of greeting.
Xiang Kun also recognised them. They were a couple who lived just below his floor, probably recent university graduates.
After nodding in return, considerately, Xiang Kun didn't intrude and became the third wheel. He went over the other side of the rooftop, leaning over the railing, looking out into the distance, giving off an air of someone using the rooftop for fresh air.
He had always felt that his physical fitness was better after sunset than during daylight, but he never really figured out why.